Search Engine Optimization Tips Blog

Your golf game can break down over just one flaw in your swing or miscalculation of the wind. The success of your website can do the same – there are several key factors, and a breakdown in any of them can cause disaster.

Links are one of the most important facets of your site’s search engine optimization. Making sure you don’t pass up the opportunity to plug your keywords is imperative!

You can use links on your site to get from page to page, and also to link from your blog to your site. You can always keep it simple and simply make your anchor text read ‘click here’, but you will be missing out on a totally natural, easy way to plug some of your most needed keywords.

For example, if you are setting up a blog post you could mention your daughter’s cat and how silly she looked all dressed up in an old baby bonnet and some socks for mittens. Then you can add that she would probably been much happier in a ‘made for felines’ outfit from PetsStyles and highlight those six words as your visible anchor text for your link back to your pet clothing site.

You can even make it a deep link that will send you to a landing page specifically devoted to cat bonnets and booties – with an appropriate ‘home page’ link on that page as well of course, in case they have a playful pooch at home too!

Links in articles on directories or submission sites should also contain links where permissible, and these should be optimized as well for your keywords – not necessarily just your site name. Don’t forget to link to appropriate pages!

When linking to other sites, whether for reciprocity or because they are super relevant, remember that unless you have agreed to link with text of their own design you have yet another chance to optimize the anchor text. Don’t be afraid to make your anchor text longer than a few words if necessary.

If you decide to link to a site that does dog grooming, you can still plug your keywords: ‘On a clean and groomed dog, clothes look twice as good!’ This will ensure you are taking every opportunity to make your links beneficial.

Once you make it a habit to think about the anchor text of every link you place, it will become second nature just as it did with your content. The trick is to submerge yourself so deeply into the idea of optimization that it becomes reflex ; after a while you do it without even thinking about it.

When your content, pictures, videos and links are all optimized correctly, you can begin branching out into the more complex ideas behind SEO – and this is where you have to start watching your step. Black hatters are behind every bush, and you must be careful not to be lured into traps that can result in a penalty from Google or worse.

Tomorrow: Branching Out

There are various opinions prevailing about dead links in a website. Dead links are nothing but a link that does not land successfully in the linked page because the linked page has been moved or it has not been properly linked due to a typo or the page has been deleted, etc. In all these situations, your website visitors will get a 404 – Page cannot be displayed error. Some web masters opine that it only affects the usability of the website whereas others believe that its effect does not just stop with the usability of the website but it also extends to affect the pagerank and the sites popularity.The predominant view is that it does affect the rankings. Some even feel that if dead links are present in a new website then the site may not be indexed by the search engines. However, this needs some evidence to come to that conclusion.

When search engines crawl your website it will parse through all the pages and when it lands in dead links then you will start accumulating negative scoring. All your efforts in building that website for months together will go in vain because of minor mistakes like this. Often people tend to skip this step and forget to check the site for dead links because it does not look that serious. All that it takes is a simple check on all the links. If your website is a basic website with just a few pages then it is rather easier to check all the pages manually. But if you have hundreds of pages and a complex architecture then it becomes a difficult task. However, there are number of tools that are available in the market that will help you check for broken links.

Make sure to check your website for dead links after it is uploaded to the server. Normally, during the development phase the site will be constructed in the local server and the development team might even check for dead links when the site is still offline but it is important to check it once again when it is uploaded to the actual server where it will reside permanently. You will certainly not regret this additional effort. Some webmasters even add a special note to their website visitors to report if there are any broken links.

Dead links need not necessarily reside in your website, it may also be found outside your website. In your link building efforts you might have added a page of link directory or a resources page and exchanged links with other websites. You have no control over these websites and you will not know whether those websites are still live or whether they have been removed. If any of the websites are moved from their specified location or if the domains expire, then it will also lead broken links. So it is important to perform regular checks for broken or dead links in your website so that you can clean up your website. This will not only make your site a credible site but it will save you from losing your rankings in search engines.

All the content that goes on your site or blog, or that you submit to the web, should be thoroughly optimized. This goes for text, photos, videos, articles, landing pages, press releases, advertisements – each and every snippet of content that you post should be optimized.

If you get in the habit early on, this won’t be so hard. All you have to do is get in the proper mindset! If you started out right, and have your lists of keywords, you can check it over each time you sit down to write an article or mock up an ad. Including something each time will become a good habit.

Rishi touched on video optimization yesterday – remember, the same thing goes for pictures on the web – make sure you tag all your graphic content so the spiders can index it accurately.

As far as text content – the major mistakes made have to do with incorrect keyword optimization. You need to be sure that you use your keywords in your content in a natural fashion, with attention to placement in the header or title, the beginning of body of text, the middle and the end.

Don’t fall into the trap of stuffing however – Google will not appreciate attempts to game the system and you will end up with content that is garbled and difficult to read. Remember, optimize for the user first, the search engines second! Too many keywords are as bad as too few.

