Best SEO Practices, Techniques and Guidance from SEO Superstars
How long has it been since you updated your websites’ or your blogs’ content?
Adding fresh content to your website is really important. And not only should you add fresh content, you should add it regularly. If possible, daily is the best, otherwise at least once a week.
Although it can be difficult to add fresh content on a regular basis, it needs to done, if it isn’t, then you’re the one losing out. Visitors and search engines love fresh content. This will bring repeat visits from both. From the view point of the search engine, this means your site will be spidered on a much more frequent basis. Fresh content can also suggest that you are an authority on a particular subject.
Don’t forget, the keywords here are: consistently and regularly.
Another question a lot of people might have is whether the purchasing of links to be a good thing or bad thing?
My answer to this would be:
If I wouldn’t do something myself, then I wouldn’t recommend it to any one else either. And there is no way I would ever buy a link from another persons’ site. I’ll vote against buying links. Many people pay for such links thinking that they are good quality links and that they carry a lot of weight. There are loads of scams in the world of Search Engine Marketing which can make links appear as, behave as, and for a short period of time act like good quality links, but in-fact they are of very little value.
Your best bet is to just stick to the more traditional methods of link-building which are:
Make sure you are indexed in all the main Search Engines
Submit your website to relevant directories
Create and publish articles
Request links from relevant websites
By doing these things you will see results and improvements in search engine rankings.
To see first hand how a Google searchbot acts when it crawls your website and what actions can be taken to help improve rankings and visibility, Summit has developed a set of tools - available over the web - that perform mature evaluations when requested, there and then.
The search engine spider simulator will produce a report on features of the page that are used to decide where in the search engine the page appears, as well as giving some general usability advice. Anyone can use the spider sim completely free of charge.
Another interesting tool can be found at Google fight. What you do is, you type in two keywords/key-phrases, then hit the “make a fight” button, then the tool proceeds to tell you which keyword is listed most.
Both are great tools and can be extremely helpful when optimizing your website. The links are in the Favourite Links section. Enjoy playing around with them!
At Google Fight, you can type in two competing key phrases and see which one
is listed more often in the Google database. Have fun!
Wednesday 26 September 2007
Thursday 20 September 2007
SEO tips and SEO guidance
When trying to improve your Search Engine Positioning ask yourself these couple of questions:
Is it absolutely necessary (or a complete waste of time) to submit my websites’ details to the numerous regional Google directories? Or will a single submission to the Universal Google site suffice and index my site in the most relevant regions?
Well, the answer to this is, according to Google itself;
“Only a single submission to the Global Google directory will do.” (And it’s a complete waste of time submitting to the loads of various Google directories dotted around the globe).
Now that aside, has anyone ever thought about having their website measured to become a source of information for Google?
If not, and you’re considering it, then submit your website to Google News at the following URL: http://www.google.com/support/news/bin/request.py
Other important factors to keep in mind when creating content for your website are:
Who is YOUR "ultimate paying spectator?" Remember to focus on the potential customer when writing content for your website.
Do you favour a particular type of client as opposed to another when it comes to business?
You’re not creating pages for the Search Engines, they’re not ever going to be your customers/clients. Focus on your real potential customers. Give them what they’re looking for throughout your site.
The searchers original search query would be a good place to start; make it imaginative, creative, original, unique and honestly appealing.
And only then you’ll find that this is the motorway to everlasting victory.
In addition to this, the company I work for, Summit, have developed a spider simulator which lets you view your website from the eyes of a search engine spider, see how it can help you by clicking here Summit Spider Simulator.
Is it absolutely necessary (or a complete waste of time) to submit my websites’ details to the numerous regional Google directories? Or will a single submission to the Universal Google site suffice and index my site in the most relevant regions?
Well, the answer to this is, according to Google itself;
“Only a single submission to the Global Google directory will do.” (And it’s a complete waste of time submitting to the loads of various Google directories dotted around the globe).
Now that aside, has anyone ever thought about having their website measured to become a source of information for Google?
If not, and you’re considering it, then submit your website to Google News at the following URL: http://www.google.com/support/news/bin/request.py
Other important factors to keep in mind when creating content for your website are:
Who is YOUR "ultimate paying spectator?" Remember to focus on the potential customer when writing content for your website.
Do you favour a particular type of client as opposed to another when it comes to business?
You’re not creating pages for the Search Engines, they’re not ever going to be your customers/clients. Focus on your real potential customers. Give them what they’re looking for throughout your site.
The searchers original search query would be a good place to start; make it imaginative, creative, original, unique and honestly appealing.
And only then you’ll find that this is the motorway to everlasting victory.
