As much as I would like to ignore Google PageRank altogether, it is still relevant when building inbound links.  When looking at external links there are essentially two factors to consider; the first is relevance, the second is PageRank. Those two factors combined are what build your website’s reputation for a given keyword or topic. So while your own website’s PageRank is not an accurate indication of where you will rank for a specific keyword phrase, the PageRank of your inbound links does matter.

Which Links Matter?

Building links from highly relevant high PageRank websites is the ultimate goal for any SEO campaign.  Achieving that goal is how you can build your perceived authority (or reputation) for a target keyword.  If you are getting links from high-value, relevant websites then Google sees that as a good indication that you are a reputable source for that keyword.

For example, let’s say you receive an inbound link from two websites that are both highly relevant to your web page.  But let’s say hypothetically that one has a PR2 and one has a PR4. Bearing in mind that they are both equally relevant for the purpose of this example, the PR4 link is going to be worth far more to ranking for the target keyword used.  The PR4 site is itself a more reputable source and so Google will give more weight to that link than the PR2 site, which has a lower authority.

Getting a whole bunch of these higher value links is the ideal scenario for building your authority online.  However, this is where many people get confused.  It is not enough to simply target high PageRank links – even more so since the launch of Google Panda.  Yes, a PR8 link from anyone would be awesome for your rankings but a PR8 link from a relevant website will be many, many times better.

Building Authority

Think of it like this: when you read a journal article or a textbook, there is a large list of references used in its preparation. Being referenced in this way is an indication that the source is considered to provide reliable and relevant information by the author. Useful and reputable sources will be referenced in multiple journal articles and textbooks.  Furthermore, being referenced by an already well-known or reputable author would provide even more creditability to those references.

The PageRank algorithm works much in the same way. Imagine the textbooks are websites and the references are links.  If you are “referenced” (linked to) by a reputable source then that indicates you too are credible.

Taking it further, if you were actually cited within the body of content, that would be an even stronger indication that you were a reputable source on the topic. It would provide even more credibility on the topic for which you are being cited than simply appearing in the Reference list at the end of the document. In the same way, Google considers a contextual link to be worth more than a standard inbound link and this is how it ties into relevance.

Relevance Is King

Now consider this, if you were looking for more sources on say psychology as an example, would you look in a textbook about ancient history or would you look in another textbook or article about psychology? Which would you consider to be more trustworthy on the topic?

Being referenced in a textbook that is on a similar topic is a better indication of authority than in an unrelated source.  This same relevance value is considered very highly by Google.

For example, let’s say you have a website about accommodation and receive an inbound link from two websites that both have PR4.  But let’s say hypothetically that one is about travel and one is about pharmaceuticals.  In this case, both inbound links are going to add the same value to your website’s PageRank, but the link from the site about travel is going to give you a much higher boost in rankings for your target ‘accommodation’ related keywords.

Let’s take this example a step further and say that the link from the travel website is in a relevant paragraph of text on a topical page and uses your target keyword as the anchor text; the other link on the pharmaceuticals website has your link in the sidebar or footer among other links and uses your company name or URL as the anchor text.  Once again, both websites are going to send the same amount of PageRank to your website, but the link from the pharmaceuticals website is going to have very little, if any, effect on your ranking for your target keyword.

This is the exact reason that websites with a lower PageRank can actually rank higher in the search results for a specific keyword.  The PageRank algorithm includes ALL links to your website, regardless of how relevant they are, but search results for a specific keyword take into account all of the other SEO ranking factors as well.  And so the website that has a higher number of high-value links from relevant websites is going to rank higher, despite what the PageRank might be.

It gets complicated when you also consider that the relevance of your inbound links is also determined by the relevance and value of their inbound links, and then again for all of those websites, and so on.  We won’t get into that but suffice to say Google’s algorithm is fairly large and takes everything we’ve discussed and more into consideration all at once.

Toolbar PageRank

Before we conclude, when building these targeted links it is important to also understand the difference between the PageRank number that you see in your web browser’s toolbar and the actual PageRank value that Google uses in their algorithm.  There are two primary differences of which to be aware:

• Toolbar PageRank is always displayed as a whole number out of 10; actual PageRank is much more specific with exponential increases in actual value for higher toolbar PageRank values.
• Actual PageRank is updated in real time as new links to a page are found by the crawl-bot; toolbar PageRank is only updated a few months later and is therefore always slightly out-dated.

So how can we use this knowledge? Firstly, it is a good idea to keep in mind that when you get a link from a website with a certain toolbar PageRank, that page’s actual PageRank could be higher or lower. You should always check back later to make sure that the PageRank of links you have built are maintained or increasing and not decreasing, as that will affect the authority that your website receives.

The other point to remember is that each sequential increase in toolbar PageRank is increasingly difficult to achieve. Getting from PR4 to PR5 is much harder than getting from PR3 to PR4, which is harder than getting from PR2 to PR3, as there are far more actual values used by Google between the two toolbar values.  This essentially means that it requires more and higher quality links to achieve a higher PageRank for a website.  This is important to know when link-building as a link from a PR5 website is not just worth a little bit more than a PR4 link, it is actually worth about 10 times as much. For this reason, higher PageRank links provide significantly more authority and it will require a large number of lower PageRank links to provide the same value. That said, in most cases a link with a slightly lower PageRank from a page that is highly related to your target phrases will still help you rank better for those target keywords than a link with slightly higher PageRank but an unrelated topic. However, as long as the links are relevant to your topic area, then higher PageRank is still always better.

With all of this in mind, Google PageRank must still be taken into consideration when preparing your SEO strategy. You can virtually forget about your own website’s PageRank as a ranking factor but you must take into account the PageRank of inbound links.  When you are link building, always target websites that are related to your topic area first and that have a high PageRank second.  This is how you can increase your Relevance and that is what will ultimately get you to the top of Google.

Creating great online copy is as much about what you say as how you say it. A clear, engaging message should come with all the trimmings. These often forgotten extras are crucial in capturing your audience in the first place. Follow these 5 steps to ensure your online copy is stimulating for both the eye and the mind.

1. Layout/Structure

The layout and structure of your article play a pivotal role in attracting readers. ‘Heavy’ looking content is an instant turn off. Your copy can be made lighter in a few key areas. Keep sentences in the active voice, short and to the point. Limit your paragraphs to six sentences. Use sub-headings, lists, and bullet points to create that much needed white space – a visual breather for your readers. Experiment with bold and italicized font to allow your key passages to pop out.

2. Accessible content

Writing online copy is all about showcasing your expertise, but never forget your audience and their level. Jotting down the likely background of your readers is invaluable in etching out appropriate content. This doesn’t mean you need to be simplistic. Work on explaining the complexities of your topic in a way that will enlighten and educate – perhaps circulate a draft among less knowledgeable colleagues to test the waters. Online readers are seeking a quick, pain-free education. Provide that in bite-sized, memorable and meaningful chunks.

