The
Basics of Search Engine Optimization
In
order to get ranked well on the search engines your website needs
to be optimized with keywords and keyphrases. It's better to do
this as you're desigining your website rather then after it's all
done. Not only is it easier and more efficient, it'll give your
website better position right away, as soon as you've uploaded it
to the internet.
However,
don't expect to hit the #1 spot right away. It may take months before
your website is even found by the search engines. To insure that
it actually does get found by them you can submit your website to
each of the major search engines. In most cases it takes longer
for the submission to work than it does for the search engines to
find your website by following links across the internet.
If
you want to get search engine traffic to your website immediately
sign up for a pay-per-click ad with Google or Yahoo!.
How
Search Engines Work
The
search engines are modeled after the people who are performing searches.
They look for the same thing as people - websites with information
that's the most
relevant to the keywords they use in their search.
Search
engines are simply computer programs. They're very cleverly designed
to jump from website to website and from web page to web page using
the links. In less than a nano second they scan the HTML of the
entire web page, download it to their database, and run it through
their algorythms to rank it for position. Whew.
Search
engines are unable to see the web page displayed as you do on your
monitor. Instead what they see is the entire code for the web page.
If you'd like to see what they see, when viewing a web page in your
browser, click on "View Source" in the tool bar.
Because
of spammers who abuse the search engine systems the rules for optimizing
change constantly. As an example, at the beginning of the internet
when search engines were new, the theory was to cram as many keywords
into the Meta Tags as possible. The spammers overdid it and the
search engines reacted by changing their algorythms to detect an
occurance of a keyword repeated more than two times in the Meta
Tags.
Because
of the spammers, it's a good idea to subscribe to one of the free
newsletters about search engines, such as the one at www.searchenginewatch.com.
They'll keep you updated on the latest changes so you can make sure
you're website hasn't innocently turned into a spammer website.
How
to Optimize Your Website
There
are millions of search engines, although most people use only a
few. The top popular search engines change from time to time. Currently
it's Google and MSN. These are the main search engines you need
to optimize your website for. Yahoo! isn't included here because
it's a pay-for-placement directory and doesn't use robots and algorythms.
Search
engines are looking for text, but not just any text and not just
anywhere. They're looking for words that repeat in certain areas
of the web page, which they deem to be the all-important keywords.
Filler words such as the, and, an, with, etc. are ignored. These
areas are:
- The
Title tag in the header. This is the text that shows up in
the blue bar at the very top of your computer monitor. It's the
descriptive title for the web page and therefore each web page
should be different. Place your important keywords at the beginning
of the Title. Look at other websites for examples.
- The
Meta Tags. There are lots of Meta tags, but only two you need
to be concerned with - keywords and description. The Meta tag
"keywords" is simply a list of your keywords and key
phrases separated by commas. The format for the Meta tag "description"
is similar to the Title tag, but should be a little different.
It can be longer and can also have more than one sentence. The
"description" Meta tag is displayed by some search engines
in their returns, so make it an appealing description. Most website
design programs have a feature that allows you to edit the Meta
tags.
- Heading
Tags. These were originally used to format the size of text,
with H1 being the largest size and H7 the smallest. Search engines,
therefore, were programmed to rate H1 text as more important than
H2, and H2 more important than H3, and so on. Today these tags
are still used by the search engines in their rating algorythms.
Use these tags for the title and subtitles on any page, especially
if they have your keywords in them. Most website design programs
have a feature that allows you to select text and format it with
the Heading tags.
- Text.
Your keywords and key phrases should be sprinkled through out
the text on your web pages. Take advantage of every opportunity
to insert your key words as often as possible without making the
text read as if you just crammed a bunch of keywords in it. Remember,
you have to appeal to your human visitors as well as the search
engines, so keep your text readable as well.
- Links.
The search engines place a good percentage of ranking weight on
links. There are two kinds of links - local and global. Local
links are those within the website while global links are outgoing
to and incoming from other websites.
Local links: Always use text links on your web pages. If
you use images for links, place text links at the bottom of every
page for the search engines. Remember, they can't read images
- only text. If all you have is images for links they'll only
be able to see your home page and will think your website isn't
very relevant because it has only one page of information. For
extra value use your keywords in the linked text. Additionally,
use your keywords when naming your files for each of your web
pages, i.e., website-design.html.
Global Links: Of the two types of global links, incoming
are most valued by the search engines. However, not just any links
will do. They must be from websites of similar subject. For example,
a link to real estate agent's website from a mortgage banker's
website would be highly valuable. For this reason it's important
for you to be very descerning in reciprocal linking. Once your
website is online you'll receive offers from hundreds of people
who have websites to exchange links. Only exchange links with
those who will help boost your search engine rankings.
- More
pages, bigger website. Search engines are programmed to rank
websites with lots of pages higher than those with fewer pages
because the larger number of pages have more information about
the subject and thus are more relevant. Remember, search engine
ranking is all based on relevancy.
- ALT
tags. Way back in the beginning of the internet when the fastest
internet connection was 28k, these tags were used to describe
the images that were taking forever to load. Now they're used
by the programs that "read" websites to non-sighted
people and minimally by the search engines.
- In
general,
search engines give more value or weight to words placed at the
beginning of a tag, sentence, or web page.
What
NOT to Do
Any
technique that hides keywords or keyword phrases is to be questioned.
To be on the safe side never use anything remotely resembling an
optimization method that uses hidden text.
Hiring
an SEO
There
are companies who charge huge sums of money to do Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) for you. Some are legit and some are scam artists.
Many tread a fine line between being all-out spammers and legitimate
professionals.
The
scam artists can end up doing more harm than good to your search
engine position. Many of them use techniques that are borderline
legal. Often the search engines discover these sleazy techniques
and penalize or outright ban any websites using them. If a scammer
used one of these methods on your website, it could be dropped in
rank or it could be permanently banned from the search engines.
Beware
of any SEO that guarantees #1 placement on the search engines. That's
an impossibility and an indication of their dishonesty.
At
some point you may decide you want to hire a SEO, but for now it's
important for you to understand what the search engines look for
when they're ranking websites and how you can give them what they
want. This knowledge will benefit you when or if you decide to hire
a professional SEO.
Copyright
©2008 If
you would like to use this article, please
ask. More than likely I'd be happy to share it, and I would
like you to honor my work by allowing me to give it to you.
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