subject: 7 Do it yourself techniques to get higher rankings in the major search engines [print this page] 7 Do it yourself techniques to get higher rankings in the major search engines
For those who don't know this, organic search engine traffic is the best producing traffic and it's all free. When a visitor clicks on your link from a search engine you will get a higher conversion because your website has what they were actively searching. These search engine optimization tips are used by the all of the professional SEO companies that charge in excess of $2,000 per year to help you get better rankings. You can mow do it yourself, save a lot of money and get the same results.
In one of my previous articles I have written about 8 marketing techniques that no longer work.You might experience some minimum success with automatic article submission software, article spinning, buying one way links or exchange links and affiliate programs; but if you rely completly on these to increase your website revenue then you're in for a big disappointment.
What I will tell you about being a success on the internet in these highly competitive times comes from my experiences of trial and failure. The majority of those earning a full time income on the internet are those who started out when the web was fairly new. They discovered the 'niche' market and coined it before it has become highly competitive as it is today.
Many of those popular e-books that are written on internet marketing are obsolete because they were written during those mighty 'gold rush' days that occoured during the early stages of the internet. They told you that banner ads, pop-ups, joining link farms, FFA's and safelists were the easiest ways to get traffic to your website. That was then, this is now. The most effective website marketing right now is:
Search Engine Optimization
The search engines were the beginning of internet marketing, and they will be the future. Let's face it, people are getting smarter and more sophisticated about what they're looking for on the internet. Search engines are getting smarter and more sophisticated about how people will find you on the internet. Banners ads now get a click-through rate of less than .01%. This means that for every 10,000 impressions you may get 1 visitor. The reason for this is because people are ignoring the banners. Pop-ups and pop-unders and being stopped by pop-up blockers because they tie up the web-surfers experience.
Let's face it, people these days are very busy and don't have much time to fool around. They need to find most valuable and relevant information, or the best products or services at the lowest prices-very quickly. This brings me to three important ways to make millions on the internet:
1) Discover, invent, or create a product that will fill an important need.
2) Price it reasonably so that anyone can afford it.
3) Make it available so that anyone can find it.
You can arrive at steps one and two by studying the market for any new trends, and being very creative. We can help you with step 3 in this article. Google now assists you with this task with their Google Labs. You put in the keyword phrases and they show you the volume of search trends. This lets you know if a keyword phrase is gaining or losing popularity. Use it free at http://www.google.com/trends
Do-it-yourself Professional search engine optimization can be done by improving 7 parts of your website. We will explore each one and show you how to prepare your web pages to rank high in the search engines
1) URL issues-Check to make sure there are no broken links on your page. If you have other navigational features such as Flash, Image Maps, Javascript Menu, etc. This is good for your visitors, but the search engines can't read or follow them. Since search engines follow regular hyperlinks from one page to another in order to index sites they will likely view this page as a dead end. This can hurt your chances of being indexed in the future because search engines tend to ignore dead end pages. The search engines will follow your links to the other pages on your website, or to other websites to determine how relevant your web pages might be. The greater the relevance, the higher the engines will rank your pages whenever someone searches for your keywords.
2)Page Issues-Make sure that you have the three most important meta-tags on your website: Title, Description, and Keywords. The single most important meta-tag to the search engines now is the 'title' tag. This is what they look at first to consider what your website is all about. Then they look at your description tag, and then your keyword tag.
Your web page should have more than 200 words of text on your page in order for the search engines to consider it worth listing. With in these 200+ words you need to have your main keyword phrase listed at least 4 times. This keyword density gives your page credibility with the search engines because they see that your page's topic related to your keywords.
* This text should include your most important keyword phrases, but should remain logical & readable
* Be sure to use those phrases that you have used in your other tags (i.e. metas, alt, headings, title, etc.) during the optimization process.
* Add additional copy filled pages to your site. For example, how-to articles, tips or tutorials. These types of content pages not only help you in the search engines, but many other sites will link to them too.
Make sure your meta-tags begin and end in the proper format as shown here: and .
Keep in mind that the major search engines now place little importance on meta tags and more importance on back links to your website. Make you content interesting, informative and helpful and people will place a one way link to your website because they feel your content adds some value for their website visitors.
3) Title tag-The title tag of your page is one of the most important pieces of your page. The search engines use it as one of the main places to find keywords that relate to your page, and often as the link to your page from their engine. It's very important to optimize it properly.
Optimizing Your Title Tag
Without question the title tag of your page is the single most important factor to consider when optimizing your web page for the search engines. This is because most engines & directories place a high level of importance on keywords that are found in your title tag. The title tag is also what the search engines usually use for the title of your listing in the search results.
What it looks like:
Here's the title tag of this page:
Your Title Tag - learn to optimize your title tag
Where it belongs:
The correct placement for the title tag is between the and tags within the HTML the makes up your page.
Tag limits:
We recommend that your title tag be between 50-80 characters long - including spaces! The length that the different search engines accept varies, but as long as you keep within this limit you should be ok.
Tag tips:
* We recommend that you include 1-2 of your most important keyword phrases in the title tag, BUT be careful not to just list keywords. If you just list keywords you risk being viewed as a spamming the engines which can ultimately lead to you being blacklisted by the search engines. Your title tag should include your keyword phrases while remaining as close to a readable sentence as possible to avoid any problems.
* Make your title enticing! Don't forget that even if you get that #1 listing in the search engines your listing still needs to say something that makes the surfer want to click-through and visit your site.
