Internet Users Benefit From The Search Engine / Seo Cat-and-mouse

A constant cat-and-mouse game between the major Internet search engines and search engine optimization (SEO) companies has an interesting result: As these two groups try to psych each other out to beat the other’s system, search capabilities are constantly improving for the consumer of Internet services.

Here’s what happens: Each search engine develops a formula for producing the most accurate, relevant results according to the Internet user’s keyword search, and then the SEO companies analyze the search engine’s function and develop a system of strategies to allow their customers to take advantage of that formula. Common strategies include providing enriched text blocks (a few paragraphs of text containing multiple keywords likely to be picked up by the search engines), general interest articles, with embedded links, on particular topics relevant to the customer, development of multiple links to the customer’s site from other websites, and a combination of sponsored links and pay-per-click ads (paid ads which appear on other websites). This combination of strategies promises to improve a website’s ranking in the search results, a valuable asset in cyberspace; if a company can land on the first page of a keyword search, the probability of the Internet user visiting its website skyrockets.

Of course, as soon as the SEO companies figure out a particular search engine’s formula, the search engine changes the rules, since the search engine’s honchos want to provide the most accurate, up-to-date, and relevant information, and not allow website owners to game the system. And of course the SEO companies respond with new, more sophisticated strategies. The result to Internet users is a constantly improving ability to search efficiently for the goods, services, and information they need.

Google is the biggest game in town, but other search engines have their following; Alta Vista is popular among college students and serious researchers, for instance. There’s also dogpile.com, a search engine that searches all the other major search engines and pulls up the most relevant results from each. And new search engines pop up all the time – Ask.com and AskJeeves.com are two examples of newer search engines with popular followings. A good SEO company will develop strategies not just for Google, but for all the major search engines.

Search engines aren’t perfect, of course, and one thing they can’t do at the moment is access specific information contained in the multitude of databases available on the Internet. Federal, state, and some local governments have searchable, free databases which allow users to access this information; other databases, such as Ancestry.com, charge a subscription fee for their use. For public information on the federal level in the U.S., FirstGov.gov is a great place to start.

Search strategies exist for the web surfer as well. Just try doing a Google search for tax information, for instance. Type “taxes” into the keyword search bar and click on Search. In the U.S. you’ll see irs.com, and then numerous companies advertising their tax services. But type in “taxes .gov” and you’ll pull up the same IRS site, followed by many more government website pages, some of which may provide more direct access to the information you need than going through irs.com, and without having to wade through a bunch of accounting firms. Type in “taxes UK .gov” and you pull up government information for the United Kingdom, and so on. Doing a keyword search on the general topic you’re researching should pull up relevant database sites. (By the way, if you want to see an example of great search engine optimization strategies, do a search on “genealogy” and look at all the links to Ancestry.com on the websites you find—they’re everywhere!)

As the cat-and-mouse game continues between search engine companies and SEO firms, the result promises to be ever more sophisticated, powerful, and accurate techniques for accessing valuable information over the Internet. As the continuing success of more and more new search engines suggests, we may have only scratched the surface of our Internet information technology capabilities.

About the Author:
Sam Vogel writes about search engine optimization-seo www.albaengine.com
Article Source: NewFREEArticles.com

Top Ten SEO Factors

These are what I believe to be the top 10 most important things (not necessarily in order) that you need, in order to get your website found in the search engines.

There are many other factors as well, but if you follow these guidelines, you'll stand a much better chance, and you'll be off to a good start.

1. Title Meta Tag

The title tag is what displays as the headline in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). It's also what displays in the top blue band of Internet Explorer when your site is displayed.

Your title tag of your website should be easy to read and designed to bring in traffic. By that, I mean that your main keyword phrase should be used toward the beginning of the tag. True there are websites being found now that do not use the phrase in the title, but the vast majority still do as of this writing.

Don't make the mistake of putting your company name first, unless you are already a household name, like Nascar or HBO. People are likely searching for what you have to offer, not your name.

Your title tag should be written with a capital letter starting the tag, and followed by all lowercase letters, unless you're using proper nouns. Some people prefer to capitalize every word, too.

2. Description Meta Tag

The description tag is the paragraph that people will see when your page comes up in the search results.

Your description tag should be captivating and designed to attract business. It should be easy to read, and compel the reader to act right now and follow your link. Without a description tag, search engines will frequently display the first text on your page. Is yours appropriate as a description of the page?

A proper description tag is what people will see below your title. You should make proper use of punctuation, and with readability, use your subject and geographical references.

3. Keywords Meta Tag

The importance of Meta keyword tags fluctuates from month to month among different search engines. There is a debate in the SEO community as to whether or not they help at all on certain search engines. In fact, in the summer of 2004 it appeared as if they were losing importance altogether.

However, you'll NEVER be penalized on any search engines for using relevant targeted keywords in moderation, and they can only help you with most, especially Yahoo.

Avoid stuffing your keyword metatags with too many keywords. Just use relevant tags that apply directly to the content of that particular page, and don't overdo it.

4. Alt Tags

The small yellow box that comes up when your mouse cursor is placed over an image is called the ALT tag. Every relevant image should have an alt tag with your key words or phrases mentioned in the tag.

A proper ALT tag goes after the file name, and before the Align indicator.
* - The ALT tag is no longer being considered for ranking purposes by some search engines. That said, it still cannot HURT you, and will still help you with some engines. My recommendation is to continue to use them, but be sure to avoid keyword stuffing. Besides, who nows when the pendulum will swing back the other way?

