by Jill Whalen (The Web Whiz)
Written May 2001
Does your site rank highly for keyphrases that no
one searches on? If no one is searching on your keyphrases,
it won't matter how highly your site is ranked on
the search engines. Here's a technique for securing
just the right keywords.
When a Web site needs to be optimized for high rankings,
usually the first step is to find the keyphrases most
relevant to the site. But what happens when the keyphrases
that are most relevant are not the ones that people
are actually searching out? Sure, you can probably
get a high ranking for "Boston business directories,"
but if no one is looking for that type of site, your
High Rankings® will not bring your site any traffic.
We recently optimized a portal site for local businesses
that had this very problem. Here's how we overcame
our keyphrase dilemma.
The site was a portal for regional businesses. For
the purposes of this article, let's say it was based
in the Boston area. The site had been optimized to
rank highly for phrases such as "Boston business
directory." However, a quick Word Tracker report
revealed that people weren't using that phrase when
searching the engines.
The report showed that the most searched-on phrases
relating to Boston included "Massachusetts Lottery"
and "Boston weather." It also showed that
people were searching for "Boston zoo,"
"Boston airport," "Boston classifieds"
and "Boston restaurants." At first, it seemed
that it would be a daunting, if not impossible, task
to optimize for keyphrases that would bring targeted
traffic to this site. However, the site owner was
prepared to alter the focus of his site in any way
he could to get more traffic. Together, we brainstormed
an optimization plan. We thought long and hard about
how we could integrate some of the keyphrases mentioned
above into this business portal without tricking the
engines and the visitors. Finally, a plan began to
gel.
The Transformation
First, the client found a script that showed the up-to-date
local weather report and added that to the main page
of the site. He also hired a programmer to create
a script that would integrate state lottery results
into his main page. He already had a listing of local
restaurants, as well as a section for free local classifieds.
All that was left to do was create a page of links
to the most sought-after local sites, such as the
zoo and the airport.
The next step was to rewrite the main page, focusing
on the fact that this site now offered information
on the Massachusetts lottery, Boston weather, and
Boston classifieds. We also heavily emphasized the
most important keyphrases on the links page. The business
directory itself was still prominently featured, however,
it didn't get the same focus on the page as it previously
had.
Once everything was in place, we optimized the tags
and other HTML code accordingly, and began the submission
process. Luckily this site had not yet been submitted
to the major directories such as Yahoo! and Looksmart.
Using those directories' business express services,
we were able to get the keyphrases "lottery,"
"weather forecasts," "restaurants"
and "classifieds" into the descriptions,
since these were now a major focus of the main page
of the site.
Yahoo! did give us a bit of a problem at first by
severely editing the description, however, a simple
e-mail appeal worked wonders. Yahoo! added our important
keyphrases back in.
Lessons Learned
It's been three to four months since submission, and
the site is doing terrifically in the rankings. The
key to success with this site was the site owner's
willingness to be flexible. While not every site will
be able to alter so much of its content in accordance
with popular search phrases, it's often possible to
make a few additions that don't conflict too much
with the focus of the site.
The site owner was also willing to take some risks.
He was not making much, if any, money on his site,
but he was willing to spend some money up front. He
invested in our optimization services and in a programmer
for the scripts he needed. It's still too early in
the game to know for sure how profitable this client
will be, but something tells me he will eventually
realize a tidy profit.
There are several lessons in this case study
for anyone in business on the Web:
If your most relevant keyphrases aren't going to
bring you traffic, find ones that will, and alter
the focus of the site if you can.
If you're serious about your business, you'll often
have to spend money to make money.
Now it's your job to figure out how can you
put some of this information to use for the benefit
of your own site!
