Today’s Monday Marketing Meeting is about taking control of your own search engine optimization or SEO. While there are factors that you have little control over such as inbound links, there are on-page optimization techniques that can help your site’s performance. Links are one such technique.
A link is composed of anchor text, which is the text that contains the link, and the link itself. We associate links with underlined text. The basic link code will look like this:
Best practices will dictate that a link should never look just like this. There are several reasons for this. It represents missed opportunities and lost chances. Here are some things to consider.
Keep your page open.
Without specifying how the link should open, the default will open the link in the present tab and window. By clicking the link, the visitor has just left your site. No longer do you have an opportunity to sell. You gave it freely to the next guy. Rather, you can force the link to open in a new window or tab. The visitor can view the other information, close it when done, and return to your site. This is accomplished by adding this bit of code:
A title appears when the link is hovered. It is also an opportunity to use keywords, as long as appropriate. Keyword help search engines know what your page is about.
Use keywords in your anchor text.
Keywords in your content are important in establishing your authority on a subject by increasing your keyword density. Optimal density is three to five percent of content. Using generic anchor text like “Click Me” or “Read More” represent lost opportunities.
Help your colleagues, but don’t waste your link juice.
The secrets of the Google algorithm mystify us and keep us guessing. It is believed that Google will penalize paid links on a site. To keep hold of your link juice, add the rel attribute.
One thing that I’ve found useful to help me remember to add all of this additional information is to use a program called Texter. I set up a hot string so that when I’m in the code portion of my content, a few keystrokes fill this information in for me.
As a self-representing artist, you have to leverage any and all advantages you can find. Optimizing your code is one way you can control those on-page factors that can improve your SEO.
Monday, 12. October 2009
Hi Chris,
Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment re: using scotch tape as masking. I’m going to do some tests
And, wow! Lots of info for this technology challenged soul to soak up in this post!
You’ve got a great looking website and blog. Go girl!!