Design Tips for Search Engine Placement - Top 10/20:
A search engine query often turns
up hundreds or even thousands of matching web pages. In most cases, only
the 10 most "relevant" matches are displayed on the 1st page.
Naturally, anyone who owns a web
site wants to be listed in that "top ten" results. This is
because, most users find what they are looking for on the 1st page of
the search engine results. So, being listed number 11 or beyond means
that many people miss your page listing.
The tips and comments
below will help you come just that much closer to being listed in the
top 10, both for the keywords you think are important and for the short
phrases you may not even be anticipating.
Selecting Your Strategic Keywords:
How do you think people search for
the information contained within your pages?
Well, those words that you imagine
them typing into the search box should be your strategic
keywords.
EG: Let’s say
that you have a page devoted to stamp collecting, well every time
someone types in the words or phrase "stamp collecting" you
want them to find your page in the top ten results. * Then the keywords
"stamp collecting" are your STRATEGIC KEYWORDS for that page.
Each page in your site will have
different strategic keywords that reflect in the page's content, you may
have another page all about the history of stamps. EG:
Then "stamp history" might be one of your keywords (phrases)
for that page.
Your strategic keywords should
always be at least two or more words long. Usually, too many sites will
be listed relevant for a single (keyword) word, such as
"stamps." With all this competition, it means your odds of
success are lower. Don't waste your time fighting the odds.
Pick short phrases of two or more
KEY WORDS (PHRASES) and you'll have a much better chance of success.
Keyword Positioning: Page Title, Headlines &
Sub Headings
Make sure that your most important
(strategic) keywords appear in crucial locations on your web pages. The
MOST important place, is the PAGE TITLE. Failure to put strategic
keywords in the title is the main reason that most web pages are ranked
poorly.
Search engines like (CONTENT),
pages where keywords appear "high" on the page. To accommodate
the search engine spiders, use your strategic keywords in the page
HEADLINE and SUB HEADINGS where ever possible.
Make sure that your (keywords)
also appear in the first paragraphs of your pages.
The use of TABLES
... can "push" the (rating) of your text further down the
page. Making your keywords less relevant, they appear lower on the page.
This is because tables break apart when the search engines robots read
them. There's no easy way around this, except to use META tags. Consider
carefully how tables will effect your page layout, but don't necessarily
stop using them.
JAVASCRIPT
... also have the same affect as tables, the engine reads this
information first, and this will cause the normal HTML TEXT to appear
lower on your pages. Place your script further down on the page, if at
all possible.
As with tables, the
use of META tags can also help.
Content: Content must be relevant (HTML Text)
Page TITLES and META TAGS are not
necessarily going to help your page do well if your strategic keywords
have nothing to do with the topic. Your keywords need to be reflected in
the page's CONTENT.
NOTE:
you need HTML TEXT on your page (CONTENT). Why ? Because some
sites use large amounts of graphics (images), the page may look pretty,
but the search engines can't read and, don’t index graphics.
Some of the engines will index ALT
TEXT and COMMENTS information (KEYWORDS), along with META TAGS. So,
using lots of images will only slow down the load time of your page -
use images wisely.
* Play it safe,
use HTML TEXT when ever possible.
Use "Visible Text" -
Some site designers try to spam search engines by repeating keywords in
a tiny font in the same colour as the background colour to make the text
invisible to browsers.
NOTE:
the spiders or engines will rate this as SPAMMING.
Next, you may consider
"expanding" your text references, where appropriate. EG:
I'll use the stamp collector again as the example. A stamp collectors
page might have references to "collectors" and
"collecting" expanding these references to "stamp
collectors" and "stamp collecting" reinforces your
strategic keywords in a legitimate and natural manner, edits may have
reduced its relevancy unintentionally.
Search Engine Stumbling Blocks, how to avoid them
Some search engines see the web
the way someone using a very old browser might. They may not be able to
read image maps or frames, anticipate these problems, or the search
engine may not index any or all of your pages.
HTML LINKS:
Designers often create (only) image map links from the home page to
the inside pages. Search engines can't follow these links, so they won't
be able to get "inside" your site where the most descriptive
relevant pages are, rather than the home page.
You can solve this little problem
by adding HTML HYPERLINKS to the home page, you can also put them at the
bottom of each page. This will help your visitors to navigate around the
site as well (making it - user friendly) The search engine robots will
also (then) be able to find the links and follow them as well.
