Make Your Website Spider Friendly - a Beginner's Guide to Search Engine Optimization

Unless you have a large budget for Pay Per Click advertising, sooner or later you will need to look at optimizing your website so that search engines can find you. Many organic Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) techniques show results only after several months, so it is one of the first things to do when creating a new website or web page. After all, Search Engine Recognition is actually a form of free advertising that can drive traffic to your site every day of the year.

Choose the right page title

Thousands of websites are wasting valuable internet real estate because they do not make use of the Page Title. It is common to see nothing but 'home page' or, even worse, the site URL, in the blue navigation bar at the top of the screen. This is the prime location for keywords. And it is not the same title as you would use above a shop, so do not use whimsical titles like 'Kevin's doggie days'. Instead you will use key words such as 'dog training information by Kevin the Collie'. This wording is important for the spiders and for your visitor, who will find it easier to bookmark.

Optimise each individual page

It is not enough to treat all pages on your site in the same way. Each one is visited by a search engine individually so you need to use the theme of each page to help in competing for the top keywords. This can make the difference between competing for 'dogs' and a more accessible phrase like 'dogs training for truffle hunting'. Once the visitor arrives, they will be able to read the rest of your site which is about.

Choose the right key word phrase

An easy mistake is to look at the phrase from your point of view, and focus on a technical wording rather than the words your customers use. You can check what people are typing in for your niche by consulting the keyword research tools, and there are many available. Link details for instant keyword research tools are on my website.

Optimize Your Page Content

When writing page content it is easy to forget the constraints of SEO, and start writing advertising copy that has no connection with your keywords and phrases. Your page must still be written with readers in mind, and contain those vital keywords and phrases - otherwise you have wasted all your keyword research work. If you find this difficult, cut and paste your keyword list at the top of your page draft, then you can check the keyword density. Do not stuff the page with key words, and make sure that the sentence still sounds natural.

Make full use of link and image tags

Every URL and image link will be labelled and this is another chance to include keywords and phrases, both on the page and in the HTML. On the page, it is simply good writing style. Instead of 'click here', use a term like '.. more funny dog stories'. Within each URL tag the HTML code can include "alt = funny dog stories". These are two more chances to include your keywords and increase their relevance to the page, all helping your page ranking and Search Engine Recognition prospects. There is nothing 'black hat' about this practice, as the alt tag is intended to describe the link if the link is not available. Your description will not only inform your reader but also include your keywords.

Why should people visit your site?

Ask yourself constantly why each page is worth visiting. What is interesting on the page - is there a free offer or an incentive to return? Can they reach another area of interest from any landing page?

Ask the spiders to visit

It is disappointing for knowledgeable web designers that the search engines do not enjoy Frames, reams of Javascript, Flash and HTML style descriptions - in fact they will probably choke and go elsewhere. If you must include these elements you will need to pay an SEO specialist to set up an alternative web for the spiders to crawl. Otherwise, just go back to basics: keep Javascript to a minimum, use a separate stylesheet and no frames.

Search Engines are dumb but clever

Do not try to play tricks on the search engines, they will find out. If you are following just some of the SEO techniques listed here the search engines will recognize your pages and they will show up. Playing tricks will make you the loser in the end: getting banned from Google or Yahoo will cost you a lot of time and money to rectify.

Search Engine Optimization is rather like doing your maths homework - easy to put off but once you start it can be strangely addictive.

Adrienne Davis runs Brilliant4Biz where you can read the complete version of this article on Search Engine Optimization. Adrienne publishes a regular FREE Ezine – see details below. Find out which ideas work and avoid Internet scams. Don’t miss Kevin the Collie's Dog Training Tips.





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