SEO ARTICLES - CHECKLIST ETC

The Essential 2007 Code Optimization Tutorial for SEO
By James Kinsley (c) 2007

Do you want to get the traffic you deserve flooding into your
website? Code optimization is an essential component of the
search engine optimization process and if you aren't technically
minded then it can be difficult to get your head round. This
guide is meant for beginners and more advanced webmasters alike.

A shallow knowledge of HTML coding is useful, however, it is not
necessary. Optimizing your code can be done by simply opening
your html document in a text editor and changing different parts
as shown below. Follow these steps carefully and your code will
become 100% search engine optimized and ready for promotion and
link-building campaigns.

The steps below assume you have chosen the keywords which you
want to optimize the page code for. If you have not done that,
go and do that now and return to this guide later.

HTML Code Optimization

The optimization of your HTML code for search engines is vital.
It is the base of your SEO campaign. It must be optimized in a
number of ways in order to improve the relevance of a chosen
keyword. Follow the advice below as closely as possible. The
closer the better and the higher your rank will be.

Remember: Keywords are the words people will use in search
engines. Including a keyword in your site content (and
optimizing your site) will cause your site to be returned as
a search result. You can choose to optimize your page for a
keyword or a keyphrase (a number of related words, eg: 'free red
hats'). Using a keyphrase is more advantageous (as discussed
later) but for simplicity, I will refer to keywords AND
keyphrases as just keywords.

TIP: Try to optimize each page for just one keyword. This
will stop each keyword competing against each other for
weightings and you will rank higher for the chosen keyword.

The TITLE Tag

Location: just below the <head> tag

'<title>Web Promotion, Affiliate Marketing, SEO' for
example

1. The title tag should not contain any of the words Google
disregards. These are words like 'and', 'not', 'a', 'the',
'about' etc which are too common for Google to take any notice
of. Using these words will dilute the importance that your
keyword is given in your title (if you put it in your title).
These words are known as 'stop' words.

2. Include your keyword in the title of your page. Including
other words in your title that are not your chosen keyword/s
will be detrimental to your ranking. This is because it makes
your keyword seem less relevant to the title of the page. This
relevance is known as 'weight'. The more weight your keyword has
in a certain criteria the better.

3. Don't include the name of your website in the title of
your page: for example 'Share The Wealth – affiliate marketing'.
This is because it will dilute the prominence of your keyword
(in this example 'affiliate marketing'). It is tempting to
include your site's name as it may look better, however it is
not that important as people don't pay much attention to the
title.

The Meta tags

Location: just below the title tag.

Meta data appears as follows:

<meta name="Description" content="Free articles and guides
on affiliate marketing and SEO">

<meta name="Keywords" content="Affiliate Marketing,SEO">

1. This is where you specify your keywords:
<meta name="Keywords" content="keyword1, keyword2, keyword3">
Also, weight is given to how near your keyword is to the
beginning of your keywords list. So you should try to have
your most important keyword in the place of 'keyword1' in the
above example.

<meta name="Description" content="Free articles and guides on
affiliate marketing and SEO">

1. The above line is where the description, shown in google
results, is written. It goes after content=". Do not worry about
keyword weighting in here as search engines do not take this into
consideration anymore.

The BODY of your HTML

Once you have written the content of your page, you can begin
SEO on it. Complete the page ready for publishing and then apply
the following rules to it to ensure its optimized 100% for the
top search engines.

1. Your keyword should appear in bold at least once on your
page. This will show the search engines that the word, your
keyword, is important to the subject of your page and so must
be relevant to the keyword search performed by the search
engine user.

2. Your keyword should have a weight of 2% on your page. This is

the ideal percentage as if it is too high a search engine may
penalize your page for spamming. Spamming is a term used to
describe the action of webmasters that trick search engine page
ranking systems (SEPRS) into thinking they are relevant in order
to get a high ranking. These pages will not usually be relevant
at all and simply "cash in" selling advertising space with the
high traffic they receive. Spamming is increasingly becoming a
thing of the past as the search engine page ranking algorithms
become more sophisticated. To work out the percentage weight
your keyword has, visit www.live-keyword-analysis.com .

3. Use heading tags ( <h1>heading</h1> etc) and put your keyword
into the heading. Again the usual weighting rules exist. Have
your keyword as close to the beginning of the heading and have
as few other words in the heading as possible. Position this
heading as close to the top of your page as you can for increased
relevance.

4. Put your keyword in up to three of the alt attributes for
images and include it in one of the first three alt image
attributes in your code. Alt image attributes are the alt tags
given to images in your code which can be seen if the image
fails to load. These are great for hosting your keyword as users
cannot usually see them. Don't spam though, stick to three alt
tags. Alt tags are used as follows:

<img src="imagename.gif" alt="alt-text-here" width="image-width"
height="image-height">

5. Keep your page content between 100 and 1400 words. This is
for a number of reasons, including the size of Google's page
cache (amount of data from a page Google stores). If you have
too much content, you could try splitting the page into two
separate pages and perhaps having a 'page 2' link at the bottom
of the content.

6. Your keyword should appear at the beginning of your content
and at the end (The first and last 50 words)

Code Optimization Checklist

* No stop words in your title tag

* Keyword included in title

* Website name not included in title

* Keyword in meta keywords list

* Keyword placed as close to the beginning of the meta
keywords list as possible

* Keyword appears in bold at least once in the content

* Keyword has a 2% weight

* Keyword is in the first heading tag and is at the top
of the page content

* Keyword is in the first 50 words and last 50 words of
the page

* Page content is between 100 and 1400 words

* Keyword is in one of the first three alt image
attributes and is in three of them in total

Tips and Advice

• Try to optimize each page for just one keyword. This will
stop each keyword competing against each other for
weightings and prominence and you will rank higher for the
chosen keyword.

• Not every page of your site will be able to be optimized
for every criterion. Don't worry; just try to hit each
criteria as best you can. Sometimes you won't be able to
achieve a content size of above 100 words: on a contacts
page for example. Issues like this are of little importance
as not every page will have a particular need for perfect
optimization, because surfers will find contact information
from a link shown on the home page.

• Constantly check your competition. You may not feel it is
possible to get onto the first page on Google for a certain
keyword/phrase. Choose a less contested keyword.
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Page Rank
The search engine world never rests. As online marketing
professionals discover new ways to obtain top rankings the
algorithms evolve right along side. There are two primary
reasons behind the updating of ranking algorithms. To increase
the quality and relevancy of the results, and to decrease the
many pages of online spam.

As the algorithms are updated, new ways to affect the results
are discovered, and the algorithm must then be again adjusted.
This is a cycle that has been around since the early days of
search, and one that won't be going away any time soon. A lot
has changed over the years, and the future is sure to also
deliver its plethora of surprises, but there are three main
factors that will always have some level of impact on your
search results.

SEO, Content and Links

Some people say that the world of search engine optimization is
over and that the entire basis behind successful rankings lies

in the power of incoming links. While incoming links do play a
significant role, and in most cases are a necessity, they are
far from the only determining factor.

There are many determining factors behind what will affect the
ranking of a site. The three largest contributing factors are
SEO, links, and site content. To compete in highly competitive
industries a site needs numerous on-topic pages of content,
relevant incoming links from a variety of sources, and, solid
site optimization. While search is always changing, these three
factors will remain constant. Each may change in the level of
impact they have, but they will always contribute to the top
listings.

Site content and SEO go hand in hand. Content is very important,
but without the SEO to add focus, it can go unnoticed. Proper
keyword densities, link paths and keyword placement will always
play a role in having the content discovered and ranked by the
search engines. If the fundamental SEO aspects are not in place,
there is a strong chance that the content may never see the
light of day. Incoming links add focus and relevance for the
site overall, but if the content is not relevant to the desired
phrases the odds of obtaining a top ranking are very bleak.

Links play, and will continue to play a strong role in the
future of search rankings as they add that important vote of
confidence. When site A links to site B, that tells the search
engines site B is worth considering. Value is passed, based on
relevance and the overall authority of site A.

As more and more webmasters develop new linking schemes, the
algorithms responsible for displaying top sites have to
continually evolve to weed out the ever increasing amounts of
spam. While Google's current algorithm relies heavily on
incoming links, especially for sites in highly competitive
markets, this algorithm will have to change and mutate over time
as the internet continues to evolve. If rankings were determined
100% by inbound links where would this leave us? Thousands, if
not millions, of valuable websites would go completely unnoticed.
We would also see many sites ranking that are not relevant to
the actual search term due to issues related to Google bombing.

Political opinions aside, the single word "failure" does not
accurately represent the George Bush bio page; however, it
continues to rank #1 in Google. This was made possible by the
anchor text used in links posted by thousands of bloggers and
webmasters. If links were solely responsible for rankings, we
would see a lot more examples of Google Bombing as the actual
number of links required to 'bomb' would decline.

Where is Search Going?

For us to know the exact future of search we will have to wait
and see what happens, but some things are certain to grow in
popularity.

The future will undoubtedly see more advances in localized
search, serving results relevant to the locality of the
searcher. Is this the best way? Only time will tell, but even if
this is the future, we will still see SEO, links & content
dictating the results. The SEO and content will have to be in
part geared towards local information such as zip codes, city
names, etc, but they still will be important contributors.

Links will undoubtedly contribute to rankings long into the
future, but quite possibly will have a reduced role with more
SEO fundamentals making a comeback. One example is to take a
look at MSN Live Search. As reported by Ross Dunn in the SEO
BLOG (http://news.stepforth.com/blog/2006/11/
msn-algorithm-update-nov-3rd-2006.php) just this past weekend
an algorithm update has shown increased value on fundamentals
such as title tags and domain names. These two areas were once
an incredibly powerful tool in obtaining rankings, and had
reduced in value. Now, at least in MSN, they are gaining ground
once again.

Still in its infant stages, Mobile Search is growing as more and
more people turn to their cell phones and other mobile devices
for search. Mobile search will likely have the most benefit for
localized type searching. People looking for an address, weather
report, local business, entertainment information, etc. As time
goes on the number of users using Mobile Search will continue to
grow, and optimized sites will be the ones found by these
searchers. A whole new level of optimizing mobile websites will
likely emerge.

In 10 years time search will certainly look very different.
While it has become a staple in the lives of millions, in the
big scheme of things the internet is still very young and search
even younger.

Why SEO will always be important

SEO will always play an important role in having sites found in
the search engines. Regardless of how search algorithms evolve
they will always require a level of on site content in order to
correctly rank websites. As long as this content is considered,
proper keyword placement and frequencies will play a role.

SEO in itself will continue to change. The proper frequencies of
keyword placement, linking techniques and URL structure may
alter, but will always have an impact.

