16 Rapid Ways to Make Your Site Search Engine Friendly
Posted 02-14-2009 at 06:18 AM by hama4live
Search engines want to lead users to the most relevant information that is available
online for any given keyword. So focus on the user and ask yourself the question, “Is
my page the most relevant page for this keyword online?” If the answer is yes, and
you offer the best content for this keyword then you are well on your way.
The only way to get top placement in search engines is to provide very compelling
information. However, search engines don’t read information like humans do. They
follow specific rules. Follow these rules to rapidly boost your ranking in search
engines.
To-do
online for any given keyword. So focus on the user and ask yourself the question, “Is
my page the most relevant page for this keyword online?” If the answer is yes, and
you offer the best content for this keyword then you are well on your way.
The only way to get top placement in search engines is to provide very compelling
information. However, search engines don’t read information like humans do. They
follow specific rules. Follow these rules to rapidly boost your ranking in search
engines.
To-do
1) Optimize your URLs
: If you have not yet picked a domain name for your website, don’t try to go for ''mykeyword.com.” Instead, try to pick a name that you want to build your company and/or a brand around.
Yes, having the keyword in your name might help a little but don’t sacrifice your
company branding just because of your domain.
If you are into online marketing, do you really want to have a site that is called
“Online-Marketing-Tips.com” or “Online-Marketing-Guru.com?”
How memorable is that? Visitors will never remember who you are. The trick is to
always embed the keyword phrase in your URL. For example, on BlinkList.com every
page is optimized for SEO. Here is an example for the keyword phrase ecommerce
tactics.
Yes, having the keyword in your name might help a little but don’t sacrifice your
company branding just because of your domain.
If you are into online marketing, do you really want to have a site that is called
“Online-Marketing-Tips.com” or “Online-Marketing-Guru.com?”
How memorable is that? Visitors will never remember who you are. The trick is to
always embed the keyword phrase in your URL. For example, on BlinkList.com every
page is optimized for SEO. Here is an example for the keyword phrase ecommerce
tactics.
To-do
2) Optimize your page title
: Create a short relevant title (60 characters max).
Have the keywords appear first and don’t add any stuff such as “home page” in the
title tag.
Have the keywords appear first and don’t add any stuff such as “home page” in the
title tag.
To-do
3) Optimize your description
metatag: Add the SEO keywords to the meta tag description. The description should be 200 characters max.
Example: <meta name=“description” content=”Enter description here and include
keyword phrase“>
Example: <meta name=“description” content=”Enter description here and include
keyword phrase“>
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4) Optimize your keyword metatag
: Add the SEO keywords to the meta tag
keywords. Include 5 keyword phrases max.
Example: <meta name=“keywords” content=”Enter up to 5 keyword phrases, use a comma to separate keyword phrases“>
keywords. Include 5 keyword phrases max.
Example: <meta name=“keywords” content=”Enter up to 5 keyword phrases, use a comma to separate keyword phrases“>
To-do
5) Optimize your H1 & H2 headers
: The headline at the top of your page should use the H1 HTML header. The sub-headline should follow the H2 header. Include
your SEO keywords in the headline and sub-headline.
Example: h1. Enter headline with keyword phrase
your SEO keywords in the headline and sub-headline.
Example: h1. Enter headline with keyword phrase
Example: h2.
Enter sub-headline with keyword phrase
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6) Optimize your keyword density
: Creating a keyword rich content page is a
MUST. Be creative, write good content and make frequent use of the keywords you
are optimizing for. However, make sure that your keyword density never exceeds 5% for pages with long copy and 10% for pages with little copy. If they do, you might get penalized by the search engines.
MUST. Be creative, write good content and make frequent use of the keywords you
are optimizing for. However, make sure that your keyword density never exceeds 5% for pages with long copy and 10% for pages with little copy. If they do, you might get penalized by the search engines.
Tools
To find out what the keyword density is on your page use this free
Keyword Density
Tool.
Tool.
To-do
7) Spice up your SEO keywords
: Be sure to have your keywords appear at least once in bold, italics, and underlined in the copy. Again, do this once, but don’t over
do it!
do it!
To-do
8) Move your keywords up
: Text towards the top of the page, such as in the first paragraph, counts for more than text further down the page. So, make sure that
your keyword phrase is included towards the top of your page.
your keyword phrase is included towards the top of your page.
To-do
9) Use text links for site navigation
: Do not use image buttons for links. Using
text links is far better. Search engines can’t read the text in images.
text links is far better. Search engines can’t read the text in images.
To-do
10) Optimize your text links
: The anchor text in your text links is one of the MOST important aspects of SEO. It should always include the keywords that you are
optimizing for. Here is an example for the keyword phrase “beginner guitar lessons.”
optimizing for. Here is an example for the keyword phrase “beginner guitar lessons.”
