Saturday, October 28, 2006

Guide to Search Engine Optimization

Guide to Search Engine Optimization was written by Roseindia.net and writes "What is Search Engine Optimization?

Search Engine Optimization or SEO for short is modification done in the web site design, coding, content and/or structure of a web site in an effort to achieve the higher ranking within search engines. Search Engine Optimization are done to attend the highest ranking in the search engine results for some targeted keywords or key phrases.

Search engine optimization can be enforced on the website while designing it or can be performed after a website is designed. It is a technique that can be used to develop a website, which is search engine friendly. Most of the search engine uses a software called "crawlers" or "spider". The main motive of these software are to check the website create their index (search engine index)..

The method of getting search result is different for each search engines. Search engine applies many techniques to index the web pages and include into its directory. So the next time if your web page ranking high within one search engine and not in another then do not bother, it's because of different method used by these search engines. To rank higher in all the search engine you can do the things which is used by all search engines. You have to track all the changes happened in the search engine operation or method of spider software for getting search results and accordingly modify your web sites.

The process of search engine optimization includes the optimization of the following items:

Analyzing Site
Site Designing
Promotion of website and
Maintenance of website.

Important things to be remembered while Optimizing Your Web Site

A better optimized site rank high. Optimizing a website is not about tricking with the search engine, instead you should design your site both search engine friendly and human friendly. Many people spends lot's of money and uses latest technologies to achieve the target business by their website, but unluckily sometimes they fail in achieving. So it's essential to optimize your site in right way, in order to get successful online business by standing ranking-high in major search engines and able to attract lot's of clients. For optimizing a website always plan a good strategy.

Search Engine Optimization Strategy:

Research your keywords
Check rankings with search engines
URL Submission
The Title tag
Meta Description and Meta Keyword Tags
ALT Tags
Content of the page.
Link building
Search Engine Optimization Strategy

It is vital for every website that wants to stand rank-high in major search engines, to plan a strategy before developing or while optimizing an existing website. A well planed strategy can help in achieving the targets easily. A well optimized site attract targeted traffic by attaining very high positions in the search results.

Search Engine Optimization Strategy can including;

Give relevancy Title

A title is nothing but a focal point of the content written in your page. It gives the main idea of whatever written in the page. Whenever search engine searches for any topic it always checks the title and subtitle of the page first. So it becomes important to give an appropriate title and subtitle, sometimes a relevancy keyword can be useful in Title. But remember it should not be too long, at most it could be 80 character long. A short and relevancy title can help to rank higher in search engines.

Title can be defined as:

Page Title

Title always follows closing tag and written in Head tag.

http://www.roseindia.net/webpromotion/searchengineoptimization.shtmlGuide to Search Engine Optimization


What is Search Engine Optimization?

Search Engine Optimization or SEO for short is modification done in the web site design, coding, content and/or structure of a web site in an effort to achieve the higher ranking within search engines. Search Engine Optimization are done to attend the highest ranking in the search engine results for some targeted keywords or key phrases.

Search engine optimization can be enforced on the website while designing it or can be performed after a website is designed. It is a technique that can be used to develop a website, which is search engine friendly. Most of the search engine uses a software called "crawlers" or "spider". The main motive of these software are to check the website create their index (search engine index).

The method of getting search result is different for each search engines. Search engine applies many techniques to index the web pages and include into its directory. So the next time if your web page ranking high within one search engine and not in another then do not bother, it's because of different method used by these search engines. To rank higher in all the search engine you can do the things which is used by all search engines. You have to track all the changes happened in the search engine operation or method of spider software for getting search results and accordingly modify your web sites.

The process of search engine optimization includes the optimization of the following items:

Analyzing Site
Site Designing
Promotion of website and
Maintenance of website.

Important things to be remembered while Optimizing Your Web Site

A better optimized site rank high. Optimizing a website is not about tricking with the search engine, instead you should design your site both search engine friendly and human friendly. Many people spends lot's of money and uses latest technologies to achieve the target business by their website, but unluckily sometimes they fail in achieving. So it's essential to optimize your site in right way, in order to get successful online business by standing ranking-high in major search engines and able to attract lot's of clients. For optimizing a website always plan a good strategy.

Search Engine Optimization Strategy:

Research your keywords
Check rankings with search engines
URL Submission
The Title tag
Meta Description and Meta Keyword Tags
ALT Tags
Content of the page.
Link building
Search Engine Optimization Strategy

It is vital for every website that wants to stand rank-high in major search engines, to plan a strategy before developing or while optimizing an existing website. A well planed strategy can help in achieving the targets easily. A well optimized site attract targeted traffic by attaining very high positions in the search results.

Search Engine Optimization Strategy can including;

Give relevancy Title

A title is nothing but a focal point of the content written in your page. It gives the main idea of whatever written in the page. Whenever search engine searches for any topic it always checks the title and subtitle of the page first. So it becomes important to give an appropriate title and subtitle, sometimes a relevancy keyword can be useful in Title. But remember it should not be too long, at most it could be 80 character long. A short and relevancy title can help to rank higher in search engines.

Title can be defined as:
Page Title
Title always follows closing tag and written in Head tag.
http://www.roseindia.net/webpromotion/searchengineoptimization.shtml


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Tuesday, October 24, 2006

5 Effective Tips For Successful Submission To Web Directories

5 Effective Tips For Successful Submission To Web Directories was written by Julia Ramyalg and he writes "In my previous article I told why submission to web directories is an excellent promotion tool for your website. Now you can learn how to submit your web site link correctly and avoid general mistakes others do.

As you know, submission to web directories is a fantastic promotion tool that can boost your website link popularity and search engines rankings because with each submission you get one-way link to your website. There are free and paid web directories, and if you pay for the listing you want be sure it will work for your website. However submission to web directories is a kind of art and science at the same time and of course it has its secrets.

Follow these 5 tips to make web directories work for your website:

1. Make sure that it is a SEO friendly web directory

Links must be direct, static, and SEO-friendly that allows search engine robots to easily find and index your link:

* View the web page source code by right clicking on the page and selecting “View Source” from the drop-down menu.
* Look at the page meta tags, namely ROBOTS and make sure it doesn’t contain NOFOLLOW or NOINDEX attributes.
* Look at the links codes – URL in HREF attribute must be pointed directly to a linked website, not redirect from the web directory domain link.
* Links must not contain NOFOLLOW attribute..

2. Find the best place for your web site link

The best place is page with good Page Rank, easily and shortly reached from index page of the web directory, that contain relevant text and links.

* Browse a web directory categories and/or subcategories to find the best placement for your link. It’s very important because link, placed on a page with text content relevant by theme to the website’s theme has more value in eyes of search engines.
* If your website fits more than one categories or subcategories, select the one which is reached by less clicks from the home page, and/or has less other websites links on the pages – this will give your link larger “piece” of Page Rank.

3. Follow the web directory submission guidelines

If the online web directory meets all these requirements you can start composing your link. Always before starting submission you should read the submission rules or guidelines, because if your submission is failed to meet them, your website will be denied.

