Search engine optimization, known far and wide as SEO, is an important factor in the success of websites small and large. No matter how popular you think your site is, it's vital that you and your team put some thought and energy into optimizing your search engine rankings and your visibility within search results. But where to begin?
Webmonkey Bryan Zilar recently sat down with strategy consultant and SEO guru Jason McQueen to talk about all things search. They discuss trends in the SEO world and the philosophies behind "white hat" and "black hat" techniques. Jason also offers advice for webmasters who want to adopt an SEO strategy that produces results on a limited (or non-existent) budget.
This Webmonkey Q&A is also available as a .
Webmonkey: Today, I'm here with Jason McQueen, who is a strategy consultant for Mindshare Interactive Campaigns. Today, Jason's going to tell us about search engine optimization technology.
Jason, How do search engine algorithms work on a high level?
Jason McQueen: Search engine algorithms, by nature, are a well-guarded secret. Search engines do not give away the particulars of how they work. We know, as an SEO community, generally what they do and how they index web pages.
I would say that most crawler-based algorithms are particularly interested in location and frequency of keywords on the web page. That's probably the most focused area of the algorithm. Each engine has a set keyword saturation, meaning it allows a certain number or percentage of keywords within a particular block of content.
It's important as an SEO to know where the keyword density stands for a given page. That means the number of keywords per page and per relevant topic. If you have a page that's selling radios, you want to explain that in your content and talk about the benefits of having a radio. But you don't want to over-talk and stuff the page with keywords to the point where the algorithm will pick it up and eliminate it because of an "illegal practice." This would be keyword stuffing.
I also want to discuss linking with concern to the algorithm itself. Not only is keyword density ratio important as far as the algorithm is concerned, linking is as well. Google is particularly interested in a site's linking schema — meaning a site's inbound links. These are more important to Google than outbound links. It's not just about getting an inbound link, but a relevant inbound link for a site.
WM: You've also been talking about "white hat" versus "black hat" SEO. What is that?
McQueen: In terms of search engine optimization, you're talking about two different real techniques as far as how to perform it. Black hat SEO is the practice of using techniques deemed illegal or unethical. These can include using hidden text in your site. The search engine can read the text in the site, but it's not visible to the human eye. That's just an example of keyword stuffing. There are "door-in pages," which allow users to come into your site through a page and then push you to another thought or product or service — things the consumer didn't initially want to visit. Those are all some examples of illegal techniques.
White hat is the opposite of that — basically ethical SEO, which is using established SEO practices to increase a site's ranking. White hat is a more long-term strategy, and black hat can be more immediate.
WM: What's your opinion on using either one? You say illegal, but come on, that's just a word.
McQueen: "Illegal" is a strong term. You get posed that question a lot. It depends on your business model and what you're going after.
I would never request or recommend that a company use black hat SEO, but there are some instances where it can be helpful. It just depends on what your marketing strategy is. The only driver behind using black hat SEO is that the results can be much quicker. You can see the jump in search engine rank happen relatively quickly. The downside to that is that you will eventually get caught and can be penalized by the search engine. You can even be banned and removed from a search engine. That can be detrimental to retail clients specifically.
WM: What would I want to do if I don't have a dedicated SEO resource and can't afford a consultant to help me out? What are some techniques I can use to boost my page count?
McQueen: I get asked that question a lot. Not everyone has an SEO budget, and not everyone is a technophile who understands SEO on that level. I think it's mainly about using common sense. You have to assume that search engines are most concerned with relevant content.
All the major search engines — Google, MSN, Yahoo, et cetera — are specifically interested in providing relevant content. So if you're providing content on your page that's fresh, relevant and useful to the user, you're pretty much going to be OK. That sounds very obvious. However, when you start looking at content delivered on home pages and read it from an SEO or content perspective, you actually realize you aren't doing that.
I've had quite a few clients end up surprised when we started to dig in on the content on their home pages. They thought for years that they were delivering exactly what their clients needed, but (they weren't).