As we move into the future and as the search engine algorithms
continue to evolve SEO will always play an important role in
having your websites obtain top rankings. While the small things
will always change it is important to have the basic
fundamentals in place and doing so will help sustain consistent
rankings into the future.
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SEO CHECKLIST
When it comes to SEO not all of us have the time to be experts.
At some point the real "gurus" of SEO and other topics are the
people with a whole lot of time on their hands. This list, put
together with the everyday webmaster in mind, drives home some
absolutely crucial points that you should keep in mind when
optimizing your pages for valuable search rankings.

1. Check Search Engine Crawl Error Pages

It's important to monitor search engine crawl error reports to
keep on top of how your site and its pages are performing.
Monitoring error reports can help you determine when and where
Googlebot or another crawler is having trouble indexing your
content - which can help you find a solution to the problem.

2. Create/update robots.txt and sitemap files

These files are supported by major search engines and are
incredibly useful tools for ensuring that crawlers index your
important site content while avoiding those sections/files that
you deem to be either unimportant or cause problems in the crawl
process. In many cases we've seen the proper use of these files
make all the difference between a total crawl failure for a site
and a full index of content pages which makes them crucial from
an SEO standpoint.

3. Check Googlebot activity reports

These reports allow you to monitor how long it's taking
Googlebot to access your pages. This information can be very
important if you are worried that you may be on a slow network
or experiencing web server problems. If it is taking search
engine crawlers a long time to index your pages it may be the
case that there are times when they "time out" and stop
trying. Additionally, if the crawlers are unable to call your
pages up quickly there is a good chance users are experiencing
the same lag in load times, and we all know how impatient
internet users can be.

4. Check how your site looks to browsers without image and
JavaScript support

One of the best ways to determine just what your site looks like
to a search engine crawler is to view your pages in a browser
with image and JavaScript support disabled. Mozilla's Firefox
browser has a plug-in available called the "Web Developer
Toolbar" that adds this functionality and a lot more to the
popular standards-compliant browser. If after turning off image
and JavaScript support you aren't able to make sense of your
pages at all, it is a good sign that your site is not
well-optimized for search. While images and JavaScript can add a

lot to the user experience they should always be viewed as a
"luxury" - or simply an improvement upon an already-solid
textual content base.

5. Ensure that all navigation is in HTML, not images

One of the most common mistakes in web design is to use images
for site navigation. While for some companies and webmasters SEO
is not a concern and therefore they can get away with this, for
anyone worried about having well-optimized pages this should be
the first thing to go. Not only will it render your site
navigation basically valueless for search engine crawlers, but
within reason very similar effects can usually be achieved with
CSS roll-overs that maintain the aesthetic impact while still
providing valuable and relevant link text to search engines.

6. Check that all images include ALT text

Failing to include descriptive ALT text with images is to miss
out on another place to optimize your pages. Not only is this
important for accessibility for vision-impaired users, but
search engines simply can't "take a look" at your images and
decipher the content there. They can only see your ALT text, if
you've provided it, and the association they'll make with the
image and your relevant content will be based exclusively on
this attribute.

7. Use Flash content sparingly

Several years ago Flash hit the scene and spread like wild fire.
It was neat looking, quick to download and brought interactivity
and animation on the web to a new height. However, from an SEO
standpoint, Flash files might as well be spacer GIFs - they're
empty. Search engines are not able to index text/content within
a Flash file. For this reason, while Flash can do a lot for
presentation, from an accessibility and SEO standpoint it should
be used very sparingly and only on non-crucial content.

8. Ensure that each page has a unique <title> and meta
description tag

Optimization of <title> tags is one of the most important
on-page SEO points. Many webmasters are apparently unaware and
use either duplicate <title> tags for multiple pages or do not
target search traffic at all within this valuable tag. Run a
search on a competitive keyword of your choice on Google - click
on the first few links that show up and see what text appears in
the title bar for the window. You should see right away that
this is a key place to include target keywords for your pages.

9. Make sure that important page elements are HTML

The simple fact to keep in mind when optimizing a page is that
the crawlers are basically only looking at your source code.
Anything you've put together in a Flash movie, an image or any

other multimedia component is likely to be invisible to search
engines. With that in mind it should be clear that the most
important elements of your page, where the heart of your content
will lie, should be presented in clean, standards-compliant and
optimized HTML source code.

10. Be sure to target keywords in your page content

Some webmasters publish their pages in hopes that they will rank
well for competitive keywords within their topic or niche.
However, this will simply never happen unless you include your
target keywords in the page content. This means creating
well-optimized content that mentions these keywords frequently
without triggering spam filters. Any way you cut it you're
going to need to do some writing - if you don't like doing it
yourself it's a good idea to hire a professional copy writer.
Simply put: without relevant content that mentions your target
keywords you will not rank well.

11. Don't use frames

There is still some debate as to whether frames are absolutely
horrible for SEO or whether they are simply just not the best
choice. Is there really a difference? Either way, you probably
don't want to use frames. Crawlers can have trouble getting
through to your content and effectively indexing individual
pages, for one thing. For another, most functionality that the
use of frames allows is easily duplicated using proper CSS
coding. There is still some use for a frames-based layout, but
it is still better to avoid it if at all possible.

12. Make sure that your server is returning a 404 error code for
unfound pages

We've all seen it. We're browsing around at a new or familiar
site, clicking links and reading content, when we get the
infamous blank screen that reads "404 page not found" error.
While broken links that point to these pages should definitely
be avoided you also don't want to create a "custom error
page" to replace this page. Why? Well, it's simple: if you
generate a custom error page, crawlers can spend time following
broken links that they won't know are broken. A 404 error page
is easily recognizable, and search engine crawlers are
programmed to stop following links that generate this page. If
crawlers end up in a section of your site that is down through
an old link that you missed, they might not spend the time to
index the rest of your site.

13. Ensure that crawlers will not fall into infinite loops

Many webmasters see fit to include scripting languages, such as
PERL, PHP and ASP to add interactive functionality to their web
pages. Whether for a calendar system, a forum, eCommerce
functionality for an online store, etc. scripting is used quite
frequently on the internet. However, what some webmasters don't

realize is that unless they use robots.txt files or take other
preventative measures search engine crawlers can fall into what
are called "infinite loops" in their pages. Imagine, if you
will, a script that allows a webmaster to add a calendar to one
of his pages. Now, any programmer worth his salt would base this
script on calculations - it would auto-generate each page based
on the previous month and a formula to determine how the days
and dates would fall. That script, depending on sophistication,
could plausibly extend infinitely into the past or future. Now
think of the way a crawler works - it follows links, indexes
what it finds, and follows more links. What's to stop a crawler
from clicking "next month" in a calendar script an infinite
number of times? Nothing - well, almost nothing. Crawlers are
well-built programs that need to run efficiently. As such they
are built to recognize when they've run into an "infinite
loop" situation like this, and they will simply stop indexing
pages at a site that is flagged for this error.

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Writing Effective Meta Tags for Search Engine Optimization
by Donald Nelson ©Copyright 2002-2003

As with many other things which are unseen, there is a lot of
unnecessary mystery surrounding the use of meta-tags on web
pages. The meta tags are information slots in the "head" portion
of a web page.

Though there are several possible meta tags that may be
included in the head of a web page, the ones which are most
important for search engine optimization are the Title Tag,
the Description tag and the Keywords tag.

TITLE TAG

The title tag is really one of the most important single things
you can work on for improving your website’s search engine
results. Go to Google and make a search for any particular
keyword. If you look at the top ten entries in that search you
will see that all of them have this key word in the title,
sometimes more than once. So when writing your title tag, it is
helpful to have your keywords included in the title tag, and not
only in the tag, near the beginning of the title.

Suppose that your company is the Acme Manufacturing Company
and you are selling electric widgets and you are located in
California. What should your title tag be? Most people would
opt for the name of their company as the first word of the
title. It makes sense, in that it looks good in the blue
strip at the top of the browser, but it doesn’t necessarily
help you to get a good ranking in search results for your
keywords "electric widgets, California".

The first few words of your title tag are very important.

People may not be searching for Acme Manufacturing, unless
it is a very important brand, but they are searching for
electric widgets, and they may not want to purchase it from
someone in New York, especially if it is not a mail-order
type item.

In addition, if there are tons of widget companies, it will
be difficult to get to the top of the heap in a search simply
for the term "widgets". But if it is "widgets, California",
then you will have a good chance of getting a high ranking if
you put the keyword California prominently in the title. So,
if you are in a very competitive category and your customers
don’t already know about you, then you might consider a title
tag like this "Electric widgets from Acme Manufacturing of
California" or even better "Electric Widgets in California
produced by Acme Manufacturing."

Some guidelines for the title tag suggest that this tag be
limited to 70-80 characters including spaces. (I confess to
have used more on several occasions.)

META DESCRIPTION TAG

The next tag that has to be done is the Description tag.
Many search engines use the description tag as a way to tell
the searchers what the page is about. On MSN, for example,
the description of the site shown underneath the title is the
description that has been placed in the description tag.

The description tag is thus important in two respects: the
search engine robot searches it for keywords to "get an idea"
of what the page is about, and this tag will be seen by the
surfers as they scroll down through the search results. If it
is an interesting and well-written description then they may
click through to visit the site. So this tag should be well
written but also contain the important keywords that you wish
to highlight.

Going back to our example of Acme Manufacturing. We could
make a description tag that reads as follows: "Acme
Manufacturing is the largest producer of electric widgets in
California, providing round the clock service and warranties
on all products." This description contains the keywords
again and also says something about the company.

Some guidelines for description length recommend a maximum
length of 250 characters. Once again there is no precision
about this, but it is good to be cautious until you are
already entered into a search engine’s index.

META KEYWORDS TAG

The last of the important meta tags relevant to search engine
optimization is the keywords tag. In this tag you have a chance
to list your important keywords, but this time they do not have

to be in a coherent phrase as in the Title and Description. Put
your important keywords near the beginning. Make sure that all
the keywords used in the title and the description tags are again
listed. On top of that, add prominent keywords, especially those
that appear in the actual text of the page you are optimizing.
For the Acme Manufacturing company we could have these keywords:
"widgets, widget, electric widgets, California, widgets in
California, Acme Manufacturing, service, warrantee, warranties"

Many pundits advise against excessive repetition of any single
keyword even if they appear in different phrases separated by
commas. Once again the guidelines vary and are not precise but
it would be better to be conservative at first. How big should
the keywords section be? 800-1000 characters is the estimate
provided by some search engines and commentators alike.

