Website creation - increase the efficiency of search engine optimization

The creation of websites has long since lost its horror - corresponding construction kits, an often modular structure and an almost innumerable number of instructions make it possible. But even a particularly beautifully and elaborately designed website is far from being a guarantee for good visibility or a high reach.

Without a well thought-out search engine optimization (SEO), which acts as the most efficient online marketing discipline in website creation, a top ranking on Google and Co. is almost utopia. Even though SEO has become the talk of the town and almost every website owner motivates his presence accordingly, success depends on the right approach and, above all, on a number of details.

Especially for commercial users, search engine optimization should therefore be one of the core competencies. After all, traffic is generated by means of SEO or relevant search terms. However, in order to attract targeted users or customers to one's own website, the holistic Internet presence must have good visibility.

Search engines have become incredibly clever over the course of time. Details now make the difference and decide whether the rank of a homepage can be improved. Even the chosen domain name acts as an important multiplier with regard to the search engine rankings.

The ending of the corresponding top-level domain (TLD) is of great importance. Although there are now a large number of possible endings, the classic endings - such as .com or .net and especially .de - still have a popularity bonus here. Domain names with these endings are mainly regarded as serious and trustworthy. This also applies, with slight reservations, to the domain endings .eu or .org, while the endings .info or .biz are only used as a last alternative.

The search term or the decisive keyword should be selected in such a way that the domain name is used directly in a content-specific manner. For example, if a car repair shop wants to establish an online presence, names around car-repair.com would be ideal.

In these cases, it is recommended to conduct a comprehensive keyword research; the corresponding search term can then be implemented in the domain name. In any case, users should refrain from using too many hyphens in the domain name. This looks unserious to the majority of viewers. In addition, the search engines often evaluate names with a corresponding frequency of hyphens weaker.

Example:

Domain names such as repair-car-fast-and-quickly.com then quickly rejected instead of attracting attention.

As a rule of thumb, only two words and a hyphen are the optimum. A domain name with such a composition is comparatively easy to remember and usually gains the trust of both Internet users and search engines.

An extremely decisive factor in the creation of websites is the choice of specific keywords. First of all, it is important which target group is to be reached. Some websites have a clear regional reference in this respect, while other content is completely region-independent.

Depending on the intention, the respective keywords can then be determined, which are to be listed topic- and region-specific in the search engines for the respective website. It makes sense to consider a regional reference in the SEO settings if, for example, the website of a bakery from Munich or a pizza service located in Dortmund is concerned. Since corresponding search queries here depend on the geographical location or the location, the selection of keywords with a regional reference is indispensable.

If instead, for example, you run an online bookstore or operate as a tour operator, you can neglect regional search engine optimization. In this case, search queries such as "save now - book a trip online" or "buy a book online" have no geographical restrictions.

However, whether region-dependent or without geographical restrictions - in search engine optimization, the content is basically the most essential ranking factor. The content of a corresponding website should therefore always focus on an informal added value. As a preparation with regard to the creation of individual content, it is advisable to visit websites with which there is a topic or content-related proximity. In this way, it can be avoided that the information is prepared in a similar or even the same form.

It is also important that the content or texts are up-to-date. Search engines grant an explicit bonus to permanently updated websites and usually list them higher than pages that are only updated irregularly or not at all.

Google and Co. have different intentions when evaluating websites. Experience has shown that the search engines expect frequent updates, especially for news sites or similar presences, whereas this appears less important for company websites. Portals that are primarily concerned with the dissemination of information or that have positioned themselves as advisors therefore have a constant updating obligation.

If, on the other hand, websites such as www.webme.com only offer certain products, updating the content is of secondary importance. Here it is then exclusively about the product description of a construction kit for the effective creation of a website, but not about news or generally information with current background. With the latter websites, the search engines usually assume that new content is added daily.

The keywords should be used within the texts in such a way that they establish a fundamental connection to other SEO components; the page description and the page title in particular occupy decisive positions here. If you are unsure about the keywords, you should use a tool such as Google Trends. With the help of this tool, Google keywords can be generated and compared.

Once the appropriate keywords have been selected, they must be skillfully integrated into the texts. It is important that the keywords are always found several times in the respective text. In addition, a bold font can be chosen for the most relevant keywords. The fact that search engines give equal consideration to words of the same root ensures stylistic variety. For example, the words "simple" and "simplest" then achieve the identical effect with regard to the assessment of the website by the search engines. But - a healthy mixture is required here. Because hidden keywords or even whole lists of keywords in the respective texts are often evaluated or regarded as spam by the search engines.

Basically, it is enough to include the search term or keyword in the title tag of the respective web page as well as - with a keyword density of about three to four percent - in the actual text. It is also recommended to place the keyword once in a headline with an h2 rank.

This is exactly how trained editors, for example, who work or write for professional websites, proceed. With regard to SEO, these measures within the framework of on-site optimization are sufficient to exploit one's own potential to around 90 to 95 percent. This fact alone makes it clear that the Internet and the associated functions or even theories are always evolving or at least always taking a new direction.

Internal linking is an important issue when building a website. Search engines like Google, Chrome or Yahoo act extremely intelligently in this regard. When they get a picture of a presence or a website, they also take a detailed look at the respective structure and the nesting of the individual sites and content. Smaller tricks can be used so that Google and Co. also classify the corresponding website as structured.

For example, a link text should always be varied. If the identical link text is always used, there is a high risk that the search engines will interpret this directly as spam. The creation of a matrix has also proven to be advantageous. Within this matrix, a specific search term can be assigned to each individual web page. Afterwards a linking of all pages of the web presence, on which the search term is to be found, is to be accomplished on the side which can be optimized. Furthermore, a navigation with text should always be generated. This is the better way than using navigation points in graphical form. A normal sitemap can be used advantageously here.

However, there are still plenty of pages on the web that make it extremely difficult for the search engines due to their own website structure and which are denied a good ranking from the outset. In most cases, this is also due to the tools, images, features and functions built into the websites. These often prevent a certain accessibility of the page, which is an important feature of a website for Google and Co.

When installing frames or a frame structure, for example, one should proceed with extreme caution. Search engines tend to neglect frames and only follow them to a limited extent. Instead, the NoFrames area should be used explicitly. Appropriate texts and links to subpages can be implemented there. Thanks to this measure, search engines index more text of the website. However, this does not necessarily work, which is why many SEO experts now advise against frames. By the way, this also applies to the so-called IFrames.

Search engines also usually have a hard time indexing Flash movies. If it does not contradict the intention of a page, too large image files should also be avoided; search engines are often unable to capture them or can only do so to a limited extent. In general, less is sometimes more. A slimmed-down code, for example, can work wonders in terms of loading times. However, fast loading times in particular are a significant improvement for search engines in terms of standing. Therefore, the size of a website should never be exaggerated.

However, it is important that not only the HTML file reveals fast loading times. Rather, the loading times of the javascripts used and the speed of internal redirects should also be optimized. The speed of the DNS servers is also taken into account by Google and Co. The use of session IDs - explicitly of JSP pages - or long parameter chains also hinder search engines. In order to determine which problems a website is causing search engines, an analysis tool should therefore be used regularly. For example, the Google Webmaster Tool determines exactly which pages of a website are not spidered.