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Search
Engine Optimization is the art and science of tweaking a website to
appear in search results of major search engines for relevant
keyword searches. If you sell air conditioning in the Florida Keys,
you would want to appear in the search results when your potential
clients use the term "florida keys air conditioning" and other
related terms in a search box. Keep in mind, optimization is just
one (a very important one!) strategy for web site promotion.
How is this done? It's not rocket science, but attention to detail
and great content are significant factors for success. The life's
blood of search engines is to deliver relevant answers to your
search questions, if they don't, you will simply try some someone
else.
This is why Google, Yahoo and MSN work very hard to determine if
your site matches the queries posed by their viewers. They use
complicated algorithms to examine your content and weigh the
importance and relevance of the content against other similar sites.
The process of configuring your site content is what optimization is
all about.
The importance of relevance...
Page Titles
Your page title should reflect the theme of the page content. Joe's
Big Pine Key Bed and breakfast should not have a page title of "Home
Page". Search engines put a lot of weight on the page title, it
should be accurate and reflect exactly what that page is all about.
A better page title? "Big Pine Key Waterfront Bed and Breakfast - a
Florida Keys Fishing Resort". If they know the name of the resort,
they can always find it easy enough in a search; you want the viewer
who wants your products and services but doesn't know your name. If
the title and page content match, you have a chance at a higher
ranking in the search results. It is not always necessary or
desirable to have your business name in the title.
Meta Tags
Other than a description tag, they are all about useless, if you get
someone promising to update all your meta tags, grab your wallet.
Meta's are too easy to manipulate and search bots discount them.
Tags such as "refresh every 10 days", "safe for kids" are pretty
much ignored simply because the search engines don't trust them.
Topical Subjects
Keep the pages fairly topical try not to cover every little
thing you offer and dilute the importance of a page, that's why you
have links - you can readily devote a page to each important topic.
If you are a resort and have a marina, bar and restaurant, make a
topical page for each and you will have a much better shot at
rankings.
Flash
Flash pages are a great wow factor, only they are mainly composed of
images, even the text is supplied as an image. Search bots can't
"read" images, so use this sparingly. If they can't read it, they
don't place a lot of trust in it.
Heading tags and picture tags
By all means use descriptive picture file names and descriptions.
MCV990033.jpg means nothing to a search bot, a picture file name
like "topical-beach.jpg" may help. Be sure to use the alt
description picture tags with an accurate description of what the
picture is about and reinforce the topical keywords. Likewise, don't
overlook your relevant paragraph heading tags <h1> and so on.
These are
some of the basics, pro SEO companies will spend a lot of time
beforehand doing research on your competitors, keywords, web
competition, prior stats and other info before tweaking or redoing a
site. It is important that you establish a baseline before starting
your efforts. Make sure you have your prior stats and info
established - how else can you measure your success? This will be a
whole 'nother topic in the next several months.
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