3. Write to the demand

Take the time to seek out hot topics in your industry. The best written article will go unread if nobody is interested in the topic it covers. What are some common questions that your clients always ask you? Are there current events across your industry that people are talking about? Perhaps you can highlight the breadth of your knowledge by referring to either past case studies or new technologies on the horizon. These types of topics are fresh, attractive, and fill a knowledge demand.

4. Use images to enhance

The online community is visually orientated. Tap into this with high-quality images that complement your article and enhance its message. Images serve as the ultimate hook, so choose carefully and consider what ideas and style you’d like them to carry. Remember that your readers will interpret the image before they read a single word of your copy – make sure it draws them in and delivers on its promise within the article itself.

5. Quality copy

Once you’ve snapped up readers with all of the above, don’t stumble at the last hurdle! Nothing kills authority as fast as sloppy grammar and punctuation. If this isn’t something you’re good at, find someone who is. A thorough edit will protect you against readers questioning your expertise and checking out mid-way through the article. Think of how convincing and powerful a great speaker can be – the exact same rules apply for the written word.

Following these 5 tips will ensure your online copy sparkles. You already have the knowledge and expertise in your field – deliver it to the online community in a package that does it justice!

Meta Descriptions are one of the best ways to increase traffic from SEO rankings without building another link or writing another article. An effective Meta Description makes your ranking stand out from the competition, clearly differentiates your products/services and encourages potential clients to act.

So what are Meta Descriptions and how can effective Meta Descriptions help increase the traffic to your website?

In short, Meta Descriptions are the lines of copy displayed underneath the search results in search engines. Meta Descriptions are the first message your potential clients see about what you do, your products and who you are. Therefore, Meta Descriptions perform a key function for all your search engine optimisation (SEO) efforts.

Here is an example of our Meta Description (it is the wording directly beneath the website address):

While Meta Descriptions do not play much of a role in achieving SEO rankings, effective copy has a strong impact on whether a potential client clicks on your website from your rankings or not. Achieving top keyword rankings in Google is a priority (or should be) for all businesses online. But if your business is ranking and your Meta Description is not effective, then you are reducing the click-through-rate.  It is therefore essential that you consider your Meta Description strategy.

A great Meta Description will result in heightened clicks from search results and more traffic leading to your website. The final outcome is an increase in online conversions for your business.

With this knowledge, let’s look at 5 best practice guidelines to help you improve the effectiveness of your Meta Descriptions…

1. Meta Descriptions must describe the main benefit of the particular webpage

This might be common sense but most Meta Descriptions do not follow this rule. What is your web page about? Is it about a specific category of products? Is it about the company profile? Each Meta Description must deliver on its message. For example, we do not recommend trying to sell your product when the web page is about your terms and conditions. This would only frustrate your potential client.

2. Ensure your Meta Descriptions are as concise as possible

Being concise means your Meta Description is clear and makes sense to your potential clients. Unnecessary words only confuse and complicate understanding. Avoid long sentences and make plenty of use of short and punchy content. Remember that there is only a very limited amount of time to get your message across to potential clients when they read your Meta Description.

3. Each Meta Description must be no longer than 165 characters (including spaces)

Google displays 165 characters for Meta Descriptions, which is quite generous when you think about the Twitter character limit of 140. So definitely make use of this space. But do it wisely. If your Meta Description doesn’t fit into the character limit, potential clients will not get the full extent of your message as the vital elements may be cut off. Meta Descriptions that are cut off half way through a sentence or word results in a possible lost click opportunity.

4. Your Meta Descriptions should have at least one call-to-action

This is an extremely important point. Remember that Meta Descriptions are your first communication with a potential client. For that reason, the Meta Description copy must motivate and stimulate them to want to click on your link. Taking into account that your link will always be competing with 9 other SEO results and up to 14 pay-per-click ads, effective call-to-action phrases are the key to attract more attention from potential clients searching on Google. Think about the main benefits your service/product has over your competitors. Do you offer same day delivery? Do you have a free offer? Drill it down to your core offering and what sets you apart. This will undoubtedly result in increased clicks from search engines to your website. If your website is performing, you will also experience an increase in online leads.

5. Meta Descriptions must be unique

Google provides warnings when duplicate website titles and descriptions have been used or if descriptions are too short via Google Webmaster Tools.  This is an indication that using duplicate Meta Descriptions is not a favoured practice by Google.  Utilising the same Meta Descriptions across more than one web page can also cause duplicate content issues in terms of your SEO. Therefore, when creating your Meta Descriptions it is important to be specific so that potential clients know what each page is about when it appears in the search results.

Meta Descriptions effectively make the most of the SEO rankings you have worked so hard to achieve. They clearly state your business product/service and act as the first communication with your potential client. Great Meta Description copy differentiates your business and attracts more attention from prospects looking at the search results. The use of call-to-action phrases outlines the main benefits of your business and motivates prospects to visit your website. Most importantly, the predictable indirect outcome for a successful Meta Description strategy is an increase in online organic conversions.

I ask you,how effective are your Meta Descriptions?

Need help creating effective Meta Descriptions? Outrank & outperform your competitors by fully optimising all facets of your website with Web Profits. Call 1800 932 776 now.

The wide spread release of Google+ also saw the platform gain a massive 10 million users signed up after mere 2 weeks of the network being live.

So, how will Google+ affect social media? And given Google’s dominance in terms of search, what will be the affect of Google+ on search engine optimisation (SEO)?

Here are 5 areas to watch as Google+ functionality further develops…

1. Integration with Gmail

Before Google+ launched, Gmail received a makeover in preparation to integrate Google’s mail service with the social network. Given that there are 250 million people with Gmail accounts worldwide (as at July 2011), this gave Google+ a powerful starting point to build the 10 million users they gained in just 2 weeks. To add to this, after Google+ beta moved from it’s ‘invitation only’ stage, the integration with Gmail made it easy for people to invite their friends by using Gmail contacts and Google verified email accounts.

The Google+ navigation bar is present when logged into Gmail and therefore Google+ is accessible through:

• Gmail
• Google Search
• Google Documents (Google’s online cloud infrastructure)

INTERESTING FACT: While it only took Google+ 16 days to reach 10 million users, Facebook reached the milestone after 852 days, and Twitter in 780 days.

2. Circles

Hailed as the ‘selling point’ of the social network, Google+’s ‘Circles’ functionality is a friend management service. Circles allows you to select ‘groupings’ for your friends and the people you Follow on Google+.

Understanding Google+ Circles is essential to mastering the social network. So, what opportunities do the Circles function present for marketers?

