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In Part 1 of this series we talked about the importance of achieving a high ranking for your Web site in the various search engines and directories on the Internet. In this article we will describe how to optimize your Web site to achieve a high ranking on the Internet's number one search engine, http://www.google.com.
A basic understanding of HTML (the markup language used to build a Web page) is assumed, but if you need assistance, please take a look at this simple introduction to HTML at WEBalley: http://www.weballey.net/html/
During the course of this article we will refer to elements that have been used on a very simple Web page designed for a fictitious nonprofit named Princess Hospital Winnipeg. This page has been optimized for Google for the keywords "Princess Hospital Winnipeg", and to a lesser extent, "cancer care" and "cancer research."
The links will not work on this page, but they will be highlighted to show you the specific optimization strategy regarding links. You can refer to this page at anytime while reading this article to get a better idea of the concepts we will talk about.
To view the HTML code for this page, go to the page below and click on the "View" icon at the top of your browser window and select "Source". This will allow you to see the elements we have used to optimize this page for Google.
http://www.plannedlegacy.com/seo/princess-hospital-winnipeg.html
Why your nonprofit Web site needs search engine optimization
While non-profits may not be vying for highly competitive keywords such as "e-commerce", they must usually do some basic search engine optimization (SEO) in order to make their Web site show up in search engine listings -- which results in more visitors and potential contributors.
For example, I had a small regional church ask me why they didn't show up on Google when someone searched for their organization's Web site using their name. The answer was simple. In the HTML code for the index (home) page of their Web site they used the word "Home" as their title as follows: <TITLE>Home</TITLE>.
Guess how many pages are indexed in the Google database for the keyword "Home"? 92 million! No wonder no one could find their Web site.
We changed the title tag of their home page to reflect who they were and within two weeks their organization was listed number #1 at Google for their organization name. This immediately increased traffic to their Web site.
This overview of SEO for Google will not include advanced topics such as keyword research and advanced linking techniques for highly competitive markets, but it will help you rank higher in Google for your organization name, location and other topics related to your organization.
Important factors required to rank your Web pages highly on Google
Google uses a proprietary algorithm to rank Web sites in its database. The most important elements fed into this algorithm are as follows:
1. Keywords in the <TITLE> tag
2. Keywords in heading tags <H1><H2><H3> etc.
3. Keyword prominence -- your keywords must appear high on your Web page
4. Keyword density -- the number of times your keyword appears in the HTML code for your Web page as a percentage of all the words appearing on your Web page
5. Keywords used in the link text of your site and in the link text of other sites that link to you
6. Links into your site from other major search sites such as YAHOO! And Open Directory, as well as from other sites
Additional factors to consider when optimizing for Google
7. META description tag
8. Image names
9. ALT tags
10. Keywords in URL
(Points 1-5 are covered in this article, points 6-10 will be covered in part 3 of this article series.)
1. Keywords in your <TITLE> tag
The TITLE tag is probably the most important element to consider when trying to achieve a high ranking in Google. You should make sure that the top 2-3 keywords you want to be found for on Google are included in your <TITLE> tag.
If you want to be found on Google for your organization name, location, and type, put that in the <TITLE> tag as follows, using the fictitious Princess Hospital Winnipeg as an example.
<TITLE>Princess Hospital Winnipeg, cancer care, planned giving, cancer research</TITLE>
Use your primary keyword in the <TITLE> tag of all your Web pages, followed by keywords related to the specific topic of that page. For example, if you have a Web page about your Planned Giving program, you might want to structure your title as follows:
<TITLE>Princess Hospital Winnipeg, Planned Giving program</TITLE>
Google also takes into consideration the exact order of the words in your title. Therefore, to place more emphasis on your planned giving program for national exposure, you might try:
<TITLE>Planned Giving, Princess Hospital Winnipeg</TITLE>
If you have a Web page about a special event that is well known in your community you might put that inside the <TITLE> tag for that page as follows:
<TITLE>John Smith Recognition Dinner, Princess Hospital Winnipeg</TITLE>
TIP: Google will use the first 125 characters inside your title tag for its ranking algorithm, but will usually only use 85 characters in your search engine listing. Therefore, make sure to use your most important keywords in the first 85 characters or your title.
2. Keywords in Headings
Although not always aesthetically pleasing, try to use a heading tag (H1, H2, H3 etc.) near the top of your page, before your main body text, and use your main keyword or keyword phrases somewhere in this heading text as follows.
<H1>Princess Hospital Winnipeg Cancer Care and Cancer Research</H1>
3. Keyword Prominence
You should use your main keyword first or very close to the beginning of your body text. This means that in your first sentence you should try to include a mention of your top keyword or keyword phrases. Google like to see your keywords early on the page.
TIP: If your Web designer has placed STYLE SHEET code or JAVASCRIPT near the top of the HTML code for your Web page, this can harm your ranking with Google, because it pushes your keywords farther down the page. Ask your designer to store your style sheet code and javascript in files, which can be accessed by a single line of HTML code on your page.
4. Keyword Density
In general, the number of times your keyword appears in the HTML code for your Web page is compared to the overall number of words word that appear in the HTML code for your Web page.
For example, if there were 100 words in the HTML code of your Web page and your keyword appeared 5 times, your keyword density for that page would be 5 percent. Keeping in mind that search engines change their preferred keyword density on a regular basis, Google currently prefers a keyword currently between 5-20%.
TIP: Google currently prefers that you have between 150-600 words of visible body text on your page. An excellent free tool for analyzing the keyword density of your page is located at: http://www.keyworddensity.com/
5. Keywords in Link Text
Google uses the link text it finds on your site as a ranking factor.
The following highlighted link text on all pages linking back to the home page of our fictitious Princess Hospital Winnipeg Web site would help achieve a higher ranking on Google.
<A HREF="index.html">Princess Hospital Winnipeg</A>
This is in contrast to many Web sites where you often see "Home" or "Click Here" used in link text as follows:
<A HREF="index.html">Home</A>
TIP: Google prefers that you use your keywords in 10 percent of the linking text on your page. Of course, this is not always possible when using your organization name and location as your keywords, but you can at least work your organization name into the home page link as described above.
In Part 3 of this article series we will cover the remaining important elements in ranking your web site with Google.
This article appears courtesy of CharityChannel. It originally appeared in the CharityChannel E-Philanthropy & Technology Review Newsletter.
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