Keywords
Keywords, or keyword phrases are words that are specific to your website. So, using shoes as an example, the following terms can be classed as a keyword, or keyword phrase.
Shoes, pumps, trainers, footwear, heals, sandals, men’s mockisins, women’s slippers.
The idea behind keywords, is that they match the words people use when searching for your site. The broader the range of keywords, the better. Keywords are used in many areas of SEO.
Title Tag.
The <title> tag is an area where keywords play a vital role. When your site appears on a search engine, it is this text that is displayed. You should aim to have keywords included in this text, but make sure you have no more than six or seven.
Keyword density.
Long ago in the sands of time, all search engine results were dictated by keyword density. This is the number of times a keyword is repeated in the body of text. Google switched to rating sites by the number of external sites linking to it, because many sites just repeated the same keyword over and over again, making articles and information, rubbish.
It is believed that if your keyword density runs higher than 10%, many search engines penalise your site, as they read this as spam. Ideally, primary keywords should run at around 3-7%, while secondary keywords should run around 1-2%. Always mix in similar words to your keywords, as this is a little like spreading an SEO net to catch traffic.
Anchor text.
Anchor text is the hyperlinked words on a web page. These are the words you click on when you click a link. Here is an example, Link-Optimise, in which “Link-Optimise” is the anchor text.
By using keywords in the anchor text of a link you are letting the search engine know the relevance of the link. This is very valuable and a must for links residing on external sources.
Headings.
The heading lets the reader and a search engine know what the following content is all about. So its important to place keywords in the <H1>, <H2> etc tags, ensuring the same keywords are liberally distributed throughout the page for maximum effect.
URLs.
Keywords in the URLs are also a good idea. http://domainname.com/ladieshoes.html for example, will help search engines determine if your site is relevant.
Alt tags.
Search engines can not read pictures. They are like a search engine blind spot. If you label a picture with an <Alt> tag however, that changes, so make sure your pictures are all clearly labeled. For best effect, make sure your picture <Alt> tags tie in with your keywords.
Links, are the lifeblood of SEO, and the more external sites linking to yours the better. Many SEO articles state that Google, and other search engines value some links more highly than others. This is true, but while many of these articles go on to say that links from many directories are to be avoided, even these can be a good source of direct traffic.
As a rough guide, the links that are detected on Google Webmaster tools are ones that carry some weight. This guide will attempt to explain how links work in a practical sense, and provide good pointers for SEO.
Generally, the more links you have the better, providing they are the right kind of link. (See below). Also, the older the link is, the more highly rated it will be by search engines.
Anchor text.
Anchor text is the words contained within a hyperlink. So for example, if the word “here” is used, this will be picked up by search engines as anchor text. As you can see this is not the most descriptive word for a site and should be avoided. Therefore, it is important to have a relevant keyword or keyword phrase as the link to your website, where possible.
If we return to our friend the shoe shop, a link such as “Pump shoe sale now on“, turns these words into anchor text to the site. Therefore, a search for “pump shoes”, or “shoe sale”, will mean the shoe shop website will become a more relevant match in the search.
The text around the anchor text carries relevance to, so make sure it is in keeping with the nature of the anchor text.
Link quality.
The quality of a link is also an important factor in determining successful SEO. In many ways, this counts for more than the quantity. All search engines have a PR (page rank) for a website, and normally the higher this is the more worthy the link. Links from similar sites to yours are highly valued, as search engines see this as a vote of confidence from your chosen community.
Links to a site from a .gov, or .edu sites, are the best but are extremely difficult to get. They are rated more highly than any other site.
Directories.
As stated earlier these are a mixed bag from an SEO perspective, as many of them are not valued by search engines, though they can be a good source of direct traffic. There are some though, like DMOZ, and Yahoo that are valued, so always list your site with these. Many links from different directories can sometimes be regarded as link spamming, and is frowned upon by search engines. Your site maybe penalised for this.
Avoid link farms, suspicious sites.
Links from link farms are to be avoided. Though search engines do not see this as your fault so you will not be penalised, they do not rate these links very highly, if at all. By the same token, pages with hundreds of links are frowned upon, as many search engines see this as farming or spamming links. It is best to keep these to under 100 per page. On this note, links to link farm or other sites of ill repute will have a detrimental effect on your sites performance on search engines.
Avoid excessive linking from the same site.
If you are a webmaster, you may feel the urge to link many times from one of your sites to the other. Search engines will notice this, and penalise you for it.
Do not be tempted to have a link on your site that nobody can see, i.e a link a pixel wide, or hidden text. Again search engines are wise to these measures, and will penalise.
Meta Data
Though Meta tags are carrying less weight generally on search engines, some of the lesser search engines still use them to ascertain what a website is all about. For this reason, they are worth attending to, as a minor search engine may still be used by a few million users.