This is bad: Click Here
The first mistake is that the URL is not optimized and the second mistake is that the anchor text says “Click here.”
Here is a better way: Beginner Guitar Lessons
Good! The anchor text is now optimized. All links pointing to this page should have
the keyword in the anchor text.
the keyword in the anchor text.
Here is the best way: Beginner Guitar Lessons
Perfect! You now have both your URL and the anchor text optimized.
To-do
11) Use keyword stemming
: Make sure to include all the variations of the keyword that you are optimizing for. Here is an example of keyword stemming. The keyword “optimization” has variations such as “optimal,” “optimize,” and “optimum.”
If you include all of the keyword stems (similar words) you can help your search
engine ranking.
Here is a free tool to identify all of the similar words and stems for a given keyword:
If you include all of the keyword stems (similar words) you can help your search
engine ranking.
Here is a free tool to identify all of the similar words and stems for a given keyword:
To-do
12) Optimize image descriptions
: Every image can include a description called the “alt text.” Make sure that the alt text describes the image and includes the
relevant keywords where appropriate.
Example:<img src=“MyLogo.gif” alt=”Enter keyword description“>
relevant keywords where appropriate.
Example:<img src=“MyLogo.gif” alt=”Enter keyword description“>
To-do
13) Optimize your site structure
: Every “important” page on your site should link to every other “important” page on your site.
Example of good linking structure:
Example of good linking structure:
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14) Only go two levels deep
: Make sure that your site structure is such that pages
are only two levels deep (two clicks away from the home page). This is very
important because even if your landing page is deemed to be relevant, the deeper
pages are buried in your site the less relevant they are deemed by search engines.
Here is an example of an good site structure that is two levels deep.
www.homepage.com
1 page deep: www.homepage.com/products
2 pages deep: www.homepage.com/products/product1
2 pages deep: www.homepage.com/products/product2
1 page deep: www.homepage.com/services
2 pages deep: www.homepage.com/services/service1
It all has to do with PageRank and the reputation of a site. You want to get backward links that point to your main page to build your PageRank. However, even if your main page has a high PageRank of say 6 then the pages inside your site don’t all
have a PageRank of 6. PageRank is not totally passed along.
If a page is one click away from the homepage then it will normally have a PageRank of 5 in this case and if it is 2 clicks away 4, etc. That is why you never want to exceed 2 clicks.
Here is a very bad example that you should avoid:
www.homepage.com
1 page deep: www.homepage.com/product_categories
2 pages deep: www.homepage.com/products/category1
3 pages deep: www.homepage.com/products/category1/product1
In the above example it looks like it takes 3 clicks to get to Product 1.
1)Home page
2) Products page
3) Product 1.
That means it is 3 pages deep or away from the home page.
In other words, where possible, make sure that all of your pages are no more than
two clicks (text links) away from the home page. For a small business that should be
very easy to achieve.
are only two levels deep (two clicks away from the home page). This is very
important because even if your landing page is deemed to be relevant, the deeper
pages are buried in your site the less relevant they are deemed by search engines.
Here is an example of an good site structure that is two levels deep.
www.homepage.com
1 page deep: www.homepage.com/products
2 pages deep: www.homepage.com/products/product1
2 pages deep: www.homepage.com/products/product2
1 page deep: www.homepage.com/services
2 pages deep: www.homepage.com/services/service1
It all has to do with PageRank and the reputation of a site. You want to get backward links that point to your main page to build your PageRank. However, even if your main page has a high PageRank of say 6 then the pages inside your site don’t all
have a PageRank of 6. PageRank is not totally passed along.
If a page is one click away from the homepage then it will normally have a PageRank of 5 in this case and if it is 2 clicks away 4, etc. That is why you never want to exceed 2 clicks.
Here is a very bad example that you should avoid:
www.homepage.com
1 page deep: www.homepage.com/product_categories
2 pages deep: www.homepage.com/products/category1
3 pages deep: www.homepage.com/products/category1/product1
In the above example it looks like it takes 3 clicks to get to Product 1.
1)Home page
2) Products page
3) Product 1.
That means it is 3 pages deep or away from the home page.
In other words, where possible, make sure that all of your pages are no more than
two clicks (text links) away from the home page. For a small business that should be
very easy to achieve.
To-do
15) Add and optimize a sitemap
: Include a link to the sitemap in the footer of your home page. A sitemap contains links to every page of your site. Be sure to optimize all the anchor text links on your sitemap.
To-do
16) Add good outbound links
: From your key content pages, include links to the best and most relevant content sites. Linking to related authority sites shows that you are trying to help users find the best content and will help you with SEO.
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