Get to the top of Google

In this book extract you will learn:

* Seven steps to increase your prominence on Google
* What “Discovery-Attractiveness-Deployment” is
* How to choose search phrases and key words
* Free Google tools to help you reach more buyers.

As markets tense and the global financial crisis digs deeper, technology marketers are looking for more efficient and effective ways of marketing. As traditional media goes into a tailspin, online marketing continues to be buoyant because of its ability to deliver targeted, quantifiable and specific results. Of all online advertising tactics, search is the crown prince because the Internet has dramatically shaped buying behaviour. What do we do before we buy anything nowadays? Google it!

However to win with search marketing you need to know how to increase the effectiveness of your Web efforts and gain better visibility on Google (and other search engines.) In Get to the top of Google, David Viney shares his expertise in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) in helpful detail. Have you wondered if you need professional input in this area? In this book you get expert guidance, copywriting, site design and Web information to supplement your search efforts, and boost your visibility and sales. Viney explains how to assess your current results.

Only 16% of Google's searchers look beyond the first two pages of search results, but with so many people researching purchases on the 'net and with 40% of shopping soon to be online, being on these two pages is crucial. Marketers must practice “Search Engine Optimisation” (SEO) to be at the top of the list. In this book extract you can find out how to use the “Discover-Attractiveness-Deployment” (D-A-D) process to select the best key words and phrases to boost your Web site's position on a Google search; how you deploy your key words to make your site more attractive to the Googlebot; and how to design Web pages so that they end up in Google's main index.

The Power of Google Searches

Millions of people use Google to search the Internet. However, studies demonstrate that only 16% of these searchers read past the second page of their results. Many businesspeople dream of having masses of customers find their merchandise on the Web so they can sell to a new audience worldwide. While a few companies realize this dream, most do not.

The Web doesn't guarantee visibility. You have to go after it and claim your position by developing relationships, and offering smart design and solid content. Act now. Your competitors are already working hard to grab a share of rapidly growing online sales.

The process of refining a Web site to become more visible to Google searchers is called “Search Engine Optimization” (SEO). Clearly, some businesses are using SEO to get great placement on Google and other search engines. They have learned how to employ available resources to attract potential consumers and convert them into actual paying customers. They have realized their dreams and achieved better search positions not by luck, but by understanding how Google and other search engines really work.

The SEO steps below reflect the methods that these winning companies use, though they might not state them in exactly the same way. Put them to work to rev up your Web marketing efforts, use Google more efficiently, improve your site and get visitors who will make purchases.

People search the Web using particular words and phrases they hope will lead them to the sites they want. To be sure they find your site, include the most effective key words and phrases. Before you can decide which ones are best, you must identify what products you will sell online and describe different types of potential customers. Determine what goods each kind of consumer will want, and what you can do to improve your site so searchers find it and become customers.

“The nearer to the number-one position your business gets, the greater the chances that you will actually convert your visitors to sales.”

Begin with the three-step “Discovery-Attractiveness-Deployment” (D-A-D) process of identifying and implanting the most appropriate, effective key words and phrases:

1. Discovery - Create a list of every possible search word that might relate to your business. This list will be too long and cumbersome, but you will mine and refine it to get just the right words and word combinations.

2. Attractiveness - Select words and phrases that are simultaneously popular enough to use, but unique enough to your business to help your target customer find you. A popular phrase that brings up millions of pages will be useless, as will a phrase that might find only your business, but that no one knows or would ever think of when searching.

3. Deployment - “The basic rules of key word deployment are prominence, proximity and density.” Take the top words and phrases on your refined list, and place them prominently among your pages in close proximity to each other and in sufficient density to score with Google's ranking algorithms.

All modern search engines use armies of small programs called “bots” that search the Web, read pages, analyze their contents, and place their findings in various indexes that supply results to searchers. In Google's case, these programs are called, eponymously, Googlebot.

