How to achieve a higher ranking in search engine listings

published 2006

Many organisations are concerned they don’t get their fair share of media coverage.  They see competitors getting more publicity than them - so they turn to their PR staff (or external PR agency) and ask why? What can and should we do about it?  Why can’t we get that kind of coverage?

A recent study by the US Online Publishers Association on web placement - or prominence - study found that the web is now the number one media in the office and the number two media at home!

Why are some organisations and products regularly appearing on the first page of a search while others don’t appear at all or turn up on page two or three? How do you get yourself listed? 

One of the main problems is that these questions are often asked of the wrong people - the traditional web ‘gatekeepers’ such as the web designers or IT departments.  These gatekeepers normally only see the website in terms of design or technology, but don’t necessarily understand the natural language or ‘organic’ nuances of search engines.  Instead these same questions should be addressed to those who they have sought the answers from in traditional media - the PR people.

So, what do organisations which want their web site to achieve more prominence, need to better understand? 

1.  Content, not technical considerations, largely determine search rankings.

In the early days of search engines technical coding largely determined rankings.  No more. Today, content is king as search engines are ranking items more in terms of relevance and substance.  Web sites that are copy rich and written more like traditional media, rather than advertising or brochures, increase their chances of being found by search engines.  Technical considerations are still important, but they are now very secondary to content.     

2. First find out what searchers are looking for to get them to your site.

It is not enough simply to publish a web site and expect it to be found.  Research shows that 3 out of 4 searchers search by phrase, category or subject - not by specific URL. So it is important to know what searchers in your industry search for and ensure these key words or phrases are incorporated into all your content.  The process is called key word research and it is the key to attracting more traffic to your site.

 3. If you want to retain search engine listings, then you need to continually publish material.

Just as traditional media ensures its content is current, search engines are constantly reviewing and re-ordering their listings to ensure they retain freshness and relevance.  That means that content on a web site has to be constantly updated and refreshed.  You should also have an ongoing media release program specifically aimed at search engines and the news services that feed them.

4. The majority of web sites were built without taking into account the importance of search engines in attracting traffic to the site - and so offer limited appeal to search engines.

Many have been created and built by web designers more intent on graphics - did you know that search engines can’t read Flash or ‘skip’ intro buttons, making many overly graphic sites simply irrelevant from a search engine perspective?  Also, many Content Management Systems employed to manage and add web site content were designed by IT departments with compartmentalisation of files and information uppermost in their mind - thus requiring special techniques to be used to make them search engine friendly.  

5. Virtually everything to do with traffic to a web site can be tracked and researched.

You would be surprised how much information is available on users of a site.  Every web site already contains a wealth of information on who is accessing it and their behaviours once they reach the site - it just needs to be unlocked.  An ongoing web strategy should include analysis of this information to prove the success of marketing and PR activities.

Being listed and ranked on search engines is becoming just as important to many companies as prominence in other more traditional media is to them.

Note: The author of this article is a Sydney based senior independent corporate PR consultant who works exclusively with PR Managers helping them with management of the PR Department or their relationship with their PR agency. In addition he provides specialist corporate PR and communications advice where issues or change are impacting on an organisation. He also blogs regularly on PR and communications topics similar to those in this article.