The thing to remember about meta tags is that they are just one
part of search engine optimization. If your text is keyword rich
and your page structure allows the search engines to get to this
text easily and if, on top of this, you have crafted your meta
tags well, then you have an excellent chance of getting the
search engine positioning results that you are aiming for.

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GaryTheScubaGuy's SEO Checklist

I've been trying to come up with a sort of SEO Checklist for our n008ies here at Stickyeyes to use
and have come up with this list so far.

I know I'm missing several things. How about a little help here in identifying some other key
elements. Big or small, doesn't matter.

Metatags and on-page optimisation
Are the keywords in the title with a 1-word buffer (Max - 1 keyword phrase)
Are Keywords in META keywords. It’s not necessary for Google, but a good habit. Keep the META
keywords short (128 characters max, or 10).
Are Keywords in META description. Keep keyword close to the left but in a full sentence.
Are Keywords in the top portion of the page in first sentence of first full bodied paragraph (plain
text: no bold, no italic, no style).
Are Keywords in an H2-H4 heading
Are Keywords in bold – second paragraph if possible and anywhere but the first usage on page.
Are Keywords in italic – anywhere but the first usage.
Are Keywords in subscript/superscript.
Are Keywords in URL (directory name, filename, or domain name). Do not duplicate the keyword
in the URL.
Are Keywords in an image filename used on the page.
Are Keywords in ALT tag of that previous image mentioned.
Are Keywords in the title attribute of that image.
Are Keywords in link text to another site.
Are Keywords in an internal link’s text.
Are Keywords in title attribute of all links targeted in and out of page.

Are Keywords in the filename of your external CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) or JavaScript file.
Are Keywords in an inbound link on site (preferably from your home page).
Are Keywords in an inbound link from offsite (if possible).
Are Keywords in a link to a site that has a PageRank of 8 or better (e.g. .gov or .edu
Are Keywords in an html comment tag?

Technical
What is the code-to-text ratio? (text should be at minimum higher than the code)
How many links are pointing to the full url (with http://)
How many links are pointing to the domain?
What is the Domain name visibility? A count of results at Google for a search for the domain,
showing URL visibility rather than incoming link count.
Number of internal pages that link to the home page?
Number of Technorati links?
Number of del.icio.us links?
What is the page size?
How long does it take to load the page?
On each page, is the top keyword density on each page between 3-7%?
Are their any redirects?
Is the page W3C Compliant?
Is their any duplicate content out on the web?
Is the site in the top 10 directories?
Is a spider seeing all of the site content?

Other Issues
Is there at least 250 words in the content?
Is the keyword density for each kw on each page between 3-7%?
Javascript in external files?
Alternative navigation on flash or frames?
Xml and html sitemap?
Are their any broken links?
Is there a robots.txt file?
Browser Compatibility (IE, Netscape, Opera, Firefox, Mosaic and Safari)

Linking
Google backlinks
MSN backlinks
Yahoo backlinks
DMOZ listing?
Does the site have outward rss feeds?
Does the page have rss feeds for fresh on-page content?
Does the site have an SEO optimised 404 page?
PDF optimised docs in root file with a navigation page listing each doc description and link. Also a
separate xml sitemap for these and separate submission.
302 redirects? (Change to 301 - Google will penalise you for these if you leave them up too long)

In my list I have links to specific tools that will do many of these checks for you. If you are
interested in the excel spreadsheet with the links and an actual page report shoot me an pm or an
email and I'll trade you for a link somewhere.

BTW, I'm almost finished with the next Top 12 SEO Tips for 2007...Volume 2 (for those interested
- I slacked off for awhile trying to find some really good stuff and I think it will be worth the wait)

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Optimizing Content for Google's Universal Search
By Claudia Bruemmer (c) 2007

By now, you've all heard about Google's new Universal Search
concept, which combines all the information within its vertical
databases into one index to serve a single set of Web search
results. As you can imagine, this will require some adjustments
to standard search engine optimization techniques. If you have
been following the Bruce Clay methodology, then you should
already be on the right track to optimizing every aspect of your
Web site that is under your control. With the arrival of
universal search, it's not just a good idea; it's a
necessity.

Google Vice President of Search Products and User Experience
Marissa Mayer said the company's goal for universal search is to
create "a seamless, integrated experience to get users the best
answers." Mayer stated on the official Google blog that the
universal search vision would be "one of the biggest
architectural, ranking, and interface challenges" the search
engine would face.

Mayer first suggested this concept to Google back in 2001. Since
then, the company has been building the infrastructure,
algorithms and presentation mechanisms needed to blend the
different content from Images, Video, News, Maps, Blogs et al
into its Web results. This is Google's first step toward
removing the partition that separates its numerous search silos,
integrating these vast repositories of information into a
universal set of search results. The object is to make queries
more relevant for users, but what are the ramifications for
SEO?

Google Relevancy Challenge

Based on industry research, Google has a relevancy problem
because the database is too vast. Back in 2005, Jupiter Research
touched on this, stating it identified an opportunity for
vertical search engines. The study inferred that general search
engines were good at classifying vast amounts of information,
but not very good at serving results that helped users make
decisions.

A year later, Outsell came out with "Vertical Search Delivers
What Big Search Engines Miss," a study that also mentioned the
opportunity for vertical search due to dissatisfaction with
general search engines. This report published the oft-quoted
fact stating that the average Internet search failure rate is
31.9 percent. The study identified two market trends
contributing to the growth of vertical search – failed general
searches and rising keyword prices in paid search.

Another noteworthy study was conducted by Convera. Over 1,000
online business users were asked about their search practices,
successes, and failures. Only 21 percent of the respondents
thought that search queries on general search engines were
understood, a mere 10 percent found critical information on the
first try in general search engines. This study concluded, "To
date, professionals have not been adequately served by consumer
search engines."

The results of these studies show that Google and other general
search engines are challenged to produce relevant results,
suggesting vertical and niche search engines could eliminate
such problems because the niche databases contain topic-specific
information, serving targeted, more relevant answers to user
queries.

Google's Solution to Relevancy

Since Google's move toward universal search, one can only assume
it has considered the above problems and decided that pulling
all its databases together, comparing and ranking them
accurately at warp speed, could be the solution to relevancy.
Doing this requires new technical infrastructure, including new
algorithms, software and hardware, which Google has been working
on since 2001 and is now in the process of implementing.
Universal search has implications for search marketers because
it is a departure from the uniformity that characterized search
marketing in the past, requiring adjustments in SEO methodology.
Since the modifications will be implemented in steps, immediate
changes in the SERPS won't be obvious, and there is time to
develop new optimization strategies.

Search Personalization

In addition to universal search, Google is also focusing on
personalization in the SERPs. This means users will be seeing
different SERPS based on their previous queries, if signed into
their Google accounts. Users may or may not notice many changes
in the SERPs due to universal search and personalization,
depending on their level of sophistication and/or powers of
observation. However, marketers will be scrambling. Marketers
will need to get their clients listed into as many niche
databases as possible to increase the breadth of coverage for
universal search. Social media optimization techniques can be
used to enhance both universal and personalized search results.

Universal Search Optimization Strategies

The focus on personalization and universal search requires more
emphasis on social media SEO strategies because of user interest
in creating content and the vast amounts of new multimedia
content created daily on the Web. Marketers are beginning to
drive traffic via social networking sites, and these efforts are
known to enhance search engine optimization campaigns.
Strategies include creating multimedia content such as blogs,

videos and podcasts, and then getting them listed on social
search sites like Del.icio.us, Digg, Reddit and StumbleUpon, as
well as niche search engines like Technorati, Podzinger and
Blinx.

When creating multimedia content, you must ensure that it is
tagged and cataloged correctly. Multimedia content is optimized
through established fundamental SEO techniques, such as creating
keyword-rich, user-friendly content, unique Meta tags, good site
navigation and structure, and implementing a successful linking
strategy. Below are a few suggestions for creating and
submitting multimedia content for several of Google's vertical
databases to gain extended reach through universal search.

Google Image Search: It has always been a good idea to use
images on your site for illustrating your products and services.
Now, this becomes a way for your customers to find your site via
Google Image Search. Optimize your images with descriptive,
keyword-rich file names and ALT tags. Use accurate descriptions
of your image files for the benefit of the vision impaired and
others who might need to view the site with text only.

Google Video (beta): As with optimizing images, use descriptive,
keyword-rich file names for your video files. Also create a
keyword-rich title tag, description tag, and video site map.
Create a Web page to launch your video, optimizing content for
SEO and using anchor text wherever possible. Besides submitting
to Google Video, also include Blinkx and other social networking
and search sites like YouTube and Podzinger (audio and video
search engine).

Google News: Here's where you can submit your press releases for
display as "news" and subsequent indexing. Issue press
releases containing current information about new products and
events your site is involved with and Google News will likely
pick it up.

Google Maps: This is also known as Google Local, a vertical that
has been included in Google search results for a while. Give
your site a local presence through the Google Maps Local
Business Center where local businesses can get a free basic
listing to extend their reach in the SERPs.

Google Blog Search (beta): You all have a corporate blog, right?
This is how modern companies communicate with their customers
and stakeholders. Tag it (digg, del.icio.us, stumbleupon, etc.),
submit to Google Blog search, and extend your reach for Web
searches on Google.

In closing, there are many ways social and multimedia content
can enhance your SEO efforts. Experiment and learn how to use
social media to extend your SEO rankings. As you become aware of
the many niche databases for submitting multimedia content, this
can go a long way toward gaining visibility through Google's
personalized and universal search.

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====

Creating Widgets for Your Websites and Blogs
By Doran Roggio (c) 2007

With a widget you can place the current information from your
blogs and or/websites on other webpages, and your personal pages
on social networks like myspace, ning.com and your private
clubs. This is not only fun and informative, but an excellent
promotional tool.

What is a widget? According to Wikipedia a "web widget is
anything that can be embedded within a page of HTML, i.e. a web
page. A widget adds some content to that page that is not
static. Generally widgets are third party originated... Widgets
are also known as modules, snippets, and plug-ins. Widgets can
be written in HTML, but also in JavaScript, flash and other
scripting languages...

Applications can be integrated within a third party website by
the placement of a small snippet of code. This is becoming a
distribution or marketing channel for many companies. The code
brings in 'live' content - advertisements, links, images -
from a third party site without the web site owner having to
update."

You have probably seen widgets on web sites you have visited.
When clicked on the widget will take you to the source of the
information. Although widgets have been around since the late
nineties, they are becoming increasing more popular especially
with the rise of social networking.

I first started playing around with widgets as a way to promote
my own AC published content. While widgets are not that
difficult, they can be a little tricky at first if unfamiliar to
you. It took me several tries to perfect my own widgets and
place them on my blog and social networking sites. They now work
perfectly without any problems. As I add content to my AC page
for example, the widget automatically updates to show the most
current article titles.

