Texas SEO Company Blog

Hosting companies come in all shapes and sizes. Colors too. You’ll find some hosting companies that provide great service, but technically they are still dinosaurs. You’ll also find hosting companies that use state-of-the-art advanced hardware and software but their customer service isn’t so good. Thankfully, you don’t need a lot of customer service.

One of the primary considerations for a website owner is the type of server that your website sits on. I usually recommend that clients stay away from Windows servers. They are typically less expensive than web hosts that provide UNIX or LINUX servers, but don’t make a decision on price alone. The benefits of a LINUX server, especially if you are going to do some blogging, are tremendous.

First, Windows servers have a very difficult time interacting with WordPress, the most popular blogging software. You may not think that’s an issue, especially if you don’t plan to have a blog. But what if you decide you want a blog some time in the future. Wouldn’t you rather have a server that is compatible with your software?

Secondly, and this is even more egregious an issue than WordPress, Windows servers are loaded with code. All Microsoft products are. Because Windows servers have a ton of code wrapped up in them, it makes it difficult for the search engines to find the content they are looking for so that your website can get ranked well. When the search engines have to search and search through code to crawl a web page they may not find the parts of your website you want them to find in order to rank well for your key terms. That’s why I recommend LINUX over Windows any day.

The Google Webmaster Central Blog is in the midst of a four-part series on links. Today’s post deals with link architecture.

If you’re not sure what link architecture is, in a nutshell it is simply how the pages of your website link together. I’m going to summarize Google’s take on link architecture and try to make it relevant for geotargeted Texas websites like yours.

According to Google, here are the most important aspects of link architecture:

• Intuitive navigation
• Crawlable links
• Descriptive anchor text
• Sitemap submission

Here’s the word on each of these link architecture basics as they relate to Texas-based geotargeted SEO:

Intuitive Navigation

Intuitive navigation simply means that your site users find what they are looking for easily. If you have a website devoted to teaching football fundamentals, don’t put tackling under the offensive maneuvers menu item. That wouldn’t make sense. Anyone who knows the basics of football would look for information on tackling under defensive maneuvers.

So the basic principle for your link architecture involves linking pages logically so that they fit according to common perceptions that your site visitors will have regarding the information you share.

Crawlable links

A crawlable link is an link the search engines will find useful. using rel=”nofollow” tags will not help you as you are essentially telling the search engines not to crawl those links. You’ll also want to stay away from php, dynamic, and Flash navigation menus. A good, crawlable link is one that uses basic HTML code and doesn’t require mouse actions in order for the user to activate the link. Search engines cannot use drop down menus so stay away from those types of navigational structures.

Descriptive anchor text

Descriptive anchor text is the text that you use to link from page to page. The linked text should tell human visitors what to expect on the next page and it should be crawlable by the search engines. For instance, if your website is about Texas high school football teams then make your links the names of the high school and their mascots. That is descriptive for both the search engines and your human visitors.

Sitemap submissions

Sitemaps are the least important of the link architecture items on Google’s list. If your site is small, say 20 pages or less, then you may not need a sitemap. Larger sites require them more than smaller sites. If you set up your link architecture correctly in the first place then you can get away without a sitemap. The key is to make your website crawlable and if you stay away from dynamic navigation menus, use HTML code instead of Flash or PHP, use descriptive anchor text and crawlable links then you will do far more to make your website search engine friendly than you’ll ever do with a sitemap.

Texas Cowboys Are People Too

What does any of this have to do with cowboys? Well, maverick or not, you are still human. I know Texans like to feel special, and in many ways you are, but SEO is SEO. The same rules and principles apply to the cowboys as applies to every one else. Search bots can’t see your cowboy hat, but they can see your link architecture.

Geotargeting is the process of SEOing your site for a specific geographical area, be it Texas or a specific community like Dallas. Your anchor text can play a part in that geotargeting. Not only should you use anchor text for your industry-related key terms, but you should also have a few geotargeted anchor text phrases in there as well. That will increase your geotargeted link structure and if you combine the industry-related key terms with the geotargeted key terms for your descriptive anchor text then you’ll hit the power button on both fronts.

It’s time to don the attire of search engine reality and build a crawlable website that both Google and Aunt Mae will love. Link architecture is the key to doing that successfully.

Your El Paso website needs more than a pretty face, right? You need be found in the search engines by the type of customer you want to do business with. Whether you are targeting El Paso residents or the world, you need solid SEO benefits to that web design so that you rank well in the search engines for the keywords you want to target.

There are plenty of ways to SEO a website. If you want to geographically optimize your website specifically for El Paso then you must make a few decisions along the way and pay attention to those critical decision points. Otherwise, you’ll end up backtracking and spending more money on the process of building your website than you should. Cutting costs means having a plan before you start implementing the site design.

Local optimization is different than global optimization. Dropping place names is not the only way to approach SEO for your El Paso business. It’s only one way. What works for one company may not work for another. It’s important to outline your goals so that you have a better idea of how to reach them. Don’t you want a web design company that considers all of the important details, including SEO?

Too many people think just throwing up a website and hoping traffic will come will result in a huge stockpile of money flowing into their bank accounts next week. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, universal experience shows that just having a website isn’t a whole lot better than not having one - at least, in terms of sales. You have to market the website as if it is a separate business. In many respects, it is.

That’s why your web designer needs to be well verse in more than simply pretty design elements. Good web design involves dynamic copywriting with an emphasis on sales copy, and search engine optimization techniques so that you get respectable rankings in the search engines. In other words, it’s more than just looking pretty.

I’ve seen some pretty ugly websites in my day. Some of the ugliest websites have made the most money for their owners. Those website developers knew how to sell and optimize. Sell and optimize. Sell and optimize.

I wrote that three times so you can see what’s important. Of web design elements, attractiveness is the least important thing. Salesmanship and SEO and far more important. I wouldn’t suggest that you neglect attractiveness, but if one of the three has to suffer then focus your efforts of selling and optimizing and leave the pretty design for later.

There is more to SEO than merely keywords. That’s the starting place, of course, but the online marketplace is growing more and more competitive all the time. Texas-based businesses that want to compete online must begin with solid SEO tactics that position them with high rankings and solidify their standing long-term. How you approach that goals depends a great deal on your total knowledge and understanding of search engine best practices.

We at Texas SEO don’t claim to have any inside knowledge of search engine algorithms. We know no more than any other SEO company and any SEO company that claims to have the “inside scoop” is just fooling you. Don’t buy it.

But there are some best practices for SEO that are necessary to adhere to in order to get your Texas-based businesses respectable rankings. Among them are:

• Well-optimized on-page content
• Solid long-term link building plan
• Internal link structure
• An attractice and scaled website design
• Lean site architecture
• Photos and graphics that don’t detract from textual content benefits
• Well-coordinated on-page and off-page elements

Good SEO begins on the web page, but it doesn’t end there. You must be able to approach SEO from multiple perspectives, beginning with the basics. Good keyword research before you begin designing your website will keep you on track and guide you toward a better website. By focusing on the most profitable keywords, or the ones that have the most potential, before moving on to the rest, you will establish a firm base for your website and keep it anchored in solid SEO best practices.