Consider creating a site map page
with text links to everything within your site, when you submit this
page, it will help the search engines locate the other pages within your
site.
FRAMES
- CAN KILL: some of the major search
engines cannot or DON"T follow FRAME LINKS. If you intend using
frames, then make sure you use an alternative method for the robots to
enter and index your site, either through META tags or by using a PUSH
PAGE.
META TAGS:
As I mentioned before, META tags
can help you over come some of the problems with TABLES, FRAMES, and
other troublesome areas. META TAGS will also help you to control your
PAGE DESCRIPTIONS and PAGE TITLES.
Use META tags, but keep in mind
that they are NOT a guarantee that your site will appears first or
within the top 10 - 20. Adding META tag code is not the magic
bullet that will cure your site of dismal ranking's - but it is
an important part of your overall strategy for boosting your ratings.
EXAMPLES of TAGS:
- Resource-Type
= document
- webmaster =
ken dunn
- WebMaster
= Ken Dunn
- classification
= index site
- Classification
= Index Site
- copyright
= Dunway Enterprises
- reply-to
= dunway@dunway.com
- Distribution
= Global
- distribution
= global
- language
= en-us
- rating
= General
- revisit-after
= 30 days
- robots
= ALL
- robots
= index, follow
- Description
= Automatic Website Marketing Software
Designed to allow Site Owners to Increase Visitors/Builds Database
of Email Addresses - View Online Demonstration Sites
- description
= automatic website marketing software designed to allow site owners
to increase visitors/build database of email addresses - view online
demonstration sites
- Keywords =
LynkStation, Links, Lynkstation, linkstations, Link Station, Links
Pages, FREE Links, Stations, FFA, FFA Links, Free-For-All-Links,
Free,Links Submissions, TriPolar, TriPolar LynkStations, Software,
Websites, Marketing, Submit, Add URL’s, Advertising, promote, Free
Promotions, increase traffic, URL Postings
- keywords
= lynkStation, links, lynkstation, linkstation, link station, links
page, free links, station, ffa, ffa links, free-for-all, free, links
submissions, tripolar, tripolar lynkstations, software, website,
marketing, submit, add url, advertising, promote
- title
= * Dunway Enterprises Automatic Marketing: Website FFA Links
Software
Search Engine Spamming - keywords &
resubmitting
Spamming doesn't always work with
the search engines, it can backfire. You may be detected for
spamming, and penalise or even banned from their listings. Spamming
attempts usually centre around being top ranked for extremely popular
keywords, so be prepared to spend a lot of time defending your ranking.
SUBMIT KEY PAGES at least every 3 Months.
PAGE CONTENT should be enough for
the search engines to determine relevancy without webmasters having to
resort to repeating keywords for no reason other than to try and
"beat" other pages ratings. Try and use networking and other
alternative forms of publicity as well.
Key Pages - re submit at regular intervals (3 to 4
Mths)
Most search engines will
INDEX the other pages from your web site by following the
links from a page that you have previously submit to them. But sometimes
they will miss, so it's good submission practice to submit the pages
that best summarise your web site. Submitting alternative pages
is added insurance.
Just in case the search engine has
trouble reaching one or more of your pages, you've covered yourself by
giving it another page from which to begin its indexing of your site.
You should submit all
the key pages from your site, not just the top two or
three.
It can take from 48 Hrs and up to
two months for your pages to appear in some search engines, and some may
not list every page from the site anyway.
Keep an eye on your listings - pages, links &
images
Once your pages are listed,
monitor your listing every week or two, strange things happen. Pages
disappear, links go funny so watch for trouble and resubmit if you spot
any. A number of the major search engines are now providing
country-specific versions of their directories. These work mainly by
FILTERING sites by domain. EG: .au or .com
Resubmit your site any time you
make significant changes. Search engines usually/ should revisit on a
regular schedule. However, some of the search engines software have been
modified to realise that some sites only change content once or twice a
year, so if this is the case they may visit less often.
Re-submitting after you have made
major changes to your page or site, will help ensure that your site's
content is kept current. Make sure that you also include META Tagging
for the Robots to revisit ... say, every 30 Days .
Search Engines & Beyond - reciprocal links
Take the time to make your
pages/site more search engine friendly. Simple
changes may pay off with bigger results, you may find an improvement for
strategic keywords you weren't anticipating. The addition of just one
extra word may suddenly make a site appear more relevant, and it’s
impossible to guess what that word will be - so keep TESTING.
