seo revised

www.gnc-web-creations.com

Copyright 2004 J Bailey of GNC Web Creations All Rights Reserved 1

Step by Step Search Engine Optimization

SEO Techniques Step by Step Search Engine Optimization

Copyright20032005byJ.BaileyofGNCWebCreations,AllRightsReserved

ExceptaspermittedundertheUnitedStatesCopyrightActof1976,nopartofthispublicationmaybereproducedordistributedinanyformorbyanymeans,orstoredinadatabaseorretrievalsystem,withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofthepublisher.

WhenyoubuyaneBookfromGNCWebCreations,youpurchasetherighttopossessone(1)electronicversionoftheeBookandone(1)printedcopy.YoumayalsohaveonebackupcopyoftheeBookontoaharddiskorotherstoragedevice.

Ifyoubecomeawareofunauthorizedcopiesofanyofourbooksineitherelectronicorhardcopyform,wewouldappreciatelearningthedetails.Pleasesendalettertoourphysicaladdressoranemailtojbailey@gncwebcreations.com

GNC Web Creations1789Highway315WestWaterValley,MS38965


Copyright 2003 - 2005 J Bailey of GNC Web Creations All Rights Reserved 2

Table of Contents

STEPBYSTEPSEARCHENGINEOPTIMIZATION........................................................... 1

TableofContents.................................................................................................................................. 2

WelcomeMessage................................................................................................................................. 7 StructuredOnlineSEOTrainingClass ........................................................................................... 7

SEOTechniquesSuppliesList........................................................................................................... 8 RecordKeepingNotebook ............................................................................................................... 8 GoodKeywordsTool ........................................................................................................................ 8 KeywordSuggestionTool ................................................................................................................ 8 GoogleToolbar................................................................................................................................... 8 GoogleDeskbar .................................................................................................................................. 8

7LearningTipsandTechniques ....................................................................................................... 9

DesignLayoutTipsandTechniques .............................................................................................. 10 EntrancePage ................................................................................................................................... 10 DynamicPages ................................................................................................................................. 10 WebsitesDesignedUsingFrames ................................................................................................. 10 StreamlineYourHTMLCode ........................................................................................................ 10 JavaScriptandDropDownMenus ............................................................................................... 11 SearchEnginesLoveContent......................................................................................................... 11 IsAPictureWorthAThousandWords?...................................................................................... 11 HelpfulDesignTips ........................................................................................................................ 11

YourNicheontheInternet ............................................................................................................... 12 ThePrimaryObjective .................................................................................................................... 12 GeneralKeyPhraseCaution .......................................................................................................... 12 ChoosingaNicheforYourBusiness............................................................................................. 13 FocusonOneTopic ......................................................................................................................... 13 WhatSetsYourBusinessApart? ................................................................................................... 13 CreateMorePagesbySeparatingTopics ..................................................................................... 14 SelectingaNicheforYourMainPage .......................................................................................... 14 BusinessNicheExample ................................................................................................................. 14 BrainstormforNiches ..................................................................................................................... 15



UsingGoodKeywordsTool........................................................................................................... 16 UsingKeywordSuggestionTool................................................................................................... 17 ValuableSEOResearchTool .......................................................................................................... 17

ChoosingEffectivePageTitles ........................................................................................................ 18 ResearchingKeyPhrases ................................................................................................................ 18 UsetheKeywordTools................................................................................................................... 18 YourBusinessNameasaKeyPhrase........................................................................................... 18 ResearchSearchResults .................................................................................................................. 19 MoreTipsforSelectingPageTitles ............................................................................................... 19

TitleYourPages .................................................................................................................................. 20 TitleTagFundamentals .................................................................................................................. 20 HTMLCodingforTitleTag ........................................................................................................... 20 TitleTagLocationintheHTML .................................................................................................... 20

ChoosingEffectiveFileNames ........................................................................................................ 21 SampleFileNames: ......................................................................................................................... 21 WhichFileNamesUseKeywords? ............................................................................................... 22 ChangingCurrentFileNames ....................................................................................................... 22 FinalNotesonFileNames.............................................................................................................. 22

EffectiveKeywordDensity............................................................................................................... 23 TargetKeywordDensity................................................................................................................. 23 KeywordDensityCautions ............................................................................................................ 24 HelpwithRANKS.NL .................................................................................................................... 24

AltTagTechniques ............................................................................................................................ 25 Exampleofaproperalttag: ........................................................................................................... 25 EmptyAltTagsRecommendation ................................................................................................ 26 ExampleofaProperEmptyAltTag ............................................................................................. 26 AltTagsTechniquesReview .......................................................................................................... 26

EffectiveHeadingTags...................................................................................................................... 27 DefaultHeadingTagSize ............................................................................................................... 27 HeadingTagStyles .......................................................................................................................... 28 HeadingTagsOverview ................................................................................................................. 28 StructureandHeadingTags .......................................................................................................... 28 FinalHeadingTagOverview......................................................................................................... 29



EffectiveKeywordMetaTags .......................................................................................................... 30 CommonMetaTagOrder .............................................................................................................. 30 KeywordsMetaTagOverview...................................................................................................... 30

EffectiveDescriptionMetaTags...................................................................................................... 31 ImportantDescriptionMetaTagTips .......................................................................................... 31 METADescriptionTagConstruction ........................................................................................... 31 METADescriptionTagLocation ................................................................................................... 31

AnchorTextOptimizationforSEORanking................................................................................ 32 CommonAnchorTextLinkingErrors.......................................................................................... 32 NotesonAnchorTextOptimization............................................................................................. 33 RelatedResourceArticle................................................................................................................. 33

TitleAttributeTechniques ............................................................................................................... 34 BonusTitleAttributeTechnique ................................................................................................... 34 TitleAttributeTagOverview......................................................................................................... 34

NavigationStructureTips................................................................................................................. 35 KeepNavigationSimple ................................................................................................................. 35 UseAppropriateAnchorTextLinking......................................................................................... 35 BeConsistentInAppearance ......................................................................................................... 35 BeConsistentInMethodUsed ...................................................................................................... 35 CategorizingYourLinks................................................................................................................. 36 Relativevs.AbsoluteLinking ........................................................................................................ 36 RelativeLink..................................................................................................................................... 37 AbsoluteLink ................................................................................................................................... 37

SiteMapStrategies............................................................................................................................. 38 Whatisasitemap? .......................................................................................................................... 38 WhydoIneedasitemap? ............................................................................................................. 38 HowdoIcreateasitemap? ........................................................................................................... 38 SampleSiteMaps ............................................................................................................................. 38

SiteMapTechniques ......................................................................................................................... 39 DividingSiteMapIntoCategories ................................................................................................ 40 ExampleSiteMapCategoryDivision........................................................................................... 40 SearchEngineTypeDescriptions .................................................................................................. 40



DirectorySubmissions ...................................................................................................................... 41 DMOZResourceLinks.................................................................................................................... 41 TargetedDirectories ........................................................................................................................ 41

SubmittingtoSearchEngines .......................................................................................................... 42 SearchEngineSubmissionGuidelines ......................................................................................... 42 FreeSearchEngineSubmissions ................................................................................................... 42 SearchEnginesSubmissionsOverview........................................................................................ 43 SearchEngineSubmissionNotes .................................................................................................. 43

GooglePageRank................................................................................................................................ 44 UnderstandGooglePR ................................................................................................................... 44

ReciprocalLinkingStrategies .......................................................................................................... 45 ResourceLinksDirectory ............................................................................................................... 45 Linkto{insertcompanynamehere} ............................................................................................. 45 SubmitURLtoResourceLinksDirectory .................................................................................... 45 TipsonIncreasingIncomingLinks ............................................................................................... 46 WebsiteLinkingStrategies ............................................................................................................. 47 5SimpleStepstoEthicalLinkingStrategies ................................................................................ 47

DomainNameTips ............................................................................................................................ 48 KeywordDomainNames ............................................................................................................... 48 BrandingDomainNames ............................................................................................................... 48 WhatAboutSubDomains?............................................................................................................ 48 ShouldYouChangeYourDomainName? .................................................................................. 49 PersonalDomainNameRecommendations ................................................................................ 49

CreateRobots.txtFile ......................................................................................................................... 50 GoodReasonstoDisallowCrawlingofaParticularFile........................................................... 50 PoorReasonstoDisallowCrawlingofaParticularFile ............................................................ 50 WhydoIneedarobots.txtfile? ..................................................................................................... 51 Whatisasimplerobots.txtfile?..................................................................................................... 51 DisallowaParticularFile................................................................................................................ 51 DisallowaParticularRobot............................................................................................................ 52 HowdoIcreatearobots.txtfile? ................................................................................................... 52 Robots.txtValidator......................................................................................................................... 52 MoreInformationAboutRobots.txtFiles .................................................................................... 52



SEOTechniquesChecklist ............................................................................................................... 53

SEOResourcesandTools.................................................................................................................. 54 1and1Hosting .................................................................................................................................. 54 PayPalforBusiness.......................................................................................................................... 54 XaraWebstyle4................................................................................................................................ 54

PrivacyPolicy ...................................................................................................................................... 55 LegalDisclaimerNotice.................................................................................................................. 56 ServicesDisclaimer.......................................................................................................................... 57



Welcome Message Congratulationsonyourdecisiontooptimizeyourwebsite!

NoSINGLEmagicalanswerwillbringyoursitetothetopofthesearchengineresultsovernight.Theverybestapproachtooptimizingyourwebsiteisgoodoldfashionedhardwork.IfyoufollowEVERYSINGLESTEP,youwillseeincredibleresultsveryrapidly.

Structured Online SEO Training Class MostpeoplereceivethehighestlevelofsuccessfromtheeBookbyactuallyoptimizingasitewhileattendingourfreeSEOTraining.Thegreatthingaboutitallisthatyoudonothavetodoitalone.WehaveaprivategrouponYahoodedicatedtoprovidingfreeassistanceforlearningandimplementingallofthetechniquesinthisebook.

SEOTrainingClassInformation

SEOTrainingClassGuidelines

TrainingClassRegistrationSteps

ManyhelpfulresourcelinksareprovidedthroughouttheeBook.Theselinksrequireyoutobeonlineinordertoaccessthem.AlllinkswithintheeBookwillopeninanewwindow.

