Web Site Optimization – An Event or a Process?
How to Gain Front Page Rankings

Without doubt, the most frequent question my Web site customers ask is; can you make our Web site appear on the first page of the search results?  You can spend hours developing excellent site content; however, if no one can find it there is little marketing value.  Of course, all marketing literature and advertising will list the Web site address but this will reach an extremely small segment of the potential Internet audience. 

When I speak of search engine performance, I am referring to how a site does on Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Forget all the spam messages that promise to submit your site to 300 plus search engines. If you do well on these three, you will capture over 85% of the market and do well on most other small engines. Many smaller search companies actually purchase their search content from Google or Yahoo. 

It is no longer necessary to submit your site to the search engines as long as it is linked from another site that is currently listed on Google and Yahoo. Most of the companies promising to do “mass” site submissions using automated software are frowned upon by the “big three” search engines. The spiders will find your site by following links from other listed sites. This is where a link from an Internet service directory such as IHR.com or InfertilitySpecialist.com can be valuable (more about links later). The only directory I specifically submit to is DMOZ.org which is a “human reviewed” directory that is used by others such as AOL. One way to learn if your site has been added is to type your URL (domain name) into the search engines and see if it appears.

Remember, the search engines have a monopoly and they can “make or break” a site. If you break their rules, you can be completely banned from Google or Yahoo, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. This is why it is important to avoid fly by night search engine optimization (SEO) “professionals” that promise you will immediately achieve first page rankings. There are "under handed" tactics that can increase your rankings (key word spamming, hidden key words, link farms, etc,) but if you are caught your site can be severely penalized.

Where Does Optimization Begin?

So how do we make a Web site perform well on the search engines? First, we don’t make sites perform well; we make pages perform well.  This is an extremely important concept that must be understood.  Search engines index pages within Web sites, not sites.  The home page, which is usually named http://www.website.com/index.html, is sometimes given higher relevance, but we are still working on pages (in this case index.html) not Web sites.

Web page optimization begins with site construction, however, few developers actually think in terms of how a site will perform on the search engines. This is especially true of developers that have not completed any type of formal training process.

When building a site, I always name pages (and domains where possible) to reflect their content. For example, a page about infertility might be named infertility.html If your developer names the fertility page something like o87discussion.htm, then you know that he/she is very likely giving no consideration to how the site will perform on the search engines.

Another aspect of site construction is how the folders are structured. There is little value to arranging Web pages within folders. A page within a folder would appear as http://www.website.html/subjects/infertility.html where “subjects” is the folder and “infertility” is the page. I prefer all pages to be at the “top level” (no folders) because they are readily accessible to the search engine spiders. One theoretical advantage might be in naming a folder with a key search term. For example: http://www.mysite/infertility/infertility.html.

To summarize site structure:

  1. The domain name should reflect the site subject. A site named drsmith.com or bonedoctor.com will not do as well on the search engines for the search phrase “orthopedic surgery” as a site named orthopedicsurgery.com.
  2. Page names should also reflect content/subject. A page discussing male infertility should be named maleinfertility.html.
  3. Pages should appear at the first level and not in folders.
  4. Pages should be linked in a logical fashion based upon content.

"Dos and Don'ts" of Optimization

Now that we know a little about site structure; how do we make our pages do well on the search engines?

There are literally hundreds of “dos and don'ts” all designed to take advantage of how the search engine algorithms rank pages.  These range from don’t use Flash or Java to naming your images, checking your linking structure, etc. The algorithms are not static, so what is important this month may be not be next month.  They frequently change their ranking parameters so search engine experts must keep abreast and, if necessary, change their sites accordingly.

There are really no shortcuts to achieving superior rankings.  Most tactics that promise immediate results involve some sort of means to “trick” the search engines. This is a very dangerous road that should not be followed.  Beware of anyone making “search engine ranking promises”. No one can guarantee a ranking.

What About META Tags? What the Heck is the “Sandbox”?

META Descriptions and Content

META tags are html code that appears in the Web page in the Heading section at the top of the page. They are written as follows :< META NAME= “Keywords” Content= “infertility, ovarian age, diminished reserve, failed ovulation”>. You can see the META tags in a page using Internet Explorer by selecting “View” from the top menu and then select “Source”.

Before a discussion of META tags it is important to understand that Web site optimization is not an “event”. It is a process that usually requires several months and a lot of hard work. There is no “magic bullet” for making your site perform well.

When I build a site, every page is optimized for its “subject content”. This requires that all pages have different META tags.  If all of the pages on your site have the same title, keywords, or descriptions, then it is probably not optimized. It might be optimized for one subject term (page), such as the home page, which throws out the possibility of superior rankings for the rest of the site’s pages. Many of my sites most popular and frequently searched pages are not the home page. For example, one does extremely well for Clomid while another attracts visitors for IUI.