If your still not having any luck
at becoming #1 - then consider negotiating RECIPROCAL LINKS with sites
that do appear in the search engines top ten lists. You may consider
these sites as competitors, but you'll be surprised at just how many of
these sites are happy to link to your site in return for a LINK BACK.
Remember that while search engines
maybe your primary way that people find your site, they are not the only
way. Pursue non-search engine publicity methods, like word-of-mouth,
traditional media, newsgroup postings, web directories and FFA links
pages. Include your sites URL (address) on all of your other normal
advertising, such as Letter Heads, Fax Sheets, Labels, Signs, Radio, TV
ads, Brochures, Quotes, Phone Books ... the list goes on and on.
FFA LINKS: Free For All Links Pages &
Popularity Ratings
One of the most popular methods
currently being used to draw traffic to a site, is the hosting of your
own FFA Links Page - that’s FREE FOR ALL LINKS. This will give you an
extra POPULARITY RATING with the Search Engines, especially if you ask
the link posters to link back to your site. Plus you have the added
advantage of being able to display your SITE BANNER (advertisement) at
the top/bottom of the page.
And, you can also gather the email
address of each visitor to the page. This enables you to build a
DATABASE of like minded sites ... you can also customise the listing
Categories to suite your site or range of products.
GUEST BOOK - SURVEY PAGES - COMMENTS &
FEEDBACK
Add on’s, that you may wish to
consider (GUEST BOOK , SURVEY PAGES, COMMENTS
& FEEDBACK FORMS. These can be packed with KEYWORDS &
META Tags - more pages for you to list in the Search Engines, find out
what others are thinking, for "FREE".
CUSTOMER OR FREE NEWSLETTERS
This method will get your foot in
the door and keeps it there. Besides the advantage to you of having a
MAILING LIST of your present customers - you get to build on and enlarge
your DATA BASE by offering a "FREE" NEWSLETTER and you can
archive the old newsletters this acts as a vehicle to the search engines
(MORE LISTINGS) ratings.
Other places, where you can
promote and offer your products include: press releases, product R&D
notices, announcements of up coming events - change of address/phone
numbers and email addresses, competitions (with prizes), hey you can
also use your newsletter for announcements of internal promotions -
order HOT LINES - branch addresses - phone and fax numbers.
SAVINGS $$$$ ... THE
BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE - FREE
What I’m saying is, with a
Newsletter (ONLINE & DOWN-LOADABLE) or sent by BULK EMAIL, you SAVE
MONEY in the following areas: Paper/ Printing/ Folding/ Inserting/
Envelopes/ Stamps/ LABOUR and the best part is it’s delivered within
minutes all for "FREE", because you are already paying for
your online expenses, and as a bonus you have all of the above mention
advantages as well.
AUTORESPONDERS - They never sleep - OPEN 24 Hrs
every day
Give your customers INSTANT 24 Hr
/ 365 Days a Year information.
Information, on whatever (?) is
the most (requested) asked for information on your site, at almost no
cost. Again - NO staff tied up answering the same old questions - NO
delays,instant replies (CUSTOMER SATISFACTION) - NO phone costs - NO
printing - NO postage and you get to gain the prospects email address,
so that your sales staff can FOLLOW UP the enquires the next working
day.
FAQ’s - Frequently Asked Questions
Another LABOUR SAVING DEVICE for
your site. FAQ LIST: post all the common questions that your staff are
NOW answering, and keep adding to the list in the future, keep the list
updated this keeps customers coming back to your site for current
updated information.
PRODUCT REVIEWS - "FREE" Advertising
Get your self an IN HOUSE
EXPERT on !!! or out house (little joke)
This will give your site CURRENT
CONTENT - UPDATED MONTHLY.
A good reason why people should
buy your (product) WIDGET .
Who better to tell them about it,
than YOU ?
MEMBER OF AN ORGANISATION - Trust and
Creditability
If you are a member of a prominent
Group or Organisation, announce it on your site.
This gives you creditability -
trust - believability
BEFORE YOU SUBMIT TO THE SEARCH ENGINES
All of the above SHOULD HELP boost
your position in the search engine ratings race/war, if they are done
before you submit to the search engines - but it's up to you. |