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Search Engine Optimisation Tips
Search engine optimization can be difficult and confusing.
We have put together some tips to help you with the
process. They cover everything you need to know about
optimizing your web pages for the search engines quickly
and easily.
Some general guidelines for listing your web site with
search engines:
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1. |
Choosing the right
keywords - Targeting keywords that no other web
sites are competing for may bring you to the top
of the search engine position for that keyword,
but if at the same time there are no consumers
entering those keywords in search engines, your
site will not be seen. |
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2. |
When submitting your web site,
keep in mind that there are essentially two types
of search engines.... "robot" engines
that send a "robot" to your site to
capture and catalogue all the info on your site.
These include Google, MSN, WebCrawler, Excite,
Lycos, Alta Vista, Infoseek, Hotbot, and Inktomi.
The second type only uses the info that you give
it. These include Yahoo!, www Yellow Pages, EINet
Galaxy, Open Text, WWW Worm, and World Wide Yellow
Pages. |
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3. |
For best results, always submit
your website manually to each search engine individually
rather than using a "submission service".
It's important to be able to tailor your info
for each specific search engine. It takes more
time but is well worth it! |
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4. |
The title of your site is CRITICAL!
Your title is NOT the first headline on your page,
but rather what appears on the title bar of your
browser. Most search engines treat the words in
your title as MAJOR keywords..... Carefully choose
two or three keywords to put in your title, but
keep in mind that it should not just be a list
of keywords....it should make sense. Also, if
you make it too long, it will be cut-off. The
search engines weigh the importance of a word
in your title based on density. For example, if
you have five words in your title and one of them
is horse, then it will comprise 20% of your title.
But, if you only have two words in your title
and one of them is horse, then it comprises 50%
of your title and is "weighed" much
more heavily as a keyword! |
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5. |
The description tag is recommended.
This is not nearly as important as the title.
However, it does have some value. Write it as
a summary and keep it under thirty words. It should
be written in a compelling, clear manner. |
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6. |
Use your keywords FREQUENTLY in
your text at the VERY BEGINNING of your web site.
Try not to put tables, graphics or anything else
at the top of your site. It should just be text
that is rich with your major keywords. Here again,
just as in the title, the search engines look
at the DENSITY of your keywords rather just the
number of keywords. Also, keep in mind that you're
NOT just listing keywords here. This is actually
the text of your web site. |
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7. |
"Meta tags" are NOT a
magic formula for getting listed at the top of
search engines, but they may help on AltaVista,
Hotbot, and Infoseek. A meta tag, for our purposes,
is a way of providing a description and keywords
that are only visible to the robots from the search
engines. However, there is debate over how much
weight these are given. The meta tags must go
*inside* the header tags, so it looks like this...
<HEAD>
<TITLE>your title here</TITLE>
<META name="description" content="your
site description goes
here">
<META name="keywords" content="your
keywords go here">
</HEAD>
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8. |
DON'T "keyword spam"!
This has been a practice that many have used for
good search engine placement... but it's considered
bad netiquette and the search engines are all
starting to penalise you when they catch it! It's
done by repeating keywords *numerous* times either
in the meta tag or within the text of the page,
sometimes where it can't be seen unless you go
to the HTML. This is a waste of time now... and
will eventually backfire on you. Just try to legitimately
use your keywords as much as you can in the initial
paragraphs of text on your web site. |
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9. |
Use the plural when possible. If
you list your keyword as "horse stable",
but someone searches for "horse stables",
it will not find your site. However, if you list
your keyword as "horse stables" and
someone searches for "horse stable",
it will pull up your site! |
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10. |
Be sure that your site is COMPLETELY
ready and online before you list your site with
any search engines! |
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11. |
Have a sitemap/index - people
like site maps/indexes, and so do search engines.
Make sure that the site map is available from
the homepage, and that it is presented in a text-based
format, and that it is kept up to date. |
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12. |
Avoid Flash & frames - Search
engines find Flash or sites with Frames very hard
to index. |
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13. |
If you're marketing online, many
people believe that OVER 80% of your hits will
come from Google! It's probably worth spending
a considerable amount of your time trying to get
good placement on this search engine! |
Most importantly, be patient... many
search engines take weeks to get you in the system.
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