Many people have said to me that they can't afford to employ a SEO company, but they would still like to get better search results on Google, Yahoo and MSN searches. Are there any basic rules that they can follow to improve their ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs)? In response to this question, here are some basic things that people who have coded their own web sites can do to make the web pages more spiderbot friendly and so more attractive for search engines to ...
Many people have said to me that they can't afford to employ a SEO company, but they would still like to get better search results on Google, Yahoo and MSN searches. Are there any basic rules that they can follow to improve their ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs)? In response to this question, here are some basic things that people who have coded their own web sites can do to make the web pages more spiderbot friendly and so more attractive for search engines to crawl.
Let's start with the actual information on the home page of the web site. What is the first thing that a spiderbot will see when it crawls your web site - complex graphics, tables of information that do not directly relate to your products or company, or does it see some well-written, grammatically correct text? We have found that the first 100 words on a web site are of particular interest to spiderbots, and a lot of emphasis is now placed by them on what is found there. This is the place to put your key words, what search words and phrases do you want to be found under.
But what about key words in the Meta tag statement? This was a great idea, but unfortunately became abused by people doing key word stuffing. Look at you own site, what keywords do you have there. We would suggest that you consider putting up to 10 key words in the Meta tag, and these words should re-enforce the key words that you use in your actual text. I saw a site for buying property that repeated the words house sales a hundred times; do you think that fooled Google? Search engines are now trying to ensure that the content and key words the actual web surfer sees, relates directly to how the page is ranked.
On a similar theme, have you ever been to a web site that is very difficult to navigate and you end up giving up because it's just too difficult to find the information you require. Well, think how the spiderbot feels when it hits such a site. Do you think it will spend time and effort trying to build a complex navigation map, or will it out the site it the too difficult pile and move on. Make your site easy to navigate; on a small site being able to access any page from any page is a useful concept.
This brings us nicely on to the whole question of Inbound Links (IBLs). Some sites have very few external IBLs, but still do well because of the structure and linkage of their own pages. Unfortunately, this can mean a fairly major redesign and re-write of a site but if you can do this, you will improve your visibility. Other ways of getting IBLs are link farms, reciprocal links and one-way links.
We believe that link farms are a dangerous way forward. Search engines do not like this idea as it cuts across the major concept of searches that they should reflect the true popularity of sites. Either now or in the future, sites using link farms will be penalised and maybe sandboxed, a bit like being sent to the sin bin for 6 months and not recommended.
Reciprocal links can again be seen as a false way of increasing the popularity of sites. Many high ranking sites use this idea and to date have not suffered. However Google and other search engines are starting to take the relevance of the linking site into account. So if you are a property company and you link to a frozen food supplier and vice versa, yes I've seen this one, then the search engines will ignore it as an IBL. We are aware that more sophisticated companies are using a 3-way reciprocal link procedure that is far more difficult to track. So 3 property companies work together, company A links to company B that links to company C that links to company A. So at the moment, the search engines probably cannot see the 3-way reciprocal links, although this may change in the future.
Update on Reciprocal links. The latest Google Dance (update) is taking place (end of October 2005) and many sites with lots of reciprocal links are saying that their Google search rating has disappeared. This leads us to believe that such links are definitely not a good idea.
By far the best way of getting links is by having a quality site that other people want to link to. So again, we are back to content. If you provide quality information, over time, more and more sites will link to you, and if they are in the same business sector as you, so much the better.
Finally, we would like to stress the need to write the cleanest and most error-free html code that you can. Again, it is fairly obvious if you think about it, spiderbots want to be able to crawl a web site quickly and efficiently. If you have bad html, links that are broken or tables that don't have the correct number of entries, then spiderbots will struggle to classify your site. We have invested in a very sensitive html validator that picks up lots of errors and potential errors. To date we have not found any web sites that validate 100% error free using this validator, except our own. When I mentioned the validator in a previous article I was inundated with requests for information on the product, so if any one wants to try it, I have put up a 14-day free trial copy at http://www.seo-gurus.co.uk/csesetup.exe. Don't be surprised if it throws up lots of errors, I have seen 200+ of many web site home pages, often with the same error replicated many times.
