With more and more experts and search engine enthusiasts
claiming the right way and the wrong way to handle link
swapping, link exchanging or reciprocal linking!
You can tell something is important when there is more than
one name for it! GRIN!
There are also two schools of thought on the reasons link
swapping.
The first reason for link swapping has always been to carry
favour with Search engine rankings. Have a good site with
lots of links and this is seen as a good thing and
therefore Search Engines will rank you higher.
Sadly, like all things in life, this system can be abused
and taken to the extreme. Sites are buying in hundreds if
not thousands of links trying to "boost" their ranking
artificially. This is fine in the short term but we are
starting to see a fundamental shift in Search Engine
algorhythms.
My last article of link swapping , If Content is King, then
surely relevance is Queen! explains my personal view of
relevant linking which is still follow.
There is now a second and perhaps more disturbing reason for
swapping links.
To build a useful link resource or directory for your
visitors.
With working with similar themed sites, swap links to build
a directory service which can share and drive traffic to
sites within it. Some have even claimed this can drive more
traffic that a Search engine ranking.
So how do I create this vision of loveliness.
Simple, build an on topic directory of your major site
content.
There are a couple of great tools you can use to automate
this process.
http://www.j2-squared.com/linking-101.htm
http://www.j2-squared.com/power-linking.htm
These tools will add new sections, manage your directory
structure, and allow you to add links or even allow others
to add their own links which you just approve.
This can all be run from a web browser so you can be
swapping links sat on the beach or in fact from anywhere.
They are so simple to use you could get family to help out
too! GRIN!
In terms of places to find links try:
www.linkpartners.com
as a good start point.
Remember, Search Engines change their algorhythms all the
time and you could fall out of favour at any time.
Your visitors are also getting more sophisticated and
demanding at the same time. Give the visitor what they want
first and let the search engine sort the rest out!
Good Luck!
Jason Hulott is Director of J2 Squared, leading specialists in Internet consultancy whose specific aim is to drive more revenue to websites. Their main area of focus are the insurance, finance, and automotive industries.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Google Slavery...Old Habits Die Hard
For the first few months after Yahoo decided to go their own way with natural search (and MSN decided to get serious about the search business), the search results provided by those two could only be described as bizarre. Enough time has now passed that the dust has somewhat settled and there are three main (from a traffic standpoint) sites for quality natural searches.
The term "natural search" is to distinguish true searches, as opposed to paid advertisements which appear in the search results for many search engines these days. I guess you can't really fault the search engine companies from wanting to make some money (actually, BIG money) selling ad space, but the debate over the virtues of natural search versus paid advertising search is something that could take up a very large book and still have no clear resolution...much like arguments revolving around religion or politics.
Like most people that have been working as online home business entrepreneurs for a few years, I was strongly conditioned to the need to "feed the 800 pound gorilla" of the search engine world. Basically, "if Google didn't love you", it was very difficult to get any meaningful natural search traffic to your website. Since Google was actually the search engine that was serving up the results for most of the popular search portals, if Google didn't look kindly upon your site and rank you well, you would not be ranked well for most of the high traffic search sites on the Internet.
However, the search landscape changed dramatically early in 2004 and things have been very fluid and interesting since that time. Its not that Google has stumbled, or become ineffective as a search vehicle, its just that major players like Yahoo and Microsoft (via MSN) have decided to make a major thrust into the search business.
Having been firmly conditioned (since shortly after 1998) that Google was the "supreme deity of search engines", I took the highly publicized search entries of Yahoo and MSN with more than the proverbial "grain of salt".
Throughout a very recent two month period, one of my websites occupied the #5 position on Google, Yahoo, and MSN for a very popular and important (at least in my line of business) three word search term. This situation provided an opportunity to measure the current popularity of each of these three search providers.
If asked "before the fact", I would have guessed that Google would still be the overwhelming #1 search choice and that Yahoo and MSN would be distant #2 and #3 choices. Therefore, I was somewhat surprised by the results that were tabulated during this recent 60 day period.
For the period in question, the search popularity results were as follows:
Google: 34%
Yahoo: 31%
MSN: 20%
All others: 15%
Granted, the above results are for a single search term over a particular 60 day time period, but the results clearly show that Yahoo and MSN are already important players in the search business.
Webmasters that stick to the old ways and focus entirely on Google are missing out on a lot of search traffic these days if they are not also well ranked by Yahoo and MSN.
