 | Search Engine Optimization Tips and Techniques |
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines' "natural," or un-paid ("organic" or sometimes called "algorithmic"), search results. In general, the higher ranked page on the search results page and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, news search and industry-specific vertical search engines.
There is a wide variety of techniques to optimizing a website so that is shows up higher in the search engine list. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing all look for certain characteristics of a website and rank them accordingly.
Here are 6 search engine optimization tips for your website:
There is a wide variety of techniques to optimizing a website so that is shows up higher in the search engine list. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing all look for certain characteristics of a website and rank them accordingly.
Here are 6 search engine optimization tips for your website:
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#1: Purchase a well thought out domain name (or 2)
This I feel is one of the most important things you can do. When you start your business let say a burger restaurant called Joes Big Burgers and lets say it is in Joplin, MS. You can call your domain name "joesbigburgers.com". If that is not available or to be on the safe side you can purchase "joesbigburgersjoplin.com" as well. You included a location keyword "Joplin" in the domain which will be key for people who search for a burger restaurant in Joplin. It will greatly enhance your ranking because you are telling Google in the name where it is located. If you plan on selling burgers over the country, you may want to also purchase "buyonlineburgers.com" or something that contains keywords on what the user may type in the search engine. First and foremost, look for your company name or something very similar to it and buy it right away. For $5.00 - $15.00 per name as a yearly fee, it is a good investment.
#2: Create Good Quality and Lots of Content
You know your business industry better than anyone else. Write information about it, a lot of information. After all, we live in the information age! Even if you have to give some ideas and tips away, it help everyone involved. Not everyone has technical writing skills but it greatly helps in this area even more than web design skills. Having an attractive website is very important but having good information (and a lot of it) is even more important. Even if you write about your experience with a particular product that you used in your industry. This helps search engines identify your website and attracts visitors from a wider scope.
#3: Define Key Terms to Represent Your Website
Make a list from 1 to 100 of key terms that represent your line of work. Order them by priority. A key term (or keyword) is a group of words 2 to 4 that represent your website. For example: "Plumbing Supplies" or "Plumbing Goods" is a key term to represent your website carrying plumbing supplies. If you are a local service based website include terms that have your geographic location as well. These words will be used to help identify and promote your website.
#4: Define the Meaning of Your Images
This is done using what is called "alt" and "title" tags. Each image represents something and can be defined using a key term (keyword). First make sure that the name of your image represents what the image is in a few words (use can use hyphens). For example for a flower image: flower-boutique.jpg. Next, in the code when usimg the IMG tag define the alternate name of the image using "alt" and "title" This helps the search engine categorize images as well so when they are searched for using the image search your image comes up.
#5: Having a Well Formatted Website This tip talks about the coding of the website. Just like you can have a messy papers, you can also have a messy coded website. This is not good when it comes to search engines. You want to have nice cleanly coded websites that is very easy to follow to a web designer/coder. If it is clean to the human then it will be clean to the Googlebot (Google Robot). Make sure all open/close tags have closing tags. Organize and indent code to make it legible.
#6: Use the Tools That Search Engines Provide
Google, Yahoo and Bing all give you tools to monitor the visitors and allow you to submit your website to them. Use these tools or hire someone to do this as well. This is important. Search engines have made it a lot easier to let them know that you are a new website. Using these tools properly makes your website more credible and easier to rank well.
Well these were only a few tips to get started with. Here is an article that discusses getting started with your business website that can offer approximate prices and things you will need to know. Here is another article outlining additional website ranking issues and why your position drops and not to worry about it. While this is only scratching the surface, it is a great place to get started!
This I feel is one of the most important things you can do. When you start your business let say a burger restaurant called Joes Big Burgers and lets say it is in Joplin, MS. You can call your domain name "joesbigburgers.com". If that is not available or to be on the safe side you can purchase "joesbigburgersjoplin.com" as well. You included a location keyword "Joplin" in the domain which will be key for people who search for a burger restaurant in Joplin. It will greatly enhance your ranking because you are telling Google in the name where it is located. If you plan on selling burgers over the country, you may want to also purchase "buyonlineburgers.com" or something that contains keywords on what the user may type in the search engine. First and foremost, look for your company name or something very similar to it and buy it right away. For $5.00 - $15.00 per name as a yearly fee, it is a good investment.
#2: Create Good Quality and Lots of Content
You know your business industry better than anyone else. Write information about it, a lot of information. After all, we live in the information age! Even if you have to give some ideas and tips away, it help everyone involved. Not everyone has technical writing skills but it greatly helps in this area even more than web design skills. Having an attractive website is very important but having good information (and a lot of it) is even more important. Even if you write about your experience with a particular product that you used in your industry. This helps search engines identify your website and attracts visitors from a wider scope.
#3: Define Key Terms to Represent Your Website
Make a list from 1 to 100 of key terms that represent your line of work. Order them by priority. A key term (or keyword) is a group of words 2 to 4 that represent your website. For example: "Plumbing Supplies" or "Plumbing Goods" is a key term to represent your website carrying plumbing supplies. If you are a local service based website include terms that have your geographic location as well. These words will be used to help identify and promote your website.
#4: Define the Meaning of Your Images
This is done using what is called "alt" and "title" tags. Each image represents something and can be defined using a key term (keyword). First make sure that the name of your image represents what the image is in a few words (use can use hyphens). For example for a flower image: flower-boutique.jpg. Next, in the code when usimg the IMG tag define the alternate name of the image using "alt" and "title" This helps the search engine categorize images as well so when they are searched for using the image search your image comes up.
#5: Having a Well Formatted Website This tip talks about the coding of the website. Just like you can have a messy papers, you can also have a messy coded website. This is not good when it comes to search engines. You want to have nice cleanly coded websites that is very easy to follow to a web designer/coder. If it is clean to the human then it will be clean to the Googlebot (Google Robot). Make sure all open/close tags have closing tags. Organize and indent code to make it legible.
#6: Use the Tools That Search Engines Provide
Google, Yahoo and Bing all give you tools to monitor the visitors and allow you to submit your website to them. Use these tools or hire someone to do this as well. This is important. Search engines have made it a lot easier to let them know that you are a new website. Using these tools properly makes your website more credible and easier to rank well.
Well these were only a few tips to get started with. Here is an article that discusses getting started with your business website that can offer approximate prices and things you will need to know. Here is another article outlining additional website ranking issues and why your position drops and not to worry about it. While this is only scratching the surface, it is a great place to get started!