In summary, good clean readable text backed up by clean html programming and some good solid inbound links will give you a far better chance of good search engine rankings. So, if you do all of this, will you need a SEO company? If you can achieve all of the actions above, we believe you will have done about 40% of the work we would expect to do for a client. Maybe that will be enough for you, if not feel free to have a look around our website.
And now a poem
Written by my partner, reflecting Search Engine Optimization for Dummies.
Dummies are everywhere,
They are dotted all about,
Sometimes they are within,
Sometimes they are without,
Sometimes in shop windows,
Looking sleek and tall,
Sometimes in the living room,
Sometimes in the hall,
But most of our dummies,
That we deal with every day,
Are very much like you and me,
But just stranger in a way,
For they are now on the net,
Their 15 hours of fame,
They lose their sensible marbles,
And are all soon fair game,
For unscrupulous and devious,
Those twins of guile and charm,
Who in the blinking of an led,
Soon strip off leg and arm,
Thus a dummy is so created,
Whence can they become whole?
Already minus arm and a leg,
To those who own their soul,
And flailing blindly in a net,
More binding by the hour,
With money leaking from cards,
All too sadly in their power,
Yet just as the worst seems likely,
When hope seems yeste rdays dream,
Yes, Seogurus Superbeing appears,
Almost serenely on the scene,
"What seems to be the problem2,
His booming voice proclaims,
"I will rid you of your demons,
Cast them out in your name,
And take you to a better land,
Where everything works well,
And where your website flourishes",
You see, he tells a few as well,
Yet he's not such a bad guy,
Though he needs spell-check advice,
In fact compared to some,
He's actually very nice,
We may be slightly biased,
We may just overemphasise,
But he really is a good guy,
And he really truly tries,
To put you on the right path,
Primarily to help yourselves,
He doesn't use a witchdoctor,
Or consult with toads or elves,
He just uses simple tools,
And a common sense approach,
He knows you can do most of it,
And just acts as your coach,
And advises now and then,
Of tools or websites to try,
And he isn't ever dodgy,
And he isn't ever sly,
He just tries to help you,
In an age where others abuse,
So why not trust the Superbeing,
What have you got to lose?
He's related to the Ferrits,
And cousin to the Stiffsteiffs Bears,
And reportedly the Frankfrogs,
Though mad as March hares,
But though they seem a rum bunch,
Above all this motley crew,
Are beavering away on your side,
trying hard to help you through,
And this month a free trial,
You can use to help yourself,
Has been offered for a while,
Just download it from its shelf,
And for zero pennies outlay,
You can begin to see just why,
The Seogurus Superbeing came,
So gloriously from the sky,
And should you ever need him,
Should your efforts be not enough,
Fear not for he will be with you,
Once emailed hell strut his stuff,
And though he's a bit cocky,
And a bit "I've been here before",
There are others out there lurking,
Who would hurt you for evermore,
And make you pay for nothing,
Over and again quite dearly,
For getting you "quite close",
For endless results of "nearly",
So on balance a flawed superbeing,
With aging but true good intent,
Is infinitely preferable to those,
That would help you spend your rent,
Though our cape flaps annoyingly,
And our colours are almost luminous,
We are honest to goodness superbeings,
And you can trust in us.
Kamis, 06 Oktober 2011
Ten Search Engine Optimisation Mistakes
Ten common mistakes made in search engine optimisation. Avoid these mistakes and get your website on track to rankings glory.
Search engine optimisation, SEO, hints, tips, top ten mistakes, solutions, SEO remedies
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not something performed as a blanket approach to website development, it is an individual set of actions performed page by page to suit that page's particular goals and SEO needs. I like to break up a clients website into specific and important pages based on the keyword terms we have identified through research and then write the first few pages to suit those terms. We associate page titles, page file names (buy-blue-widgets.html), H1 tags, description and keyword Meta tags and in page content to tell the story that match those identified keywords. It is also important to ensure your pages are W3 compliant and have no errors.
I have compiled a list of some of some common Search Engine Optimization (SEO) mistakes.
