SEO is not a “set it and forget it” type thing. Not if you want to get your website and pages top ranked.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a process similar to building a multi-tiered wedding cake.
There is ongoing SEO, that sits on top of advanced SEO techniques, which are put on top of basic search engine optimization – or the “fundamentals.” You can’t get a top ranked website without building one layer at a time. And like the best wedding cakes, it takes the right “ingredients,” expertise, time, and patience.
Basic search engine optimization includes:
* Creating a search engine friendly, or “crawler” friendly website (design)
* Reviewing competitive sites, their current placement, their strategies (strengths, weaknesses)
* Identifying the appropriate keywords and keyword phrases
* Optimizing page content to create “relevancy” (which is what Google is primarily looking for)
* Building an optimized navigation scheme that is search engine friendly but also user-friendly
* Correctly programmed/written page title tags that are unique for each page of your website
* Correctly programmed/written meta-tags: description, keywords, robots, etc.
* Getting your website recognized by Google
* Getting ALL of the pages of your website recognized by Google (and other search engines)
* Installing Google Analytics for tracking website traffic, configuration, testing
* Installing Google Webmaster tools, configuration, testing
* Monitoring movement (i.e. are we moving up in rank, yes, no, how quickly)
* Making adjustments to pages and page title tags as necessary
* Building inbound links to the website from outside sources (very important!)
In most cases, this is a process that takes between an hour and two hours per page. Keep in mind, these are just the basics and primarily “on-site” factors.
If any of these variables are not appropriately and precisely addressed, it will adversely impact your ability to get pages at your website top ranked.
Also see: New Website Design & Development Overview
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