Search engine optimisation For Your Web Site
Search engine optimisation, or SEO, is the process of
making your web site more visible in search engine rankings. If you employ search
engine optimisation techniques to your web site, then you can gain huge
benefits for your web site and business. Half to three quarters of all web
sites are found through search engines, such as Google and Yahoo. If you are
optimised, then your search engine positioning will be high and you will gain
more traffic for your web site. Here are a number of search engine optimisation
techniques to get you started:
Keywords
Keywords are one of the most important search engine
optimisation factors. Keywords are words or phrases that you can use throughout
your web site that will help people to search for your content. The best
keywords are those that are frequently searched for, but are not targeted by
many other web sites. Here are some tips on how to use keywords effectively for
search engine optimisation:
·
Use keyword phrases rather than single
words. This will make your keywords more specific, and will help your web site
to rank higher in the search engines. Due to the high levels of competition,
single words are often too common and general, and will not be effective
keywords for search engine optimisation.
·
Try and understand your target audience.
Maker sure that your keywords are what the people who might visit your web site
will search for. Think of as many relevant keywords for each page as you can,
and then ask people to help you narrow them down to the most effective ones.
·
Check out your
competition. Search using keywords that you might use, and see what comes up.
Look at these web sites and see what other keywords they use, as this will help
to give you ideas.
In order to make your keywords useful, you need to put
them in various places throughout your web site, such as:
- Page titles
- In headings
- As links
- In bold text
- In the first sentence of each page
- META tags
Be accessible
Another key to search engine
optimisation is to make sure that your web site is accessible to potential
search engines. You need to make sure that all the pages in your web site are
accessible to search engines, as this will make your search engine positioning
higher. Some search engines have problems with certain web site designs and
codes, and you need to avoid these in order to make your site accessible to all
possible search engines. Some things to avoid when building your web pages are:
- Links accessible solely through frames, image maps,
or JavaScript
- Very long pages
- Very short pages
- Flash pages
- Long JavaScript
- Dynamic URLs
Your title tag
Perhaps the most important aspect of search engine
optimisation is your title tag. This is the description and title that is
associated with your web site, and should ideally be between 50 and 80
characters long. The title tag is so important in search engine optimisation
because of the importance that search engine providers place upon it. Keywords
in your title tag are often the most sought after, and the title tag is used as
your web site description in the search results. Here are some tips to make
sure your title tag is the best it can be:
·
Include 1 or 2 of the most important
keyword phrases in the title tag. However, do not simply use keywords, as
search engines do not take kindly to this and might seem you as trying to spam
them, in which case you will be blacklisted. The title tag should contain
keywords, but be as close to a readable sentence as is possible.
·
Make your title enticing to consumers.
However high up your ranking, you still need to make sure that people will want
to view your web site. Make sure they can understand what your web site is
about, and make them want to know more.
·
Try and place the keywords at the
beginning of the title tag, so that if your tag is too long for a search engine
your keywords will still be visible. If they are at the end then they might be
cut off due to length restrictions.
·
You should have a title tag for each page
of your web site, which has keywords relevant for the content on that page.
Search engine
submission
Once
you have your web site ready, and believe that it will gain good search engine
positioning, then you should submit it to all of the large search engines, such
as MSN, Google and Yahoo, as well as any others you know of. After search
engine submission, listing can take time, with the larger search engines taking
a few weeks or months to get you listed. If your search engine optimisation
works, you will see a definite increase in traffic to your web site, and if you
are a business this can lead to an increase in sales.