Website development is more than website design. Grant you design is an important element for viewer engagement and retention, but first the website has to be found. Following are the factors that influence the success of a website site search engine results placement (SERP).
Search Engine Optimization
The real truth about SEO is no one knows for sure what works because search engines won't reveal their algorithms. Google alone uses more than 118 different calculations that affect a Web site’s position in the search engine results. And on top of that, the algorithm formulas continually change. Our SEO professionals keep abreast of this ever-changing landscape and track results to achieve good positioning for our clients.
With that said, SEO is the first part of your website development. Next are quality content and commitment to a Web marketing strategy. It's the search engine marketing techniques that bring the traffic. Good SEO alone may get you initial placement, but that won't last long. A comprehensive SEM program places you higher and keeps you there.
Indexing & accessibility
As a website developer, we look at a website from the search engine point of view. If the search engines can't access, crawl and index a site the best search engine optimization (SEO) will not matter.
Performance & Site Speed
These are a factor in Google SERP and they effect user experience.
Semantic Relevance
SEO criteria are changing every day. The use of key phrases is only one element of SEO. Search engines and people have to understand what the site is about in relation to real world things.
Keyword Research
This used to be relatively easy when Google published volumes of data about the most used key phrases along with the number of websites optimized for those phrases. They don't share that information anymore which requires the use of more tools and techniques to evaluate and make just the right picks.
Link Building
Penguin and Panda algorithm updates devalued links from directories, commenting and other black hat techniques that amounted to link spamming. Building incoming links now requires building content that is valuable and link worthy. Quality content will also be sharable. Sharing extends your reach, and it will keep visitors coming back. You can learn more about this valuable strategy in Content Marketing.
Social Currency
That is the value your Social presence brings to your SERP. It is a factor in where Google places you in the listings.
Volume of Content
Search engines view websites with more content as more authoritative.
Quality and Originality of Content
Websites are rewarded for quality content, and they are penalized if they have duplicate content.
The Age of the Site
Search engines place a trust factor on older sites.
Where do we start?
Imagine, Inc. starts with an audit of your site and your competitor sites. From this audit, we can show you what the competition is doing to get good search engine results placement (SERP). With this information we chart a course to provide our clients with a competitive advantage. Call us at 954.257.7066 to see what you can do to make your website a lead-generating machine.