What is the "Flow" and how does it apply to SEO?
Internet traffic flow is simply the paths taken by people to
navigate between web pages. Some of these paths are eight lane
freeways with thousands of people passing through each minute.
Others might seem more like a city street with a four way stop
every other block. Then there are the back trails in the woods,
rarely traveled and known only to a few.
Think back on your daily internet activities and you will
realize that you have traveled a few paths, some more traveled
than others. When you logged on you probably checked your email.
I might be going out on a limb here but this is probably a
fairly narrow yet beaten trail. You are probably the only person
to travel this path and I would guess you navigate through it
often.
Then you may have traveled to your favorite blog to see what
PtrWigg thinks about international business today. You read his
latest blog and find he has a link to a related business site to
illustrate his point. You decide to swing by that site to get
more background information. While there you find a link to
another interesting site on globalization. The process of
traveling though the blog, through the business site and into
the globalization site is in itself a path.
Alright, that is all pretty basic. I'm sure you already
understood this much even if you have never thought of the
internet in this way. While this concept is very simple in
nature I don't think webmasters always take it into
consideration when developing a website and SEOs seem to rarely
consider it while optimizing for one.
So how does a webmaster develop a site with the "Flow" in mind?
I believe the first step is in realizing that each page not only
contains a path within itself but more importantly is a step
within a path. Lets say you have created a page with an article
on how to give a business presentation. You may have superbly
supplied a facet of information but all information by itself is
useless.
Does it really matter if you know how to give a business
presentation if you can't dress yourself, tie your shoes, comb
your hair, eat breakfast, drive to work, operate a projector and
speak in public? Obviously we are going to assume that your
users are capable of doing everything up until the operate a
projector step. Information is only useful when it is
collaborated with other bits of information.
So ask yourself what path your average user is most likely on
and if possible provide for him or her to continue on that path.
All it takes is a little forethought and a few links to
appropriate resources.
I think for the most part webmasters are pretty good about
developing their sites with traffic flow in mind. While professional SEO experts
may take the internet traffic flow model into account when
promoting a website through link building this does not appear
to be a common practice among webmasters.
Today the primary objective in link
building seems simply to get ranked by the top search
engines. The two most common link building techniques completely
ignore internet traffic flow. Webmasters like to get links from
directories and exchanging reciprocal links. The problem is the
average user does not spend very much time viewing average
directories and even less time viewing link exchange pages.
Doesn't this seem a little backwards? Webmasters are trying to
gain exposure for their sites by spending time listing their
sites in places that other people generally don't visit. If we
were to apply this to offline marketing it would be like if I
purchased a billboard in the middle of the desert promoting
bottled water. People in the middle of nowhere may want bottled
water but doesn't it seem like a better idea promoting where
there may actually be people to see it?
I'm not saying webmasters should not submit their sites to
directories but I absolutely believe that their marketing mix
should not consist of only directory submission and reciprocal
link exchanging. I believe it is very important to focus on link
building within the flow.
The concept isn't difficult. Figure out where your site
naturally fits within the flow. Then try to contextually
exchange links or purchase links on pages within paths your
target user is most likely on. This will help you tap into long
term sources of targeted traffic regardless of your search
engine rankings. This method will require considerably more time
to build the same number of backlinks but the search engines
will reward you for the superb quality of links.