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SEO
BASICS
SEO and Keywords- You Need Them Both
SEO is a process which helps you to tell the search
engines and your visitors-what your web page is all about. Without SEO and it's
important counterpart-keywords, neither the search engines or visitors will find
you.
Learning SEO takes a lot of time and a lot of work. However it is an
important factor in getting your website noticed. It is a
process that is well worth the time to learn-- if you want to make
money long-term.
If your website is up and running on the Internet, but no one is
coming, then it is time to begin the SEO process.
Beginning SEO Tips
Here are some quick SEO tips to help you in the SEO optimization process.
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You must determine
what keywords and keyword phases would best fit your web
pages..
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You want to find
words that people will most likely put into the search box
when they are looking for specific information.
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After you have
your keywords, you must weave the words into your copy. No
keyword stuffing. (Keyword Stuffing is an unethical practice of
stuffing keywords, throughout your content and in your Keyword
Meta Tags. Such as the repetition of a certain word, too many
times.)
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1 or 2 of your keywords should be in your meta tags and meta description
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Make sure that your meta title and meta
description match the content of your web page. Do not put the
same meta title and meta description on each and every page.
Don't think it happens? It does. I've seen individuals put the
Index title and the Index description on every page.
- Use exact words, not general words to describe your product or service. Why?
General words may help you get visitors but not necessarily
buyers.
Example: Cheap Tools, free tool, ugly green tools.
- Overused Keywords- Are the keywords that are dominated by
the large established websites. If you are a new website, you may be
competing for position with the established websites
depending upon your niche. This does not mean that you should not use the overused words,
just don't expect to be number one or within the top ten.
- Label images-within your HTML code, label your image with the "alt" command.
Images are a growing search option.
- Use appropriate HTTP codes when you remove a page permanently or temporarily
- If you have "Click Here" link, change the "click here" link to the product or service name. Why?
The
search engines only see click here and will probably assume the information is not important.
- Top keywords should be in the first sentence of your content.
Keywords and keyword
phases are both important in your SEO
marketing mix. Some have even used misspellings. But you really
have to be careful about the misspellings in your copy- it can
make people think that you're unprofessional. For
me, I'll forego the misspellings and use variations of the
keywords and keyword phases to draw additional traffic to my site.
Keyword Density - This is a mixed
bag when it comes to keyword density. Some say, it's not that
important. But I say, measuring keyword density has it's place. Why?
If Google believes your keywords are out-of-sight, you can be
penalized for keyword stuffing.
Thus, I feel if it does nothing else, it protects you from being
penalized by Google or the other search engines. So
what percentage of keywords/keyword phases should you
have? Some use a simple formula of 2-3 specific keywords or
keywords phases per 500 word count. And yet others, utilize a formula that
is as follows:
For major keywords 3-7%
For minor keywords 1-2%
Other Things To Consider
Here are some does' and don'ts' of
setting up a page.
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You should have
fewer than 100 links on a page or the search engines may flag
it as a link farm.
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Use robots.txt
file to manage your search engines for the good bots. For the
bad bots -use htaccess file.
Note: For information about setting up an .htaccess file or robots.txt
file go to
Website Protection
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Do not use hidden links or text. (Bad-hat tactics that will get you banned
by search engines)
If you have seasonal page, you can have Google stop crawling that page by using the "unavailable_after" tag.
Keyword Stuffing
For those not familiar with keyword stuffing, let me define it for
you. Keyword stuffing is the overuse of your keywords within your meta tags and your
content. You can usually spot keyword stuffing because the content
is so loaded with keywords that the content makes little or no sense.
I would suggest targeting at the most- three keywords on a page. You really need to keep a balance between keywords and quality content. Translated, if your keywords diminishes the meaning of your content-you'll quickly will lose the traffic that you want.
Site Speed and Page Ranking
You may be wondering why I've included site speed on a web page about SEO. Well, it
has been suggested by Matt Cutts, of Google, that site speed is important to the
user and thus, needs to be important to the webmaster. Why? According
to Google, if the user has to wait a long time to
have a page load for viewing, it is not giving the user a positive
experience. Which is true, because I have clicked away out of pure
frustration. However, after much discussion among bloggers and
webmasters, Google felt it was time to clarify the "site
speed" notion.
1) Site Speed is only one element of over 200 elements that could be
used in determining page rank.
2) Relevant, useful content will always outweigh site speed.
Definition: Relevancy - Relevancy refers to a
"relationship to" other items. For example: baseballs,
baseball bats, baseball hats, baseball shoe, etc. If you move away
from this type of relevancy than it can affect your score for
relevancy. But remember, relevancy alone will not get you a good
score in the eyes of Google, highly relevant, original content is
highly desirable.
All in all, it will always be up to the webmaster or blogger to use
their own judgment when constructing their web pages. Meaning, do
your best to make your blog or website as fast and user friendly as
possible, but never make it a stressor that prevents you from
creating quality content.
Next: Meta
tag tips/SEO Submission
SEO and Search Methods
Keyword
Search/Research
Keywords
are important to Search Engine Optimization. Optimizing your site may be a lot of work and require a lot of
trial and error -- but keep plugging away -- you'll see success.
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