What is search engine ranking?

Google is the biggest search engine so it's important to aim for a high Google page ranking

Search engine ranking is the value that the big search engines, Google, Yahoo and Bing, ascribe to a website.

Search engines constantly index websites on the Internet so that when someone types in a search term, the search engine can find the most appropriate websites and put them on page one of the search list or SERP (search engine results page).

What do search engines look for when ranking your website?

There are two primary elements to indexing pages:

1. content on your website
2. who is linking to your site.

Indexing content on your website

Search engine ‘bots‘ are constantly trawling the Internet (and your website) looking for relevant information for any search term. The bots look at topics on your website and read the back-end code for title tags, description tags and other clues as to what each webpage on your website is about.

It might be considered a cliche, but content is king when it comes to search engine ranking

This means how you write your content and how you write your metatags to match that content is vital. Each webpage should have its own topic and focus with some keywords that give ‘bots’ the clue to what the page is about.

Be specific and write for a human audience. If you write only to improve SEO (search engine optimization), chances are you will overshoot the optimum keyword density.

Adding content regularly is also important – at least one webpage a week. Having a blog or news section on your website enables you to write one story or webpage about a particular topic relevant to your business, products or services.

Make sure each article has a clear topic and stay focused on that topic. There are no easy shortcuts to improving your ranking. Good content that is clear, concise and stays on topic is a sure winner.

Read more about how to write content for your website.

Who is linking to your website?

Inbound links are a clear indicator to the search engine ‘bots’ of the authority of your website in a particular field. It is not just the number of inbound links, it’s the significance of the website that is linking to you.

Build the number of websites linking to your website to improve your search engine ranking

Another issue is the anchor text used on the other website. Do not link your URL, your website name. Rather, use some relevant keywords that are the anchor for the link.

‘Web Development Sydney’ is excellent anchor text if this is what you do and where your office is. Create the link to a particular webpage on your website that is about web development rather than to your homepage.

Note: internal links on your webpages to other webpages on your website should also link from relevant anchor text. This shows search engines that the page you are linking to is about the keyword or phrase you used as your anchor text.

At Bold Type, we help business people to understand how to optimize their websites, how to write appropriate content, build inbound links and network with social media.

Our aim is to empower people so that they can improve their Google ranking, get more targetted web visitors and build their businesses.

Check your inbound web links free @ W3C, the web standards organisation.

How is your website ranking?

Here’s a simple test. Search for the keywords that best describes your business. Type in the geographic location if this is relevant. Is your website showing on page one of Google? You can get there and Bold Type can help you.

Contact Bold Type today for a free evaluation of your website.

Five top tips for getting more web users to find your business on Google

1. Build and post web content regularly

Build content on your website and webpages that provides information to your target market. A site that continues to post more relevant information each month will continue to rank highly.

2. Make sure your content is well written and specific

Post well-written, specific content on each of your webpages. This will ensure that all your webpages have good content that help search engines to index your pages. It is likely that at least half of your NEW web visitors will come from search engines so ranking highly will help drive new business.

3. Link sub-level pages to higher-level web pages

Have links on your sub-level webpages back to the top level pages on your website. This means web users who find you because your sub-level pages have ranked highly will be able to navigate back to higher level pages. Good navigation will keep web visitors on your website longer. This is seen as very favourable by Google and other search engines.

4. Make sure the file name is correct when you create your content

Make sure you have an appropriate file name when you produce the page and avoid changing file names (URL for a webpage). If you change a file name for a webpage and links are coming in to the previously named page, web users will the 404 error page rather than the page on your website. Remember that many social networking sites, web directories and search engines will contain links to the original file name (not just homepage). You want web visitors to find your page easily.

5. Metatag your webpages correctly

Metatag your webpages to match the content and text you have on each page. Metatagging needs to reflect that webpage content. If you do this properly, the more likely web users are to find your website over your competitors.