Kirk Bannerman operates a successful home based business and coaches others seeking to start their own home based business. Visit his website at Legitimate Home Based Business for more details.
The term "natural search" is to distinguish true searches, as opposed to paid advertisements which appear in the search results for many search engines these days. I guess you can't really fault the search engine companies from wanting to make some money (actually, BIG money) selling ad space, but the debate over the virtues of natural search versus paid advertising search is something that could take up a very large book and still have no clear resolution...much like arguments revolving around religion or politics.
Like most people that have been working as online home business entrepreneurs for a few years, I was strongly conditioned to the need to "feed the 800 pound gorilla" of the search engine world. Basically, "if Google didn't love you", it was very difficult to get any meaningful natural search traffic to your website. Since Google was actually the search engine that was serving up the results for most of the popular search portals, if Google didn't look kindly upon your site and rank you well, you would not be ranked well for most of the high traffic search sites on the Internet.
However, the search landscape changed dramatically early in 2004 and things have been very fluid and interesting since that time. Its not that Google has stumbled, or become ineffective as a search vehicle, its just that major players like Yahoo and Microsoft (via MSN) have decided to make a major thrust into the search business.
Having been firmly conditioned (since shortly after 1998) that Google was the "supreme deity of search engines", I took the highly publicized search entries of Yahoo and MSN with more than the proverbial "grain of salt".
Throughout a very recent two month period, one of my websites occupied the #5 position on Google, Yahoo, and MSN for a very popular and important (at least in my line of business) three word search term. This situation provided an opportunity to measure the current popularity of each of these three search providers.
If asked "before the fact", I would have guessed that Google would still be the overwhelming #1 search choice and that Yahoo and MSN would be distant #2 and #3 choices. Therefore, I was somewhat surprised by the results that were tabulated during this recent 60 day period.
For the period in question, the search popularity results were as follows:
Google: 34%
Yahoo: 31%
MSN: 20%
All others: 15%
Granted, the above results are for a single search term over a particular 60 day time period, but the results clearly show that Yahoo and MSN are already important players in the search business.
Webmasters that stick to the old ways and focus entirely on Google are missing out on a lot of search traffic these days if they are not also well ranked by Yahoo and MSN.
Kirk Bannerman operates a successful home based business and coaches others seeking to start their own home based business. Visit his website at Legitimate Home Based Business for more details.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Link Popularity Pitfalls
As we all know Google uses their PageRank technology to measure link popularity by counting the number of inbound links to your web pages, and it is one of the many factors influencing your ranking. Most website owners do not utilize properly what PageRank they already have. Their linking campaigns could be in vain if they let a large number of outbound links drain their existing PageRank. If their site were a bucket it would be full of holes, to illustrate this point, if you had a large number of outbound links, which are not reciprocated it would reduce your overall PageRank. Be diligent in identifying sites that are no longer linking back to you anymore. Also keep in mind putting more than 50 outbound links on any page is not advisable. Also be wary of sites that link to you from pages with more than 50 outbound links. Google's PagerRank is based on incoming links, but not only on the number of them. Instead PageRank is also based on the PageRank of the page on which your link is placed. For example a link to your site could be more valuable from a PR4 page with no other links than a link from a page with PR5 and 60 other links.
The factors influecing Google PageRank
The fact is that nearly half of your PageRank comes from within your site. As long as you have more than one page, and they are well linked you should be getting at least roughly 49% of your PageRank from internal links. If your site is particularly full of holes it may be less, but still substantial, and if you have plugged all your holes it will be more. PageRank is yours to control, and if it is targeted correctly it will help you considerably. Make sure you have a sitemap and all pages on your website are linked together with keyword rich link text instead of images.
Use common sense and careful language when asking for reciprocal links
Here are some helpful tips for requesting reciprocal links to keep in mind when you E-Mail or otherwise contact webmasters to ask to trade reciprocal links, I've have learned you usually get one shot to make a good impression. Over time I received some valuable feedback from other webmasters in assisting me on how to be requesting links, and since we are focusing on building proper links exchange channels, I would like to share this with our readers.
First and foremost do not forget to mention your own web address in the message. Yes, I have received letters about how I should reciprocate a link to a site and the Webmaster forgot the address. Likewise, do not forget to mention your own website's name. Don't forget to describe it either. You don't have to write a book, just give a few sentences or a paragraph summarizing your website's content.