1. Bad Titles. Titles are the most important thing about a webpage. Search engines spiders see the title on your page first and they make a general assessment about it based upon this. They scan the page and make sure the content of the page matches the title and then assign rankings based upon these matches and how they best fit. The title tag is the best way to inform the search engine what your page is about, and they play an important part in ranking if used properly. Placing your main identified keywords in the title and ensuring to obey the rule of leftward and stemming is vital - leftward rule, the closer the word to the left of the sentence the more important it is, stemming is where words can be associated but with words in-between i.e.: Great Blue Widgets when stemmed would allow Great Widgets. It is important to ensure your title matches your page content, description and Meta keywords and in unique for your website. Every page title and content should be unique otherwise is will be ranked supplemental.
2. Filename of the page. It is important if you are using dynamic websites like Joomla or other content management systems that a search engine friendly URL translator is installed. Because I use Joomla every day I will describe what I mean relating to Joomla. In Joomla (and most other dynamic websites) URL's like the normal Joomla URL "index.php?option=com_mtree&task=listcats&cat_id=1766&Itemid=35" drive the website. The problem with these URL's is that they are unintelligible by humans and also by search engines. Installing a search engine friendly URL component will change these pages to something more meaningful and also including your keywords in these page names can help with SEO. The newly transformed search engine friendly URL would look like this "buy-blue-widgets.html". If you do not have a dynamic website then ensuring your page name is short, to the point and contains your main keywords for that page maybe with a call to action like "buy" and "blue widgets".
3. Duplicate or Bad Content. Ensuring your content is unique and relevant is vital in SEO success. Often websites just duplicate content or bring in plagiarized content from other websites. It is my experience that these websites fail dismally in search engine rankings. Write some decent and unique content or maybe search online and find someone who can actually write you decent unique content for a fee. Make it good, friendly and unique content that people will want to link to. If you are listed in the supplemental index of Google then making sure you titles, descriptions, Meta keywords and on page content is unique is the only way to drag them out of the supplemental index.
4. No Links. Having covered off a few of the on page most important SEO tips we now look at links, which are an off page SEO concept. For each person or website that links to your website it is a vote for your site. If the website that links to yours has a high pagerank itself then it carries more weight. Simply having good keywords, titles and text on your page is only part of SEO. Just because you created a unique and perfectly optimized webpage does not mean you will automatically gain a decent pagerank for that page. In order to ensure SEO success you have to create incoming links - this is probably the hardest part of search engine optimization because you are effectively selling your pages all over the Internet. One way to gain instant (within a few weeks) links is to pay for text advertising - A search on Google will uncover some of the best text linking services. Link exchanges are bad because for every vote you get you are giving one away and if you happen to link to a "black listed" site then Google will penalize you significantly. One way links are the ultimate in SEO link campaigns so seek out directories (either paid or free, you need to evaluate), post in forums, write articles and submit them and ask other friendly webmasters if they can help you out with a link. The best way to gain links is to have unique content that other people actually want to link to.
5. Incoming link anchor text. Having pointed out how important it is to gain incoming links it is now important to also point out that the text those links are anchored to is important also. The text should be targeted at your main keywords and the page they point to should have those keywords as relevant and prominent also. The website you link from should be relevant to your website. So, as an example I own a web design company in Melbourne, Australia so I gain links from web hosting providers and/or open source Joomla sites in or around my region. Getting 1000 links from a casino related website will serve no benefit to my website and will not make it rank higher for "web design" keyword search terms. Use professional common sense when gaining links.
6. Bad Internal Page Links. We return to on page factors that you can work on within your website. It is important to make sure that the anchor text linking to pages within your own website is relevant to the target page. Make sure the title tag is filled in also for each link. You have the greatest control over links from within your own web site so make sure they are relevant and that link title and the on page copy match the main keywords of the target page.
7. Live links. Using some external tools like the link checker that W3 Org offer is good. I suggest harnessing as many tools as you can to ensure all of the links on your website are live, working and not sending people to 404 error pages. It is also important to check and make sure your page markup, or html, xhtml, is valid so W3 also offer a tool to check this. Make use of both of these freely available tools.