Understanding what Googlebot looks for (mostly text) and then providing it is called “courting the crawl,” a metaphor that depicts bots as spiders crawling through the Web. Your job is to provide the bots with a sitemap and to use files, such as robots.txt, to limit where they search your site. Picking the right hosting service for a new site is very important, as is understanding the crucial role that bandwidth plays in site performance.

“The search engines - and the traffic they bring - are fickle beasts. Forget this at your peril.”

What do we do before we buy anything nowadays? Google it!

Mandy de Waal, ITWeb contributor

While you should match cost and performance to your actual data volume, the cheapest options will almost certainly disappoint your customers and waste all the hard work you're doing to lure them to your site. Work with a Webmaster who understands the process of upgrading your Web service without creating interruptions. The quest to develop a great site is never finished. As your business grows, you will need more capacity.

Experience will teach you new things about your customers that you will want to implement. Your market will change in ways that will require adapting your site to new realities. Hire Web designers who understand efficient site design. Googlebot doesn't like sites with too many levels, but it also punishes sites that are too flat and endlessly wide. An experienced designer understands that to lure Googlebot, you must assign the right name to each page and design your directory structure with great precision.

Writing the appropriate words and phrases for your Web site is hard work and will take much more time than you first expect. But your goal is high visibility on Google's Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Only by learning to manipulate your pages carefully can you achieve the customer attention you desire.

“The route to a good Google ranking is to get a high quantity and quality of links to your pages from important, relevant and reliable sources.”

When Googlebot searches your site, it keys on certain words that its algorithms tell it describe the site. Google stores these words in a main index or a supplemental index.

Stay out of the supplemental index. While the exact nature of what Google places in the supplemental index is not perfectly understood, you increase your chances of being sidelined there if your pages are very similar to many other pages, if you make it hard for the Googlebot to crawl through your site or if your site is extremely large. The supplemental list is not a penalty box, but Google parses the pages there differently and presents them to searchers with less priority.

A professional Web copywriter can help ensure that you are making the very best use of every element on your pages. The challenge is that your pages must be accessible to search engine bots while remaining user-friendly and readable. Since you are already paying for bandwidth and want snappy performance for your customers, you may want to go the extra step and get professional help to assist you in making sure that the images, videos, documents and all other aspects of your site balance performance with visual quality. A professional will also understand how Google displays its results, how to determine if your pages are side-tracked in the supplemental list, and how to make sure that your site invites Web searchers to visit and buy.

Google does not publish its exact method for ranking Web sites, but it does pay attention to the sites that link to and refer to your site. Google uses widely studied functions called PageRank, TrustRank and text matching. Learn about them so you understand that creating a bunch of low-quality links will actually hurt your efforts to rank well.

One major area to ponder is how to use key word-rich text from other sites strategically within your pages. Create a popular site with more high-quality links than your competitors' sites.

Many companies are generating buzz by using social networking pages, such as YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, and other specialized sites and blogs. Seek out places to plant mentions and articles, including getting e-zines to mention your URL. You may be able to develop cooperative relationships with editors at other sites by providing content in return for having them build strong backlinks to your pages. If you use press releases, structure them properly for the Web.

Don't waste all your hard work by setting yourself up to get penalized by Google. Don't use hidden text, pay for inbound links or participate in backlink networks. Never be part of cloaking or hidden redirection. Use a Search Engine Spam Detector to examine your site and make sure you have not inadvertently created suspicious-looking pages or traffic. Be careful not to run afoul of Google's spam filters.

* David Vineyconsults for large companies and helps his clients optimise their marketing through search engines. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics and a chartered accountant

Get the full abstract of Get to the top on Google from Learn2Think. Simply go to this link, fill in the form and Learn2Think will email you an abstract of David Viney's Get to the top on Google for free.

Get to the top on Google
Search Engine Optimization and Website Promotion Techniques to Get Your Site to the Top of the Search Engine Rankings - and Stay There
By David Viney
Publisher: Nicholas Brealey (c) 2008
240 pages