[Article] SEO - Search Engine Optimization!

**Roxy** · March 17th, 2008, 4:24 PM

Google, Yahoo, MSN, the biggest and most known names for search engines. Wouldn't it be nice to have your website's rank on one of those engines high, so that millions would see your website? Of course you would! One of the main reasons in having a website is to attract users to it! While having an eye catching design and content are important and usual visitor-pullers, having your site optimized for search engines is a must!

How do I get my site listed on the search engines?

The easiest way is to submit your site directly to the search engine, usually through the 'add URL' section on the search engine homepage. The search engine 'robot' will then visit your site and index your pages. Search engines are programmed to examine the pages of a site and record specific information in a manner that permits easy retrieval of relevant pages when called to do so during a user search.

Our recommendation is to focus on the leading engines around 16 or so, and to avoid services that offer 'bulk submission' to 100s of engines that no-one uses.

I have submitted my site but it still does not turn up in searches, why?

Be certain that your site is fully prepared before you submit for search indexing. Many sites are simply rejected by the search engines because the designers have not followed important guidelines when constructing the site, or have been over zealous in 'cramming' pages with keywords in an attempt to influence the search engines. There are many tactics that result in penalty or even 'banning' of the entire site for spamming or blatant attempts at manipulation of the search engine. You must also be patient, it can take anywhere between 2 days and 5 months for your site to appear. Be prepared, be patient.

What specific information should I include on my site to attract favorable search rankings?

The type of information the search engines look for, and how they handle the information, varies with each search engine. To have a site that ranks well with more than one search engine requires a good deal of effort, the details of which extend beyond the scope of this report. Suffice to say that if you are serious about achieving good results on most popular search engines, then you will need to acquire a detailed knowledge of how they work. Basic requirements of constructing a well prepared page include the following:

1. TITLE Tag - use around six words, do not use your company name unless it is a 'branded' name, use keywords at the start of the Tag and do not repeat them.

2. META Keywords Tag - focus on popular keywords and use the most popular at the start of the Tag. Avoid word repetition unless offering synonyms.

Excercise caution when offering plurals and upper/lower case variations. Avoid using superfluous words that do not appear on the page. 12 to 14 words is average and most effective.

4. META Description Tag - Use 16 words max in most cases and avoid word repetition. Use keywords but don't use key phrases or strings of words that appear in exactly the same combination in other tags.

5. 'ALT-IMAGE' attributes - name your images using single instances of keywords.

6. 'Heading' Tags - use them to encase headline text or 'bullet points'.

7. Body Text - use at least 250 words and make use of keywords positioned in the body text. Try to start the first sentence of the first paragraph with a keyword and repeat the word one more time in the paragraph. Use the keyword/phrase around three other times on the page.

**Dan** · March 17th, 2008, 6:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roxy

How do I get my site listed on the search engines?

The easiest way is to submit your site directly to the search engine, usually through the 'add URL' section on the search engine homepage. The search engine 'robot' will then visit your site and index your pages. Search engines are programmed to examine the pages of a site and record specific information in a manner that permits easy retrieval of relevant pages when called to do so during a user search.

I find it easier AND quicker to put a link to this new site on an already indexed site. Most search engines say that it can take months for their bots to crawl your site upon submission. I don't know whether this is true or not but I wouldn't take the chance.

If I put a link on the already indexed site to the new site I can have my new site indexed with in a couple days.

**Dan** · March 17th, 2008, 6:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roxy

5. 'ALT-IMAGE' attributes - name your images using single instances of keywords.

This is usually only good if you want your image to be indexed in image searches such as Google Image Search

It does not increase your search ranking tho

H · March 17th, 2008, 6:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan

This is usually only good if you want your image to be indexed in image searches such as Google Image Search

It does not increase your search ranking tho

Not to mention is required by the HTML spec, and accessibility purposes. I'd suggest using the title attribute as well.

**Kayla** · March 17th, 2008, 6:28 PM

I think now everything should have titles, tags, the whole 9!

**Dan** · March 17th, 2008, 6:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by H

Not to mention is required by the HTML spec, and accessibility purposes. I'd suggest using the title attribute as well.

What does the title attribute do? I've seen it used before but never read into what it's good for. Is it like the meta description tag for search engines?

**Roxy** · March 17th, 2008, 6:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan

What does the title attribute do? I've seen it used before but never read into what it's good for. Is it like the meta description tag for search engines?

You could say that, but its more so used now-a-days for accessibility purposes like H mentioned above. At least from who I have talked to in regards to site design, that is what THEY would use it for.

**Dan** · March 17th, 2008, 6:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roxy

You could say that, but its more so used now-a-days for accessibility purposes like H mentioned above. At least from who I have talked to in regards to site design, that is what THEY would use it for.