Ensure you take a good look over the site you wish to link to you, be familiar with it's content and mention some of the content in your request for linkage. Identify the common theme between the sites. If the site has a "Submit your URL" page, ensure that you use it and read the guidelines for submission carefully.
If you are sending an attachment, please ensure they are small in size, animated banners or code of any kind this is unusable in a reciprocal link campaign. Starting an email with an attachment of any size is no introduction and ultimately could deter the Webmaster from ever responding to your request. Attachments are not the way to start a conversation.
Being too agressive and persistent could work against you
Ask the Webmaster if they would like your complete package of reciprocal link codes and graphics before you send such information Do not forget to let the Webmaster know how they can add a link to your website and make the process as simple as possible. With your first correspondence, provide them with some of the HTML that they can place on their website, or on your own website. After sending your first request and they do not respond within 24 hours, do not ask again. Being too persistent will generally put webmasters off trading reciprocal links, be patient, I found that webmasters usually do respond within a one-week time span, if not then write a follow-up. You need a way to record which sites you have asked for reciprocal links to avoid this problem, I have used an Excel spreadsheet to record such information. Remember finding good quality links are important so you don not want to miss an opportunity by being too aggressive.
Make your reciprocal exchange request stand out
Most of what I have written seems to be common sense, but starting out with a good code of conduct and etiquette can only improve your chances of obtaining reciprocal links. Here is an example of a well-structured template used for reciprocal link exchange.
Greetings [Name],
I visited your web site, [Web Site Name Here] and found some great information regarding [Insert Subject Topic Here].
[If you have linked to the other site already, mention it here and give the URL of the link - ask them to approve your link to them or to recommend editing suggestions - DO NOT threaten to remove their link if they don't respond in x days - these kinds of notes usually end up being deleted]
I thought you might be interested to know that we have a web site dedicated to [Your Site Topic - special points of interest].
We were hoping that you might consider linking to us and invite you to review our site at your convenience. [Depending on situation, insert further offer of reciprocal linking, banner impressions or exchange of services here]
If you determine that a link to our site is appropriate, please add it at your discretion, or might we suggest the following link and description: [Your site name and URL] - [Your site description - keep it brief, focused and not too much hype]
If you'd like to discuss this further, please feel free to contact us at [Your contact details].
Regards, [Full official signature lines here]
Keeping an eye on your inbound links
Now that you have started exchanging links, you will want to keep tabs on your inbound links. You need to visit the sites that accepted your link request. Check their link pages to make sure your link is properly placed with keyword rich link text. You also have to start checking the search engines to see if they indexed those pages where your links are placed.
To do so, I am providing you with link search commands on some of the major search engines, allowing you to view backlinks to your website:
Go to AltaVista, Google and type in the following information:
link:www.yourdomain.com Go to Inktomi (AOL, HotBot, iWon, MSN) and type in the following information: INSERT URL HERE linkdomain:www.yourdomain.com
Go to AllTheWeb, Lycos (for AllTheWeb results only) and type in the following information: link.all:www.yourdomain.com
Shelley Murphy
Shelley is a freelance writier for Web-based e-zines for the past 5 years focusing on the evolution of technology. Her primary interest is in Search Engine Optimization continuing to educate small to medium sizes companies on the importance of marketing businesses for the web world.
The factors influecing Google PageRank
The fact is that nearly half of your PageRank comes from within your site. As long as you have more than one page, and they are well linked you should be getting at least roughly 49% of your PageRank from internal links. If your site is particularly full of holes it may be less, but still substantial, and if you have plugged all your holes it will be more. PageRank is yours to control, and if it is targeted correctly it will help you considerably. Make sure you have a sitemap and all pages on your website are linked together with keyword rich link text instead of images.
Use common sense and careful language when asking for reciprocal links
Here are some helpful tips for requesting reciprocal links to keep in mind when you E-Mail or otherwise contact webmasters to ask to trade reciprocal links, I've have learned you usually get one shot to make a good impression. Over time I received some valuable feedback from other webmasters in assisting me on how to be requesting links, and since we are focusing on building proper links exchange channels, I would like to share this with our readers.
First and foremost do not forget to mention your own web address in the message. Yes, I have received letters about how I should reciprocate a link to a site and the Webmaster forgot the address. Likewise, do not forget to mention your own website's name. Don't forget to describe it either. You don't have to write a book, just give a few sentences or a paragraph summarizing your website's content.
