Keyword Analysis

Research both high priority & low competitive key words; fundamental when developing a website.

Keyword analysis is the research and evaluation of what words, terms and phrases Internet users are entering into search engines when conducting a search query. It is a kind of forecasting method in order to uncover the various word-, term- and phrase-possibilities you can focus on in your website, of course relevant to your specific goals, products/services, market and audience. It is safe to assume that such keywords will be standard in most search engines, since it is more about the psychology of people's behaviour in searching than an actual tool or search engine vendor.

As part of search engine optimisation, researching keywords aids in achieving better ranking in the desired specialisation. Various tools are available for key word analysis, including Google key word planner and Google Adwords. However, such tools (or any other third party key word services) should be used in conjunction with more personal ad-hoc research, benchmarking, brainstorming and copywriting. Subsequently, prioritising key words should be based on:

• High searched words relevant to each market
• level of competition of each word, and
• Future prospects

These key words must then be integrated within your website development and ongoing digital marketing strategy, i.e. within website content, meta-tags, and paid search engine marketing.

"Although it is absolutely essential that a website integrates a good amount of high priority key words, it should also forecast and think fourth dimensionally. In other words, consider what the future might hold, and that your website might in fact help dictate what people search."

Meta Tags

Page data tags including keywords, descriptions & titles that tell search engines what your site is about.

Most major search engines use meta tag information when building their indices (search rankings) and deciding the relevancy of a website. Officially, HTML meta tags are page data tags that lie between the open and closing head tags in the HTML code of a website document which are read by search engine robots. This then helps search engines identify important key words in a particular page and rank it accordingly (of course also factoring in many other elements within their algorithms). Ideally, each page should have separate meta tags, as well as remain with given search engine parameters. Using a CMS website, you should be able to add your own meta tags. When developing a complete website, your web developer/programmer will do this.

Unlike normal HTML tags, meta tags do not affect how the page is displayed, but rather provide information about a web page. Meta tags explain the particular page so a browser can understand what it is. Information provided includes who created the page, how often it is updated, what the page is about, and which keywords represent the page's primary content. The title and description meta tags do however appear in search results, and help persuade people to click through to the website.

Here's a code example of meta data/tags, with what words and phrases might be added for a company like ours for services in website design, development and SEO solutions in the EU/Europe, Cyprus, Germany, France and Melbourne, Australia:

Webpage meta title: Expert Website design, development & SEO Services in EU/Europe, Cyprus, Germany, France; globally
Webpage meta description: Improve website search engine rank & presence online with expert web development, SEO & digital marketing services in EU/Europe; Cyprus, Germany, France, plus Globally
Webpage meta keywords: Expert, Website, SEO, search, engine, optimisation, ranking, design, development, digital, marketing, online, services, business, Cyprus, Melbourne, France, Germany, EU, communications, Globally

The various words in each of the title, description and key word meta tags should also appear in your web page content and of course relevant to what your website is all about.

Want top search engine rankings? Adding meta tags and keywords to your website and it will magically rise to the top? Wrong.

Meta tags are definitely not a magic solution to gaining search ranking. They are only one piece of a large algorithmic puzzle that major search engines look at when evaluating which websites are most relevant.

However, meta tags will help tell search engines as well as website users what your site is about, and which words within the various web pages are primary. They should also be implemented as correctly as possible; i.e. not too short or long, accurately describing the relevant web page, and avoiding key word repetition.

Think of meta tags like telling search engines which exact words within your content you consider to be most important, as well as an opportunity to offer a small advertising blurb in search results. When someone searches for a website in Google for instance, they will surely read the (blue) title & brief description of the search result. These days there are literally millions of search results that appear. Only the eye and user can truly filter which website is most relevant.

"Each page has different content, so each page should also have unique meta tags. Try and find a balance when putting together meta tags, between using your page keywords together with what you want to express."

Website URL

Proper URL structure plays a major role in how the pages are indexed by search engines.

A uniform resource locator (URL), also known as web address, is a specific character string that constitutes a reference to a resource - in other words, the address of a webpage. An example of a typical URL would be https://www.web-conceptions.com. This is extended with the various pages attached to it, such as https://www.web-conceptions.com/website-services.asp

It is a lot more valuable to utilise URL extensions with relevant key words. So, instead of using generic URL extensions (file names), its much better to label each file with a descriptive name that includes your target keyword/phrase.

Multiple words should also be separate with dashes, rather than underscores, as the search engine spiders may interpret words separated by underscores as a single word (as in, the file name "website_services" might be read as "websiteservices" to the search engines in some cases).

"We do not leave anything to chance when it comes to Search Engine Optimisation. We focus on every little white-hat (recognised and allowed) aspect to improving search engine ranking, as well as always try to think of new creative ways to boost a website's exposure online and stay ahead of competition. It's our passion, profession and specialisation."

Website Links

If Content is King in SEO, then hyperlinks are servants, networking the SEO purpose.

Together with content, back-links are commonly known to be the most important aspect of search engine optimisation. In the very beginning they were 'the' most important, as it boosted a website's network reach. Think of it like this: when search engines crawl the internet looking for website content that matches the keywords and phrases entered into a search query, they also crawl via external links on third party websites. Therefore, having your website's link on many other websites multiplies the chances of search engines searching and finding your content.

However, these external websites should also be relevant, i.e. from the same industry, and having content that is relatively similar to your own website's content. For instance, a website for an eco-friendly chauffeur service in Melbourne, Australia should much rather have their website's link on say the taxi association of Melbourne and Victoria, VHA and Taxi Associations, and Eco-organisation Greenpeople.org, then say a website that sells computers. The former would share similar key words prospective clients would be searching, such as "taxi", "VHA", "eco-friendly", "chauffeur", and "Melbourne". The later almost none.