Wearecommittedtodoingourbesttoexceedyourexpectations!Wetrulydolookforwardtoworkingwithyouandwatchingyouronlinebusinessgrow.IfyouhaveanyquestionsorcommentsaboutthiseBook,pleasedonothesitatetocontactus.

IWILLDEFINITELYSEEYOUATTHETOP!

SEOTrainingSpecialistJ.Bailey(a.k.a.Cricket)CoOwnerGNCWebCreationsandMississippiPhotoGallery



SEO Techniques Supplies List

Record Keeping Notebook Youwillneedaplacetokeeprecordsandresearchnotesconcerningyoursite.Someprefertomakeafolderontheirdesktopandusenotepadfiles.Othersprefertouseaspiralnotebook.

Good Keywords Tool ThisfreeWindowssoftwaretoolfromSoftnikTechnologiesisexcellentforfindingidealsetsofkeywordsfortargetingyourwebpages.1DownloadandinstalltheGoodKeywordsTooltoyourdesktop.Takethetimetoreadthroughthehelpfileslocatedintheprogram.

Keyword Suggestion ToolWealsousethisfreeonlinetoolfrequently,whenfinetuningthetitlesforourpages.AddthelinktotheKeywordSuggestionTooltoyourfavoritesorputashortcutonyourdesktop.

Google Toolbar AlthoughtheGoogleToolbarnotrequired,ithasmanytimesavingfeaturesthatsimplifymanyoftheeverydayoptimizingtasks.2ItisalsothequickestandmostreliablewaytodetermineGooglePageRankonaparticularpage.Investthetimeinlearningtouseallofthefunctionsofthistoolbarbybrowsingthroughthehelpfiles.

Google Deskbar Thistoolisnotrequired.DownloadtheGoogleDeskbartosaveatremendousamountoftimeandcomputerresources,whileoptimizingyourpages.Ihighlyrecommendit.Again,ifyouhaveadditionalquestions,Googleprovidesexcellenthelpfilesforthistool.

1 We have received numerous queries regarding a Mac version and we might consider it some time in the future. However, we will be able to do this only after some of our existing products are released and so we are unable to predict when this will happen. Good Keywords Frequently Asked Questions

2 The Google Toolbar is not currently available for the Mac. The good news though, is that Apple's Safari browser offers a Google search box, enabling you to perform Google searches directly from your address bar. Safari can be downloaded free from www.apple.com/safari/ Safari also can be configured to perform Google searches from its address bar. Google Toolbar FAQ



7 Learning Tips and Techniques

1. WhenyoufirstreceivethiseBook,brieflyreadallofthepages,butdonotyetmakeanychanges.Onceyouhavefinished,gobacktothebeginningandimplementeachlessonstepbystep,intheorderitisintroduced.

2. IfyouarenotyetamemberofourstructuredSEOTrainingClass,seriouslyconsiderjoiningimmediately.Workingwithotherstoaccomplishyouronlinegoalsgreatlyincreasesyourlevelofsuccess.

3. Eachtechniqueispartofthewholepictureaningredientintherecipe.Forthesestrategiestomakeasubstantialimprovementinyoursearchengineplacementresults,usingallofthemisnecessary.

4. Tolearnthesetechniques,actuallyusingthemisnecessary.Workyourwaythroughthelessons,onestepatatime.Donotattempttooptimizeyourentirewebsiteallatonce.Selectasmallcategory,ofthreetofivepagestoworkwithinitially.

5. ConsidertakingthetimetolearnbasicCSS.Movingfontandstyletagstoanexternalstylesheetwillsubstantiallydecreasethecodeonyoursite.Theleaneryourcode,theeasieritisforspiderstocrawlandindexyourpages.

6. Untilyoubecomefamiliarwithbasicoptimizationtechniques,IrecommendlimitingyourtimeinSEOforums.Withoutasolidunderstandingofsearchengines,itcanbedarnnearimpossibletodecideiftheinformationyouarereadingisreliableorifthepersonpostingusesethicalmethods.

7. Learningtowriteeffectivecontentplaysaroleinoptimizingyourwebsite.Themoretimeyouspendwriting,themoresuccessfulyouwillbecomeatit.ThetimeinvestedinlearningStrategiestoImproveWritingStylewillbewellspent.

x WhyWebWritingisDifferent

x CoreGoalsWebContentWriting

x WritingEffectiveMarketingCopy

x WebsiteContentDevelopment



Design Layout Tips and Techniques

Entrance Page Donotuseasplashpage,fortheentrancetoyourwebsite.Theentrancetoyourdomainshouldcontainqualitycontentandstandardnavigation.

Dynamic Pages Ifyoumustusedynamicpages,understandthatmanysearchenginespidersdonotcrawlthemaswellasstaticpages.1Ifwantthesepagestobefullyindexed,thereareafewthingsthatyoucandotoHELPmakethishappen.

Keepparametersshort.(ThismeansLESSthanthree.)

Youcanmakeuseofmod_rewritestohelpsearchenginesindexthepagesasiftheywerestaticpages.Youmusthaveaccesstoyourdomainshtaccessfileandyouneedtobeusinganapacheserver.

UnlessthereisNOOTHEROPTION,suchasthousandsofproductsbeingsold,Ialwaysprefertheuseofplainoldfashionedstaticpages.

Websites Designed Using Frames Ifyoursiteusesframes,optimizingyourwebsiteforthesearchenginesisgoingtobealonguphillbattle.2Ihighlyrecommenddevelopingsiteswithouttheuseofframes.

Streamline Your HTML Code Thelesscodetherobotshavetowadethrough,themorecontentonyourpagethatsearchenginespidersareabletocrawl!LearntouseatbasicCSStostreamlineyourhtmlcode.

1 We are able to index dynamically generated pages. However, because our web crawler can easily overwhelm and crash sites serving dynamic content, we limit the amount of dynamic pages we index http://www.google.com/webmasters/2.html

2 Google supports frames to the extent that it can. Frames tend to cause problems with search engines, bookmarks, emailing links and so on, because frames do not fit the conceptual model of the web (every page corresponds to a single URL). http://www.google.com/webmasters/2.html



JavaScript and Drop Down Menus Aswithmostthingsinlife,itisbesttokeepthingssimple.SearchenginesstilldonotreadJavaScriptverywell.IfyoursitenavigationisbasedonJavaScript,itwillbedifficulttogetallofyourpagesindexed.Ifthedecorativedropsdowntypemenusareimportanttoyou,alwaysprovideabackupofplaintextlinks.

Search Engines Love Content Oneofthebiggesttransformationsseeninsearchengineresultsoverthelastyearisanotablepreferenceforpageswithcontentinthe1,000wordrange.1Ifyouareseriousaboutbuildingpagesthatwillrankinthetopten,thenitisvitaltobeginincreasingyourSEOContent.

Is A Picture Worth A Thousand Words? Robotscrawlyourpagesinsearchofcontenttodeterminehowtoindexyoursite.Ifyoutellthestorywithimages,rememberthatrobotsareunabletoseetextonyourimages.Thiscanbecomeespeciallyimportantwhenheadergraphicscomelongbeforeanyusefulcontentonyourpage.Theconsistentuseofalttagsonallimageswillhelp,buttextisalwaysbest!

Helpful Design Tips

Useavalidatortocheckyourhtmlcode.

SeehowyoursiteappearswithLynxViewer.2

CarefullyreadGoogleGuidelinesforWebmasters.

CarefullyreadCommonMistakesinWebDesign.

CarefullyreadInstillingCredibilityinYourWebsite.

1 "The first major difference that jumps out in the Yahoo results is the preference Yahoos algorithm seems to have for more words on a page. The average number of words on a page for Google was 943 while Yahoos average words per page in the top 10 was 1305. Density Analysis Comparison

2 Use a text browser such as Lynx to examine your site, because most search engine spiders see your site much as Lynx would. If fancy features such as JavaScript, cookies, session ID's, frames, DHTML, or Flash keep you from seeing all of your site in a text browser, then search engine spiders may have trouble crawling your site. http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html



Your Niche on the Internet Doyouwantyourbusinesstoappear50pagesdeepintothesearchresultsforaparticulartopicalongwith40millionotherwebsites?Financiallyspeaking,itisfarmorebeneficialforyourbusinesstoappearonthefirstpageofsearchresults,foracategorywithonly3/4ofamillionotherwebsites.

Thinkaboutthisforamoment.Letssayyourbusinessmarketswidgetsontheinternet.Doyouneedmillionsofpeopleclickingonyourwebsitelookingforwidgets,ifinrealityyouonlyhappentosellREDwidgets?Wouldntitmakemoresensetoplaceinthetop10searchresultsspecificallyforredwidgets?

Wouldyouratherhave5,000uniquevisitorsperday(ofwhich50mightbeconvincedtoreadaboutyourredwidgetsIFYOURSITECATCHESTHEIRATTENTION)orwoulditmakefarmoresensetohave500uniquevisitorsDAILYlookingSPECIFICALLYforredwidgets?

The Primary Objective Keepinmindthattheprimaryobjectiveisnotfindingawaytobringtonsofgeneraltraffictoyoursite.TheobjectiveistobringsubstantialtraffictoyourwebsitethatisinfactLOOKINGSPECIFICALLYFORWHATYOURBUSINESSPROVIDES!

Pageviewsdonotdeterminethefinancialsuccessofapage.Yourwebsitecanproducethousandsofhitsadaythatdonotactuallyresultinsales.

Ihaveaclientwhohadhispageviewsofaparticularpagedecreasesignificantly,whenhebecamemorespecificinchoosinghispagetitles.Duringthissametimeframethough,profitfromthatsamepagenearlydoubled.Withanonlinebusiness,itallcomesdowntoifthesitevisitorsaremakingapurchaseornot.

General Key Phrase Caution WhenyouAnalyzeWebStats,watchforpagesreportingahighnumberofpageviews,butthevisitorsleavingIfyouhaveasignificantnumberofpageviewsshowingvisitorsareremaininglessthanaminute,oftenthisindicatestheywerenotlookingforwhatyourbusinessprovides.Thishappensfrequentlywhentoogeneralofakeyphraseistargeted.



Choosing a Niche for Your Business Ialwayshatedtryingtounderstandarticlesthatexplainthingsusingthegenerictermssuchasredwidgetsandbluewidget,soletstrytoexplainthiswithafewreallifeexamples.