For your website pages, you will want to optimize for keywords that you are trying to rank for for your site. For articles, you can concentrate on the long tail, answering questions such as how and where, and giving useful information that will encourage readers to follow through to your site.

For press releases, you can adopt a general tone – blatant sales promotion is frowned on, so focus on remaining informational and make it sound like you have more valuable info that the consumer would do well to check out. Use your keywords here as well.

Spread the love! Take each article and rework it into a blog post, a press release, another article for a different directory, a squidoo lens, an ad series, a video, a How to or Top ten list, a comment or two for forums, and an extra page for your website.

If you make a point to treat each article to this process, you will always have fresh and interesting content hitting the search engines. Remember to link back to your main site whenever possible, whether to the home page or a deep link to an inner page, and don’t pass up the opportunity to optimize your anchor text in each link.

Add each webpage to your sitemap as you go along, and keep a log of every piece opf content you have out on the web – where it is, and what page it links to in case you ever change a URL.

If you do it right, every time, you will soon have a content rich network that will optimize your site to the fullest. Tomorrow: Off To The Links!

Online video content is becoming increasingly popular and this format is being consumed by the users at a faster rate than expected. Almost all website owners are learning to produce home based videos as it seems to be one of the best ways of reaching their target audience. If you market the videos properly through correct SEO strategies then you are certain to get quick results.

Primarily all search engines are designed to index text and to assess them and they cannot read even images, forget about videos. How do we go about this issue? It is simple – plug your video in the midst of lot of text. Have as much text as possible around the video. This text should be keyword rich in the form of title and the transcript of the video. Some of the sites have flash based transcript of the video, but it is not a good idea when it comes to SEO; have the transcript in a format that can be ready by the search engines.

Secondly we need to tap on the search psychology; when people search for videos they always add the word video in their search for example, ‘dog training video’ so the text that you are using around the video should contain this word as one of the main keywords that you target. It should also go into your description, page title and keywords list in the meta data.

Try to feed your video with as many contextual links as possible pointing to your video both within your website and also from other locations. Don’t forget to add a video sitemap that will tell the search engines where to look for video content in your website. This will get your videos indexed faster. Try to avoid uploading the video in a format other than Flash as much as possible. It is important to have the main keywords in the URL when you upload the video file rather than naming your video files with some random name which reflect in the URL. When you upload your videos, store all the video files in a single directory and this will of advantage because search engines will be able to find the other videos too faster.

If you have your videos in a page that has other videos make sure to include a captivating thumbnail so that your video gets the attention of the users. Though this is not directly linked to SEO, the ultimate aim of SEO for videos is to get people to view your videos so when they get to the page where you have your video file they you should make sure that they click your video.

Allow users to add reviews about your video, comment on it and leave feedback; you should of course moderate the user feedback and reviews. If you allow these you give yourself a chance for getting fresh content added regularly in the form of feedback and reviews and you know already search engines love fresh content.

Question: When should you start thinking about optimizing your site?

Answer: Before you even buy your domain name.

This series is all about the need for optimization, from the conception of your site through monetization. First we’ll look at the beginning, where optimization is more crucial than most webmasters realize!

Many fledgling webmasters rush into setting up a website, and then are faced with the necessity to go back and attempt to optimize, causing a huge delay in getting their site fully operational.

If you want your site to succeed, you should optimize each step of the way – from choosing your market and domain to your home page on through all your landing pages, content and linking patterns.

You can’t always get the domain name you want. The trick then is to get one that is relevant and recognizable. If you can get your main keyword in your URL, great – if not, make sure your domain name is short and sweet – and easy to remember.

Do your keyword research before you put a single thing on your domain. Decide where your focus needs to be, determine what your main keyword phrases are and compile a list of long tail phrases you can use as well.

Surf around and decide where your best linking prospects are as well. A week of prep work is worth six months of going back and trying to tie up loose ends!

Now you are ready to start building your site. Your home page will generally be your first project; make sure it is clean, confident looking and visually appealing without using a lot of flash or graphics that could make it load slowly.

You only get one chance to make a first impression, and for many users, your home page will be the deciding factor in their choice whether or not to click past your home page deeper into your site. You need to focus on the user first, and you also need to remember to optimize.

Use your keywords in your header, your ads or banner if you choose to have one, and to tag your pictures as well. Don’t over stuff, but make sure you include enough information for the spiders.

A site map should be next on your list – it’s very easy to set one up at this stage, then you can simply ad your links as you add pages. You have to remember to ensure that every page on your site is linked to at least one other page, and then secure links from outside your site to point to the most important ones as well.

You can submit your sitemap to Google to get your site indexed, but a much faster way is to get a link from a relevant page already in existence on the web to your site – you can link from an pre-existing blog, site or forum and your site will be indexed much more quickly.

Tomorrow: Optimizing your Content

 Subscribe in a reader

• Email Subscription by Feedburner