We intentionally didn't put too much explanation on each steps, in order to make it simple and easier to follow. If you want to read more, please check the resources at the bottom of this page.
This article is geared to people who know a little in writing HTML
code. If you need to build a Search Engine Optimized web site, and
doesn't know much about HTML code, we suggest that you download
our FREE web template.
Here are the things to consider:
1 . Web pages' layout or design has to be
Search Engine Crawler friendly. As much as possible, avoid
too much nesting tables and frames. Keep it simple and clean. For
a sample of a simple web site layout, download our FREE template.
2. Be very careful when using Flash animation,
or other big file size graphics. These make the page slow to download,
and can cause grief to most search engines.
3 . Put meta tags in the code of your web
pages. Meta tags such as keywords, description, and titles
are important to crawlers.
- Keywords are words or phrase the user type
in search engine's search box in order to find the related Web
site. For example, if the user type "real state firm",
the web crawlers will search for pages containing the phrase,
"real state firm". You need to study which Keywords to put in your page. Finding the right keywords takes time and
expertise. You have to analyze prospective Keywords,
compare competitors' Keywords, and know the
technique of putting them in order. A company named WordTracker can offer you tools to do this. Since WordTracker
charges $7.00 a day, it will be nice to prepare ahead of time,
and commit that day just for Keywords research.
Another helpful site is http://www.seorank.com/search-engine-keyword-competition.php
- Meta tag Description gives the user information
and description about your web page. Furthermore, you can use
this to entice the user to click through your web page.
Description should contain your keywords and
keyphrases.
- Meta tag Title shows the words that appear
in the title bar at the top of your web browser. It is also
used as the text when you "bookmark" a page or add
a certain web page to your "favorites" list in your
browser.
It is always better to regionalized your Title.
For example, instead of "real state firm", you can
put "real estate firm in Seattle". People usually
look for companies located in their area first. 5 to 13 words
for Title is advisable.
4. After researching the right Keywords, incorporate them in the main text content of your web page.
5 . Don't crowd the code of your pages with too many JavaScript and CSS codes. Instead use external JavaScript and CSS files. Most website templates for sale in the Internet are crowded with unnecessary codes. If you are going to use one of those, be sure to clean the code.
Our FREE web template use external CSS
file.
6 . HTML code of your site must be validated, and should be W3C compliant.
Codes of your pages have to be clean and free of errors. Search engines crawlers have problem indexing pages with code errors.
7 . Your site has to have a unique IP address. Ask your web hosting company about this. If the web site which you are sharing IP address get banned by a search engine (because of spamming, etc.), you suffer the consequence, too.
8 . Use a reliable web hosting company that is up and running all the time. If your web site is down when the search engine visit your page, most likely you will knocked out of index.
9 . Submit to major "directory" and catalogs listings, such as LookSmart, Yahoo, and open directory.
These kinds of search engines (or listings) are reviewed by human and not machine. They review your site, and include it in their index if they found it worthy. Aesthetic of the site is also important.
Your site has to be optimized and all-ready before submitting to these listings. Yahoo and LookSmart charge as high as $200.00 for the privilege of being reviewed again for inclusion.
10 . After submitting, monitor your ranking periodically. You can use online services such as Position Agent.com. However, remember to do this research on non-peak times. Search engines despise this kind of queries during their peak times since it slows down their servers. Respect the search engines to avoid being in their blacklist.
8. Your site must have a link FROM a different site. Google and other search engine crawlers rank pages based on their popularity (number of clicks coming from different sites).
With this in mind, you can see how important it is to have a good looking site. A good looking site will encourage your visitors to click to the rest of your pages, thus increasing popularity of those pages.
11 . Your site should always be updated
and fresh. Google not only give high ranking to "popular"
pages, but also to pages that change often. You can do this using
SSI feature. Write a program code that will put new contents to
your page regularly.
The only thing with pages containing SSI feature, is that it usually ends with .shtml. Some search engines will no longer give the advantage of freshness when they see your site ending with .shtml.
12. Search engines crawlers are not very good when it comes to dynamic pages. The trick is to remove all question marks from the URLs of your dynamic pages. Visit www.engelschall.com/pw/apache/rewriteguide/ to learn how to do this.
13. Simplify how each pages of your site are linked to each other. Too many subcategories is a disadvantage because search engines may not crawl that deep.
14. Having a "hallway" page can also help search engines
discover your site. One very important thing to consider
- Your "hallway" page should have very rich and relevant
content to your site.
Other things to consider:
1. Do not be tempted with companies that
do "bulk submitting". (Ex. you pay $79.00 and they
will submit your site to 100 search engines).
This generally does little to nothing to optimize your ranking. The reality is that majority of those companies are set up for the sole purpose of collecting email addresses and sending you spam e-mails.
2. Be very cautious of sites that ask you to exchange links (Link Farms). Search engines (especially Google) drop web sites that participate in link exchange, if the links are being exchanged for the sole purpose of increasing one's link popularity.
3. Also worth considering is registering one or more Keywords with RealNames (www.realnames.com), at $100 to $200 per year per keyword.
We try to cover all the necessary elements that will help you optimize your site. Hope this gives you a good concept on how to do it yourself. VIANET is always available if you need us to do the SEO for you. Check our SEO page to learn more.
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