Do The Search Engines Like Your Site?
This article focuses on the things you can (and should) do to get your site ready for the big times! You should read the above article first and make sure you don't do any of the things mentioned on your site, and then read this article and see if you can improve your site with the tips in this article.
Keep the content changing
Try to make sure that the content of the site changes enough that the search engines will see something new each time they visit. They reward sites with fresh content. It shows that you have an active site that is properly maintained.
Title
Title should be the first html tag in the head: Make sure your title is the first tag in the HEAD section on all of the web pages on your site. Also, make sure that the title contains the search phrase that you think people will use to find your site in the search engines. It should contain no less than 3 words and no more than 6.
Meta Keywords
Use no more than 6 words in your meta keywords. If you use more it will dilute the strength of the ones that are important. Pick out 6 words that are the most important words describing your product or service and put them in the meta keywords section in all the pages on your site.
Meta Description
The Meta description is read by people so don't stuff it with keywords and turn it into gibberish. It should contain your keywords but also sell your service/product. It should be no more than a single sentence, 15-20 words long. Try adding the words "CLICK HERE" in all caps right at the end.
Don't use image maps/Flash movies/java-redirects
Don't use any image maps/Flash movies/java-redirects on your main page. Make sure all your pages have links to the other pages in your site. I have brought this up in articles before but it remains a problem. Image maps and Flash look great, but the engines can't swallow them. So if you need to use them, just make sure there are other ways to navigate the rest of your site. Small text links at the bottom or top of your page work very well.
Put alt tags on the images on your web page
Don't do them all if you have a graphic intensive site though; I recommend using keywords in the alt tags of a maximum of 3 images per page. Remember to pick them carefully.
Only submit the important pages
Submit the 6 most important text filled pages on your site to all the important search engines. This is obvious but I will include it just to let everyone know that they need to do more than one page. A good list of search engines can be found at http://www.babblebot.com. Submission services save you a pile of time, which is well worth the modest cost involved.
Text Description
Make sure there is a lot of text describing your site on all the pages you submit to the search engines. Between 300-600 words per page is ideal. This text should be good content about your products or service. Have lots of supporting text for the other information you are trying to convey in the site. Use this tool to help with the keyword density http://www.babblebot.com/tools/tools.html . Make sure it falls between 2.1 and 2.8%. Also, try to make the first paragraph very dense with lots of keywords, then let them decrease in the next couple of paragraphs. This increases relevancy if the words are nearer to the top of the page.
These tips should get you started. There are a lot more of them I will discuss in future articles. Good luck with your efforts!
Article by Tom Gilgan, of Babblebot http://www.babblebot.com/
| DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware. |
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