Free Website Content - Search Engine Tips
Not only do you have just a few seconds to grab the attention
of the web visitor, content developers must perform well
within search engine searches so they are "found"when
web surfers search on related keywords or phrases. In order
to perform well, a website must have traffic. Decent traffic
will result if a website ranks well in search engines, that
is why strong placement in search engines for critical keywords
and phrases is essential.
When struggling with search engine optimization just go
back to the basics. What do search engines want? Search
engines want to return search results, that are relevant
and useful to the searcher. Webmasters can help search engines
discern what keywords or phrases their site relates to.
Search Engine Optimization Dos
1. CSS - Cascading Style Sheets.
Use header tags and cascading style sheets in your website
design. Many search engines value H1 and H2 tags more than
others. The assumption is that header tags are used to highlight
the most important items or themes that appear on a page.
By using header tags, webmasters can bullet those keywords
or phrases they deem to be most important. The CSS file
will help your site load quickly and provide a consistent
look and feel throughout the website.
2. Titles.
A website is the collection of webpages under a single
domain. A webpage refers to a specific page within a website.
Unique page titles throughout a website is important. Websites
typically contain many webpages and using unique titles
on webpages will help highlight different key phrases while
uniting all the website content in a single theme.
3. Related Links.
Links from related or relevant sites are more important
than generic links from unrelated websites. Links are seen
as "votes" of quality content. Search engines
weigh links from websites that contain related or similar
content more importantly, than links from unrelated websites.
Work to obtain relevant quality links from related or authority
websites.
4. Anchor Text.
Vary anchor text. Use a variety of phrases to link to
a site. Using different anchor text to link to a website
is seen by search engines as "natural" linking.
Search engines use the anchor text of a websites incoming
link as part of their algorithm to determine a websites
theme.
5. Copy.
A minimum of 200 words of copy is suggested for each
web page. In order to spider a site a search engine must
have sufficient copy to spider. Less does not necessarily
mean more, when it comes to search engine ranking. In general
try to keep copy "above the fold", so that visitors
don't have to scroll. Copy above the fold is usually sufficient
to determine the context of the webpage.
6. Fresh.
Keep it fresh. Search engines take notice of how frequently
content is updated or added. Search engines spider websites
that update content on a frequent basis at regular intervals.
Add new content or webpages daily or weekly to increase
a search engine spider's frequency.
7. Consistent.
Provide quality, consistent, fresh content. Consistent
related content is critical to encouraging both visitors
and search engines to return. Providing consistent quality
content encourages links which will increase a websites
popularity.
8. Themed.
Relate the contents of a website by a single theme.
Uniting content using contextual words will help websites
rank well for less critical but very targeted related keywords
and phrases.
Search Engine Optimization Don'ts
1. Keyword Stuffing.
Don't stuff web pages with keywords that is similar
to or the same as the webpages background color. Most search
engines have ways to detect keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing
will likely result in a search engine ban.
2. Cloaking.
Cloaking is when the website identifies the IP address
of a search engine spider and feeds the spider content that
it is not really on the page. Essentially the search engine
sees optimized content that is not currently on the web
page that it is spidered. It is difficult for search engines
to detect cloaking, but if a site is banned or cloaking
it is very difficult to convince a search engine to relist
the content.
3. Don't Sacrifice Quality
Don't sacrifice quality for optimization. While search
engine optimization is important, it is equally important
that the content on a webpage should make sense. Placing
well in search engines at the expense of a quality professional
image with decent web copy, will not usually result in sales.
It is a matter of striking a balance.
4. Spam.
Not much to be said about this one, don't spam. Don't
spam search engines, don't conduct email spam campaigns,
and don't spam forums. Being labeled a spammer is a hard
reputation to shed.
A website is an important part of a business, search engine
optimization is a business investment and requires attention
and effort in order to succeed. Website creation is more
than just pretty images and an attractive design. In order
to "sell" your product or service your information,
your site must be found. Therefore it is imperative that
search engine content is optimized for search engine placement.
About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com
software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and
podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for NotePage
http://www.notepage.net
a wireless text messaging software company.
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the issue or a link to any online posting would be greatly
appreciated send an email to sharon@notepage.net
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at http://www.small-business-software.net/free-website-content.htm
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