subject: Use Email to boost your SEO campaign [print this page] Use Email to boost your SEO campaign Use Email to boost your SEO campaign
Anyone reading this headline may be skeptical about the message it sends. Internet specialists knows that search engines do not index email, that is true, but what they forget is that website owners do have the option of viewing copies of the e-mails they receive through a browser. It is an option generally reserved for e-mails that were sent from organizations and companies that offer newsletters, promotions updates, etc. to their fans and customers, but can also be used for others.
Typically, the copy of the e-mail that is in your browser is a simple HTML page. As we know, HTML pages can be crawled and indexed by search engines like Google, Yahoo and BING. Consequently, these e-mails can be beneficial to your SEO campaign.
As a marketer, the majority of the emails you send to your audience should be accessible in a browser. The identification, which is located at the top of the email could read as follow: "If you are unable to view this message properly, click here. Your browser will be launched." Clicking on the link will then open up your browser, and allow you to view a version of your email as a static HTML page.
Usually these emails have links back to your web site, to offer your audience additional information or calls to action suggestions. Therefore, this can be viewed as pass link equity' that can help you boost your SEO tremendously.
Although you want to be as forthcoming as possible with your customers and fans, there may be certain content or emails that you do not want to expose to search engines. To prevent that specific content to be crawled or indexed, simply reformat your robot.txt file. If you don't know how, simply review the following tips and examples.
Collect all of the HTML versions of the emails you want exposed to search engine crawlers into one directory. In this illustration, I have called the directory "Good_Email".
Place all of the HTML editions of the email that you do not want to exposed because of sensitive content, into another directory. In this illustration, I decided to call this directory "Bad_Email".
Once you are finished sorting through your emails, simply tell your robot.txt file to disallow the "Bad_Email."
Other factors you should consider when using email to boost your SEO campaign include:
Regardless if you are applying SEO to your web site or the HTML versions of the emails collected in your "Good_Email" directory, always optimize your headlines and body copy. Include many links and select top keywords that will point directly to your site's targeted SEO pages.
Improve the traffic to your key SEO pages by adding a "Share" feature to the emails that are linking to your web site's targeted SEO pages. Including this option will help you increase link equity.
Sometimes it is difficult to include body text links in emails. To overcome that problem, you can create a specific "Quick Links" area, where you can then post your targeting links, or use graphical links to encourage click through.
Include the actual URLs of your emails to your XML sitemap.
Try to keep track of the impact these emails have on your overall search engine Optimization performance and find out if they do increase the traffic to your website. Adjust your strategy if you are not satisfied with the results.