If you have not had the opportunity to work with widgets or have
attempted to do so without success, this article is for you. With
little effort you will be able to make the widgets and place
them on the web pages that you choose. Once mastered the widgets
are really cool and worth the effort.

Making A Widget

At widgetbox.com you can make a widget to place on your pages.
You can customize the widget with size, details, title and
colors and even list it in their blidget directory which gives
more exposure to your blog and AC page (every little bit of
promotion helps). You can make as many widgets as you want, I

have one for my blog at Women-sense.com and another for my AC
content producer page so far.

Go to widgetbox.com, on the left sidebar click on the button
that says 'Make a blidget'. This will open up a box that asks
for the url where the information is being gathered. For my blog
I just entered the blog url, (http://women-sense.com).
Widgetbox.com automatically draws from the rss feed for that
URL. Don't ask me how, I have no idea but it works. For my
Associated Content I added the actual RSS link which I found by
clicking on the RSS symbol and copying the url address from the
browser address bar.

Once you add the link to the blidget box it will open to a page
that will give you customizing options. You will see your widget
on the right hand side with your information from the RSS feed.
You can opt to list article titles or titles with article
summaries. Different colors as well as sizing and/or images are
other options available. Fool with the options until you get it
the way you want it to look.

When you finish setting the options and you are happy with the
way it looks, click on one of the article titles to assure it is
working correctly. When clicked it should click thru to the site
your are promoting.

Registering and Getting The Code

If working correctly, the next step is to get the code. Now you
will need the code in order to place the widget on your myspace
page or other website of your choice.

Before getting the code the next step in the creation of your
widget offers you the chance to list your widget in the blidget
gallery. I opted for this and you will probably want to do so as
well. It can only add to your exposure. Add keyword tags and
click 'publish blidget'.

You will then be asked to register if you do not already
have an account. Don't worry, the service is absolutely free.
By registering you will be able to come back and make as many
widgets as you want and add them to your account for editing.

Once you have registered you will now be taken to a another page
with several options. Near the top you will see the title of the
widget (example: AC Media) on the far right of the title click
the green button that says 'get widget'.

Placing The Widget On Websites

A drop down list opens up for you to choose where to place the
widget. You will see there are many choices. If you are placing
your widget on myspace, for example, choose that selection. You
will be asked for your myspace email and password, along with
what section you want the widget to be placed. Widgetbox.com

will automatically place the widget on your myspace page in the
section you desire.

Perhaps you want to place the widget on a site that is not
listed. In this case you would choose the section that says,
'get code'. There will be two choices to choose from, a
Javascript and a Flash script. At this point you may have to
experiment to see which code will work on the site you are
attempting to place the widget.

Many sites do not allow Javascript. If you are working on your
own webpages you can probably use the Javascript code. Copy and
paste the code in your website's html, save and upload your page
as usual. The widget should work fine.

For other sites like ning.com you want the flash script. Select
all and copy the code for the flash script. Paste the code into
a block where you are able to add information by clicking on
edit/add in the box and paste the code. You are almost done.

Before saving you will need to add opening and closing div tags
to the code in order for it to show up. At the beginning of the
code place the <div> and at the end of the code include </div>.

Click save and close the opened text box and your widget should
be displayed. If correctly done, your widget will automatically
update every time you add new content to the site your widget is
promoting.

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====
Making Your Site Search Engine Friendly - Spiderability
By John Buchanan (c) 2007

One of the keys to obtaining top rankings, or ANY rankings for
that matter is making sure that the search engines can properly
spider and index your site. This means doing whatever you can to
make sure the search engines are able to reach each page of your
site as easily as possible.

When I talk to my clients about spiderability, I'm generally
referring to two things...

1) Are all the links in the site true hyperlinks that can be
picked up properly by the search engines.

2) Are all the pages within the site reachable within 2-3
clicks from the homepage.

So let's go over the above two areas of concern.

1) Hyperlinks. This may seem almost silly, but you would be
amazed at the number of sites I run into when doing
consultations and website analyses that have non-standard
hyperlinks. By "non-standard", I'm referring to javascript

generated hyperlinks or hyperlinks embedded within flash files.

There is nothing inherently wrong with javascript or flash when
used properly, but the simple fact is that javascript and flash
are NOT search engine friendly. Google is pretty much the only
engine that is able to pick up links within javascript or flash
code. At this time, I have seen no evidence that either Yahoo or
MSN have this ability.

While Google may be able to pick up links, it is unclear as to
whether or not Google places any VALUE on the links it finds in
this manner. Remember, much of a page's ranking in Google is
determined by links, so you want to be absolutely sure that each
and every link is valued.

So, be absolutely sure that your links are true hyperlinks (by
"true" hyperlinks, I'm talking about hyperlinks coded with the
normal href tags) if you want to make sure they are found,
followed, and counted by all the engines.

2) Distance from Homepage. Ideally, you want your visitors and
the search engines to be able to reach any page within your
site within a maximum of three (3) clicks and preferably two
clicks. The more clicks it takes to reach a page, the less
chance there is that the search engines will index that page.

It is for this reason, that site maps have become so popular.
By utilizing a sitemap, you are able to link from your homepage
to a page that lists all or most of the links to the various
pages of your site. The search engines (and visitors) are then
able to get to virtually any page of your site within just a
couple of clicks.

You'll notice I've mentioned not only the search engines but
the visitors as well in the above paragraphs. By reducing the
number of clicks it takes to get from your homepage to any page
on your site, you will find that you also increase the overall
usability of your site.

While site maps can definitely help to increase the
spiderability of a site, it is important to remember that they
are not a total fix for bad navigational structure within a
site. As mentioned, all of the search engines utilize page
link popularity in one way or another in their algorithms.

In general, the homepage of a site will have the highest link
popularity of any page within the site. This is because most
inbound links to a site are pointing to the homepage. It's from
the homepage that all the internal pages derive their link
popularity from a sort of "trickle down" affect.

A site map will only derive a certain amount of link popularity
that it can pass on to the pages it links to. To understand this
best, think of the homepage as a large river with each link on
the homepage a smaller river branching off from the main river.

Each river will be fed a similar amount of water by the main
river. Alone one branch of the river will never be able to
deliver as much water to the various areas as all the branches
of the river can combined.

The site map is one branch of your sites link popularity river
and it has value, but it will never have the same impact as a
well thought out and implemented links structure that makes use
of all the rivers of link popularity within your site.

To make the most use of the link popularity of your site, you
should try and setup your sites navigational structure so that
even without a site map, the search engines and visitors are
STILL able to reach any page on your site within 2-3 clicks.

So...to make a long story short...Always be sure to utilize
true, standard hyperlinks throughout your site and be sure that
your sites navigational structure allows any page of your site
to be reached within no more than 3 clicks.

See you at the top!
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==
8 Tips To Create A Landing Page
By Ayat Shukairy (c) 2007

Introduction

You need copy for your landing page but you're not sure where
to start. First let's clarify what we mean by a landing page. A
landing page can be a page that visitors come to after clicking
on a promotional banner or link. Ultimately, the landing page
must convince the visitor that they should stay on your site.
You may also have a goal that you want accomplished, such as:

• Signing up for a newsletter or filling out a form
• Buying a product
• Reading informational pieces

What's going to keep them there? The structure, the language,
and the visual appeal all play a part of it. Check out these
tips to create a great landing page, or reinvent the one you
already have.

The Structure

People arrive at your site looking for answers. They scan to
see if they're in the right place and assess whether it's going
to be a quick and easy visit or a long grinding one. Your
landing page is the welcome wagon inviting them in and feeding
them the information they need. The structure of the page will
either pull them in and encourage them to fulfill your goal, or
distract and cause them to cut out of there before getting the
whole picture.

The structure of the landing page in general should be matching
that of the banner, ad or link they clicked on to get them
there. So for example, if your PPC Ad is targeting SEO
articles, your landing page should discuss exactly that. If a
Victoria Secret's Ad for lingerie shows up and you click on it,
you will be transferred to a landing page with the exact image
and structure of the ad.

The Visuals

• Copy placement – Strategic use of copy and graphics will
catch the visitor's attention. Don't muck up the page with
large, distracting graphics. Use plenty of whitespace and place
your message in the central portion of the page rather than
placing information down the sides, where the focus can be lost
quickly. Keep the copy short. The visitor expects a precise
message, so don't choke it up with tons of mindless prose.

• Beauty is in the eye – Use a consistent color palette. If you
have advertising or banners that link visitors to your website,
make sure the concept and color scheme match across the board.
It's also a great visual indicator for the visitor because they
can easily identify that they're still in the right place.

• Simplify – Remove any distracting elements like advertising
banners, links, or additional blocks of information from the
page and get down to the specific message.

The Goal

Before you design the landing page, decide what the goal of the
page will be. If you're looking for newsletter subscribers, the
goal will be to have the visitor enter their information and
become a member of your mailing list.

Be a Sleuth

Do your research. Keep your visitors in mind when building your
landing page and tailor it to suit their needs. By narrowing
your options and focusing on your visitor, you'll stay on
target.

Keep Your Focus

Keep the focus on you. You've dangled a large poster board over
their head and pulled them in. Now that you've got them, don't
give your visitors a reason to wander.

Use a Call to Action

A call to action, such as 'subscribe now' or 'get this offer'
reminds the visitor why they are on your website. Place them
toward the top of your page. For users that want to click, it
allows them to find it easily. For those who are still
deciding, it's a great reminder.

Many sites place the consultation form or contact form directly
on the landing page, which may not be such a bad idea. Again,
you need glaring calls to action. Don't add several useless
links on the page that will take the visitor back to your main
site; rather include the links that will get them to actually
purchase your product/service.

Write Like a Pro

No, you don't have to hire one to look like one. What's the
best way to come off like a professional? Create landing pages
with no grammatical or spelling errors. I recently hit a
website offering 'discount holideys.' As I clicked out of
there, I pictured the four-star flea-bag motel by the swampland
I might have booked if I stayed.

Reassure

People get leery when they're asked for their personal data. If
you're asking for personal information, make sure you have a
credible privacy policy to back you up.
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Knowing Your Visitors Through Website Traffic Analysis
By Don Resh (c) 2007

Analyzing your web traffic statistics can be an invaluable tool
for a number of different reasons. But before you can make full
use of this tool, you need to understand how to interpret the
data.

