The steps to identifying and choosing the right search engine optimization expert

Search engines are the primary way most people find new web sites, but web site designers forget this when they create sites. Often, site designers make the mistake of building the web site, then contacting a search engine optimization specialist to ensure the site is search-engine friendly.

They have it backwards. A search engine optimization specialist should be brought in before the site is even designed, not after the site has been built. Such specialists, who focus on ways of landing web pages near the top of search results, can look at design templates and tell if a site’s navigation scheme, layout and keyword structure might be problematic. Addressing design and copywriting issues early in the design and redesign of a web site can save companies time and expense.

But there are search engine optimization specialists and there are search engine optimization specialists. Many people who consider themselves specialists place keywords and keyword phrases inside of HTML tags without considering an overall online marketing strategy. A true specialist, though, writes for the search engines, analyzes site statistics, has a thorough knowledge of spider-friendly HTML, has considerable experience with search engine optimization in multiple industries and stays up-to-date on search engine happenings. And to top it off, the ideal search engine optimization specialist in retailing has, if not merchandising experience, at least a good understanding of the principles of merchandising and product promotion.

This article addresses important points to consider when looking for a search engine optimization specialist to work on your site.

1. Know a search engine from a directory

A true search engine optimization specialist knows the differences between spider-based search engines (Google, FAST Search, Inktomi, Teoma, AltaVista) and human-based search directories (Yahoo, Open Directory, Business.com). Spider-based search engines crawl sites looking for identifying tags that will determine how and when the page appears in search results. A human-based search engine employs cadres of researchers to look at millions of sites and categorize them according to what the researcher deems appropriate.

Strategies for being listed well in search engines differ from strategies for being listed well in directories. Search engine optimization is designing, writing, and coding in HTML a web site to maximize the chance that web pages will appear at the top of spider-based, search engine results for selected keywords and phrases. Factors that affect search engine visibility include keyword density, that is, the ratio of keywords to the total number of words on a page; keyword placement, the positioning of keywords in title and other tags and in alternative areas, such as in image descriptions; keyword prominence, how high up on a page a keyword appears; and link popularity.

Search directories, by contrast, require that the site operator select the most appropriate directory categories for a web site and write descriptions that concisely and accurately describe the content of the site. Factors that affect directory placement are selecting the right category and writing a good description.

Editors will modify a directory listing if the company name, description, or web address is no longer accurate. Since it is nearly impossible to modify a directory listing after your initial submission, a search engine optimization specialist should emphasize the importance of doing it right the first time.

2. Do keyword research

A considerable amount of an SEO specialist’s time should be spent on researching keywords your target audience is most likely to type in a search query and incorporating these into your web pages. You will be surprised to find what your audience is typing in. For instance, shoppers searching for a necklace won’t search just for necklace. They might search for 18K gold chain necklace, or jewelry AND necklace AND gold, or where can I find an 18K gold chain necklace online.

Jeremy Sanchez is a representative from Position Technologies, a firm specializing in paid inclusion and trusted feed programs for all of the major search engines. Position Technologies receives massive amounts of click-through data each day. “75% of all search queries in our Inktomi data are three terms or longer,” Sanchez says. “And very few search queries are alike. For every 50 clicks a URL receives, 90% of the search queries are different.”

The most important tags in an SEO specialist’s arsenal are title tags and the main body text. Secondary in importance are meta-tags, alternative text and comment tags. Meta-tags are HTML tags that give information about a web page’s content but do not affect how a page is displayed on a browser. Alternative text is the text placed inside a graphic image. Comment tags are used to hide content from browsers. Designers use these tags to keep web page content more organized. Meta-tags, alternative text and comment tags are supplemental; having extra keywords in these tags alone will not give long-term results.

3. There are no guarantees

No one should guarantee a search engine ranking. A credible, experienced, and knowledgeable search engine optimization specialist can demonstrate results from past performance but cannot guarantee future results.

Except for pay-for-placement search engines, such as Overture.com, no one can guarantee top positions because there are third parties—the directory editors and the search engines—who have all the control. In fact, all major search engines have a disclaimer stating that they decide which web sites to include in their indices.

4. Beware of cloaking and doorway pages

Search engines have made it clear that the web page delivered to the search engine spider and the web page delivered to the end user should contain the same content. If not, the search engines remove the site from the database. Prime examples of this form of search engine deviousness are the widely reported adult-content sites a few years ago that encoded the phrase “Barney the dinosaur” in their home pages as a way to trick people into coming to their sites.

