If you want your webpage(s) to rank in the top 10 for your targeted keywords you need to understand how search engines work. You must know what factors search engines use in ranking websites and how they 'read' and 'index' web pages. And you must keep up to date with changes in the above and actions of your competitors.
At Living Streams, we have a 3-step plan to help businesses identify and create the relevance and authority that search engines love. Because Google currently dominates internet search, we concentrate on achieving high ranking in Google - but this automatically creates high ranking in some other search engines, despite their use of different ranking algorithms.
What Google wants: Businesses to "provide content that is relevant at precisely the moment someone is looking for the information" Stafford Massie, MD Google SA.
Living Streams 3-Step SEO Plan
Step 1: The groundwork
Identify your target audience plus what search phrases (keywords) they are using when looking for companies like yours (or relevant information that you can provide)
Provisionally select those search terms which you might like to target > research their frequency of use and the SEO strength of the competition for each keyword
Based on the research, identify which keywords could potentially deliver sufficient prospects to your website to justify the exopense of achieving and maintaining high search ranking. N.B. A good rule of thumb is to assume 5 website visits per 100 searches for a top 10 entry
Step 2: Website structure and content
For both SEO and searchers, your website should have a page specific to each tightly grouped set of targeted keywords.
On-page SEO factors met - whilst not impairing the effectiveness of the page at converting the website visitor from a 'suspect' to a 'prospect' (or customer)
In most cases, competitor strength demands that extra unique content (pages) are regularly added to a site before it stands any chance of gaining high ranking. Living Streams can advise clients on this or provide the extra content.
On large sites, we optimise internal linking to improved ranking by focussing authority on selected pages
Step 3: External Factors
There are many factors which impact the ranking 'worth' of each link and linking much not be over-optimsed.
Brand authority as measured by followers, shares, likes / Google +1s and mentions
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
General Benefits
Highly ranked entries in search results:
Result in 'free of charge' website visits
Locate relevant prospects for you because they were searching using a relevant phrase
Help you to take prospects directly to the most relevant page in your website (for their search)
Increase the number of entry (landing) pages to your website - allowing you to provide benefit, USP and call to actions specific to each service / product
Assist with awareness and brand building
Living Streams' Benefits
Specialist guidance is provided on the likely return from each search term (keyword)
Monthly reports of website visits resulting from high ranking are provided in addition to ranking information
Visitor response information is provided to guide improvement in the content of the high ranking pages
We have the social media / networking knowledge to support growth in 'brand authority' - an important ranking factor since early 2012.
