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A Few Tips for Web Site Optimization Written by Sandro Alberti; sandro@fen-om.com Sandro is a Web designer/developer who enjoys educating others about design, both in theory and practice.

OPTIMIZATION Apart from using keywords in , in the body copy, in meta, in image tags, and in meta, keywords should be used: 1. In image file names 2. Inside and tags in the body copy (bold/italic emphasis; only one time for each keyword) 3. Near the beginning of body copy AND at end of body copy (sprinkle keywords evenly throughout

copy) 4. When used in meta, the goal is to include ONLY your main keywords (while making it read like

a title, and not a pile of keywords; use '|' as a separator) 5. Place tag as far toward top left as possible (Google bots read from the left). If possible, place

column navigation to the right, so that Google reads + main content first. Or arrange the code so that the and main content appears first

6. Apart from tag, also use tag, to include the second most important keyword for that page

7. For keyword in image tags, use only one keyword per image, for up to 5 images (and add the word "image" or "graphic" so it doesn't read as spam)

COMPARISON While building your Web site, it's important to narrow down your online competition and compete effectively against them. Be sure that your main keywords are words or terms that you can "compete for". First, see how popular they are. Choose keywords that are not ranked #1 (#20 through #50 have less competition). Google Keywords can show you the current rank of any keyword: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal Then, Google-search each selected keyword and study the top 5 results. Check the following: 1. What is the Google page rank of these? (most should be a score of 4 or less, so that you can

compete). See 'What is Google Page Rank?' in the end notes.i

2. See if these 5 are main pages, or sub-pages? (it's easier for your main page to compete against sub-pages)

3. Do these 5 sites optimize as well as you could? (based on optimization rules, above)

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LINK BACKS ------ Direct Communication: Best way to increase page rank is through link-backs. Search competition for 10 top-ranked pages (Google page-rank 5+), for the most popular keyword that could relate to your site, based on: Which websites link to them The number of websites linking to them The Google page-rank of the website linking to them The page title of the website linking to them The anchor text used in the link linking to them The number and type of links linking to the website that's linking to them The number of outbound links on the website that is linking to them The total number of links on the website that is linking to them Whether or not the websites linking to them are deemed by Google as an authority website. The IP Address of the webpage linking to them Approach each of the 1000s of pages linking back to them, about exchanging link-backs. Here is a sample link-request template: Hello my name is John Smith. I am seeking out possible link partners that our visitors would be interesting in visiting. I've found your website to be a very good fit for our visitors. I have already gone ahead and added your link to our website at: www.website.com I am contacting you to see if it is ok to have done so. Also, I would like to ask if you mind linking back to us? If so, please use the linking details below and send me the location of our link on your website. Here are our linking details: Title: (This is the keyword we want to target: the 2 keywords most popular on backlinks pointing to their site) Description: (Compelling general description) URL: (URL of Web page you are trying to rank well) We've got several Google-Page-Rank 6 and 7 websites, so we expect this site to become at least a Page-Rank 5 within 1 month and will eventually become a 6 or 7 in a couple of months. I hope this can be a way for us to benefit our visitors with excellent content. Hope to hear from you soon. John Smith www.domain.com If possible, personalize each letter by stating specifically what you like about their Web site.

And add a link to their Website before you contact them. Make link pages in your site, dividing links by topic and having a max of 25 outbound links on each page.

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------ LinkPartners: In Google search, type: Keyword "Please also suggest my link to the LinkPartners.com Directory." (replace 'Keyword' with your keyword). This will return Web sites with forms you can fill to link in the LinkPartners network. ------ Reciprocal Link Networks: Join a reciprocal link network and trade links fast and easily. Here's an example: www.linkmetro.com ------ Linkbacks from Sub-Pages: Google also counts links in your own sub-pages, that link back to your main page for your top target keywords. So be sure to put some keyword-focused links in any sub-pages. ------ Content Creation: Create articles and blog posts anywhere possible, linking back to your site. There are many places to submit articles. Here are some: http://ezinearticles.com www.seobook.com/archives/000099.shtml www.articlegeek.com ------ Link Purchase: You can also purchase link-backs: www.textlinkbrokers.com www.linkadage.com www.text-link-ads.com ------ Review Linkbacks! If any site that you link to, ever gets banned by Google, it affects you too! Unlink from sites that have a Google page rank of zero or 'grayed out'.

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END NOTES i What is Google Page rank? Google Page Rank is simply Google's way of displaying how important a webpage is. Google assumes that when 1 webpage links to another webpage, it's actually "casting a vote" for the webpage. The more votes you have for your webpage, the more important your webpage will be. This is basically how it is calculated: Your Calculated Page Rank= 0.15 + 0.85(linking site's Page Rank divided by number of links out from that site) Now, in reality, it's more complex than that, because: 1. Each page rank is based on another page rank. So it's like a chicken-and-the-egg catch-22, which can only be defined by running through the calculation at least 50 times. 2. In the end, this 'calculated page rank' is modified further by Google (in a hidden scale that is believed to be algorithmic; so a page-rank 2 is MORE than twice as good as a page-rank 1) Nevertheless, you can see that the Page Rank of a site that links to yours is important, and the number of links on that site is also important. So you end up looking more valuable if you link to fewer sites. So you should check that any links-out are at least linking back to you (otherwise, they are unnecessary).