|
Checking Text for Optimization
By Heather Lloyd-Martin - January 05, 2001 (From the Rank Write Roundtable Newsletter)
~~~Successful Online Writing~~~
From: Bob Fontana
Hi Jill and Heather,
I've been a freelance web designer for only about 4 months. Most of
what I've done has been for a web hosting company that offers a free
site to its clients. I never had to give any concern to key phrases
or high rankings. I did not even know that it should be a
consideration. That is until I contracted independently for a site
that is very much more involved. They requested 5 different doorway
pages and at least twice that many more heavy text pages. I have no
doubt that what I've written is very well done as far as interesting,
informative and flowing but, as web site text, I'm unsure it's
optimized for best performance. So, my question is this: (actually
there are two) How does one check for optimization? and, how does one
check for rankings?
Thanks for all your help so far.
Bob
~~~Heather's Response~~~
Hi, Bob,
Thanks for your post!
It's really great that you're concerned about your text! As you
probably know as a faithful Rank Write reader, Jill and I preach that
keyphrase and benefit-rich text is half your search engine ranking
battle. Without strong text, there's no amount of Meta tag tweaking
that will pull the strong results you want.
You mentioned that you had already written "interesting, informative
and flowing" text. However, if you didn't originally write your text
with keyphrases in mind, it won't be effective with the search
engines. Search engine optimization writing enjoys longer copy than
"traditional" copywriting, and all the copy is laser-focused on two to
three well-researched keyphrases. Although your main copy goal is to
achieve high search engine rankings, you also have to speak to your
prospects. That is, you can write brilliant, benefit-oriented Web
text - but without keyphrases, it won't get the results you want. On
the flip side, you can create an unintelligible mass of keyphrases and
submit that - but it won't satisfy your prospect's buying urges. The
best SEO copy works both for the search engines AND your prospects.
And yes, it can be done! For more information about how traditional
copywriting is different than SEO writing, check out Rank Write 002.
If SEO will be part of your services strategy, you could benefit from
some SEO background information. Both the Rank Write article archives and our past Rank Write issues can give you all the information you need to know. Also, check out Danny Sullivan's
fantastic site, SearchEngineWatch.com. Danny is THE search engine expert (along with Jill and I, of course ), and you'll learn a lot from his site.
I want to briefly touch upon your doorway page comment. As you know,
Jill and I find that doorway pages are NOT effective over the
long term, and many search engines (like Alta Vista) won't accept
doorway pages. Your best bet is to create keyword-rich copy to let
your rankings grow over time - not drop when the algorithms change.
Both the Rank Write site and SearchEngineWatch.com have more
information on the pros and cons of doorway pages.
Thanks for your post! Keep those questions coming!
Heather
~~~Jill's unsolicited 2 cents~~~
In answer to Bob's questions about checking for optimization and
ranking, I have a few comments.
Checking your copy to see if it's optimized, basically means reading
it and seeing if it uses the keyphrases with which you want to rank
high. If it isn't using them a number of times, then the copy will
need to be rewritten or edited. For best results, rewriting is
probably in order. See Heather's article: "Don't Edit Your Search Engine Success".
To check for current rankings, you'll need to go to each search engine
and type in the keyphrase you're hoping to rank high with, and see if
your site comes up. There are a number of programs available that
will automatically search the major engines for you and report back on
your site's status. I personally use Web Position Gold for this, as
it is quick and easy.
- Jill
~~~Send Us Your Questions~~~
If you have questions about online copywriting or search engine optimization (or both!), just zip us an email to questions@rankwrite.com. We've had some folks ask if their question
was "too basic" to be printed - and you don't have to worry about
that! There are no "stupid" search engine optimization or copywriting
questions, so ask away!
|