• The Circles functionality focuses on the concept that as humans we want to share different information with different groups of people. Therefore Circles allows you to separate the people you follow on Google+ into groups.
• From a marketing perspective, this allows for each Circle to be marketed to in a unique way or by utilising a specific, targeted message that relates to that particular group / Circle.
• The people you follow can be placed in more than one Circle – and when posting a Google+ update you can choose which group sees the information you are sharing.
• Similarly, when browsing your Google+ Stream (that contains all updates shared by your Followers in your Circles), you can choose between seeing all Circle information, or specific Circle updates in your Stream.

INTERESTING FACT: Facebook has this same functionality, but is called ‘Friend Lists’. The functionality was launched quietly in December 2007 with the same objectives as Google+ Circles.

3. Brand Pages

Google+ has held off on launching Brand Pages on Google+ in order to get the functionality of this important area of the platform perfect. Some businesses jumped the gun and sigedn up for Google+ as soon as the network launched. However, all businesses have been asked to politely leave and wait patiently for the brand focused pages to be launched.

This shows Google’s commitment to the business-focused area of the platform. Will this work? While moving Facebook’s +750 million users over to Google+ may be a challenge, enticing businesses to move over may offer a bigger opportunity for the social network. Along with a commitment and history of online advertising knowledge, Google+ and the Brand Pages are creating much buzz among businesses and marketers.

Why Google+ Brand Pages could hurt Facebook Business Pages:

• Better Analytics: Google+ Brand Pages will be integrated with Google Analytics. And for anyone who has used Google Analytics in the past, you can appreciate the value this will add in analysing and assessing the value of your Brand Page from a marketing perspective. In light of this, the Facebook Analytics, ‘Facebook Insights’ may need a refurbishment in order to compete with the detailed information Google Analytics will present to Google+ Brand Pages.
• More Customisation: It has been rumoured the Google+ Brand Pages will allow for more customisation. This doesn’t just refer to advertising and placement of ads on the actual brand pages, but also to branded page skins. These branded skins would be similar to those being currently used on YouTube. Having this function limited to Brand Pages will ensure the issues faced by MySpace when profile skins became popular does not occur for Google+.
• Further impact on search rankings: Most importantly, Brand Pages on Google+ present SEO opportunities in further building search engine rankings, specifically Google. Due to the growing importance of social networks, content and links shared on these platforms can have a positive effect in gaining further credibility for your website online. With Google+ already aligned with Google – the SEO ramifications could be significant. Will having a Brand Page on Google+ for your business help your search rankings? Will getting more +1’s via Google+ push your website rankings higher?
• Learning from the mistakes of Facebook: Google+ has the advantage of piggybacking off the mistakes, as well as the best elements of Facebook Business Pages. Google+ is attempting to brand Facebook as the place to be for a ‘social brand’ or celebrity. In doing this, they identifying a point of difference between Facebook Business Pages and Google+ Brand Pages. Focusing to get more business-minded brands utilising the platform, for example insurance, finance, health etc.. If Google+ Brand Pages turn out to be a close replica to Facebook Business Pages, the race to harnessing the business social media market could be a fast over.

4. The Google +1 Button

The +1 Button is Google’s version of the Facebook’ ‘Like’. Google has outlined that the +1 button signifies when you think something is ‘pretty cool’ or something ‘you should check out’. The +1 button is about publicly giving a business, website or article your stamp of approval.

You can only +1 items when logged into Gmail, and you can +1 in Google Search, Google+ or any website that has integrated the +1 button.

What does the +1 button mean for SEO and search?

• When logged into Gmail, search results will show if websites ranking have been +1′d by any of your contacts within Gmail or on Google+ . Although not yet confirmed, it is speculated that the more +1′s your website receives, the more online authority you have in order to gain further keyword rankings in Google.
• The +1 statistics can be tracked through Google Analytics in a new section launched in the latest Google Analytics version update. This ‘Social’ data is located within the Visitors section and looks at engagement, action and pages.
• When in the Google+ interface, you can see what content your friends have +1′d. Similarly, other people can also track the content you are +1-ing.

5. Integration with Google Search

As of early August, Google has begun integrating Google+ into Google search results. This has sparked the beginning of ‘Social Search’.

How does this work?

1. Whenever a Google+ user publicly shares a link on the social network, an annotation now appears under the search result in Google.
2. This only appears in people’s search who are friends with the person that shared the link in Google+.
3. The ‘Social Search’ component within Google highlights what links your friends are sharing on the Internet and returns results it believes based on your friends interests.

While it is not yet clear the exact impact Google+ will have on social media and SEO, it is definitely a social network to keep an eye on…

5 Fast Facts on Google+:

• 3 weeks after Google+ launched, Google’s value increased by $20 billion
• Google+ rose to 10 million users a mere 2 weeks after launching. However it is speculated that there are currently 25 million users with 4.5 million active users worldwide.
• Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook is currently the most Followed person on Google+ with 474,702 Followers. Sitting in second place is Google CEO, Larry Page.
• In July 2011, Lady Gaga had more Twitter followers (11.7 million) than Google+ had members (10 million)
• Google+ has recently integrated the ‘Hangout’ function with YouTube. This allows people to watch videos from YouTube together through Google+.

Online copy calls for a unique writing style. Its audience is the time-poor and any mistake can kill effectiveness in an instant, thereby killing value. The new Google algorithm ‘Panda’ is designed to seek out poor content and penalise the websites that post or link to it. More than ever, effective and informative content is crucial to enhancing your website’s performance. Here are the 5 biggest mistakes to look out for and eliminate in your online copy.

1. Factual mistakes

These destroy online content’s whole reason for being. Great online copy is about giving value to your audience. Misleading them through half-truths or poorly researched copy will not only drive them away, but potentially damage your reputation with Google. Don’t skimp on the research stage. Evidence of research will instil trust in your readers and set you apart from the competition. A great blog is one that offers reliable, interesting information that’s compiled in a user-friendly way.

2. Grammar and punctuation errors

This is the quickest way to lose authority, and your audience. You may be an expert in your field; however, all that is representing you in online content are words on a screen. Badly constructed sentences will have your readers questioning your knowledge and expertise. This can have the knock-on effect of taking value away from your website in general. Reacquaint yourself with acceptable grammar and punctuation usage in online content and follow them. Test out your content on a non-expert. Fresh eyes can usually catch most errors and ambiguities.

3. Boring headings

Write a boring heading and you won’t have an audience to begin with. The old adage to never judge a book by its cover is not only incorrect in the book industry, but incorrect times ten in online content. The main headline is your one and only hook. It must not only be alluring, but information rich. And on top of that, it needs to be crammed into a few, well-chosen words. Spend time etching out a headline that will grab the audience. Remember that online readers are scanners – subheadings need to encompass the main ideas of your article.