Few natural & credible links outperform many inorganic & spam links in SEO
It is also far more superior if these external websites have powerful search engine credibility. A link on a government institution or recognised multinational cooperation would no doubt do wonders for your website's credibility and therefore ranking. By the same token, if links are on non credible sources they can harm your site's ranking, as they are considered to be unnatural and link-spam.

So get networking online, build relationships and start link-sharing on other relevant and credible websites. This is vital to boosting your website's search engine ranking.

Key factors to consider:

• Your website's link should be on other relevant websites, i.e. containing similar keywords within their content and meta tags.
• It helps if these other websites are also already ranking well & have themselves many other links to and from their website. Hence why specialised portals are so popular.
• Focus on very credible websites, as this improves your own site's credibility to search engines.
• Don't think link-building is an instant process. Build your network by building relationships over the long term. Even if it takes one year and more to get your link on a high-ranking and very credible website then it is still very worth it.
• It is always courteous & a good idea to offer a return (reciprocal) link back to the website that has yours link. Some say this does not actually help your ranking, but Web-Conceptions beg to differ. It is the right thing to do, & actually can boost your ranking even further, as search engine crawls go back-and-forth & return to your website!
• Like content, presentation is crucial. No good in clogging up your website with links. They must be presented well, clear, easy to read and in the right place.
• Consider RSS and XML feeds, as they are a powerful SEO tool. These work somewhat like links, connecting your website to other sites; feeding from their site or seeding to their site. RSS also of course have many other benefits, such as for content purposes, dynamics & regular 'live' updates, such as with news.

"At Web-Conceptions, we always kick-start clients with some link-building work and then offer them direction on how best to continue. We want their website to achieve the best possible exposure and search engine ranking."

Social Media Marketing & SEO

Social media has become a major platform for Internet marketing - SEO/PR & Advertising.

As the term suggest, social media is a type of media platform that enables more general everyday social interaction. Social media has become a forum for information exchange, open to the public (or selected groups). It differentiates from traditional media in many aspects, such as quality, reach, frequency, usability, immediacy, and permanence.

Internet users throughout the world continue to spend more time and effort on social media sites; as so many social media are now easy-to-use and offer loads of interesting and dynamic communication functionalities. The total time spent on social media across PC and mobile devices continues to increase at phenomenal speed. As such, it has become a fundamental platform for search engine marketing, search engine optimisation and digital campaigns.

For content contributors (in other words, anyone participating on social media platforms), the benefits have gone far beyond simply social sharing and communication, to building reputation, visibility, credibility, creating news, career opportunities, and various forms of monetary income. Essentially, social media has become a hub for sharing personal information, as well as business related content - an ideal avenue to further promote and expose brands, products/services and news; using content based (free) PR, and paid advertising.

Social media technologies take on many different forms including magazines, Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, microblogging, wikis, social networks, podcasts, photographs or pictures, video, rating and social book-marking. Popular social media platforms that can significantly help boost website exposure include:

• Youtube
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIN
• Google Plus
• Trip Advisor
• Tumblr
• Instagram
• Flickr, and
• Wikis

Of course social media is by no means limited to these above. Each year, many new platforms appear. You should always evaluate which are best suited to your website's purpose and focus on building network and exposure via these.

Technical definition of social media
Social media at its purest refers to the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks, i.e. online. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content." Furthermore, social media depends on mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms through which individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content. It introduces substantial and pervasive changes to communication between organisations, communities, and individuals.

When social media is used in combination with mobile devices it is called mobile social media. This is a group of mobile marketing applications that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.

"Social media has completely changed the way SEO and digital marketing is being conducted. It has provided everyone the opportunity to compete on level playing fields. Although hyperlinks from social media do not actually benefit search engine ranking (like back-links on other relevant and credible third party website do), it is still a great tool for generating traffic back to your website, for building general brand and website exposure, as well as for promoting information exchange and interaction."

Web Traffic Analysis

Understand your website audience & their surfing behaviours to help improve the experience.

Once you've built a website, it's not good to just sit there and be inactive, thinking that it will start doing all the work and bring in the rewards. Only 50% of the work is actually done during the website construction phase; the rest is ongoing maintenance.

Thus, you must pay constant attention to what's going on and adjust accordingly in order to boost your website's performance; monitor website traffic and improve. Be proactive, maintaining and adding new content, sending out newsletters, SEM and paid online adds, social media marketing, building online relationships and back links, blogging, etc.

In order to do this effectively, you should understand how your existing website is currently working, i.e. your website visitors and their activity/behaviours, for example:

• How many people are visiting your website; unique, new & returning visitors
• Who is visiting (many times the visitor is labelled by company/organisation)
• Where are they from (country/location)
• How often are they visiting your website
• Time spent on your website
• Popular web pages; those most frequently visiting and those hardly ever visited
• How they got to your website (referral links and visitor paths)
• Exit links (how and why they left your website)
• Popular search keywords and phrases
• Where you ranked in search engines during the time of the website hit
• Poplar search engines
• Type of device (mobile, tablet, PC) and Internet browser used

Plus many more in-depth web-stats and a real-time analysis of the visitors to your website, presented with visuals, graphs, tables & links.

"Knowledge is power. Understanding your customer in any sort of business/organisation is fundamental in delivering a better service. The same applies to website traffic. Monitoring and understanding web traffic behaviour helps you make good decisions to become more successful online."