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Have
you ever wondered why the sites at the
top of search engine results are there?
Especially if your site is nowhere to
be seen, even though it has a lot more
valuable content or a better product range
than those at the top. It can be frustrating
for small businesses that put a lot of
work into their websites, yet get a fraction
of the visitors that some people talk
about receiving.
There's no easy answer as to why the sites
at the top of the search engine ranking
are there, but one way of ensuring that
your site has a better chance of ranking
well for some of your keywords is to learn
some search engine optimization (SEO)
basics.
Search Engine Optimization is a whole
industry, so we won't go into the details
of SEO. This article is meant as a beginning
guide only. There are whole books published
on the subject, large companies offering
SEO services to businesses, and thousands
of websites and blogs dedicated to the
subject.
1.
Think About SEO From the Beginning
Rather than building your website and
then thinking about SEO, the best time
to start is when you are first designing
your site. It will save a lot of work
later on and the search engines will know
exactly what your site is all about from
day one.
If your site is already online it will
just mean that you may have to go back
through all your pages and make some changes.
2.
Ensure that the Title of Every Page is
Different
One of the first things a search engine
looks at when it is scanning your pages
is the title. It plays an important role
in how search engines rank each page,
so it should be chosen carefully. It should
be brief and accurately describe what
is on the page.
For example, this article is about the
basics of SEO. If you look at the very
top of this page you will see "SEO
Basics" rather than "Woopidoo
Business Portal" or something of
that nature. It is a very brief title
and probably could have been lengthened
to include a couple more words, but don't
go overboard.
The title is also used by most search
engines to display your listing on their
search results pages. So if you have a
brief, targeted, and descriptive title,
the chances of your page being clicked
on are enhanced. If you see a LONG SPAMMY
LOOKING 20 WORD TITLE IN CAPITAL LETTERS!!
next to a brief and informative title,
the chances of you choosing the latter
is increased.
3.
Consider Using Metatags that are Different
for Each Page
Although this step is less important than
having different titles for each page,
it is still worth spending the time to
make each one original. Metatags are also
located in the <head> of a html
page. Keywords and Descriptions used to
play an important role in how search engines
ranked websites until people started abusing
the system. Search engines had to devalue
this method as webmasters were being less
than honest, especially with their keywords.
Even if it helps a little with your rankings,
it is worth doing. Just don't waste your
time filling it with a hundred+ keywords
as the search engines have become much
smarter.
Here's an example of the Description and
Keywords used for this SEO Basics page..
<meta name="description"
content="SEO basics is a listing
of search engine optimization tips by
the businessman and entrepreneur David
Bond.">
<meta name="keywords" content="David
Bond business articles, seo basics, search
engine optimization">
4.
Do Some Research on the Keywords Used
in your Industry
If you do everything right and get great
rankings for all your keywords, but very
few people search for these keywords,
you have failed. You have to find out
what people are looking for in your industry
and target them terms. If it is a very
competitive industry that you are in,
it may be worth looking at targeting secondary
value keywords, but make sure you know
what people are looking for.
There are some free resources online that
help with Keyword research like the Overture
Keyword
Selector Tool.
5.
Focus on One Topic Per Page
This is a more subtle tip that helps search
engines to see how organized and focused
you are. It likes groups of focused, targeted
information that is easy to categorize.
If you have a site about colored balls,
make sure that each color has it's own
page. If you have all your balls on one
page you may be missing out on the advantages
of having a whole page dedicated to each
colored ball. Blue balls may be very popular,
but if they are just mentioned on a page
of multicolored balls, the search engines
may not think your site is focused enough
to rank for Blue balls.
When you combine the fact that you have
20 pages about balls of different colors,
and all them pages are linking to (and
linked from) one central colored balls
page, you're sending a message to the
search engines that colored balls is an
area that you excel in.
6.
Keywords in Content
A lot of SEO basics involves using keywords
properly throughout your entire website.
Once you figure out what keywords you
are targeting, you will have to spread
them throughout your pages.
One of the most obvious places to use
these keywords is in the content of your
pages. This option should not be abused
for several reasons, with the most important
one being the visitors to your site. Many
search engine optimizers simply fill the
articles of each page with their keywords
and ignore the visitors to the site that
have come to read the information. They
focus only on what they think the search
engines want and ignore their customers!
If I started every sentence in this article
with "SEO Basics" you probably
would have left the page after about the
first paragraph. Not only does it alienate
visitors, but search engines now know
how many times you use your keywords on
each page. If the number of times you
use the keyword compared with the number
of words used on each page is out of proportion,
the search engine knows.
SEO
Basics Conclusion
These are just some of the very basics
of search engine optimization. There is
so much more to know about the topic,
but the most important part is to never
forget your website's visitors. If you
alienate your visitors at the expense
of getting a few extra referrals from
search engines, than you haven't gained
much, nor have you used SEO effectively.
Search engine optimization at it's very
basics should inform the search engine
about what is on every page of your website
and should not interfere in the user's
experience of your site.
Other topics to look at include link building,
PageRank, sitemaps, directory submissions,
site structure, the Google sandbox, and
much more.
"The ultimate search engine would
basically understand everything in the
world, and it would always give you the
right thing. And we're a long, long ways
from that." Larry
Page Quote
This article by David Bond may not be
reproduced online in part or whole. Copyright
© Woopidoo.com
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