4. Unsuitable as online content

People read for a range of reasons, and online readers have a very specific motivation – the need for useful, quick information. When preparing your online content, do so with the aim of educating with clarity and confidence. It’s important you put yourself in the reader’s shoes when designing online content. What is it that your article offers them? Will they be able to understand it? How fast? Remember that an online audience is in a very different mindset to that of a book lover who has settled down with their favourite novel. It’s all about informing, quickly!

5. Wordy

While long, flowery sentences have their place in literature, they have no place in the online world. Your content needs to be widely accessible, not only to your industry, but to anyone who may find themselves on your blog. Deciphering overly complicated sentences is a major turn off in the online environment. So, aim for short, crisp sentences. Replace redundant adjectives with better, more accurate verbs. And if you can’t say a sentence in a breath, get rid of it!

If Google were ever going to rank all of the websites in its index in a single list, PageRank would be the sort-by column of that list. It’s just a number. A probability. Calculated from the incoming links to a page. You want the PageRank formula? Here it is…

What does that mean? It doesn’t really matter… it’s simply a numerical formula. The sum of the value sent to your website, through links, from any websites on the Internet, regardless of source, anchor text, context or any other data. PageRank doesn’t care what your target keywords are, it’s just saying “this is how likely you are to be found on the web randomly”. But there’s one major thing missing from that: Relevance.

Relevance Is The Key To Achieving Top SEO Rankings

Google makes it very clear in a number of articles that they are dedicated to giving you exactly what you want. And while PageRank may give an indication of your website’s importance, relevance is how they determine ‘what you want’.

The thing to remember is that your position in the search results is dependent on the keyword phrase being used. Each keyword phrase delivers different search results because different web pages will be seen as relevant to each phrase.

The first step with a new website is getting into the index and as long as you have any amount of PageRank, Google will index you. But once you appear anywhere near the first few pages of search results for your target keyword phrase you can forget about your PageRank. When it comes to improving your website’s ranking from page 3 to page 1, the PageRank of that website is really quite unimportant.

Why?

It’s a common dilemma for many people; I have a PageRank of 4, so why does a competitor with a PageRank of 3, or 2, or even 1, still outrank me? It’s a fair question that comes from a fairly common misconception. Google PageRank has been hyped up over the years as a strong SEO measurement tool, and it can be. But that hype has made people think that it directly correlates to your position in the search results when it actually doesn’t. There are so many factors that the PageRank algorithm doesn’t take into account that Google’s ranking algorithm does.

SEO Ranking Factors Beyond PageRank

• Anchor text – One of the most important factors in a link to your site is the text that is used within that link. That text says to Google, “this is what I think that page is about”. It stands to reason then that Google will use this text as a key factor when ranking that web page if that keyword is used as a search. PageRank on the other hand only looks at the URL within the link. So while Google’s algorithm is looking for textual indications of the topic a page and relevance to a given keyword, PageRank simply counts it as a link to the URL from a page with a value of X.
• Position on page – The more prominent a link is on the page, the more importance Google is going to give it. Google is able to separate the various sections of a web page and will give more importance to particular areas. A footer link, for example, is less important than a header link or a link in the middle of the page and if the same anchor text or URL is used twice, priority is given to the first link that appears on the page. Google accounts for that in its ranking algorithm. PageRank simply counts it as a link to the URL from a page with a value of X.
• Surrounding text – The text that surrounds a link to your website is considered the link’s context. If the context in which a link is used relates directly to the anchor text of the link, which also directly relates to the destination page, the link is going to have a higher importance in ranking for that keyword than the same link in an unrelated context or an unrelated section on the page. This context is taken into account when Google ranks a website for that given keyword. PageRank simply counts it as a link to the URL from a page with a value of X.
• Topic of page – Much like the surrounding text of a link, the web page and even the entire website linking to you is also considered the context of that link. If an entire web page is directly related to the anchor text of a link, which is directly related to the destination page, the link is going to have even more importance in ranking for that keyword than just having surrounding text related. Again, Google takes this context into account when ranking sites for the target keyword. Regardless of context, PageRank simply counts it as a link to the URL from a page with a value of X.
• Topic of destination – Now that we’ve looked at the websites linking to you, let’s take a look at your website. Who should Google trust most in determining what a page is about? Hypothetically, if you were Google and you had 500 links to a site that say ‘music’ from pages about music but the page title, description, all the text on the page and all of the site’s internal links to that page are about finance, which would you use? What you tell Google is far more important than any one link from any site. Sure, if you get enough ‘music’ links pointing to your site you may eventually rank for ‘music’ – just search for ‘click here’ – but what you say about your own web page on your own website is more important in determining the topic of that page than any one of those links. In the same scenario, those 500 unrelated links would still add to the PageRank of your website. So while Google’s algorithm considers more thoroughly if the links are useful for the keyword, PageRank simply counts them as 500 links to the URL from pages with values of X.
• Destination relevance – When someone searches for a keyword, Google isn’t just looking for the ‘most valuable’ website; it’s looking for the most relevant web page for the keyword that was entered. Google isn’t looking for the website with the highest numerical value; it wants the web page that the searcher will find the most useful. And to find that page it uses all of the above factors and more.

Only after Google takes all of those factors into account does PageRank enter the equation. If, hypothetically, two websites were exactly identical in terms of relevance to the searched keyword (which is extremely unlikely), PageRank would be the determining ranking factor between those two sites.

Any business that wants to rank for location-based keywords (eg mortgage broker sydney) must setup a Google Places listing for their business. Here is the step-by-step process of doing so…

1. Go to http://www.google.com/local/add/

2. Use a business email address. Register a business email with Google accounts and then access Google Places.

3. Check for your business listing. Search Google manually to see if a Google Places listing has already been automatically created for your business. The listing will appear in Google Maps and inform you if the listing is an ‘Owner-verified Listing’. If it’s unverified you can then claim the listing and update the details accordingly.

4. Enter your business address and details. It must be a physical street address as PO Boxes are not accepted within Google guidelines.

5. Choose the ‘Areas Serviced’: this is the section that makes Google Places vital for all businesses, not just shop fronts or restaurants. Businesses have two options here… Either you are a business where all customers come to your location, in which case you select ‘No, all customers come to the business location’. Or, if you are an online business or a service provider, select the second option ‘Yes, this business serves customers at their location.’ You’re then able to select either a distance from your business or the areas and states you service. This will then impact the areas and locations you are visible for when people search for your services.

6. Optimise your listing with keywords: these can be added to the Additional Details section. Your listing will not meet Google quality guidelines if keywords are inserted into the Business Name or Business Address, or locations are added to the Categories section.