* Usually typical submission guidelines are quite simple and within the common sense rules – your website must be legal, developed (no landing page or under construction), must not be related to racism, hate, illegal activities, etc. If you try to submit such website regardless of the guidelines, most likely your submission will be denied because most of web directories are human edited.
* Another reason for your website to be denied is that you selected wrong category for your listing – one web directory editor may fix it, but another one will just delete the listing.
* Let’s also talk about deep linking – this is when you submit internal page of your website like www.yoursitename.com/pagename.html instead of top level domain www.yoursitename.com Deep linking is a SEO tactics for getting links, which look more natural in eyes of search engines, and it helps promoting certain website pages or sections as well. Not all web directories accept deep links for regular listings – most of them offer this for premium paid submission only. If you want to submit internal page link to a web directory, read before starting what the directory submission guidelines tell about this to avoid deletion of your listing.

4. Write proper title and description for your link

Title of your link is very important because usually it will be linked to your website as anchor text that has great impact on your website search engine rankings, so do your best writing title for each link you submit, however:

* Do not stuff the title with keywords only because this may cause rejection of your submission by the directory editor, but write normal informative phrases describing your website topics, services, products, ideas.
* If the web directory submission rules allow using 2–3 keywords or key phrases in the title and description, do not miss that chance; however try to “mix” the keywords with other normal words.
* Do not exceed the allowed limit of characters otherwise your title will be truncated or the whole listing rejected.
* Vary the link title and description at least slightly for each submission to make the links look natural in eyes or search engines. When search engines find hundreds or thousands of links to your website with the same anchor text (title) and description, they just discount the links value and your money and time were wasted to no result in rankings. It’s enough just to change one word in title and phrases order in the description from directory to directory, and use different keywords for every 10th web directory to get natural links for your website and improve its rankings for all the keywords.
* Remember that human users are also interested in your website listing and will follow the link if they find it interesting and useful. That’s why to use normal language for the title and description, that takes attention of the users and prompt them to click the link.

5. Write down all web directories you have submitted your website to

* The first reason for this is to avoid repeated submission to the same web directory because this may cause the first submission rejection or deletion.
* Also it’s just helpful and handy to have summary list of where and when you submitted your website, so in few weeks you can return and check if your website has been added, because some web directories send notification about website inclusion but some do not and you have to check it manually.

These 5 tips are simple but very effective because you know you spend your time and money on submission that brings great results.

Julia Ramyalg
Internet Marketing Manager

SEO friendly online web directory - JuliaWebDirectory.com accepts website submission for regular listing $1/year and featured listing $7/year.

* 300+ categories
* Deep Linking is allowed for regualr listing
* 24 hours Listing Approval
* Quick Indexing by search engines
* Relevant content on the pages of categories – all you need for building your website link popularity.

Submit your website to 100% SEO friendly directory HERE!


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Saturday, October 21, 2006

5 Incredible SEO Tips That Never Fail

5 Incredible SEO Tips That Never Fail was written by Steve Waganer and he writes "The term SEO is very familiar to anyone who knows what online business is and what it is all about. There are many people and many institutions that have unbelievable achievements to their name. But all these achievements will come to a naught if there is no authority to officially recognize this amazing feat. So is the case in online business and marketing. Any feat achieved by an online site on the web must be recognized by search engines to be taken seriously in the internet. SEO tips are the sources through which you can make search engines sit up and take notice of your site.

SEO tips are the methods by implementing which you are sure to attract the attention of major search engines. Yes, you may have the best looking website with amazing text and content, but what is the use if no one has any knowledge about your site. If you have a site running on the web and major search engines do not have inkling about your site, then what is the use of having such a site? I have found out and compiled a list of 5 incredible SEO tips that are guaranteed to help you in making search engines notice your site on the web..

First and foremost you must make sure that you know what SEO also known as search engine optimization is all about. How can you ever go about doing something about which you have no knowledge? So first of all equip yourself with all things that you can about optimization on the web. There are different ways that you can use for making major search engines take notice of your online site.

Blog building is one method that has been very successful for optimizing a site on the web. For this first you will have to create a database of websites with which you can exchange links and build up a chain, so that your site is visible everywhere on the web. While building up the database make sure that you search and find out those sites that are relevant to your site and product which you are selling on the web.

Do proper keyword research. One good way of finding out proper keyword for a site is by thinking what words are most likely to be used by visitors for searching information about the product and service that you are offering to them for sale. There are also some keyword selection tools that you can use for finding out relevant keywords. Wordtracker, overture, digital point forum are some of the major keyword tracking tools.

Writing title for each page of you site is also a good way of going about attracting search engine bots. The title of a webpage contains the relevant keyword and keyword phrases. The title is also important from the visitor point of view. So if you visit a site and want to know what the site is all about and also its relevance by viewing the title of the page through the source code.

Writing articles using the keyword of your site is also a good way for optimizing your site on the web. You can write articles and publish these articles in different article sites. This is also a great source for you help in spreading the link of your site on the World Wide Web. Articles are also a great source of information to online visitors.

Read all the above mentioned SEO tips very carefully. Implement them in your site and I am sure you will very easily be able to optimize your site in major search engines on the web. And once you have optimized your site on the web, your business can grow by leaps and bounds.

Steve Waganer has specialization in Web Marketing. He is expert in search engine optimization, Affiliated Marketing,search engine marketing and Website Marketing.To get his expert advice for your website to get high rank and top position in major search engines visit http://www.cometsearchenginemarketing.com


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Wednesday, October 18, 2006

New Site and Sandbox: How to Get Rid of It

New Site and Sandbox: How to Get Rid of It was written by Amitabh Shukla and rites "You have put lot of sweat in making your site. Now you want it to engender revenues and only source of traffic is search engines. You have completed your seo optimization well but there is no precursor of any traffic. Yes Google places new sites in "Sandbox" and this means that your site would not rank well for high traffic keywords for a certain period. This phenomenon is called as "Sandbox". What if your site is in "Sandbox" or on hold? Should you hang around or is there any way out. Lets look at few of them:

Have a slow and sturdy link campaign (taking Google new patent into consideration)

Google's new patent indicates some of the point clearly why many sites are thrown into sandbox for long. By keeping below points into consideration, you could shorten the time span of sandbox for your site..

# Go for everlasting link exchange. Don't buy links, which will evaporate once you stop payments.

# Have a slow and steady enlargement of links. Don't do it fast.

# Have a permanent anchor text in your links. Think well before you make use of one.

# Use multiple anchor text

# Have links from the pages, which are updated regularly

Start a PPC campaign

Get traffic from PPC campaign starting from Google Adwords and you could get instant traffic from the day you launched your site. You could work on your budget and come up with a figure where you could make some money after spending on Pay per click. In the mean time, you could make the list of keywords, which works, for you in the Adwords campaign and incorporate them into your site.