ThemostLOGICALkeyphraseforourmainonlinebusinesswouldbethetermwebdesign.However,withnearly352millionsearchresultsforthatterm,theoddsareNOTinourfavorforoursitetoappearonthefrontpageofsearchresultsforwebdesign.Thesolutionistodecidewhatournicheiswithinthishighlycompetitivecategory.

Focus on One Topic EverypageonyourwebsitemustfocusonONLYONETOPIC.Ifyoucurrentlyhavepagescoveringmultipletopics,dividethemupbyaddingadditionalpages.Youarenotlimitinghowmanykeyphrasesyoucanuse.Youaresimplylimitinghowmanyareonasinglepage.

Ifyouwanttousetendifferentkeyphrases,thenyousimplyneedtocreatetenpagesforthosekeyphrases.HOWEVER,youmustalsohavequalitycontentforthosepages.

Althoughweareinthewebdesignbusiness,oneofourprimaryfocusesisMotorcycleWebsiteDesign.Weareawholelothappierbeinginthetop10forMotorcycleWebsiteDesignandMotorcycleWebDesignthanwewouldbelocatedonthe50thpageof352millionresults!

AnotherprimaryfocusinthewebdesignportionofoursiteisBrochureWebsiteDesign.Again,ournetprofitismuchhigherbeinginthetop10forBrochureWebsiteDesignandBrochureWebsitesthanitwouldeverbeifwewereburiedinthemiddleof352millionresults!

Asanotherexample,wespecializeingraphics.Infact,thisisprobablyourfavoritepartofthebusiness.Googlereturnsnearly213millionsearchresultsforthisterm!Thelikelihoodofoursiteendinguponthefrontpageofresultsforthiscompetitiveakeywordissmall.

What Sets Your Business Apart? Thisiswhereyoumusttakethetimetodeterminewhatitisthatsetsyourbusinessapartfromalloftheothercompaniesthatfallunderyourgeneralcategory.Whatisitthatyoudo?

Ournicheinthegraphicsworldisthatwedesignoutstandingbikergraphics.Alwaysplacinginthetop10forthisterm,netsusfarmoreincomethanifourwebsitewasburiedin213millionsearchresults,forthetermgraphics.



Whatthismeansisthatwhenthephoneringsinouroffice,theoddsareverygoodthatitisapotentialclientthatislookingspecificallyforaservicethatweprovide.Wearenotreceivingcallsoremailsfromcustomerslookingforbluewidgetswhenweonlysellredwidgets.

Foranonlinebusiness,orforthatmatteranybusinesstobesuccessful,therehastobeSOMETHINGthatsetsthemapartfromalltheothercompanieslikethem.

Create More Pages by Separating Topics Quittryingtocrameverythingintoonepage.THEMOREPAGESYOUHAVE,THEMOREENTRANCESYOUWILLHAVETOYOURSITE.

Themoreentrancesyouhavetoyoursite,themoretrafficyouwillhave.BythetimeweredonetherewillbeentrancestoyoursiteALLOVERTHENET!

Remember,itdoesnotmatterwhichpagetheyenteryoursiteon.Yournavigationwillbesetupsoitwillnotmatter!Thinkaboutit,iftheinformationorproducttheyarelookingforisonpage99ofyoursite,youdonotwantthemcominginonpage1andtryingtofindit.Theinternetpublicisntpatient.Iftheyhavetospendtimelooking,theymaylookelsewhere.

Selecting a Niche for Your Main Page Iagreethatthefirstpageismoredifficulttooptimizeforaspecifictopic,becauseyoutrytodoabriefoverviewofyourcompanyonthatpage.YouhavetoopenyourmindtochoosingaspecificFOCUS.Ifyoudonotchooseaspecificfocus,yourfrontpagewillnotrankwellforanyphraseatall.

Thisdoesnotmeantherecannotbeblurbsaboutthedifferentareasofyourbusinessonthemainpage;itonlymeansyouarechoosingoneFOCUS.Theotherareasofyourbusinesswillhavetheirownpagetobethefocusof.

Business Niche Example Forourexample,wewilluseajewelrystore.

Thenameonthedoordoesnotsay:RingStoreWatchStoreEarringStoreNecklaceStore

Itsayssomethinglike:JohnsonsJewelryStore

Thedifferencewithyouronlinestoreisthatforpeopletofindyou,theyhavetolookforatermthatisrelevanttoyoursite.WealreadyknowthattheoddsareverygoodtheywillnottypeinJohnsonsJewelryStore.



Wedonotwanttocompeteatthelevelofjustthetermjewelry,asthiswillreturnsearchresultsofover64million.

Folks,Idontwanttorainonyourparade,buttheoddsofJohnsonsJewelryStoremakingittothetop10,outof64millionsites,issimplynotverygood.

Mr.Johnsonhasdecidedthatperhapsheneedstotakeanotherlookathischoiceofwords.Aftersomebrainstorming,herealizestherearemanythingsthatsethisbusinessapart.

Forexample,hisjewelryisveryunique,andeverypieceisoneofakind.Infact,hehanddesignseachpiece.Aftermuchresearch,hefinallydiscoversthefocusonhismainpage.

UniqueHandmadeJewelry

DoesthismeanMr.Johnsonisgoingtoignorehisrings,watches,earrings,andnecklaces?Heckno!However,unlikehisstoreinthemall,hisonlinestorecanhaveasmanyentrancesashehasqualitycontentandproductstoprovide.Eachoftheseproductswillhavetheirveryownpage,focus,andentrancetohissite.

Brainstorm for Niches Sitdownwithbrainstormforeverynicheyoucanfindinyourbusiness.

x Whatdoyoudo?

x Whatproductsdoyoumarket?

x Ifyourbusinessmarketsgifts,whattypeofgifts?

Breakitdownfromgeneralcategoriestospecificterms.Forexample:

UniqueGiftIdeasCustomGiftBasketsSpecialWeddingGiftsInexpensiveGiftIdeasEmbroideredBabyGifts

Oncategoryorproductpages,youmightconsideramoregeneraltermthatbreaksdownintomorespecificsearchtermsonindividualpages.

USETHEKEYWORDTOOLSandcontinuethisresearchprocessthrougheverypage.



Using Good Keywords Tool (ThisisthetoolyoudownloadedbySoftnik.)

Istartmyresearchwiththistoolsimplybecauseitisquicker.IuseitsimplytogetalisttogetherofallthekeyphrasesthatIwouldliketoresearchfurther.

1. OpentheGoodKeywordstoolbydoubleclickingontheshortcuticon.

2. ClickontheOverturetabthisistheONLYtabwewillbeusinginthisprogram,unlessyourtargetaudienceistheUnitedKingdom,inwhichcaseyouwouldusethetablabeledOv.UK.

3. Enterthetopicyouselectedfortheprimarytopicofyourpageandclickgo.

4. Beginlookingthrougheachresultforphrasesthatbestrepresentyourpage.Oftentimes,doubleclickingonaspecificresultwillshowmoreresults.

RememberyouarelookingforaNICHEforeverykeyphraseyouresearch.

Ifyouselectnumbersthataretoohigh,theywillbeextremelycompetitiveandmuchmoredifficulttoplacewellinthesearchengineresults.

Howmanynichephrasesyouselectwillbebasedentirelyonhowmanypagesyouhaveavailable(withUNIQUEcontent)tosupporttheniche.YouwilluseONEnicheastheprimaryfocusofeachpage.

x TheresultsnumberswithinthistoolindicatethenumberofactualsearchesconductedmonthlywithintheOverturedatabase.

x Overturedoesnotdifferentiatebetweenthepluralandsingularversionofasearchterm.Theylumpbothversionstogether.

x Ifthetoolreports,Sorry,theOverturesearchenginehasnosuggestionsforthis,itisaverygoodindicationthatyouhaveselectedatermthatpeopledonotusetosearchforyourproductorservice.



Using Keyword Suggestion Tool (OnlineToolbyDigitalPoint)

Ignorethesuggestiontoputthistoolonyourwebsite.

Youusethesamebasicprocesstousethistool;howeveritisusedonlineonly.

Thistoolshowsdailyresultsofactualsearchesconducted,forOvertureandWordtracker.

Whydotheydiffersogreatly?Overturesdataisbasedonmoresearches,sothevaluesaregoingtobehigherthanWordtrackersinmostcases.ThisdoesnotmeanWordtrackersdataislessvaluable(keepinmindthattheyarerelativetoeachother).Wordtrackerdifferentiatesbetweenpluralandsingularforms;Overturedoesnt.

Idonotrecommendtheuseofanyotherresourcesfromthissitewhileyouarestilllearning,asthiscancausealotofconfusion.SeetheDangersofSEOForums.

Valuable SEO Research Tool Manypeoplegethunguponwhattheythinkistheprimarytopicforapage.Themostimportantprocessforselectingyourkeyphraseistheresearchtimeyouputintofindingallofthepossibilities.

Ihaveaclientwhofeelstheprimarytopicforhersiteisgifts.Shespenthourslookingatallthedifferentnichesforasitethatsellsgiftsonline.Whatsheneglectedtorealizethough,isthatnotEVERYONEisgoingtocallwhatshesells,gifts.Somefolksusetheterm,presents.

WOW!THISOPENSUPAWHOLENEWWORLDOFNICHES!

SometimesthemostvaluableSEOresearchtoolisathesaurus.Usethistooltofindmoretermstoresearchinthekeywordtools!

Ifyoudonotownathesaurus,doasearchonGoogleforanonlineone.Betteryet,usetheGoogleDeskbarIrecommendedyoudownload.Itisbuiltrightintothetool.



Choosing Effective Page Titles Choosingeffectivepagetitlesisessentialtotheultimatesuccessofyourwebsite.Inreality,thisiswhatmakesthewholethingwork!Youmayhaveanincrediblypowerfultitle,butifitisnotatermthatthepublicwillsearchfor,youwillnotgainanything.

Literallymillionsofwebsitesmayfallintothesamesearchcategoryasyours.Clearly,thechallengeistohaveYOURsiteshowupinthetop10ofasmanydifferentsearchresultsaspossible.Theanswertothischallengeissimple!

Researching Key Phrases SelectatwotosixwordphrasethattellswhattheMAINTOPICofeachpageis.Thenextstepistothoroughlyresearchtheselectedkeyphrases.Thegoalistodeterminethemostlikelykeyphrasesthepublicwillusetofindspecificinformationabouteachofyourtopicsinthesearchengines.

