As we mentioned in our previous post, building a strong web foundation enables rapid and effective response to crisis situations. Assembling all the elements that comprise a strong search engine optimization (SEO) strategy requires advance planning and a strong communications background. At GFM we strongly recommend clients consider how to implement an SEO and content strategy sooner rather than later so their website is well positioned to reach readers if a crisis situation arises.
What does it take to build a ‘strong’ website?
Well-constructed sites that can compete on the search engines for good placement (e.g., on the first page of search results) usually contain:
- A great deal of focused and informative content
- Searchable keywords within the content and page code
- Frequently updated product pages
- Meaningful, informative and useful blog posts
However, as we’ve mentioned before, search results won’t be achieved overnight. For example, developing focused and informative content may seem self-explanatory, but a little research may be required to determine what readers find valuable. The more technical page “tagging” strategies require understanding which words and terms consumers are using to search for your company, and then setting parts of the website pages so that search engines will more easily associate the content with those terms. Updating pages and posting regular blog posts are ongoing efforts and important parts of the investment in creating a strong and valuable Internet presence. And again, search engines need time to crawl all of this information and run it through their algorithms before ranking a page.
In the end, it is important to reach readers now – not later. Don’t wait until it starts raining before you build your boat!