The key to success with all of the complex ranking processes is “subject content”.  After all, the major objective of all search engines is to deliver relevant content to their visitors. If a person enters “Chevrolet” into Google and receives links to state parks it won’t be long before he/she stops using Google and their ad revenue declines.

I cannot overemphasize the importance of good content.  Each page must have a primary subject and it must be organized so that the search engines can identify the “message”.

META Keywords

One of the common META tags is “keywords”. We spend a lot of time determining what our audience (site visitors) is likely to enter into a search engine. [Audience definition is not within the scope of this article; however, it is one of the most important steps in developing your site. In order to attract high potential visitors, you must first define precisely, “who they are”.]

There is evidence that some engines, notably Google, are giving very little, if any, importance to key words. Does this mean you don’t need key words? Some developers think so and have stopped inserting them.  I think this is a “bad practice” and include keywords in all of my pages. What if the algorithm changes in the future to reemphasize keywords?

Instead of thinking in terms of “keywords”, I think in terms of “subject words”. This helps me focus on the most important aspect, notably, the content of the page. The META tag is still technically entered as “keywords”.

 “META keywords” should not be duplicated and they must relate to the content of the page.  A page on infertility might have the following Keywords (based on content- usually approximately 10 terms): infertility, ovarian failure, ovulation induction, FSH, tubal disease, uterine disease. Entering other Keywords such as: “infertility, fertility, infertility, locations, fertility doctor, infertility doctor, contact us, fertility clinic” will not help the page (especially if they are “off” page subject) and could hurt rankings.

Choosing good keywords (subject words) is an exacting process.  You might think people would enter “infertility clinic Miami” to find your clinic located in Miami Florida.  However, research will reveal that the vast majority of people just enter “infertility clinic Florida”, or “fertility clinic Florida”.  Another example is the term “in vitro fertilization” which is popular and hard to achieve a first page ranking.  I found that 30% of surfers entered “in vetro fertilization” and no competitive pages were “optimized” for this misspelled term, which made first page rankings a cinch.

So the first task is to make a list of all potential search terms based upon the pages content.  Then I consult software that gives me the number of searches over 333,000,000 inquiries.  I then choose the subject related terms for my page that people are entering into their browsers.  In the case of the Florida clinic, I would optimize the clinic locations page for “infertility clinic Florida”.  This process of identifying good key words is time consuming but absolutely essential.

For example, I have spoken with many physicians who are very pleased that there site is appearing in the first position for “infertility clinic + their state” or “IVF + their city”, etc. only to learn that no one is “searching” on these terms thus there is no marketing return on investment. Site visit statistics will reveal many of these nuances and are a critical part of ongoing site optimization.

Page Title

This is the title of your Web page, not your Web site, and it should reflect your page’s content. Most experts agree that the “Title” is one of the most important parts of the optimization process.   It should have approximately 7-10 words related to the subject of the page.  As an example, consider a page discussing infertility located within a fertility Web site named InfertilitySpecialist.com.   The title of the page might be “Infertility Diagnosis Treatments Common Sub Fertility Causes PCOS, Ovarian Failure”. It would not be “InfertilitySpecialist.com-Fertility Information”.   The first version has several “keywords” and no repetition whereas the second one is related to the site’s content not the page’s.

META Description

The “Description” tag tells the search engines, and potential visitors, what your page is about.  The Description tag generates the verbiage under your search listing results.  If your page doesn't have the Description tag, the engine will likely generate one and you might not like it.

In general, the description should be approximately fifteen to twenty words and emphasize the page’s content. Using the infertility example above, the META Description tag might be: “Infertility Causes and Treatments- Discussion of tubal disease, ovarian failure, uterine disease, endometriosis, PCOS. Fertility Treatments-Overview”.  The tag should not be: “Our Miami clinic offers hope to infertile couples. For more information visit our site”.  Obviously, the first description contains keywords that are relative to the page.

The Sandbox?

If you are posting a new site that has never been seen by the search engines you might be faced with another dilemma. There is good evidence that Google “sandboxes” many new sites and I have personally experienced this. When they sandbox a site it means that it will not be “allowed” to rank “high” for as long as six months after posting; no matter what you do.  Google is trying to limit “fly by night” sites that appear one month and are gone the next. “Sandboxing” is not fair but remember the search engines have a monopoly.  I knew my site had been taken out of the sandbox because I saw a very sudden surge in top 3 listings. “Sandboxing” also means you don’t want to spend a lot of money on optimization until the site has been released.

This phenomenon is one argument for not changing your Web site domain name if your site has been online for six months or more.  This also depends upon many other factors such as the rankings for the site.  A relevant domain name can increase your rankings. For example, the domain name infertility.com will likely rank better for the term “infertility” (all other ranking factors being the same) than getpregnant.com.  There are ways to incorporate your new site name while not destroying what was accomplished with the old site.