Meta Description tag.
Arguably, the most important Meta information you should have on your site, as many search engines, including Google, may use this text to provide a description for your site on a search engine. Clever copy in this part of the search, could just tip the balance on whether or not you are going to get a click. Consider:
- 1. Ryan’s shoes, ladies, men’s, and children shoes for sale.
- 2. Whizz shoes, men and ladies footwear for sale.
- 3. Blitz shoes, free shipping on all shoes at Blitz shoes, all shoe types available.
Which one would you click on?
Meta Keyword tag.
Though Google pays no attention to these, Bing and Yahoo still do. When choosing your Meta keyword tags, ensure that the ones you use are contained in the copy of the page. Many search engines will penalise you if you use keywords that are not used in the copy of your site.
Meta Language tag.
If your site has a multinational scope, where it will be read by people speaking a different language to your own, then do not leave this tag blank. Though many search engines use other methods to determine language, they do still use this tag as a guide.
Meta Refresh tag.
These are used to redirect visitors to another site. In the main they are used where a change in the URL has occurred on a site. Many search engines see this as unethical if used for a long time, and this can damage your PR. A 301 redirect is considered a better option to redirect traffic.
Meta Robot tag.
The robot mega tag allows webmasters to keep certain pages out of reach from search engine services and indexing.
Syntax:
<meta name=”robots” content=”robot-terms”>
Examples:
The “robot – terms” uses keywords to tell the search engine what can and cannot be done on that page.
noindex - Using this term will stop the page being indexed by a search service.
<meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”>
nofollow - This term stops the robots following links from the page.
<meta name=”robots” content=”nofollow”>
Should no meta robot tag exist, the default values are follow, index, and all. Therefore, there is no need to specify them if the page is allowed to be indexed and the links followed. Note that any “robot-terms”, containing all, will be indexed and the links followed as all overrides any other “robot-term”.
Hence:
<meta name=”robots” content=” all, noindex, nofollow”> then the page will be indexed and the links followed.
It is worth noting that links on a page can still be followed if it is not indexed.
<meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”>
And indeed, a page can be indexed but the links not followed.
<meta name=”robots” content=”nofollow”>
To stop a page being indexed, and the links not followed then this code should be used.
<meta name=”robots” content=”noindex, nofollow”>
Visual Extras
When images are used, ensure a relative, descriptive tag is used. Do not ram it full of keywords. Without the <alt> tag the picture goes unseen from an SEO perspective. Remember that even with an alt tag, a picture will not be seen as a proper link by search engines, so avoid using them for this purpose.
Podcasts and videos need a tapescript to be indexed by search engines. It is similar to <alt> tags with pictures.
Frames are to be avoided as search engine robots have all sorts of problems negotiating them.
Flash is ok in small doses, but remember try and provide a text description for whatever Flash you use in your site. At all costs try and avoid having a Flash homepage, as this is extremely bad SEO practise.
Content
Content is King for any website, and should be engaging and relevant to retain traffic. It should also be updated regularly, and ideally frequently, for SEO purposes. Making updates to existing content is seen as good SEO practise, as is adding new quality content.
You may wish to emphasise keywords by placing them in larger font sizes, and this is good SEO practise for H1, H2, H3 tags to. You can also use Bold and Italics for emphasis, but ensure the document reads well.
Search engines prefer shorter pages to long ones, so if you have a lot to say on a topic, split the pages to make them shorter. They are more likely to be indexed by search engine robots.
There are several bad practises that should be avoided at all costs.
Separating content by browser can have adverse SEO effects because search engines will not be able to tell which version of the page is relevant. The confusion is caused by each version having the same URL. If you can avoid doing this, you should.
Never use copy from other websites without permission, or use content that that promotes illegal practises such as piracy. The Pirate bay website, recently suffered because they were seen as a ‘bad’ website, as it arguably promotes illegal practises.
Never use invisible text. This is seen as extremely bad practise, or ‘Black Hat’ search engine optimisation. Once search engine robots discover that you have written text for them, but not for humans, you will be penalised and punished.
Another ‘Black Hat’ technique to be avoided is cloaking. This is where two pages have the same URL, and instead of the content being separated by browser, it is separated by search engine robot and human. Heavy penalties lie in wait for those who practise this.
Similarly, doorway pages are also a big no in search engine land. This is where a page tries to trick a search engine spider that it is highly relevant, when it is not.
Duplicate content. There are two types of duplicate content. Content that is duplicated on the same site, which carries a penalty. The other form of duplicate content is when the content is duplicated on two or more different websites. This is less likely to bring some kind of penalty as many mirror sites do exist and prosper.