7. Add enriched content: pictures and videos will add value to the listing and provide the end user with the optimum information. Up to ten pictures are allowed, one at least should be your logo and the remainder can be products / services or images related to your business.

8. Verify your business address. This can be done by phone, only if the business phone number listed is a non-automated line and an individual is able to record the PIN delivered by Google’s automated calling system. Alternatively, the address will require postal verification; this can take up to three weeks in Australia for the PIN to arrive.

9. Complete. Enter the PIN number delivered to you by Google and the listing will be live.

10. Update with offers, deals and adverts. When you login into your places account, you can see that you can write updates that are visible for a 30 day period. Make the most of these and market specials or incentives currently in place at your business.

Google’s guidelines are strict and your listing can be penalised or removed if it is crammed with keywords or if multiple listings are created for the same business, when a location does not exist for multiple areas. If your business moves address, the listing will need to be submitted again to Google.

So what are you waiting for?

Search engine optimisation

iFrames

Google ranks pages, not websites. iFrames are pages within other pages on a website. Because iFrames display the content of a page within the ‘frame’ of another page, the search engines do not have enough information to rank either page – the outside page contains the navigation, the sidebar and the footer… the inside page contains the content. Unfortunately, one without the other is not enough to rank.

Duplicate Content

Duplicate content can occur a number of different ways. It can occur when one web page has the exact same wording as another web page, for example when multiple ecommerce sites use the same wording provided by the manufacturer. Or it can occur when there is not enough wording on the page to differentiate itself from all the other pages on the Internet. If Google can’t differentiate your web pages from others on the Internet, you will find it very difficult to rank those pages.

Flash

While Google is getting better at reading and indexing Flash content, you still won’t see Flash websites ranking at the top of Google for valuable keyword phrases. The biggest problem with Flash websites is that the entire website is usually located on the same URL which means that you lose out on internal linking benefits and site size, both of which play an important role in on-site SEO.

No Internal Linking

Google finds pages on your website by following links from other pages on your website. PageRank (the value that Google places on a particular web page) is also passed through links. One of the biggest mistakes website owners make is not effectively linking their web pages between one another… sometimes they rely on drop down menus, other times they rely on search boxes. This usually means that Google can’t find all of the pages on their website… the end result being a significant loss in SEO value.

No Title Tags

Title tags are the words that appear as the headline in your rankings on Google. They are also visible in the tabs when using Firefox or Chrome, and just below the ‘File’ button when using Internet Explorer. Title tags are not visible on the page (you edit them in the HTML code) but they play a very important role in your SEO rankings by telling Google what the page is about. You would be surprised at how many websites have the word ‘untitled’ in their Title tags (which is the default setting when creating a new web page)!

Are you making any of these mistakes?

DIY Pros

	It’s $0 p/month! Essentially you are getting SEO for free by doing all of the work yourself, saving you and your business thousands of dollars. Of course, we aren’t counting the value of your time.
	It’s relatively easy! The most difficult part of SEO is developing the strategy. Once you know the exact process and have been shown how to do it, you don’t have to be a genius to implement the strategies, as it’s all step-by-step.
	It’s a great learning experience. Some SEO companies take advantage of the fact that people have limited knowledge of how it all works. The best advantage you can give yourself when it comes to SEO is to educate yourself on it. And let’s face it, once you get your website climbing the ranks on Google and see yourself higher than all of your competitors, you’re going to feel like a pro.
	Plus it’s fun! Like pizza – sometimes it just tastes better if you make it yourself.

DIY Cons

	It’s time-consuming. Achieving top rankings on Google takes a lot of work, and implementing every single step in the process means that you’re going to need to bring in those time-management skills!
	How do you know if you are doing the right thing? With so much misinformation in the marketplace, it is quite difficult to determine which strategy is going to work for you… and you don’t want to waste all your time and effort for little-to-no results.
	You have to commit – repetition and consistency is key. SEO is a long-term growth strategy for your business: it doesn’t get easier over time – it just becomes more profitable.

SEO Company Pros

	Everything is taken care of! It’s always nice passing off work to someone else and crossing off that ‘To Do List’. Saving you time to instead focus on growing your business is a big plus for hiring an SEO company.
	SEO is constantly changing, so employing a team who know what they are doing and are experts in their field will not only ensure you keep your rankings once you get there but can also aid your own understanding of cutting-edge online marketing strategies and the next steps for growing your business online.
	You can get results faster with an SEO company rather than simply doing it yourself. Because of the systems in place and the economies of scale, you can actually achieve a higher return on investment when you pay a quality SEO company to implement your SEO for you. Seeing results improve every month is great for your business not only in terms of positive brand impact but also in profits! Time to get excited.

SEO Company Cons

It can be expensive! Although these strategies do produce results, they can be quite expensive due to the amount of work that goes into each campaign.

As with any industry, there are some unscrupulous operators out there. Many businesses take the cheap option when it comes to achieving top rankings, following low-cost advice that can actually hurt your SEO rankings rather than improving them. Before hiring an SEO company, make sure you do your homework to find out if they are producing results for their current clients and are keeping them happy. True stories, examples, testimonials and guarantees are a great way to determine this.

Whether you choose to hire an SEO company or do-it-yourself, SEO is one of the most profitable methods of growing your business. Good luck!

How Google Places Has Changed The SEO Landscape

In the second half of 2010 Google made some significant changes in how they displayed results for location-based searches. Before these changes were made, a location-based search would display a map within the search results with up to 10 business listings next to the map – this map would rank anywhere within the top 5 positions, depending on the keyword phrase.

After the changes were made, location-based search results (ie rankings) would include the Google Places listings, displaying each result in the same format as a standard SEO listing but adding additional information to the listing including address, phone number, reviews and star ratings. A Google Map is now at the top of the sidebar and moves down the page as you scroll.

The new Google Places updates mean that:

• Rankings for location-based keywords now have up to 15 listings on the first page of Google.
• Rankings that include Google Places information stand out much more than standard listings, increasing visibility and click-through-rates.
• Rankings for websites that do not have Google Places may be pushed down to position 8 or lower, where they were at position 1.
• Aggregator sites such as Wotif.com are being pushed down the rankings by local businesses that have a presence in the area.

Why Should Small Business Use Google Places?

There are many reasons why small business should use Google Places, including:

• Google Places offers small business a unique opportunity to advertise to their local area at a fraction of the cost of any other form of advertising.
• A small business owner who services a particular suburb has a very high chance of ranking at the top of Google for a number of keyword phrases simply by setting up a Google Places listing for their business (some location-based keywords might require additional work, but more on that later).
• With Google Places you don’t even need to have a website. You can get up and running and rank at the top of Google simply by having a Places page for your business.=
• People are increasingly searching on Google to find services in their local area. If you aren’t visible when they search for what you sell, you’ll be losing customers to your competitors.
• The increased usage of smartphones (eg iPhone, Android etc) means that more and more people are using their phones to search on Google. And because Google can use your exact location through GPS targeting, they can show you location-based search results even if you don’t type in a location!

