Does webcomic SEO work? After the attention I’ve been giving the topic, I certainly hope so! I will use my own site for an example. Over the past couple months, I’ve slowly been optimizing everything I can. I’ve added link titles and alts, image titles and alts, meta descriptions (even though these are now ignored by search engines, grr!), more text with keywords, webpage titles, the whole shebang. If you look on my front page, all the text is readable by search engines. Check any secondary page of mine, and you’ll find lots of text–as much as I can fit without it being overpowering.
I give you now proof that it works:
This graph shows search engine referrals from May of this year until now, and is graphed by month, courtesy of Google Analytics (a free service you all should be taking advantage of). Yes, it is trailing down at the end, but a best-fit line will still show a positive slope, and the month isn’t over anyways. Yes, the percentages there are negative (in red), but that is contrasting the behavior of search engine referrals to the rest of the referrals I get–so of course people who stumble across my site via search engine won’t be as keen as the group of people who come to my site directly, knowing what they’re getting into.
The success that this graph shows is:
- 1) a distinct increase in the number of referrals per month since taking steps to optimize my site, and therefore…
- 2) a distinct increase in gaining NEW readers through search referral rather than direct webcomic-webcomic referral.
My goal was to gain new readers, real NEW readers, and I think I succeeded. This isn’t a “hey, I’m so great!” article. It is my intention that this article simply proves that if I can do this kind of thing, anybody can! My degree is in biology, not um, computer science. Everything I’ve learned has been the result of paying attention, and learning from people with experience. My goal with this blog is to pass all that experience on to you, so you don’t have to scrounge it up yourselves over the course of years.
For new readers of this blog who have their own sites, I will repeat myself about what SEO is, how it works, and why it’s something you should be doing for your own site:
[From this article] “…Why is it important to get more search referrals to your site? Because outside of webcomicdom, that is where sites get most of their visitors. Here, it’s the opposite. Most people visit our sites from direct links on OTHER sites. It means we get a small, in-bred audience, with few opportunities to catch a truly new reader. This is why it’s critical to improve your site’s Search Engine Optimization.”
SEO works by reading the text on your webpages. Search engines don’t see images, and webcomic sites are primarily composed of images, which is why traditionally, they don’t get many search referrals. You can fix this problem by adding more text, cleaning up your code, inserting titles and alts for links and images, and relying less on images (well, text flattened onto images, especially if you’re not all to HTML/CSS savvy).
When you optimize your site for search engines, you also optimize your site for context-based advertisers, a service I champion as a way for webcomickers to make money. As soon as I exhaust the articles on what you need to do to change your site, I will change focus to how to make money with your comic (AND your site.)
Interested readers can find more about that in a 2-part interview I gave at The Floating Lightbulb.
Next Up: Links and Gallery Pages: two great pages to have for “webcomic relations.”
ADDENDUM: I would like to apologize to those who have sent me emails within the past 72 hours. I have been phenomenally busy with website commissions, and have not responded to anyone. I greatly appreciate your comments and your emails, and I will reply as soon as I have free moment. No, I am not ignoring you, I promise! I would also like to say that I flattered at the attention this blog is getting. I really had no idea so many people would find it helpful, and I will earnestly try to continue posting articles of substance. Thank you for visiting, everyone!
November 24th, 2008 - 8:10 am
The part about the inbred audience is interesting but not completely true, either. I know webcomickers who find large amounts of their audience through con appearances, often bringing those people not just to them but to webcomics in general.
I was in a conversation with a few people recently and they had the suggestion that, in this economy, webcomics being a free form of entertainment might make them very attractive. To that end, they suggested (for those who could afford it) that people might consider buying ad space on job hunting sites.
November 24th, 2008 - 1:51 pm
Relative to web ventures of other natures, the webcomic audience IS small, pitifully so. Think about it–at a CONVENTION for goodness’ sake, webcomickers have to explain to people what webcomics even are. Many people read manga, but don’t read webcomics–and they should be!
SEO is about getting those people who have the potential to be interested in your work to your site through search engine queries, to expand your audience pool.
November 24th, 2008 - 6:20 pm
Another useful article, Kez. Keep them coming.
Also sneaking in here to say thanks for adding ArtPatient to your link list.
November 25th, 2008 - 1:25 am
Thanks for sneaking in, Delos! I appreciated the link you sent my way in a recent article, so I figured it was the least I owed. <3
November 25th, 2008 - 7:53 am
They know. They just don’t know they know. Its sorta like RPGs in the 80s and 90s.
“I play RPGs.”
“What?”
“You know, like Dungeons and Dragons.”
“Oooooh…”
—
“I write webcomics.”
“What?”
“You know, like Penny Arcade.”
“Oooooh….”
—
We’re in an early phase. I’m not against SEO. Absolutely not. In fact, I’m all for it. But your article does make it sound a bit like there aren’t opportunities elsewhere and there are. Quite a few of them.