Links- Possibly the Most Important Ranking Factor

Note:

Stan Colquitt has specialized in fertility Web sites for the last nine years.  He has demonstrated competence in gaining superior rankings for his customers and personally composes the site text for most of his physician customers.  He holds the Web Master Certification from CIW and he has also attained the Microsoft Certified Professional Certification. Stan has his bachelor’s degree in biology and worked as a manager for Serono Laboratories for six years. He and his wife, Coty, were also fertility patients.

 

 



Links to your site, and within your site, are one of the most (if not the most) important considerations on Google, and possibly other engines.  Google believes that a “good site” will have many links pointing to it which is probably true; eventually. The problem with this logic is that it severely restricts “new sites” that might contain the most up to date information but few links pointing to them.

A “good link” points to your site from another site with similar content and it should contain the “keyword subject” of your page.  For example, a valuable link to your site might be http://www.mysite.com/infertility.html from another fertility site or clinic directory. Notice, I include the page name not just the domain, http://www.mysite.com, as this increases relevance and value of the link. Also, a link from a respected, well known site such as CNN or Fox News can dramatically increase your rankings even if it doesn’t contain key words.  This is because sites like these have extremely high page values due to their volume of traffic. One link from this type of site can have the value of hundreds of smaller links.

Another example might be a link to your site from a sperm bank originating from a page with information about male infertility such as: http://www.mysite.com/maleinfertility.html.  Part of the link’s value is influenced by the “linking site’s” page value or popularity.  If no one visits the sperm bank's site, then your link will have little value.

Obviously, it is not always possible to specify the link text but when you can, do. The link on their site should contain a keyword. In the example above, their page might show the link as follows:  Visit one of our fertility clinic consultants to learn about male infertility.  When you can achieve this type of link from a site with good traffic it is very valuable.

Do not prospect for links from unrelated sites and link farms.  Link farms are essentially sites/pages that have no relevant content just tons of links. These types of site can incur a ranking penalty since their goal is to “trick” the engines rather than to provide content.

The other types of links are within your site. This is where I have a tremendous advantage in the fertility market.  For example, the page on IVF should have text links to the ICSI, assisted hatching, and probably the PGD pages.  Someone with no knowledge of the infertility field cannot possibly know how all of the pages interrelate.

Another example would be the infertility general discussion page that should have links to related content such endometriosis, PCOS, etc. with the term appearing in the link.  If one does not know what PCOS is, it is impossible to create relevant text links.  These links can give your site a major ranking advantage against your competitors.

Summary

There are many other facets to optimizing pages for the search engines including images, image names, alternate tags, header tags, and much, much more. After I have done the very best I can optimizing all of the pages during the initial construction, I link the site to DMOZ.org, possibly a paid directory, and to several of my active Web sites. This insures that the site is added to the engines.

After approximately two months, I will continue my ranking analyses.  I create a spreadsheet with all the critical subject (key) terms related to the Web site pages. I usually generate about 100 terms for analysis.

Then comes the fun part as I manually enter all of these terms into Google, Yahoo, and MSN. There are ways to automate this process; however, I prefer to see the competitions' pages and where we are in relation to them.

The spreadsheet will now contain the key search terms and where each page appears for that term. From these data, I make a decision as to which pages to further optimize. For example, if my site appears on the first page of the three engines for “fertility clinic Florida” (of course this practice is located in Florida) it requires no further work.  If I enter “IVF Florida”, and our page appears as number 50 then that page needs optimization.

This process is followed for all the important terms and sometimes can entail 20 or more pages. After the optimization changes are made, the new pages are uploaded. I keep records in the spreadsheet as to which pages were optimized and the results.

The next month the same process is followed and we learn if the optimized pages rankings have improved. They might need further work comparing “head to head” with the competition’s pages. New pages are optimized and the process is repeated until we are satisfied with the site’s “unique visitor traffic”. (Always speak in terms of unique visitors, not hits. A unique visitor is a separate individual with a unique IP address and is the best measure of optimization success.  One unique visitor can generate hundreds of hits and in no way does this reflect site performance.)

There is much more that can be said about optimization but you should now have a general understanding. For sure, you will understand that Web site (page) optimization is a process requiring skill, knowledge of the search engines requirements, and continual analyses.

The best case scenario is when your Web developer is professionally trained in optimization and knows your sites subject matter. A person with no “fertility knowledge” cannot effectively create related subject text links between the Web pages. One way around this is to have a physician or nurse provide the links but this is extremely time consuming and many potential links will be missed.

I hope you find the information in this document useful and if you have questions please e-mail me at stan@infertilityspecialist.com