5 Steps
To Optimizing Your Website For Google
And Yahoo
by Justin Maddox
The mere thought of SEO is enough
to send most webmasters into a flutter.
A good ranking in the search engines
is a sure-fire way to make money
from a website, yet it is not an
easy task. But while the exact ranking
algorithm used by top search engines
is one of the world's best kept
secrets there are some basic principals
you should always keep in mind:
1. Site Design
The structure of your site is important
because this is how search engines
see how each page relates to another.
When your site is spidered, the
search engine will quickly be able
to judge the relevance and quality
of your site from the sitemap.
Creating a good site map involves
naming pages using your top keywords,
while at the same time ensuring
you are giving it an accurate and
succinct name. Keyword spamming
has penalties! Google's sitemap
is a good example at http://www.google.com/sitemap.html.
2. Optimize for your audience,
not for the search engine.
Search engines prefer sites on
a specific subject because specialized
information is more beneficial to
search engine users. So, for example,
your site would have a better chance
of ranking highly if it was dedicated
specifically to lamp shades rather
than home furnishings or lighting
in general. This is because someone
searching for 'lamp shade' would
be better satisfied with a website
full of information specifically
relating to lamp shades, rather
than a general home furnishings
site with only a paragraph or two
dedicated to lamp shades.
Many sites have been successful
by focusing solely on providing
a website that meets the needs of
their audience, rather than the
needs of the search engines. If
possible, survey your users to find
out what they want out of the site
and if they have any suggestions.
The more you know about your audience,
the better the design you'll be
able to create. Make it easy for
visitors to interact on the site
and for you to answer their questions
too.
3. Label your internal text
links and image alt tags
Why? The main reason is that search
engine spiders can't read images.
Anything without text means nothing
to the spider. Other benefits of
labeling images include the ability
for the image to be searchable in
browsers such as Google Image search.
Image text also enables visibly
impaired visitors to use your site
more effectively and it helps to
generally improve the text content
of your page for search purposes.
An image label is just a clear description
of the image using keywords. Just
don't include too many keywords
in the alt text as there are penalties
for keyword stuffing!
4. Update your site regularly
Your site ranking will be enhanced
if the search engine spiders can
see it is being updated frequently.
Aim to add new content at least
once a week to create a living site.
The more frequently Google has to
come back to respider your site,
the better you will rank. Pages
that don't change will eventually
be downgraded in favor of sites
whose pages are fresher.
5. Link to Subject-related sites
Good quality backlinks are vital
to SEO as these tell the search
engine spiders that the site is
popular and/or important. Backlinks
are links that are directed to your
website from another site. Thus,
linking to relevant sites is a great
way to increase your search engine
ranking. If you can, try to implement
circular linking, where the sites
you link to also link to each other
and back to you again. For example,
you link to Site A and Site B, who
both link back to you and also link
to each other. The more clusters
of links you can get like this,
the more relevant your site will
be deemed to be.
Did you realize that broken links
can actually harm your search engine
optimization? If you set up a link,
and your linking partner pulls that
link in 6 months time, your ranking
could reduce. Thus it is critical
to check your links regularly to
ensure that you are being linked
back to.
Search engine optimization is not
something that can be done once
and then left alone. It requires
constant effort and attention. The
best way to keep up to date with
new SEO developments is to continue
read commentary and recent articles
by SEO experts. In general, remember
that the top websites are always
the ones people want to use, such
as the BBC, eBay, Apple, and NASA.
If your main priority is creating
the best website for your users,
then you are on the right track.
5 Steps To Optimizing Your Website
For Google And Yahoo by Justin Maddox
The mere thought of SEO is enough
to send most webmasters into a flutter.
A good ranking in the search engines
is a sure-fire way to make money
from a website, yet it is not an
easy task. But while the exact ranking
algorithm used by top search engines
is one of the world's best kept
secrets there are some basic principals
you should always keep in mind:
1. Site Design
The structure of your site is important
because this is how search engines
see how each page relates to another.
When your site is spidered, the
search engine will quickly be able
to judge the relevance and quality
of your site from the sitemap.
Creating a good site map involves
naming pages using your top keywords,
while at the same time ensuring
you are giving it an accurate and
succinct name. Keyword spamming
has penalties! Google's sitemap
is a good example at http://www.google.com/sitemap.html.
2. Optimize for your audience,
not for the search engine.
Search engines prefer sites on
a specific subject because specialized
information is more beneficial to
search engine users. So, for example,
your site would have a better chance
of ranking highly if it was dedicated
specifically to lamp shades rather
than home furnishings or lighting
in general. This is because someone
searching for 'lamp shade' would
be better satisfied with a website
full of information specifically
relating to lamp shades, rather
than a general home furnishings
site with only a paragraph or two
dedicated to lamp shades.
Many sites have been successful
by focusing solely on providing
a website that meets the needs of
their audience, rather than the
needs of the search engines. If
possible, survey your users to find
out what they want out of the site
and if they have any suggestions.
The more you know about your audience,
the better the design you'll be
able to create. Make it easy for
visitors to interact on the site
and for you to answer their questions
too.
3. Label your internal text links
and image alt tags
Why? The main reason is that search
engine spiders can't read images.
Anything without text means nothing
to the spider. Other benefits of
labeling images include the ability
for the image to be searchable in
browsers such as Google Image search.
Image text also enables visibly
impaired visitors to use your site
more effectively and it helps to
generally improve the text content
of your page for search purposes.
An image label is just a clear description
of the image using keywords. Just
don't include too many keywords
in the alt text as there are penalties
for keyword stuffing!
4. Update your site regularly
Your site ranking will be enhanced
if the search engine spiders can
see it is being updated frequently.
Aim to add new content at least
once a week to create a living site.
The more frequently Google has to
come back to respider your site,
the better you will rank. Pages
that don't change will eventually
be downgraded in favor of sites
whose pages are fresher.
5. Link to Subject-related sites
Good quality backlinks are vital
to SEO as these tell the search
engine spiders that the site is
popular and/or important. Backlinks
are links that are directed to your
website from another site. Thus,
linking to relevant sites is a great
way to increase your search engine
ranking. If you can, try to implement
circular linking, where the sites
you link to also link to each other
and back to you again. For example,
you link to Site A and Site B, who
both link back to you and also link
to each other. The more clusters
of links you can get like this,
the more relevant your site will
be deemed to be.
Did you realize that broken links
can actually harm your search engine
optimization? If you set up a link,
and your linking partner pulls that
link in 6 months time, your ranking
could reduce. Thus it is critical
to check your links regularly to
ensure that you are being linked
back to.
Search engine optimization is not
something that can be done once
and then left alone. It requires
constant effort and attention. The
best way to keep up to date with
new SEO developments is to continue
read commentary and recent articles
by SEO experts. In general, remember
that the top websites are always
the ones people want to use, such
as the BBC, eBay, Apple, and NASA.
If your main priority is creating
the best website for your users,
then you are on the right track.
About the Author
Justin Maddox is development manager
for Traffic Travis, a highly regarded
SEO software tool designed to help
online businesses boost their website
traffic. Visit Traffic Travis for
more information.
