subject: Tips for Killer SEO for Your Website [print this page] Tips for Killer SEO for Your Website Tips for Killer SEO for Your Website
It is important to know how Google and the other major search engines use their algorithms and programs to index your website. An algorithm is nothing more than a set of program instructions that the search engine's automatic programs, called bots or spiders, use to recognize quality websites. These bots read your website much like a human being does. First page to last, top to bottom, left to right; just like you would read a newspaper or magazine.
They follow the links they find there and notate whether or not these links actually work and lead to other pages in your website or to related websites. So when you make your own websiteit is important to keep these facts in mind. Also keep in mind that Google is constantly updating their programs and criteria for indexing websites. You can go to Google's Webmaster Tools page and read the SEO guidelines to stay updated on any changes.
On to the tips!
First and foremost is quality content. You need original, creative and relevant content on each and every page of your website. Do not buy into programs that offer you premade articles that you can personalize. The problem with these programs is that they produce duplicate content across many websites. Unless your content is original it will be flagged as duplicate and this hurts your SEO more than anything else. If you don't feel comfortable writing your own website content, hire a professional writer. They are not expensive and the cost of paying someone else to write your content will be recouped in the form of more traffic.
Make sure all of your links work and link to related sites or pages. Broken links, links that do not work, are flagged and the bots hate these. Links that lead to unrelated sites are also flagged and can drop your rank in the search engine's database. This hurts your SEO almost as much as duplicate content. Try to have your inbound links, links included in articles and blogs outside of your website, linked to specific pages not just to your homepage. This not only increases your SEO but also lets the bots know that a person is making the links and not an automatic program.
Keep your website fresh. Update it often and have a blog. Spiders and bots like fresh content. If you maintain a blog try to post at least three times a week. Everyday is better, but if you schedule does not permit this three times a week is a good number of posts. Blog posts don't have to be long, just interesting and linked to pages in your website. A good three or four paragraphs of relevant and interesting content is much better than a long boring one that rambles on and on. You can write about events in your community, give tips, make lists, and talk about a new product anything you think your readers would be interested in. Not only does this boost your SEO but it also builds community when readers leave comments and always give your readers an option to leave comments, people love doing that.
Make your website location-friendly. Since Google has added a location feature to searches, getting indexed is easier when you add your location to your site, content and links as appropriate. Instead of being Joe the Plumber, be Longwood, PA Joe the Plumber and always put your location first if you can. This targets your local audience and customer base. You can have separate pages for each location you serve and include the location in the address for each page and the titles.
These are just the bare bones basics for SEO. There are many other things you can do to boost the SEO of every freewebsite, but these will get you indexed and start to boost your rank in the search engine results pages. Remember, keep it original, keep it fresh and keep it local and you will have killer SEO in no time.
