SEO
in Brief - The Basics and Facts about Search Engine
Optimisation.
Rage Web Design have a good reputation for search engine results
both with the websites they have built and websites they have
edited with a view to search engine performance.
Frequently we have to explain the following about Search Engine
Optimisation.
Search engines use proprietary methods for ranking pages. They’re
kept secret and constantly changing because otherwise designers and
developers such as myself have the ability to scam the system. A
lot of the changes over the years have been implemented to
discourage various design abuses like keyword stuffing / bashing
also there is link buying / swapping / farming. It is possible to
get your site banned by Google if you engage in any such abuse,
which is why you need to be careful with your use of keywords and
optimization techniques.
Search engine optimisation methods should be directed primarily for
Google, assuming that if a site ranks well with Google it will with
other search engines, too. In most cases you can use Yahoo as a
backup search engine as Yahoo is easier to optimize for. (Yes, it
seems Yahoo and MSN have their own set off optimisation
rules.)
In spite of the secrecy, we do know that Google likes it if:
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Your site has been around for a while - the longer the better in most cases sometimes for a head start you can buy a domain name that was used for a similar subject or purpose to leapfrog page rank.
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Google likes you to use its sitemap services. This makes is easier for it to crawl and index every page in your site. You have a sitemap (create this manually or using the Sitemap plugin) .
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You use relevant keywords on each page but not too few and not too many. The Title Tag has recently become more important and do not aim for things that your page is most certainly not about.
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You should keep adding new content to your site, keep it fresh and keep tweaking.
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Other quality sites of similar vein should link to yours (emphasis on quality). Links outward to other similar sites are also looked at – Google likes to see what market you are in. Your site’s ranking will be penalized for the negatives of the above. For example, if a crummy site links to yours it will hurt you rather than help you.
What positive actions do the above imply?
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Be patient, stick with it - a quality site’s ranking will improve over time - a brand new site requires constant and consistant work (Hence “pay as you grow”) by Rage Web Design call 01892 570155 for more details.
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Be sure to have sitemap files and register them with Google and Yahoo .
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Have 3-8 keywords on each page that are relevant for the page’s content . Regularly add content (this is one reason blogs are popular but are getting spammy).
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Get quality links from relevant sites for your topic area - NOT link farms, and avoid link exchanges
Optimise keywords on each page for the content on that page. Most likely, you’ll have a few major keywords that repeat on all your pages and a few others on each page that are relevant for its content. Use your keywords in as many of the following as are relevant: browser title, page title, slogan, headers within your page, menu items, page text, image alt text, footer, description metatag, keywords metatag. But don’t repeat the same keyword multiple times in the description or elsewhere, don’t make text the same color as the page background to stuff in more keywords, don’t have more than 8 or so per page and don’t have irrelevant keywords that don’t relate to your page/site theme. And don’t worry it if you can’t “force” your keywords into all the above items as long as your site makes sense. Imagine a pyramid down from your homepage as to how well your pages need to be optimised- contact Rage Web Design for this type of service - we do this day in and day out.
Links
For quality links, do a few the following things:
Register your blog if you keep one. Published a free e-book and put it up on scribd.com and published.com or use go-articles giving people the option to use your content if they link back to you. Link back to your site from LinkedIn, Facebook, and SelfHelp.com also register your site at dmoz.org - (this takes ages for a crawl but Google respects this hand edited site directory).
That’s about it. It’s all a matter of simple hard work and patience, nothing magical. And don’t believe anyone who tells you they can guarantee your site will be #1 on Google -anybody that is any good at Search Engine Optimisation knows they do not own Google and can only work within the rules. Do not believe anybody can enhance the position of your site without editing it. There are a lot of expensive ( and this can cost thousands of pounds) scams out there in SEO industry and plenty of scammers waiting for your money, Rage Web Design have personally had dubious SEO sales people on the phone and we have challenged their bad practice and huge claims coupled with showing them real results that Rage Web Design have achieved - their response? They get rumbled, they hang up.
For real search engine optimisation with realistic results call Rage Web Design. We are happy to help.