Ensure you take a good look over the site you wish to link to you, be familiar with it's content and mention some of the content in your request for linkage. Identify the common theme between the sites. If the site has a "Submit your URL" page, ensure that you use it and read the guidelines for submission carefully.
If you are sending an attachment, please ensure they are small in size, animated banners or code of any kind this is unusable in a reciprocal link campaign. Starting an email with an attachment of any size is no introduction and ultimately could deter the Webmaster from ever responding to your request. Attachments are not the way to start a conversation.
Being too agressive and persistent could work against you
Ask the Webmaster if they would like your complete package of reciprocal link codes and graphics before you send such information Do not forget to let the Webmaster know how they can add a link to your website and make the process as simple as possible. With your first correspondence, provide them with some of the HTML that they can place on their website, or on your own website. After sending your first request and they do not respond within 24 hours, do not ask again. Being too persistent will generally put webmasters off trading reciprocal links, be patient, I found that webmasters usually do respond within a one-week time span, if not then write a follow-up. You need a way to record which sites you have asked for reciprocal links to avoid this problem, I have used an Excel spreadsheet to record such information. Remember finding good quality links are important so you don not want to miss an opportunity by being too aggressive.
Make your reciprocal exchange request stand out
Most of what I have written seems to be common sense, but starting out with a good code of conduct and etiquette can only improve your chances of obtaining reciprocal links. Here is an example of a well-structured template used for reciprocal link exchange.
Greetings [Name],
I visited your web site, [Web Site Name Here] and found some great information regarding [Insert Subject Topic Here].
[If you have linked to the other site already, mention it here and give the URL of the link - ask them to approve your link to them or to recommend editing suggestions - DO NOT threaten to remove their link if they don't respond in x days - these kinds of notes usually end up being deleted]
I thought you might be interested to know that we have a web site dedicated to [Your Site Topic - special points of interest].
We were hoping that you might consider linking to us and invite you to review our site at your convenience. [Depending on situation, insert further offer of reciprocal linking, banner impressions or exchange of services here]
If you determine that a link to our site is appropriate, please add it at your discretion, or might we suggest the following link and description: [Your site name and URL] - [Your site description - keep it brief, focused and not too much hype]
If you'd like to discuss this further, please feel free to contact us at [Your contact details].
Regards, [Full official signature lines here]
Keeping an eye on your inbound links
Now that you have started exchanging links, you will want to keep tabs on your inbound links. You need to visit the sites that accepted your link request. Check their link pages to make sure your link is properly placed with keyword rich link text. You also have to start checking the search engines to see if they indexed those pages where your links are placed.
To do so, I am providing you with link search commands on some of the major search engines, allowing you to view backlinks to your website:
Go to AltaVista, Google and type in the following information:
link:www.yourdomain.com Go to Inktomi (AOL, HotBot, iWon, MSN) and type in the following information: INSERT URL HERE linkdomain:www.yourdomain.com
Go to AllTheWeb, Lycos (for AllTheWeb results only) and type in the following information: link.all:www.yourdomain.com
Shelley Murphy
Shelley is a freelance writier for Web-based e-zines for the past 5 years focusing on the evolution of technology. Her primary interest is in Search Engine Optimization continuing to educate small to medium sizes companies on the importance of marketing businesses for the web world.
An SEO Checklist
Search engine optimization is on every webmaster's mind these days. Achieving a favorable ranking for the right keywords can mean a steady stream of targeted traffic to your site, and all for free - that's hard to beat. The key to high search engine rankings is structuring your website correctly, including plenty of content that is relevant to your keywords, and making sure your website is spider-friendly. You can use this checklist to make sure all of your Web pages can be found, indexed and ranked correctly:
Your website is themed. Your site deals with an identifiable theme which is obvious from the text on the home page and reinforced by all the other pages on your site. In other words, all the individual Web pages relate to each other and deal with various aspects of some central theme. The text on your home page should state clearly what that theme is and what your website is about, and the other pages should reinforce that.
Your Web pages have enough high quality, relevant content. Spiders come to your website looking for content. If a page doesn't have much content, or the content doesn't appear closely related to the page's title and your website's theme, the page probably won't be indexed or if it is indexed it won't rank well. Search engines love quality content and lots of it - content is what Web searchers are looking for and search engines try to provide.
