Search Engine Optimization on Hired Hand

by Chad Feldmann | Mar 04, 2010

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is important to every website owner.  Hired Hand was built with that in mind and allows you to update the information that search engines use to rank your website in the search results. Regardless of which package you are on, you have the ability to optimize your website for search engines. 

Page title, description, and keywords are three important fields and all Hired Hand users have access to update these fields for each page on their website. Additionally, if you are on the Buckaroo, Wrangler, or Foreman package, you also have access to these fields for every animal you promote.

  1. Page Title:  The page title is probably the most important piece of information that Search Engines use.  Be descriptive and concise with your page title.  Try to make the page title no more than 64 characters long and do not have the exact same page title on multiple pages. Using the same page title on multiple pages will adversely affect the SEO of those pages.  Note:  “Image 1” shows how a search engine will use the page title on the results page.
  2. Description:  The page description is the next most important field.  Provide a brief description of the web page/animal.  Many times, search engines will use the description field under the page title on the search results page.  Note:  “Image 1” shows how a search engine will use the description on the results page.
  3. Keywords: Keywords are terms and/or phrases you think people will search for.  Not all search engines use keywords.  However, some still do so be sure to enter keywords that are applicable to your page. 

Image 1
                

Hired Hand automatically builds an XML Sitemap for customers on the Wrangler and Foreman package.  The XML Sitemap basically informs search engines about every page on the website.   The following fields are used to build an XML sitemap. 

  1. Change Frequency:  This field tells search engines how often you plan to update this webpage. The options for this field are; Never, Always, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Yearly.  Be honest.  You don’t want to try to fool the search engines.  If you do, you may be punished with lower rankings.
  2. Priority:  This field tells the search engine how important this page is relative to the rest of the pages on your site.  The options for this range from 0 to 10, 10 being the most important.  Once again, be honest, not every page is going to be a 10. 
  3. Last Modified Date:  Any time you update your page, the Hired Hand system updates the last modified date.  This tells the search engine the last time the page/animal was updated.

Here is a screen shot of the fields referenced above as they look in Hired Hand. 

Incoming and Outgoing Links

Incoming and outgoing links are another important aspect of SEO.  The important thing is that you are linking to and being linked to from reputable and relevant sites.  Ask friends in the industry to add a link to your website from theirs and reciprocate by linking to their website from yours.

At the end of the day, if you want search engines and potential customers to visit your site, you need to keep it up to date.  Search engines and visitors keep coming back to sites that are updated often.  Here are some ideas for things you can do to help keep your site up to date.

  1. Be sure to get your new calf crop out on your site.
  2. Update your animals’ information.  Update their photos and horn measurements.
  3. Take advantage of the new fields which allow you to display the animals’ sale price and/or comments on the “Search Results” pages. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at support@hiredhandsoftware.com.

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