Free Organic SEO

A large part of my time at StepForth as a search engine optimization consultant is spent conducting competitor research on behalf of our clientele. This service is focused on deconstructing the marketing campaigns of each competitor while identifying the tactics that appear to have fundamentally contributed to their search engine success. As you might imagine I come across many intriguing techniques that work and many that don't. The techniques in this article will be those that may have been overlooked that are proven to work. What I am talking about is the creation of an on-site glossary and frequently asked questions area.

Create a Glossary

I imagine we have both shared one frustration with the Internet Marketing at one tíme or another and that is jargon… too much of it. Acronyms, and bafflegab seem to be unintentionally utilized on websites all over the web (I am guilty too, I admit it) and I often wish there was a simple way to find a definition within a website rather than visiting an online dictionary. There are cases that I find where website owners have intelligently linked not so confusing terms to an external definition which is good to the user but a complete waste of seo opportunity. Whenever an occasion arises where a link to a definition would be worthwhile it makes far more sense to link to that content within your own website so that you can gain credibility in the eyes of a major search engine like Google.

You see, Google's algorithm is essentially a credibility calculator; it considers a whole host of elements on your website and pointing to your website to determine where it should be ranked. The algorithm considers countless elements including the uniqueness and relevance of each page's content to the number of links pointing to your site from other credible and relevant websites. Put a relevant content to your glossary page and link a word or a phrase from a page to a particular definition in your glossary in this way your site's credibility can be gained.

For example, your website is.e. www.xyzname.com) sold a wide variety of wood working tools and furniture building plans online it would be to your benefit to provide a fairly comprehensive glossary of woodworking terms on your website. Once the glossary is complete you can then occasionallylink to the associated terms from within the written content on your website~When the glossary is complete, occasionally you can then link to the associated terms in the written content on your website}~{Once the glossary is complete you can then occasionallylink to the associated terms from within the written content on your website}~When the glossary is complete, occasionally you can then link to the associated terms in the written content on your website}.

Okay, I may see the core content of the site within the glossary has relevance to each item, however, its not confirmed how these links help?

A search engine algorithm tries to ascertain credibility in much the same manner humans do; we just take our innate calculations for granted. So consider how you would feel if you were on the woodworking site reading a tutorial on building a rocking chair and whenever a confusing term appeared you were provided with a link to a glossary on the site kindly defining the term. This small comfort would expand your idea of the profitable website and curve the plausibleness of the site would be less in uncertainty. search engine algorithms assimilate these helpful links in much the same manner so by helping your visitors you are also helping your website.

Wait! There is another bonus to having a glossary:

As an added benefit glossary pages also have a great chance at obtaining rankings for their associated definitions precisely because they have links from relevant text pointing to them. In other words, glossaries are entirely helpful for your site to be well known by curiois surfers that are just looking for definition as well as for those big website that would like to link in for reference to your site.

In short, glossaries are simply a win-win tactic for nearly any website. In fact, as I write this I can't think of a single website that would not benefit from a glossary.

Create a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Page

Now that you have read why an on-site glossary is important perhaps the concept of adding a Frequently Asked Questíons section to your website is a no-brainer or perhaps not. It is my professional opinion that you need a FAQ page and it is my firm belief that you should get your butt in gear and create one ASAP.

The same as a glossary, FAQ pages are perfect places to construct credibility of your web site and lay to rest the fear and concern pertaining to your product that often come up in relation to what you sell. you can have some ideas of queries of prospective customer might ask by trying to call a few clients and ask them what they are sought for prior choosing your company. I think that if you place a submission form on your contact page you will see that prospects are willing to ask you questions directly – you should always try to their queries promptly. Then put the Q and A on the applicable Frequesntly Asked Questions Page.

Yet another bonus from having an FAQ:

It is very common for the average surfer to search the web using questíons. If your FAQ uses the wording that you think your prospects will use when searching, you will have a good chance at acquiring some extra high quality traffic. Look for the most appropriate wording for each FAQ research something about keyword analysis tool.

Tips for Building an Optimized Glossary or FAQ

Now I imagine that every expert in the SEO field has a different preference for designing the ‘ultimate’ glossary or FAQ but there are definitely some important tips to keep in mind for both:

1. Keep the pages relatively short. For instance, I don't suggest having the whole FAQ or glossary on just one page unless they are both small. Ideally I would limit the number of questíons or definitions to 10 or 15 on each page.

2. When building a FAQ try to devote each FAQ page to a singular topic. For example, on a woodworking site the FAQ for one page might be on the installation of a wood floor and another page would be devoted to questíons on laminate floor installation.

3. In formatting Glossary and or FAQ content it is important to create a link to any related content within your site. This way if any visitors or search engines enter the site via one of these pages they can find great related reading material in a single click.

4. Do not for get to place a "back" button or something for them to click on that will navigate them back to the glossary or FAQ main menu. This is the most convenient way for visitors to browse each resource and go back to the original page or back to where they were before.

5. Add content to both resources whenever possible. It is often very simple to add a new definition or question and over time each resource will become more and more valuable to your users and ultimately contribute more to your website’s success.

6. Ensure that the FAQ and Glossary pages are included in your XML sitemap so that search engines can regularly index them for fresh content [see Google XML Sitemaps – The Basics ]. That said, I advise setting the suggested re-index rate monthly unless the resources will be updated more often than that. After all, these pages are supposed to help but not take away from the core content of your website.

Your Competitors Are Doing It or They Will

If your website lacks a glossary or a FAQ I can only hope that this article convinced you to make it a priority. These tools are important factors to the success of competitors that I have noticed in many of my analysis contracts. They are too simple to add for anyone to be without them. You may have employed the most SEO friendly wesite designer to include these resources the ends shall claim the means.