Ever wonder what strategies that Search
Engine Optimization (SEO) experts consider to be the most
important? Stephen Mahaney, President of Planet Ocean Communications,
a search engine consulting and SEO publishing firm, was asked
this very question. He was kind enough to send us his response
for publication in MarketPosition:
I decided to write this article after
receiving the following comment and question from a reader...
Actually, we thought it was a great question
- so much so it merits a short article. Granted, all of these
tips are well known and relatively simplistic but they are
also the must-do aspects of search engine optimization.
In other words, before you do anything
else, these are the items that you should check off your list.
1. Be certain the words that you wish
to be found under show up in your <title> tags.
Many people fail to place their keywords
in their title tags - in fact, this is the #1 optimization
mistake. You don't have to put all your keywords in every
page's title, just put in the ones that are relevant to
that specific page.
On your main (home) page, focus on
the core keywords that reflect the overall theme of your
site.
2. Link to all of your subpages from
the home page.
There may be times when this seems
impractical but there are usually unobtrusive ways to do
it. By having links to all of your sub-pages you provide
the means by which a search engine can find the various
pages on your site whenever they visit your "home"
page.
Ideally the spider should be able to
access every page on your site by clicking on a series of
links. And, the fewer clicks the better because search engines
score page relevance from top to bottom - the deeper a page
is found within a site the less relevant the search engine
considers it to be. In addition, some engines will not spider
more than a few levels deep.
3. Be sure that keywords are being
used in the text links that are pointing to pages within
your site.
If your site is about cameras, make
sure when you post a link to your site from some other web
site that the word cameras appears in the text of the hyperlink
that is pointing to your site.
A correct example would look something
like...
Click here for the best prices in <a
href="http://www.mycameras.com">cameras</a>
In contrast, it would be a mistake
to use a link like...
<a href="http://www.mycameras.com">Click
here"</a> for the best prices in cameras
If you were to make such a mistake
the search engine - especially Google - would believe your
site was about "click here" (ouch!).
4. The more pages the better.
Just like fishing, the more hooks you
have in the water the better your chances of catching something.
Same deal with search engine optimization. The more pages
you have on your website, the better chance you'll have
of hitting those ever changing "correct" formulas
for keyword density, keyword combos, and so on.
Of course, your pages should contain
quality information so the visitor doesn't just click back
to the search engine when he or she arrives. Fast click-backs
are noticed by many engines and can work against you. In
such cases the engine figures the visitor didn't find what
they were looking for so your page must not have been relevant
to their search.
One way to fit the bill is to create
a new page of content every week. Chances are likely that
there will be some aspect related to one of your products
or services about which you can write a special report or
a feature article. Perhaps you'll do a weekly Q&A where
you explain the benefits and features of what you do in
greater detail.
And by all means look for ways to make
the material work double-duty by, perhaps, assembling it
into a newsletter that could then be made available to your
customers. These are legitimate and valuable ways to expand
your site and thereby broaden the net you cast to snare
prospects that turn into future customers.
5. Use a good, reliable web hosting
service.
There is no substitute for a hosting
service that is dependable and one that assigns a unique
IP address to every domain.
Remember, if your host goes down when
a spider comes visiting you'll likely get knocked out of
the index. Quality hosting services are a must in the same
way that an appropriate physical location in a brick-n-mortar
operation is essential.
Many people make the mistake of attempting
clever "tricks" while ignoring the basics. That
is foolish. It's possible that a site can score at the top
using only the basics. However, "tricks" alone
will never help you achieve top scores without first integrating
those basics.
Note: The above article
was reprinted with permission from Planet Ocean Communications.
Planet Ocean, in my opinion, offers some of the most extensive
and up to date collection of search engine news and tips
I've found on the Web. If you're one of those who are always
looking for that extra tip to gain a competitive edge, you
owe it to yourself to check
out this in-depth resource.
This article is copyrighted and has been
reprinted with permission from FirstPlace Software, the makers
of WebPosition
Gold. FirstPlace Software helped define the SEO industry
with the introduction of the first product to track your rankings
on the major search engines and to help you improve those
rankings. A free
trial of WebPosition Gold is available from their Web
site.
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