Introduction

This article focuses on improving the search engine ranking for your website and is specifically written for New Zealand based small business websites. This article does not include specific strategies for increasing the number of visitors to your site, but in most cases a better search engine ranking will increase the overall visitor traffic to your site.

How websites are ranked

Most website owners will type their business name into Google and see how close their website comes to the top of the list as an indication of their search engine ranking. But unfortunately this is not accurate because your customers may not always search for your exact business name, in fact they may often search for the type of business you are in or a product that you provide. For example, visitors who come to “larryscarparts.co.nz” may not have searched for “Larry’s Car Parts”. They may have searched for “cheap oil filter”. The two search terms are not relative – Larry’s website will rank differently in each search.

Klixo uses the Google PageRank to measure how websites are ranked in the eyes of the world’s most important Search Engine, Google. The Google PageRank is measured on a scale of 0 to 10, 0 being the lowest ranking and 10 being the highest. If you download and configure the Google Toolbar you can view the PageRank for your website as well as other websites.

If your website has a good Google PageRank, it will rank well in search results for relevant keywords every time. So any search engine optimisation strategy must make a better PageRank the priority. So here comes the obvious question…

What is the secret to getting a good Google PageRank?

The answer is… there is no secret. There are only two guaranteed ways to get a better PageRank and here they are, quoted straight from the Google Webmaster Guidelines:

1. “Create a useful, information-rich site, and write pages that clearly and accurately describe your content”
2. “Have other relevant sites link to yours”

A useful, information-rich site

Content is king. If your website has lots of interesting and up-to-date content that is relevant to your business then your site is halfway to earning a good PageRank. The Klixo Website Manager allows you to log in and update your website anytime you like. This means you can update your site as soon as you have new information available.

Have other relevant sites link to yours

Now you must get other websites to link to yours, and this is crucial, you will not get a Google PageRank higher than 0 if no other website on the web will link to yours.

But a word of caution, it is not the quantity of websites that link to yours that Google considers, it is the quality. To impact on your PageRank any website that links to yours must be relevant to your business. A link from a website is particularly valuable if it has a higher PageRank than yours. So the best strategy is to seek out your suppliers, customers and peers and ask them to link to your site. You may offer to reciprocate with a link to their site.

For any new Klixo Website, the first link to the new site is from http://klixo.co.nz/ which is has a PageRank of 4 (at the time of writing this article), so that is a good start.

Web Business Directories are also excellent for providing quality, high ranking links to your website. Every new Klixo Website is automatically submitted to these free New Zealand web directories:

www.nzsearch.co.nz (PageRank = 6)
www.directorynz.co.nz (PageRank = 5)

I also highly recommend investing in a listing in these high profile NZ directories:

www.yellowpages.co.nz
If you have a business telephone line with Telecom then you will already have a listing on www.yellowpages.co.nz. You can enhance the listing with a link to your website for about $38 + GST per month. This is good value* as the Yellow Pages website has a Google PageRank of 7 (at the time of writing), so a link from www.yellowpages.co.nz to your website is good kudos in the eyes of Google and the other popular search engines.

I have been impressed with the work that Yellow Pages have put into their website over recent months, they have really cottoned on to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and have built keyword rich entry pages to attract even more visitors to their directory. Plus, just yesterday I noticed that every single listing has a zoom-able map with driving and walking directions to your business – very cool!

When you apply for the listing make sure you include some keywords in the description text for your listing. Have a look at Klixo’s listing for an example.

If you do not have a business line with Telecom you can still just call Yellow Pages to arrange the advertising. If you are a home-based business, make sure you register for the Home Business programme; it’s free, you still pay residential line rental, plus you get cheaper daytime calls and a free Yellow Pages listing.

www.ubd.co.nz
UBD are another online business directory, currently on a PageRank of 6. Their pricing and service is similar to Yellow Pages and they provide all sorts of options for how you want your listing to appear. At around $38 + GST per month, the basic listing with a link to your website is a good investment*. Once again, make sure you include your most important keywords in the description.

* Keep in mind that I recommend these products for their value as quality web links only. Don’t expect to start getting a lot of sales enquiries just because you are listed in the Yellow Pages or UBD.

Summary

An easy to use, content rich website that is recommended (by way of a link) by other content rich websites will always rank well in Google and the other major search engines. Klixo websites have the added advantage of belonging to a network of websites that are already have a good PageRank. Plus our Klixo Website Manager makes it easy for you to create new content for your website at any time.

Appendix: the major popular search engines

• Google: http://www.google.com/
• Yahoo! Search: http://search.yahoo.com/
• MSN Search: http://search.msn.com/