Squeeze Pages and Search Engine Optimisation

by Philip King

As an online marketer the most important job you have is building your list. Generally that means using a Squeeze Page.

• SEO is not the answer to Conversions
• Keyword Content not META Keywords
• No Content No Listing
• Minimalism is Out
• Numbers Count
• The Right Links Matter
• Title is Important
• Description Tag
• Keyword Density
• Legal Stuff

If you don’t get your visitors to this page you’ve wasted your time and effort. No matter how fancy you make this page, its basically just a headline, a list of benefits and an opt-in box. Without Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) such a page will never rank highly with the search engines.

SEO is not the answer to Conversions

I hope you realize that Search Engine Optimisation isn’t rocket science and it’s mostly guessing based on what we think the search engine algorithms want. We know they want to provide the best results possible for the consumer and for our pages to show up, we just need to help them.

SEO is simply the techniques and strategies you use to design your web pages. The aim being to score better with the major search engines and bring more traffic to your website. SEO is not the answer to getting conversions on your Squeeze Page. For conversions you need good content.

SEO strategies range from tweaking the code of your website, so making it load faster, to providing optimised keyword content, so helping your site grade better with the search engines and drive traffic to your website or blog.

Keyword Content not META Keywords

Notice I said keyword content and not META keywords, which for all intense and purposes, the search engines are virtually ignoring. That’s not to say you should ignore META keywords, keep using them (160 characters), just don’t concentrate on them.

No Content No Listing

This bring us to the main point of this article with regards Squeeze Pages and SEO. Due to the lack of valid content on squeeze pages, major search engines have adjusted their algorithms to exclude these pages from their listings as most are considered "spam". Pay-per-click campaigns have had similar penalties and restrictions applied when building opt-in lists. For these reasons when constructing squeeze pages your pages must have valid content to ensure search result rankings.

Minimalism is Out

As an Internet Marketer you would generally try to keep the squeeze page content to a minimum. This also means NO external exit hyperlinks. You try to focus your visitors attention on a simple choice, register for the email list or leave the site. It is best not to ask for additional information at this point as this could cause your visitor to "click-away" without registering.

Numbers Count

The new bread of successful squeeze page needs two elements to back it up:

• Good, engaging and relevant content.
• Relevant page links.

Each squeeze page should have at least four or five web pages containing engaging, relevant content. The content should be short articles between three and nine hundred words, though there is no hard and fast rule.

I would recommend writing your own articles for these additional pages if at all possible. Getting material from PLR articles or using article sites has the drawback of having to include the author bio-box and runs the risk of being flagged as duplicate content in the search engines.

The Right Links Matter

To make your squeeze pages search engine friendly your content pages should link both to each other and the squeeze page, but, and this is important, the links to the squeeze page should have the rel="nofollow" tag.

Each of the support pages should have their content optimised for specific keywords and keyword phrases. This maximises your chances of getting hits from the search engines whilst constantly highlighting your squeeze page.

Title is Important

Of all the META tags, none is more important than your title tag. Don’t have a title tag that say, "home" or "index", this says nothing about your website or page, be descriptive. Use your title tag to say something about the page but keep it simple. The text you use must include your most relevant keyword phrase. The title tag is the text most search engines will display as the title of your listing.

Description Tag

As the meta description tag influences your websites ranking in the search engines, you should repeat the primary keyword phrase here. Search engines may use the text in your description tag as your listing description.

Keyword Density

Try to keep your keyword density close to 2%. Not so long ago the range was 3% to 7% but Google thinks that above 2% means you are stuffing your page with keywords without regard to content and will penalise you for it. Sometimes it can be quite difficult not to use a keyword, but try using a synonym if you find the density is too high.

Legal Stuff

Don’t forget your responsibilities when constructing and implementing your squeeze pages. The instant you request an email address and get a sign-up you may be entering an arena governed by specific legislation designed to protect Internet users. You need to understand the law and to test your systems for complete compliance. Your squeeze page may really give you the squeeze if you don’t behave responsibly.

You may also be interested in the following:

• Squeeze Pages – What is a Squeeze Page?

• Squeeze Pages and Search Engine Optimisation