7 Tips for Search Engine Optimization

7 Tips for Search Engine Optimization

The 7 SEO tips on this post are just a sample of some of the techniques and ideas that you can use to improve your visibility in the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN. LenderHomePage.com has a proven track record of successful SEO for our clients, and we’d be happy to share our expertise with you as well, just call us at 888-377-1265, and ask to speak with an SEO consultant.

Tip #1 – Build A Niche

As much as we might want to, it’s not possible, or even wise to rank highly in the search engines for every single keyword we can think of. Instead, try to focus on one or two key areas that you’d really like to bring traffic for. The more focused you become, the more likely the traffic you bring to your site is to turn in to a lead.

Tip #2 – Use Keywords Wisely

The keywords that you select for your website will be based upon the niche that you choose. Once you know what the best keywords for your niche are, it’s important that you use them in the right place. Key areas are your “title” tag, your “description” tag, and your “keywords” tag, not to mention your content itself.

Tip #3 – Create Good Content

There’s nothing more frustrating to someone surfing the internet than to go to a site expecting to get specific information, only to find that the information that they thought would be there is not. Whatever you optimize your title, description and keywords for should match the content of the page. If it doesn’t, you’ll find that the search engines won’t pick up your site at all, and more importantly, you’ll drive away any traffic that you do manage to attract to your site. Don’t over use your keywords in your content, as search engines might view this as spam.

Tip #4 – Create A Site Map

If you want to make your web site easier for search engines to see, include a site map. A site map will provide links to all of the important internal pages on your site in a text format that search engines find easier to read than the graphic-heavy links that are common on most web sites. By making your site easier to index, you’re helping to increase the chances that it will be listed highly in search results.

Tip #5 – Use Descriptive Anchor Text

When you’re creating content and/or navigation for your web site, be sure to use descriptive names for the anchor text of any links that link to your site. The “anchor text” of a link is the part that web surfers click on to visit a link. From the perspective of search engines, the anchor text describes what is behind the link, and adds to the value of that page. You should use your keywords in the anchor text of any link that leads to your web site, both for internal links, (from your own site to your own site), and external links (from other sites to your site).

Tip #6 – Start a Link Exchange Campaign

By trading links with other web sites related to the mortgage industry, you are helping to increase your importance in the eyes of the search engines. The more web sites you have linking to you, the more “popular” you become, as long as those web sites have related content of high quality. When trading links, make sure that you seek out link partners that are in a non-competitive but complimentary industry. For instance, as a mortgage company, you might be interested in trading links with appraisal companies, home improvement firms, real estate agents, etc. If you only lend in a particular area, trading links with non-competitive loan companies might be a good idea as well.

Tip #7 – Have a Clean Site

Having a clean, easy to navigate and understand web site is a critical part of making sure that the traffic you get on your web site turns in to a lead. You want to make sure that all of the important areas of your site are easy for your visitors to find, and that they don’t have to go to a lot of trouble to get the information that they came for. You also want to keep things as simple as possible for the search engines.

Technology such as Flash and JavaScript create some very pleasant interactive features for your visitors, but over use of this technology can lead to a site that is nearly impossible for a search engine to index properly. You should use plain HTML for your navigation in particular, and JavaScript should be kept to a minimum as well. A search engine only reads so much of your web page before deciding where to index it, and you want to give it as much quality content to read as possible. If you have a lot of JavaScript or object code on your web page, you’re taking away room for your content to be read by the search engines.