Optimizing Your Webpages For Search Engines
Written by Erich V and published at 10:35 AM UPDATE: Oct 30, 2011 - Sections added, speed, age. Page accuracy & links checked. | PageRank | Press | Sitemaps | SE Ratings | Tips | SE Submission | Services |
There are a few edits that you will want to do either in Notepad or in "HTML view" to improve your ranking in the search engines. Optionally, you can also hire a professional SEO services company to optimize your website or template.
Submitting your website: | Click for details
Your website will not be automatically listed at Google and other search engines. You must submit your website to get listed.
Title tags: | Help for editing your title tags
The title on each page is the most important part of any webpage for getting a good search engine ranking. An effective title will get you a higher listing in the search engines. Try to use a couple of keywords but do not let your title get too long. Keep in mind that the title is also what people will see first when searching and it must make sense for users to click on your link.
Keyword meta tags: | Help for editing your keywords
As of this writing, Google and many other search engines do NOT read your keywords to list your pages. You may still want to edit your keyword "meta" tags but you do not need to spend too much time on this. There are some professionals who indicate that Yahoo! does still use keywords for website listings.
Site meta description: | More details
At the top of every HTML page included in all Allwebco templates you will find a meta name="Description". This area is read by Google and most search engines and is what users see when searching. It is very important to edit this area with a description of your site, service or product. This area should include keywords but should also make sense so users will know what your site is about and click your link when searching. If it does not make sense users will usually avoid your link.
Image alt tags:
As of this writing, Google and most other search engines DO read image "alt" tags. You will want to edit or add these tags to every image on your webpages. In Notepad you can do a "edit" "find" and find "img" to check all of these. Below is a sample of an image with an alt tag included:
<img src="picts/image.gif" alt="Add important key phrases here">
Be sure to edit the "Add important key phrases here" like in the above example with your keywords on your pages.
NOTE: You will also want to use sentences for the alt tags and not use the same phrase over and over if possible. You may get penalized for spamming keywords.
Site Age:
The age of a website, or a domain name, also plays a factor in how well a website lists. As your site ages it may list higher in search engines. Opinions vary on exactly how important, or if this is actually even a factor, site age is for SEO. See Domain Age: How Important Is It for SEO? at Search Engine Journal.
Getting all your website pages listed:
The menu.js file included with Allwebco templates is not read by search engines, so most Allwebco templates include either a "site map" page linked from your "index.html" that links to all other pages, or, in some models a text link path is setup starting from the "index.html". It is best not to remove any text links on your template home page.
Option #1. Best linking solution. Add a "sitemap.xml" to your website and add a link to this in your robots.txt. For info on creating a sitemap so all pages on your website will be indexed by search engines check out Sitemaps.org and also Freesitemapgenerator.com. Once you have created a sitemap.xml you will want to ping your sitemap.
Option #2. Best linking solution. Add visible links on your index.html to either your site map page or to all your other pages. See the add links support page. See also "Normal page links" below.
Option #3. If your template does not include a "site_map.htm". Make a copy of any template page, for example copy the about page. Make this page a sitemap page. Add a link to every page on your site on this page, then either submit this page to Google separately when you submit your domain, or add one link on your index.html to this page.
Option #5. Linking solution. Instead of linking all your pages, you can submit every page individually on your site. It's best to only submit each page one time.
Option #6. Linking solution. Add images with links or links to all images on your "index.html" or website homepage. See the adding images to a page support page for details.
OUR TESTS: We are currently testing the xml-sitemaps.com $19.00 advanced PHP sitemap generator on our website and have had no problems with the setup so far. You can generate sitemaps for small websites for free on their website as well.
Normal page links: | Help for adding page links
Many search engines also give more weight to links than to other page copy. What you may want to do, in addition to having plenty of copy on your homepage is also add normal text links to your pages as well with keywords in the link name. Here is an example:
<a href="about.htm">Link name with keywords</a>
Add the above link to the main body of your index.html or any of your other pages.