Perhaps the most important reason that small business should start using Google Places right away is because it’s still in its infancy. Like every new marketing opportunity before it, those businesses that start using it first have the greatest advantage in the long term (because it will become more competitive and more expensive to utilise over time).

Even if you are a larger company, setting up your Google Places listings will mean that your website ranks in each location where you have an office.

What Results Can You Expect To Achieve From Google Places?

When people search on Google they are either researching information, looking for a particular website or looking to buy a product or service… when researching, the keywords are generic and broad… when ready to buy, the keywords become much more specific. The most important thing to realise with Google Places is that anybody using a location as part of their keyword search is ready to buy, which means that the quality of the prospect contacting you will be very high.

The number of impressions (ie how many times your business is displayed to a searcher) and the number of clicks to your website, or Google Places page, will depend on the keyword searched for and the location of your business. Some keywords have a higher search volume than others, as do some locations.

In my next article I will share strategies you can use to start growing your business using Google Places. Please share your comments or questions below and I will do my best to answer them in the next article.

Google Caffeine

In response to the changing shape of the Internet over the last couple of years, Google completed a massive overhaul of their indexing system to increase the speed and freshness of its search results. Google launched Caffeine in June of this year and now updates its index in real-time as it finds new information. Google’s database stores almost 100 million gigabytes of data with over 100,000 gigabytes of new data being added every day!

So how has this affected SEO? News results and social media posts (eg Twitter updates) are now indexed and displayed instantaneously. Website updates are now indexed and displayed by Google within a matter of days rather than weeks, making the effects of website optimization much more immediate. And updates made by Google to its search algorithms now affect rankings immediately making top SEO rankings far less stable with ranking fluctuations now occurring daily, hourly and even from one minute to the next.

With the launch of Caffeine, Google now places a far greater importance on keeping your website content fresh and unique. Frequent updates and additional content are now, more than ever, essential to keep Google coming back to your website and indexing your content.

The transition for users was almost seamless and many would have continued to search the web without noticing any major changes. When Google announced the launch of Caffeine they said that it was developed with the future in mind, building a foundation for an even faster and more comprehensive search engine. What we didn’t know then was that the launch of Google Caffeine would lead to a series of massive system overhauls that would change the search experience dramatically…

Google Instant

The launch of Google Instant in early September made news headlines across the world. Google Instant gives users search results faster than they can type, with Google presenting search results for the most likely search terms based on what has already been entered.

The launch of Instant cemented for everyone the future goal for Google – to provide information to users before they even know that they want it. While Google Instant isn’t quite there yet, it is certainly a huge step in the right direction and is now even available on smartphones. And with the recent launch of Google TV, where typing could present a possible annoyance, Google Instant seems like the perfect solution.

From an SEO perspective, Google Instant now means that a far greater focus should be placed on the shorter, more popular search phrases. Users that aren’t certain what to search for when they start typing will now automatically be presented with results to the most popular search terms, reducing the chance of longer keyword searches being used to find information. If a user is presented with the results they are looking for before they finish typing a word, then there is no need to finish typing the word at all. While very specific long-tail traffic doesn’t seem to have suffered with the change, the biggest SEO impact is the increase in traffic for the shorter, more popular phrases.

In addition, since the search results are constantly updating as you type, the focus for users will be on the results that they can see immediately without scrolling. This now places even more importance on ranking within the top 5 search results for a target phrase as these are the only ones that will appear above the fold on a results page (depending on your screen size).

Google Place Search

One of the more recent and less publicised updates from Google is the launch of Place Search, now available both as an option in the search sidebar and also integrated into the traditional search results. Google Places will still be displayed in search results for location-based keywords, however the new update from Google now displays Google Places information within each of the top ranked website listings.

Because Google can identify your location by IP address, any search terms that are inherently location-based will use Google Places. For example, if you are in Sydney and search for the term ‘restaurants’ the search results will display listings from within your area and will automatically include the Places listing information within the search results.

As a result of this change, you could lose your position on page one of the search results for a location-based keyword phrase unless you have your own listing in Google Places. For example, if you previously ranked #4 for a location-specific phrase and the Maps were at #3, then your ranking will now be pushed down by 8-10 positions on that page to #14, below the Places listings, unless you have Google Places for your business. Conversely, if you previously had a second page ranking for a location-based search term but were one of the top 5-10 results that had a Places listing, you would now appear on page one of the search results among the top Places listings displayed for that term.

Add this to the ongoing increase in mobile search, advances in the use of Google Maps in smartphones and the recent launch of Google Hotpot, which uses a social media platform to rate places and landmarks, and you can see the importance of having your business in Google Places.

Google Instant Previews

Instant Previews are the latest addition to Google Instant. This new feature, added in the form of a magnifying glass icon next to each search result, allows users to view a thumbnail image of each website in the search results without clicking through to the website.

In the past, web design was always important for keeping people on your website after they decided to click through from the search results. Studies showed that users could make that decision within a matter of seconds so it was essential to have a dynamic and attractive website to keep users on your site. With Instant Previews, users are now able to make that judgment within the search results before even needing to visit a website.

Google Instant means that performance website design is now a significant factor for driving traffic from SEO – the better your website’s appearance in the Instant Previews, the higher the number of searchers that will click through to your website (Google’s research showed search results that were previewed were more than four times more likely to be clicked on).

Website appearance has always been responsible for engaging visitors and making them feel secure enough to perform the desired interaction – poor design can now mean that potential customers will not even click on your website if those elements are not met. And since Google sees click-through as directly related to relevance to a keyword, an improvement in click-through rate may even help rank higher for that phrase.

What Next?

Search engine optimization was already hard enough. Now it is even tougher with more systems, variables and influences affecting rankings. There are several new elements added to the mix and search results are now more dynamic than ever. While the traditional principles of SEO still apply, you must also take these new innovations into account when developing your strategy. Keep your content fresh, continue to build fresh, high quality links into your website, create a Google Places listing for all locations of your business and ensure you have a great website design.

Here are the 3 top reasons most businesses fail online…

1. Not Investing In Your Website

Probably the most misunderstood area of online marketing is the importance of your website. Most business owners don’t have an issue with spending $5,000 or $10,000 per month on advertising their business online but hesitate when it comes to spending the same amount as a one-off investment in their website design. This is simply a huge mistake. Investing in the performance of your website can double the rate it converts visitors into sales. This results in receiving twice as many sales from the same advertising budget. Put another way, achieving the same results from half the budget on an ongoing basis.

