Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization is the process of preparing each of your web pages for automatic indexing by the search engines. All day long different search engines run different software programs that scour the Web for new material to add to their databases. This is the most likely way your website will be found when an Internet user does a search for your type of business so you want to make it is setup to enhance your chances for inclusion.

Because search engine optimization is a very broad subject, it is impossible to cover the entire subject here. So we have divided the topic into multiple sections, each of which discuss one aspect of search engine optimization.

Take extra care when covering this material to keep the big picture in mind. It's very easy to get caught up in refining details and lose sight of the original goal.

We'll review all the theoretical information here and turn it into practical suggestions. I'll list all of the important factors that determine the ranking of a page in search engines and estimate their importance or weight.

Rather than targeting a specific search engine, this section will outline a strategy that should work well with all of them. Optimizing your site with this kind of "middle ground" approach is a good choice, especially if you aren't experienced with process. After you become more familiar with the process and as the technology changes you may wish to make adjustments to the process.
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Page title
Currently, the title is probably the most significant part of your page as far as search engines are concerned. No search engine optimization process is complete until you've added your keyword to the <TITLE> tag.

Usually it is best to place the keyword phrase to the beginning of the title. Short titles containing around 3-6 words seem to be generally preferred by search engines. In longer titles, the keyword easily gets lost in the "noise", which causes the ranking of the page to drop.

If you're going for a two or three-word phrase, try to keep it together for maximum effectiveness. "Search engine optimization by Joe" beats "Joe is a search engine expert and optimization guru", if your keyword phrase is "search engine optimization".

It's not just for robots
The most challenging part is creating a title that is visitor-friendly and keyword rich at the same time. Not only is the title seen by those who visit the page, but it is also clearly displayed when the page appears in the search results.

Titles that are simply collections of keywords in bizarre order can get you to the top of the search results. However, they also tend to keep people from clicking your listing. It's hard, but try to strike a balance between search engines and humans to get the best results.
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Headings
<H1> and <H2> headings also carry a lot of weight. While often ignored, they're a very effective search engine optimization tool. Their largest drawback is their large size, which makes it difficult to use a <H1> heading on some pages.

CSS can be used to reduce the size of headings, but only with great care. Extreme measures, such as the use of { display: none }, may get you banned.

Generally, I attempt to create headings that contain only the most vital keyword(s) and nothing else. This isn't always easy, as the heading must also make sense to those who read the page. Simply stuffing keywords inside the tag in random order is not going to cut it.

Body text
A well-optimized title and a good heading won't do much, unless the page also contains some keyword-rich body text. Preferably, your document should contain several occurrences of the keyword.

As many search engines place more weight to words found at the top of the page, so it's also very important that your keyword appears there. Again, you'll also need to make your writing seem natural. Nobody wants to read a page that is just one big list of keywords.

Using the keyword in bold, italics, underlined or in outgoing link text can also provide a minor boost. However, because it influences the readability of the document, be careful with this one as well.
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Some body text optimization tricks
Just like with the title and heading, keeping long keyword phrases together in your body text is a must. However, if you can't do so, splitting the phrase up is better than not using it at all.

What about the number of keywords in body text? How often should you repeat it? If you're aiming at a 2-word key phrase, start at somewhere around 1-3 instances per 100 words of text. Note that the 100-word figure includes all very commonly used words (I, he, what and so on). Don't try the old trick of listing all your keywords in the body of your web page and making the text the same color as the background! This will get you banned!

ALT Text
Be sure to add "ALT" text to all of your images. You can add your keywords here to boost your placement. (Alt text is text that appears when you mouseover an image.) To add ALT TEXT select an image on your HTML page, in Dreamweaver using the pointer tool. Look at the PROPERTIES MANAGER at the bottom of your page. You will see a drop down box with the title ALT to the left of blank field. Just type the text in this box for the image. The next time you open the page in a browser hover over the image with the mouse. You will see the text you entered appear on top on the image.

<!--Comment Tags-->
Here is another opportunity to get your keywords in front of the search engines. Add comment tags in each of your pages promoting a different keyword applicable to your site. (Comment tags are brief descriptive text in your HTML code that allow you to make notes to yourself or others reviewing your code. They remain invisible to the viewer.)

META tags
The importance of meta tags has dwindled so much that many search engine optimization experts have completely stopped using them. Google completely ignores meta tags and other search engines don't place much weight on them either.

While the keyword tag is beginning to become fairly useless, the description tag isn't entirely dead yet. It still enables you to control the descriptions of your pages in FAST, Teoma and some other engines. Use it and strive to write an inspiring description that draws people to your pages.

Off-page criteria
Today, a large part of search engine optimization work involves manipulating off-page criteria. It is perhaps somewhat harder than influencing on-page criteria, but still far from impossible.

The number one rule of improving your off-page criteria is to have a great site. Good sites attract more links, which boosts their link popularity. They also have an advantage in search engines that use click popularity, because users are likely to spend more time on a site that isn't half-bad.
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Link popularity
Without good link popularity, your pages will never be able to compete under popular keywords. Having plenty of sites to point to your pages is extremely important for your ranking, especially in Google.

