Whether you understand the complex algorithms of Search Engine organic placement or you don’t even know what Search Engine Optimization is, there are simple things you can do to improve your ranking on Internet Search Engines. For the purpose of this article we are going to concentrate on the use of keywords.
I recently had a Client who was frustrated that they were not getting the traffic they wanted from their website. The first thing I did was search for “Real Estate Orlando” (not actual city for anonymity). Keep in mind he owns one of the largest Real Estate companies in his city. Yet the company failed to rank within the first two pages of results in the search. So we went on to evaluate his website.
Keywords
The first thing that jumped out at me was that the company’s Home Page had very little wording in fact “Real Estate” was only written once on the sidebar and “Orlando” and the markets he served were not anywhere on the page except. This means that the search engine spiders looking at this site are not going to consider his geographic location very relevant to the search terms. When someone puts any variation of “Homes for Sale Orlando,” “Orlando Property” etc, his site will not show up.
Spiders will start “viewing” your Home Page and work their way in through your site. If the Home Page does not have a strong relevance to the keywords people are searching then it will drastically hurt your ranking.
The point here, the advice to you is to be sure you are using the keywords on the home page of your website and every page where it is reasonable to do so; the keywords that are most likely to be searched by your audience, home buyers and sellers. Those include the areas you serve, Real Estate, Homes, Townhomes, Condos, Commercial, the list is endless. It includes all your specialties. Do a search of Real Estate Tulsa Oklahoma or Homes for Sale and use your location and state. Click on the top three organic sites that come up and notice the keywords they use.
Notice how often they are used and the prominence they have on the page; their use as headlines, in bold, etc.
Framing
Another thing I noticed was that Home Page of his company’s website was consumed by a Property Search function that was being framed from another source. Framing is basically fitting another website within the look of your site.
The problem is that framing carries no importance for Search Engine ranking. So all that space used for this was doing literally nothing to help his Search Engine Optimization.
Simple Solutions
We spent several sessions discussing the steps to increase optimizing his placement. We compiled relevant keywords and found places all over every page throughout the site to where they could be inserted. We moved the framed property search to within the website.
Within three weeks he was ranking fairly high in the search engine when “Real Estate for Sale Orlando” was entered into the search engine. It didn’t cost him anything but his Admin’s time.
Fresh Eyes
Take a look at your website.
Truly look at it with fresh eyes.
Does your site immediately explain to visitors what you do and the benefit to them? Are you using keywords throughout your site to explain each product or service? Are those keywords prominently placed in headlines and bold print? Are you limiting graphics, framing and pictures that don’t help your SEO especially on your Home Page? Are you thinking like your prospective clients to use keywords that THEY would use and not just writing casually and carelessly?
Remember that Search Engines give more importance to words that are placed higher on the page or are a larger font or bolded. Repeat important keywords as often as possible without sounding silly or redundant. Re-phrase features and benefits so that you both reinforce them and you repeat keywords in ways that read naturally.
Create section titles using keywords. Be sure to have the title of your company, product, service or name in text not just a logo or image. Be sure to have the city and state in text somewhere on your home page. Most of these changes can be done with little research, little time and no expense.
Rich Levin is a coach and speaker whose focus is teaching Agents to understand and control their business. And through that understanding achieve exceptional happiness and wealth in their life. Rich is President of Rich Levin’s Success Corps Inc. Contact Rich at 585-244-2700.