Most web hosting companies will provide you with basic web
traffic information that you then have to interpret and make
pertinent use of. However, the data you receive from your host
company can be overwhelming if you don't understand how to
apply it to your particular business and website. Let's start
by examining the most basic data - the average visitors to your
site on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

These figures are the most accurate measure of your website's
activity. It would appear on the surface that the more traffic
you see recorded, the better you can assume your website is
doing, but this is an inaccurate perception. You must also look
at the behavior of your visitors once they come to your website
to accurately gauge the effectiveness of your site.

Traffic Analysis

There is often a great misconception about what is commonly
known as "hits" and what is really effective, quality traffic
to your site. Hits simply means the number of information
requests received by the server. If you think about the fact
that a hit can simply equate to the number of graphics per page,
you will get an idea of how overblown the concept of hits can

be. For example, if your homepage has 15 graphics on it, the
server records this as 15 hits, when in reality we are talking
about a single visitor checking out a single page on your site.
As you can see, hits are not useful in analyzing your website
traffic.

The more visitors that come to your website, the more accurate
your interpretation will become. The greater the traffic is to
your website, the more precise your analysis will be of overall
trends in visitor behavior. The smaller the number of visitors,
the more a few anomalous visitors can distort the analysis.

The aim is to use the web traffic statistics to figure out how
well or how poorly your site is working for your visitors. One
way to determine this is to find out how long on average your
visitors spend on your site. If the time spent is relatively
brief, it usually indicates an underlying problem. Then the
challenge is to figure out what that problem is.

It could be that your keywords are directing the wrong type of
visitors to your website, or that your graphics are confusing or
intimidating, causing the visitor to exit rapidly. Use the
knowledge of how much time visitors are spending on your site to
pinpoint specific problems, and after you fix those problems,
continue to use time spent as a gauge of how effective your fix
has been.

Additionally, web traffic stats can help you determine effective
and ineffective areas of your website. If you have a page that
you believe is important, but visitors are exiting it rapidly,
that page needs attention. You could, for example, consider
improving the link to this page by making the link more
noticeable and enticing, or you could improve the look of the
page or the ease that your visitors can access the necessary
information on that page.

If, on the other hand, you notice that visitors are spending a
lot of time on pages that you think are less important, you
might consider moving some of your sales copy and marketing
focus to that particular page.

As you can see, these statistics will reveal vital information
about the effectiveness of individual pages, and visitor habits
and motivation. This is essential information to any successful
Internet marketing campaign.

Your website undoubtedly has exit pages, such as a final order
or contact form. This is a page you can expect your visitor to
exit rapidly. However, not every visitor to your site is going
to find exactly what he or she is looking for, so statistics may
show you a number of different exit pages. This is normal unless
you notice an exit trend on a particular page that is not
intended as an exit page. In the case that a significant
percentage of visitors are exiting your website on a page not
designed for that purpose, you must closely examine that

particular page to discern what the problem is. Once you
pinpoint potential weaknesses on that page, minor modifications
in content or graphics may have a significant impact on the
keeping visitors moving through your site instead of exiting at
the wrong page.

After you have analyzed your visitor statistics, it's time to
turn to your keywords and phrases. Notice if particular keywords
are directing a specific type of visitor to your site. The more
targeted the visitor - meaning that they find what they are
looking for on your site, and even better, fill out your contact
form or make a purchase - the more valuable that keyword is.

However, if you find a large number of visitors are being
directed - or should I say misdirected - to your site by a
particular keyword or phrase, that keyword demands adjustment.
Keywords are vital to bringing quality visitors to your site who
are ready to do business with you. Close analysis of the
keywords your visitors are using to find your site will give you
a vital understanding of your visitor's needs and motivations.

Finally, if you notice that users are finding your website by
typing in your company name, break open the champagne! It means
you have achieved a significant level of brand recognition, and
this is a sure sign of burgeoning success.
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The Lucky Thirteen: The Critical SEO Checklist
By Mike Tekula (c) 2007

When it comes to SEO not all of us have the time to be experts.
At some point the real "gurus" of SEO and other topics are the
people with a whole lot of time on their hands. This list, put
together with the everyday webmaster in mind, drives home some
absolutely crucial points that you should keep in mind when
optimizing your pages for valuable search rankings.

1. Check Search Engine Crawl Error Pages

It's important to monitor search engine crawl error reports to
keep on top of how your site and its pages are performing.
Monitoring error reports can help you determine when and where
Googlebot or another crawler is having trouble indexing your
content - which can help you find a solution to the problem.

2. Create/update robots.txt and sitemap files

These files are supported by major search engines and are
incredibly useful tools for ensuring that crawlers index your
important site content while avoiding those sections/files that
you deem to be either unimportant or cause problems in the crawl
process. In many cases we've seen the proper use of these files
make all the difference between a total crawl failure for a site
and a full index of content pages which makes them crucial from
an SEO standpoint.

3. Check Googlebot activity reports

These reports allow you to monitor how long it's taking
Googlebot to access your pages. This information can be very
important if you are worried that you may be on a slow network
or experiencing web server problems. If it is taking search
engine crawlers a long time to index your pages it may be the
case that there are times when they "time out" and stop
trying. Additionally, if the crawlers are unable to call your
pages up quickly there is a good chance users are experiencing
the same lag in load times, and we all know how impatient
internet users can be.

4. Check how your site looks to browsers without image and
JavaScript support

One of the best ways to determine just what your site looks like
to a search engine crawler is to view your pages in a browser
with image and JavaScript support disabled. Mozilla's Firefox
browser has a plug-in available called the "Web Developer
Toolbar" that adds this functionality and a lot more to the
popular standards-compliant browser. If after turning off image
and JavaScript support you aren't able to make sense of your
pages at all, it is a good sign that your site is not
well-optimized for search. While images and JavaScript can add a
lot to the user experience they should always be viewed as a
"luxury" - or simply an improvement upon an already-solid
textual content base.

5. Ensure that all navigation is in HTML, not images

One of the most common mistakes in web design is to use images
for site navigation. While for some companies and webmasters SEO
is not a concern and therefore they can get away with this, for
anyone worried about having well-optimized pages this should be
the first thing to go. Not only will it render your site
navigation basically valueless for search engine crawlers, but
within reason very similar effects can usually be achieved with
CSS roll-overs that maintain the aesthetic impact while still
providing valuable and relevant link text to search engines.

6. Check that all images include ALT text

Failing to include descriptive ALT text with images is to miss
out on another place to optimize your pages. Not only is this
important for accessibility for vision-impaired users, but
search engines simply can't "take a look" at your images and
decipher the content there. They can only see your ALT text, if
you've provided it, and the association they'll make with the
image and your relevant content will be based exclusively on
this attribute.

7. Use Flash content sparingly

Several years ago Flash hit the scene and spread like wild fire.
It was neat looking, quick to download and brought interactivity
and animation on the web to a new height. However, from an SEO
standpoint, Flash files might as well be spacer GIFs - they're
empty. Search engines are not able to index text/content within
a Flash file. For this reason, while Flash can do a lot for
presentation, from an accessibility and SEO standpoint it should
be used very sparingly and only on non-crucial content.

8. Ensure that each page has a unique <title> and meta
description tag

Optimization of <title> tags is one of the most important
on-page SEO points. Many webmasters are apparently unaware and
use either duplicate <title> tags for multiple pages or do not
target search traffic at all within this valuable tag. Run a
search on a competitive keyword of your choice on Google - click
on the first few links that show up and see what text appears in
the title bar for the window. You should see right away that
this is a key place to include target keywords for your pages.

9. Make sure that important page elements are HTML

The simple fact to keep in mind when optimizing a page is that
the crawlers are basically only looking at your source code.
Anything you've put together in a Flash movie, an image or any
other multimedia component is likely to be invisible to search
engines. With that in mind it should be clear that the most
important elements of your page, where the heart of your content
will lie, should be presented in clean, standards-compliant and
optimized HTML source code.

10. Be sure to target keywords in your page content

Some webmasters publish their pages in hopes that they will rank
well for competitive keywords within their topic or niche.
However, this will simply never happen unless you include your
target keywords in the page content. This means creating
well-optimized content that mentions these keywords frequently
without triggering spam filters. Any way you cut it you're
going to need to do some writing - if you don't like doing it
yourself it's a good idea to hire a professional copy writer.
Simply put: without relevant content that mentions your target
keywords you will not rank well.

11. Don't use frames

There is still some debate as to whether frames are absolutely
horrible for SEO or whether they are simply just not the best
choice. Is there really a difference? Either way, you probably
don't want to use frames. Crawlers can have trouble getting
through to your content and effectively indexing individual
pages, for one thing. For another, most functionality that the
use of frames allows is easily duplicated using proper CSS
coding. There is still some use for a frames-based layout, but

it is still better to avoid it if at all possible.

12. Make sure that your server is returning a 404 error code for
unfound pages

We've all seen it. We're browsing around at a new or familiar
site, clicking links and reading content, when we get the
infamous blank screen that reads "404 page not found" error.
While broken links that point to these pages should definitely
be avoided you also don't want to create a "custom error
page" to replace this page. Why? Well, it's simple: if you
generate a custom error page, crawlers can spend time following
broken links that they won't know are broken. A 404 error page
is easily recognizable, and search engine crawlers are
programmed to stop following links that generate this page. If
crawlers end up in a section of your site that is down through
an old link that you missed, they might not spend the time to
index the rest of your site.

13. Ensure that crawlers will not fall into infinite loops

Many webmasters see fit to include scripting languages, such as
PERL, PHP and ASP to add interactive functionality to their web
pages. Whether for a calendar system, a forum, eCommerce
functionality for an online store, etc. scripting is used quite
frequently on the internet. However, what some webmasters don't
realize is that unless they use robots.txt files or take other
preventative measures search engine crawlers can fall into what
are called "infinite loops" in their pages. Imagine, if you
will, a script that allows a webmaster to add a calendar to one
of his pages. Now, any programmer worth his salt would base this
script on calculations - it would auto-generate each page based
on the previous month and a formula to determine how the days
and dates would fall. That script, depending on sophistication,
could plausibly extend infinitely into the past or future. Now
think of the way a crawler works - it follows links, indexes
what it finds, and follows more links. What's to stop a crawler
from clicking "next month" in a calendar script an infinite
number of times? Nothing - well, almost nothing. Crawlers are
well-built programs that need to run efficiently. As such they
are built to recognize when they've run into an "infinite
loop" situation like this, and they will simply stop indexing
pages at a site that is flagged for this error.
============================================================
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The Hard Line Keyword Sales Pitch
(Page 1 of 4 )

Have you ever tried to be nice to one of those kids making money for college by allowing them to
"clean your carpet" for free? Then, after they sucked all that dirt out of one little spot, you
remembered they couldn't leave until their "supervisor" came to pick them up? You knew that you
would have to suffer through one of those tenacious hard-line salesmen before you could get rid
of the two of them.