Add new pages

Get into habit of adding minimum of 1 content rich page to your site every day. This will not only prepare your site for higher traffic but also get your site crawled by search engines regularly. This could bring your site out of sandbox faster.

Amitabh Shukla, Personal blog for the author is at Seo Expert India


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Monday, October 16, 2006

How To Really SEO Your Site

How To Really SEO Your Site was written by Matt Colyer and he writes " Search engine optimization is one of most popular online marketing tool for any website. With more websites coming online every day the competition gets larger, so you have to make sure you can out SEO them before they out do you. In this article I will tell how to increase your ranking and how to out do your competition.

Search engines change their algorithms often and it's hard to keep up for anyone, so if you don't know much about SEO don't worry, I will get you up to speed. First make sure YOUR site is robot FRIENDLY by using HTML instead of flash and use more text than images or flash.

Page size can help you rank better in search engines, by keeping your page size low you will help robot(s) get more out of your web page. You should Keep it under 100k, but it's best to keep it around 25k or lower. Content is a key because search engines like Google love theme sites. Build three pages of content per week with at least 200 words..

One thing that every one that owns a site should have heard about by now is link popularity. Link building is very important because not only will search engines find your site faster, but it will help you rank higher for the keywords you used in the links. Try to trade links with websites which have high Google PageRank of at least 4, the more the better, but don't trade links just for PageRank, look at Traffic more. Below is a link to a link exchange that will help you build you link popularity and traffic.

http://www.linkexchangeit.com

Density and position play a big part in your ranking for your keywords. You should use your keyword once in the title, once in the description meta tag, once the in the heading, once the in the URL, once in bold text. Try to get a density between 5% and 20% and you should do good.

Submit your home page and maybe a few other pages in your site to the search engines, than wait for them to come to your web site. The waiting part is the harder part after you submit to the search engine. You can see the main search engines that you should submit to below.

Google - http://www.google.com/addurl.html

Yahoo - http://submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request

Teoma/Ask Jeeves - You will need to email Teoma to get in at this time.

Meta tags are not that important as they once were, but some search still consider them and this could help you rank higher in some search engines. Use the keyword meta tag and description meta tag, the rest don't do nothing nor help!

After the robots start coming to your site watch the logs (If you have logs) very closely and keep up with what pages they index and how often they come. Also make sure robots are crawling the full site and not just some pages.

About The Author
Matt Colyer is a php, cgi developer and part time SEO. He also owns the www.marhen.com Network.


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Saturday, October 14, 2006

The Best Link Building Strategies

The Best Link Building Strategies was written by Gordon Petten and he writes "The best link building strategies all have to do with common sense for the most part. People are always on the lookout for web pages that feature far more information and a lot of external links that will lead them to other like minded pages to air in their search for information. Barring any kind of unforeseen circumstances the best link building strategies circle around finding the proper amount of sites that are ranked in the same area as your site.

You couple this with the fact that there are close to one trillion web sites currently in operation on the internet and you have unlimited potential for success. The success all depends on how well you build the links and who you are exchanging links with. With this in hand you will have very little trouble maintaining a high profile in the arena of the SEO web sites that are in operation..

The best link building strategies all begin with the web site itself. If you can manage to understand how the back links work then you are much better off. For instance, if you own a site that is pro life in nature and you are wanting to start building links would you turn to the pro abortion web sites to try and build a relationship? Of course not, that would be out of the question as the two sites are offering conflicting views on the same issue. But you would be surprised how many web sites are willing to trade links with other web sites that have no bearing or conflicting views just to build the size of their back links. It is not the size that matters, but more about the quality of the links. This is why the best link building strategies are always centered around finding relevant web sites to trade links with, to offer the most for both of the parties involved.

The best link building strategies also encompass using the best in all of the link building areas on the web. There are hundreds of web sites that now specialize in link building and trading. Using the systems that they have in place you can easily trade links with other web sites without having to spend a lot of time sending messages to other webmasters and hoping that you get a return. Always use the common sense that you have when looking into link building as it can save you a lot of time and headaches down the road.

Get Directory
Free listing web directory


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Thursday, October 12, 2006

How To Write Effective And Unique Articles That Are Optimized for the Search Engine

How To Write Effective And Unique Articles That Are Optimized for the Search Engines was written by Karl Augustine and he writes "It is a well known fact that writing, distributing and posting articles to various location on the web is an extremely effective way to generate targeted traffic and establish yourself as an experienced marketer in your field. Unique articles that help solve the reader's problems, assists the reader in advancing their marketing acumen, or otherwise generally inform tend to stay posted on many web sites throughout the Internet and usually generate targeted traffic for the writer.

In order to further maximize the benefits of writing and posting unique articles, it makes good business sense to optimize the articles so the search engines list the URL's associated with those articles on search engine results pages (SERP's). Ideally, you'd like to see your article URL on the 1st page of the SERP's so you can capitalize on the free and targeted traffic from these listings..

So, what type of strategy can be utilized to optimize your articles for the search engines?

There's quite a few different ways but here are some tactics that you may want to use:

Article optimization tactic 1: Choose keywords that complement your USP and name your article page accordingly.

When choosing keywords that will be the central theme of your article, it is necessary to define what your article will be about, who the information in the article will benefit, and how it will tie into your USP before choosing your keywords. After you've thought through this, then come up with a list of keywords that will be suitable as the central them of the article.

Next, decide which keywords you will center your article around based on the number of searches that keyword gets per day and by assessing how much competition there is for that keyword phrase. Once you have chosen your keyword phrase for the article, name your page.

Example: If 'green widgets' is the keyword you wish to base your article on, you may want to name your web page 'greenwdgets.htm' or 'greenwdgets.html' or 'greenwdgets.shtml'.

Article optimization tactic 2: Utilize keyword in the title tag. Utilize your keywords that you've chosen for your article in the title tag of the web page.

Example: Green Widgets | The best green widgets available

Article optimization tactic 3: Utilize keyword in headline tags. Using keywords in headline tags will increase rankings of your web pages.

Ideally you would use the keywords as the headline, but usually this doesn't look natural.

Keep the h tags before and after the entire headline.

Example:Green widgets: We have the most affordable and powerful green widget available anywhere, guaranteed!

Article optimization tactic 4: Utilize keywords in the 1st sentence of the initial paragraph.

This an easily be accomplished and still make the paragraph read well and in a natural sounding tone if read back. Remember that you want your reader to feel like they are being talked with not "at" and you want your reader to not realize that your placement of your keyword phrases might be planned.

Article optimization tactic 5: Utilize keywords in text with appropriate keyword density. After you write your article, you can easily edit to try to obtain the best keyword density for the search engines you'd like to target.

Google's optimum keyword density is between 1.5% to 2.5% keyword density at the time of this writing.

Once you have the article written you can use GoRank's keyword optimization tool (http://www.gorank.com/seotools/) to check what the keyword density is of the text of the article so you can edit accordingly.

Remember, you don't want to 'stuff' the page with your chosen and targeted keyword phrase but you do want to make sure that you utilize your keywords when you can up to the required amount for the desired keyword density.

