Search Engine Optimization Fundamentals | Stacey Morgan Smith

As I left Northern Virginia one weekend, I was in an SEO mindset, and even a road trip reminded me of search engine optimization.

I should first say that I’m a very conservative driver. I’d rather take my time getting to my destination than risk the fees and anxiety associated with a speeding ticket.

A few miles into the trip to Southwest Virginia, I found myself to be part of a pack of cars. We tended to stick to the center lane, moving over only to pass or be passed, and we were moving about the same speed. We stuck close to the speed limit, used our turn signals, turned on our wipers in the rain, and we left a safe following distance.

Through the ebb and flow of the long trip, we changed position. Sometimes the Sienna led the pack, and sometimes the Acura moved to the front. Even the Nova got a turn.

As I hit Central Virginia, a sports car blew by so fast on I-64 that I felt a rumble and was buffeted by the wind. I just shook my head, secretly wishing a police officer was around. This car was breaking all the rules — driving fast, changing lanes recklessly, tailgating. It irked me that this driver cut corners to get ahead and left me in the dust.

Around Lexington, still driving in a bit of a convoy with a few safe drivers from Northern Virginia (some had left, some had joined along the way), I saw flashing blue lights on the side of the road. There was the little yellow sports car, pulled to the side, and a police officer was walking up to the car. The safe drivers moved to the left lane, passed the scene, and then, blinkers flashing, moved back to the right. With my background, analogies just seem to jump out to me, and that yellow car and blue lights reminded me of so-called blackhat SEOers.

Blackhatters know how to get to to the first page of Google, or Yahoo! — at least that’s what some of them guarantee — and they will use any trick to do it. Keyword spamming, cloaking, link farming all may work in the short term, but in the end, a search engine is going to find the sites playing games and not just drop the sites in ranking but drop the sites entirely from the index!

What about gaming the algorithm – finding an element that seems to gain more traction when targeted and propels a page to the top of the rankings? Well, spam teams have made it obvious that the search engines notice and automatically adjust when they detect an anomaly.

I have some respect for blackhat SEOers, just like I have a little respect for the person in the fast car — they know what they want and are willing to go for it, no holds barred; However, just like that driver loses time and money, cheating the system can lose web presence and customers.

Me? I was raised to be honest to a fault, and I’d rather take my time, follow the rules, and reach my goal then rush to the finish and risk losing it all.

– Stacey Morgan Smith

So we’ve discussed that you HAVE to know your keywords and that an effective SEO campaign without keywords is like rowing a boat without oars. (You know where you’re going but are stuck without the right tools.) Well, you have to know HOW to use your tools!

How do you write with your keywords?

Well, you DON’T fill a page with them. Anybody can copy and paste their keywords over and over, but that’s one way for search engines to drop you from their index.

You should try to work your keywords into your content. Use them the way you would in natural speech. Forcing yourself to use the same tense or plural form of a word is awkward to the reader and search engines notice.

Using “buy,” “buys,” and “buying” is more natural than just “buy.” In addition, using both “car” and “cars” is better than just “car.”

Try to use your keyword phrase together. Proximity matters. “Northern Virginia Hotels for the experienced traveler” is read better than “Hotels for the experienced traveler who is looking for a place to stay in the Northern Virginia area.”

Use synonyms. While most people may search for “Northern Virginia Hotels,” some may search for “Northern Virginia Motels.” If it is natural to interchange two words without affecting the quality or meaning of your content, you should do so.

Use your keywords in your page titles. A well-structured title tag is an important part of an optimized site.

The right words will bring qualified traffic to your site and answer searchers’ questions…but only if you use them!

– Stacey Morgan Smith

So we’ve discussed that you HAVE to know your keywords. An effective SEO campaign without keywords is like rowing a boat without oars. You know where you want to be, but how in the heck can you get there without the right tools? There is always time for keyword research!

How do you choose keywords?

Start by thinking of every word that could be used to describe your product. Write down words people may search for to find your site. Ask other people – friends, coworkers, social networkers.

Once you have a list of possible keywords, use some of the wonderful free tools Google has provided to think outside of the box. The Google Search-based Keyword Tool, Google Trends, and Google Insights for Search provide additional keyword opportunities.

Another free tool, Google Analytics, provides in-depth visitor behavior analysis and keyword data to help you fine tune your keyword list.  In addition, if you have a site search tool, you will find additional clues as to what information site visitors look for on your site.

Finally, don’t forget the “long-tail keywords.” These are keyword phrases that may not get a great deal of traffic overall in the search engines but are very specific to your product. While the number of searchers may be lower, they tend to be more qualified because the query more closely matches your product.

Keywords are vital to SEO. Next learn how to write with them!

– Stacey Morgan Smith

I’ve read recently of SEO specialists who are asked to do the impossible – jump right in and optimize a site. “There’s no time for keyword research. Get links, links, links!”

 Every business needs links to their site to build authority, but every site MUST find and use keywords to attract the right visitors to their site. Using the right keywords is an integral part of your search engine optimization efforts.

What are keywords?

Keywords, or keyword phrases, are the words you use on your Web site to talk about your product or service.  They are also generally the words that searchers type into search engines (query) to find your site.

They are

• product or service words (boats, shoes, SEO, repairs), 
• descriptive words (gray slate, budget-conscious, experienced), or 
• (geographic words (Maryland, DC, Northern Virginia, etc.), to name a few.

Searchers are becoming more specific in their queries. Almost 60% of all searches are 3 or more words. When you write your content, you should know which keywords to use.

Searchers’ goals influence your choice of keywords. A searcher may be researching an item or they may be ready to buy.

Generally speaking, researchers want broad or general information, and buyers want more specific information. SEO ”rules” change every day, but this one has remained constant. 

If I wanted to find a hotel in Northern Virginia, I may search for “Northern Va Hotels” to get more information on pricing and specific locations; however, if I have already done my research and I’m ready to book a room, I may search with much more specific words, such as “Northern Fairfax Virginia Hampton Inn.”

You should have information on your site to appeal to both types of searchers; however, you may want to use different pages. If the focus of your site is selling an item, provide some pages that are purely informational. This will get more visitors to your site. It may also gain you links from other sites if they consider your information useful to their customers or readers.

Keywords are vital to SEO. Next learn how to choose them!

– Stacey Morgan Smith