Your website's navigational structure is relatively flat. You don't want important pages to be too "deep" within your website, meaning it takes several clicks to get there from the home page. Search engines typically index the home page first, then gradually index other pages on a site over time. Many spiders are programmed to only go three layers deep - if some of your important content is buried deeper than that, it may never be found and indexed at all.
You've created a unique "Title" tag for each page. The title is one of the most important aspects of any Web page from an SEO standpoint, especially for Google (which is the most important search engine to optimize for). Don't use a generic title for all your pages, use the keywords your targeting for that page and keep it brief but descriptive.
You use the "Description" meta tag. Contains a highly descriptive sentence about the content and purpose of your page, and contains your most important keyword phrase early in the sentence. Not all of the search engines will display this "canned" description when they list the page in search results, but many of them will, so it's worth getting it right.
You use the "Keywords" meta tag. As with the meta tag description, not every search engine will use the keywords meta tag. But some will use it and none will penalize you for having it. Also, having a short list of the keywords you're targeting will help you write appropriate content for each page. The keyword tage should contain your targeted keyword phrase and common variations, common misspellings and related terms. Make sure your keywords relate closely to the page content and tie into the overall theme of your site.
Your keywords are included in the visible page content, preferably high up on the page. You have to achieve a balance here - you want to include keyword phrases (and variations) a number of times within your text, but not so many times that you appear to be guilty of "keyword stuffing". The trick is to work the keywords into the text so that it reads as naturally as possible for your site visitors. Remember, you can incorporate keywords into any Web page element that is potentially viewable by site visitors - header text, link text and titles, table captions, the "Alt" attribute of the image tag, the "title" attribute of the link tag, etc.
Every page of your website can be reached by search engine spiders. This is critical - if your pages can't be found, they can't be indexed and included in search results, let alone rank well. Search engines use spiders to explore your website and index the pages, so every page must be accessible by following text links. If pages require a password to view, are generated by a script in response to a query, or have a long and complicated URL, spiders may not be able to read them. You need to have simple text links to the pages you want indexed.
You've included a site map. Unless your site is very small, it's a good idea to create a site map with text links that you link to the site map from your home page. In addition to a link, include descriptive text for containing the relevant keywords for each page.
You link to your most important pages from other pages on your site. Internal links help determine page rank since they show which pages of your site are most important. The more links you have to have to a page, relative to other pages on your site, the more importance search engines will assign to it.
You use keywords in your link text. When you create a text link to another page on your site, use that page's targeted keywords as the text for the link (inside the anchor tags that create the link). Make it as descriptive as possible. For example, a link that says "Premium Customized Widgets" is much better than one that says simply "Product Page", and indicates to search engine spiders what that linked page is about.
Your site doesn't use frames. If possible, don't use frames on any page you want to get indexed by search engines. If you feel you simply must use frames for a page, then also make use of the "noframes" HTML tags to provide alternative text that spiders can read (and make that text descriptive rather than just a notice that "This site uses frames etc. etc.").
You don't use automatic page redirects. Don't make any pages automatically redirect the visitor to another page (the exception is a page you've deleted for good - in which case you should use a "301 redirect", a permanent redirect which is acceptable to search engines).
Your important content is in plain text and not contained in images. Search engine spiders can't "read" content in JPEG, GIF, or PNG files. If you really feel that using an image rather than text is crucial to your design, at least put the same text in the image's "Alt" tag (or in the "title" tag if you're using the image as a hyperlink).
Your important content is not contained in Flash files. Flash is a wonderful technology, but unfortunately spiders don't have the required "plugin" to view Flash files. As a result, Flash content is mostly inaccessible to search engine spiders. Some can find and follow hyperlinks within the Flash file, but unless those links lead to pages with readable HTML content this won't help you much. Don't create all-Flash pages for any content you want to get indexed - instead, put that content in the HTML portion of the page.
Links and keywords are not hidden inside JavaScript code. If your links use JavaScript to direct the user to the appropriate page (for instance, a drop-down list) or important content is contained within JavaScript code (when it's displayed dynamically using DHTML, for instance) search engine spiders won't be able to "see" it. You can, however, use the "noscript" HTML tags to provide an alternative that can be read by spiders.