Article optimization tactic 6: Bold or italicize keywords in text. When bolding and italicizing your keywords in your articles, it isn't necessary to bold and/or italicize every keyword phrase. When the reader comes across bolded and italicized words they add emphasis to the text at the time they read those words. So you should use your best judgment as to what looks right and 'reads' right when you edit your article.

One key item to remember to write naturally so you get your message across in a human manner.

You want the reader to click to your link at the end or in the body of the article and the more human and conversational your article comes across, the more likely that the reader will travel to the URL you'd like them to see. Some marketers write their articles without search engine optimization in mind and then go back and edit them for the search engines.

After your article is optimized, do all you can to get it posted to other web sites so the number of relevant links pointing to that article is heightened. If you get your article posted to some of the heavier web sites that post articles and have the correct categories where your article will fit, the faster your article URL will get indexed by the search engines.

Karl Augustine
SEO Enthusiast

Starting An Online Business

FREE e-series, "Traffic Tips"
FREE traffic tips


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Wednesday, October 11, 2006

How to Succeed with the Search Engines

How to Succeed with the Search Engines was written by Adam Buhler and he writes "The Cold Hard Facts?..

One of the most important factors in being successful in your business is to learn how to rank high in the search engines. It has been said that the search engines can account for as much as 95% of all the traffic to your website! If you fail to take advantage of the major engines you could be neglecting almost ALL of your targeted traffic!

I don't know of any business that can afford to throw away that many visitors.

Is your site ready?

There are many factors in which to consider before submitting your website. Have you prepared your website for maximum placement? Each page will need to be submitted separately, and each page will need the following..




Page Title


Meta Tags


Keywords in Header tags


ALT Tags on all images


Keyword- filled content


Keywords as close to the top of each page as possible


Keywords in links to other pages


Keywords in outbound links



[Page Title]

It is crucial to place keywords as close to the beginning of your page title as possible. The search engines will typically display your page title as part of the description that shows up when your website is displayed in search results. Placing keywords towards the top of your page can be extremely beneficial. For example, my website page title is, Affiliate Programs Directory@Smokesoft Inc. This means my website will do well in searches on "affiliate", "affiliate programs" and "affiliate programs directory". Try to create your page title in such a way that you can include as many keywords as possible.

[Meta Tags]

Although the importance of meta tags is fading each day, they are easy to create and for some search engines they are a factor, so you would be wise to include them in your pages. For the search engines that do not take meta tags into consideration they will merely ignore them.

[Keywords in Header tags]

This means to create a separate heading for each page containing the keywords you are targeting for that specific page. For example, the heading for my home page is as follows:


Affiliate Programs Directory

Meaning that on my webpage it would appear as:

Affiliate Programs Directory

This will greatly increase your positioning in the rankings. take care to prepare EVERY page with this in mind. [ALT tags on all images]

Another worthwhile little "trick" is to add the ALT attribute to every image on every page of your website. You can effectively place a keyword in each image on your website! Follow this example:

Some search engines will use the text in images when considering keyword relevancy, therefore adding more content in your favor.

[Keyword-filled content]

There is no excuse for not filling your web pages with quality keyword-filled content this is a major factor in how well you will rank in the search engines. The more keywords the search engines locate the higher your site will rank?.period.

I've found that one of the best ways to accomplish this is with articles such as this one. Imagine for a moment that I used "search engines" or "keywords" as two of my keywords for a given page, now skim through this article and see how many times these two words appear. As you can see this would be a huge asset in determining how well my site places, and this is just one article! If you are incapable of writing your own articles there are many places where you can obtain articles to place on your site from another author. One such place is http://www.smokesoft.net/Articles.html

[Keywords as close to the top of each page as possible]

This is one of the easiest and most effective ways to increase placement. On each page make sure that the first visible text is a keyword, the search engines LOVE this! If you do not have keywords placed as the first visible text on your page, you may want to consider modifying or redesigning it to allow for this. It is well worth the time and effort and you will most likely see almost immediate improvement in your search engine rankings.

[Keywords in links to other pages]

You should try to insert keywords into your links whenever possible. For instance, if you are targeting the keyword "marketing" on a particular page, create a link to a page on your site and call the page "marketing tactics". The page the link leads to could consist of articles you have written on marketing tips you have discovered. Not only will search engines use the text in a given link to determine what your page is about, but they will also use it in determining the subject of the destination page. If you really want to take it to the next level, try using a keyword filled link as the first visible text on your page. This too will skyrocket your rankings in the search engines.

[Keywords in outbound links]

This concept is identical to that of linking to other pages except you instead will be linking to another site. For example if I were linking to another affiliate promotion site I would place the keyword "affiliate program" somewhere in the link.This is a must! My advice to you is to save this article and refer to each and every step when you setup a webpage. This is by no means all there is to know about search engines however, if you follow these guidelines you will do extremely well.

Good Luck!

About The Author
Adam Buhler is the owner of Affiliate Programs Directory: http://www.smokesoft.net Adam is the author of the weekly newsletter "Affiliate Secrets". He is offering a free copy of the ebook "Internet Cash Machines" For a limited time to anyone who subscribes at: http://www.smokesoft.net/newsletter.html
smoke@dwave.net


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Monday, October 09, 2006

How Important is PageRank, Really?'

Bradley James has written 'How Important is PageRank, Really?' and writes "Webmasters can spend most of their waking hours doing everything they can to raise their Google PageRank. It is common knowledge that PageRank, which is largely based upon the number and quality of backlinks a webpage has, is an important factor in how well a particular webpage ranks within the Google search results. Since webmasters spend so much of their time worrying about PageRank, an important question is: how important is PageRank, really?

Many webmasters will tell you from experience that other factors besides PageRank, such as keyword density and placement, have recently taken a larger role in website ranking. No one will argue that PageRank has become irrelevant, but there is significant evidence to suggest that PageRank is not quite as important of a factor in website ranking as it once was..

To illustrate this point, I utilized a very useful tool you can find at prlookup.com. The tool returns regular Google query results with one interesting addition - they also give the pagerank for every webpage. Thus, you can type in any word or phrase and see the pagerank of those webpages that rank well (or not so well) for that keyword. Looking at the results, you probably notice something almost immediately. Some sites with low PRs do surprisingly well in the results, while some higher PR sites do quite poorly. Some of this difference can be contributed to sheer content - that is, how many times, and in what manner, the keywords you entered actually show up on the webpage. Google takes a close look at keyword usage and density in determining ranking. However, some pages clearly have very close keyword densities, yet in some cases the page with the lower pagerank will somehow still receive a better ranking.

Let us take a more quantitative look at this. Taking 20 of the most popular keywords from rankpulse.com (for this particular day), and entering them in prlookup.com, it is possible to get a better feel for the importance of pagerank. Looking at the first five results only, I wanted to see how many followed in order of highest PR to lowest PR. Surely, out of the results for 20 keywords, a good portion of them will display such an order, right? I have listed the number of webpage results that appeared in correct PageRank order for each keyword (i.e. 5 would indicate that 5 out of 5 results were in order of highest to lowest pagerank). You can see the table with results at Google Advisor.