From a content perspective, I recommend rotating the content and keeping it fresh. It can be a huge boost to your site ranking. You'll see immediate results if you do that. I usually suggest that we switch out content every other month and continue that trend.
WM: Speaking of content, blogs often get brought up regarding search results. It's very easy for a blog to interfere. Do you feel that blogs are skewing the web?
McQueen: There's a polarized view about that. I personally like it. The more information you can bring up about a relevant search topic, the better. The reason that blogs are showing up is simple. Blogs that are sitting on a searchable URL satisfy two of the main search ranking criteria. First, they are constantly changing content — daily, sometimes twice daily. Second, they are filled with inbound linking. They're getting ranked. Some of the major sites that have been sitting at the top of search results for years are getting irritated that a bunch of blogs are showing up and skewing (or diluting) the results.
WM: What about things like video, audio and images? How are they getting cataloged? Do you use tags?
McQueen: I think you answered the question. There's still a lot of "wild, wild Westing" going on in those areas. They're still new in terms of search. Google's caching videos. My company's doing a lot of that. It's interesting to see the type of traffic generated from that.
WM: What are your favorite resources for SEO news?
McQueen: I always follow Danny Sullivan's site Search Engine Watch. He's kind of the godfather of SEO. He's been around since the beginning and speaks at all the SEO events. He has always verbalized or set the standard in the industry. He's a good person to watch, because he believes in white hat SEO and he forces the industry to go there. Also, he speaks clearly and helps even a beginner understand.
I have my own blog, appliedseo.com. Me and a couple of other SEOs are on there giving advice and talking about issues in the industry.
I also just have Google News alerts for anything coming out for "SEO." A lot of clipsy articles are coming out and talking about the new emphasis on SEO. There's a lot of chatter about it and you don't have to hunt that far. At the least you can find the defined SEO best practices online.
(Research) is really important if you're a decision maker in a company that's looking to hire an SEO or a firm to do work for you. You need to know a little bit more about the technology to make sure the person you're hiring knows what they're doing. If your company uses SEO the wrong way, it can penalize you and it can be a nightmare to get out of.
Showing posts with label keyword density. Show all posts
Showing posts with label keyword density. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Checking the List: SEO Details - Getting Technical
Checking the List: SEO Details - Getting Technical
Now let’s take a look at the more technical aspects of your web site. What is the code-to-text ratio of the site? At a minimum, you should have more text (content the visitor sees) than code on your site. There are online tools you can use to check this, such as the aptly-named Code to Text Ratio tool on SEO Chat.
What is your page size, and how long does it take to load? If your pages are very big and take a while to load, visitors won’t wait until they finish; they’ll head back to the search engine results they received and click another link. It’s a truism – confirmed with actual studies – that a web surfer won’t wait longer than eight seconds for a page to load. I venture to say that those are the patient ones; you’d best make your pages load even more quickly than that.
Let’s look at your key word density now. Gary advocates keeping the key word density on each page between three and seven percent. Too high and you trigger over optimization flags with the search engines; too low and you risk being judged less relevant for those key words than your competitors – who will then appear higher than you in the SERPs. As with code to text ratios, there are online tools available to help you measure key word density, such as SEO Chat's own Keyword Density tool.
Is your page W3C Compliant? Some have suspected that Google prefers pages that are compliant, but no one has been able to prove it. On the other hand, it’s easy to check; W3C makes its own tool available. And validating helps ensure that your page will appear similarly in all browsers that follow the standard without having to rely on error correction. This means your visitors won’t receive unpleasant surprises.
Is your web site’s content entirely original – or is there duplicate content on the web? This is very important for a couple of reasons. First, as you know, Google penalizes for duplicate content, and it often can’t tell who had any particular piece of content first. Second, copyright laws apply on the web as well, and copyright holders are within their rights to demand that stolen content be taken down. We’ve had to do that any number of times here at Developer Shed. This cuts both ways; we also make sure our writers aren’t infringing someone else’s copyright.
That’s all I could fit into this article. Next week I’ll finish covering the technical aspects you need to focus on, then move on to the other areas that Gary enumerates in his checklist. Expect to see a lot of attention paid to links. I think I’ve given you quite enough to check off until then!
