Off-Page Search Engine Optimisation Clarified

August 18, 2009 by Jason Kendall
Filed under Internet Marketing SEO

On-Page SEO

factors have been dealt with in a previous editorial. But the crux of SEO is off page. Imagine it as a ‘voting’ system. Site A gives a link (vote) to site B. They’re suggesting the site is worth looking at.

The link to your site has two main parts. The full web address of the actual page being pointed to. And second, the ‘anchor text’ or ‘keyword phrase’ that is highlighted on the web-page for you to click. That page can then be seen as receiving one ‘vote’. So, a tick to move the site higher up the listings for that phrase.

It always works in this way. The page being targeted and the Anchor Text are permanently linked to each other. You can’t create a vote for a page without some highlighted anchor text. The anchor text notifies the Search Engine about the page’s content – and thus what search term it should come under. To re-iterate: Your website’s search terms are totally controlled by its anchor texts.

Hence, a link saying “click here for…” isn’t a good idea. We’ve simply voted for the words Click Here. Whoever is going to type that phrase into the Search Engine? Obviously no-one.

That’s the reason the anchor text must be right. Since it stands for all the terms you want to be searched for. Interestingly, you’ll see the Adobe Reader download site in pole position for ‘click here’. Do Adobe think ‘CLICK HERE’ is an important term? Heck No! But they’re up at the top because the phrase “CLICK HERE to Download Adobe reader” features on so many websites.

So to count a ‘vote’ for a web page, the Search Engines always go to the anchor text. And doesn’t that make sense? Google wants to emulate what a real human being is looking for and would like to find. To some extent it’s irrelevant what your page is actually about. The only relevant phrases are the anchor text phrases that point to you. That’s how it works.

Inevitably

there are other things to consider… The Search Engines also take into account a pages’ title and its wording. And many more factors too. They’ll look, for example at how appropriate the relevancy is of the websites linking to yours.

But the essence of this shows that the single most important factor in SEO is lots of back-links. And they must come from a great diversity of sites, and have properly phrased anchor texts. How much authority a site has is also relevant… It’s less valuable getting a back link from the local pizza takeaway than from Cisco.com!

Selecting the right keywords to build ratings for is quite technical. Always perform keyword research, and check out what the competition are using. But this is the crux of the thing… When someone is looking for your product, what words do they use for their search? Find the answer to that, and you’ve got your keywords.

Interesting answers often come up when you do your researches and tests. As a matter of fact, the phrases are very often not at all what you’d expect. Human beings are odd creatures and we all have our own ideas of how to find what we want. You may think to Google “quality mattresses” if you’re hoping to sleep better. While someone else might automatically think to say ‘I need more sleep’.

Would you really want to trust your marketing to vague ideas and feelings about what might be typed in? DO NOT under-estimate the value that well-phrased keywords can carry. The amount of traffic you’ll receive is intrinsically linked to this. A comparison could be made with a Business Yellow Pages entry. If you’ve been entered as a Florist, but you’re actually an electrician, you’re not going to get anywhere. Similarly, for effective and profitable optimisation on-line, you must perform thorough keyword research and analysis.

About the Author:

Possibly Related Posts: