Website Optimization

by Karina Gencheva

In this report, I will outline a roadmap of website optimization that will maximize

website organic visibility and reach. I will use the example of an event management business,

however, a lot of the insights discussed can be translated to other use cases. Below I

emphasize the importance of selecting keywords and the consequent optimization of their use

in on-page elements such as title tags, headline tags, URLs, etc. Finally, I discuss the role of

content optimization and its relevance to the search engine algorithm.

First, keyword focus lays down the foundation of Search Engine Optimization. The

focus keywords are what the potential customers will search for when looking for event

management services. One can use tools like Google Keyword Planner to research different

keywords (Negpal et al, 2021). We want words that have a broad reach, however, the broader

the term, the more competitive the search result list is because the words are relevant to many

competitors online. Ideally, we want to optimize for maximizing reach and minimizing

competitiveness (meaning how commonly the word is used by other companies). For the

example of event management, we can add the location as events are usually organized by

local agencies or we can use the type of event that we are offering services for (ex. weddings,

birthdays, etc.). In her article How to Increase Your Bottom Line Through SEO, Hannah

Gresty addresses this problem of general vs. specific keywords: “A common mistake that

businesses make that prevents conversion is to focus on short words or phrases which have

higher traffic but are less targeted. If you are selling red shoes and you were to just target the

keywords 'red shoes’, you could have many people landing on your page but few conversions

[...] If you have a longer phrase [...] you'll have more targeted traffic coming to your site”

(Gresty, 2016). That’s why tools that help one find high-volume, low-competition words are

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important and make the choice of keywords based on data rather than hope. Once we've done

the keyword research, we have the foundation to proceed with optimizing the “skeleton” of

our website pages.

What I call the skeleton of the web page is the assortment of headers, URLs, and meta

descriptions. Some of these elements are user-facing and some are not but either way, they

play a role in the algorithms that search engines use and allow the positioning of the website

better to maximize organic reach. This constitutes the second part of website optimization

that I focus on. Frank Motola, the owner of the marketing agency Brandtastic LLC, presents a

comprehensive list of the main elements to pay attention to including title, description, alt,

keyword tags, etc. He does a deeper dive into how to approach each of those mainly focusing

on the website keywords. When discussing title tags, Motola makes a point that the keywords

need to be used in a way that, yes, signals to the search engine what the content is, but also

aligns with how the target audience will phrase what they’re looking for. For example, he

makes an argument that “Heading tags [...] can be used — H1 through H6 — with H1 tags

carrying the most weight or importance. At the top of every page, include an H1 tag that tells

search engines what each page is about. Search engines compare the keywords found in the

header tags with the associated content looking for relevancy and keyword consistency”

(Motola, 2017). Similarly, other types of tags can be crafted to reinforce keywords and

ultimately help the website reach the best visibility (ranking it higher on the search engine

results page). When discussing title tags, Motola makes a point that the keywords need to be

used in a way that, yes, signals to the search engine what the website is about, but also aligns

with how the target audience will phrase what they’re looking for (Motola, 2017). This assists

with aligning user search intent with search results and increases organic traffic.

Finally, the third part of website optimization is the content. Service description and

blog (-type of) content is a great way to sneak in even more use of the precious keywords. If

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my niche service is "wedding planning in San Diego" those words need to be repeatedly used

in the description of the different service packages offered and their specifics. For example,

when discussing the venue management, one should write "San Diego wedding venue"

instead of just "venue". Similarly, when publishing other types of content such as blog posts,

it pays to incorporate those niche keywords into the content. In The Power of SEO, Jim

Nowakowski, president of the Interline Creative Group, argues the importance of copy

optimization when it comes to organic SEO: “Google feeds on copy. The old saying, “A

picture is worth a thousand words” is true. But, if you are striving for better SEO, you better

write out those thousand words for Google because Google is blind” (Nowakowski, 2019).

Just like when we’re thinking about the headlines and the title tags, we want the content to

align with the user search intent which helps the website get higher visibility and more

organic traffic.

Optimizing a website for maximum organic reach and traffic gets easier once we

understand the underlying rationale of search engine algorithms which is rooted in providing

users with relevant, valuable search results. The three steps described above require

monitoring and analysis. Fortunately, tools like Google Analytics can help gain insights into

the website’s SEO performance and user behavior (Chen et al, 2023). Like with most things

in online marketing, the SEO strategy needs to be adaptable in the face of performance issues

and new opportunities to maximize targeted traffic.

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 Sources:

Chen, J.-C., & Sénéchal, S. (2023). The reciprocal relationship between search engine

optimization (SEO) success and brand equity (BE): an analysis of SMEs. European

Business Review, 35(5), 860–873. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBR-02-2023-0045

Erdmann, A., Arilla, R., & Ponzoa, J. M. (2022). Search engine optimization: The long-term

strategy of keyword choice. Journal of Business Research, 144, 650–662.

Gresty, H. (2016). How to... increase your bottom line through SEO. Director, 69(9), 58–59.

Michael David. (2011). WordPress 3 Search Engine Optimization. Packt Publishing.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.01.065

Motola, F. (2017). SEO Is Not Dead. Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration News,

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Nagpal, M., & Petersen, J. A. (2021). Keyword Selection Strategies in Search Engine

Optimization: How Relevant is Relevance? Journal of Retailing, 97(4), 746–763.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2020.12.002

Nowakowski, J. (2019). The Power of Seo. Electrical Wholesaling, 100(4), 20–23.

Tacchino, K. (2023). Feeding the Robot: Low-Hanging Fruit for Search Engine Optimization.

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