You've optimized every important page of your website individually. Don't stop at your home page. Take the trouble to optimize any page which has a reasonable chance of being indexed by the major search engines, targeting appropriate keywords for each. If you face a lot of competition it may be nearly impossible to get a top ranking for your home page, but you can still get a lot of search engine traffic to your site from other pages which are focused on very specific keyword phrases.
You didn't duplicate content. Each page of your site should have unique content that distinguishes it from every other page on your site. Duplicating content or having pages that are only slightly different might be seen as "search engine spamming" (trying to manipulate search engine results).
You provide linking instructions for those who want to link to your site. Somewhere on your site state your policies about other people linking to your site and provide the wording you'd like them to use in their link. You want to encourage other people to link to your site, preferably using link text and a description that reflect the keywords for that page. For their convenience provide the ready-made HTML code for the link - not everyone will use it, but most often they will use your preferred text as a courtesy as long as it is truly descriptive of your site and doesn't contain "marketing hype".
You provide linking instructions for those who want to link to your site. Somewhere on your site state your policies about other people linking to your site and provide the wording you'd like them to use in their link. You want to encourage other people to link to your site, preferably using link text and a description that reflect the keywords for that page. For their convenience provide the ready-made HTML code for the link - not everyone will use it, but many will use your preferred text as a courtesy as long as it doesn't contain "marketing hype".
Important hyperlinks are plain text links and not image links or image maps. Text links are better from an SEO standpoint than image links, as spiders can't read text from an image file. If you feel you really must use a graphic as a link, at least include a text description which (including the relevant keywords) by using the "title" attribute of the link tag.
Your website is free of coding errors and broken links. HTML coding errors and non-working links can keep search engine spiders from correctly reading and indexing your pages. For that reason, it's a good idea to use a Web page validation utility to check your HTML code to make sure it's error-free.
Jane McLain is a Web developer and SEO specialist and the webmaster of EClaunchsite.com, an online resource center for netrepreneurs with tools and information to help you plan, build, launch and grow your e-business.
Your website is themed. Your site deals with an identifiable theme which is obvious from the text on the home page and reinforced by all the other pages on your site. In other words, all the individual Web pages relate to each other and deal with various aspects of some central theme. The text on your home page should state clearly what that theme is and what your website is about, and the other pages should reinforce that.
Your Web pages have enough high quality, relevant content. Spiders come to your website looking for content. If a page doesn't have much content, or the content doesn't appear closely related to the page's title and your website's theme, the page probably won't be indexed or if it is indexed it won't rank well. Search engines love quality content and lots of it - content is what Web searchers are looking for and search engines try to provide.
Your website's navigational structure is relatively flat. You don't want important pages to be too "deep" within your website, meaning it takes several clicks to get there from the home page. Search engines typically index the home page first, then gradually index other pages on a site over time. Many spiders are programmed to only go three layers deep - if some of your important content is buried deeper than that, it may never be found and indexed at all.
You've created a unique "Title" tag for each page. The title is one of the most important aspects of any Web page from an SEO standpoint, especially for Google (which is the most important search engine to optimize for). Don't use a generic title for all your pages, use the keywords your targeting for that page and keep it brief but descriptive.
You use the "Description" meta tag. Contains a highly descriptive sentence about the content and purpose of your page, and contains your most important keyword phrase early in the sentence. Not all of the search engines will display this "canned" description when they list the page in search results, but many of them will, so it's worth getting it right.
You use the "Keywords" meta tag. As with the meta tag description, not every search engine will use the keywords meta tag. But some will use it and none will penalize you for having it. Also, having a short list of the keywords you're targeting will help you write appropriate content for each page. The keyword tage should contain your targeted keyword phrase and common variations, common misspellings and related terms. Make sure your keywords relate closely to the page content and tie into the overall theme of your site.
Your keywords are included in the visible page content, preferably high up on the page. You have to achieve a balance here - you want to include keyword phrases (and variations) a number of times within your text, but not so many times that you appear to be guilty of "keyword stuffing". The trick is to work the keywords into the text so that it reads as naturally as possible for your site visitors. Remember, you can incorporate keywords into any Web page element that is potentially viewable by site visitors - header text, link text and titles, table captions, the "Alt" attribute of the image tag, the "title" attribute of the link tag, etc.
Every page of your website can be reached by search engine spiders. This is critical - if your pages can't be found, they can't be indexed and included in search results, let alone rank well. Search engines use spiders to explore your website and index the pages, so every page must be accessible by following text links. If pages require a password to view, are generated by a script in response to a query, or have a long and complicated URL, spiders may not be able to read them. You need to have simple text links to the pages you want indexed.