* Since the length of your title tag could be a little long for some engines we suggest placing the keywords at the beginning of the tag when possible so that you do not risk having them cut off.
* Each page of your site should have it's own title tag with it's own keywords that related to the page that it appears on.
* Do not simply list your keyword phrases in your title. If you have more than 3 commas in your title or description tags then the search engines will see this as spamming your keywords. For this they may drop you from their listings.
4) Keyword tag-The keyword meta tag is meant to include all the keywords that relate to your page. Since some search engines use this tag to help determine what your page is about you should always include your keywords in it. You only need to have about 10 keyword phrases to describe your website. If you have any more than that then search engines won't know how to place your pages in the search listings and you page might end up at the bottom of the list. It is important to pick the 3 most important keyword phrases and write your page copy with these phases planted in there with clarity.
Those searching the web search are using keyword phrases, not just single keywords. So it's important that you include the 3 most important keyword phrases in your page copy, and up to 10 keyword phrases in your meta-tags.
* Aside from what we mention in the other tips below you should only use those keyword phrases that you also used in the copy of your page, title tag, meta description, and other tags. Any keywords phrases that you use that do not appear in your other tags or page copy are likely to not have enough prominence to help your listings for that phrase.
* Don't forget plurals. For example, a travel site might have both "Caribbean vacation" and "Caribbean vacations" in their keyword meta tag to make sure they show up in both searches.
* If you know of a common misspelling of a popular keyword that could be used to find your site you should enter it in your keywords meta tag. For example, a travel site might use "Caribbean " in their keyword meta since it is a common misspelling for "Caribbean".
* Watch out for repeats! You want to include your most important phrases, but when doing so it can be difficult not to repeat one word many times. For example, "Caribbean vacation" and "Caribbean vacations" are two different phrases, but the word "Caribbean" appears twice. This is okay to do in order to make sure you get the phrases you need in there, but be careful not to repeat any one word excessively. There in no actual limit, but we recommend that no one word be repeated in the keyword meta more than 5 times.
* If your site has content of interest to a specific geographic location be sure to include the actual location in your keyword meta.
5) Spam Issues-The search engines are very wise to the way we like to use keywords. Many people feel that if they simply saturate their meta-tags with the frequent listing of their keyword phrases, the search engines will usher their website to the top of the list. This is not the case here. The search engines have very strict standards in regards to spamming. One dead give-away is when you list all of your keyword phrases in you description tag. The engines are too smart to fall for this.
If you feel that you need to include some of your keywords in your description tag, use only two or three phrases. If you have more than 3 commas in your title or description tags the search engines will see this as spam and send your website listing to beyond the darkest side of Pluto.
Don't even think of writing a couple of sentences and listing your keyword phrases there. Again, where there are lists there are commas, and more than three is the number of doom.
6) Description Tags-The description meta tag is meant to describe what your page is about. Some search engines use this tag to help determine how to list your site, and many use it as the description of your page in their engine. All pages should have an accurate description meta tag with relevant keywords within it.
* Make sure you accurately describe the content of your page while trying to entice visitors to click on your listing.
* Include 3-4 of your most important keyword phrases. Especially those used in your title tag and page copy. Remember not to simply list your keywords there because to the search engines this is spam.
* Try to have your most important keywords appear at the beginning of your description. This often brings better results, and will help avoid having any search engine cut off your keywords if they limit the length of your description.
* We recommend that your Description Meta tag not exceed 250 characters including spaces.
7) Optimizing Your Images "alt" Attribute
Did you know that any images on your page can help your listings too? Each image on your page can include a keyword phrase or two that relates to the image. This text will also show up & help those that may have their images turned off when visiting your site. This does not work for all engines, but it certainly does not hurt so we recommend you give it a try where you can.
What it looks like:
Where it belongs:
You can add the "alt" attribute to any image on your page.
Tag limits:
We do not recommend using more than a brief sentence or two to describe an image.
Tag tips:
* Be sure to use the keyword phrases that you also used in the copy of your page, title tag, meta description, and other tags.
* Do not try to cram a bunch of keywords into the "alt" attribute. We recommend using no more than 2-3 per image.
* Describe the image - do not just list keywords.
* The "alt" attribute is also a good place for misspellings and plural keyword phrases that you may not have used elsewhere.
These 7 steps are used by SEO experts that charge over $2,000 per year to get your website to rank high in the search engines. Now you can do all this yourself and save a bundle. You will need some help finding the best keyword phrases for your website.
This will help you to decide the most effective keywords that have the lowest amount of listings. You may discover that your chosen keywords get only 5 searches per month, yet have over 4 million listings. By this example your chances of getting traffic from those keyword phrases are slim or none. It is good to use a tool that will tell you the number of searches a keyword gets so that you will know which are the best keywords to place on your website. Keep in mind that the most popular keywords may be very tough to rank high so set your keywords accordingly.
Footnote:
After you have applied all of the techniques listed here and submitted your pages to the search engines, you need to have patience because it may take about 60-90 days for your website to move to a good position in the search engines. In the meantime you should keep your content fresh without throwing out your most valuable keyword phrases and you will attract those ever important back links to your website.
We do not recommend using services that automate the link building process such as auto linking, article directory submission software, auto search engine submission,and article spinning because the search engines and article directories are creating scripts to reject these forms of submissions. You always gain in the long run when you do the work by hand because the search engines can now discern between auto generated and manual generated content.
