9 Steps to Getting Better Search Engine Rankings

You finally have a website and you are ready to sit back and let the visitors start rolling in. How does that saying go? "If you build it they will come." This may be true in Hollywood but certainly not true in the case of your website. You need to constantly work at improving your site to ensure that your website achieves a decent search engine ranking. This is a process that doesn't happen over night but with some concentrated effort you can get better search engine rankings. Here are some tips on getting to the top of the search engines.

  • Keep your design simple! Avoid gratuitous uses of flash, images/graphics, and special effects. As cool as these effects are, they hinder or sometimes block the search engine from seeing your sites content. Whenever possible use external elements (stylesheets and javascript). Less code cluttering up your page means search engines can find and index your content easier, leading to better search engine rankings.

  • Research your competition and choose your keywords carefully. Keyword phrases tend to be more effective. For example: use "Toronto real estate web design" instead of web design. This could mean the difference between competing with 6 million websites or 100 thousand.

  • Make sure your web pages include good meaty content of at least 250-300 words per page. Search Engines analyze the relevancy of your page/site based on the content. Your keywords should be represented in your content ? if your keywords are not represented, either you have chosen the wrong keywords or you haven't thought out your content properly. Search engines like sites that change their content regularly so find ways to keep your content fresh but the message clear.

  • Use Meta tags (title tag, description tag and keywords tag) properly and use different Meta tags on each page of your site! Make sure your title is relevant and between 50 and 60 characters. Your description should not exceed 150 characters and should summarize the content of your page. Most importantly make sure the words/phrases in your keywords tag are represented in your content.

  • Use alternate image tags. Besides being a good design practice, alternate image tags help the search engines verify the importance of the images on your page. When appropriate use your keyword choices in your alt image tags.

  • Avoid using only image based navigation on your site. If you are using images as links to your other pages, make sure you absolutely use alternate image tags. Ideally you should also include text based links somewhere on your web page as well. You see this quite often in the footer of some web pages although you can always include test links in the content of your pages as well. Text based links help the search engines find ALL your pages not to mention they make your site more assessable. If your site is complex you should include a site map to help your visitors and the search engines find their way around your site. If you are using a sitemap put the link near the top of your page so that the search engine finds it quickly.

  • Use heading tags and bold to emphasize your keywords. Don't over do this! If you have chosen your keywords properly, your keywords should already be in weighted areas of your carefully written content.

  • Do NOT use auto submit services to submit your site to the major search engines. As long as you have incoming links to your site from a site that has been indexed your web site should automatically be indexed. If you need to submit your website to a search engine do it manually and only once.

  • Research and gather external links from sites that are relevant to your own. If your site is promoting health food a link from a human resources site will not help your website rankings and may actually penalize your site.

    • To get better search engine rankings you need to keep it simple, natural and use your common sense. Don't try to trick the search engines as this can often result in getting your site banned or dropped from the index.

    Remember, it can takes month for your optimization efforts to pay off, but when they do you will enjoy better search engine rankings!

    © 2005 Tanya Beaudoin o/a Office on Demand, All rights reserved. You are free to use this article in its entirety, as long as you include complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify Mrs. Beaudoin as to where the material will appear.

    The attribution should read: "Tanya Beaudoin, B.A. owns and operates a Web Design Company ? OOD Web & Graphic Design Studio - that specializes in e-solutions and graphic design (including web design, search engine optimization and internet marketing products like e-stationary and newsletters). To learn more about getting better search engine rankings, please visit Tanya's web site at http://www.officeondemand.ca< /a>

    In The News:

    pen paper and inkwell


    cat break through


    Should You Buy Text Links?

    You can rank number one (Or at least in the... Read More

    Google is Quickly Changing...

    Google is quickly changing...With the big buzz of Novembers fall... Read More

    Linking for Fun and Profit

    Well actually, linking isn't fun at all. In fact, it's... Read More

    Wordtracker Wisdom: Common Keyword Questions and Answers

    One of my favorite subjects to teach on at our... Read More

    Has Google Indexed Your Site ?

    So has Google found your site yet?Over the last 12... Read More

    Google Patent Application - User Data As Part of Ranking Process

    In this third article, we continue to dig into the... Read More

    Does Javascript Affect Ranking?

    Almost all SEO's agree that using too much javascript can... Read More

    One Way Linking Campaigns II

    There is a way to generate links with the content... Read More

    Dynamic Pages

    Dynamic pages and the Search Engines By Clare Lawrence 10th... Read More

    London Bombings and Number Patterns

    Firstly, let me say that I am sure all our... Read More

    A Link From An Ugly Duckling Website With A PR=1 Could Give You 10 to 80 Times More PageRank

    Whether you want to start a business and sell on... Read More

    Have You Heard Of Website Optimization

    Have you heard of website optimization ? If you are... Read More

    Getting To Know Google

    Having greatly benefited from my relationship with Google in the... Read More

    MLM and SEO - Bad Business! No Business!

    MLM has been around way before the Internet. It is... Read More

    SEO Quickstart - 3 Things You can Do to Improve Search Engine Rankings Right Now

    Increasing your search engine rankings should certainly be one of... Read More

    Things You Must Realize When Searching

    For the uninitiated, searching for web pages can seem a... Read More

    Youve Got The Power, Why Arent You Promoting It?

    Like all things, theft is theft, misery loves company, negative... Read More

    How to Get One Way Backlinks

    Don't be fooled into believing that all backlinks are created... Read More

    SEO 101

    SEO (search engine optimization) is a booming businees these days.... Read More

    Why You Should NOT Submit Your Site On Search Engines

    Before to answer to this question we have to know... Read More

    The Reality of Search Engine Submissions

    Over the last few months, search engine submissions have changed... Read More

    Search Engine Optimization --- An Overview

    Search engine optimization is one of most popular online marketing... Read More

    The Golden 5: Steps to Google Success

    The Dream: You wake up one morning and notice your... Read More

    SEO Expert Guide - Search Engines Explained (part 1/10)

    Before we explore the world of search engine optimization, it... Read More

    Page Rank Purgatory - Simple Things You can Do to Keep Your Web Site Out of Search Engine Hell!

    Are Meta Tags Really Dead?Right in their Guidelines Yahoo Tells... Read More

    Whats Link Popularity?

    Link popularity is just one of the ways you can... Read More

    Help Your Visitors Zero in with Site-Flavored Google search

    As Google has gained in their search reputation the past... Read More

    7 Free Search Engine Resources You Should be Using Now

    Ask any business person who's website is at the top... Read More

    Googlebot Wont Go Home

    I have 'Googlebot' crawl my site every day like a... Read More

    Feed me - Satisfy the Search Engines and Your Sites Visitors With Keyword-Rich Content

    Search engines love content. Graphics may make your site look... Read More

    You Have More Web Sites Than You Think You Have: The Importance of Deep Submission

    If I ask you how many web sites do you... Read More

    The Importance of Correct HTML Syntax in Search Engine Positoning

    There is a lot of competition to get good spots... Read More

    Link Popularity --- Its Role and Importance In Getting Top Search Engine Rankings

    Introduction"Link Popularity" ? these words may have caught your attention... Read More