October 2005
SEO: Team Tactics for Success [Part 2]
The best SEO strategies involve everyone in your office.
By Lisa Landrud Lynham
In August we showcased three steps to work together to get your SEO done right. Now we'll fill you in on the remaining two steps.
Read part 1 of the series.
Search engine optimization, or SEO, has become the latest buzzword tossed around by marketing executives, CEOs, and webmasters alike. Everyone wants it, but getting it is another story—too often, that perfect state of "optimization" seems just out of reach.
"A successful SEO campaign requires cooperation and collaboration—
and often, compromise—by all members of the team."
Why? Sure, SEO requires time, money, and mind share that feel about as strategic as a game of roulette. But the real trick to optimization has nothing to do with luck and everything to do with skill; a successful SEO campaign requires cooperation and collaboration—and often, compromise—by all members of the team. SEO happens in the sweet spot where business objectives, marketing strategy, editorial integrity, design aesthetic, and smart Web programming meet. While your SEO consultant can make tactical recommendations that generate impressive initial results, continued maintenance and growth require an internal team effort.
4. Talk to Your Web Developer.
Search engines use complex algorithms to formulate a "page rank" based on elements found in the source code of every Web page. (Download Google's "PageRank" toolbar to expose the rank of the pages you browse. Mozilla Firefox users download a modified version.) Some programming technologies such as Flash and frames may be obvious to the front-end user. Other back-end technologies are not, so check with your Web developer to be sure your pages are up to code. Better yet, include them in the discussions to ensure the pages are created correctly.
Important dos:
- Place keywords in metatags, title tags, and file names (the URL)
- Use your image's "alt" attribute (and include keywords!)
- Tag your headlines with "h1", "h2", and so on (even if you use style sheets)
- Create a site map page with links to every page on your site. Put a text link to your site map on every page. This link serves as a portal for search engine spiders.
- Use a robots.txt page to keep spiders from indexing non-public pages of your site.
- Don't use Flash, frames, Javascript, or image maps for navigation unless you have a site map text link on the page. Search engines can't read these technologies.
- Don't create images for headlines, even if you place the headline in the "alt" tags—they're still not as important as "h1" text
- Don't create multiple pages with the same content (for instance, printer-friendly pages) without including them on your robots.txt page. Better yet, use style sheets for printer-friendly pages.
- Don't use 301 non-permanent redirects. Search engines are suspicious of them. Use 301 permanent redirects instead.
5. Keep It Up.
To achieve continuous results, it's important to keep your content and your SEO knowledge updated. The more you update your content, grow your backlinks, and use your keywords, the more search engine spiders will keep returning to your site and indexing your pages. If you don't update your website, search engines will interpret it as stagnant and out of date.
SEO technology is constantly changing, so make sure your team is up-to-date. Here are some helpful resources:
Search Engine Watch: Membership entitles you to more resources, but the free areas are valuable as well.
Web Master World: This news site largely consists of search engine-related news.
About the author:
Tendo production manager Lisa Landrud is tracking all the clicks to this article.
