 |
 |
| |
|
|
|
 |
|
Optimizing Your Website For Better
Search Engine Rankings
|
|
Search engine optimization or SEO is a buzzword often used by marketers, web designers, and interactive firms for achieving a high listing on Google, Yahoo and other popular search engines. It may sound fancy, but for any company with a presence on the web, it's an important consideration for ensuring that prospects and customers get to your site.
Using optimization strategies you can help your website appear higher in search engine rankings. Higher search engine rankings are critical, as studies have shown that only the top results are viewed by the majority of searchers who often decline to scroll down. SEO's ultimate goal is to have your site appear on the first page of search engine results – which can attract as much as six times the traffic and double the sales of lower ranking sites. Here are some tips for optimizing your website for higher search engine rankings: |
- Design Your Site Smartly
A cardinal rule of good website optimization is to design your site in a way that makes it easier for the search engines to find your site. A search engine obtains your URL either by you submitting your site directly to the search engine or by others linking to your site. Content and key words are paramount to ensuring that your site is properly indexed by the search engines. Therefore it is important not to design your site in a way that the underlying code prevents a search engine from being able to index it. This means avoiding pages which are 100% graphics and no text, such as pages that contain all images, or are Flash-only. According to experts at Digital Web Magazine, if you're planning to build a site entirely in Flash, DON'T.
- Increase Your Inbound Links
Another effective tip to raise your search engine ranking is to increase the number of prominent sites that link to your site. The more links you can acquire to your site from high-ranking referrers, the better your chances of appearing near the top of search results. Google, the most popular search engine, uses an algorithm that puts high emphasis on link popularity. To successfully optimize your site, contact relevant referrers in your industry and offer to exchange links, plus set up links to all related association sites and Web portals.
- Maximize Your Content with Keywords
According to SmallBusinessNow.com, when choosing keyword phrases to include in your web content, it's important to stay away from general terms. You'll get better-qualified traffic if you choose more specific phrases. For example, instead of a general keyword, such as "fulfillment," you would have greater success if you optimized for the keyword phrase "product fulfillment company." Use as many keyword phrases as necessary when optimizing your pages and sprinkle them throughout your site. Use them in the text on every page, in text hyperlinks, title tags and in photo labels (called Alt tags). Before you choose your keywords, do your homework by visiting high ranking competitive sites to check out the keywords those companies are using.
- Make Good Use of Title Tags
Title tags – the text describing your site in the top line of a Web browser – are also an important element of search engine optimization. Search engines use the information in the title tags on each of your web pages to create your listings in search results, so they must contain compelling copy that induces searchers to click through to your site. Make your title tags between 50 and 80 characters long, including spaces, and include your most important keyword phrases.
Sources: Digital Web Magazine, SmallBusinessNow.com
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