Now let’s take a look at the more technical aspects of your web site. What is the code-to-text ratio of the site? At a minimum, you should have more text (content the visitor sees) than code on your site. There are online tools you can use to check this, such as the aptly-named Code to Text Ratio tool on SEO Chat.
What is your page size, and how long does it take to load? If your pages are very big and take a while to load, visitors won’t wait until they finish; they’ll head back to the search engine results they received and click another link. It’s a truism – confirmed with actual studies – that a web surfer won’t wait longer than eight seconds for a page to load. I venture to say that those are the patient ones; you’d best make your pages load even more quickly than that.
Let’s look at your key word density now. Gary advocates keeping the key word density on each page between three and seven percent. Too high and you trigger over optimization flags with the search engines; too low and you risk being judged less relevant for those key words than your competitors – who will then appear higher than you in the SERPs. As with code to text ratios, there are online tools available to help you measure key word density, such as SEO Chat's own Keyword Density tool.
Is your page W3C Compliant? Some have suspected that Google prefers pages that are compliant, but no one has been able to prove it. On the other hand, it’s easy to check; W3C makes its own tool available. And validating helps ensure that your page will appear similarly in all browsers that follow the standard without having to rely on error correction. This means your visitors won’t receive unpleasant surprises.
Is your web site’s content entirely original – or is there duplicate content on the web? This is very important for a couple of reasons. First, as you know, Google penalizes for duplicate content, and it often can’t tell who had any particular piece of content first. Second, copyright laws apply on the web as well, and copyright holders are within their rights to demand that stolen content be taken down. We’ve had to do that any number of times here at Developer Shed. This cuts both ways; we also make sure our writers aren’t infringing someone else’s copyright.
That’s all I could fit into this article. Next week I’ll finish covering the technical aspects you need to focus on, then move on to the other areas that Gary enumerates in his checklist. Expect to see a lot of attention paid to links. I think I’ve given you quite enough to check off until then!
Checking the List: SEO Details - More Optimization That Visitors Will See
Checking the List: SEO Details - More Optimization That Visitors Will See
Look at your headers. Did you put any key words in an H2, H3, and/or H4 header? And are you wondering why I didn’t mention an H1 header? Headers of course are a way to let the search engines know that something is an important theme for your page, but again, you need to watch out for over-optimization. Gary did some tests that seemed to indicate that Google sees key words in the H1 header as over-optimization “when combined with other factors.” In his thread, he notes that “Using H2-H4 still sets it apart and provides any benefit the H1 used to, without having to eliminate them altogether.”
After your first usage of the key word in the page’s first full paragraph, you can begin using it in ways that are designed to draw the eye: bold (second paragraph if possible), italic, and in a subscript/superscript. It also makes sense to use key words as part of your URL (a directory name, file name, or domain name). But do not duplicate the key word in the URL, or – you guessed it – you might set off over-optimization warning flags.
Are you using images on this page? Images can really help you add more key words. Make sure you have a key word in the filename of all your images. Boost both your SEO and your page’s accessibility by adding key words to the ALT tags of your images as well. Finally, add key words to the title attribute of your images.
Now let’s look at your links. This is the web after all, and everyone links to everyone else (well, ultimately anyway). So, do you have key words in the anchor text for links that go to another site? How about key words in the anchor text for an internal link from the page? If you publish lots of content, you may find that some of your authors will submit articles that link to other articles that appear on your site. This is a good thing. Next, make sure that you have key words in the title attribute of all the links targeted in and out of the page.
Okay, I mentioned putting key words in an internal link that goes from the page you’re optimizing to another page on the site. Make sure you also have key words in an internal link that goes TO the page from another page on the site (preferably from the home page). I also mentioned putting keywords in outbound links to another site. If it’s possible, try to make sure you also have key words in inbound links TO the page from another site.
No, we’re not done yet. Check your external CSS or JavaScript file; there should be key words in the filename. Also make sure that key words are in an HTML comment tag. Finally, rounding out key words and links, do you have key words in the anchor text of a link to a site that has a PageRank of 8 or better (for example, .gov or .edu sites)?
