Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website

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schemes is to view the meta keywords tag. You’ll need to delve into the source code to

do this. Inside the tag, your competitor’s keyword list might include 500 words, it

might be ridiculously un-optimized (formatted as a sentence or full of words like

the

, and

quality

), or it might seem to be a tightly focused, relevant list from which you

can glean a hint of a strategy. While you’re in the code, look for keywords in the

HTML title and meta description too.

By the way, if you’ve never stepped through someone else’s HTML code, it can

be a little disorienting. It can help to use your browser’s find function (usually Ctrl+F,

or Edit

Find in the browser menu) to search for the words

meta

title

. These should

land you in the general vicinity of the tags you’re looking for.

For each of your Big Five competitors, open the home page and at least one

other page on their site to scan the copy and view the tags. You aren’t looking to

record the top 50 terms here, just the ones that seem to be in direct competition with

your own conversion goals.

As you’re sniffing around your competitors’ page content and tags, you may find

a keyword here or there that you hadn’t thought of. You might want to highlight these

terms in your Competition Worksheet; you can save them for future research.

Basic Optimization

Now, think back to the site assessment questions that you asked about your own land-

ing pages last week. We’ll have you look at a trimmed-down version of the list, which

you can use to assess the home page, and at least one interior page, of each of your Big

Five competitors’ websites:

Does the HTML page title for this page contain their target keywords?

Does the HTML text on this page contain their target keywords?

Can this page be reached from the home page of the site by following HTML

text links (not pull-downs, login screens, or pop-up windows)?

Answer each of these questions to the best of your ability. If they get two

or more yes answers, give them a yes for basic optimization on the Competition

Worksheet.

Now:

Fill in Y or N in the Basic Optimization column on your Competition Worksheet.

Now:

Open your Competition Worksheet and list targeted keywords of note for your Big Five

competitors.

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