Themostcommonmethodthepublicusestosearchiswithkeyphrasesratherthanasinglekeyword.Itdoesnotmatterhowelegantakeyphraseis.Essentially,whatisimportantischoosinganeffectivekeyphrasethatthepublicwillinfactsearchfor!

Use the Keyword Tools DONOTGUESS!Usethekeywordtoolsprovidedforyou,toresearchthisinformation.Pleasenotethatsomeofthekeywordtoolsdonotmakeadistinctionbetweenthepluralandsingularversionofaword.Onceyoudecidethebestkeyphraseforeachpage,youwillneedtoexaminethisfactorfurther,byconductingactualsearchesinthesearchengines.

Your Business Name as a Key Phrase Usingyourbusinessnameasakeyphraseistheveryfirstmistakethatweallmake.Thinkaboutitforamoment.UnlessyouownaBRANDNAMEBUSINESSlikeDellComputersorMicrosoft,peoplearenotgoingtotypethenameofyourbusinessintothesearchbar.

Understandthatwhenpeoplearelookingforaproductorserviceonthenettheyarelookingforsomethingspecific.Theyaregoingtotypethephrasethattheythinkwillleadthemtotheproductorservicewiththeleasthassle.

OnlyrarelywillthekeyphrasetheychooseincludeYOURbusinessname.



Considerthefollowingpagetitles:

x GNCWebCreationsColorConcepts

x GNCWebCreationsSEOTechniques

x GNCWebCreationsSEOTrainingClass

x GNCWebCreationsCustomWebsiteGraphics

Hereistheproblemwithusingtheabovemethodoftitlingyourpages.ThesephraseswillallshowuponthefirstpageofsearchresultsforGNCWebCreations.Unfortunately,nooneisgoingtosearchspecificallyforGNCWebCreations!

Theinternetpublicwillsearchforthespecificservicesweprovide.

PeopledoofcoursesearcheverydayforSEOTechniques,butthisleadsustothesecondpartofthechallengethatoccurswhenusingyourbusinessnameasthepagetitle.

Research Search Results Thefirstwordinyourkeyphrasecarriesthestrongestweight.Chooseanykeyphraseandresearchitinthesearchengines.Takethetimetotrulystudythedifferencebetweenthetopfiveresultsforasearchphrasevs.secondandthirdpageresults.Takenoticethatthefurtheryougetdownthelistthedeeperthetermsyouwerelookingforareinthetitle?

Themostimportantfacttorememberwhenoptimizingyoursiteisthatsearchengineswillreturnsearchresultsintheexactorderoftheirperceivedrelevancytothesearchphraserequested.Themorerelevantyoursiteis,tothesearchrequested,theHIGHERyourlistingwillappearintheresults.

Thekeytosuccessontheinternetisreallyverysimple.YouhavetobeontheFIRSTpageofasmanyDIFFERENTsearchresultpagesaspossible.

Onceyouhaveselectedthebestpossiblekeyphraseforeverypageonyoursite,yourereadytotitlethosepagesandarealreadywellonyourwaytocreatingasitethatwillbesuccessfulinthesearchengines.

More Tips for Selecting Page Titles PageTitlesChoosingeffectivepagetitlesforyourwebsiteisthefirststepinbuildingasuccessfulonlinebusiness.Thisarticlecoversmoreaboutdividingcontent.



Title Your Pages Asyouchooseaneffectivekeyphraseforeachpage,youwillneedtochangethetitleofthepagetothekeyphraseyouhaveselected.

Useamaximumof60charactersinyourtitle.

Everypageonyoursiteneedsadifferenttitle.

Keywordsclosesttothebeginningofthetitlecarrythemostvalue.

Thetitlemustbeselectedaccordingtotheactualtopicofthespecificpage.

Title Tag Fundamentals

Thetitleofyourpageisdisplayedintheupperlefthandcornerofmanybrowserwindows.Itisalsousedanddisplayedbymanysearchenginesonsearchresultpages.Itisbesttousenomorethan60characters,includingspaces.ViewScreenshot

HTML Coding for Title Tag Onceyouhavedecidedonaneffectivekeyphraseforthetopicyouarecovering,youwillneedtoinsertthatkeyphraseasthetitleofyourpage.

ThisIsTheTitleOfYourPage

Title Tag Location in the HTML Themostacceptedlocationforthetitletagisimmediatelyfollowingtheopeningheadtag.

ThisIsTheTitleOfYourPage



Choosing Effective File Names Duringtheprocessofchoosingeffectivekeyphrasetitlesforyourpages,youmaydiscoverpagesthatcontainmorethanonetopicandneedtobedividedintonewpages.Whencreatingnewpages,whichofcoursewillalsoneedeffectivekeyphrasetitles.Carefullychoosefilenamesfornewpagestocorrelatewiththetitleyouselectedforthepage.

Whenchoosingfilenames,usealllowercaselettersanddoNOTusespaces.

Choosingyourfilesnamescarefullycananddoeshaveapositiveimpactonyourresultsinthesearchengines.Theevidenceisindisputablethattheredoesappeartobeanadvantagetousingyourkeyphrasesasfilenames.Thisbenefitseemstobemostadvantageouswhenahyphenisusedasaseparatorratherthananunderscore.

x www.mydomain.com/mykeyword.htmlScrunchingthekeywordstogetherhasnoimpactonsearchengineoptimization,simplybecausescrunchedtogetheryouhavecreatedanewwordwithnomeaning.

x www.mydomain.com/my_keyword.htmlAlthoughyoucaneasilyseetheseparatedwords,researchshowsthatthesearchenginesspidersdonotusetheunderscoreasaseparator.

x www.mydomain.com/mykeyword.htmlTheresearchisquiteclear.TheredoesappeartobeanadvantagetousingkeywordsinfilesnamesPROVIDEDahyphenisusedtoseparatethewords.

Youdonotwanttocreatelongfilenames;onetomaximumthreehyphensisenough.

Sample File Names: Thehighlightedtextistheactualfilename:

CompleteURL:www.gncwebcreations.com/seotechniques.htm(page)

CompleteURL:www.gncwebcreations.com/seo/keytosuccesslg.gif(image)



Which File Names Use Keywords? Onceagain,itisvitaltorememberthatsearchengineswillreturnsearchresultsintheexactorderoftheirperceivedrelevancytothesearchphraserequested.Themorerelevantyoursiteappearstobetothesearchrequested,theHIGHERyourpagewillshowintheresults.

Allfiles(evenimages)relatedtoaspecificpageneedtobenamedusingyourkeywords.Googlereallyappearstofocusonthemesofapage.

Changing Current File Names CarefulthoughtneedstobegivenwhenconsideringchangingfilenamesforSEOpurposes.Ifyourserverallowsforthesimplecreationofa301permanentredirecttothenewpage,itmaynotbeabigdealtochangefilenames.Ifhoweveryourskillshavenotyetgrowntothislevel,itisbesttoconsiderthefollowingguidelines:

ConsiderChangingFileNamesIf:

Thepageisnotyetindexedinsearchengines

ThepagehaspoorsearchresultsplacementAFTERimplementingbasicSEO

DoNotConsiderChangingFileNamesIf:

Thepageisalreadyindexedinthesearchengines

Thepagehasacceptablesearchresultsplacement

Final Notes on File Names Thestrongestbenefitsarereceivedfromthistechniquewhenitisusedtogetherwithalloftheothertechniques.Usedalone,youwillseeverylittleadvantageinsearchresults.

Whenyoudochangepagefilenames,considermakinga301permanentredirectforthemovedpages,oratleastdesignacustom404page.Thisissoyourvisitorcanstillfindthecorrectpagewhileanewoneisbeingindexed.Eachserverhandlesthesetypesoffilesdifferentlysoyouwillneedtocontactyourdomainhostforhelp.Ifyouhaveacontrolpanelwithyourhostingservice,oftenitwillhavestepbystepinstructionsinthehelpfiles.



Effective Keyword Density Keyworddensityisthetermpeopleuseinreferencetothepercentageakeywordisusedinrelationshiptothetotalnumberofwordsonapage.Toputitmoresimplyifyouuseakeywordorphrasefivetimesonapagewithatotalof100wordsthenyouwouldhaveakeyworddensityof5%.

Keepinmindthatwhenapersontypesakeyphraseintoasearchbox,thesearchenginedetermineswhichsitesappearrelevanttothesearch.Themorerelevantyoursiteistothesearchwordorphraserequested,thehigheryoursiteappearsinthesearchresults.

Itisvitalthateverythingworkstogetheronyoursite,pagebypage.Muchlikearecipe,alloftheingredientsarenecessaryinordertoreceivetheexpectedresults.

LetssayforexamplethatyouhavenamedyourpageRedWidgets.YoualsotookthetimetowriteapowerfulMetadescriptiontagallaboutredwidgets,butthenyouneglectedtoactuallyusethetermredwidgetsinthecontentofyourpages.Itisunlikelythatyourpagewouldendupveryhighinsearchengineresultsforthesearchtermredwidgets.

Target Keyword Density Akeyworddensityof37%isagoodtargettoworkfor.Ifyougetthepercentagetoohigh,yourpageswillnotreadwellforthevisitorstoolowandthesearchengineswillnotfeelthepageisrelevanttothesearch.

Sometimesasiteownerorwebmasterhasadifficulttimewritingeffectivecontentandbecomestemptedtohidetext1oranumberofotherunethicalpractices.Donotevenconsiderthesetypesoftechniques!Theriskissimplynotworthit.Searchenginesconsiderthesetypesofpracticesasspamandcanpenalizeorbanyoursite.NEVERHIDETEXT!2

1 Certain actions such as cloaking, writing text that can be seen by search engines but not by users, or setting up pages/links with the sole purpose of fooling search engines may result in permanent removal from our index. www.google.com/webmasters/

2 Hidden text is a technique of placing text on a page that the Search Engines will see but people will not. This is often accomplished by using text in the same color as the background color of the page or by using very small text. (e.g., 1pt) This unethical practice is primarily used for stuffing extra keywords on a page.



Keyword Density Cautions Beconsistentwiththeformoftheselectedkeywordthatyouuse.Manysearchenginesviewvariationsofatermastotallydifferentwords.Eventhesingularandpluralversionsofatermaretwodifferentwords.Althoughthemajorsearchenginesaregettingmuchbetteratwordstemming,youwillstillwanttofocusonconsistencyofthetermused.

