I discussed keyword research and keyword mapping in detail in the previous two articles in this series on content optimization. But keyword research is like any form of data collection and analysis: It won’t drive a single additional organic search visit or sale until it’s acted upon. With their keyword maps firmly in hand, content creators and search marketers can effectively and efficiently create or optimize content that turns those potentially valuable keywords into real search-engine-optimization traffic.

It’s obvious when content is written for search engines instead of customers. It tends to focus on high keyword density — having a higher ratio of keywords to other words — and tends to lack readability and interest. Instead of this, inform writers of the keyword theme for the page and let them write freely and creatively with the keywords and the brand messaging in mind. When they’re finished writing, go back over the fresh copy with an eye to replacing some phrases with keyword phrases. Be careful not to kill the spirit of the content in the process.

Where keywords are placed can have a big impact on how strong a keyword relevance signal they send to the search engines. This is referred to as “keyword prominence.” If a page is meant to rank for “online games for girls” but the keywords related to that phrase aren’t used on the page in prominent places, it will have a difficult time ranking. So before we start flinging words around the page, keep these content optimization guidelines in mind.

Read more of this article on Content Optimization»

The Complete Series: “Optimizing a Page for Search Engines”

• Part 1: Keyword Research
• Part 2: Keyword Mapping
• Part 3: Keywords to Content
• Bonus: Title Tag Optimization for Ecommerce Sites

Keyword research is essential to search engine optimization. It’s the window into the words that real searchers use to find products like the ones you sell. But at the end of the keyword research process — detailed in “Part 1: Keyword Research” — search marketers can be overwhelmed by the vast amount of data staring at them from their Excel spreadsheets. Keyword categorizing and mapping help move the optimization process from the research phase to the actual optimization phase.

Categorizing Keywords

During the keyword research process, patterns start to appear. Different types of keywords emerge that can be logically grouped into different categories that reflect the site’s business goals and core product offerings. For example, if my site sells subscriptions to online games for kids, my keyword research could be 12,000 phrases or more based on the research conducted in Google’s free Keyword Tool. But because each keyword is needs to be related to my core product offering, I can start to categorize them and delete the ones that aren’t directly relevant.

Let’s say that my site sells games. But it doesn’t sell just any games; it sells online games for kids. That’s three vital components to choosing keywords that are specifically targeted to my product offering: “types of games,” “online vs. offline,” and synonyms for the word “kids,” as listed in the spreadsheet, below.

See the diagrams and read more on how to categorize & map keywords »

Optimizing title tags is a bit like eating your vegetables. No one wants to do it, but everyone knows it’s good for you. Search engine optimization professionals universally agree that title tags are the most influential on-page element. SEOmoz recently confirmed the importance of title tags in a report that strongly correlated title tag optimization to higher rankings.

The guidelines for optimizing title tags are simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Begin the tag with the most valuable and relevant keyword phrase, use the exact keyword phrase, end with the brand, and keep the length to 70 characters or less.

Read more about the finer points of optimizing title tags »

Search engine optimization typically focuses on the trophy terms, the high-volume keyword phrases, because marketers need to drive the highest value with the lowest effort. Unfortunately, those juicy trophy terms are great for brand recognition and customers’ initial awareness, but they typically don’t convert as well as the less commonly searched long tail phrases. But optimizing a site manually for the millions of phrases that could drive converting customers to a site just isn’t scalable or possible with limited resources. User generated content such as reviews and question-and-answer sections can solve the problem by outsourcing long tail optimization to your own customers.

User generated content — UGC — is great for SEO for a couple of reasons. First, when customers write reviews or ask and answer questions about a site’s products, they use different words than marketers use. Customers tend to use the same words that other customers and searchers use. Enabling UGC on a site, therefore, ensures the best of both worlds: The product descriptions and category level content will be written by marketers using the brand voice, and the UGC will be written by customers using the voice of the customer.

Read more »

After working with ecommerce SEO clients for several years, I’m about fed up with “search friendly” platforms, content management systems & site features. They all come with their own baggage, their own set of issues that need to be tested for and controlled. Which takes IT resources. Which are hard to come by, especially when you’re talking about something as difficult to determine ROI for as structural SEO updates.

And invariably, the client isn’t jazzed about revising their platform to optimize structural SEO issues because they thought they bought something that was good for SEO in the first place.