8. Impatience. Search Engine Optimization is not a short term task. It is one of an ongoing refinement after refinement and hour after hour of working on your website. Producing unique content, checking it, validating, listing and checking the search engines and making sure they have it listed correctly. Do not think for one second that you can optimize your site thoroughly ever and do not ever think that just because you are number one for a search term that it will indefinitely stay that way. Search Engine Companies are always changing their ranking and rating systems and coupled with this there are always other people out there gunning for your top spot. Keep looking to improve and learn more and don't sit back and wait for others to take your top spot, be proactive, seek out new content, links and keep ahead of the curve.
9. Keyword selection. This is proving to be a very common mistake among beginners to SEO. Often people base their own keyword selection on what they *think* is right but is this what people actually search for when they are looking for your product or service? Often the answer to this questions is no. It is an important step to do the correct keyword research and ensure you have the right keyword list before you optimize any pages with them. Using Overture, Google Adwords and some other paid keyword tools like WordTracker (the default standard in Keyword Finding) are vital to success in finding good keywords. It is important to localize your target market and figure out what they are actually searching on when they are looking for products or services that you offer. Do the research and be as specific as possible while still being broad enough to capture some high keyword traffic.
10. Keyword Spamming and Stuffing. If you sell "Blue Widgets" then every page of your site does not need to have "Blue Widgets" in the title, description and Meta tags. Try and be objective and analyze you website. Focus pages on a specific group of keywords you have identified from the keyword list. Sometimes finding niche markets locally first can be best. So, as an example, "Buy Blue Widgets Australia" or "Buy Blue Widgets Melbourne". These would be examples of good second or even third tier search keyword phrases but you can make some good sales with these niche terms because the searcher is targeting buying these items.
These are not the be-all and end-all of Search Engine Optimization mistakes but I have found these to be the main mistakes made by my clients prior to Kanga Internet being involved. Good luck and I wish you all the best with your SEO efforts.
Search engine optimisation, SEO, hints, tips, top ten mistakes, solutions, SEO remedies
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not something performed as a blanket approach to website development, it is an individual set of actions performed page by page to suit that page's particular goals and SEO needs. I like to break up a clients website into specific and important pages based on the keyword terms we have identified through research and then write the first few pages to suit those terms. We associate page titles, page file names (buy-blue-widgets.html), H1 tags, description and keyword Meta tags and in page content to tell the story that match those identified keywords. It is also important to ensure your pages are W3 compliant and have no errors.
I have compiled a list of some of some common Search Engine Optimization (SEO) mistakes.
1. Bad Titles. Titles are the most important thing about a webpage. Search engines spiders see the title on your page first and they make a general assessment about it based upon this. They scan the page and make sure the content of the page matches the title and then assign rankings based upon these matches and how they best fit. The title tag is the best way to inform the search engine what your page is about, and they play an important part in ranking if used properly. Placing your main identified keywords in the title and ensuring to obey the rule of leftward and stemming is vital - leftward rule, the closer the word to the left of the sentence the more important it is, stemming is where words can be associated but with words in-between i.e.: Great Blue Widgets when stemmed would allow Great Widgets. It is important to ensure your title matches your page content, description and Meta keywords and in unique for your website. Every page title and content should be unique otherwise is will be ranked supplemental.
2. Filename of the page. It is important if you are using dynamic websites like Joomla or other content management systems that a search engine friendly URL translator is installed. Because I use Joomla every day I will describe what I mean relating to Joomla. In Joomla (and most other dynamic websites) URL's like the normal Joomla URL "index.php?option=com_mtree&task=listcats&cat_id=1766&Itemid=35" drive the website. The problem with these URL's is that they are unintelligible by humans and also by search engines. Installing a search engine friendly URL component will change these pages to something more meaningful and also including your keywords in these page names can help with SEO. The newly transformed search engine friendly URL would look like this "buy-blue-widgets.html". If you do not have a dynamic website then ensuring your page name is short, to the point and contains your main keywords for that page maybe with a call to action like "buy" and "blue widgets".
3. Duplicate or Bad Content. Ensuring your content is unique and relevant is vital in SEO success. Often websites just duplicate content or bring in plagiarized content from other websites. It is my experience that these websites fail dismally in search engine rankings. Write some decent and unique content or maybe search online and find someone who can actually write you decent unique content for a fee. Make it good, friendly and unique content that people will want to link to. If you are listed in the supplemental index of Google then making sure you titles, descriptions, Meta keywords and on page content is unique is the only way to drag them out of the supplemental index.
