• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, June 26, 2012

You've got a great idea for a startup, and know a lot about paid-search marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) to drive potential customers from the search engine or social sites to the company's new Web site. Languishing in the weeds can sometimes obstruct the view from above. Here are some nuances that even the expert might have overlooked when it comes to supporting a startup or a new division in an older company.

Google Developer Advocate Maile Ohye explains in less than 10 minutes about how startups supporting 50 or fewer pages in their main site can optimize content for search engines and site visitors. Many of the tips also apply to established sites with new pages.

Aside from deciding whether site visitors should see the name with a "www" or without, and then use a 301-permanent redirect from the non-preferred name to the preferred, a background check can be performed on the domain name to be sure it has not been owned by spammers.

Owning a site name previously used by spammer could prevent it from ranking high in the search engine page results. Marketers need to run a background check to look for unwanted keywords listed in Webmaster Tools, and perform a site colon search with the domain name to see if the site is indexed in search

Ohye also explains how to verify ownership in Webmaster Tools. She suggests signing up to get information forwarded via email in the event that Google needs to send an alert, such as finding an unusually high amount of malware on the site after crawling.

Site owners also may want to consider using the Fetch as Googlebot feature in the Webmaster Tools kit. It will allow site owners to view what Google redirects. It also will help new content on a page or a new page on the site be found more quickly by potential visitors.

When it comes to content, ensure that each page on the site focuses on one logical topic and easily identifies the company.  Copy should include relevant keywords, but leave out the fluffy adjectives when possible. For those targeting consumers who live in climates ranging from 50 degrees to 80 degrees year round, we know the wool coat will keep us warm in the winter. Think about the questions the visitor might ask and the answers they might seek.

Don't limit the site to words. Content includes more than text. Integrate social review conversations and video examples of the products or the services and how they are used when possible.

Each page should include a unique topic, title that displays in search results, unique meta descriptions, keywords in file names, and descriptive anchor text for each link. 

The same rules apply with mobile site optimization and how site visitors might research information. Mostly for convenience, 17% of mobile phone owners do most of their online browsing on their phone, rather than a computer or other device, according to the Pew Internet American Life Project.

Some 88% in the U.S. own a cell phone of some kind as of April 2012, and 55% use a phone to go online, according to findings from the national telephone survey conducted between March 15 and April 3, 2012 among 2,254 adults. The findings, released Tuesday, track mobile phone use.