2. Not Investing In A Comprehensive Strategy

Investing in one or two online marketing strategies is great, however, the real power in online marketing comes from investing in every part of the system online. What does this actually mean? Simply, that you shouldn’t take just any one action. The most important component to understand about online marketing is that everything is interconnected; the more you do, the more results you will achieve. And the improvements you will achieve aren’t linear, they’re exponential. So, invest in your website, coordinate your search engine optimization strategy, pick up seasonal slumps with a dedicated paid advertising campaign and continue the conversation with your current followers with a well-positioned email marketing campaign…to name but a few initiatives, all interconnected.

3. Not Understanding The Power of ‘Now’

The businesses that really make it online are those that understand the power of now. The Internet is moving at such a fast pace that sitting on decisions to invest in online marketing can really make a difference in the level of success you achieve. We know of the amazing early successes (and many sustained) that companies had for being one of the first to move into their respective space online. What if this were you, today?

For whatever reason, every time one of your competitors comes online (and they are coming online every single day) your ability to succeed becomes harder and the cost of succeeding online becomes greater. As search engine optimization becomes more competitive the cost of gaining a first page ranking becomes more expensive, maybe too expensive. Equally, as more businesses invest in paid advertising online they push the costs higher making it more difficult to make a profit.

The rate of change in the online marketing arena is moving at a rapid pace. Ask yourself, where will your company be in 2011?

1. Focus On The Right Keywords

Seeing your website rank on the first page of Google can be very exciting but that excitement will quickly dissipate if you don’t start seeing the profits start rolling in. While SEO is all about ranking a website at the top of Google, the keywords you choose to focus on will make the difference between generating a profit or taking a loss.

Focusing on keywords that have a high search volume each month isn’t the only factor you should consider. Whether the keyword is a transactional keyword (ie a keyword that a searcher types in to buy something) or an informational keyword (ie a keyword a searcher types in to research something) will make all the difference to how much profit you make from SEO.

2. Improve The Performance of Your Website

Many business owners are happy to spend $3000 or more per month on marketing their business but hesitate when it comes to investing in their website – this is a huge mistake. Your website holds the key to unlocking the full profit potential the Internet provides… the better your website performs, the more profit you will make.

One of our recent clients hired us for both SEO and website design. After 4 months of SEO we increased their traffic by 207% from 527 to 1,620 visits per month. We also redesigned their current website, improving their website conversion rate by 327% (ie from 1.33% to 5.68%). The result? We increased the number of sales leads they were receiving to 92 leads for the month, up from 7 leads per month when we first started – an overall increase in performance of 1,214%! That’s the power of a good website.

3. Make A Better Offer

Your offer is what you’re telling your prospects you will give them if they take action on your website. It can be as bland as ‘contact us’ or as good as a ‘free consultation’ or a ‘free review of their business’. The better you make your offer the more profit you will make from SEO. The key to making a successful offer is to provide something that your prospects value. It will usually cost you either time or money to provide this offer, but the benefits will definitely outweigh the costs.

For example, at Web Profits we offer a free SEO analysis for businesses interested in investing in SEO. We help them assess which keywords they should be focusing on and we provide a strategy that will help them get results. We could have offered a ‘free consultation’ instead, but a ‘free SEO analysis’ has a much higher value and generates a much higher response from our SEO rankings.

Once you have created your offer you should include it in your Title Tags and Meta Tags (which appear in your ranking on Google) as well as throughout your website.

4. Capture Email Addresses

Most of the people that visit your site will leave and may never come back again. If you have a website conversion rate of 10% you are doing very well but it still means that you are losing 90% of your visitors, maybe forever. By capturing the email addresses of website visitors that aren’t yet ready to take action on your main offer, you can use email marketing to stay in touch with them over time so that when they are ready to buy, they think of you first. Email marketing is one of the best methods of maximising the profits you earn from SEO because you pay for the lead once and you can then market to that lead over and over again.

The key to maximising the number of email addresses you capture on your website is to create something of high perceived value but low actual cost. The best example of this is to write a free report that solves the biggest problem or answers the most important questions your prospects have. For example, at Web Profits we offer a free report called ‘Secrets of Online Marketing‘ where we share the strategy we use to help grow our clients’ businesses online.

Remember that this is one of the the first critical experiences your prospects have with your company so make sure that the content is of the highest quality because the quality will play a very important role in the profits you generate.

5. Split-Test Your Most Visited Landing Pages

Once you start driving qualified prospects to your website through SEO you’ll find that different web pages on your website have different conversion rates. One page might have a conversion rate of 1%, another might have a conversion rate of 5%. The conversion rate of a web page is affected by a number of factors including what keywords the prospect used to get to the page, the message of the page, the design of the page and the offer you make. One of the most profitable strategies you can implement is regularly split-testing the most visited pages on your website.

Split-testing is the process of creating a copy of a web page, changing just one element on that page (such as the headline) and then rotating visitors between both versions – the first person will see version 1, the second person will see version 2, the third person will see version 1, and so on. Aside from a complete website redesign, split-testing is one of the only methods of increasing the performance of a web page over time. And even if you do completely redesign your website, you should still be split-testing every month – we’ve been split-testing our website every month for the last 5 years.

Are You Making Money From SEO?

Investing in SEO can be extremely profitable for your business but only if every part of the overall strategy has been implemented correctly. If you aren’t generating the profits you want from SEO then implement each of the strategies mentioned above and you’ll see a signficant increase in your online profits.

Is SEO Dead?

After the launch of Google Instant there was a flurry of activity in the blogosphere and online forums touting that Google Instant could be the death of SEO. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Google Instant updates results as a searcher types but the displayed results continue to need SEO to be ranked for those searches.

More Search Results For A Single Search

Google Instant updates search results as you type (without the need to click ‘enter’ or ‘search’) which means you will see multiple search results pages for the same search. The faster a searcher finds what they are looking for the faster they will stop typing in the search box and start clicking on the ranked websites.

Google Suggest 2.0

A few years ago Google introduced their suggestion feature which provided keyword suggestions as you typed. Google Suggest is based on what the ‘crowd’ is looking for with the highest searched for keywords provided as suggestions. For example, if you were looking for life insurance, you would start by typing ‘life’ and you would see a drop down selection of keyword phrases beginning with the word ‘life’ with ‘life insurance’ being one of them. If you’ve been using Google in the past couple of years I’m sure you will appreciate how useful this functionality is. Google Instant takes Google Suggest one step further by updating the search results as you make your selection from the Google Suggest drop down menu, allowing you to refine your search even faster.

Is Long Tail Dead?

