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Optimizing
Your Page Copy
The copy on your page is also very important in order to achieve
better search engine listings. Actually, it is very close to being
as important as your title tag so make sure you keep reading!
By 'copy' we mean the actual text that a visitor to your site
would read.
What are your customers searching for?
Optimize your page text for the wrong keywords and all your efforts
will be wasted.Our keyword research tool can tell you the exact
words they are using in the search engines.
Don't guess -- know what they are searching for.
Use
our keyword tool!
Did
you know that just like a visitor to your site would read the
copy on your page to figure out what you have to offer, the search
engines do too? And what do you think the search engines are looking
for when they 'read' your page copy? Keyword phrases, of course!
Page text tips:For best results we recommend that each page you
submit has at least 200 words of copy on it. There is some cases
where this much text can be difficult to put on a page, but the
search engines really like it so you should do your best to increase
the amount of copy where you can.This text should include your
most important keyword phrases, but should remain logical &
readable. Be sure to use those phrases that you have used in your
other tags (i.e. metas, alt, headings, title, etc.) during the
optimization process.Add additional copy filled pages to your
site. For example, how-to articles, tips or tutorials. These types
of content pages not only help you in the search engines, but
many other sites will link to them too.Don't ignore this tip!
Seriously, optimizing your page copy is one of the most important
things you could possibly do to improve your listings in the search
engines. So, make sure you have plenty of it even if you need
to redesign your site to work it in!
Optimizing Frames
If your site uses frames, you've got problems - as far as the
search engines are concerned anyway!
The problem is that search engines do not index framed sites very
well. In fact, the search engines do such a poor job of indexing
frames that we recommend redesigning your site without them if
you want to get good listings in the search engines.
Now, if your site must use frames there are some tips we recommend
you implement to make sure that you get the best listings you
can even with frames.
The problem:
A
frame is exactly what the name conveys - they are an HTML page
that "frames" other HTML pages. Now, the problem arises
when you go to submit. In most cases a framed site will only have
one page you can submit, the home page. Since your site uses frames
the home page actually has nothing that the search engine can
use (i.e. page copy) to determine how to list your site. Why?
Because your home page is actually a frameset which does not have
any real content. Here's an example that should help you see what
we mean. Keep in mind this code is what the search engines see:
Example Code of a Site Using Frames
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Example Framed Site</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<FRAMESET cols="150,*">
<FRAME name="contents" target="main">
<FRAME name="main">
</FRAMESET>
</HTML>
We can't explain everything about frames here, but you should
easily be able to see in the above example that their is no real
content for the search engine to use to determine how to list
your site. All that is there is HTML code. The result is a framed
site will often not get listed at all, and if it does it will
usually be listed very poorly.
The solution:
Not really a "solution" (the solution would be to get
rid of the frames!), but the best thing you can do to improve
your results is to use the <noframes> tag within your frameset.
This tag was originally used for
displaying content to people using older web browsers that did
not support viewing frames. While just about all web browsers
now support frames the <noframes> tag can still be used
for content that will help your framed site get listed. In addition,
you should also implement the best title tag,
and meta tags that you can.
Where it belongs:
The <noframes> tag belongs just before the </frameset>
tag for your frameset, as you can see below in red.
Example Code of a Site Using Frames with <NOFRAMES> Tag
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Example Framed Site</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<FRAMESET cols="150,*">
<FRAME name="contents" target="main">
<FRAME name="main">
<NOFRAMES>
Optimized page content goes here for best results.
</NOFRAMES>
</FRAMESET>
</HTML>
Tag tips:
Place optimized content within the <body> tags that you
see above within the <noframes> tag. An easy way to do this
is to create a new regular (not framed) home page for your site
that describes your site, products & services. Often the content
can be taken directly from one of your existing framed pages.
Once you have the page created view the HTML of the page and copy
everything from within the <body> and </body> tags.
Then paste the new content within the <body> and </body>
tags found within the <noframes> tags of your frameset.
A complete page (including all the HTML) can be placed within
the body tags.Search engines like simple HTML pages, so since
it is very unlikely anyone will ever see this <noframes>
content we recommend keeping it very simple and text based for
best results.
