Some of the best traffic is generated from a technique we all
call "Search Engine Optimization" or
SEO
as it is more commonly known.
What is
Search Engine Optimization?
Millions of people use search engines everyday and never think
about how they got to the website they are on. When you
type a keyword phrase in a search engine (Google, AOL, MSN,
AltaVista) the results you get in return are based on
mathematical functions or an algorithm. So if search
engines use algorithms to rank websites, does that mean human
intervention is non-existent? Pretty much, yeah.
A search engine ranks your website based on predetermined
factors. These factors are gathered when a search engine
spider visits your site. Seeing that no human determines
the outcome of the search engine rankings and that mathematical
functions do, we can "crack the code" so to speak. The
search engines are always changing their algorithms so keeping
up with
Search Engine Optimization is key to running and keeping
a site in the top of the rankings.
The goal of Search Engine Optimization is to take the targeted
keywords that your website is based on (or the keywords people
will use to find you) and tweak the page until we give the
search engines what they are looking for to gain top rankings
for those keywords.
Guide to Search Engine Optimization
There are three questions that need answering when optimizing
your website.
1. How are people searching for my products or services?
(what keywords are used?)
2. Who is ranking in the top 5 for those keywords?
And why?
3. Can I reasonably compete for these keywords?
Now that you have your targeted keywords you want to focus on,
you are ready to create your SEO plan.
Please do not go and scrap your website. There is no need
to, however it is a good idea to find out if you already have
relevant content that relates to the keywords you are focusing
on. Every page on your site should be optimized for two
keywords, no more. In our experience this technique is
more successful than trying to optimize more keywords for a
page. Every page should be dedicated to two keywords you
are targeting.
Your Search Engine Optimization Plan
In order to gain high rankings for your most popular keywords
you must play around with the different areas the search engines
focus on. Your webpage(s) are not going to rank in the top
of EVERY search engine, because they are all looking for
different things when determining rankings. We have broken
down for you the current methods used to rank well for the top
search engines.
Search Engine Optimization is a subject that would necessitate
an entire book to cover fully. We will break down the
important areas of search engine optimization.
Here we will discuss
Search Engine Optimization 101 and then we'll go into detail by diving right into
each search engine one by one. Essentially every page on
your site needs a Title tag, Meta keyword tag, and Meta
description tag. Although these are what is thought of the bare
minimums, you will most definitely need more than a few META
Tags to rank well.
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1. As we said each page must have a Title tag, Meta keywords,
and Meta description. These are the minimums.
2. Build a site map with links to all of your sites pages.
3. Start the first paragraph of your body with the two
keywords you are focusing on. Repeat this throughout your
pages content and also down near the bottom of your page.
Also reserve the headers (h1) for your important keywords
and have the keyword bolded or italicized in the content
preferably at the top of the page somewhere.
4. Ensure that you link to the most important pages of
your site as this will increase link popularity of the
linked to page.
5. Submit your site to the top directories.
6. You see I didn't mention to submit your site
to search engines. That is because you don't need
to. All you need is one incoming link to your site
and you will be listed quickly. If you are in need
of a quick link to your site you can join our
webmaster forums and add a signature to your name
and make a post. Our forums are spidered daily,
so essentially your site would get "picked up"
immediately.
7. Make certain you read about Search
Engine Optimization tips
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Search Engines Explained
Below is a list of the most popular search engines.
We will break down each search engine and show
you how to optimize your site for each. |
1.
AllTheWeb
2.
AltaVista
3. AOL
4. AskJeeves
5. Direct Hit
6. Dog Pile
7. Excite
8. Google
9. Hot Bot
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10. Inktomi
11. iWon
12. Lycos
13. MSN
14. Netscape
15. DMOZ
16. Teoma
17. WebCrawler
18.
Yahoo
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