Although limited by sample size, the results indicated that PageRank is not an overwhelmingly dominant component of website ranking on Google. If it were, the average of correct PageRank order for these keywords really should be somewhere around 4 to 5 (the real average was about 2.15). Thus, other factors including keyword density in webpage content, title, and even the URL, play a significant role in webpage ranking. I want to mention that, while looking over these results, I noticed that about 4-5 of these keywords came up with at least one webpage within the first 10 results (first page on Google) that had absolutely no PageRank at all (PR 0). In addition, a couple keywords came up with results with exactly reverse-order PageRanks - that is, the first result at the lowest PR and the fifth result had the highest (for example, PR8, 7, 6, 6, 5 or something similar).

So what does this all mean for the average webmaster concerned with SEO? The first lesson is that keywords and other non-PageRank factors can be absolutely crucial. They can put a PR6 site above a PR8 site (if you don't believe me just use the tool I mentioned above). Does this mean that website owners should not worry about links? Not at all. It's just that all the time people spend on exchanging and acquiring links for the sole purpose of increasing PageRank may be better spent developing website content and keyword strategies instead.

As far as keywords are concerned, we discovered that having keywords in the website title and URL can help a site rank much more competitively. Good content tends to have the fortunate effect of both increasing your one-way in-bound links (people like to link to sites they find interesting, thoughtful, informative, or helpful), thereby improving your PageRank, while at the same time producing keyword rich webpages good for both human viewers and search engine spiders.

The take home message here is that PageRank is important, but it certainly is not worth obsessing over; there are many other factors involved in website ranking that should be given nearly equal consideration. In addition, simply building a good website is the best thing you can do to attract visitors, even without a great PageRank. PageRank, however, will likely follow - consider it a welcomed byproduct of your hard work.

Bradley James is Webmaster of GoogleAdvisor.org, an informational site providing free information to casual searchers and Webmasters about the Google search engine.


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Sunday, October 08, 2006

How to Develop a Successful ROI for Your Website

How to Develop a Successful ROI for Your Website was written by Michael Murray and he writes "Are You Really Measuring for Return on Investment (ROI) with Search Engine Optimization?

Puzzling studies and reports suggest that businesses are missing out when it comes to ROI, including a whole host of metrics that should confirm or shape search engine marketing strategies.

You can't accomplish much if you're not even implementing SEO the right way. We've seen web site after web site that includes scores of individual keywords in the META keyword set (that many search engines ignore anyway). The SEO team not only used the wrong individual keywords (search phrases are better), but they didn't bother to include keywords in the page title or description. And, of course, they didn't think it was worth their time to focus on multiple pages- not just the homepage..

Hint: If you're selling dinnerware, "laundry" probably shouldn't be one of your keywords.

A WebTrends report cited in an eMarketer in 2004 showed the following ROI:

Using Complete ROI analysis 35.4%

Click-through rates only 24.2%

Conversion metrics 18.7%

Don't measure 21.7%

Barely one third figured a thorough ROI analysis was worth the effort.

More than 80% of companies surveyed are dissatisfied with their "ability to benchmark their marketing programs," according to "Measures + Metrics: Assessing Marketing Value + Impact," a stunning report based on a 2004 survey by the CMO Council, a Palo Alto, California-based organization. The CMO Council represents senior marketing and brand decision-makers in the global technology industry.

"Less than 20% have developed any meaningful and comprehensive measures and metrics for their marketing organizations," the report said.

It's possible, Fathom SEO believes, that companies just settle for what's easiest. If getting high rankings offers enough satisfaction, that's where the measurement ends. Or, maybe a business will look at total traffic (maybe even unique visitor trends). With PPC, they're apt to take up Google's offer and post an ad within 15 minutes, cranking out the common reports Google offers.

Businesses have a whole host of metrics that can serve them as long as the data doesn't fly over their heads.

Aligning SEM with Corporate Marketing Strategies You should start by knowing how your SEM goals relate to your corporate marketing strategy. Which of the following (or more) do you want to accomplish?

- Generate leads
- Sell online
- Build brands
- Grab more market share

Conversions You absolutely must track pages that allow visitors to take some kind of action, including:

- Requesting a quote
- Filling out a contact form
- Placing an order
- Registering for a newsletter
- Ordering a catalog

Establishing Your Metrics Determine which of the following will be the metrics that will mean the most to you:

- Online sales (broken down by category)
- Repeat visits
- Profits on sales
- Customer satisfaction
- Length of visits
- Cost per click (CPC)
- Click-through rate (CTR)
- Cost per conversion (CPC).

Get plugged into online consumers' behavior patterns. For example, studies show that consumers start researching products online several weeks (12 weeks in some business-to business scenarios) before they make a purchase - often offline. Enquiro, based in Kelowna, BC, Canada, in 2004 found that 68.3% of those surveyed used search engines for "consideration or research." The results are detailed in Enquiro's "Inside the Mind of a Searcher" research report that looks at issues including four distinct types of searchers and the frequency with which people search during the buying process.

ROI should be an integral part of any search engine optimization strategy, not something that sounds foreign. Make it work for your business.

Michael Murray is vice president of Fathom SEO, an Ohio-based SEO firm. A member of Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), he also authored the white paper, "Search Engine Marketing: Get in the Game."

michael@fathomseo.com


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Saturday, October 07, 2006

How to Get Tons of Top 10 Rankings Guaranteed

John Gergye has written How to Get Tons of Top 10 Rankings Guaranteed and writes "Okay I admit it. I was kidding. I can't guarantee top 10 search engine rankings any more than the next guy.

But hold on. Before you click away in disgust I believe I've got the next best thing. That all but guarantees you'll get top 10 rankings. Lots of them. For next to nothing. So you might want to stick around and find out what this is all about.

You see to hear some tell it a top 10 ranking is a shoo in. A gimme. A piece of cake.

Must be since Google Adwords are crammed with all sorts of beckoning, come hither ads that suggest as much.

Now admittedly in any food chain even the bottom feeders play a role in the big scheme of things. But I don't know. Such pitches may be hard for the typical traffic starved newbie to resist. I mean these ads suggest for a mere $49, $69 or $99 you'll be rolling in top 10 rankings in no time..

The sad truth is you may indeed land some top 10 rankings. But they won't be for keywords that produce much if any traffic. And if you don't get any traffic what good are the top 10 rankings?

Still, let's not be so hasty. While I'm not advocating anyone plunk down hard earned cash in the hopes of landing high search engine rankings for competitive keywords, hidden in the hype is a low cost strategy. In other words there's a way to make this work. If you know how. And you will in about 60 seconds.

Here's all you do.

Simply fire up Wordtracker. (A subscription is about $8 for a day.) Start looking for related keywords by doing a search for a broad, general, generic keyword in your niche. Then drill down and dig up all the related "exact" keyword phrases that have 9 or fewer competing pages. All that's left is to optimize a page on your site for each one and presto chango! A top 10 ranking!