4. No Links. Having covered off a few of the on page most important SEO tips we now look at links, which are an off page SEO concept. For each person or website that links to your website it is a vote for your site. If the website that links to yours has a high pagerank itself then it carries more weight. Simply having good keywords, titles and text on your page is only part of SEO. Just because you created a unique and perfectly optimized webpage does not mean you will automatically gain a decent pagerank for that page. In order to ensure SEO success you have to create incoming links - this is probably the hardest part of search engine optimization because you are effectively selling your pages all over the Internet. One way to gain instant (within a few weeks) links is to pay for text advertising - A search on Google will uncover some of the best text linking services. Link exchanges are bad because for every vote you get you are giving one away and if you happen to link to a "black listed" site then Google will penalize you significantly. One way links are the ultimate in SEO link campaigns so seek out directories (either paid or free, you need to evaluate), post in forums, write articles and submit them and ask other friendly webmasters if they can help you out with a link. The best way to gain links is to have unique content that other people actually want to link to.
5. Incoming link anchor text. Having pointed out how important it is to gain incoming links it is now important to also point out that the text those links are anchored to is important also. The text should be targeted at your main keywords and the page they point to should have those keywords as relevant and prominent also. The website you link from should be relevant to your website. So, as an example I own a web design company in Melbourne, Australia so I gain links from web hosting providers and/or open source Joomla sites in or around my region. Getting 1000 links from a casino related website will serve no benefit to my website and will not make it rank higher for "web design" keyword search terms. Use professional common sense when gaining links.
6. Bad Internal Page Links. We return to on page factors that you can work on within your website. It is important to make sure that the anchor text linking to pages within your own website is relevant to the target page. Make sure the title tag is filled in also for each link. You have the greatest control over links from within your own web site so make sure they are relevant and that link title and the on page copy match the main keywords of the target page.
7. Live links. Using some external tools like the link checker that W3 Org offer is good. I suggest harnessing as many tools as you can to ensure all of the links on your website are live, working and not sending people to 404 error pages. It is also important to check and make sure your page markup, or html, xhtml, is valid so W3 also offer a tool to check this. Make use of both of these freely available tools.
8. Impatience. Search Engine Optimization is not a short term task. It is one of an ongoing refinement after refinement and hour after hour of working on your website. Producing unique content, checking it, validating, listing and checking the search engines and making sure they have it listed correctly. Do not think for one second that you can optimize your site thoroughly ever and do not ever think that just because you are number one for a search term that it will indefinitely stay that way. Search Engine Companies are always changing their ranking and rating systems and coupled with this there are always other people out there gunning for your top spot. Keep looking to improve and learn more and don't sit back and wait for others to take your top spot, be proactive, seek out new content, links and keep ahead of the curve.
9. Keyword selection. This is proving to be a very common mistake among beginners to SEO. Often people base their own keyword selection on what they *think* is right but is this what people actually search for when they are looking for your product or service? Often the answer to this questions is no. It is an important step to do the correct keyword research and ensure you have the right keyword list before you optimize any pages with them. Using Overture, Google Adwords and some other paid keyword tools like WordTracker (the default standard in Keyword Finding) are vital to success in finding good keywords. It is important to localize your target market and figure out what they are actually searching on when they are looking for products or services that you offer. Do the research and be as specific as possible while still being broad enough to capture some high keyword traffic.
10. Keyword Spamming and Stuffing. If you sell "Blue Widgets" then every page of your site does not need to have "Blue Widgets" in the title, description and Meta tags. Try and be objective and analyze you website. Focus pages on a specific group of keywords you have identified from the keyword list. Sometimes finding niche markets locally first can be best. So, as an example, "Buy Blue Widgets Australia" or "Buy Blue Widgets Melbourne". These would be examples of good second or even third tier search keyword phrases but you can make some good sales with these niche terms because the searcher is targeting buying these items.
These are not the be-all and end-all of Search Engine Optimization mistakes but I have found these to be the main mistakes made by my clients prior to Kanga Internet being involved. Good luck and I wish you all the best with your SEO efforts.
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