TIPS: Page copy:
If you can, try to have plenty of text on at least one page at your site with a long article about your service or product. Include words and phrases that might be searched for often. This can be a great help with your rankings. Be sure to link this page from your homepage or site map with a text link or image link. If you do not the page may not be found.
TIPS: <H1> or heading tags:
Many on-line articles indicate that "headings" tags may improve your webpage rankings at Google. <H1> tags can be added to any Allwebco template, however, use caution as common wisdom indicates that too many of these heading tags may be seen as spamming by Google.
Check this website for details on adding H tags.
TIPS: The homepage:
Keep in mind that search engines, as of this writing, give the most weight to your home page or index.html. Be sure you include plenty of copy (text) on this page or plenty of "alt" tags and links to your other pages. See above sections.
TIPS: Using different titles: | Help for editing your title tags
For better results, try to have different titles on each of your pages. Use a couple of keywords for each title but do not let them get too long. Keep in mind that the title is also what people will see first when searching and it must make sense for users to click on your link.
TIPS: Change titles and content: | Help for editing your title tags
If you can, change your page copy at least once a month and also change your title tags. Google and some other search engines give your website a better ranking if it is perceived to be current information.
TIPS: Website page speed:
Search engines, including Google, have been recently placing more relevance on the speed of a website. If you have a slow loading website you may want to find ways to improve your website load time. See the Fixing Slow Loading Webpages support page for tips on how to improve website speed. Also see section above on this page regarding website speed.
TIPS: Page errors:
Although search engines do not actually check a website for errors, errors can slow down your website load speed and effect your SE ranking. You should check your pages for errors after any major updates. See the Finding and Fixing Template Errors support page for info on finding webpage errors.
TIPS: Local searches:
Add local towns to your page copy, titles and "alt" tags so there is less competition for your business. Keep in mind that people may be searching for your product by town or city. This will cut the competition down to your area only if you add every local town, county, city and state to either your page copy, titles or your "alt" tags. This can be very effective. You may want to get out a map and find every town in your area. Perhaps even create a page just listing the towns you service and call it your "service area" page. Be sure to link this page from your homepage with a text link or site map as described above. If you do not the page may not be found.
TIPS: Link building: RECIPROCAL VS ONE WAY LINK BUILDING: Link building is a critical technique to achieve top 10 rankings on the major search engines. The search engines job is to provide the searchers with the most relevant information for the search term used. To effectively provide relevant results, the search engine uses both "on-page" and "off-page" factors. Having a well-balanced on-going link building campaign is important. However, the emphasis should be on one-way links to your website. The major search engines are discounting the reciprocal links and almost cancelling them out. One great way to acquire one way links fast is through the use of paid press releases. See the PR Web press release newswire website for more info.
PageRank:
Pagerank is a backlink analysis algorithm used by Google, and possibly Bing and other search engines, to give more importance to a website in keyword search results. The more links that lead to your website the higher your Page Rank. Read more about Page Rank at Wikipedia.
TIPS: Distributing a Press Release:
Using a press release distribution service is an excellent way to disseminate news about your business. A press release is not only for large companies, but for any type or size of website or business. Click here for some tips on following the proper format for writing a press release. If you have the time to write a press release, it is a very cost effective way to build links, and enhance your site visibility. Ensure you do have something newsworthy to write about to maintain your credibility. You may want to search Google News for press releases related to your product or service to see what may be newsworthy.
Check out 24-7 Press Release for tips, news, submission services and other useful information if you are interested in distributing a press release.
TIPS: Don't forget Yahoo! and MSN Bing Search:
Although Google has the lion's share of searches, Yahoo!, MSN Bing Search, AOL and Ask still receive millions of searches each day. Be sure to check your site listings in these search engines and check out optimizing information for each. See sidebar on this page for optimizing links.
Professional services:
There are many optimization services available to help you achieve higher search engine listings. See the Qualified Impressions SEO company for professional search engine optimization, or you can try some searches at Google for "website optimization services".
Nielsen NetRatings, comScore and Hitwise Search Engine Ratings:
Below is a pie chart for most popular search engines for Sept 2011. The 2011 rankings are compiled from Hitwise Older rankings on this page are from Nielsen NetRatings and comScore.