See? A surefire formula for guaranteed top 10 rankings. Brain dead simple too.

Now I call such search terms "orphan keywords". Orphans because the search volume is so low they are all but ignored by the fat cats intent on landing the big fish -- a.k.a. high rankings for terms that get hundreds of searches a day.

That fact makes these orphans super simple to rank in the top 10 for. Especially since many of the competing pages aren't even optimized the least little bit.

But hold on. Let's not high five all around just yet. There's a tradeoff. As I suggested lack of competition is a sure sign such terms aren't searched for often. Maybe no more than a mere handful of times each day in Google.

Okay so how do we make lemonade out of those lemons?

The best way to make this tactic work is to find a ton of these terms. And don't worry. Most niches are loaded with orphan keywords.

Then here's your next step. Simply create content pages that each focus on two, or at most three, of these small fry.

Put up 100 such pages and you've probably got 250 of these 9 or fewer competing pages phrases covered.

To get to 100 pages all you do is create four pages a day - five days a week. If you miss a day make it up over the weekend. But by the end of five weeks you'll have 100 pages hard at work for you. Now that's not so hard now is it?

Even better these orphans come with a collective traffic jolt you wouldn't expect.

I'm looking at one list of orphan keywords that shows 309 daily searches in Google. Another came in around 513. While the orphans for a third niche had over 1876 Google searches each day according to Wordtracker!

Given all that I casually suggested this micro traffic idea to a friend with an already successful web site. In other words he wasn't hurting for traffic. Which made this a no lose proposition for him to test.

About four weeks later he excitedly reported his traffic had doubled!

That's right doubled. That got my attention. Should get yours too. Because this orphan keyword strategy is a surefire way to get top 10 rankings for a whole host of lesser keyword phrases. Giving you near exclusive access to the traffic that comes with them. While leaving the bruising battles for the hyper competitive terms to someone else.

Pretty clever, huh? Absolutely.

John Gergye shares more ideas like this in his recently updated eBook "Traffic From Google in 35 Days". Find out more here: http://www.traffic-test-tube.com/j/tfg35cl.shtml/ Or test your search engine IQ by taking his seo quiz http://www.traffic-test-tube.com/search-engine-quiz.shtml/ and get the free special report "Coming Out On Top".


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Friday, October 06, 2006

Proven SEO Link Building Methods

Proven SEO Link Building Methods was written by Gabriel J. Adams and writes "Whether you've just started optimizing your site for top search engine rankings or your site is already ranking well in the search engines, backlinks are probably the most valuable SEO asset your site can have. Search engines take the number, quality, and relevancy of your inbound links into consideration when ranking your site. In fact, backlinks, or inbound links, account for over half of the factors that determine your rankings.

As important as getting quality inbound links is, it can be difficult to get them. Here are a few proven methods that you can use to build backlinks that will help you boost your sites search engine rankings.

1: Article submissions

Write an article on a topic related to your site, then submit it to free article sites. Your article can then be reprinted all over the web, always with a link back to your website..

2: Free directory submissions

There are hundreds of directories that will give you a link for free - just follow their instructions for submitting your site, then be patient - it may take several months for your site to be listed.

3: Paid directory submissions

Why pay for directory listings if you can get them for free? Many webmasters choose to buy directory listings, for several reasons. First of all, your site will generally be listed much quicker. Also, you can often get a higher quality link from a paid submission than a free submission.

4: Three way link exchanges

Link exchanges are arguably not as helpful as they once were, but 3 way links are still excellent. (Some people believe that the search engines will eventually discount them, but if done properly, they can be nearly impossible to detect.

5: Forum posting

Join forums related to your site and become an active member of forums. Of course, you can include a link to your site in your forum signature.

Use these proven methods to build more backlinks to your site and increase your rankings today!

Visit the MingleON SEO Web Directory, Submit your Site: http://www.mingleon.com/


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Thursday, October 05, 2006

SEO and Title Tags

SEO and Title Tags was written by Scott Lindsay and he writes "While most search engines do not use Meta Tags as a means of determining placement in their overall rankings of similar websites the proper use of Title Tags should take some careful thought. For those interested in your product or service the title tag is often the first impression a consumer has about your website.

A title tag is generally only 80 characters or less in length. Usually the title tag is approached by website owners as an after thought. By optimizing your title tag you have the opportunity to appeal directly to the consumer. Consider your title tag a mini advertisement directed to millions of web users.

In the html language of each web page is a section that reads <> Title Tag information here < /TITLE >

You will find this html section within the tags that read <> and < /HEAD > Html language may be foreign to you, but you can use the services of a good webmaster and insist they work with you to optimize the pages on your site to assist you in rankings, consistency and for maximum customer and ranking impact..

What should Title Tags include?

Title tags should always include at least two keywords or phrases, but don't go overboard. If your title is stuffed with keywords it can actually have a negative impact on your ranking due to the fact that many sites may consider this a spamming technique.

It is possible to make your title tag longer than 80 characters, however if you do make sure the most important information comes first. Search engines will place a limit on how much title information they display with their search results so it is possible some of your title information could be omitted.

It may seem a daunting task, but by placing a title tag on every page in your website you have a very simple, but often overlooked way of impacting the very people you want to visit your website - consumers.

Interestingly it is the title tag that many search engines look to first when considering site rankings and it often the most overlooked part of many SEO online marketing strategies. By overlooking title tags in SEO you are essentially doing the same things as businesses who have a phone number in the phone book and believe that's enough to draw customers. Title tags provide a means of free advertising in search engines. When you couple that with the importance search engines places on title tags it just makes sense to optimize your title tags.

Scott Lindsay is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of HighPowerSites and many other web projects. HighPowerSites is the easiest do-it-yourself website builder on the web. No programming or design skill required. Get your own website online in just 5 minutes with HighPowerSites.com at: http://www.highpowersites.com


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Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Even More Tips For Getting A Top 10 Search Engine Ranking!

Ash Kawa has written 'Even More Tips For Getting A Top 10 Search Engine Ranking!' and writes "I have spent some time discussing the 5 different options you have for getting your web site listed in the search engines. Just to make sure that we're all on the same page, let's quickly review?

1. Use A Free Submission Service: As you'll recall, I do NOT recommend that you use a free submission service because they submit the exact same information to all of the search engines, destroying your chances of ever getting that top ranking position you deserve.

Each search engine has a different rule book (a different set of "algorithms") that it uses to evaluate your web site - so submitting the SAME information to all of the search engines is pointless!

2. Use A Low-Cost Automated Submission Service: The only real difference between the low-cost automated submission services and the free submission services is that the low-cost ones will charge you about $40 to $80 to submit the same information to all of the search engines. Like I've already said, this is pointless! While your site may get submitted to as many as 900+ search engines, you'll be lucky if it appears in the top 100 listings, never mind the top 10!