Look at your headers. Did you put any key words in an H2, H3, and/or H4 header? And are you wondering why I didn’t mention an H1 header? Headers of course are a way to let the search engines know that something is an important theme for your page, but again, you need to watch out for over-optimization. Gary did some tests that seemed to indicate that Google sees key words in the H1 header as over-optimization “when combined with other factors.” In his thread, he notes that “Using H2-H4 still sets it apart and provides any benefit the H1 used to, without having to eliminate them altogether.”
After your first usage of the key word in the page’s first full paragraph, you can begin using it in ways that are designed to draw the eye: bold (second paragraph if possible), italic, and in a subscript/superscript. It also makes sense to use key words as part of your URL (a directory name, file name, or domain name). But do not duplicate the key word in the URL, or – you guessed it – you might set off over-optimization warning flags.
Are you using images on this page? Images can really help you add more key words. Make sure you have a key word in the filename of all your images. Boost both your SEO and your page’s accessibility by adding key words to the ALT tags of your images as well. Finally, add key words to the title attribute of your images.
Now let’s look at your links. This is the web after all, and everyone links to everyone else (well, ultimately anyway). So, do you have key words in the anchor text for links that go to another site? How about key words in the anchor text for an internal link from the page? If you publish lots of content, you may find that some of your authors will submit articles that link to other articles that appear on your site. This is a good thing. Next, make sure that you have key words in the title attribute of all the links targeted in and out of the page.
Okay, I mentioned putting key words in an internal link that goes from the page you’re optimizing to another page on the site. Make sure you also have key words in an internal link that goes TO the page from another page on the site (preferably from the home page). I also mentioned putting keywords in outbound links to another site. If it’s possible, try to make sure you also have key words in inbound links TO the page from another site.
No, we’re not done yet. Check your external CSS or JavaScript file; there should be key words in the filename. Also make sure that key words are in an HTML comment tag. Finally, rounding out key words and links, do you have key words in the anchor text of a link to a site that has a PageRank of 8 or better (for example, .gov or .edu sites)?
Look at your headers. Did you put any key words in an H2, H3, and/or H4 header? And are you wondering why I didn’t mention an H1 header? Headers of course are a way to let the search engines know that something is an important theme for your page, but again, you need to watch out for over-optimization. Gary did some tests that seemed to indicate that Google sees key words in the H1 header as over-optimization “when combined with other factors.” In his thread, he notes that “Using H2-H4 still sets it apart and provides any benefit the H1 used to, without having to eliminate them altogether.”
After your first usage of the key word in the page’s first full paragraph, you can begin using it in ways that are designed to draw the eye: bold (second paragraph if possible), italic, and in a subscript/superscript. It also makes sense to use key words as part of your URL (a directory name, file name, or domain name). But do not duplicate the key word in the URL, or – you guessed it – you might set off over-optimization warning flags.
Are you using images on this page? Images can really help you add more key words. Make sure you have a key word in the filename of all your images. Boost both your SEO and your page’s accessibility by adding key words to the ALT tags of your images as well. Finally, add key words to the title attribute of your images.
Now let’s look at your links. This is the web after all, and everyone links to everyone else (well, ultimately anyway). So, do you have key words in the anchor text for links that go to another site? How about key words in the anchor text for an internal link from the page? If you publish lots of content, you may find that some of your authors will submit articles that link to other articles that appear on your site. This is a good thing. Next, make sure that you have key words in the title attribute of all the links targeted in and out of the page.
Okay, I mentioned putting key words in an internal link that goes from the page you’re optimizing to another page on the site. Make sure you also have key words in an internal link that goes TO the page from another page on the site (preferably from the home page). I also mentioned putting keywords in outbound links to another site. If it’s possible, try to make sure you also have key words in inbound links TO the page from another site.
No, we’re not done yet. Check your external CSS or JavaScript file; there should be key words in the filename. Also make sure that key words are in an HTML comment tag. Finally, rounding out key words and links, do you have key words in the anchor text of a link to a site that has a PageRank of 8 or better (for example, .gov or .edu sites)?
