News & Reviews

Website Optimisation (the technical side) Oct 09

Don't overlook the technical side
Site Optimisation is like a jigsaw puzzle. If you don't pay attention to all of the pieces in conjunction with each other, the overall effect is lost. Over the next few months, I will be helping you fit all these pieces together.

Once you have written some concise copy for your web pages, including information that is unique to your business and key words that will be used by people searching for you on Google as described last month, it's time to look at what else your website company can do to help you improve your search engine listings.

Here is a check list of things to discuss with your website company to ensure that your site is given the best chance of being found:

Page Indexing
Have all the pages of your website been indexed with Google?

Each page should have a clearly referenced and relevant Page title Meta tag which comprises an 8 to 10 word description. This is usually found right at the top of your web browser screen, next to the "e" internet explorer icon. For example, The Sanctuary website page on Spa Treatments has the title "Spa Treatments For Body, Face and Spa Treatments for Hands"

Following that, a Meta description should be written for each page. This is the short paragraph that you can read under each Google listing. It should be no more than 255 characters long, including spaces. Here is the Center Parcs Meta description for their Elvedon Forest Village page:
"center parcs, centre parcs, center parks, centre parks, suffolk breaks, suffolk holidays, weekend breaks, uk holidays, holiday cottages, family holidays"
If you have an e-commerce site, then it is advisable to write a Meta description for each product you are selling.

Page Headings
The main headings that you choose for each page should be treated separately from the body copy as these can be optimised for search engines.

Page Copy including Keywords and Key Phrases
As I have mentioned before, the first 200 - 250 words of each web page are the most important when it comes to search engines so it is wise to keep your copy short and succinct. Keep your key word density to about 5 - 10% of your page and try not to repeat copy from page to page, otherwise the search engines will think that it is spam. Your website company should be able to give you advice on this.

Image Tags
Just as every page can be given a description, so can every image that you insert into your site. Called Image text tags or Alt tags, these are short descriptions of 6 to 8 words that are picked up by search engines. You will see these when you hover your mouse over an optimised image. An example of this is the image on the spa page for The Chester Grosvenor Hotel which is described as "Chester Grosvenor & Spa, Five Star Hotel Chester"

It's easy to feel out of your depth when a programmer starts talking in code about code, but I encourage you to be bold and ask questions. When developing a website, all you will see is the visually appealing outer shell or "front end" of your website but it is the technical, invisible "backend" of your site that is the real powerhouse of your online business. It should be working 24/7 to bring you site visitors.

My thanks go to Ross Hawkins at The Carlton Institute and Duncan Thomas at www.pomegranatemedia.co.uk for helping me put together this month's Marketing tip.

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