YouwillwanttoBLENDyourkeyphraseintothecontentofthepage.ItshouldbelocatedTHROUGHOUTthepageratherthanconcentratedinjustonearea.

Therearemanyfreemethodsofcheckingyourkeyworddensityonlinewithouthavingtodownloadaprogram.RANKS.NLhasahelpfulonlinekeywordanalyzerthatweuse.

Help with RANKS.NL

1. InsertthecompleteURLofthepageyouwouldliketocheck.

2. ScrolldowntoDoNOTaddthefollowingtext.

3. Placeacheckmarkinthefollowingboxes:

MetaDescriptiontag

MetaKeywordstag

Alttag

Commentstag

Titleattributes

Noframestag

4. ScrollbackupandclickSubmit.

5. Ontheresultspage,scrolldowntotwo,three,andfourwordresults.

6. Findyourkeyphrase.Checkthekeyworddensity.



Alt Tag Techniques AsawebmasterifyouhaveeverattemptedtovalidateyoursitewithouttheuseofalttagsyouhavediscoveredyourresultswillreturntheerrorrequiredattributeALTnotspecified.

Alttagsweredesignedtoprovidealternativetextforimagestovisuallyimpairedindividualswhoaccessthenetthroughaudiobasedbrowsers.Theywillalsoprovidealternativetextforindividualswhohavedisabledimageloadingintheirbrowsers.

Ifanimageismissingorcannotbedisplayed,manybrowserswillshowaredXinstead,alongwiththealternativetextusedinthealttag.Therearealsoautomatedindexingprogramstrecognizeandusealttextaspartofyourconte

hatnt.

Researchindicatesthatsomesearchenginesspidersappeartoseeandusealttextascontentwhenindexingyoursite.IntermsofSEOtechniques,itisimportanttocarefullyconsiderthis

factwhenselectingalternativetextforyourimages.ViewFullSizeScreenshot

xample of a proper alt tag: E

Aresponsiblewebmasterorsiteownerwillnotabusetheuseofalttagsbutshouldcertainly

Althoughyoudonotwanttousealttagstostuffyoursitewithkeywords,1itistoyour

beawareofwhateffectthechoiceoftextwillhaveonsearchengineresults.Cautionshouldespeciallybetakenonimageslocatedatthetopofpagessuchasheadersthatappearoneverypageofyoursite.Theuseofidenticalalttextatthetopofeverypagecouldverywelldestroyalltheworkyouhaveputintooptimizingyoursite.

advantagetousekeyphrases,whenitmakessense.

1 Define Keyword Stuffing: Excessive repeating of keywords or phrases in META tags. This unethical technique can artificially increase the relevancy of the web sites and may result in penalties.



Empty Alt Tags Recommendation Manywebdesignersusetransparentspacergifsanddecorativeimages,tohelpwiththelayoutoftheirdesign.Althoughallimagesneedanalttag,thesetypesofimagesshouldalwaysuseanemptyalttag.

Example of a Proper Empty Alt Tag Noticeintheexamplebelow,thatthequotationmarksforanemptyalttagarelocateddirectlynexttoeachotherwithnospacebetween.Thiswillallowspecialscreenreadersdesignedforthesightimpaired,toignorethistypeoftag.1Ifyoudidnotuseanalttagfortheseimages,theuserwouldhearthewordimageforeachmissingtag.

Alt Tags Techniques Review

Googledoesseeandoftenusealttextwhenindexingyoursite.2

Beawareofwhateffectthechoiceoftextwillhaveonsearchengineresults.

Useyourkeyphraseswithinyouralttagswhenitmakessense.

Donothidekeywords(usingalttags)intransparentgifs.

Donotusealttagstostuffyoursitewithkeywords.

1 Some images such as invisible pixels or custom tool lines are used solely for layout purposes and provide no content. The alt tag for these should be set to a blank space or nothing . This causes the screen reader to ignore the image altogether. Penn State on Creating Accessible Web Sites

2 Make sure that your TITLE and ALT tags are descriptive and accurate. Google Information for Webmasters



Effective Heading Tags Headingtagsaredesignedtohelpdefinethestructureandhierarchyofyourpage.TheH1tagrepresentsthemainheading(topic)ofthepage,whiletheH2tagrepresentssubtopicheadings.Theyalsohelpvisitorstoquicklydeterminethebasiccontentofapage.Youcanreallythinkofitintermsofanoutlineforyourpage.

Thinkaboutifyouwerewritingareport.Atthetopofthefirstpage,youwouldhavethetitleofthereport.Thiswouldbethesametitlethatyouhadonthefrontcoverofthereport.Inthisscenario,thetitleonthecoverofthereportisthesameasyourtitletag.Thetitleatthetopofthepageisyourheadingtag.

Tocontinuewiththethemeofyoursite,itisimportantthatyourtitleandH1tagusethesamephrase.YourH2tagsshouldincludeatleastsomeofthekeywordsfromyourtitle.

hereareactuallysixheadingtags(H1H6)butonlytheh1andh2tagshavemorethanMINIMALeffectonsearchengines.Testingshowsthattheproperuseofthesetagsdoeshaveapositiveimpactonthesearchengineoptimizationofyoursite.Whenthisstrategyiscombinedwithotherbasictechniques,theresultscanbeincredible.

T

Default Heading Tag Size Now,asyouhavenoticedalready,theDefaultHeadingTagsizeisquitelarge.

youdonotlikethesizeshownbyusingaspecificheadingtag,doNOTchooseadifferentheadingtag.YoucanchangetheappearanceofthetagsthroughtheuseofCSS(styles).If

Thiscanbedoneeitherinexternalstylesheets,[ViewScreenshot]orbyinsertingaverysimplecodeintotheheadofyourhtmldocument.



Heading Tag Styles Ifyouprefertocontrolstylesdirectlyinyourhtmldocument,ratherthaninanexternalstyle

stegn

bolderthanregulartext.

ding Tags Overview

Alwaysuseheadingtags.

Headingtagsshouldmatchyourtitletag.

ldbelocatedhighinyourcontent.

headingtagsonlyasameanstocontrolfontsize.

Structure and Heading Tags GENE 1tagperpage,buttherecouldcertainlybemo h ingalotofH2tags,thereisaverygoo ditionalpages.

atting,(whatthepagelookslike)butrathertheyare

age.

PICofthatpage.

sheet,simplycopyandpastethecodebelowtonotepadandthencopyfromthereandpaintotheheadofyourdocument.Substitutethefontsizeforasizethatfitswellintothedesiofyourwebsite.H1tagsshouldalwaysbelargerand

HeaGeneralGuidelines

Headingtagsshou

NEVERUSE

RALLYspeaking,therewouldbeonlyONEHret anoneH2tag(subheadings)Ifyoufindyourselfneed

dchancethatyoushouldbedividingcontentonthatpagetoad

HeadingtagsareNOTaboutformaboutpagestructure.

x TheH1tagtellsthesearchenginesthatthetextincludedwithinthattagistheMAINTOPICofthatpage.

x TheH2tagtellsthesearchenginesthatthetextincludedwithinthattagistheSUBTOPICofthatp

x TheH3tagtellsthesearchenginesthatthetextincludedwithinthattagistheSUBTOPICoftheSUBTO



Exa p

H1TAGMainTopic

H3TAGSubTopicofSubTopic

Examp Layout

DOGT

House

SuppliesforHouseTrainingYourDog(SubTopicofSubTopic)

Final EachpageonyoursitewillhaveonlyONEprimarytopic.Thismeansitisvery

unlikelythat

Althoughyoumayhaveseveralsubtopics,(H2tags)unlesstheyarelocatedonatyouaretryingtostructuretopicsthatbelongontheir

ingis

m leofTagLayout

H2TAGSubTopic

leofCorrelatingTopic

RAINING(Topic)

TrainingYourDog(SubTopic)

Heading Tag Overview

youwillhavemorethanH1Tag.

categorypage,itislikelythaownpage.

YouwouldnotuseanH3unlessitwasactuallybeingusedtoshowthattheheadasubtopicofyoursubtopic.



Effective Keyword Meta Tags

Metatag.Althoughtheimportanceofthisghasdwindled,afewsearchenginesstillusethistag.

nothelpandmayevenhurt.SimplyaddyourMAINkeywordsandphrases.WewouldNOTsuggestusingmorethan150

ommon Meta Tag Order ertoplacetagsintheheadofthedocument.Itisnotvitalthatlongastheygoinbetweentheheadtags,butthemost

Thisisthetitleofyourpageme=descriptioncontent=PutyourDESCRIPTIONTEXThere>

Manyexpertsdisagreeontheuseofthekeywordsta

Donotusethistagtostuffhundredsofkeywords.Itwill

characters,includingspaces.Usehyphens,commas,orspacestoseparatethewords.

CPeoplefrequentlyaskwhatorditisdoneinaparticularorderascommonlyacceptedorderis:



Effective Description Meta Tags ThedescriptionMetatagwasdesignedasamethodoflettingthesearchenginesknowwhatapageisabout.Unfortunately,manyunethicalwebmastersuseditasavehicleforspam,stuffingthetagswithhundredsofkeywordsandeffectivelymanipulatedsearchengineresults.Asrobotsbecomemoresophisticatedindeterminingtherelevanceofasiteforaparticularsearchquery,theimportanceandpopularityofthistaghasdeclined.

TherearesomeexpertswhowilltellyouthatMetatagsaredeadandatotalwasteoftimetoevencreate.Althoughcertainlynotnearlyassignificantastheyhavebeeninthepast,therearestillmanysearchenginesthatdoappeartoatleastpayattentiontothedescriptiontagwhenindexingasite.Manydirectoriesusethistagforthedescriptioninthesearchresults.

Important Description Meta Tag Tips x Useshortdescriptivesentences.

x Donotusethistagtostuffkeywords.

x UsetheEXACTtitleofthepagewithinthistag

x CreateindividualtagsforEVERYpageonyoursite.

x Theoptimumlengthofthistagis150200characters.

META Description Tag Construction

META Description Tag Location ThisIsTheTitleOfYourPage



Anchor Text Optimization for SEO Ranking Anchortextisatermusedtodescribelinkedtext.SEOtechniquescomeintoplaywhenyousystematicallychooseyourkeyphrasesastheactuallinkedtext.Thisstrategywillincreasetherelevancyofyourkeyphrase.Itallcomesbacktounderstandingthatsearchengineresultsarelistedintheorderofrelevancetothesearch.