Yes, it's possible to compensate for a lack of links to a degree. Use all of the search engine optimization tricks listed above and you'll probably be able to beat pages that have more link popularity but are badly optimized. However, when your competitor has hundreds of on-topic links and you have six, no amount of optimization is going to make you pass him in the search results.

You'll need to build links in every way you can think of. Exchange reciprocal links, encourage your visitors to link to you, write newsletter articles and so on. Just try to make sure that when someone links to a page on your site, the link text includes your most important keyword. One more reason to include keywords in the headings and titles of your pages.

Link Popularity measures how many other Web sites link to this page in your site. Many search engines use Link Popularity to identify popular Web pages, and give these pages a higher ranking.

So, let's look at some do's and don'ts to consider when trying to build your link popularity.
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Do's
If you visit related sites, check to see if they offer guest books, forums or other posting methods. Then post a message, and include your URL with your signature.
Only focus on related and important links. High numbers of links are no longer important. What's most important is that popular sites on the Web link to your website. Also make sure that the links pointing to your site are relevant to your subject area.

1. List your site in one or more of the major directories such as Yahoo!, Looksmart, and Open Directory Project. Open Directory is free, so it's a good place to start. Also, see if your site is relevant to a particular about.php area, and submit it to the guide.
2. Visit Link Popularity Check and search for your competitors. Start visiting the sites that are linked to your competitors, and write to see if they'll consider linking to your site.
3. Create a list of links before you ever contact sites for linking purposes. If the company sees that you've already added their URL to your list of links, they'll be more apt to add your link on their site in return. Again, concentrate on related links only.
4. Consider what other fields are related to your particular industry and concentrate on getting links from those areas. You won't want to add competing sites to your link page, but you probably won't mind adding links to sites that aren't direct competitors. For example, if you have a site that sells model cars, you won't want to list other sites that sell model cars. However, you probably won't mind linking to sites offering related products, such as paints, books on model making, or spare parts.
5. Consider setting up separate theme-oriented domains and link all of your domains together.
6. Offer a discount on your goods or services for anyone who agrees to post a small graphic on their site that links back to your site.
7. Create a testimonial page, and write a brief testimonial about any Web site that you'd like to get linked to your site. Inform the site of the testimonial, and encourage them to link to the page.
   Or, write testimonials of particular products, and sign the testimonial with your name and URL. Send the testimonials out to the individual companies, and tell them how much you've enjoyed using their products. Many companies will place testimonials in particular areas of their site, and they're delighted to get rave reviews about their products.
8. Offer awards on your site, and give out little graphics that link back to your site.
   Set up an affiliate program, which is an excellent way to boost link popularity.
9. Visit the Reciprocal Linkage Topics area of Webmaster World forums and look for new ideas for building link popularity.
10. Become a content provided in your focus area, and get your articles posted across the Net in related areas.
11. Are there any professional organizations related to your industry? If so, do they have pages of links?
12. Develop a plan for boosting link popularity, and then stick to it. Pledge to get so many new links a week. Consider hiring a high school or college student at minimum wage to work for you, if needed.
13. The best link analysis tool on the market is Optilink. It will analyze your own Web site's complete linking structure along with your competitors and show you exactly what areas you need to work on. While exchanging links with popular sites is important, be aware that with Google, the more outgoing links you have, the more your link popularity score may be reduced. Therefore, links to your site are more influential when you do not have to link back.

Don'ts

1. Don't participate in link exchange programs or link farms. Google will ban sites that participate in link exchange programs, and many of the other major engines have also expressed their dislike of artificially created link popularity.
2. Don't make the mistake of thinking that link popularity isn't important or necessary. High link popularity combined with some basic keyword optimization is sometimes all it takes to achieve top rankings. It's crucial, in many cases, to the success of an online business.
3. Don't use redirects on those sites pointing back to your main site if you create separate theme focused sites for the purpose of boosting link popularity. Rather, create a mini site at the new URL with several pages of good, solid content, and then visibly link back to the main site.
4. Don't share the same IP address for each domain if you interlink multiple domains that you own. All domains should have unique IP's.
5. Don't bother with free-for-all pages. Many bulk submission products submit to these. Generally the only thing these pages will guarantee is an increase in Span email if you participate.
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In Closing

Devote some time and energy to the building of a solid link popularity for your site. Not only will it help your site in the rankings, but it will more than likely increase your traffic as well.

All Search Engines use different databases; your link popularity totals may vary between engines.

Click popularity
Safe to say, click popularity isn't nearly as crucial as link popularity. It has some weight in some engines, but isn't really a major factor in most of them. My general recommendation is to ignore click popularity at the moment and focus your search engine optimization efforts on other areas for now.

Still, click popularity is an interesting topic and learning the basics about it is a good idea. Search engine algorithms change all the time, so who knows if one day Google starts using click popularity in its algorithm.