SEO Manchester UK Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing - SEM Specialists
Website Optimization Manchester UK
website optimization is the process of specifically designing your web pages to rank high in the Search Engines. If you’re serious about your business, optimizing your web pages is a must.
many Search Engines are no longer using Meta tags to assist them in ranking a web page, some still do, and it’s worth the effort to include them.
When designing your web page, you must specifically
design it to rank high in the Search Engines. This involves
much more than just including META tags. Your Keywords, Title,
Image Alt text, Text and overall design, all play an important
role in determining how your website will rank.
If your
site doesn’t rank in the top 10 or 20 results when doing a
keyword search at the Search Engines, your target audience
won’t be able to find you.
A significant amount of
website traffic originates from the major Search Engines. Most
Internet users will go to a Search Engine, type in a keyword
phrase and look through the top 10 - 20 results. Most of the
time, they’ll find what they’re looking for in the first 10
results. The percentage of click throughs is even smaller.
Listing near the top and grabbing the attention of your target
audience is the top priority.
There are many
components of your web page that you should pay close
attention to when preparing it for listing in a Search
Engine.
The first step towards improving your listing
is selecting keyword phrases that best reflect your web
page.
Keywords and Keyword Phrases
A
keyword is a word that best describes your web page.
For example, if your web page is focusing on dogs, your best
keyword will be “dogs.”
A keyword phrase is two
or more words that best describe your web page. If your web
page is focusing on grooming a dog, then your best keyword
phrase will be “dog grooming.”
When preparing your web
pages, you should concentrate on just a couple of keyword
phrases (for each page) used in different variations. Avoid
using general one-word keywords, as you definitely won’t rank
high in the Search Engines. For example, if your website
focuses on “dog grooming” you wouldn’t want to use the word
“dog” as one of your keywords. Why? Because it’s too general.
Instead, you may want to use a keyword phrase such as “dog
grooming tips” or “how to groom dogs”.
You have to put
yourself in your potential visitors’ shoes and imagine what
words they will type into a Search Engine to find your
site.
Selecting the BEST keyword phrases is the MOST
important step towards optimizing your pages for the Search
Engines.
Another great way to use keyword phrases is to
use very unique words. For example, if you’re selling
computers, instead of using the word computers as a
Keyword, use the specific brand name or model of the computer.
This will drive highly targeted visitors to your
website.
Overture provides a wonderful tool that will
enable you to type in a keyword, click on a button and receive
a complete list of similar keyword phrases you can
use.
If you would like to view some live searches to
help you determine what keywords Internet users are searching
for, visit any of the following sites:
MetaSpy
(Caution - there are two live search
options to choose from. One is filtered and the other
one is not. The unfiltered searches may be offensive to
some users. If this is the case, make sure you only view the
filtered searches).
<META>
Tags
META tags are HTML code that is placed between
the <HEAD> and </HEAD> tags and instruct the
browser.
The META description tag will contain a
description of your site. This description will be visible in
some of the Search Engines when your site is returned in a
search.
Your description should focus on your site’s
main topic and not generalize. Make sure you include your most
important keywords towards the beginning of your
description. In addition, make sure your description describes
your page in detail. You want your potential visitors to know
exactly what you’re offering. Your description should be less
than 200 characters, including
spaces.
The META Keywords tag will contain a listing of your
keywords and keyword phrases that are relevant
to your page and enable a Search Engine to find you. The most
effective use of keywords is to concentrate on just a
few Keyword
phrases.
You can find a variety of tools to assist you in
creating an effective list of keywords at JimTools.
You can also download a
great little freeware program called, GoodKeywords. This program will assist you in
developing a list of targeted keywords for your website. In
addition, it also includes a site popularity tool that enables
you to check your site’s popularity.
| Note:A word of caution…only use keywords and phrases that are appropriate for your web page. Just because a certain keyword is very popular, doesn’t mean you should include it within your META tags. This is considered to be SPAM and could get your pages banned from the Search Engines. |
<IMG ALT>
Tags
An image Alt tag follows your graphic address
or url in your HTML code. These words will be displayed in
place of your graphics through an older browser or when your
visitors have their graphics turned off. To fully optimize
your graphics, insert a readable keyword phrase within the
Alt tags of your
graphics.
<TITLE> Tag
Your Title should
contain your most important keyword phrase.
Place your
“MOST” important keyword phrase first. Not just your most
important phrase, but the keyword phrase that you think people
will use when they do a search.
Instead of
capitalizing the first letter, type it in lowercase, as most
people type in all lowercase letters when searching. This will
assist you in ranking higher in the Search Engines for your
targeted audience.
Effective Title tags include
only relevant keyword or keyword phrases. Avoid
non-indexing filler words, such as a, an, the, welcome and
home page.
Heading
Heading tags
are used to separate topics and range from <H1> being
very large and bold to <H6> which is very small and
bold.
Your page heading should contain your most
important keyword phrase to assist you in ranking
higher in the Search Engines. Not all Search Engines place
relevance on heading tags. However, many do and it is
well worth the effort.
Text
Optimizing
your text is another important step in ranking higher in the
Search Engines. Your web page should contain plenty of text
and should contain each of your keywords and keyword
phrases used in different variations. If all of your
keywords and keyword phrases you’ve listed
within your META tags aren’t found within your text, the
Search Engines will simply ignore them.
Your
keywords and keyword phrases should appear
within your text at least three times, but not more than
seven.
Tables
If you’d like to set up
your web page using tables, try to place your
Heading text above your Table code. If this
isn’t possible, make sure you include your keyword
phrases within your top left Table cell to assist
you in ranking higher in the Search Engines.Basic Search Engine
Guidelines
Each Search Engine is different and has
different guidelines in regard to how they rank a web page. In
addition, their guidelines change very frequently and it is
literally impossible to keep up with them. Your best option is
to optimize your website to the best of your ability, submit
your pages to the Search Engines and forget it. (Resubmit your
main pages any time you make any significant changes.) Your
time can be better spent using other marketing techniques
other than fighting the Search Engine wars.
Here are
some basic guidelines to assist you in optimizing your
pages:
Title
Your Title should have a
word count of between five and six with a keyword frequency of
one and a keyword prominence of at least 60%.
A Keyword
that appears at the beginning of a specific area will have a
prominence rating of 100%.
A Keyword that appears in
the middle of a specific area will have a prominence rating of
50%.
A Keyword that appears at the end of a specified
area will have a prominence rating of 0%.
Keyword
prominence plays a critical role in determining your site’s
ranking, not only in the Search Engines, but also in prominent
directories such as Yahoo.
Alt
Your Alt
tags should contain a word count of about one to thirty five
and have a keyword frequency of one to
two.
Hyperlinks
Your hyperlinks should
contain a keyword frequency of between one and
eight.
Body Text
Your body text should
contain a keyword frequency of between one and six, a word
count between three and four hundred and a keyword prominence
of about 50%.
Your web page should contain a total
frequency of between five and twenty.
Take your time
and optimize each of your web pages to the best of your
ability. When you’re satisfied with your pages, manually
submit them to the major Search Engines and directories.
Get a free quote from website Optimization Manchester UK experts
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