3. Do It Yourself Manually: If you have the time and the patience, this is one of the best ways to submit your web site to the search engines. You study the rules of each search engine and then visit each one individually to manually submit the information for each page you wish to have listed..

Obviously, the two drawbacks to this strategy are that it can be a lot of work and there are no professionals looking over your shoulder to make sure you're doing everything right. But if you have the time, it can be a good option.

4. Use A Professional Search Engine Consultant: The advantages of using a professional are obvious - you get the advice and assistance of experts who work hand-in-hand with you to make sure you get the top ranking position your web site needs. But the drawback to this strategy is equally obvious - the cost can be pretty high.

5. Use Submission Software: If you're going to use software to submit your web site to the search engines, then I can't stress enough the importance of making sure that it will prepare an individual submission form for each search engine you will be submitting to. Most of the software out there does the same thing the free submission services do, so it's useless. The ONLY submission software that I recommend is SubmitWolf Pro.

Now this is why the e-mail started pouring in.....

It seems that many of you had questions about whether or not the SubmitWolf Pro software submits your web site to the directories (i.e. Yahoo! and Looksmart)? some of you were skeptical about whether or not search engine submission software could actually get you a top ranking position when it does everything automatically? and MANY of you wrote to ask why we didn't mention another highly regarded software, WebPosition Gold.

Knowing that for every person who e-mails me with questions like these, there are hundreds more of you who are silently wondering the same thing, I've decided to do two things in this article. First I want to clear up any confusion by answering your questions.

I know the sheer volume of information about search engines can be pretty overwhelming. So I'm going to do my best to condense things down into this one short, understandable article!

Know If Your Web Site Is Slipping In Rank - And If Your Competition Is Sneaking Up From Behind.....

Make no mistake, submitting your web site to the search engines is only half the battle! Next, you'll need to turn your attention to monitoring and maintaining your position. You need to ensure that your competition doesn't outrank you and that your site doesn't begin slipping down the ranks! And this is where software like WebPosition Gold can come in really handy?

Monitoring your ranking in the top 10 search engines - for each page you've submitted and for each keyword you've submitted under - is almost impossible if you're trying to do it all by yourself.

Let me explain by visually doing the math for you. This should help make things a bit clearer...

**Let's say that you're marketing 2 products.

**And let's say that you want to maximize and monitor your ranking in the top 10 search engines.

**For each product, you have a list of 15 keywords and phrases you want to be listed under.

So this means that you have:

2 products X 15 keywords for each product X 10 search engines = 300 positions to monitor!

Yipe! Who has time to check 300 positions? I know I sure don't! This would take days of effort, and you haven't even done checks on where your competitors rank yet! But if you want the search engine traffic, you need to stay on top of your rankings and you need to know when your competition has outranked you so that you can take corrective action!

Really, the only solution to this is automation. And that's what I highly recommend you use WebPosition Gold for.

WebPosition Gold will ensure that you don't neglect your search engine positioning? and that you don't lose this important source of traffic! It automatically generates reports that will show you exactly where your web site ranks in each search engine under specific keywords, keyword combinations, and search phrases, so you can make improvements, correct problems, and increase your web site's traffic.

Plus, it can save you hours of work every week by monitoring where your competitors are ranked in relation to you, alerting you of any problems.

If one of your web pages has been gradually slipping down the rankings, you can quickly identify the problem and correct it. Without WebPosition Gold's powerful reports, you have no way of knowing a problem even exists? until your site traffic slows down and you start losing sales, that is!

As I have made available this invaluable information to everyone free of cost, visit our website http://www.hostforwebsite.com [$0.75/month & Get Un-Limit Movies, MP3 Songs, Games, TV Shows on your PC!] Industry Lowest Price! Unbeatable Website Hosting Features!

Final Thoughts:

Look. If you are really serious about search engine positioning, then you should know that, together, SubmitWolf Pro and WebPosition Gold make a killer team that can dramatically increase your ranking. I highly recommend this software duo to anyone who wants to funnel traffic to their web site via the search engines.

It would be impossible for you to manually do the crucial marketing tasks that WebPosition Gold and SubmitWolf Pro do automatically - it would just take you far too long to be cost effective.

Sure you might be able to manually submit your web site to a handful of search engines? But 150? And give each one exactly what it needs? Plus, there's no way you'll convince me that you have time to monitor and maintain hundreds of different rankings and pages and still run a profitable business.

You know me and how strongly I believe in automating everything - leaving you free to grow your business and look after more profitable promotions. I don't want you to get caught in the trap of running your business when you could be growing it!

Ash Kawa has written hundreds of articles specializing in helping people succeed when the competition is tough. President of a successful Website Hosting Company http://www.hostforwebsite.com [$0.75/month & Get Un-Limit Movies, MP3 Songs, Games, TV Shows on your PC!]


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Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Search Engines: Tips and Strategies on Getting Listed and Ranking High for Newbies

Search Engines: Tips and Strategies on Getting Listed and Ranking High for Newbies was written by Theresa Carter and she writes "You've got a website. You've put countless hours into it, tweaking the look and feel and making sure all the links work. The bad news is there are a gazillion other websites out there. The good news is there are many things you can control to make sure your site isn't lost in the morass of dot coms.

One of the most important is showing up in the search engines, and getting listed in the top 20 for your subject. This article covers the steps you can take within your site.

First things first: Just like there's no "get rich quick", there's also no "get listed quick" (unless you pay for it).

Getting top listings in the search engines is an accomplishment. It gets you traffic and it gets you credibility. You can buy sponsored listings - you can't buy credibility.

Always Remember: Search engines base their usefulness on the quality of the results they give. You want people who are searching for your product to find your site; they want people who are searching for your product to find relevant sites. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is all about making sure you both get what you want..

SEO requires many steps. They pay off, but not immediately. Once you're "spidered" you'll see the effects of changes you make pretty quickly, but getting "spidered" (sorry to all the arachnophobes) can take awhile.

Spidered: Search engines search sites throughout the entire World Wide Web (if that sounds a lot like Sally searching for seashells by the seashore, it's intentional). But, to search for your site, they have to know you're there. So, these benevolent spiders send their hairy arms searching through the Web and whatever sticks to their spindly legs they keep.

If you create a web these spiders might want to visit, this process gets you a more desirable string on their web. You want to create a spa for spiders.

Keywords, Keywords, Keywords

Think about it: how do you search for something on the Internet? You put in a few words that say succinctly what you're searching for, i.e. downtown Chicago restaurants.

So, when you design or revamp your site, consider the keywords anyone would use to find what you offer.

The beauty of the Internet is the ability to target niche markets. You don't need a gazillion hits a month. You need people who are searching for YOUR product to find YOUR site. To illustrate the above example: if you search for "downtown Chicago restaurants" in Google, TheLocalTourist.com is the first listing. If you look for "Chicago Restaurants" it's aways down the list. But that's perfect. Because The Local Tourist only lists restaurants in downtown Chicago.

If The Local Tourist had a high listing for Chicago Restaurants, then someone looking for a place to eat in one of the outlying neighborhoods would be disappointed, and we don't want that.