Here is a technique that makes your web page do the job of that supervisor. It's for use when
your main objective is to sell, or otherwise convert the visitor, and you have a good product, for
which there is a ready market.

With this technique, the goal is to take our share of those customers who are already looking
every day for the product that we want to sell. It is a hard line approach from the search engine
robot's point of view. To the human reader, your web site will feel organized, authoritative and
give a sense of credibility to your business, encouraging the "buy" or sign-up from those who are
serious, ready-to-buy customers.

Start with the Domain

Let's say we want to sell bat houses.

If we were real people looking for a place to buy a bat house, we would start with our favorite
search engine and do a search for "bat houses." Because this is the first phrase that comes to
mind when thinking of our product, we know that the most efficient and aggressive domain for
this product from a keyword standpoint would be bathouse.com. It should be a dot com domain
because most people are still conditioned to automatically associate it with the domain name,
even after being told the top level domain is .net or .org.

After our potential customer finds our web site the first time, we want them to be able to
remember it and return -- especially if they didn't buy the first time, or once they need three
more bat houses after they see how well this one works.

If our first choice of domain name is taken already, we will try variations until we come up with
something that is similar. For very popular keywords, we may have to work a bit to get what
we want. Other variations of bat house could be:

Bat-house.com
Bat_house.com
Bathouses.com
Bat-houses.com
Bat_houses.com

For very popular keywords, even these will be taken, so we get more creative with domains
like:

Batshouse.com
Bats-house.com
Bats_house.com
Batshouses.com
Bats-houses.com
Bats_houses.com

Most domain providers will offer suggestions for variations as well. We want to stay as close to the
original keyword as we can.

The Domain IS Our Keyword

Because our domain is our keyword, every internal link we create and every page in our domain
reinforces our relevance.

Keyword optimizing is easy. Make title, meta tags, descriptions, etc, begin with the domain name,
in this case "bat house."

We will use every optimization technique for links and images that follow on the remainder of the
page, by filling all the tags with our keywords, and using names for links and images that relate to
the keyword.

Be certain that all of your images are named for the keyword.

bathouse-tall.gif
bathouse-large.gif
bathouse-fancy.gif

Use at least three images that have high visual relevance to the domain name / keyword. We
would not use pictures of bats flying in the wild. We want images of the house(s) we have to sell,
or if we have just one, we'll show the house in different views, sizes or uses.

The Hard Line Keyword Sales Pitch - The Ask for the Sale Keyword Link
(Page 2 of 4 )

You will often see images used as order links on web pages. While they are pretty, we want to
create an ORDER link that is populated by our keywords. We are opting to use text over an image
because we want the words to draw the human eye, as well as the search engine robot's eye.

In addition, many of the sites returned in top search engine results may be bat related sites and
not have bat houses for sale at all. Because of the placement and wording of this order link, the
keywords it contains will most likely show up in the short description of the site. For the surfer
who already knows they want to buy a bat house, this is a way to encourage that customer to
select our site from among the other ten listed on the result page.

In the example shown below, we may also get delivery information and the guarantee wording
listed in the description.

For our bat house, we can use:

Bat House Orders Here

Below you will see what the link will look like to the search engine's robot. Notice the keywords
highlighted in brown.

<a title="Bat house orders click here. Delivery in 7 days. 30 day Money Back Guarantee."
style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; text-underline: single"
href="http://www.bathouse.com/order.html">

Bat House Orders Here</a>

Place this link in at least the following spaces on the web page:

Side navigation links
Top navigation links
Footer navigation links
In the first paragraph of text
After the final paragraph

- Sample Page Top -

- Sample Page Bottom -

Text and Keyword for Aggressive Sales

We are not going to talk about psychological sales techniques and using certain triggers to get
customers to buy. If we did not have a strong product, with a market already defined, we may
have had to use those methods. As it is, our product's market is set, so our job is to convince the
customer that our web is the best place to buy, not to convince them they need the product.

To do that, we are going to take the high road and use a writing style that funnels our visitor
through the information they want to see and then to the sale. Instead of relying on sales
method, we'll rely on our information, and the strategic placement and use of keywords to close
our sale.

The text will be specific, using five keyword strong paragraphs.

Paragraph one will introduce the product briefly.

The first sentence will start with Bat house and describe the use.
Sentence two will tell the product's rating from good to best, and cite the source of the rating if
there is one.
The third sentence states your delivery policy and guarantee.
The fourth sentence tells why your company is worthy of buying from.
The last sentence covers the order procedure.

These are sentences that introduce, not give detail. We want to allow the person who already
knows they want to buy to get on with it and not make them wade through a sales pitch. There is
no sense in wasting their time. For the customer who wants to make sure this is the right place to
buy, or that we have the product they are looking for, we are going to outline what we have and
what we can do in this paragraph.

In the remainder of the text that comes after paragraph one, take the time to expound on what is
said in the introduction. In fact, the other paragraphs on this page are defined by the sentences in
the first.

Paragraph one is the introduction
Paragraph two will tell about the product's rating
Paragraph three tells the delivery policy and guarantee
Paragraph four tells a bit about our company and why we are the best source for supply of bat
houses.
Paragraph five gives details about how to order, and is followed by the text order link as discussed
above.

Each paragraph states the keyword as the first words of the first sentence. We aren't forced to
use the keyword in the body of each paragraph after the first sentence, but probably will, simply
because it is most descriptive of the product.

In each paragraph, create contextual links to pages that give more detail, or to our order page.
We won't link to anything that is not directly related to the sale. Not to other products we have to
offer, or to other interesting pages about bats on our website.

If we also sell bat house cleaner, we are going to avoid the temptation to tack on a sales pitch for
bat house cleaner on our bat house sales page.

It is more aggressive to create a home page with links to our various products, or to create a
thank you page after the sale with reference to the bat house cleaner and other products. If using
the thank you page, we also want to tell the customer to save the page for verification of the sale.
That way, they will see the add-on, keyword rich sales pitches any time they check the
information for the guarantee period, or if they want to buy another bat house.

To increase keyword prevalence on our page, we will include links to bat sites. For this area we
can afford to be altruistic. We can use links to bat societies; bat farms, an article on Wikipedia, to
Ask.com, anywhere that relates to bats as a whole.

We do not want to include links to our competition anywhere on this page. If a sale is going to be
made, we want that sale made on our web. Remember to make links open in a new window.

The website footer is a perfect place to reinforce our keyword rich links to important parts of the
web, like the product page and the order page, or a coupon page. A link to the guarantee is also
good here. Don't forget a link to reload the page or to go to the top. Again, all of these links
should be named to reflect the keyword and have tags filled with the keyword phrase.

The Hard Line Keyword Sales Pitch - Pulling Our Keyword Sales Page Together
(Page 4 of 4 )

Using one keyword phrase, we have developed a keyword rich page that focuses on sales for one
product. Every element, from header to footer and text in between courts the search engine
robot, while satisfying the human visitor.

We have eliminated any tendency to send the customer away from our page and into the arms of
another bat house salesman, while offering useful information in the form of articles and sources
for bat info to our customer. At the same time we satisfy link hungry search algorithms with links
to stories, articles or groups directly related to our keyword.

Most important, we have used the text on our page to give the consumer what they really want -
information about the product, our company, how to order and information about the guarantee
(an important secondary keyword).

When we're on the Internet to sell, we want to make that sale as easy as possible for the serious
customer. Serious customers are those who want to buy now. Their time is precious. They already
know what they want or need, and are simply looking for the best and most convenient place to
get that item.

For this customer, our to-the-point, keyword focused web, will not only deliver what they want,
but will alleviate their frustration in finding that special product.

Remember that the true goal of search optimization and marketing is to match a searcher with a
web site that features the item for which they are searching. How better to realize this goal than
to take the hard-line approach to keyword optimizing your sales web sites? Help your business by
helping your customer with a keyword aggressive web site.

June 19, 2007

The Secret To Getting More Links For Boring Sites: The Importance of
the Secondary Audience

By Scott Goodyear

You have a web site. You are looking for better rankings in the search engines, but your site is
pretty boring. Perhaps not boring by your own standards, maybe not boring even by the
standards of your target audience, but what about the secondary audience for your site? Can you
hope to obtain links, essentially search engine recommendations, from some one outside of your
core audience?

Many first time web masters will say, "But I'm not trying to get links from sites outside of my
customers." I ask why not? For many "boring" sites, they have little chance of being linked to by
their core, primary audience.

Let's say that you were selling large vending machines. The vending machines that you sell are
the type that you'd pop a few quarters into in order to buy a can of Coke or Pepsi. Outside the
grocery store, in a break room, you would see these machines dispensing small bags of chips,

candy, gum, etc. Pretty straight forward right? Not too technical nor too exciting. Your target
audience would be grocery stores, convenience stores, businesses small and large, and many
others. Although not many people search on "vending machine sales" or similar keyword phrases,
when they do search, you want to show up. You may have all of the content on your site that
describes your vending machines to the smallest detail, like how many 12 packs of soda you can
load into the machine at once, but why would your latest client link to you? Sure you had the best
price, lowest cost shipping, etc. but their company does not link to the company that they buy
donuts from on Fridays, nor will they link to you. And if they did, would a link from XYZ Business
Machines and Copiers really help you to improve your rankings for vending machines when most
search engines see vending machine keywords often found with pages and sites about drinks,
snacks, and so on? Links are an integral part of a high ranking. So, who WILL link to your site?

Remember Brainstorming and Creating a Mental Map?

There may be a secondary audience that you need to consider in your plan to gain more links and
improve your rankings. In order to create some content that might appeal to the secondary
audience, you'll have to explore a few directions that you might take to interest them. Remember
brainstorming ideas for a report in school? Remember creating an outline or mental map? There is
not a wrong or right way to brainstorm but it is essential that you do it. It can help you to pull out
some ideas that normally might not hit you right away. Here is a quick example of some ideas
related to the phrase "vending machines":

Pulling Ideas Out of The Mental Map

The picture above shows just a few trains of thought that I had with the phrase "vending
machines". I could go on and on and the mental map might never be completed. Lets pull a few
ideas out of this exploration of ideas.

• Vending machines dispense snack food, juices, sport and soft drinks. There are various
recipes that call for candy or soda as an ingredient. Create an area for recipes on you site.
Seed the area with a few recipes that you find or create (get permission if needed), allow
users to submit their own recipes, go to various food related web forums and ask for user
submitted recipes. Buy a cook book or two each month, follow some recipes online, and

place a review of the resulting dish on your site with a few pictures. Better yet, hire some
one to "blog" their discoveries on your site. There are bound to be some "foodies" that
would be more than happy to get paid to do this for you.

