When you strive to get website traffic via organic SEO, it’s important to keep in mind that Google (and most other search engines) take many different factors into account when determining how to categorise a web page. We all want Google’s love, don’t we?

Here are some facts and things to remember as you strive to get more traffic to your site:

1. Search engines index individual pages, not just overall websites. It’s a good idea to spread out your optimisation efforts. Main keywords should exist as a common theme throughout your site but think about individual pages for keyword optimising purposes, too. Keyword research is vital.
2. Tags matter. There are many places to optimise each page that Google will look at when measuring pages. If you imagine a search engine spider stopping by with a clipboard and a pencil, he is going to tick specific boxes on a list of potential areas where you have an opportunity to show what your site is really about. Those places include: URL, image tags, headings, and so on.
3. Off site factors. Beyond looking at each page of your site, Google also takes a look at who is pointing to your site. What’s their site about? Is their site from a bad neighbourhood? Or is their site popular and highly ranked?  Is the link relevant to the site’s theme?
4. Having keywords close to one another (keyword proximity) and phrases that are relevant to one another (latent semantic indexing) as well as your overall topic also get measured.
5. Search engines look at individual pages for indexing but they also look at the site as a whole, too. How often are you adding new content to your site?  Search engines like having fresh content to index and share with surfers. Search engines also look at a site’s overall design / navigation.
6. Your site’s rate of “bounce” is something search engines pay attention to as well. As they measure your site, they pay attention to how visitors behave. If people comment, click deeper, hit social media buttons, subscribe to your RSS feed, or something similar, this will result in another box being ticked (in your favour). This is one of the reasons why quality is so important in terms of navigation, content, and web design.

Does Google Love You?

If you’ve already got a website, it’s smart to look through each page individually to see if you’re taking enough SEO factors into account on every page. If you’re setting up a new website (or considering a new site design), make sure that the web designer will design for SEO as well as design for maximum conversion and “Google love”.

If you need help, contact us for a consultation.