Advanced SEO Techniques
Let's cover some SEO methods that go beyond the basic "use keywords prominently in page text", "submit to directories", etc. strategy. That stuff is fine for sites in less competitive markets but what if you're going up against a company that spends $10,000/month in aggressive search engine marketing? With your paltry budget of nothing (if you do have money spend, why not hire a reputable SEO firm?) you can't possibly compete for the big keywords. But you can target niche phrases and get right to the top of Google! Target enough of these secondary tier key phrases and you could easily get hundreds or thousands of visitors a day! Read on to find out how...
Anchor Text
Also sometimes known as Title Text, these are the words that are hyperlinked (ie. like the phrase "SEO firm" in the previous paragraph). Why is anchor text important? Well quite simply it can tell search engines as well as visitors what the linked page is about. Links that say "click here" or "read more" do none of that and should be avoided if possible.
Is it as simple as just knowing your main keyword and using it in all your links? Although that can help, the answer is no. Variation is important and you should never get in the habit of keyword stuffing anchor text. It does nothing for the visitor and can be looked at as black hat by Google. Vary the text that is used and vary the pages that are linked to - you don't want all your links around the web pointing back to your home page, do you? Presumably you have other relevant pages of your site that deserve inbound links!
The trick is to make anchor text as relevant and clean looking for visitors as possible. If you do that, the benefits for search engines will come.
Internal Linking Techniques
Getting links from other web sites is important, but so are the internal links of your site. Your domain has a total amount of link juice it can give out, or PageRank, so this is important to keep in mind. If you have a link to a privacy policy or link exchange page in the footer of every page of your site, each page is losing a percentage of its link power to pages that are not as important as product or about pages.
What about links in the body of your page content? Presumably you mention keywords of other pages throughout the site, so don't be afraid to add links in the middle of the page. Don't rely just on navigation links in the header to direct visitors to other sections of your site. Do you write articles in a blog? Why not link to specific articles within the main copy of a page that's relevant?
And finally, make sure you always have a link back to your home page. It should be the most important page on your site, not just for search engines but for visitors alike.
Linkbait
Link baiting is the process of creating content with the goal of having others link to it. You can actively generate inbound links to your site by submitting to directories, doing article submissions, etc. but a good link building campaign should also include a more natural way of attaining links.
Creating quality content is the first step. Without that, no one will want to link to you. Be creative -- consider offering free tools or tips, a photo gallery, discussion forums, write a blog or feature product reviews that allow user comments.
Once you have set up content you feel others will want to link to, you don't have to just sit there and wait. Sign up for social bookmarking sites and share the content with others. You may also want to issue a press release if the new content is news-worthy.
Permanent 301 Redirects
If you've changed the structure or file names of your site it's important not to let old pages lead to 404 Not Found errors. There can be a fair amount of link juice going to old pages that you don't want to lose. And the last thing you want is a visitor hit with that ugly error page! But before we get into how exactly to setup 301 redirects, go check out Google Webmaster Tools to find out what pages need redirecting.
After you select the domain from the main Webmaster Tools Dashboard screen, go to Diagnostics > Web Crawl and click the 'Not Found' tab. If there is a (0) next to this heading, perfect! You have no outdated or misprinted links around the web pointing people to nonexistent pages. But if you do have pages in that list, go check out what pages on your site are being linked to. In addition to telling you what URLs to setup a redirect from, it should also give you an idea of the topic that people are curious about when they follow a bad link. This can help if you want to create a friendlier 404 error page on your site (see below).
There are many good resources available that cover 301 redirects:
- How To Redirect a Page the Smart Way
- URL Redirection Services
- Implementing a Permanent 301 Redirect
- IIS Redirect Instructions
Custom 404 Pages
As touched on in the point above, customize your 404 pages to include links to important areas of your site. It can be your chance to retain a visitor instead of frustration making them hit the 'back' button on their browser. This isn't so much an SEO tactic as it is good web development practice, but in the end, SEO is so closely related to customer conversion and overall site performance that it should be mentioned.
These advanced techniques should help get you to that next level of SEO. Always remember though, don't get too tricky - just do what's in the best interest of your visitors and follow good SEO practices. Look at the big picture and don't get caught up with sneaky black hat methods. It will only hurt you down the road.