Author Websites -- How To Move Upwards In Search Page Rankings

[HoopyFrood]

As suggested by Judge, I'm going to see if I can offer a few tips to anyone with a website that could use some boosting in search page rank listings.

It's already been mentioned elsewhere on the Chrons, but having a website of one's own is a good way to increase your visibility. But just the act of having one isn't going to guarantee visitors and traffic to the site. Unfortunately it isn't a case of your site promptly appearing in search engine result pages (SERPs) just by typing in the right keywords. Eventually this can happen, and is the desired effect, but it can take a fair amount of work to get it up to those elusive top spots.

I don't do much on-page (things to do to your site) search engine optimisation myself, but there are a few things I know of that can be suggested. Most of it is just a list of things that Google likes and doesn't like and It is, after all, the Being to appease (despite there being others, Google is still used to do a huge majority of internet searching).

Google likes fresh content. It's good for your site because it seduces the google crawlers (that will index your pages, store them, and thus bring them back up in a google search) back time and again. A good way to get this is to have a blog on your site, somewhere that can be updated regularly, but doesn't need major upkeep.

Google likes content fullstop. SEO people try to pin down all the measurements for these kinds of things, so I've seen actual charts and infographics about the right proportions you need. But simply -- contextual, relevant, ample-sized posts (around five hundred words seems to be average, and is also about the optimum length to attract people to read, and not scare them off with a wall of words!) is what you want.

Google doesn't like lots of keywords. Which can make a person pull their hair out, seeing as there're going to be certain words that you do want to be found by. There are all kinds of ratios and percentages that people throw around, but just be aware that you shouldn't be trying to stuff your content full of your chosen words. Using them sparingly, but wisely, can achieve better results than stuffing them in and having the might of Google fall on your head.

Page headers are good places to put keywords. Think about your headers on posts (blog and the like) -- if they're the kinds of things people are going to be searching for in the first place. And then in a similar fashion, if people will be intrigued and interested enough to click on it. Don't be overly arty, let the person know what they'll be clicking into. Again, crazy statistics say that keeping it under sixty characters works best as it fits on one line in results pages and people prefer that!

On a technical side, although things like Flash and Javascript can make a site interactive and interesting for a visitor, be aware of not putting everything on your site into it. Crawlers still need the HTML to index the page, its content and links and Java and Flash can hide URLs.

In essence, many changes to Google's algorithms have been trying to push the idea of the internet being of the people for the people by the people, and not a series of SEO techniques. So all the good, quality, regular, relevant content is what they're looking for.

 

[HoopyFrood]

Now, the external stuff is more my area.

Alas, yes, you may need to invest in some social media time. Twitter and Facebook and the like may seem like vacuums where everyone just wants to talk about themselves, but it can be a handy place to meet like-minded people and bag some backlinks to your site. Unsurprisingly Google+ is also useful for search and for becoming more well-known in your area (through their 'circles').

Because these are two important things. Carving out your niche, and getting those backlinks.

For all its protestations, Google still works on a link basis; that a backlink to a site is a 'vote of confidence'. A link from a reputable source (say you're jammy enough to get a backlink from the BBC website!) counts for even more. The more links that are sent from other places back to your site, the more it's telling Google “yes, this is a good site, people like it and trust it”.

Backlinking can be a job in itself (literally – it's mine!) and you could end up putting in constant effort towards it and sucking up all your time.

However, as a site owner, one of the best ways you can get good, reputable backlinks is to make friends. Talk to people in your area, visit other blogs and websites, comment on their stuff, get to know them and then offer to swap links. Get a link on their site, they get one on yours, boom, everyone's a winner. Visitors to their site might be inclined to follow the link and you'll generally become more known within that area. It can be a bit of a process, but it definitely leads to the right results.

Have a think about the anchor text you'd like your links to be contained within (anchor text is like this where text has a link inside it). The words you use for such can act as search keywords. Do you want people to be able to search for you via your name, or your book title, or something else? I'd suggest steering clear of generic things like “fantasy author” (though consider long-tail anchor text like “fantasy author ______name_____” perhaps) as you're unlikely to make a dent in such!

There are other ways of getting links back to your website through your own means. Consider third party sites. These can be things like maybe a mini-blog elsewhere (one that's hosted by a domain such as Wordpress or Posterous) where you can add posts and links to your site. Or image sites – if you have photos or pictures that you perhaps add regularly to your site, consider also posting them in image galleries, which often give a 'source link' back to your site. It can also be a way for people on such sites to find their way to your own.

If you write articles or other bits of non-fictional writing (because we all have the time, right?) there are plenty of places where such articles can be submitted. Again, it will get your name out there and can build links from your profiles or articles from there to your website.

What you are aiming for is a network of backlinks from sites you use and frequent yourself. It will create a combination of links to increase your rankings with an online presence that will raise people's awareness of you. In time this will also start to generate a more natural process of backlinking to your site, links that you don't set up yourself but happen through people naturally sharing and linking your stuff.

Blimey, I've babbled. I don't know how much this even makes sense. I could even be talking nonsense.

Please, if anyone wants any points expanding or explaining properly (!) then don't hesitate to point a finger. I also use so many different websites every day, so if you want names of any of the things I've mentioned here, also don't hesitate to ask.

I hope this has been of some use!

 

[The Judge]

Thanks, Hoopy. That's excellent. Lots to think about here. I've no immediate questions, mainly because it takes me a while to absorb things, but I shall ponder and digest.

 

[HoopyFrood]

No problem, I know it's a bit of splurge as it is, so I didn't go into as much detail on some points. I'll be happy to explain in greater depth on anything (provided that I can!)

 

[Brian G Turner]

The most important point is to have a reason to attract visitors in the first place. Traffic for traffic's sake is pointless.

You need to offer something - a Call To Action (CTA) such as free downloads, email list signup, etc, that you ultimately want the visitor to do.

Also, I think trying to generate traffic to a site as an aspiring writer is not a good use of time - simply interact with other sites, blog, comment usefully on other writing blogs, to make yourself a part of the community. So that once you have something eventually published, at least a few people might know who you are and react favourably to you for it.

And never spam forums with ads.

 

[mosaix]

=

And never spam forums with ads.

Anyone would think you've had experience of this, Brian.