Getting noticed by search engines

The meta description contains all the major brands that Paulson Hardware, Green Bay, Wis., carries, along with its most popular generic terms, including snow blowers, lawn mowers, engines, service and parts. The meta description covers Paulson Hardware across the board organically.By Brad Smith

Research shows that 87 percent of users will not navigate beyond the first page of results when searching Google, Yahoo, Bing or others. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is about getting noticed, making sure that people researching the very products you sell will find your website.

SEO is designed to improve Web pages ranking organically, meaning that free listings appear on a results page — ideally at the top of the first one — solely because its content was deemed editorially relevant by a search engine.

The search engines use spiders to crawl through websites and scan content. The collected data is then matched with search terms to determine your site’s ranking. When a spider indexes your website, it looks for keyword-loaded HTML text, as it can be easily read and understood. Your website should be designed according to several criteria to effectively attract search engines, improve your visibility, and drive new traffic.

Creating and fostering the right content

Keywords are the most applicable and commonly typed phrases when researching a specific product or topic. Your search terms should be relevant to your business and your geographical location (e.g. lawn mowers for sale, Mosinee, Wis.). The more a given keyword is repeated within the body text of your website, the greater the likelihood of a higher ranking in search results. As such, make sure that target phrases are embedded regularly throughout your website. However, be sure that you are using the keywords in a conversational manner and avoid repeating them in an unnatural way, as it could potentially deter visitors and search engines alike. Remember to include keywords in the headline, high up in the copy, and at the bottom of each page.

Consider also targeting popular models and parts for your brands and business. Filters, belts, blades and spark plugs are common items which are searched for in high volume, so they’re ideal targets for your SEO efforts.

Last but not least, building dedicated pages for fast-moving parts for popular models also supports SEO. They help potential buyers and draw attention from the search engines.

Speaking to spiders through code

The use of appropriate meta tags on each page also contributes to higher rankings. This term refers to the HTML-coded information that describes the content of a page. The page title and meta descriptions are crucial to your SEO efforts, as they are often displayed in the search engine results. Generally, you want to ensure that the most meaningful terms for a given page are reflected in the page title and the description, as well as the page URL itself. A good example is a page with URL “briggsfilters.aspx”, along with the phrase “Briggs Filters” appearing in the page title and meta description. Don’t forget to include these terms in your meta keywords. It remains a best practice, even though the search engines do not give these much consideration lately.

Also, alt tags must be used to describe what is in an image or video as the search engines can only analyze text. This is also important to help visually impaired visitors. The same is true for Flash-based animations and graphics. Even though Flash can add excitement to your site, you should weigh its advantages against its downsides — namely that it will not be catalogued in a search. If you choose to include Flash, consider using noscript tags to aid the search engines in identifying the context of the Flash, as well as users without JavaScript.

Building credibility with search engines

One very important but often neglected piece of SEO is link building. Links from other highly ranked websites increase your site’s traffic and standing in the search results. Start with securing a link to your website from the manufacturers you represent. You can also create an account on Facebook, Twitter and other OPE-related forums. This way, you can not only include your URL, but also specific product pages for reference when interacting with potential customers online. Beyond careful content management, SEO ultimately comes down to a popularity contest. The more prominent websites that link to yours, the more prominent your site will become.

One excellent way to drive more inbound links is to regularly write posts and columns on helpful topics relevant to your business and industry. Creating posts and how-to’s on unit maintenance and best practices are always helpful and likely to be linked to by forums and frequent users. The posts themselves contribute valuable content to be indexed by the search engines and target long-tail results, while their ability to draw inbound links further increases their power as SEO tools.

The aim of any SEO strategy is to improve the volume and quality of traffic to your website via natural search results. Higher rankings can deliver more visitors to your website at a lower cost. However, achieving high, sustained positions in the search engine results for pre-selected, targeted keywords and phrases requires patience and commitment to long-term efforts. SEO calls for carefully planned strategies that evolve with the times — and the search engines’ constant changes. While you may be able to handle some best practices in-house, such as the simple tips described in this column, your best bet for long-term success is to rely on the help of an expert.

 Brad Smith is Product Manager at ARI, a Milwaukee, Wis.-based provider of technology-enabled business solutions for dealers, distributors and manufacturers in the outdoor power equipment, powersports, marine and RV industries. Products and services include eCommerce-enabled websites, lead generation, lead management, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, and eCatalogs (parts, garments, and accessories). Smith can be reached at (414) 973-4459 or via e-mail at bradsmith@arinet.com. Website: www.arinet.com.

Know your basics

Alt tags: They alternate text associated with a Web page graphic that gets displayed when the Internet user hovers the mouse over the graphic. Alt tags should convey what the graphic is for or about, and contain good relevant keywords. Alt tags also make Web pages more accessible to the disabled. For example, a vision-impaired user may have a Web browser that reads aloud the text and alt tags on a page.

Meta tags: Background information, coded into HTML, that describes a page’s content, but is not visible to users. Meta tags should accurately reflect the content of the site and be closely tied to keyword terms. If you have meta tags identified within your code that are not in the content of your website, then those words will be ignored by the search engines, defeating the purpose of including them. Two of the most well-known meta tags are the meta description and meta keywords.

Meta description: A meta tag hidden in the HTML that describes the page’s content. The meta description should be relatively short — around 12 to 20 words. It provides an opportunity to influence how your Web page is described in the search results, but it will not improve your search rankings. Make sure your meta description reflects the page content or you may be accused of spamming.

Meta keywords: A meta tag hidden in the HTML that lists keywords relevant to the page’s content. Because search engine spammers have abused this tag so much, this tag provides little to no benefit to your search rankings. Of the major search engines, only Yahoo! still pays any attention to the meta keywords tag.

Noscript tags: They are used to supplement Flash link, and can be a great way to introduce content to supplement 100-percent Flash websites, where there otherwise would be none. You have to be careful with how you use it, but if used in a white-hat, non-malicious manner, it can be an effective way to optimize Flash websites.