Want to improve your website’s ranking on Google? Bold Type has a track record of increasing clients’ Google ranking so contact us about improving your ranking on Google today.

News article about moving house written by Bold Type for Liza McKilliam's real estate website

When writing for the web – indeed, for any particular website – it’s important to consider what will interest the visitors to that website. For those interested in buying and selling homes, moving house is inevitable. That’s why a recent article written by Bold Type for Liza McKilliam’s real estate website is all about moving house.

It’s apparently true that 43 per cent of households in Australia have moved at least once in the last five years and 49 per cent had moved more than three times so, for many Australians, finding out how to take the stress out of moving is of interest.

Writing content for the web for different businesses is one of the services we offer at Bold Type. We can also manage your Email Marketing System, writing and sending regular emails to clients.

Contact Bold Type to discuss how we can help you.

Visit Liza McKilliam’s real estate website – a website designed and developed by Bold Type.

Clear writing is essential for webpage content

Writing content on a webpage? Check your text against these 12 tips.

1. Content needs to be clear, concise and easy to read – that’s it.
2. Headings and sub-headings need to be clear and mean something – avoid puns and other attempts at humour and forget clever – just make sure that headings explain the text that follows.
3. More important information should be at the top of the page.
4. Use simple sentence structures. More full stops rather than lots of connective words in any sentence. That’s it. You’ve got it.
5. Paragraphs should also be concise – try to limit to 50 words.
6. As with any good writing – one paragraph, one concept.
7. Think about the fold line on a webpage. Keeping content above the fold line avoids having to scroll down, down, down.
8. Bullet point lists should be used – short, concise, easy to read (see no. 2)
9. Include keywords and phrases and keep the content on the page focused on the main topic (don’t introduce five different topics on the one page unless it’s a landing page linking to other pages).
10. Here’s another thing: add links to other webpages that relate to the same subject matter.
11. Direct the language to the user. Write about features and benefits to the audience. Avoid brag-speak but keep it conversational.
12. Add an image or two to break up text into easy to find ‘chunks’.

More articles about creating websites

Make your website work for you

Writing news for the web

Engineer Your Career website

Converting text from a traditional print format to a web-style format requires more than a traditional structural (substantive) edit and copy edit. The flow of a print document is linear. The same content on-screen requires a completely different navigational system.

Recently, I was given the job to edit an Engineering Careers Manual which had been written in the traditional print format and to rearrange the content for publishing online.

The project was undertaken in two phases: firstly, the development of a web-based template that included all the headings and content as it will be presented for on-screen reading, secondly, transferring content from the manuscript to the appropriate webpage of the newly-created web template. For example, website references in the printed manuscript were often repeated on several pages (very appropriate for printed documents). In the web template, these appear on one page called ‘Links’ and hyperlinks were created from different content pages to this one page. The creation of navigation bars, menus and hyperlinks to ensure easy navigation by visitors was also a significant part of this project.

A webpage from Engineer Your Career website

Phase two included a complete structural edit followed by a copy edit. Whether print or online content, the editor’s role is much the same including:

• checking consistency of the heading/text organisation and suggesting any restructuring to improve readability and navigation
• eliminating any duplicated or repetitive text and modification of style: for example, table to prose, prose to bullet list, converting text to pull quotes (break out boxes
  making sure that the language is consistent and applicable to the target audience and  checking for gender, ethnicity, age biases
• making changes to sentence construction, grammar, syntax, and ensuring the consistent usage of punctuation, numbers, abbreviations, use of bold, italics and other publishing devices.

And finally, as part of the Bold Type service, a project style sheet and an editorial checklist of significant issues was submitted with the newly-transformed web-ready content.

Contact Sue Stevens at Bold Type for a quote editing print manuscripts, online content or converting text from print to the web.

Writing for the web – it helps to have the right equipment

Adding content to a website on a regular basis is not just about writing any old stuff as we sometimes see on Facebook and Twitter. If you are a business, the content should be about your niche market and appeal to the people you want to attract as customers. It should also be focused on one aspect of the business.