Themorerelevantyoursiteistothesearchrequested,thehigheryoursitewillappear.

Thinkaboutthisforamoment.Searchenginesarelookingforkeywordsthatsomeonelookingforinformationhasrequested.Thestrongerthepossibilitythatyourwebsiteisthecorrectmatchtotherequest,thehigheryouappearinthesearchresults.Thekeyisinassociatingyourchosenkeywordsorphrasetoaparticularpageonasite.

TheEFFECTIVEuseofanchortextoptimizationisinusingthekeywordorphraseasthetextlinkednaturallywithinasentence.

Considerthefollowingsamplesentence:

GNCWebCreationsprovidesaonestopsourceforSEOTechniquesTraining.

Codeforaboveanchortextlinkincludingtitleattributetag:

GNCWebCreationsprovidesaonestopsourceforSEOTechniquesTraining.

Noticethatthelinkedtextisusedquitenaturallywithinthestructureoftheparagraph.Theanchortextisthetargetedkeyphraseforthepagethatthelinkispointingto.

Common Anchor Text Linking Errors Theanchortextmustbetheselectedkeywordorphrasetoincreaserelevance.Considerallthetimesyouhaveseenthefollowingstyleoflinkingonawebsite.CLICKHEREtoseethefulllineofSEOservicesweprovide.Thismethodoflinkingwillresultinthewordsclickherebeingassociatedwiththesite.

Althoughthisisaverycommonmethodoflinking,itdoesnotlooknearlyasprofessionalanditwillnotincreasekeywordrelevance.



Notes on Anchor Text Optimization x ThelinkisnothiddenSearchenginesdonotlookfavorablyuponsitesthathide

links.Intheexampleabove,theanchortextclearlyappearstobealink.Also,notethatthelinkleadstoaDIFFERENTpageonmysite.

x TheanchortextmatchesthecontentofthepageitleadstoTheeffectivenessofthistechniqueisinthefactthatEVERYTHINGtiestogether.ThepageMUSTACTUALLYBEABOUTthekeywordorphrasethatyouaretargeting.

x DonotusethisstrategytomakeyoursiteAPPEARmorerelevanttoakeywordorphrasethanitis.Thatwouldbeconsideredspamandwilloftenresultinpenaltiesorbanningfrommajorsearchengines.

Related Resource Article IncreaseWebsiteTrafficFreewww.gncwebcreations.com/secrets.htm



Title Attribute Techniques Looselyput,thetitleattributetag1issomewhatlikeanalttagbutitisdesignedtobeusedforlinks.Thesetagsareoftenreferredtoastooltips2becausesomebrowserswillshowthetitleattributeinformationinasmallpopupwhenthecursorhoversoverthelink.

AnySEOadvantagesofthetitleattributetagareabenefittothepagethelinkisdirectedto.Theydoappeartohelpwithtargetingparticularkeywordstoaspecificpage.

LetmerepeatthattomakeSUREyouunderstandthis.OptimizationadvantagesofthistagareabenefittothePAGETHELINKISDIRECTEDTO!

Link

Bonus Title Attribute Technique Althoughyoucannotputanalttagonatextlink,youcanputalttagsANDatitleattributesonalinkedimages.ForExample:

Title Attribute Tag Overview x Aswithalttags,donotusethistagasanopportunitytostuffkeywords.

x Thetitleattributetagshouldmatchthetitleofthepagethelinkisdirectedto.

x Donotincludetextinthetitleattributetagthatisnotdirectlyrelatedtothelink.

.

1 The attribute title may be set to a hover box text, some informative text about the link. Depending on the browser, when the cursor hovers over the link, it changes into a hand with a stretched index finger and the hover box text pops up, not in a regular window, but in a special hover box, which disappears when the cursor is moved away. http://en.wikipedia org/wiki/HTML_tag

2 A short message that is displayed when the user moves the mouse cursor over an item on the screen. Extremely useful for identifying the purpose of icons. McGraw-Hill Higher Education



Navigation Structure Tips Settingupaneffectivenavigationstructureonyoursitewillhaveanincredibleeffectonthenumberofyourpagesindexedinthesearchengines.ItcanalsohaveatremendousimpactonyourPageRankwithGoogle.

Keep Navigation Simple SearchenginerobotsarenotterriblyeffectiveatreadingJavaScriptorotherlanguageusedinnavigationmenus.Textlinknavigationiswithoutadoubtthemostsearchenginefriendlynavigationstyle.Ifyouchoosetouseanavigationmenu,alwayshavealternativetextlinks.

Use Appropriate Anchor Text Linking Wheneverdesignmakesitpossible,usethebestanchortextforthelink.Thiscanbecomeessentialwhenlinkingtothehomepage.Ifthisisyourmostimportantpage,youcertainlydonotneedthekeywordhomeassociatedwithit.Youneedtheactualnameofthepage!

Be Consistent In Appearance Usethesamenavigationstructureoneverypageofyoursite!Notonlyisthisimportantfromtheuserstandpointitcanalsoaddtremendouslytotheamountofpagesthatareindexedonyoursite.Themorepagesyouhaveonyoursite,themorechancesyouhaveforpeopletofindyoursite!Ifyouhaveapagethathasathumbnailofanimage,makesurethatthepagetheenlargedimageisonalsohasyournavigationstructureonit.

Be Consistent In Method Used ItisalsovitaltousethesamemethodoflinkingtoapageEVERYSINGLETIME.Searchenginesoftenseeapageasdifferentpageswhenmorethanonemethodoflinkingisused,eventhoughbothmethodsleadtotheEXACTSAMEPAGE.

Manysearchenginesseethefollowinglinksastotallydifferentpages:

http://www.gncwebcreations.comhttp://gncwebcreations.com



GooglesPageRankisdeterminedbyqualityandnumberofactualpageslinkedtoyours.Ifyoucheckbacklinksonyoursiteyouwillnoticethatevenyourownpagesinterlinkedcountasbacklinks.VaryingthemethodoflinkingcanseriouslydilutePageRank!

ToseeifGoogleshowsavariationofyourpagestrythislittleexercise.

IntheGooglesearchbar,typeallinurl://www.yoursite.com.Howmanypagesdoesitshowarelocatedwithinyourdomain?Areallofyourpagesindexed?Now,trythesameexerciseonlythistimetypethefollowinginthesearchbarallinurl://yoursite.comAretheresultsexactlythesame?

*Replaceyoursite.comwithyourwebsitesURL

Categorizing Your Links Onalargesite,itmaybecomenecessarytocategorizelinkssimplyforthesakeofspace.Itisimperativethoughthatyourmostimportantpagesareadirectlinkonthefrontpageofyoursite.Themoretimesavisitorhastoclickalinktogettotheexactpagetheyrelookingfor,themorelikelytheyaretoleave.Thesesamelinksaremoredifficultforthesearchenginestofindandtakelongertogetindexed

Relative vs. Absolute Linking WhichmethodyouchoosetouseonyoursiteisnotnearlyasimportantmakingsurethatyouchooseONEmethodanduseitCONSISTENTLY.

Ourpersonalexperiencehasbeenthatwehavefoundtheuseofabsolutelinkstobemoreeffectiveintermsofsearchoptimization.Pleasenotethatwestilluserelativelinkingforallimageslocatedonourserver,butfornavigationlinkingonawebsite,weonlyuseabsolutelinks.Thismethodhasinsuredthatallofourbacklinksareconsistent,bothfromourownsitesandfromothers.Whichevermethodyouchoose,linkstoyourhomepageshouldalwaysbetotheEXACTdomainURLthatyouuse,andconsistencyisvital.

Example:Lookatthelink(onallyourpages)thatleadstothehomepage.ItshouldNOTincludetheindexpartoftheaddress;

DONOTUSE:

mysite.com/index.htmlindex.html



ALWAYSusecompletedomainURLtolinktothehomepage:

http://www.yoursite.com/

Relative Link RelativeLinksrelativelinktellsthebrowsertofindthedocumentwithinthecurrentdomain.Thismethodiscertainlythemostlogicalforimageslocatedonthesamedomain.

ExamplelinkGNCWebCreations

NavigationStructureTipsIfthiswasarelativelinkitwouldbecodedasfollows:GNCWebCreations

Absolute Link AbsoluteLinksThismethodisnecessarywhenlinkingtoafilethatisnotlocatedinthesamedomain.Ifthiswasanabsolutelinkgivesthefullpathtothefile.

GNCWebCreations



Site Map Strategies Searchenginesfindthepagestheyindexbyfollowinglinksthroughouttheinternet.Gettingyourfrontpageindexedrapidlyissimplyamatteroffindingasitethatgetscrawledonaregularbasistolinktoyoursite.Gettingallofthepagesinyoursiteindexedrapidlyisanothermatteralltogetherthough,becauseyouareprobablynotgoingtofindsomeonetolinktoallofyourpages.

Eventuallythespiderswouldprobablyfindallofyourpages.Peoplewhohavechosentoaddasitemaptotheirwebsitethough,havediscoveredatremendousincreaseintheamountofpagesthatgetindexedveryrapidly.Providedthelinktothemapislocatedonthefrontpageofthedomainthisincreasewillhappenveryquickly.

What is a site map? Simplyput,asitemapisatableofcontentsofyourwebsite.

Why do I need a site map? SimpleNavigationAsitemapmakesiteasierforthepublictonavigateyoursite

andquicklyfindwhattheyarelookingfor.

SearchEngineIndexingAdvantageAsitemapmakeatremendousdifferenceinthenumberofyoursitepagesindexedinthesearchengines.

How do I create a site map? Yoursitemapcanbeassimpleorcomplexasyouwantittobe.Spendtimeresearchingandseeinghowothershavedesignedtheirsitemaps.Automatedprogramsforcreatingsitemapsarenotrecommendedbecausethelinksneedtoberegulartextlinks.

Sample Site Maps GNCWebCreationsSiteMapMississippiPhotoGallerySiteMap



Site Map Techniques

UseplaintextlinksSearchenginespiderscanhaveamoredifficulttimeseeingJavaScript.Toreceivethemostbenefitsfromhavingasitemap,makesurethatthelinksarecreatedasplaintextlinks!1

AddatextlinkAddatextlinktothesitemaponeverysinglepageofyoursite.PLEASENOTE!DONOTPUTTHEACTUALSITEMAPONEVERYPAGEOFYOURSITE!THISCANBEVIEWEDASSPAM!