Look at your headers. Did you put any key words in an H2, H3, and/or H4 header? And are you wondering why I didn’t mention an H1 header? Headers of course are a way to let the search engines know that something is an important theme for your page, but again, you need to watch out for over-optimization. Gary did some tests that seemed to indicate that Google sees key words in the H1 header as over-optimization “when combined with other factors.” In his thread, he notes that “Using H2-H4 still sets it apart and provides any benefit the H1 used to, without having to eliminate them altogether.”
After your first usage of the key word in the page’s first full paragraph, you can begin using it in ways that are designed to draw the eye: bold (second paragraph if possible), italic, and in a subscript/superscript. It also makes sense to use key words as part of your URL (a directory name, file name, or domain name). But do not duplicate the key word in the URL, or – you guessed it – you might set off over-optimization warning flags.
Are you using images on this page? Images can really help you add more key words. Make sure you have a key word in the filename of all your images. Boost both your SEO and your page’s accessibility by adding key words to the ALT tags of your images as well. Finally, add key words to the title attribute of your images.
Now let’s look at your links. This is the web after all, and everyone links to everyone else (well, ultimately anyway). So, do you have key words in the anchor text for links that go to another site? How about key words in the anchor text for an internal link from the page? If you publish lots of content, you may find that some of your authors will submit articles that link to other articles that appear on your site. This is a good thing. Next, make sure that you have key words in the title attribute of all the links targeted in and out of the page.
Okay, I mentioned putting key words in an internal link that goes from the page you’re optimizing to another page on the site. Make sure you also have key words in an internal link that goes TO the page from another page on the site (preferably from the home page). I also mentioned putting keywords in outbound links to another site. If it’s possible, try to make sure you also have key words in inbound links TO the page from another site.
No, we’re not done yet. Check your external CSS or JavaScript file; there should be key words in the filename. Also make sure that key words are in an HTML comment tag. Finally, rounding out key words and links, do you have key words in the anchor text of a link to a site that has a PageRank of 8 or better (for example, .gov or .edu sites)?
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Modern SEO Techniques
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) are methods that aid in the improvement of a website's ranking in the listings of search engines. There are different kinds of listings that are displayed in the results pages of search engines, such as paid inclusion, pay-per-click advertisements, and organic search results. Utilizing SEO can increase the quantity of site visitors that acts on the activity that the site intends.
Sites have different goals for search optimization. Some sites search for all kinds of traffic. A SEO strategy that is broad in scope can be advantageous for sites that cover broad interest, such as directories and periodicals. On the other hand, majority of the sites attempt to maximize their pages for a high quantity of very specific keywords that radiate the possibility of a sale. Usually, focusing on well-chosen traffic produces sales leads of desirable quality, and allows advertisers to pull in more business.
The importance of having a high rank for an advertiser's site cannot be emphasized enough. Unfortunately, many site owners believe that their site has a high-ranking, when the truth is exactly the opposite. Others who are aware that they do not possess enough presence in search engines do not know that it is possible to achieve the ranking they want, and that they can get it through means that are a lot easier and more efficient.
So what are the techniques that advertisers must employ to maximize their optimization and garner the site activity and profits that they seek? Here are some of the most useful ones.
1. Title tags should be written in a creative way. It should be created with the strongest keyword targets as the basis. It is the most important tag of a web site when it comes to optimization. The specific keyword of the web site that is being optimized should be the one that is placed in the title tag. It goes without saying that every site should have its own title tag.
2. Carefully select the words and phrases to be assigned to Alt tags. Alt tags are not really mandatory, but they are provided for text browsers because images do not get displayed in web browsers, and it is the Alt tags that give information to the users about its significance. The rule in Alt tags is fairly simple: only key phrases or key words should be put in Alt tags, overdoing may cause a site to disappear in search results or get banned from it indefinitely.