If the new webpage of content is about, say, ‘writing for the web’, stick to the topic. Adding content on that page that is about other things will do you no favours in terms of search engine optimisation.

Google searching robots become confused if they can’t get a handle on what the webpage is about. And your audience will probably turn off too.

A ‘news’ section on your website is good for business

Having a news section on your website allows you to highlight aspects of your business, write about special deals, talk about new products and services and give your clients the latest industry news. Websites that are current and have content added regularly are perceived as influential. Companies that have dynamic websites are perceived themselves as dynamic companies of influence.

While you focus on business, we can write content for your website

Bold Type writes news updates and other web content for our clients. While Bold-Type websites are easy to use (add and modify content), some clients want to focus on what they do best – manage their business – so they outsource the writing and editing to us. Regularly added new web content improves the website and helps improve the site’s search engine rankings. This means more visitors and more potential clients coming from the Internet.

Read about the 12 tips for writing great web content.

Glitterbox website is a unique design that captures the essence of this hair salon in Newtown Sydney

The Bold Type team – web designer, developer, content editor and project manager – have just completed the unique and quite wonderful website for Glitterbox, a unique and quite wonderful hair salon in Newtown.

Sue Stevens, who managed the project, researched hairdressing websites from salons all over the world including New York, San Fransisco and London, not to mention others in Sydney and Melbourne too. Not that we wanted to copy any, but it was good to see what is happening in the world of hair salon websites. Not much was the verdict!

Armed with the belief that we could set a new standard in devising a uniquely designed hair salon website using the open source software, Wordpress, the design team went to town – Newtown to be exact.

The result is a website that reflects the energy of the salon itself. It is also SEO friendly so that more visitors are finding the salon when searching for a hair salon. Also, it can be managed easily by the team at Glitterbox without having to pay ongoing costs to a web expert. It’s a win-win-win situation. We, at Bold Type, just love to see our clients happy. And we’re thrilled to be able to give them exactly what they want – a website that is uniquely theirs.

Link to Glitterbox hair salon, Newtown

Contact Sue for a free consultation about your website needs.

• Project managed the development of affordable, individualised, dynamic websites that give proprietors complete control over their primary marketing asset: their website. See website portfolio for recently developed websites.
• Produced a non-fiction list from conception to market – series of 45 full-colour illustrated books
• Developed a business website with 3000 pages of quality online content that had exceptional search engine optimisation (SEO) – keyword search results that consistently appear on page one of Google (the world) – the website included an online directory, resource centre, ecommerce shopping facility and Web 2.0 community interactivity
• Project managed the development of online policies, processes and procedures for a state government department – included training sessions for writers, and structural and copy editing of online content
• Produced educational books, CD-ROMs and webpages for students and teachers from K–12 for Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australian education departments and educational publishing houses
• Written publishing style manuals that incorporated print and online publishing standards to ensure consistency across all business communications and publishing products
• Production management of print and electronic resources including substantive editing and copy editing, and developing art briefs, copyright schedules and print specifications

Publishing network

Bold Type has an established network of publishing professionals including writers (online and print), editors, graphic designers, illustrators, indexers, typesetters and proofreaders.

If you need someone to manage a team of publishing professionals to meet your website or print publishing needs, contact Sue at Bold Type.

Academic record

• 2005 Doctor of Philosophy, University of Sydney
• 1997 Bachelor of Arts Humanities, first-class honours, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
• 1994 Bachelor of Arts, Australian and Comparative Studies, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia

Sue’s academic career includes tutoring in the sociology department at Sydney University, writing academic papers and presenting papers at academic conferences.

On completion of her undergraduate degree, Sue won one of six Griffith University Scholarships for Women which enabled her to complete her Honours program with first-class Honours.

For a free consultation and quote for your next web publishing or print publishing job, contact Sue Stevens.