UseanchortextlinksUseyourexactpagetitlesasthelinkedtextsothatyoucanbenefitfromanchortextbacklinks.Thisincreaseslinkpopularityforyoursite.

AdddescriptivecontentManysearchenginesdonotlikepagesthatarefilledonlywithlinks.Byaddingdescriptivecontent,(muchlikesearchenginesdo)youcanhavepagesfilledwithlinksandstillhaverelevantcontent.

OrganizeintocategoriesRememberthatyoursitemapisnotcreatedjustforsearchengines.Organizeyoursitemapintocategories.Byfollowingthestructureofatableofcontentsthatyouwouldfindinthefrontofabook,youwillmakeiteasierforyourvisitorstofindwhattheyarelookingfor!

Limitto100LinksGoogleguidelinesrecommenddividingyoursitemapintomorethanonepagewhenyouhavemorethan100links.2Ifthisisyoursituation,attempttobreakthemapintocategoriestoaccomplishthistask.

1 "Make a site with a clear hierarchy and text links. Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link". http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html

2 "Offer a site map to your users with links that point to the important parts of your site. If the site map is larger than 100 or so links, you may want to break the site map into separate pages". http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html



Dividing Site Map Into Categories Thefollowingmethodofdividingintocategoriesistrulyunlimitedandperhapsaneasiermethodofnavigationforsiteusersoflargesites.However,whendividingyoursitemapintocategories,itisevenmoreimportanttoaddCONTENTtoeachofthem.

Example Site Map Category Division WebsiteNavigationheaderintextmenulinkedtositemap.

ServicesDirectorylinkedtositemapofallservices.

WebDesignServiceslinkedtositemapofdesignservices.

ResourceLinksDirectorylinkedtominisitemapofresources.

PublishedArticlesDirectorylinkedtominisitemapofallarticles.

Search Engine Type Descriptions Usingsearchenginestyledescriptions(ascontent)foreachlinkisanextremelyeffectiveSEOtechnique.Iamcurrentlyintheprocessofchangingallofmysitesovertothisstyleofsitemap.Thatiswhyyouseesomanydirectoriesfloatingaroundonmysites.Mynewsitemapswillbesetuptodisplayafullsearchenginestyledescriptionforeverylink.

ExampleSearchEngineStyleDescription

SEOTechniquesSEOOptimizationTechniquesWehavefilledover20chapterswithstepbystepinstructionsandalltheresourcesyouwillneedtooptimizeeverypageonyoursite!TheseSEOTechniquesaresosimpletofollowthatanyonecanimproveresults!



Directory Submissions Onceyoursiteiscomplete,submitittoTheOpenDirectoryProject(DMOZ).Manymajorsearchenginesuseinformationgatheredfromtheopendirectoryanditdoesappeartohaveapositiveaffectonsearchenginestandings.

DonotsubmittoDMOZuntilyoursiteiscomplete.1

CarefullyreadthesubmissioninstructionsPRIORtosubmitting.

DMOZdoesnotacceptaffiliatesitesforinclusion.2

DMOZ Resource Links IfyouactuallytakethetimetounderstandhowtheDMOZdirectoryworks,andwhatthespecificguidelinesare,youwillfindyourselffarlessfrustratedwiththeprocess.

DMOZSiteSubmissionStatusAddaSitetotheOpenDirectoryAbouttheOpenDirectoryProjectOpenDirectoryEditorialGuidelines

Targeted Directories Anothervaluablesourceofincreasingtraffictoyourwebsite,issubmittingtotargeteddirectories.Tofinddirectoriesthatfocusonwebsitesrelevanttoyours,simplyconductsearchesonGooglefortermsrelatedtoyoursiteandaddtheworddirectory.

1 The site should have working links and content rich subpages. Links should not bring up 404 pages or subpages with no content. If a web site is still under construction, it is not a good candidate for the Open Directory. Sometimes sites may have broken links, poor design, or other "quality" issues, yet present information that is difficult or impossible to find on the Web. Consider adding these sites to the ODP. Even with some flaws, if the content is rare and unique, the site may be considered very useful. Open Directory Editorial Guidelines

2 Sites consisting primarily of affiliate links, or whose sole purpose is to drive user traffic to another site for the purpose of commission sales, provide no unique content and are not appropriate for inclusion in the directory. However, a site that contains affiliate links in addition to other content (such as a fan site for a singer that has interviews and photos plus banner ads and links to buy the singer's CDs) might be an acceptable submission to the directory. Open Directory Editorial Guidelines



Submitting to Search Engines Onceyoursiteiscomplete,youcanbegintosubmitittothesearchengines.Mostmajorsearchengineswillfindyoursiterapidlyifyouhaveincominglinks1fromsitesthatgetcrawledonaregularbasis.

Somepeoplethoughprefertomaketheactualsubmissionsratherthanwaitingfortherobotstofindthem.Certainly,themoreplacesyousubmityoursiteto,themoreopportunitiesyouwillhavetoincreasesitetraffic.

Search Engine Submission Guidelines Personally,wedonotsubmittosearchenginesthatrequirepaymenttobeincludedintheirindex.Thisthough,isamatterofpersonalpreference.Wedonotrecommendpayingacompanytodoautomatedsubmissions2foryou.Mostmajorsearchengineswillnotrecognizethistypeofsubmission.

Free Search Engine Submissions Thesechangerapidlyduetothecurrentrestructuringofmanysearchengines.ManymaydirectyoutoanotherURL.Simplyfollowtheinstructionslistedoneach.

Google

AlltheWeb

AltaVista

Yahoo!Search

MSNSearch

1 The best way to ensure Google finds your site is for your page to be linked from lots of pages on other sites. Google's robots jump from page to page on the Web via hyperlinks, so the more sites that link to you, the more likely it is that we'll find you quickly. www.google.com/webmasters/1.html

2 Don't use unauthorized computer programs to submit pages, check rankings, etc. Such programs consume computing resources and violate our terms of service. Google does not recommend the use of products such as WebPosition Gold that send automatic or programmatic queries to Google. Google Information for Webmasters



Search Engines Submissions Overview

Optimizeyoursitepriortosubmittingit.

Onlysubmitthemainpagetoyourdomain.

Dontusecompaniestosubmityoursiteforyou.

Search Engine Submission Notes IfyoudoNOThavelinkspointedtoyoursitefromanoutsidesource,itwillnotdoyouanygoodtosubmittothemajorsearchengines.

Thelistingwouldsimplyfallrightbackoutoftheindexthenexttimethesearchenginebotscrawlandtherearenolinksleadingtoyoursite.

MypersonalOPINIONisthatyourtimewouldbemuchbetterinvestedinfindingincominglinkstoyoursitethattrackingdownsearchenginesubmissions.AlthoughIdosubmiteverysiteIaminvolvedwithtotheDMOZDirectory,Ihaveneverbotheredwiththetimeinvolvedinsubmittingtothesearchengines.WHY?BecausetheywillallautomaticallypickyouupassoonasGoogledoes.GooglefindsandKEEPSyouindexedviaincominglinks.



Google PageRank PageRankisatermappliedbyGoogletomeasuretheimportanceofaparticularpage.Itmeasuresthequalityandquantityofsitesthatlinktoaparticularpage.TheeasiestwaytocheckPageRankonanygivenpageistodownloadtheGoogleToolbar.

ManysiteownersmistakenlyplacealloftheirfocusonincreasingPageRankeventhoughGoogleInformationforWebmastersexplainsthoughthatPageRankisonlyoneofmorethan100factorsincluded,indeterminingtheorderofresultsforasearchtermquery.1

Toputitsimply,ifallotherfactorswereequalbetweentwogivensites,thesitewiththehigherPageRankwouldtheoreticallybelistedabovetheotherinsearchresults.

Whendecidingtoexchangelinkswithasite,itisimportanttothinktowardsqualityfirstratherthanquantity.Askyourselfifprovidingthislinkasaresourceonyoursitewillprovideabenefittoyourvisitors.Ifnot,thentheanswershouldbesimpleforyou.Youmayhavetodigalittledeeper,butthereareplentyofqualitywebsitesavailableforresources.

Itisimperativeforsiteownersunderstandthough,thattheydoneedincominglinks.Searchenginesfindtheinformationtheyusetoindexsites,byfollowinglinksthroughoutthenet.Ifnolinksareleadingtoyoursite,itisunlikelythatyoursitewilleverbefullyindexed.IfincominglinksareRELEVANT,theywillbeaHUGEbenefittoyoursitetraffic.

Understand Google PR AsitedoesnotreceiveaPRrating.EachpagewithinasitereceivesindividualPR.Ifnootherfactorsareinvolved,whenthemainpagehasaPR5,thesecondlevelofpageswillautomaticallyendupaPR4,providedthereisalinktothemonthemainpage.ThirdlevelpageswilldroptoaPR3.TheonlyreasonforthisisthatUSUALLYwhenpeoplelinktoyoursitetheywillautomaticallylinktoyourmainpage,ratherthanpageswithinyousite.Themainpagetendstohavethelargestnumberofincominglinks.IndividualpagesinasitedooccasionallyendupwithahigherPRthanthemainpage.Thisoccurswhenapopularpagereceivesalargenumberofincominglinks.

1 Google's order of results is automatically determined by more than 100 factors, including our PageRank algorithm. Google Information for Webmasters



Reciprocal Linking Strategies Icannotstressthisenough.Forsearchengineoptimizationtechniquestobeeffective,youmusthavemultipleincominglinkstoyoursite.Searchenginesrobotsfindandindexsitesbyfollowinghyperlinksthroughouttheweb.Themorelinksthatyouhavecomingintoyoursite,themorefrequentlytherobotswillcrawlyoursitelookingforupdatesandchanges.

Youcanstartseveralstrategies,toencourageincominglinkstoyourwebsite.Thisisnotsomethingthathappensautomatically.Youneedtomaketheprocessoffocusingonincreasingincominglinksaregularpriority.

Yoursitemustbesetupinsuchafashiontoencouragewebsitestowanttolinktoyou.Thefirststepistosetuppagessuchasthefollowing.