By focusing on your niche keywords, on your target market's desires, you're forced to evaluate what you have to offer and the best way to present it. When you designed your product or service, you (hopefully) had the end-user in mind. So you know what they want.

As you're starting out, don't use the most popular keywords; use ones that don't get as many searches because there won't be as much competition. You're just trying to establish a presence. A good resource to find the popularity of keywords is http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/. Type in the keywords you think people would use to find your work and this tool will show you how many people have searched for it in the previous month through Overture. Google searches are approximately 12x that number.

Scope Out Your Competition

Go to your favorite search engines and type in your chosen keywords. Now visit the top three for each set of keywords from each search engine. Try to figure out how they got such high listings.

An easy way to keep track of this reconnaissance work is to create a simple spreadsheet and use a different worksheet for each search term. You'll want to have a row for each of the following:

1. Search term

2. Search engine

3. Your ranking:

a. If I'm not in the top 50, I simply write that.

b. Add a date next to the ranking so you can track your movement up the listings

4. Overture traffic (number of times term was searched for last month)

5. Repeat the following 3 times, for the top 3 listings:

a. Listing URL

b. Title

c. Description

d. Keywords

When you visit each of your competitor's sites, you're going to use a wonderful tool called Source Code. Copy and paste their URL into your spreadsheet, then in your browser click on View?Source. A new window opens with their HTML. (I always feel a little dirty when I do this, like I'm a voyeur or a spy, which I guess I am. That being said, it's completely legit.)

Now that you're seeing all their dirty laundry, you're going to look for their Meta Tags, which will be at the top of the code.

Meta Tags are the code in the HTML that visitors don't see but search engines do. They used to be the main way to get listed, but search engines have gotten smarter since abusers were loading up their tags with irrelevant keywords. They aren't nearly as important as they used to be, but the Title and Description tags are still vital. Many search engines use the title for the listing and the description for, well, the description. If your tags are relevant to your content, they don't hurt and do help with some.

Find the tags for Title, Description, and Keywords. Simply look for "title", "description" and "keyword" at the top of the source code.

1. The title uses the main keywords potential customers use to find sites. For example, TheLocalTourist's home page title is "Downtown Chicago Restaurants, Bars and Nightclubs, Shopping, Events, Things To Do". This title highlights the areas of the site where I want to receive search engine rankings based on the number of searches on those terms.

2. The description is where sites give their metaphorical "sound-byte". The trick is to pick keywords and write a compelling, succinct description without sounding like you're trying to use all your keywords. Gee, it sounds so easy.

3. The keyword meta tag is simply a listing, separated by commas, of all the keywords people would use to find a site. They should be different for each page because the content is different. ONLY use keywords that represent your content. Don't go crazy and don't use the same ones too many times.

Copy their tags and place them in the appropriate rows in your spreadsheet.

Now go back to the page itself and read through it. Take note of how they use their keywords in their content. It's a good idea to print each one.

Finally, gather your spreadsheets and your competitor's site print-outs and pull the keywords and descriptions that reflect your site's content. Analyze how they present their information.

This process is time consuming, but it forces you to take a look at your competition. It also, of course, makes sure your site is search engine friendly and therefore potential-visitor friendly.

Step By Step Optimization

Now it's time to really get down to business.

Change your file names to include the most relevant keywords for each page. You can't do that with the home page since it has to be something like "index", but you can name the other pages on the site with the relevant keyword for each page. Believe it or not, it does make a difference. Pick one or two so the file name isn't too long.

Write a title (not a meta tag, a real title) for each page as close to the top of the page as possible using the best keywords to describe the content. Format it as Header 1. (Most HTML editors have an easy way to format text without going into the code if you're unfamiliar with HTML.) You're putting it at the top of the page because search engines read like we do: left to right, top to bottom. This placement and the header formatting is a flag stating that "This is what the page is about".

Within the content of each page, include a blurb that uses as many keywords as possible without being annoying or redundant. Make your keywords bold, but only once. A good, brief example is the Things to Do page http://www.thelocaltourist.com/ThingsToDo.htm. This is one of the most frequently visited pages on The Local Tourist from search engines.

Make sure every picture has an "alt tag" (alternate). That's the text that shows up while the picture is loading. Search engines can't "read" pictures, so the alt tags show them what the picture is about. On most HTML editors you add the alt tag in picture properties.

Use your hard-earned knowledge from spying to create your own meta tags. Tailor your competitors' usage for your own site. (Learning how to implement meta tags is beyond the scope of this article, but you can do a web search for "meta tag tutorial" to find plenty of help.)

Ta da! You now have a website that's ready to be submitted to the search engines. It's a good idea to check your rankings on a regular basis and track them with your spreadsheets. Remember, this is not an instant process. The absolute best way to get impressive rankings is to have a content-rich quality site that addresses your target market's needs.

Theresa Carter is the creator, publisher, and search engine optimizer of The Local Tourist, a free online guide to downtown Chicago. Find restaurants, bars, spas, salons, events, attractions, shopping, media, transportation, articles about Chicago and more. http://www.thelocaltourist.com


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Monday, October 02, 2006

How to Manage SEO

How to Manage SEO was written by Michael Murray and he writes "Whether you launch a search engine optimization program in-house or outsource the program, you should keep the following training opportunities and skill sets in mind:

- Advanced SEO techniques, including page titles, META descriptions, META keyword sets, internal page cross-linking, search engine submissions, robots.txt files and domain name management;

- Comprehends keyword weighting, proximity, density and related factors;

- Search term ranking analysis;

- Link popularity building research, management and strategy;

- Online forum and industry newsletter monitoring;

- National SEO conferences;

- HTML and advanced programming languages;

- Web site content writing;

- Essential Web site usability practices;

- Keyword research, including a firm understanding of language and the way people search;

- Web analytics, including understanding common and complex metrics associated with visitors, unique visitors, page views, online sales, profitability and more;

- Ability to see the big picture and not go so overboard with SEO practices that the web site gets banned from major search engines;

- Appreciation for ethical standards (i.e. should know about cloaking, keyword stuffing and the differences and nuances associated with "black hat" and "white hat");

- Marketing and branding experience;

- Project management, including ability to effectively communicate needs and foster cooperation from appropriate stakeholders;

- Familiarity with pay per click (PPC) programs and how their performance directly relates to natural SEO results;

- Management of paid inclusion (72-hour rapid indexing programs);

- How to adjust to the changing algorithms of search engines.

The search engine optimization field is complex and ever-changing. To keep pace, you should have plenty of skills on hand. Overall, the SEO program process should be simple: set goals, choose the best keywords, optimize pages, submit to search engines and refine efforts in light of rankings and web analytics.

Michael Murray is vice president of Fathom SEO, a Cleveland, Ohio-based SEO firm. He authored the "U.S. Manufacturers Resist Natural Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Online Sales Leads" study and a white paper, "Search Engine Marketing: Get in the Game." michael@fathomseo.com


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