Yes, another way to optimize, another acronym to add to the pile. But what is Digital asset optimization? (DAO I guess) It’s basically taking your digital assets, i.e. flikr photos, youtube videos, pdf’s etc. and optimizing them for the search engines. This type of optimization is a direct result of the Web 2.0 movement. We have already seen these being indexed. Here is a good example of digital asset optimization in action.

Ok, enough of the definition, how do we optimize these assets? There are two ways to do this for both on page and off page. What do I mean by this?

On page Digital Asset Optmization :
This would be considered the images, blog posts, videos, pdf’s you have on your site. Ways to increase indexing are first naming the file with your keywords you want to rank (and the ultimate them of the asset, duh!) If you have a video or image of your company’s offerings or even strategy- label it as xyz_strategy.jpg. Most site programmers and designers label it with their own interpretation of what’s in the image rather than keyword focus.

Next, add an alt tag. This should be done for the major images, not the graphic images that make up the website, i.e. spacers and border images.

Lastly add the keyword you want to focus in the content as many times and it fits. No, I’m not saying add sentences like, “check out xyz strategy because xyz strategy is the best xyz strategy.” That’s considered keyword stuffing and is prohibited by most of the search engines. And always focus on one or two keywords. Trying to rank one page for 15 different keywords gets you nowhere is the search results and also lessens the chance for a visitor to convert.

Off page Digital Asset Optmization :
This would be your Flickr, YouTube, Digg, Twitter, Delicious, and every other social networking application TechCrunch reports on.
Most of these sites provide areas to include, title, description, and tags to use in their own search results but Google has been indexing of course, YouTube results and I’m sure once deals are in place others will follow.

Digital Asset Optimization has become a important compliment to traditional SEO so keep this in mind when creating that rich media.