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03.31.09 Government Sites Have Some Unique SEO Challenges  By David Leonhardt In times like these, when companies are cutting costs, not many are hiring SEO services. But governments aren't cutting back (quite the contrary, but that's a rant for another time). I am just putting to bed a major SEO audit of a government website, so I thought I would share with you some of my observations. "What?" you ask. "Why would a government website need SEO? They don't compete for business. They're an information website, like Wikipedia." In fact, government websites do compete in a number of ways and SEO can be a very powerful tool in reaching the right audience. This post recommends SEO strategies to address issues that are particularly relevant for government websites - and in some cases any major information portals, such as university or newspaper websites. I cannot reveal who our client is, but you should know that it is a government agency that operates bilingually with both domestic and foreign audiences. Governments have certain natural advantages - the search engines like government TLDs (top level domains, such as .gov or .gc.ca), the sites are huge, they are link magnets because they carry so much official information (they are the authority on so many things) and they typically have a high PageRank. Just to give you an idea, here are a few key stats for the website I have been working on (I wish this blog had stats 10% as good!:  But government websites also have some unique challenges. Here are a two of those challenges, along with strategies to address them:
SEO against the scammers Any government agency that has the authority to approve or reject something, is a potential target for scammers. This might apply to: • Licenses • Permits • Grants • Jobs • Contracts • Status (tax status, citizenship status, business category, etc.) • Appeals Scammers will optimize their websites using words like "free" and "guaranteed" and "easy" and other qualifiers that sound like you can somehow get past due process. Obviously, a government website does not offer "guaranteed grants" or "free mortgages" or "guaranteed immigration" or "easy access". But to protect the integrity of its services, the agency must rank above the scammers for those searches. We found a few instances where there were several scammers ranking for several such searches better than our government client, so recommendations were made to out-SEO the scammers. In such cases, the government website must rank well not just for things it wants the public to hear, but for things it would just as soon noit discuss. Continue reading this article. About the Author: David Leonhardt is a Canada-based SEO and viral marketing consultant. He operates in English, French and Spanish, providing custom SEO programs for clients aiming to be top players in their niches. http://www.seo-writer.com/blog/ |
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