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Search Engine Optimization Tips
by Jimmy Whisenhunt
Search engine optimization (seo) can be a freighting and daunting
experience. We have put together some tips to make this task
much more pleasant. We are going to go over some tips to help
your search engine rankings. Here is what we are going to cover
in this article.
1)Design and Setup Problems
2)Selecting the correct keywords
3)The Title Tag
4)Your Page Copy
5)Meta Tags
6)Images "alt" tags
7)What you should not do
1)Design and Setup Problems
Unfortunately, some webmasters have lost the ballgame before
they even get started with search engine optimization with design
problems. We are going to go over five of the most common design
problems and there work around or solutions.
a)Sites that use Frames:
Search engines do not index frames well. In fact search engine
do such a poor job we recommend no to use frames at all. Here
is the problem a frame page is like the name conveys it is a
page in side of another page in a frame. The HTML code is like
this:
As you can see, there is no real content on in the page so search
engines do not have anything to index. The work around is to
use the tag to add content to the page manually. You would place
the tag before the tags and insert it in the tag.
Optimized page content goes here for best results.
Keep it simple search engines like it that way and no one will
every see it. Do not for get about the Title and Meta tags more
on that later in the article.
b)Dynamic URLs
Most search engine cannot or will not index dynamic URLs. A
dynamic URL is a URL that contains any of the following characters:
?, &, %, +, =, $, cgi-bin, .cgi
Dynamic URLs are most common on database driven sites. If your
URL contains any of the above characters it is very unlikely
that you will get listed with the major search engines. Solution
is to make a static page that has a static URL on that does
not contain any of the above characters.
c)Sites That Use Flash
Sites that use flash as a splash screen spiders cannot index
them. A general rule is not to use flash as a home page splash
screen. If you just have to use as much of your page copy as
you can and remember to use your title and meta tags. Another
note about flash is menu items. Spider's follows HTML links
with flash menu spiders cannot follow them. Work around use
a site map to link all of your pages together so the spiders
will have HTML links to follow.
d)Image Maps
Image maps are similar to Flash most spiders cannot follow links
in image maps. To be on the safe side build a site map of your
entire site so the spiders have HTML links to crawl.
e)Javascript for Navigation
Search engines cannot follow links written in Javascript. If
Javascript navigation is all you have on your site, you are
in trouble. The solution is to add a HTML navigation menu some
where on the home page and to add a site map of the entire site
to make sure the spiders index your site completely.
2)Selecting the Correct Keywords
The first step in the optimization process is selecting to correct
keywords for your targeted market. The keywords step is the
most important step in the optimization process because your
will use them throughout the entire optimization process. It
is also how other people will find you on the search engines.
Optimize for the wrong keywords and all your efforts will be
wasted. The first thing you want to do if write down on a piece
of paper what the theme of your site is. For instance your site
is about golf. You would write down 10 keywords or phrases about
golf. Think specific keyword phrases not keywords. Why? Because
keyword competition is so extreme for general terms such as
golf. You would need to be more specific golf clubs, golf shoes,
golf courses, golf equipment, etc. to rank well in the search
engines than for a more general term. Then you would need to
use a tool like Word Tracker to see if that is a well searched
for phrase. Get outside opinions ask family members and friends
what they would search for making a note of them. Then go back
to Word Tracker and check the new key phrases adding the best
ones to your keyword list. Also check out your competition for
ideas. Do a search on a search engine and check out some of
the sites. View the source HTML of the page and look at the
meta tags. This should give you some more ideas. Only use keyword
that relate to your site . You should develop a list of keyword
phrases for each page that you optimize for the search engines.
3)The Title Tag
Without a question the title tag is the most important process
of optimizing your web page. I can't stress enough how important
this tag is. This is because most search engines & directories
place a high level of importance on keywords that are found
in your title tag. We recommend using 1-2 of your keywords in
the title near the front. Do not use just keyword in the title
search engine may blacklist your is. Make your title enticing!
The title tag is what most search engines show in there search
engine results page (SERP) as the clickable link. Each page
in your site should have its own title with its own keywords.
The Format:
Where to place it: The correct place to place the title tag
is between the tag. It should be the first tag after .
Tag length: We recommend that your title tag be between 50-80
characters long - including spaces! Staying at about 60 characters
will be optimum.
In the next article we will go over Your Page Copy, Meta Tags,
Images "alt" tags and what you should not do.
About the Author
Jimmy Whisenhunt is the webmaster at Article Zone. Article Zone
is a new web site for free articles that you can use on your
web site or in your newsletter. http://articlezone.vipenterprises.org
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