• The food industry has history.
Some companies like Coke, Hershey, and others are proud of their history and have mini-
museums in some states, company stores, and factory tours. Provide a guide or review to
getting to or around the towns where these attractions take place. When people go online
to plan their vacations and find your resource, they may link to your guide.

• Products in vending machines often have promotional packaging.
Odds are good that some of the products that are sold from vending machines have
"promotional" cans, bags, additional "standees" that are normally meant for grocery stores
or mini-markets, or other materials that candy memorabilia collectors, blogs, and others
might find interesting. There are collectors out there, fans of various promotions, etc. and
many like to browse web sites about their hobby and link to related sites and product
pictures.

These are just a couple of ideas that I was able to quickly come up with, but maybe you see
where I'm going with this?You want your site to rank on phrases like "coke vending machines"?
Search engines not only need to see optimized pages on your site that talk about the phrase in
order to give it a high ranking, they also need to see that other web pages from other sites also
link to your pages about the same subject.

Think about who WOULD come back to your site over and over. Think about visitors who might
not be your direct competitors but who do have related web sites. Encourage them to book mark
your site and make the extra effort to link to your site by providing content that is appealing to
them and you improve your chances of being found by your primary audience as well, an audience
that may not really care about recipes that include ingredients from vending machines, and who
will probably not link to you or write reviews about your site or products.

The Graphic Re-design Process. Little to No Budget? No Problem.

By Scott Goodyear

In life, as in web sites, first impressions can make or break sales, long or short term business
relationships, and more. What does your web site say about your business? If you've been
wanting to update your site but don't really have deep pockets, you'll find the following post
helpful for graphically re-designing or just sprucing up your web even if you have little to no
budget to work with.

First, like my last post, and for better or worst, most site owners or designers have fallen in love
with their web site. Some times you may need a few comparisons in order to understand if your
web site even needs a graphical update. Check out Web Pages That Suck and especially it's "daily
sucker" page. While the WPTS site uses Google AdWords in an obnoxious perhaps even "sucky"

way itself, the "daily sucker" section has links to anonymously nominated "sucky" web pages that
were nominated for their design, user interface, or other shortcomings. When you visit some of
these sites, does your own site seem similar?

Find a Pro or Amateur Artist.

There are many, many pro and amateur web designers that would be happy to assist you and
work within a budget.

There are plenty of places where you can place a free or low cost advertisement for a designer
such as Guru.com and of course you've probably heard of Monster right?. You can always post to
the online version of your local news paper but it may be casting your net too wide. Why not go
where the more internet savvy hang out? Try checking the jobs, gigs, or services areas of
Craigslist. You can also find artists via art associations such as AIGA. If you want to give a
talented amateur their big break, consider some of the "hidden" talent markets. Post your needs
on the job boards and art departments of your local community colleges and universities. You can
also peruse the art and contact amateur and pro graphic designers via Deviantart. Deviantart has
been around for years and I would argue that it is the "myspace" for graphic designers.

A Few Tools You Might Try...

If you have a bit of time and talent, you may want to create and add graphics on your own. Even
if you find that you do not have the talent required to make great graphics or designs for your
site, don't write off trying. Often times creating at least a mock up of what you are shooting for
can be extremely helpful to a designer. Your plans may be modest or even too grand, but a good
web designer / graphic artist can often work to hone your ideas to a more manageable form.

No cost:
Paint.Net
Fauxto
Gimp
ImageMagick

Low cost:
Paint Shop Pro
LView

High Cost/Pro Tools:
From Adobe: Photo Shop, Fireworks
From Corel: CorelDRAW, Painter

Download a Tutorial.

While the ease of use and learning curve will differ with each of these programs, there are many
free tutorials that can guide you through creating some some amazing special effects for graphics.
If you can't find a tutorial for your specific graphics program, understand that many programs
utilize different names for the same software features. As you begin to understand more about
your selected software program you can then go through and follow many of the tutorials for
other programs in order to create roughly the same results.

A few tutorial sites that I've found useful:
Web Design Library
CBT Cafe

SitePoint
PhotoShop Tips & Tricks

Add Some Interesting Photos and Graphics.

Some time's you have to go cheap with your graphics. If you don't have the talent for creating
graphics through a free or inexpensive program, you may turn to buying clip art or using a
program to modify clip art. Years ago, I was buying clip art CDs in order to quickly create graphics
for web sites. Most of the inexpensive clip art CDs that I've found today, still include those same
clip art files from years ago. Do you really want your site to look like it was made 10 years ago or
like something newer? Forget outdated clip art CDs!

Consider using the "find" option at Creative Commons to find art, photos, or other items that you
can use on your site. The licensing terms will vary but often a quick email to the license holder will
clear up any questions that you might have about usage. And quite often, the CC photo authors
will let you use their photos for free, as long as you reference them on your about page, copy
right/privacy page, or similar.

On the other hand there are tons of online image banks that can be used. These image banks are
much like the clip art CDs of years past except there are always new photos and graphics being
added to the mix and you can preview the art before plunking $30-$200 into a CD collection
where you might only use 1 graphic. There are sites with large selections like the well known
Gettyimages, but for the license price you might also check out smaller competitors like
iStockphoto. If you think stock photos can't help or look too generic, think a bit more creatively
about what can be done with them. Although Kathy Sierra pretty much froze her web blog a few
months ago, I'm still inspired by many of the posts on her "Creating Passionate Users" blog. With
just a little bit of creativity, a post can be spiced up by a great graphic in a very positive way.

Now Go Make Something Beautiful... Need a Little More Inspiration First?

At this point you've probably picked up a few resources that you can use. Whether you are a do-
it-yourselfer or you are hiring some one to help, it is great to have some inspiration and a game
plan. Like many, I find that looking at what others are doing can really help. Often you can can
pick out the things that you like/don't like from other sites and work some of those ideas. Into
your own design plan.

If you are looking mainly for color schemes, check out Geoff Peters' "Instant Color Schemes". His
tool pulls photos in from a Yahoo image search in order to create a common color palette. Some
times it works really well, at other times, the results are odd. But as Yahoo's image search is
constantly changing, it is always a bit different from the last time you had used the same search.
Also check out one of my all time favorites Design Meltdown. DM brings together examples of
various web site designs, then slices and dices common site features into categories. You can gain
some inspiration from ideas like "clean" design, "orange" sites, and others. DM also runs The Daily
Slurp where users submit their own suggestions for great site design. When your site starts
shining after a re-design, you may want to submit it.

Before I close, understand that visually good design does not necessarily mean a well optimized or
search engine friendly design. The reverse is also true, a well optimized site does not necessarily
mean a visually good looking site. However a good mix of engine friendly and visually appealing
techniques can be quite beneficial. There are also arguments for and against a well designed web
site or an ugly design that I haven't mentioned, and I encourage you to explore those issues. And
while I encourage you to review what others sites do and form your own game plan based on bits
and pieces that you find and like, I don't recommend that you clone some one else's web site.
Large companies may be able to get away with it, but you may or may not be able to, why take

the chance? In a nut shell, whether your budget is large or small, there are lots of inexpensive
ways to make your site look more professional and graphically appealing with out breaking the
bank.

Defining Web Analytics and How It Relates To The Bottom Line

By Curtis Friedl

Website developers and those who manage website content need to understand the multitude of
information that can be gathered through the Web Analytics process. A good web analytics tool
can help you to understand the numbers that affect the bottom line.

• How are visitors finding my site?
• When they get there, what do they do?
• Are they taking the desired action that I want them to take?
• At what points are they falling off from the intended process?
• What geographical regions are these visitors located in?
• What is the most popular content on my site?
• Do certain visitor segments respond differently to campaigns or to my site than others?
• Which of my online marketing campaigns are the most effective at drawing visitors to the
site and converting them into customers?
• Are customers that are coming to my site for support finding their answers?
• How effective am I at reaching and engaging target demographics in my audience?

The first target of understanding those who visit your site is where are they coming from, a search
engine, an associated website, etc. Which one of the marketing channels that you employ are
most effective, and what is the returned derived from that ad spend. Is the ROI sufficient, should
I increase the ad spend, or should I evaluate other channels?

Once I have captured the visitor, did they leave right away, or did they browse through my site.
What was the path that they took, was it the one that was envisioned to lead to the proper
conversion which was desired, or did the potential client abandon?

Geographically where are the visitors from? Were they from my targeted market, or have you
uncovered a new avenue to direct sales efforts towards. If you are advertising to a diverse
market, does one segment behave differently then another one? Did one of your campaigns lead
to a better conversion rate from a targeted audience, and was that conversions with in the
demographic that I expected it to come from, and did it meet our target benchmarks from that
demographic.

All of this and more can be answered by looking at the audience that is reviewing the content on
your site. A review of those who traffic your site, and an analyses of the path and locations that
your visitor viewed, can lead you to make decisions on how to design a site, how to construct the
landing/offer pages for a targeted audience. These site usability studies do more then aid in future
site designs, they permit a deeper understanding of your target audience. In addition these efforts
will lead to a much greater understanding of your visitors.

These analytic results can also lead you to a better understand of how to target the advertising
toward your client audience. Are ads on the search engines more effective then banners on
associated websites/portals, or is the old fashion targeted mailing the best avenue to cover, and
meet your audience. In simple means analysis of your visitors, and content that they review can
lead to:

• Optimize marketing campaigns
• Improved content, and search engine marketing efforts
• Increase website conversions
• More profitable sales activity
• Determination of the ROI of specific pages
• Greater targeted and more cost effective business processes

The bottom line is understanding your client will make it more easy to sell to them. The best way
short of standing at the door asking them to fill out a survey is to review the how, where, when
and why from your website analytics provider. Attempting to discern why the visitor selected one
path over another will help you to understand how to better layout your sites design, or text
content to encourage the desired conversion. Additional reviewing the eatery and exit points for
your visitor will uncover potential strengths, and weaknesses in your sites design. Continuous
reviewing of analytic information, and implementation of the solutions developed from this
research will lead to a healthier bottom line.

The Forgotten Fundamentals of SEO
By Chris Diprose (c) 2007

The Website Revelation – What owning a website actually means.

As a Web Developer and SEO consultant I deal with many existing
website owners who are looking to modify or improve their
website. I also deal with many people who are looking to start
their web presence with a new website. Through both of these
interactions there is often a common theme; a misunderstanding
or an attitude. I call this a misconception of reality, as often
the reality of what the Internet can actually do for the person's
business and what they think it can do differ massively.