How does it help accessibility? just out of curiosity

**twirp** · March 17th, 2008, 6:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan

How does it help accessibility? just out of curiosity

Quote:

The title attribute

This attribute offers advisory information about the element for which it is set.

Source: The title attribute.

The title attribute can be used with all elements except for base, basefont, head, html, meta, param, script, and title, but it isn’t required for any. Maybe that’s why it’s less clear when to use it.

Use this to provide additional information that is not essential. Most visual browsers display title text as a tool tip when the element is hovered over, however it is up to the browser manufacturer to decide how the title text is rendered. Some will display the text in the status bar instead. Early versions of Safari did this, for instance.

One good use of the title attribute is to add descriptive text to links, especially if the link text itself doesn’t clearly describe the link’s destination. This way you can help visitors know where the link will take them, possible saving them from loading a page only to find out it wasn’t anything they’re interested in. Another potential use is to provide additional information for an image, like maybe a date or other information that is likely not essential.

Title text can be longer than alt text. However, keep in mind that some browsers crop the text they display (as a tooltip or otherwise). Browsers based on Mozilla, for example, only display the first 60 characters of a title text in a tooltip. While that should likely be considered a Mozilla bug, it’s something you should be aware of.

The alt and title attributes | 456 Berea Street

March 17th, 2008, 4:24 PM	#1 (permalink)
Roxy URB4N 5K1LLZ Super #1 Joined in Sep 2005 Lives in Orlando, FL Hosted on SH63 2,660 posts Gave thanks: 81 Thanked 128 times	[Article] SEO - Search Engine Optimization! Google, Yahoo, MSN, the biggest and most known names for search engines. Wouldn't it be nice to have your website's rank on one of those engines high, so that millions would see your website? Of course you would! One of the main reasons in having a website is to attract users to it! While having an eye catching design and content are important and usual visitor-pullers, having your site optimized for search engines is a must! How do I get my site listed on the search engines? The easiest way is to submit your site directly to the search engine, usually through the 'add URL' section on the search engine homepage. The search engine 'robot' will then visit your site and index your pages. Search engines are programmed to examine the pages of a site and record specific information in a manner that permits easy retrieval of relevant pages when called to do so during a user search. Our recommendation is to focus on the leading engines around 16 or so, and to avoid services that offer 'bulk submission' to 100s of engines that no-one uses. I have submitted my site but it still does not turn up in searches, why? Be certain that your site is fully prepared before you submit for search indexing. Many sites are simply rejected by the search engines because the designers have not followed important guidelines when constructing the site, or have been over zealous in 'cramming' pages with keywords in an attempt to influence the search engines. There are many tactics that result in penalty or even 'banning' of the entire site for spamming or blatant attempts at manipulation of the search engine. You must also be patient, it can take anywhere between 2 days and 5 months for your site to appear. Be prepared, be patient. What specific information should I include on my site to attract favorable search rankings? The type of information the search engines look for, and how they handle the information, varies with each search engine. To have a site that ranks well with more than one search engine requires a good deal of effort, the details of which extend beyond the scope of this report. Suffice to say that if you are serious about achieving good results on most popular search engines, then you will need to acquire a detailed knowledge of how they work. Basic requirements of constructing a well prepared page include the following: 1. TITLE Tag - use around six words, do not use your company name unless it is a 'branded' name, use keywords at the start of the Tag and do not repeat them. 2. META Keywords Tag - focus on popular keywords and use the most popular at the start of the Tag. Avoid word repetition unless offering synonyms. Excercise caution when offering plurals and upper/lower case variations. Avoid using superfluous words that do not appear on the page. 12 to 14 words is average and most effective. 4. META Description Tag - Use 16 words max in most cases and avoid word repetition. Use keywords but don't use key phrases or strings of words that appear in exactly the same combination in other tags. 5. 'ALT-IMAGE' attributes - name your images using single instances of keywords. 6. 'Heading' Tags - use them to encase headline text or 'bullet points'. 7. Body Text - use at least 250 words and make use of keywords positioned in the body text. Try to start the first sentence of the first paragraph with a keyword and repeat the word one more time in the paragraph. Use the keyword/phrase around three other times on the page. __________________ Roxanne Urban Roxy -Personal Blog SH63 - the best darn shared server!

March 17th, 2008, 6:28 PM	#5 (permalink)
Kayla Marketing Maven Surpass Staff Joined in May 2003 Lives in Chicago 24,757 posts Gave thanks: 946 Thanked 807 times	I think now everything should have titles, tags, the whole 9! __________________ Follow Surpass on Twitter and Facebook And there's my own Twitter and LinkedIn

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