Web-Site Evaluation
The last step in the research process is to determine the current state of your site from both a marketing and search engine positioning standpoint. Sites may not rank or convert well for a variety of reasons. We must understand these reasons before implementing solutions.
Content Quality and Size
Search Engines like large sites with a significant amount of relevant information. A Catanich Specialist will review your site to determine the number of content pages that will be necessary to target your desired keywords.
Algorithm Compliance
We constantly research the algorithms or mathematical formulas that the major search engines use for ranking sites. We evaluate your site for over 40 factors including keyword density, position, meta tags, URL names, link text, and more. This typically involves a keyword density analysis as shown on the next page.
Site Architecture
It is important to note that search engines do not see your site the same way that humans do. Sites that use frames or consist primarily of flash animation tend to rank very poorly. Similarly, many search engines are notable to follow links to dynamic pages utilizing ASP or PHP technology. We will run your site through a"spider simulator" to identify how the search engines are reading your site.
Link Popularity
A Catanich specialist will evaluate your Page Rank, the Google measurement of your link popularity in relation to your competition for your targeted keywords. We will also review the quantity and quality of your inbound links as well as your internal linking structure to see if any opportunities exist to minimize Page Rank drifting.
Additional links can be obtained from Blogs, Press Release and Articles.
Existing Submission
We will document the extent of your current submission status. It is mandatory that the site be submitted to Google Yahoo and MSN and a Webmaster account setup with each to manage submission.
The creation of an XML Sitemap is currently the standard way to submit a url list to the SEs.
Marketing Message
It stands to reason that high rankings alone will not always translate to sales or inquiries. For this reason, we also review your site from a marketing perspective. Does the site flow logically? Does the site utilize a competitive advantage to position the product or service offering? Is there a call to action? Depending on the extent of traffic logs available, we can run the site through Analytics or Click Tracks to determine historical conversion levels.