Some programmers practice a variation of this theme by creating what are known as “doorway” pages. These programmers look at which sites are coming up high in search results, then copy the code from the those sites and repeat it numerous times on pages they create as a way to get those pages high in search results. Then when users click on the link in the results, the page re-directs them to the site for which the programmer is working. These programmers are not search engine optimization specialists. And search engines will quickly drop such pages from their databases. In fact, to search engines they are a form of spam. “FAST considers spam to be pages created deliberately to trick the search engine into offering inappropriate, redundant, or poor-quality search results,” Tim Mayer, vice president of web search for FAST, says.

Search engines also often will not direct users to sites whose content is hidden from spiders. Some sites like to cloak their content because someone has told them that anyone can grab their content then figure out their marketing strategies. This is not true. You cannot determine a site’s online marketing strategy just by looking at a site’s meta tags. You cannot determine the most frequently visited pages, the pages that generate the highest sales conversions, least frequently visited pages, top pathways through the site, etc. Online marketing is a series of processes, not just placing words inside of a meta tag.

Displaying the content for search engines to find is the best way to get to the top of search lists. Hiding it from view and using a round-about software program to get into search results will only keep you out of the search engines’ databases. “There are often legitimate ways that a technique such as cloaking can be used but the vast majority of content providers that use these techniques are aiming to artificially increase the rank of their sites in search engine results,” Mayer says. “Content creators should be wary of using these techniques, as their content will draw extra examination by search engine software and personnel.”

IRCE 2008 Conference Multi-Media CD-ROM

5. Understand b2b and b2c differences

Another question to ask search engine optimization specialists is how much experience they have with b2c and b2b sites. The approaches that work with one are very different from the approaches that work with the other. With a b2b site, where a product or service can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, the user will probably do considerable research, then talk to a company representative before making a purchase.

With a b2c site, however, encouraging site visitors to make a purchase right away is paramount, especially during Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Christmas. To ensure a quick turnaround time for the holiday seasons, a search engine optimization specialist should have experience with the different types of pay-per-click and paid inclusion programs at the major search engines.

And they should be familiar with the data feed programs, usually used by b2b sites. “For retailers with dynamic (database-generated) sites, a good option is to work with one of the XML data feed programs, “ says Stephen Baker, vice president of FAST. “These programs enable retailers to provide product catalogs, for example, directly to the search engines for indexing and can be updated every couple of days. If optimization is required, the major search engines can recommend companies that they are partnered with.”

Teoma, Inktomi, and AltaVista offer trusted feed programs. Google offers the Froogle product for merchants. Search engine optimization experts can optimize data feeds to the search engines.

6. Give your audience
what it wants

To get the best long-term results, a web site should be constructed with quality content and a navigation scheme that search engines can easily spider. Make your pages easy to read. Give search engines and end users a navigation scheme that they can easily follow. Learn to write content using words and phrases your target audience will type into a search query. By giving your audience exactly what they are searching for via a search engine query, you are not only helping boost your sales, you are also adding value to the search engines.

Shari Thurow is marketing director at Grantastic Designs, a full-service search engine marketing, web and graphic design firm. This is excerpted from her book, Search Engine Visibility, published in January 2003 by New Riders Publishing Co. She can be reached at shari@grantasticdesigns.com.

After a retailer has chosen a search engine optimization expert, the retailer needs to focus on search engine results. Here are five areas that Stuart Larkins, vice president of partner services at Performics Inc., urges retailers to pay attention to:

1. Uncovering numbers improves conversion rates

Don’t focus on traffic numbers alone; identify visitors. One retailer realized that much of its traffic was coming from overseas locations outside of its target market. To remedy the situation, the marketer lowered keyword bid prices in the evening to incur fewer click-throughs from overseas users; conversion rates climbed thereafter.

2. If marketers don’t manage their brand, affiliates will

Above all else, own brand-related keywords; do not allow affiliate partners to become unnecessary intermediaries that outbid on crucial terms to create commissions for themselves.

3. Managing keywords is like parenting

Some blossom into productive marketing vehicles; others simply do not reach their potential. They sometimes react strongly to their surroundings; a keyword that delivers on Google might lose its edge when implemented at another engine, much like an outgoing student who becomes a wallflower at a new school. Search engines cater to demographically diverse user groups, which leads to different searches and different reactions to search results.

4. Cohesiveness drives sales

Customize copy for each keyword. Ranking will get you noticed, but appropriate copy will earn you more visitors and sales.

5. Smooth landings increase buys

One retailer sent visitors who searched the term “khaki pants” to a page on its site that offered women’s and men’s khakis. Because conversion rates were too low and the vast majority of khakis sold were men’s, the landing page was redirected to men’s khaki pants and conversion rates climbed dramatically.