Use this link to see all the posts in this series: Do-It-Yourself SEO. 

Do-It-Yourself-SEO: Part 5 – Create a Site Map

Now that you have a list of keyword phrases you want to be found for in the search engines, you need to create a site map, or an identification of the pages that will be on your website, and how those pages will relate to one another.

You can use this step to define the navigation for your website, too.  Easy navigation is critical to making your website “sticky”, meaning that visitors can easily find what they are looking for and are motivated to stay on your site to look around.

How Many Keyword Phrases Should Go on a Page?

It is really only possible to optimize a page for 1-3 related keyword phrases.  Using more keywords will result in a page that is packed with keyword phrases, and that is confusing to both visitors and search engines.

When you think of related keyword phrases, think about things like Atlanta real estate, Atlanta homes for sale, Atlanta homebuyers, etc.   The phrases “Atlanta real estate” and “Chicago real estate” are not really related.  They both contain the words real estate, but combining widely diverse geographic areas on a page isn’t a good idea.

Create At Least One Page for Each Keyword Phrase

The best way to serve both your visitors and the search engines is to create a page for each keyword phrase.  So, if you are focusing on marketing in Atlanta and the Atlanta suburbs of Roswell, Sandy Springs, and Alpharetta, it’s a good idea to create a community profile page for each of those neighborhoods.

One thing to avoid is creating one Community page that contains a brief description of each of your target neighborhoods.  This isn’t a good practice because it doesn’t give you an opportunity to provide much information for your visitors, and the search engines won’t know what to do with a page that has so many unrelated keywords in it.

Create Sub-Pages Where Appropriate

Think about the information that your site visitors would find helpful and create pages to address that information.

For example, a buyer might be interested in things to do in a particular area.  So, you could create a “things to do” page for each of your geographic targets.  Both buyers and sellers might be interested in market conditions in a particular neighborhood.  Rather than creating one page called “Market Conditions”, determine if it makes sense to have individual pages called something like Roswell Real Estate Market Conditions.  That page would give you the opportunity to provide fresh content  by doing monthly updates.

Define the Site’s Navigation
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