Are you one of the millions of online entrepreneurs who are constantly fretting over your website’s position in the search engine results? If yes, it is time for you to pay attention to the website’s SEO, in terms of analyzing its various aspects, and checking its techniques.
For the uninitiated, SEO is an acronym for the phrase ‘Search Engine Optimization’, and it is best described as the magic wand that can render your web pages visible in the vast galaxy of the Internet. When expertly handled, it can become a powerful online marketing strategy for pulling your website out of the depths of oblivion and making it a hotspot of attention.
But for this to happen, you need to be aware of everything that SEO encompasses, from components and techniques, to analysis and improvement.
SEO Components
There are two main components that mark the starting point of SEO, and they are –
- On-page Optimizing, wherein keywords are added to the web pages, and used as optimized links to connect them all;
- Off-page Optimizing, wherein keywords from authority sites are placed on the web pages and are meant to function as outbound links;
Since both are based on keywords and link building, these two aspects should serve as the points of focus while working on optimization requirements.
Much of the research should be devoted towards –
- Identifying the right set of keywords for every page;
- Assigning keywords to each page as per the purpose, for example, the products page should have keywords that specifically describe the offerings listed on the page;
- Ensuring appropriate placement of the keywords so that they can be easily intercepted by the search engines and play an active role in the website’s ranking;
- Finding authority websites for qualitative link building;
This is the first step towards getting noticed by the search engines, and eventually contributing towards improving rankings.
Understanding SEO Analysis
Most website owners make the mistake of not revising the SEO after a period of time. While it is true that SEO tools used at the time of setting up the website are well-researched and appropriate, fact remains that they may not always be as effective. Every time the market trends shift or the search engines tweak their algorithms, the existing SEO of the website becomes irrelevant and needs to be updated. This is where SEO analysis comes in.
Ideally you must conduct thorough SEO analysis of your website at least once every quarter. Aspects that you must check during the scrutiny are –
- Determine if the selected keywords/key phrases are still as relevant;
- Visibility of the website on search engines like Google, Bing, and so on;
- Frequency of visitors on the web pages;
- Whether PPC campaigns are as effective in attracting the target audience;
- Keyword density as per the latest updates;
- Relevance of links, both internal and external;
Having minutely analyzed every web page from the SEO perspective, the next step entails identifying what needs to be changed and how. Do bear in mind that whatever modifications you make must conform to the SEO best practices and count among the white hat techniques.
Outcome of SEO Analysis
The ultimate purpose of SEO analysis is to improve the website’s visibility so that it receives a high volume of traffic, which can gradually translate into increased conversions, and improved revenue. So, your next priority as the website owner should be to implement the outcome of SEO analysis so as to derive maximum benefit.
To this effect, listed as follows are the post-analysis modifications that you must implement –
On-page:
On every web page, to achieve optimization you must add –
- Meta tags and meta descriptions
- Headings and subheadings
- Alt tags for the images
- Anchor text
- Appropriate keyword density in the content
- SEO friendly page layout
- Linking all the pages of the website for smooth navigation
- URL structure
Off-page:
Equally important it is to carry out optimization beyond the website and its web pages by working on the following aspects –
- Link building, with authority sites, Internet directories, paid search engines, and relevant sources;
- Online publicity campaign;
- Generating blog posts;
- Using RSS, an acronym for Really Simple Syndication;
How Does SEO Analysis Benefit You?
Most of all, it enables you to beat the competition, or at least comprehend their tactics and apply the same on your web pages. If you are losing traffic to the competition, the implication is that you might be losing business to them too. Needless to point out, lower business leads to a decrease in revenue, stunted growth, and missed opportunities, leaving you with a feeling that you could have done better.
Other benefits that you stand to accrue from SEO analysis are –
- An opportunity to identify and fix issues;
- Figure out the reason for the drop in traffic;
- Chart your website’s progress and future growth strategy;
- Weed out the toxic links and repair the broken links;
- Improve the page upload time;
At the end of the exercise, you will have realized the missing aspects and rectified them as per the results.
Final Thoughts
Before starting on SEO analysis, you must benchmark the existing search engine rankings of your website and compare it to that of others in the same niche. This will not just give you an idea of where you stand in terms of your own SEO, but also what you might be missing. Doing so will also enable you to understand the impact, especially when you compare the two positions after the on-page and off-page optimization.
Another aspect that you must check is whether there are multiple versions of your website on the Internet. There are times when search engines feature duplicate copies of your website, and while this may be a default action, it does pull down the overall rank regardless of SEO. As far as possible, just have one version of your website on the search engines in order to reap maximum benefits of the various optimization techniques.
Frequent SEO analysis does have the added benefits of preventing your website from crashing time and again, thus adding to your credibility. Therefore, this is an exercise that should always be treated as a priority and never be overlooked or ignored.