Resource Links Directory IsyourresourcedirectorysetupEFFECTIVELY,ordoyousimplyhaveapagefilledwithunorganizedlinks?Yourlinksdirectoryneedstobeincludedinthestandardnavigationofeverypageonyoursite.Themostsuccessfulmethodseemstobetosetitupasasmallsitemapofresourcepages.Itshouldincludealinktoeachcategoryofresources,alongwithlinkstoyourreciprocallinkinginformationpages.Thisalsoallowsendlessroomforgrowth.Researchthestylesavailableorseeourresourcelinksdirectoryforideas.

Link to {insert company name here} DoyouhaveapagesetupSPECIFICALLYforinformationaboutlinkingtoyoursite?Isthispagehardtofind?Yoursitevisitorsneedtobeabletotellataglancehowtolinktoyoursite.Provideadescriptionthattheycaneasilycopyandpastetotheirownsite.Itisalsoagoodideatoprovideawelloptimizedbannerforthosesitesthatusethem.Peekatourlinkinformationpageasoneexampleonhowyoucanaccomplishthis.

Submit URL to Resource Links Directory Doyouhaveapagesetupforotherstoaddtheirsiteinformationtoyourresourcelist?Doesitexplainexactlywhattheyneedtobeaddedtoyourlist?Isitlinkedtothemainpages,orisithidingdeepinyourstructure?

Whenpeoplevisitawellstructuredsitethatwouldbeabenefittotheirownsitevisitors,naturallytheywouldliketobeincludedinyoursiteresources.Iftheyseealinkforthis,ithelpstoencouragethemintheneededdirection.



Makeitquickandeasyforthemtosubmittoyoursite.Also,besuretoincludeanysubmissionsguidelinesthatyoumayhave.Ifyouareunsureonhowyoucandothis,feelfreetolookatourlinksubmissionpageforideas.

Tips on Increasing Incoming Links

1. SendPersonalRequestWhenrequestinglinksfromanothersite,alwayssendapersonallywrittenemail.Turningdownarequestthathasalreadylinkedtoyouisdifficult.Placealinktothembeforehand,usingthehighestoflinkingstandards.

2. WriteArticlesCreatearticlesthatareavailableforreprintwithalinktoyoursite.Webmastersalwaysneedfreshcontent!Themorearticlesyouwrite,themoreopportunitiesyouareopeninguptobringtraffictoyoursiteandgreatlyincreaseyourincominglinks.Learnafewstrategiestoimproveyourwritingstyle.Articlesdonothavetobelongandcanbepublishedonyourownsiteorsubmittedtoothers.

3. FreebiesConsidergivingsomethingawayinexchangeforlinksbacktoyou.Perhapsyouhavegraphicabilitiesandcanprovideafreebannerforalink.Submitaphototoagallerywithalinkinthedescription.Ifyouofferafreeservice,donotbeafraidtoaskpeopletolinktoyouiftheyfeeltheservicehasbeenhelpfultothem.

4. BloggingConsiderstartingablog.Keepitupdatedandlinkbacktoyoursite.TakethetimetoreadBloggingforBusinessifyouarenotexactlysurehowtostart.Findrelevantblogsthatallowcommentsandleavequalityresponseswithyourlink.Donotuseblogstoleaveadvertisementsalloverthenet.

5. BrainstormBrainstormwithgroupsofpeopleforideas.Whenyoudiscussthingswithothers,oftentheyseethingsyouwouldhaveneverthoughtof!



Website Linking Strategies Firstofall,IthinkitisveryimportanttounderstandmypositioninregardstoEthicalSearchEngineOptimization.ThatsamecodeofethicscarriesoverintoeverymethodthatIteach.

5 Simple Steps to Ethical Linking Strategies Partofbuildingasuccessfulonlinebusiness,involvesdevelopingasolidapproachtoyourwebsitelinkingstrategies.Thiscanbebrokendownintofivesimplesteps.

1. Neverkeepallofyoureggsinonebasket.Thisappliestoallaspectsofyourbusiness,andtothelinkingstrategiesyouchoosetouse.Youshouldbeusingeverypossibleethicalsourceofincreasingnaturallinkstoyoursite.

2. Therearenoquickmagicalanswerstobuildingasolidbaseofnaturalincominglinkstoyoursite.Itdependsentirelyongoodoldfashionedhardwork,onelinkatatime.

x DontparticipateinlinkschemesdesignedtoincreaseyoursitesrankingorPageRank.Avoidlinkstowebspammersorbadneighborhoodsonthewebasyourownrankingmaybeaffectedadverselybythoselinks.GoogleGuidelines

x LinkingschemesdonotincreaseagivensitesPageRank,andwilloftendoasitemoreharmthangood.Manysitesthatadvertiselinksharingprogramsnotonlyofferlittlevalue,butwilldistributeyouremailaddresswithoutyourpermission,resultinginanincreasedvolumeofunwantedmailtoyou.GoogleFacts&Fiction

3. ManyofyouhaveseentheadsofferingtosellyouincominglinksfromsiteswithhighPR.WhatthesesitesforgettomentiontoyouisthatitgoescompletelyagainstGoogleGuidelines.TheylikelyalsodonotmentiontoyouhowmanysiteshaveendeduptotallybannedinGoogleforusingthisveryunethicalpractice,overthelastyear.

4. Whenlinkingtoothers,donotuseautomatedprogramsthatpreventthemfromreceivingcreditfortheincominglink.Holdyourcursoroverthelinkandlookdowninthestatusbar.Ifanythingbuttheirlinkisshowing(i.e.longerURLs)youarenotusingaprogramthatbenefitsthem.Ifyoufeltthatthesitewasabenefittoyourvisitors,thengivethesiteownerfullcredit,wherecreditisdue.

5. Onceagain,itallcomesbacktodoingwhatisright.NeverchoosetoexchangelinksforthesolepurposeofincreasingyourPageRank.Ifyouchoosetolinktoacompany,dosobecauseyoutrulybelieveyouareprovidingaqualityresourceforyourvisitors.



Domain Name Tips KeywordDomainNamevs.BrandingDomainNameWithavastamountofconflictinginformationontheinternetconcerningchoosingthemostadvantageousdomainnameforyourbusiness,itcanbecomeverydifficulttoreachadecision.Takethetimetoresearchbothsidesofthecoinbeforemakingadecisiononwhatisbestforyourparticularsituation.

Keyword Domain Names Theredoesappeartobesomeadvantagestochoosingadomainnamethatincludestheactualfocusofyourbusinessinthename.Whensearchingthroughthetop10resultsforakeywordorphrase,youwillnoticethatoftentimesthedomainnamesincludethekeywordorphrasethatyouaresearchingfor.Infactfrequently,whenallelseisequalbetweenthesites,youwillnoticethereevenappearstobeaspecificorderonthebestwaytousethekeywordsorphrasewithinthedomainname.

ExampleKeywordDomains

keywordkeyword.com(good)keyword_keyword.com(better)keywordkeyword.com(best)

Branding Domain Names Brandingtypedomainnamesareveryeffectiveforcorporatebusinesseswithcorporateadvertisingbudgets.Thefactremainsthoughthatmostbusinessesontheinternetaresmallbusinessownersmakingaliving.UnlessyouhaveaBRANDNAMEBUSINESSlikeDellComputersorMicrosoft,peoplejustarenotgoingtotypethenameofyourbusinessintothesearchbar.Theytypeinwhattheyarelookingfor.

Yourpositioninthesearchengineresultswillbeadirectresultofpagerelevancetothesearchquery.Themorerelevantyourpagethehigheryourresultswillbe.Sincemajorsearchenginesappeartolovethemes,itisimportanttotieallaspectsofyoursitetogether.Theuseofkeyworddomainnamescanaddtothisprocess.

What About Sub-Domains? Theapparentadvantagetousingkeywordorphrasedomainnamesdoesappeartocarryovertosubdomainsalso.Whenyourbusinesshasvariousservicesthatitprovides,itmaybeagoodideatoseparatedifferentservicesintosubdomainssurroundingyourbusiness.



Should You Change Your Domain Name? Unlessyourcurrentdomainitnotalreadyindexedinthesearchengines,theadvantagesofchoosingkeyworddomainnamesisnotworththeswitch.

Personal Domain Name Recommendations Whenthedomainnameyouwantisavailableinboththeregularversionandthehyphenatedversion,Ipersonallyrecommendbuyingboth.

Iownbothgncwebcreations.comandwww.gncwebcreations.comIusethescrunchedversionforOFFLINEmarketingpurposesonly.ThisversionisNOTreferredtoonthenetandIhavenolinkspointingtoitanywhere.

Tellingapotentialclienthowtofindyoursite,eitherinpersonoronthephone,ismucheasierusingthescrunchedversion.Manyofushaveanactualstorefrontforourbusinessbesidestheonlineportionofourbusiness.Forradioads,usingthescrunchedtogetherversionissimplyeasierforallinvolved.

WhatthismeansisthatwhenoneofmyOFFLINEclientslooksupmysiteasgncwebcreations.com,itwillgodirectlytomysiteatwww.gncwebcreations.com

Toaccomplishthis,donotevenconsiderhavingtwowebsiteswithidenticalcontent.Searchenginescallthisduplicatecontentanditcangetyoubannedfromthemajorsearchengines.

Whatyoucandohoweveristocreatea301PermanentRedirectfromthescrunchedversiontotherealsite.(Thedomainyouactuallyusewiththehyphenatedversion)

301permanentredirectsaretheonlymethodofredirectingapprovedbyGoogle.



Create Robots.txt File Creatingarobots.txtfilewillnotimproveyoursearchenginepositioning,butitdoesprovidesearchenginerobotswithinformationconcerningwhichfilesyouwillnotallowtobecrawledandindexedinthesearchengines.

Arobots.txtfilecanalsobesetuptoinstructspecificallywhichrobotshavepermissiontocrawlyourfiles.Forinstance,youmaychoosetodisallowemailaddressharvestersfromyourfiles.However,undesirablerobotsmayignoreyourinstructionsandproceedatwill.

Wheneversomeoneaskhowtheycanstoprobotsfromcrawlingcertainfiles,wefirstliketoaskwhytheywanttostopsearchenginesfromindexingaparticularfile.

Good Reasons to Disallow Crawling of a Particular File

1. PrivateFilesCertainly,youdonotnecessarilyneedorwa

seo revised

Documents

j bailey of gnc web