The problem is, SEO friendliness is more than enabling automated & manually customizable title tags. It’s how functionality impacts URLs, how many URLs are generated for each page of content, whether the navigation path affects URL structure, how tracking parameters are passed, whether sorting modifies the URL, whether categories and products are assigned unique persistent IDs, whether IDs are reused, and many many more questions that impact SEO.

I’m looking for the platform that enables and enforces a single URL for a single page of content that is system-optimized for a unique automated keyword phrase, which can be overwritten by manual optimization. ONE URL, ONE page, ONE unique keyword theme. Across thousands of pages on an ecommerce site.

If there’s a platform out there that does this without heavy customization, I haven’t worked with it yet. Pray tell, what’s your favorite “search friendly” platform?

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Think what an optimization campaign around [location] + [charity gifts] or [christmas donations] could do for a local charity. Say a seasonal program attracts 100 volunteers — what if SEO could attract 20% more? I’ve reached out to help my favorite charity optimize for next year since this year is essentially a wash for holiday optimization. Next year, look for http://www.mompop.org at the top of the SERPs for [madison charity gifts]!

I finally stumbled on MOM (Middleton Outreach Ministry), a local charity serving the western part of Madison, WI. Like many charities, MOM is a local operation staffed by hard-working volunteers and a few employees that wear too many hats to focus on online marketing. Even the national or global charities tend to lack strong SEO savvy. What would they optimize for? Keyword research would light the way, of course.

I did some quickie keyword research to find the optimal annualized keyword phrase for holiday and Christmas donation gifts. The keyword market isn’t huge, and the data for Madison-based phrases is even tinier since we’re not a major metro area. In the end I had to settle for non-location-specific keyword phrases, logically prepended with location. Here’s what I came up with:

The tricky thing with keyword research is intent. When folks search for [charitable gifts] they may be looking for general charities to donate to as opposed to the intent I had in my search, giving holiday gifts through a charity. The non-holiday keywords are incredibly valuable, of course, but will probably be utilized at the top of the site’s hierarchy. [Christmas donations], [holiday giving], [holiday charities] and [charity christmas gifts] are more on target for the seasonal holiday charity campaign’s landing page.

So let’s look at an example. MOM’s Madison Christmas donations page appears to target the program’s name: Sharing Christmas Program. That’s handy for folks who saw another form of marketing and already know the program exists, but it’s not going to get them a lot of natural search-referred traffic or donations.

While the page mentions some of the optimal individual words, none of the valuable phrases are incorporated together. Here’s what I would do for the Title Tag: Christmas Donations: Madison Charity Christmas Gifts & Holiday Charitable Gift Giving

That one string targets my primary phrase of [christmas donations] and touches six secondary keyword phrases either by exact match or with another word interrupting the exact phrase:

• [charity gifts]
• [donation gifts]
• [charitable gift giving]
• [holiday giving]
• [charity christmas gifts]
• [charity christmas gift]

In addition, the heading, body copy and meta description should be optimized for the primary and secondary keywords. The best I can do for them for this year’s holiday giving season is give a link, but next year we’ll be ready with optimization a-blazing!

Learn more about Madison charity MOM, volunteer or donate, or visit their blog or Facebook page.

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A site redesign or switch to a new platform is kind of like a rebirth – it’s one of the most exciting and nerve-wracking times for the entire Internet marketing team. With everyone caught up in the branding, design, usability and technology, the impact on SEO can sometimes be forgotten until the last minute.

I wrote this article on redesigning a site with SEO in mind back in July for MultichannelMerchant.com and gave up looking for it to be published… so I missed its publish date in September. Maybe you did too. Here’s a redux of the original article.

While it’s difficult to determine what the natural search impact will be until working code hits a development server, keeping several mantras in mind and repeating them liberally will keep the team focused on the most critical elements to plan for SEO success. I love these mantras — I actually say them to myself as I’m auditing sites.

SEO Development Mantras

1. Links must be crawlable with JavaScript, CSS and cookies disabled.
2. Plain text must be indexable on the page with JavaScript & CSS disabled.
3. Every page must send a unique keyword signal.
4. One URL for one page of content.
5. We’re going to 301 that, right?

When a site is stable on the development environment and the URLs are ironed out, identify a 301 redirect plan, build the new XML sitemap and make sure you have a measurement plan in place to measure the impact of the relaunch.

All this in more detail at the original article at Multichannel Merchant: http://multichannelmerchant.com/ecommerce/0901-using-seo-redesign/index.html

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