3. Manage keyword density. Keyword density is the percentage occupied by keywords or keyword phrases in a web page. Ideally, keywords are used once in the title tag, the heading tag, and in bold text. Keywords should be placed at the top of the page, and phrases can be inserted in every paragraph, depending on how long the paragraph is.
4. Determine the appropriate page size for the site. Speed is a vital element to the success of a site, and it important to both online visitors and the search engines. It is recommended to limit web pages under 15K.
5. Create rich themes for the pages. Search engines are increasingly getting particular about themes. Content should be created as often as possible, and the pages should be maintained to 200 to 500 words. The content should be created in relation to the market, and should be linked to the other related content present on the site.
6. Make the site's design attractive to the viewer. All efforts in optimization will be in vain if the site is poorly designed and if its contents are hard for viewers to read. There should be more text content than HTML content in the web site. Viewers should be able to use the pages in all major browsers. It should be noted that most search engines veer away from JavaScript and Flash.
7. Stay away from the bad techniques. Utilizing them could get a site blacklisted from the search engines. Spamming is a no-no, and the following techniques are considered spamming: doorway and identical pages, tiny or invisible text, cloaking, usage of keyword phrases in author tags etc.
Advertisers should keep in mind that simplicity is the basis of a successful SEO campaign. Sites should be easy for viewers to locate, follow, and read, and should contain relevant content. Following the techniques above will prove worthwhile for site owners in the future.
Best of success,
Jeanette Kersbergen
Sites have different goals for search optimization. Some sites search for all kinds of traffic. A SEO strategy that is broad in scope can be advantageous for sites that cover broad interest, such as directories and periodicals. On the other hand, majority of the sites attempt to maximize their pages for a high quantity of very specific keywords that radiate the possibility of a sale. Usually, focusing on well-chosen traffic produces sales leads of desirable quality, and allows advertisers to pull in more business.
The importance of having a high rank for an advertiser's site cannot be emphasized enough. Unfortunately, many site owners believe that their site has a high-ranking, when the truth is exactly the opposite. Others who are aware that they do not possess enough presence in search engines do not know that it is possible to achieve the ranking they want, and that they can get it through means that are a lot easier and more efficient.
So what are the techniques that advertisers must employ to maximize their optimization and garner the site activity and profits that they seek? Here are some of the most useful ones.
1. Title tags should be written in a creative way. It should be created with the strongest keyword targets as the basis. It is the most important tag of a web site when it comes to optimization. The specific keyword of the web site that is being optimized should be the one that is placed in the title tag. It goes without saying that every site should have its own title tag.
2. Carefully select the words and phrases to be assigned to Alt tags. Alt tags are not really mandatory, but they are provided for text browsers because images do not get displayed in web browsers, and it is the Alt tags that give information to the users about its significance. The rule in Alt tags is fairly simple: only key phrases or key words should be put in Alt tags, overdoing may cause a site to disappear in search results or get banned from it indefinitely.
3. Manage keyword density. Keyword density is the percentage occupied by keywords or keyword phrases in a web page. Ideally, keywords are used once in the title tag, the heading tag, and in bold text. Keywords should be placed at the top of the page, and phrases can be inserted in every paragraph, depending on how long the paragraph is.
4. Determine the appropriate page size for the site. Speed is a vital element to the success of a site, and it important to both online visitors and the search engines. It is recommended to limit web pages under 15K.
5. Create rich themes for the pages. Search engines are increasingly getting particular about themes. Content should be created as often as possible, and the pages should be maintained to 200 to 500 words. The content should be created in relation to the market, and should be linked to the other related content present on the site.
6. Make the site's design attractive to the viewer. All efforts in optimization will be in vain if the site is poorly designed and if its contents are hard for viewers to read. There should be more text content than HTML content in the web site. Viewers should be able to use the pages in all major browsers. It should be noted that most search engines veer away from JavaScript and Flash.
7. Stay away from the bad techniques. Utilizing them could get a site blacklisted from the search engines. Spamming is a no-no, and the following techniques are considered spamming: doorway and identical pages, tiny or invisible text, cloaking, usage of keyword phrases in author tags etc.
