Search engine optimization begins with your basic page design. This article is not intended to explore the depths of seo strategies but, rather, to present basic information for the design of your web pages.
Every home business website needs a robots.txt file to provide information to the search engine robots or spiders. For more information you should read the article entitles, Why You Need A robots.txt File.
Search engine optimization can be a much simpler matter with a few page rules:
- Meta Tags are needed.
- The <title> tag is probably the most important tag since it lays out the theme of your page.
- The description tag provides a basic description of what is to be found on your page. Some search engines may even use this description when listing you in their search.
- The keyword tag does two things: (1) it tells you what to emphasize on the page, and (2) it may provide more information for the search engine robots.
-
Use Header Tags
- Header tags highlight main sections of your page and should include a keyword that is part of your page theme.
- Header tags are designated H1, H2, H3, etc.
- Use bold print to emphasize keywords
- Place keywords nears the beginning of paragraphs if it does not take away from readability of your content.
- A page optimized for search engines should have from 500 - 700 total words. That includes anything in text. An ALT tag describing a photo is considered to be text. Text Links (like in the left column and at the bottom of this page) are included.
- You should also have some keyword text links on the page.
Certainly there are ninety-eleven more things you can do. Keyword research is virtually essential in today's world of online marketing. Why build a page no one in the world is interested in reading? Maintaining proper keyword density without being guilty of keyword spamming is sometimes a balancing act, and you very probably need a good software program to help with this.
Google provides a free tool for keyword research. Of course, the results are based solely on Google searches and do not include any other search engines. Then again, Google is the most popular (at the moment) so it's certainly a good place to begin.
You can find the top 200 Google searches and download them to your computer. Go to Google Keywords.
Sometimes, however, you need more information. You know the keyword you want to use, and you need to dig into the many varied ways people search for that word. Wordtracker is an excellent program and has a free trial.
So there you have it in a nutshell. Following these guidelines may not get you a top position in the search engines, but they will certainly keep you off the bottom.