In addition to this, the company I work for, Summit, have developed a spider simulator which lets you view your website from the eyes of a search engine spider, see how it can help you by clicking here Summit Spider Simulator.
Wednesday 19 September 2007
Off-Page And On-Page SEO Tips For When Submitting To The Google Search Engine.
When submitting to Google for your site to be indexed, Google may disregard your submission application for a considerable length of time. Even if it does spider your website, it may not actually index it if there are no links pointing to it. However, if the Googlebot manages to find your site by following the links from other pages that have already been catalogued and are regularly crawled, odds are you will be included without having to submit your site at all. The probability of this happening are even greater if the Googlebot discovers your site by simply evaluating a directory listing, such as DMOZ (www.dmoz.org).
Accordingly, submitting your website may possibly help, however, having sites that link back to you is, by far, a better way to get your site indexed.
It is also important to keep in mind that the page rank of any site that links back to you is of absolute importance, as is the number of back-links you have from external sites.
What I’m suggesting is that in order to give you some weight, the sites providing a back-link to your site should have a decent page rank, at least the same as your own sites, if not better.
What might also be important is the fact that google looks at certain pages as one of two types and classifications. These are known as “Authority” pages, which Google will give it this title depending on the quality and quantity of back links pointing to the site in question. And the other type of page is classed as an “Expert” page, which is given this title because of the number of relevant pages/documents the page in question links to.
So basically, if you had loads of sites linking back to your site, Google would see you as an “Authority” on that particular subject. And if you had loads of sites that you were linking to, that would make you an “Expert” on the subject in question. It’s as simple as that.
Another vital aspect of Search Engine Optimization to remember when trying to get indexed by the Google Search Engine is to; ensure the usage of targeted keywords in the following:
• The name of your domain. (Priority!)
• At the start of the TITLE tag; All heading tags (H1 to H6)
• ALT text, but still giving a good description of the image
• In yhe content on all your pages. Keep the number of words on your home page limited to no less than 250-300 on your home-page. And don’t try to hide anything from your visitors.
• Link text for outgoing links.
• Drop-down form boxes created with the help of the SELECT tag.
• Lastly, put some keywords in Italic and Bold text.
As well as the above tips, focus your pages on one central topic. The usage of similar keyword phrases could also prove to be important, so try to add some to your content. Always provide good, original and solid content, and always stay focused on the subject matter.
Accordingly, submitting your website may possibly help, however, having sites that link back to you is, by far, a better way to get your site indexed.
It is also important to keep in mind that the page rank of any site that links back to you is of absolute importance, as is the number of back-links you have from external sites.
What I’m suggesting is that in order to give you some weight, the sites providing a back-link to your site should have a decent page rank, at least the same as your own sites, if not better.
What might also be important is the fact that google looks at certain pages as one of two types and classifications. These are known as “Authority” pages, which Google will give it this title depending on the quality and quantity of back links pointing to the site in question. And the other type of page is classed as an “Expert” page, which is given this title because of the number of relevant pages/documents the page in question links to.
So basically, if you had loads of sites linking back to your site, Google would see you as an “Authority” on that particular subject. And if you had loads of sites that you were linking to, that would make you an “Expert” on the subject in question. It’s as simple as that.
Another vital aspect of Search Engine Optimization to remember when trying to get indexed by the Google Search Engine is to; ensure the usage of targeted keywords in the following:
• The name of your domain. (Priority!)
• At the start of the TITLE tag; All heading tags (H1 to H6)
• ALT text, but still giving a good description of the image
• In yhe content on all your pages. Keep the number of words on your home page limited to no less than 250-300 on your home-page. And don’t try to hide anything from your visitors.
• Link text for outgoing links.
• Drop-down form boxes created with the help of the SELECT tag.
• Lastly, put some keywords in Italic and Bold text.
As well as the above tips, focus your pages on one central topic. The usage of similar keyword phrases could also prove to be important, so try to add some to your content. Always provide good, original and solid content, and always stay focused on the subject matter.
Tuesday 11 September 2007
10 Top SEO Tips
10 Top SEO Tips
1. Title Tag - One of the first things the Google bots look at when searching for relevant keywords in a website is the title tag, therefore it should contain keywords relevant to the page belonging to the title tag in question.
2. Body Text - Text in the page bodies is second to the title tag when it comes to importance. Make sure you use your chosen keywords in your text and make sure you don’t abuse keyword saturation, basically don’t use each keyword on each page no more than about 3 times.
3. Research Keywords - Take a bit of time out and do a bit of research and generate some keywords based on the product or service you offer and what your expected visitors might search for. Keeping this in mind, use keywords which are not too generic, ie, “men’s jeans” is generic, men’s Levis 501 jeans are more specific. This will then make it easier for you to compete for higher search engine rankings on your chosen keywords.