Make sure all your <noframes> content is optimized following
all our tips. If it is not optimized, it is not going to help
you very much.Include links in the <noframes> content to
all of the other important pages
on your site so that the search engine will crawl and index them
too. Implement the best title tag, and meta tags that you can
on the frameset page
Sites That Use Dynamic URLs Most search engines cannot or will
not list any dynamic URLs. Dynamic URLs are most commonly used
on database driven sites, or sites that are running scripts. They
ommonly look something like this one from MSN Search: http://search.msn.com/results.asp?q=dynamic+url
If your URL contains any of the following elements it is considered
a Dynamic URL as far as the search engines are concerned: ?, &,
%, +, =, $, cgi-bin, .cgi (commas above are just used as a separator)
If your URL contains any of the above elements it is very unlikely
that it will get listed at any of the major search engines. We
recommend that you submitting a different URL that is not dynamic
if possible. If all of your URLs are dynamic you should probably
consider making static pages (i.e. not dynamic) with URLs that
do not contain any of the elements noted above so that you can
get listed in the search engines.
Sites
That Use Flash
Flash itself is not the problem. The problem is how it is used.
The 2 largest problems with how Flash is used are:
Flash is often used on home pages as a "splash" page.
The problem with these splash pages is that any times they are
made entirely from Flash, which the search engines can't index.
That means your splash page will not get listed. Your best bet
search engine wise is to avoid submitting any page that is made
mostly of Flash. If you must submit a page that is mostly Flash
you can improve your chances of getting listed by to adding as
much page copy to the page that you can. You should also make
sure you have good meta tags and title tag.
Hyperlinks made with Flash can't be spidered by the search engines.
Normally, when you submit a page to a search engine you can expect
the search engine to follow the links on the page you submitted
and spider the rest of your site, which is a good thing. Unfortunately,
unless you have (or add) standard HTML hyperlinks to the other
pages of your site none of your other pages will be able to get
spidered by the search engines, which is a bad thing. An easy
way fix this problem is to create a site map page
uses standard HTML links to link to every page on your site. Then
add a standard HTML link on each page of your site that links
to the site map.
Optimizing for the Correct Keywords
What are your customers searching for?
Optimize for the wrong keywords and all your efforts will be wasted.Our
keyword research tool can tell you the exact words they are using
in the search engines.Don't guess -- know what they are searching
for.Use our keyword tool!
To
get listed correctly in the search engines each page of your site
that you want listed needs to be optimized to the best of your
ability. Since the keywords that you decide to target will be
used throughout the optimization process choosing the right keywords
is essential. If you choose the wrong
keywords you will not be found in the search engines. If you are
not found in the search engines how will anyone find your site?
Since the keywords you choose to optimize your pages with are
so important we have put together some tips to help you make sure
that you make the right choices. You should utilize these tips
when selecting keywords for each page that you plan to submit
to the search engines.
Think "specific keyword phrases" not "keywords".
Why? Due to the extreme amount of competition for general terms
in the search engines, if your keyword phrases are too general
it is very unlikely you will rank well in the search engines.
You stand a far better chance to rank well for specific phrases
where there is less competition. The resulting traffic, since
it is more highly targeted, should also be much higher quality
too! Here's an example for a site selling shoes: Much Too General
Much Better!
shoes
men's shoes
women's shoes
imported italian shoes
men's leather penny loafers
women's aerobic sneakers
Try
to think like your target audience. What would they search for
when looking for the page you are optimizing? It is very easy
to fall in the trap of coming up with a short list of what YOU
would search for, but what about everyone else? They will not
necessarily use the same keywords as you. You should try to come
up with as many keyword phrases as you can think of that relate
to the page you are optimizing. Try asking a few friends and family
what they would search for when searching for a site like yours.
Check out your competition for ideas. Do a search using keywords
that you already know you want to target and click through on
the top sites that come up. Once on the site view the source HTML
code and view the keywords they have in their meta tags - this
should give you many more ideas! Make
sure to only use keywords that relate to YOUR site or page. To
view the HTML code simply click the 'View' at the top of your
web browser then select 'Source', or 'Page Source'.
You should develop a list of keyword phrases, following the tips
on this page, for each page that you optimize for the search engines.
Sites That Use Image Maps for Navigation
Due to the code that makes up an image map search engines often
get trapped in them and can't spider your site.
If you use image maps for your main site navigation you should
consider switching to standard HTML hyperlinks or your site will
most likely not get spidered. If you want to keep the image maps
you can, but you should add another navigation scheme to your
site that uses only standard HTML hyperlinks so that your site
will get spidered. An easy way to do this is to create a site
map page uses standard HTML links to link to every page on your
site. Then add a standard HTML link on each page of your site
that
links to the site map.
Sites That Use Javascript for Navigation
Search engines can't follow links that are within Javascript,
so your site will not get spidered unless you also have some form
standard HTML hyperlinks that they can follow. You should add
some form standard HTML hyperlinks to all of your pages on each
of your pages so that your site will be spidered properly. An
easy way to do this is to create a site map page uses standard
HTML links to link to every page on your site. Then add a standard
HTML link on each page of your site that links to the site map. |
