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Six Steps to Optimizing Your Web Site for Search Engines

September 15, 2009 By Abny Santicola
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Come up with variations of your keywords, and don't forget alternative spellings or even misspellings.

"Think about all of the synonyms and various ways one might think about you," she said.

Good tools for brainstorming keywords include sites like Good Keywords and Wordtracker. Quinn recommended optimizing your site for a couple keywords per high-priority page.

Prioritize:

  • keywords that get higher traffic
  • more specific keywords, which will be easier for you to "own" on search engines
  • keywords that will help people find pages that are high priority for you.

4. Place keywords in prime locations.
Incorporate keywords into the text of your pages. Remember, images don't count when it comes to search engines. Prioritize headers on your pages that are larger and more prominently colored, as search engines look to text in header tags before they look to prominently featured text. Sheer quantity also helps, Quinn said, but don't forget to communicate and inspire visitors to action.

"It's a balancing act between the quality of information on the page and keywords used," Quinn said.

Include keywords in:

  • URLs, if possible, so that URLs can be read and understood.
  • Metadata. Page title metadata appears in the blue bar at the top of browsers. When a search is done on Google for a keyword, the searcher will see the page title and often the metadata description of a page.
  • Link text. Use your keywords to link to your own pages, and encourage others to do the same. Create titles that are friendly to link to to encourage people to use those rather than write their own text for links to your site.
  • Image alt tags. These get thrown into the pot as keywords for your site and can help get your images on Google Images.

5. Ensure a search-friendly site architecture.
Have a simple link to each page on your site. Spiders can't follow JavaScript or drop-down menus. Linking to a sitemap from your homepage can help.

Quinn also recommended avoiding multiple URLs for the same page.

She also suggested using standard H1 and H2 header tags, if possible, as they get higher priority than custom styles. Go with <h2>Voices</h2> rather than <div id="subheader">voices</div>. And try not to have huge amounts of HTML (for navigation, for example) before visitors even get to the page text, as keywords that appear early in the HTML are prioritized.

6. Consider Google Ads.
Quinn said you get a lot of control with Google Ads and very detailed reports. You can create your ad, define your keywords and decide how much you want to pay. She also recommended applying for a Google Grant online at www.google.com/grants for thousands of dollars of free Google Ads, which are granted based on vetting rather than a competitive process.

Click here to learn about upcoming Idealware webinars.


 

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Jeffrey Dobkin - Posted on September 16, 2009
One of the best, most valuable, most succinct articles on SEO I've ever read. Signal to noise ratio is incredibly low. Thank you so much. Jeff Dobkin
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Archived Comments:
Jeffrey Dobkin - Posted on September 16, 2009
One of the best, most valuable, most succinct articles on SEO I've ever read. Signal to noise ratio is incredibly low. Thank you so much. Jeff Dobkin