It should come as no surprise that majority of your web traffic comes from people specifically looking for your business.
After all, that is how branded search terms should work, but most business owners want to catch the attention of those who may not know they exist.
While branded search traffic can tell you a lot about brand awareness, the success of specific marketing initiatives, and alert you to any public relations issues, you want to make sure you are also optimized for generic but important terms that relate to your business. The following steps will help you do just that.
- Assess your current web traffic. Before you do anything, you need to know more about your current site and how people have found it. Google Analytics is an excellent online tool that provides statistical data about how people found your website, what they did once they arrived, and how you can improve a user’s experience. Of course, one of the most interesting pieces of information will be the keywords that lead them there.
- Segment branded search terms and focus on non-branded keywords. Your website has your business and brand all over it, so it is already optimized for those terms. For the purposes of SEO, you should be more interested in the generic keywords and phrases people used to find you. Google Analytics allows you to create advanced segments that will separate out data based on custom parameters that you define. You can include your brand name, as well as alternative and partial spellings of your brand. Once you have applied your advanced segment, you will have a list of keywords you can target.
- Do some keyword research. It is not enough to have data on your site; you need to have a comprehensive picture of the world wide web. Use Google’s keyword tool to see how various keywords are performing. This may also help you generate some keyword ideas that may not have occurred to you.
- Optimize your content. Optimizing your content is not a simple or quick process and can take many forms. Targeting specific keywords is one essential component of SEO. You want to make sure these terms are integrated into your site in a meaningful way. This includes but is not limited to page titles, anchor text, meta descriptions, and original content. Do not, however, resort to key word stuffing. This will dilute your brand and degrade your page rank. Instead, make sure relevant key terms serve a genuine purpose.
- Improve your site. The best way to approach SEO is from the visitor’s perspective. You want to create the best user possible, which means your site must operate efficiently, be easy to navigate, and provide valuable information. Flimsy or extraneous content, excessive ads, and sluggish load times create a frustrating experience for users. For many, this may be the only experience they may have with your brand, so do everything you can to make sure it is a good one that not only encourages them to return, but also compels them to recommend it to others.
GUEST AUTHOR, Ryan Farrell: Most of your web traffic comes from branded search terms. These five steps will help you optimize your site for important keywords that also relate to your business. To learn more about branded search engine optimization visit Wpromote.com