Benjamin Rudnick

Alright… so far we have put SEO into Context, conducted our Keyword Research and put together a logical Site Architecture. Now it’s time to tie it all together with a smart Internal Linking Strategy!

Internal Linking
Linking within your website can be done many ways, such as:
•    Primary navigation
•    Left-hand (secondary) navigation
•    Footer Navigation
•    Breadcrumbs
•    From within the site copy or article, or
•    Inside a widget or module
The important thing to remember is to determine the pages on your website that matter the most, and make sure they are linked to from most (if not all) of the pages on your site. Also, make sure to keep those keywords in mind when creating the anchor text for those links

External Linking
Most of the webmasters I know who (claim to) understand PageRank, think that linking out is bad. They seem to think “Why should I share my PageRank with other sites?” Well,this is why…because there is more than one factor to ranking, and because the Search engines want you to be an expert on your topic. And how could you possibly be an expert if you don’t link out to other experts!?

Inbound Links
So… we’ve saved the best for last! Once webmasters start to get this SEO thing and understand the value of inbound links, the very next question is…”How do I get people to link to me?” Great question! I have worked with some of the best Link Developers in the country, as well as built my own in-house link team…and the options are threefold:
•    Earn them!
•    Ask for them!
•    Buy them!

Let me go ahead on the record by saying that regardless of my theoretical opinion on purchasing links, the Google Webmaster Guidelines clearly states that buying links for the purpose of manipulating search rankings can get your site penalized or even banned from the search engines. So don’t do it!!

Well that wraps up this beginner series on SEO…I hope it was helpful. If I had to summarize, I think the big takeaway is that SEO is a long-term strategy that includes:
•    Understanding your audience (keyword research)
•    Creating a solid foundation (site architecture)
•    Positioning yourself as an expert (external & inbound linking)

…and ultimately, helping the engines to understand what your site is about!

Possibly one of the most widely overlooked aspects of SEO is Site Architecture. Most SEO’s would agree that your URL structure and the keywords used within the URL structure make a significant difference in ranking. If you think about it, a URL structure is just a set of folders or categories. So when you look at setting up your site, start by creating a taxonomy of the keyword groupings you got from your Keyword Research. For example, if your site is about Conditions and Diseases, then your Breast Cancer page should look something like this:

yourdomain.com/diseases/cancer/breast-cancer/

…as opposed to this:

yourdomain.com/di/289?=77/44/index.html

In the first post in this series titled SEO In Context, I mentioned that it is important to help the search engines understand what your site is about, and Information Architecture should be at the top of the list.

Another thing you can do to reinforce the topical relevance within a given section is to create a breadcrumb that links back up the taxonomy. For the example above, the breadcrumb might read as such:

Health > Diseases and Conditions > Cancer > Breast Cancer

These two things should really help to improve the overall structure of your site… and when combined good content and proper keyword research should help to improve rankings.

The only left is a solid linking strategy

Alright, so you’ve decided to join the crowd and figure this SEO thing out…now where do I start?

Let’s look at it like this…there are probably thousands of people already looking for your product or service and  all you have to do is get in front of them. THIS, is what keyword research if for…to understand exactly how your audience searches for your offerings. Whenever I begin a project, be it consulting or one of my own…the very first thing I do is conduct keyword research.

Where do I find these keywords?

It seems that the general consensus among SEO’s goes something like this. You can and should use the major Keyword Research Tools like these:
•    Wordtracker
•    Keyword Discovery
•    Wordze
…as well as the Google Adwords Keyword Suggestion tool! Just don’t assume that the numbers are exact, rather look at them in proportion to each other.

The last tool is not a subscription based service or some crazy toolbar plugin add-on that “Joe the Search Marketer” wrote. It’s you!! And all of that incredibly valuable industry knowledge you bring to the table!
This is why I suggest that when doing your keyword research, start out by making a list of all of the terms that you “think” people would search for. Next, take a look at your competitors and see what words and phrases they emphasize. Then, take that list and run them thorough the various tools. Once you have your master lists, group them by topic and viola…Keyword Research!

Where do I put these keywords?

This goes back to the idea we spoke about last week regarding helping Google to understand what your site is about. On any given page, there are a few major places that you want to make sure to include your keywords. These include:
•    URL
•    Site Copy
•    Meta Title
•    Meta Description
•    Meta Keywords
•    Header Tags
•    Image alt Text

Now I can’t emphasize my next point enough, so I will do the unthinkable and put it in all caps: DO NOT SACRIFICE READABILITY FOR KEYWORD USAGE!! Google…as well as your readers…likes things to look and feel natural. I like to think of it as building a site for users while keeping Keywords in mind, rather than the other way around.

Well, that does it for Keyword Research… up next Site Architecture!

Cheers!

In 1998, a little-known company named Google set out to solve an emerging problem created by the explosive growth of the Internet. The problem was Information Retrieval…and the answer was SEARCH! The purpose of their search engine was to create an index of webpages (similar to a library), and be able to serve up relevant pages upon request. First, they had to figure out how to understand what a given website was about. Next, they had to determine which ones were the most relevant. And finally, they had to provide a set of instructions/standards that would teach webmasters how to make their site accessible and understandable to the engines.

This perfect storm gave rise to a segment of the Internet Marketing Industry now known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Now, most people tend to look at SEO as some type of black magic…quite the contrary! Anyone who has attended the major search conferences or knows any of the top SEO’s is well aware that this is a very intelligent, scientific industry. It involves tons of testing, experimentation, data analytics, beakers and Bunsen burners!

In my upcoming series of posts, I will outline a few basic concepts that are essential to any SEO strategy. These include:
•    Keyword Research
•    Information Architecture, and
•    Internal, External & Inbound Linking

Hopefully I will be able to provide some insight into what an SEO looks at when building/operating on a site, and provide you with some DIY techniques for improving your rankings. Again, the name of the game is to make it as easy as possible for the Search Engines to understand what your site is about. For now, here are a few solid SEO Blogs I recommend (and personally read)…enjoy!
•    http://www.seobook.com/blog
•    http://www.seomoz.org/blog
•    http://www.seo-theory.com
•    http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/

*This article was originally posted on thenetwork on 5/21/2009 by the amazing @lenawest