Advertisers should keep in mind that simplicity is the basis of a successful SEO campaign. Sites should be easy for viewers to locate, follow, and read, and should contain relevant content. Following the techniques above will prove worthwhile for site owners in the future.
Best of success,
Jeanette Kersbergen
Thursday, February 8, 2007
10 SEO Tips
10 SEO Tips
It is not hard to be barking up the wrong tree when it comes to getting search engine traffic because there is so much out of date information being circulated.
Not only is there out of date or invalid SEO advice getting around, there is also information which if acted upon, can result in your pages being banned.
The SEO tips below should assist the reader in forming a basic understanding of how to create human friendly web pages which are easily understood by the most popular search engines.
Know this. There are thousands of search engines but only two of them will bring you most of the traffic. They are google and yahoo. Another search engine that brings me a little traffic is msn but I do not focus too much on tactics for that engine.
Focus your attention on the engines that will bring you the most visitors first and work your way down.
Basic SEO
1. Insert keywords within the title tag so that search engine robots will know what your page is about. The title tag is located right at the top of your document within the head tags. Inserting a keyword or key phrase will greatly improve your chances of bringing targeted traffic to your site.
Make sure that the title tag contains text which a human can relate to. The text within the title tag is what shows up in a search result. Treat it like a headline.
2. Use the same keywords as anchor text to link to the page from different pages on your site. This is especially useful if your site contains many pages. The more keywords that link to a specific page the better.
3. Make sure that the text within the title tag is also within the body of the page. It is unwise to have keywords in the title tag which are not contained within the body of the page.
Adding the exact same text for your h1 tag will tell the reader who clicks on your page from a search engine result that they have clicked on the correct link and have arrived at the page where they intended to visit. Robots like this too because now there is a relation between the title of your page and the headline.
Also, sprinkle your keywords throughout your article. The most important keywords can be bolded or colored in red. A good place to do this is once or twice in the body at the top of your article and in the sub-headings.
4. Do not use the exact same title tag on every page on your website. Search engine robots might determine that all your pages are the same if all your title tags are the same. If this happens, your pages might not get indexed.
I always use the headline of my pages as the title tag to help the robots know exactly what my page is about. A good place to insert the headline is within the h1 tag. So the headline is the same as the title tag text.
5. Do not spam the descript-xion or keyword meta tag by stuffing meaningless keywords or even spend too much time on this tag. SEO pros all agree that these tags are not as important today as they once were. I just place my headline once within the keywords and descript-xion tags.
6. Do not link to link-farms or other search engine unfriendly neighborhoods. A good rule of thumb is if your pages do not contain any words that reflect the content of the site you are linking to, do not link to it.
7. Do not use doorway pages. Doorway pages are designed for robots only, not humans. Search engines like to index human friendly pages which contain content which is relevant to the search.
8. Title tags for text links. Insert the title tag within the HTML of your text link to add weight to the link and the page where the link resides. This is like the alt tag for images.
My site contains navigation menus on the left and right of the page. The menu consists of links not images. The links are keywords. When you hover over the link with your mouse, the title of the link appears. View the source of this page to see how to add this tag to your links.
9. Describe your images with the use of the alt tag. This will help search engines that index images to find your pages and will also help readers who use text only web browsers.
10. Submit to the search engines yourself. Do not use a submission service or submission software. Doing so could get your site penalized or even banned.
Here is the submission page for google: http://www.google.com/addurl.html
Submit only once. There is no need to submit every two weeks. There is no need to submit more that one page. Robots follow links. If your site has a nice link trail, your entire site will get indexed.
My site has a nice human friendly link trail which robots follow easily. All my pages get indexed without ever submitting more than the main index page once.
More SEO Tips
Get the facts here: http://www.google.com/webmasters/. This page will explain most of what you should focus on along with what you should forget about.
If you have been thinking about handing over the task of SEO to someone outside of yourself, you should read some warnings before you part with any money. http://www.google.com/webmasters/seo.html
SEO Discussion
Most SEO Professionals will not tell you about the goose that laid the golden egg. The following link will take you to a jealously guarded FREE SEO discussion.