4. Check for Design Problems - If you’re using JavaScript, Flash, or any other type of Dynamic URL this may mystify the spiders which in turn would make them completely cause them to stop scanning through the site. Therefore try to avoid the use of such programming if possible.
5. Keywords – Because of the quantity of opposition for general keywords it would a good idea to change the way you think and think of long tail key-phrases, 2 to 3 word phrases.
6. Hyperlinks - Include your most important keywords/key-phrases within the hyperlink text, which is also known as the anchor text.
7. Incoming Links - When choosing sites to link to be certain to only choose those sites that are industry related
8. Use a Robots.txt File - Include a robots.txt file at the root of your Web site.
9. Have a Sitemap for your website - All pages in your Web site should be linked to your site map. This lets the spider bots and your visitors to find content on your site swiftly and effortlessly
10. No Spamming - Follow the guidance of Search Engine Optimization experts and don’t try to get 1,000s of incoming links just because some one says that they’re cheap. Google will see this as SPAMMING and will eventually see what’s going on and might even ban you from their search engine. Stick to proven methods when building links.
1. Title Tag - One of the first things the Google bots look at when searching for relevant keywords in a website is the title tag, therefore it should contain keywords relevant to the page belonging to the title tag in question.
2. Body Text - Text in the page bodies is second to the title tag when it comes to importance. Make sure you use your chosen keywords in your text and make sure you don’t abuse keyword saturation, basically don’t use each keyword on each page no more than about 3 times.
3. Research Keywords - Take a bit of time out and do a bit of research and generate some keywords based on the product or service you offer and what your expected visitors might search for. Keeping this in mind, use keywords which are not too generic, ie, “men’s jeans” is generic, men’s Levis 501 jeans are more specific. This will then make it easier for you to compete for higher search engine rankings on your chosen keywords.
4. Check for Design Problems - If you’re using JavaScript, Flash, or any other type of Dynamic URL this may mystify the spiders which in turn would make them completely cause them to stop scanning through the site. Therefore try to avoid the use of such programming if possible.
5. Keywords – Because of the quantity of opposition for general keywords it would a good idea to change the way you think and think of long tail key-phrases, 2 to 3 word phrases.
6. Hyperlinks - Include your most important keywords/key-phrases within the hyperlink text, which is also known as the anchor text.
7. Incoming Links - When choosing sites to link to be certain to only choose those sites that are industry related
8. Use a Robots.txt File - Include a robots.txt file at the root of your Web site.
9. Have a Sitemap for your website - All pages in your Web site should be linked to your site map. This lets the spider bots and your visitors to find content on your site swiftly and effortlessly
10. No Spamming - Follow the guidance of Search Engine Optimization experts and don’t try to get 1,000s of incoming links just because some one says that they’re cheap. Google will see this as SPAMMING and will eventually see what’s going on and might even ban you from their search engine. Stick to proven methods when building links.
Tuesday 4 September 2007
The Importance of link building
SEO TIPS and SEO ADVICE for Free!!
Does Everyone Know the Importance of Link-Building?
Personally, I don't think all website owners have a clue about SEO, link building, or the various types of link building strategies there are.
Link building is what is done in order to attain higher organic search engine rankings. It's not something that can be done over night, infact it is something that needs to be done regularly, steadily, and conscientiously. It is a process that could upto 6 months in order to move into the top 10 on the search engine for whatever keywords you may choose to target. You need patience.
There is of course another way of getting to the top of the page for search queries; this is done by paying to be there, and is known by the terms Pay Per Click, each time some clicks on your websites add, you pay the search engine a nominal charge which would've been decided by you bidding for what ever position you want your add to appear in, and would depend on how popular your target keyword was.
This isn't a bad way of directing traffic to your site if you're providing a speciallity service or unique products and can afford to fork out money just for someone clicking on your add whether or not you make a sale.
Given the choice between Search Engine Optimization and Pay Per Click strategies, I would always choose to work on SEO.
It's not easy, but then, it's not difficult either.
Like I said it all takes time, and you need to be patient if you want to see your site shoot up the search engine results.
Link building activities include:
- Directory Submissions
- Article Writing and Publication
- Releasement of News Stories
- Reciprocal Linking
- Link Negotiations
This is a long process, which is why alot of firms will end up giving this work out to Internet Marketing firms such as Summit Media, who specialise in E-Marketing, and where I work.
You have to be very careful when doing SEO on your site. If you're not, then this could lead to your site getting banned by Google.
Like I said in my previous blog: There is both on-page and off-page Search Engine Optimization which should be done to a high standard in order to better Search Engine results.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