Often it is presumed that by simply owning a domain and having a
website built and published on the Internet, thousands of people
will magically find the website, visit it and buy their
products. "If you build it, they will come" should be removed
from the vocabulary as soon as possible if you are to adjust
attitudes to the underlying search technology. As a businessman
in the real World, it is obvious that it would not happen
outside of the Internet either, so what is so different online?
Maybe it was the Technology boom 10 years ago that caused a rift
in understanding or maybe the buzz that caused the meteoric rise
in the stock prices of Tech Companies, I can hear the thoughts
of the small businessman, "surely this can be replicated for my
business" – in answer I would say, "well, it is unlikely, but
you should be able to achieve some results over time".

It is most important when taking on a project like Search Engine
Optimization for a website, to know that it is important to be
committed for the long haul. It is no small task and sufficient
funds need to be allocated to the project. Delivery deadlines
need to be correctly scoped against required changes, in order
to meet client expectations. The key points of responsibility to
the SEO project are in knowing that there are big changes near
the start and during setup, but the changes do not stop after

setup, there are continuous ongoing refinements to the design
and system over time. In this regard I find it important to
manage expectations and set realistic long term goals on what a
website can be expected to achieve and in what time frames those
goals hope to be met.

So what should your goal be when you are delving into SEO for
your website? Well, everyone's goal is exactly the same; improve
page rankings, improve page visits and hits and finally gain
more sales through the website.

When it comes to SEO and achieving these goals you have to have
principles and my main principle is, "Good websites get good
ratings and bad websites get bad ratings or none at all." As
time goes on with the improvement of search engine technology
and the refinement of search engine results this statement
becomes truer and truer. I believe in results through "white
hat" principles and methodologies.

What are "white hat" principles? I guess I would compare it to
doing things the honest way and the right way without risk. So
develop a good site, promote good linking, have good informative
content and keep working on it and then you are on the road to
good rankings through "White Hat" principles.

So, why should you do things the "white hat" way? Well, search
engines do have some kind of understanding, an artificial
intelligence. They soon catch on to websites spamming or linking
to websites with no relevance and bad cross linking. It's about
being smart, in for the long term and wanting your business to
grow organically, naturally.

So how do I go about improving my site and making it optimized
for search engines naturally? Well, that's why you're here! So
let's run through few of the things you should be doing in your
websites from a fundamental level.

Domain names:

When choosing a domain name, choose one that is relevant to the
product or service you are going to provide and that is as
simple as possible. There are considerations of branding and
product/service provided that should go into this choice.
Involvement of marketing personal and product understanding is
required but also consultation with your SEO professional is
advantageous. In this step I would say, take some time and
choose wisely. Keep it simple and easy to remember, often saying
it out loud will make it clear whether it can be understood by a
simple man.

It is a strongly held belief by many SEO professionals that
buying a domain which is older, and that has been around for a
while, means it will not be sand boxed by Google. What's the
sandbox effect? Well, it refers to what Google does to a website
or domain that is new or is relatively unknown by Google. In

many instances Google's Sandbox effect relegates the new domain
to sub-optimal inclusion in search results. Regardless of the
site's optimization it lowers the website's relevance and ranking
to the term searched upon. If you can use your old business
domain name, then consider this very important.

If, however, you are buying a new domain name, then keep it
relevant to the product or service being sold or offered on the
website. Keep it close, relevant and simple. Relevance is
primary.

Location specific domain or international domain ( .com or
com.au)? Personally I think dot com's are better, mainly because
they appeal internationally, but if you want to you can keep it
location specific and to your region, then consider purchasing
all similar higher level domains, yourdomain.com and
yourdomain.com.au, if you can.

Choosing a Host:

Fast, reliable and gives you all you that you need and want.
Preferably gives a unique IP. Again some SEO professionals
believe this can also have a detrimental affect in Google
rankings but from my experience it sometimes does and it
sometimes doesn't. I have had some sites come in with high PR
rankings on shared IP's and others when I shifted to a new IP
the PR of the site jumped, so this is still a bit of a mystery
when it comes to Google rankings.

Traffic Considerations:

When choosing your host ensure the plan you are on can
be expanded so that any new increases in traffic can be
accommodated accordingly.

Site Design:

There are several fundamental things to consider when you are
modifying or designing a website.

Flash:

Flash is/has been popular for a few years now and I truly
believe it has its place. It is a great way of showing many
products or services in a small area, has great visual impact if
done properly and can set a good friendly tone to the website
visitor. Having said that, I also hate flash; it can be an
absolute nightmare when it comes to search engine optimization.

What you should know about flash; it cannot be read by a search
engine as the search engine cannot read the text or the images
contained within it nor can it interpret what is in the pictures
being shown.

When it comes to flash I would suggest, not making your whole

website flash. If you are designing a new website and you want
to use flash, then use it in high impact areas to capture the
attention of your intended audience but use it sparingly. It is
important to ensure that as much text content (to a maximum
discussed in my next book, generally 300-500 characters) is
available on the webpage and in simple HTML.

Frames:

Many older websites were designed with frames. Frames are where
the main home page is actually a frameset page that includes
several other pages into it. This makes the page hard to index
in search engines and should be avoided. While Google does now
index framed sites, it is important to note that most of the
other top search engines still cannot follow frame links. They
only see the frameset page and ignore the rest of the inner
frames. This presents an SEO problem to us because it is highly
likely those inner pages contain our content keywords.

Nowadays this is not really a huge issue as it is so uncommon
for a designer to actually use frames, but the easiest way to
resolve the issue would be to enforce a no use policy on
frames.

Page Layout:

According to research the Googlebot trawls web pages from left
to right and top to bottom. So given this little tidbit of
information it is clear that you should be putting your most
valuable keywords and information on the left and near the top.
Of course this is a blanket statement and does not take into
account design principles and beautification. Just keep it in
mind during design of page layout. Position your more relevant
keywords to the left of the page and near the top.

Good HTML Coding:

A lot of HTML generator programs out there bloat HTML to the
point it is 3-4 times larger than what it would be if you hand
coded it. Keep it simple, use a text editor, edit your HTML the
old school way; until there is a HTML generator tool worthy of
use. If you can't code HTML, then do a search on the Internet
and find a decent, free, e-book and learn how to do it.

Javascript:

This is very popular among many web development professionals
for menu's, popups, scrollers etc etc. It would be my suggestion
to use simple plain HTML menus or as little javascript as
possible in web pages. There are many small javascript menus
out there that are slim on javascript code to reduce this issue
and make it almost negligible. Don't over clutter your site with
javascript as it increases page size, page load times and the
search engines won't understand it.

Image Sizes:

Keep them small and use only what you need to. This is essential
for decreasing page loading times and getting information onto
the user's screen as soon as possible.

Overall Page Size and Loading:

The overall page size is an important factor. It should load
quickly and be easily trawled. If you have followed the HTML
hand coding, used minimal javascript, used simple table layouts
and good image sizing, then you should be fine. There is much
evidence that supports the fact that Google and probably the
other search engines also, do not like to scan huge files, so
keeping your overall HTML page size below 25k is my suggestion.

Dynamic URL's & Page/File Names:

Dynamic pages are roadblocks to high search engine positioning.
Especially those that end in "?" or "&". In a dynamic site,
variables are passed to the URL and the page is generated
dynamically, often from information stored in a database as is
the case with many e-commerce sites. Normal .html pages are
static - they are hard-coded, their information does not change,
and there are no "?" or "&" characters in the URL.

Pages with dynamic URLs are present in several engines, notably
Google and AltaVista, even though publicly AltaVista claims
their spider does not crawl dynamic URLs. To a spider a "?"
represents a sea of endless possibilities - some pages can
automatically generate a potentially massive number of URLs,
trapping the spider in a virtually infinite loop.

As a general rule, search engines will not properly index
documents that:

• contain a "?" or "&"
• End in the following document types: .cfm, .asp, .shtml, .php,
.stm, .jsp, .cgi, .pl
• Could potentially generate a large number of URLs.

To avoid complications, consider creating static pages whenever
possible, perhaps using the database to update the pages, not to
generate them on the fly.

Slightly Off Topic Thoughts:

The topics covered here are not considered completely SEO topics
but in terms of overall objective – increasing sales, this
section is very important. Take these things on board, consider
them, consult with your designer and marketing team. Make
educated and informed choices on these topics when considering
your audience and what your website objectives are.

Screen Size:

Over 65% of all screens in the World are set to run at the
1024x768 resolution. Of the remaining percentage, 13% are
running at 800x600, 20% running at larger sizes and 2% are
unknown. So this affects the way you design. It would be my
suggestion to always design for the smallest user to visit your
site, but often I find 800x600 restrictive so I tend to design
for slightly larger. Not large enough to make an 800x600 user
angry but large enough to make it look good on larger screens
also. I size up my target users, my intended amount of content
and find some happy medium. I generally design for 1000x620 as
this is the perfect amount of real estate for a 1024x768 user
when they have the browser top bar and status bar and Windows
taskbar.

Colors and Themes:

One important aspect of marketing - selling - is the use of
color. Meanings are attached to colors in the same way meanings
are attached to words.

• Gold is the color of wealth and prosperity.
• White is the color of pure innocence and cleanliness.
• Pink is the color of femininity and softness.
• Green is the color of natural things and freshness.
• Red is the color of danger and stress.
• Blue is the color the calmness, intelligence. The majority of
the World selects blue as a favorite color. It often represents
"trust"

Use of color to establish an image or a brand is common in the
marketing community, yet when you visit the websites of many
search engine optimization professionals, it's obvious that
color significance plays no part in their own web optimization.
Some of the colors I found on SEO websites:

• Baby Blue, a color which implies weakness.
• Red, a color which implies risk, or danger.
• Orange a color which implies a cheerful "levity". Orange is
one of Americans' least favorite colors.

Although color selection is off topic for SEO, I would consider
it a very important factor in what SEO is trying to achieve, in
the end, for your website – selling more product, creating
loyalty to your brand and customer impact. Color research is
something you should seriously consider. In summary of color
choices, I would suggest studying and learning more about your
customers, researching color choices and their relevance to your
underlying products and making informed choices on these in
collaboration. If in doubt, then I suggest sticking to safe and
trusted colors within safe, eye pleasing designs.

Gifs for Logos & jpgs for Pictures:

Ensure you are using gifs for logos and background placements

and jpgs for photos on your website. This helps reduce size and
improve clarity of the web site overall.

Browser:

It is vitally important to ensure your web page works in both
IE, Firefox and Opera. Testing other browsers is also an
advantage, but these are the main three in use nowadays (2007).
I think quoting stats on the browser breakdown are irrelevant as
you need it to work in all browsers. W3C cross browser compliance
is great for this.

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