Hello inkadoo~
There are several things everyone should do to make their websites
more search engine friendly.
One is to use META TAGS. How Stuff Works provides a helpful
description of meta tags:
"Meta tags are coded lists of your key words and company or business
descriptions that do not show up on your pages when viewed with a
browser, but are visible within the HTML code of the page for the
crawling spiders to see. For example, you would set up your meta tags
like this:
<meta name="description" content="PUT YOUR COMPANY DESCRIPTION HERE">
<meta name="keywords" content="PUT YOUR KEY WORDS HERE">
There are also some other meta tags you can use to tell the [web
search engine] spider what type of document it is, how often you want
the spider to revisit, and how your content should be classified (i.e.
consumer, business, etc.). This code is then placed right below the
<title> of your page which falls directly below the <html> and <head>
of the page. You can also include a meta tag for your page title to
help reinforce it. Your page should look like this:
<html>
<head>
<title>INSERT YOUR PAGE TITLE HERE</title>
<meta http-equiv="title" content="PUT YOUR TITLE HERE">
<meta name="resource-type" content="PUT YOUR DOCUMENT TYPE HERE">
<meta name="revisit-after" content="PUT YOUR PREFERRED VISIT INTERVAL
HERE">
<meta name="classification" content="PUT YOUR PRODUCT CLASSIFICATION
HERE">
<meta name="description" content="PUT YOUR COMPANY DESCRIPTION HERE">
<meta name="keywords" content="PUT YOUR KEY WORDS HERE"> "
("Promoting Your Online Business" by Lee Ann Obringer, HowBIZWorks,
http://biz.howstuffworks.com/online-biz-promotion1.htm )
When using the meta name="description" coding, do bear in mind that
some search engines will use the words you put there as the *only*
description of your website. Therefore, a real description, with
proper sentence structure, is much more useable than a string of
keywords. Generally, the description should be 200 to 250 characters,
though only a small portion of this may be displayed in the search
engine listing. Here?s an example of a meta tag description: "This
tutorial explains how to change the oil in your car or truck, whatever
make or
model it may be. From YourCar.com, a layman's guide to maintaining and
caring for vehicles."
Your web pages should also have KEYWORDS in the readable text, up
toward the top of each page. Do not try to make your keywords ?blend
in? to the background (whether by using certain colors or through the
use of tiny type), thus making them unreadable to the naked eye. This
is grounds for complete removal from many search engines. Also, don?t
neglect to use keywords in your page titles; the latter is often
neglected and can really affect your search engine ranking.
"Be very selective about your keywords. Be your customer. Think the
way they think. Use the most likely key words and phrases that your
customers will be looking for and use them in your titles and meta
tags. Also think about excess words you might be putting in that
simply get in the spider's way. For example, you don't need to use
'Services: Lawn Mowing,' just use 'Lawn Mowing' as your page title."
("Promoting Your Online Business" by Lee Ann Obringer, HowBIZWorks,
http://biz.howstuffworks.com/online-biz-promotion1.htm )
"Consider 'expanding' your text references, where appropriate. For
example, a stamp collecting page might have references to 'collectors'
and 'collecting.' Expanding these references to 'stamp collectors' and
'stamp collecting' reinforces your strategic keywords in a legitimate
and natural manner. Your page really is about stamp collecting, but
edits may have reduced its relevancy unintentionally." ("Search Engine
Placement Tips," by Danny Sullivan,
http://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/tips.html#position )
Many people make the mistake of putting GRAPHICS toward the top of
their web page; this looks attractive, but can skew your search engine
ranking.
Put *text* (with keywords) toward the top of your page, because text
is what search engine's read. This applies to links within your
website, also. If they are only provided via graphics, search engines
will have trouble reading them, and therefore won't get to meatier
pages within your website.
An important and effective way to improve your ranking is by LINKING
with other sites. Most search engines pay attention to how many other
web sites link to you; the more websites that recommend you through
linking, the more search engines are willing to also recommend your
site to users. So constantly be on the lookout for similar, yet
noncompetitive, sites that you can exchange links with. Add their link
to your website and write to the webmaster, notifying them of the link
and asking them to reciprocate.
Other Tips:
* Use keywords in the "alt tags" for all images and links.
* Use keywords in file names.
* Create a site map and use links to all your website pages.
* Some search engines can't follow frames, so it's not a bad idea to
avoid them within your site.
Once your website is all ready to go, all that?s left to do is to
SUBMIT it to search engines. Be patient, it can take a month or two
for your website to show up. Also bear in mind that when you develop
new pages for your website, you can go back and submit those specific
pages. It is not a good idea to bombard the search engine with
repeated submissions of the same page(s). I also do not recommend
sites that promise to submit your website to a large number of search
engines. You will almost certainly do this more effectively than any
mass submission group can do it.
To submit your site to Google, go to ://www.google.com/addurl.html
To submit to Yahoo, go to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest
If you list with both Google and Yahoo, your site should soon show up
on other engines. (To find out how to submit to any search engine, go
to their home page and look for a link--often at the bottom of the
page--that says something along the lines of "submit" or "suggest a
site.")
Finally, here are some articles that may prove helpful:
How to choose keywords, from Net Mechanic:
http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol3/promo_no9.htm
How to use meta tags, at Search Engine Watch:
http://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/article.php/2167931
Improving your Google ranking (see especially the section titled
?Scoring Higher on Google? downward), from Wolfram:
http://wolfram.org/writing/howto/3.html
An article on drawing more web site traffic, from Site Owners:
http://www.siteowners.com/article004.shtml
Tips on getting repeat hits on your site, from Site Owners:
http://www.siteowners.com/article006.shtml
Tips for building a successful web site, from Site Owners:
http://www.siteowners.com/article009.shtml
Many great articles on web site development, from Site Owners:
http://www.siteowners.com/articles.shtml
Regards,
Kriswrite
RESEARCH STRATEGY:
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