You've included a site map. Unless your site is very small, it's a good idea to create a site map with text links that you link to the site map from your home page. In addition to a link, include descriptive text for containing the relevant keywords for each page.
You link to your most important pages from other pages on your site. Internal links help determine page rank since they show which pages of your site are most important. The more links you have to have to a page, relative to other pages on your site, the more importance search engines will assign to it.
You use keywords in your link text. When you create a text link to another page on your site, use that page's targeted keywords as the text for the link (inside the anchor tags that create the link). Make it as descriptive as possible. For example, a link that says "Premium Customized Widgets" is much better than one that says simply "Product Page", and indicates to search engine spiders what that linked page is about.
Your site doesn't use frames. If possible, don't use frames on any page you want to get indexed by search engines. If you feel you simply must use frames for a page, then also make use of the "noframes" HTML tags to provide alternative text that spiders can read (and make that text descriptive rather than just a notice that "This site uses frames etc. etc.").
You don't use automatic page redirects. Don't make any pages automatically redirect the visitor to another page (the exception is a page you've deleted for good - in which case you should use a "301 redirect", a permanent redirect which is acceptable to search engines).
Your important content is in plain text and not contained in images. Search engine spiders can't "read" content in JPEG, GIF, or PNG files. If you really feel that using an image rather than text is crucial to your design, at least put the same text in the image's "Alt" tag (or in the "title" tag if you're using the image as a hyperlink).
Your important content is not contained in Flash files. Flash is a wonderful technology, but unfortunately spiders don't have the required "plugin" to view Flash files. As a result, Flash content is mostly inaccessible to search engine spiders. Some can find and follow hyperlinks within the Flash file, but unless those links lead to pages with readable HTML content this won't help you much. Don't create all-Flash pages for any content you want to get indexed - instead, put that content in the HTML portion of the page.
Links and keywords are not hidden inside JavaScript code. If your links use JavaScript to direct the user to the appropriate page (for instance, a drop-down list) or important content is contained within JavaScript code (when it's displayed dynamically using DHTML, for instance) search engine spiders won't be able to "see" it. You can, however, use the "noscript" HTML tags to provide an alternative that can be read by spiders.
You've optimized every important page of your website individually. Don't stop at your home page. Take the trouble to optimize any page which has a reasonable chance of being indexed by the major search engines, targeting appropriate keywords for each. If you face a lot of competition it may be nearly impossible to get a top ranking for your home page, but you can still get a lot of search engine traffic to your site from other pages which are focused on very specific keyword phrases.
You didn't duplicate content. Each page of your site should have unique content that distinguishes it from every other page on your site. Duplicating content or having pages that are only slightly different might be seen as "search engine spamming" (trying to manipulate search engine results).
You provide linking instructions for those who want to link to your site. Somewhere on your site state your policies about other people linking to your site and provide the wording you'd like them to use in their link. You want to encourage other people to link to your site, preferably using link text and a description that reflect the keywords for that page. For their convenience provide the ready-made HTML code for the link - not everyone will use it, but most often they will use your preferred text as a courtesy as long as it is truly descriptive of your site and doesn't contain "marketing hype".
You provide linking instructions for those who want to link to your site. Somewhere on your site state your policies about other people linking to your site and provide the wording you'd like them to use in their link. You want to encourage other people to link to your site, preferably using link text and a description that reflect the keywords for that page. For their convenience provide the ready-made HTML code for the link - not everyone will use it, but many will use your preferred text as a courtesy as long as it doesn't contain "marketing hype".
Important hyperlinks are plain text links and not image links or image maps. Text links are better from an SEO standpoint than image links, as spiders can't read text from an image file. If you feel you really must use a graphic as a link, at least include a text description which (including the relevant keywords) by using the "title" attribute of the link tag.
Your website is free of coding errors and broken links. HTML coding errors and non-working links can keep search engine spiders from correctly reading and indexing your pages. For that reason, it's a good idea to use a Web page validation utility to check your HTML code to make sure it's error-free.
Jane McLain is a Web developer and SEO specialist and the webmaster of EClaunchsite.com, an online resource center for netrepreneurs with tools and information to help you plan, build, launch and grow your e-business.
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