Over the years there has been constant debate in the SEO community about short tail vs long tail keywords. My stance has always been that you should focus on the short tail for the long tail will follow. With the introduction of Google Instant the short tail will become even more important. All a user needs to do now is type in a few letters, select what they are looking for from Google Suggest, see their results in real time and stop searching when they have found what they want. The most popular keyword suggestions will always be the most searched for keywords (ie the short tail) and if a user finds what they are looking for in the short tail, they won’t need to search the longer tail.

Which Keywords Should You Focus On Now?

The easiest way to identify what keywords you should be focusing on is to start typing your target keywords into Google and take note of the keyword suggestions provided. Use this as a starting point to refine your keyword list and then use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool to confirm the search volumes for each phrase. You can also use Google Insights to keep up to date with keywords that are starting to become more popular (ie rising searches) and integrate them into your SEO strategy so you start ranking for them when they are included in Google Suggest. You will also want to rank your website for as many of the keywords appearing in Google Suggest as possible, which will ensure your website maintains its rankings as the searcher refines their search.

How Will This Affect SEO Traffic?

The biggest affect Google Instant will have on SEO is driving more of the search traffic to the short tail as search engine users won’t have to type as many keywords to find what they are looking for. What this will also mean is that more of the traffic will flow to the top 5 results as these are above-the-fold. Websites ranking on the second page of Google will receive a lot less traffic as searchers use Google Instant to refine their search to find what they are looking for on the first page. The goal remains to rank #1 for the most searched for keyword in your market.

It can take months or even years to get top SEO rankings but you can lose these rankings in a matter of hours. With this in mind, here are a set of guidelines to help maintain your website’s SEO value and minimise any negative impact on your rankings.

Maintaining URLs and Linking Structure

If your website has been online for a while then you have likely built some value for your current website through internal and inbound links. Before you develop your new website it’s important to keep in mind that any changes to the URL of any existing pages will diminish the value of those pages. With this in mind, and wherever possible, you should maintain the same URLs and linking structure in your new website.

If your website has a large number of pages indexed by Google or if internal pages on your current website are already ranking you should use the same URL structure for those pages so that all previous links do not need to be redirected. If your current website uses a search-engine-friendly link structure it would be best for SEO purposes if that structure was carried across to your new website.

Redirecting Old URLs

Now of course it would be ideal for your website’s SEO if you could keep the same URLs but in some cases you might not be able to. For example, there may be some pages on the old website that no longer exist when the new site is launched, such as old products or categories.

In these cases, even though an old link may no longer exist in the new website you can still maintain much of the SEO value by setting up a 301 redirect from the old URL to a similar or corresponding URL on the new site. If there is no corresponding page on the new site then you can simply setup the redirect to go to your homepage.

A 301 redirect tells search engines that a page has been permanently moved to a new location. Once this is picked up, whenever someone tries to access the old URL it will automatically redirect them to the new URL. 301 redirects can be setup using an htaccess file on Linux servers or through the backend of a Windows server.

Google Analytics

Commonly overlooked by many developers during the commotion of launching a new website is transferring your Google Analytics code to the new website before launching. Doing this ensures that there is no lost analytics data when the new website is launched, allowing you to see how the new website is performing right away. You can also create an annotation within Google Analytics for the date the new site launched. This comes in handy when you are comparing website performance before and after the launch.

Conversion Tracking

A new website can also mean that there will be new actions available on your website, or at least changes to the existing ones. Perhaps you have a new enquiry form or maybe a new ecommerce section to sell products.

If you have new conversion targets available when the new site launches, be sure to add new Goals in Google Analytics, or any other tracking software you use, using the ‘thank you’ page URLs. If you have a new URL for the same type of conversion you should update the Goal tracking URL when the new site is launched.

Additionally, if you have any advertising campaigns running, such as Google AdWords, you will need to install the conversion tracking code on the new ‘thank you’ pages as well.

Title Tags & Meta Tags

If you optimised your old site for SEO then you likely updated the title tags and meta tags of your website. When launching a new website, you may need to re-optimise the new site in the same way using your target SEO keywords.

Whatever the case may be you should always review the new website before launching to make sure it is optimised for search engines. If your home page or any internal pages from the old site are already ranking and you want to keep those rankings then you should also make sure that the new website maintains similar title tags and meta tags for each page.

And be sure to optimise the title tags and meta description tags for any new pages that have been created, to help them rank better.

Home Page Link

A common mistake made on many websites is having multiple versions of the homepage; for example, a website could be displayed as example.com, www.example.com, example.com/index.html, etc. It is SEO best practice to ensure the home page is accessible through a single URL (eg www.example.com) and then ensuring that any pages linking to the home page use this URL in the link. This includes the navigation menu, the logo, the footer links and so on.

Additionally, once the preferred format is selected (with or without the ‘www’ in the URL) a 301 redirect should be setup to redirect the other format to the preferred version. For example, if you prefer to have your website display as www.example.com then you should setup a redirect to ensure the non-www version of the site redirects to the www version of the site.

Footer Links

Internal linking is essential in SEO to allow search engines to easily find the various sections of your website. Furthermore, the anchor text in links is used by search engines to help determine the topic of a web page. Footer links on a website are one of the best methods to assist search engines to find content on your website, to index internal pages, and to identify the content of the internal pages. When launching a new website, be sure to use footer links that have a purpose and use anchor text that corresponds to the keywords for which you want the pages of your website to rank.

Submit a New Sitemap to Google

After the new website is finalised and launched, you should create a new XML sitemap and submit it to Google for faster indexing of the new site. A great software tool that automatically generates an XML sitemap is XML-sitemaps.com.

Once the sitemap file for the new website is generated, upload it to the root folder of your website and submit the file in the Sitemaps section of Google Webmaster Tools.

Monitor Google Webmaster Tools

With all the planning that can go into launching a new website, there can still be instances of technical issues or a drop in rankings. The Diagnostics section of Google Webmaster Tools offers a range of options to identify and repair these issues.

Over the first few weeks after launching your new website you should check this section of Webmaster Tools to see if Google has picked up any errors. In particular, there are two sections to monitor closely:

1. Crawl errors – This section provides a list of pages that Google was unable to access, the details of the error, and in some cases the source of the error. This tool can also be of great use in identifying any pages from the old website that no longer exist and were missed during the above step. Whatever the reason, if any URLs are listed in this section you should either resolve the issue with the specific page or setup a 301 redirect to a similar page.
2. HTML suggestions – This tool identifies errors in the titles and meta tag content of your website, such as missing or duplicate title tags. Any pages listed in this section should be optimised for search engines as suggested above.

Following these suggestions will definitely help you keep your hard-earned rankings and traffic. Be sure to keep these in mind prior to starting development on your new website, and even pass them on to your web designers. Most of us have heard that prevention is the best medicine, and launching a new website is no different. It’s far easier, and generally less expensive, to prevent issues from happening than it is to fix them.