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=google.public.support.general
You can search the forum for specific questions you may have. I like to just lurk around and read the messages.
It is not hard to be barking up the wrong tree when it comes to getting search engine traffic because there is so much out of date information being circulated.
Not only is there out of date or invalid SEO advice getting around, there is also information which if acted upon, can result in your pages being banned.
The SEO tips below should assist the reader in forming a basic understanding of how to create human friendly web pages which are easily understood by the most popular search engines.
Know this. There are thousands of search engines but only two of them will bring you most of the traffic. They are google and yahoo. Another search engine that brings me a little traffic is msn but I do not focus too much on tactics for that engine.
Focus your attention on the engines that will bring you the most visitors first and work your way down.
Basic SEO
1. Insert keywords within the title tag so that search engine robots will know what your page is about. The title tag is located right at the top of your document within the head tags. Inserting a keyword or key phrase will greatly improve your chances of bringing targeted traffic to your site.
Make sure that the title tag contains text which a human can relate to. The text within the title tag is what shows up in a search result. Treat it like a headline.
2. Use the same keywords as anchor text to link to the page from different pages on your site. This is especially useful if your site contains many pages. The more keywords that link to a specific page the better.
3. Make sure that the text within the title tag is also within the body of the page. It is unwise to have keywords in the title tag which are not contained within the body of the page.
Adding the exact same text for your h1 tag will tell the reader who clicks on your page from a search engine result that they have clicked on the correct link and have arrived at the page where they intended to visit. Robots like this too because now there is a relation between the title of your page and the headline.
Also, sprinkle your keywords throughout your article. The most important keywords can be bolded or colored in red. A good place to do this is once or twice in the body at the top of your article and in the sub-headings.
4. Do not use the exact same title tag on every page on your website. Search engine robots might determine that all your pages are the same if all your title tags are the same. If this happens, your pages might not get indexed.
I always use the headline of my pages as the title tag to help the robots know exactly what my page is about. A good place to insert the headline is within the h1 tag. So the headline is the same as the title tag text.
5. Do not spam the descript-xion or keyword meta tag by stuffing meaningless keywords or even spend too much time on this tag. SEO pros all agree that these tags are not as important today as they once were. I just place my headline once within the keywords and descript-xion tags.
6. Do not link to link-farms or other search engine unfriendly neighborhoods. A good rule of thumb is if your pages do not contain any words that reflect the content of the site you are linking to, do not link to it.
7. Do not use doorway pages. Doorway pages are designed for robots only, not humans. Search engines like to index human friendly pages which contain content which is relevant to the search.
8. Title tags for text links. Insert the title tag within the HTML of your text link to add weight to the link and the page where the link resides. This is like the alt tag for images.
My site contains navigation menus on the left and right of the page. The menu consists of links not images. The links are keywords. When you hover over the link with your mouse, the title of the link appears. View the source of this page to see how to add this tag to your links.
9. Describe your images with the use of the alt tag. This will help search engines that index images to find your pages and will also help readers who use text only web browsers.
10. Submit to the search engines yourself. Do not use a submission service or submission software. Doing so could get your site penalized or even banned.
Here is the submission page for google: http://www.google.com/addurl.html
Submit only once. There is no need to submit every two weeks. There is no need to submit more that one page. Robots follow links. If your site has a nice link trail, your entire site will get indexed.
My site has a nice human friendly link trail which robots follow easily. All my pages get indexed without ever submitting more than the main index page once.
More SEO Tips
Get the facts here: http://www.google.com/webmasters/. This page will explain most of what you should focus on along with what you should forget about.
If you have been thinking about handing over the task of SEO to someone outside of yourself, you should read some warnings before you part with any money. http://www.google.com/webmasters/seo.html
SEO Discussion
Most SEO Professionals will not tell you about the goose that laid the golden egg. The following link will take you to a jealously guarded FREE SEO discussion.
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=google.public.support.general
You can search the forum for specific questions you may have. I like to just lurk around and read the messages.
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