About a year ago, Google made a change to their searching algorithm that made keywords almost irrelevant—unless you were a subscriber to their AdWords service, of course.
This made the job of the SEO much more difficult for those who relied on our keywords to move up in the ranks.
There are better ways to ensure a high ranking website however, and they are simple in theory, but take discipline to implement.
1) Stay relevant.
If you care about your website ranking, and want to ensure you stay on the first page, then part of your job is going to be updating your site. This means changing out some pictures, adding new content, getting rid of old content, and keeping your site current with what is happening in the world. Blogs are a good way to do this. Tweets help, social media, an updated LinkedIn® profile, Facebook, and so on. Link these all to your site and update them REGULARLY.
2) Promote your products using “real words.”
One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen in website copy are the use of Fancy Words. As awesome as it is to see a college education in play, most people don’t speak or think in Fancy Words. They think and speak in terms of real words. So if I want to buy a coffee maker, I am going to search “cheapest best coffee maker.” The first item I turn up is Mr. Coffee 4-cup Coffee Maker. Amazing! It’s the brand I actually own. I paid $19 bucks for it, and it does the job. That was a smart copywriter. If that copywriter had used Fancy Words, I would have read about a superlative, affordable coffee brewer. But who thinks (or speaks) like that? NO ONE. Hence, don’t use Fancy Words in your copy. Use words that real people use.
3) Use images strategically and ALWAYS caption them.
Google has this nifty search option where you can search just for images. I use it often when I don’t want to search through pages and pages of irrelevant text-based websites. I am looking for something specific that I will recognize when I SEE it, not when I read it. Pictures, when tied into an overall marketing strategy, captioned properly can put your site on the front. In doing a quick search on “video production Los Angeles” the third picture in turned up a crew, and website that was interesting enough to click on. The caption: “Our video production team based in Los Angeles.” Pretty nifty, right?
So even though the keywords are now hidden from public view it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t still think with ways to get and keep your website at the top. Hopefully these tips will help you get there.
See you on Page 1!
- Three Copywriting Tips for Search Engine Optimization - April 17, 2015