1. What Is Search Engine Optimization?
Ask ten different people what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is and you may receive ten different answers.
For the purposes of this guide, SEO will be defined as the process of making changes to your site to make it more accessible to search engines and the people that arrive at your site from the search engines.
Search engine optimization is not about tricking the search engines. It is about understanding what elements search engines look for on a page to help determine the relevance of the page to a search term.
By understanding what page elements the search engines take into consideration, and making adjustments to better present your page, you can improve your rank for a search term.
Search engines use programs called "spiders" or "crawlers" that visit the pages of your Web site and index the information on those pages. This includes the content that your visitors see when viewing your page and some of code used to build your page.
Taking search engine optimization into consideration before you build your site is the best approach. Fortunately, search engine optimization can also be performed after a site is built, but it will require making changes to your site.
It is important to understand that it will likely take more than a month before you see the results of your work. This is due to the fact that it takes time for the search engines to update their databases.
A basic overview of the content and basic code that the spiders or crawlers will look for on a page is covered here. The information provided is not specifically geared toward one search engine. Instead it takes a more general approach that will work well with most, if not all, search engines.
Each section starts with a brief description of the page element covered. You will then be provided with sources for further information including:
2. Domain Names
Having keywords in your domain is not a major consideration. For example, having a domain such as www.keyword-keyword-keyword.com isn't going to do much, if anything.
If keywords in your domain naturally make sense and would make it more memorable to your visitors, then don't be afraid to use keywords in your domain name. If you already have a domain name, don't worry about switching just because it isn't packed with keywords.
Don't purchase multiple domains with the idea of having multiple copies of your Web site to get multiple listings in the search engines. This will likely result in a penalty from the search engines.
3. The Title Tag
The title tag for each page of your site is very important. If you look at the code of a web page, you will find it in the head section and it will look something like the following:
<head>
<title>Your Page Title Here</title>
<meta name="Description" content="Your Description">
<meta name="Keywords" content="Your Keywords">
</head>
Your title should include your keywords or keyphrases and help describe your site, or the specific page, in a concise manor. When people are viewing a list of search results, they typically will scan down the list. Make sure your title tells them what your site, or the page, is about.
For the title, your keyphrases are more important than your company name, unless your company name is a well known brand.
Repeating keywords and keyphrases over and over is likely to be penalized and looks terrible in the search results.
4. Meta Description and Meta Keyword Tags
These tags are also in the head section of the code of a web page and are not seen by the visitors of your site unless they happen to look at your source code. If you look at the code of a web page, the Meta Tags will look something like the following:
<head>
<title>Your Page Title Here</title>
<meta name="Description" content="Your Description">
<meta name="Keywords" content="Your Keywords">
</head>
Of the two, the Meta Description is the most important. In fact, many experts will advise that it isn't even necessary to bother with the Meta Keywords tag because most search engines ignore it.
For your home page, your Meta Description Tag should briefly explain what your site is about. Each page of your site should also have a Meta Description Tag that explains what that specific page is about. Keep it short and to the point.
5. Copywriting
This is the text on the page that your visitors see. This is an extremely important factor in search engine optimization because both the search engines and your visitors rely on the text on the page to understand what the page is about.
6. ALT Tags
Images are an important part of making your site visually attractive to your visitors. But, search engines do not understand the content of images on a page. This is true even if the images have text in them. For example, your logo may have words in it. The search engines can not read these words because they are not standard text. They are a picture.
This is why ALT Tags can be useful. ALT Tags are text descriptions that are used to describe an image on a page. These are not seen by the visitors to your site unless they look at the source code.
If you look at the code of a Web page, the ALT Tags will look something like the following:
<img src="imagename.gif" alt="image description">
Sight-impaired people using special Web browsers will appreciate them because these browsers can read the ALT Tags and tell the visitor what the image is about.
ALT Tags can also be useful to your optimization efforts when used with images that serve as navigation links to a page on your site. For example:
<a href="pagename.html">
<img src="image.gif" alt="image description"></a>
When set up this way, some search engines will factor in the ALT Tags for images that serve as links. This provides another opportunity to include keywords and keyphrases on your site. But, don't forget your site impaired visitors. The description in the ALT Tag needs to make sense to them in the context of describing the purpose of the image.
7. Site Map
A site map is a page on your site that lists and describes all, or at least the most important, pages of your site.
A site map is valuable for both search engines and your visitors. For search engines, it makes it easy for them to find all of the pages of your site. For your visitors, it is helpful in navigating your site and finding the information they need.
9. Dealing with Dynamic Pages
Great improvements have been made by the search engines regarding indexing dynamic pages. But, there are still times when getting the content of dynamically generated pages indexed by search engines creates special challenges. Solutions are discussed in the recommended articles that will help the Webmaster overcome difficult cases.
10. File Formats
Beyond simple HTML files, search engines are now indexing other file formats such as PDF files, Word files, Excel files, etc. These files can be optimized to improve the results when search engines index them.
11. Framed Sites & Pages
Although they are used less often, there are still times when framed pages can be handy. Understanding how the search engines deal with these pages is important. The recommended articles will discuss frames, the drawbacks, and how to optimize them for the search engines.
12. JavaScript
JavaScript can create problems when trying to get a page properly indexed. The solution can be as simple as offloading the JavaScript to external text files to make your pages more easily indexed by the search engines.
13. What To Avoid
The primary purpose of search engines is to provide relevant results to their visitors. Some Webmasters try to trick the search engines into believing their page is relevant by using methods that the search engines discourage. It is important to understand what the search engines advise you not do.
14. Getting Professional SEO Help
If you have the budget for it, hiring a professional to perform, or help you with, your search engine optimization is highly recommended. A professional can help you learn more about improving your site and can save the time of having to learn everything on your own.
The services of a quality SEO are not going to be cheap. You get what you pay for in this field. Don't expect someone offering a $19.95 service to be of any value at all.
A professional SEO will bring an incredible amount of knowledge to your project. You should expect to pay for this knowledge.
To find a SEO professional, you can start with the companies that advertise on Search Engine Guide and the contributing authors. These companies are the reason Search Engine Guide is able to provide so much free information.
15. Getting Free Help
Many in the search engine optimization industry devote a great deal of their time providing free advice and information on the search engine forums. If you have a specific question, don't be afraid to visit one of the following forums to seek help.
Before you get started, take the time to become familiar with the forum you are visiting and read the rules on posting. Each forum has its own personality. Some are more laid back than others. For example, some forums will allow you to post your Web site address with your question, others don't.
Next, spend some time searching past posts to see if your question has already been answered. It is likely that you will find many others have already had the same question and had it answered.
When you are ready to post a question, be sure to provide as much relevant detail as possible. This will help others to fully understand your question.
While you are there, consider looking for questions from others that you may be able to answer. The forums rely on the free exchange of ideas and the help of participants with various levels of experience.
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