5. Header Tags

The text of each page is given more weight by the search engines if you make use of header tags and then use descriptive body text below those headers. Bullet points work well too. It is not enough to merely BOLD or enlarge your text headlines.

6. Link Text

Search engine spiders cannot follow image links. In addition to having image links or buttons on your web pages, you should have text links at the bottom or elsewhere. The text that the user sees when looking at the link is called the link text. A link that displays products does not carry as much weight to the search engines as a link called oregon widgets. Link text is very important, and is actually one of the most frequently overlooked aspects of web design that I've seen.

7. Site Map

Using a site map not only makes it easy for your users to see the entire structure of your website, but it also makes it easier for the search engines to spider your site. When the search engine spiders come to visit, they will follow all of the text links from your main index page. If one of those links is to a site map, then the spiders will go right to the sitemap, and consequently visit every page you have text linked to from that site map. On the site map page, try to have a sentence or two describing each page, and not just a page of links.

8. Relevant Inbound Links

By relevant, I mean similar industry or subject related sites. Right now, no single strategy can get your site ranked higher faster than being linked to by dozens of other relevant websites. It used to be that the quantity of incoming links mattered most, but today, it's much better to have three highly relevant links to you from other popular related websites than 30 links from unrelated low ranked sites. If there are other businesses in your industry that you can trade links with, it will help your site enormously. Link to others, and have them link to you. It's proven, and it works. To see who's linking to you, in Google type the following...
link: yourdomain.com

9. Your Content

Not to be forgotten of course, is the actual content of your webpage. It must be relevant helpful information that people want to read. These days, each webpage should be laser focused on one specific product or subject, in order to rank highly for that search phrase. The days of writing one webpage to appeal to dozens of search terms are long gone. Ideally, each page should have between 400 to 650 words on it. Too few, and the search engines won't consider it to be relevant enough. Too many words and the search engine spiders may have a hard time determining the actual subject or focus of the page.

Use your keywords or phrases often, and use them at the beginning of your paragraphs wherever possible. Don't overuse them and make the page sound phony, but don't write a page about a certain subject, and not mention that subject repeatedly either. Reading it out loud to yourself is a great way to judge how natural your text sounds.

Concentrate on writing quality pages that actually appeal to the human reader. Write pages that provide the reader with exactly what they are looking for; that is, information about the exact search phrase they've entered.

10. Avoid Cheating

With all of these tidbits of information, it's tempting to think that you can stuff 100 keywords into your title, or create a page with the phrase oregon widget company being used 100 times in headers, text links, ALT tags, bullet points etc. but that cannot help you. In fact, it can penalize you, and get your website banned from certain search engines.

About the Author:
Scott Hendison is an internet consultant that specializes in search engine optimization and internet marketing. He has written over 100 articles that are available on his website. He has also developed a tutorial area for beginning search engine optimization, at 'SEO101'
Submitted: 2006-10-23
Article Source: GoArticles

Strengthening Your Website's Keyword Density

There are many companies offering Search Engine Optimization. Put them to work, and you're bound to see improvement in your search engine rankings. But what if you can't afford to pay for SEO service? Don't worry, because there are many things you can do yourself to make your site "search engine friendly." Here's a few:

Body Text:
Many site owners use keywords inappropriately. You visit their site and all you see everywhere is keywords repeated endlessly all over the page. This can leave a bad taste in a customer's mouth, especially if they don't realize why exactly you chose to write "dog food" 73 times on your home page. In addition, you might give the search engines the idea that you're "keyword stuffing," which can get your site banned from the search engine all-together. Don't get me wrong, it is important to repeat keywords, but tastefully and strategically. As a whole, keyword density should never be more than 7% of your page. This will ensure that your keywords are listed enough to be effective for Search Engine Optimization, while at the same time keeping the search engines (and your customers) happy.

Meta Tags:
Meta tags give search engines and browsers a detailed description of your website. They describe everything from the title of your site to the language your site is using. Keywords can and should be used in Meta Tags. "Title," "Subject," "Description" and "Keywords" are specific meta tags where keywords should be used. They should only be used once in each tag, and when writing, remember that "Title," "Description" and "Subject" are often used to display your site in search engine results, so write carefully. (One quick note: Google is one of the search engines that no longer utilizes the "Keywords" Meta Tag, so be sure to use keywords in the other Meta Tags, as well as the Body, Alt and Anchor Text.)

Alt Text:
This one is easy, and it's a great way for you to list your keyword phrase an additional three times. Within every image tag, Alt Text should be present. This is the text that sometimes shows up when your mouse hovers over an image, or when a surfer chooses to browse the web without images. Search engines have no idea what images actually look like, so they read Alt Text instead. In short, including keywords in the "alt text" of images will increase keyword density throughout your page. Stick to just three images, and you won't be penalized for "Keyword Spam."

Anchor Text:
Anchor Text is the actual text that is displayed in a link. Many links do a poor job of describing their destination, but by using keywords in your Anchor Text, it will not only help describe your links to customers, but to search engines as well. It's not always easy to combine targeted keywords with the title of every internal link, but using this strategy will improve keyword density throughout your page while simultaneously strengthening your site's relationship in the search engines with your targeted keyword(s).

No Script:
No Script tags are widely used to notify users when surfing without the use of Java Script. When Java Script is employed, the message is automatically hidden by the user's browser. In addition to a standard message, a text link navigation menu using keyword Anchor Text can be included. These days, many websites use image, flash and java script links for navigation menus. This can hurt your site's ability to be indexed correctly, since search engines only recognize text links. Creating a text link navigation menu inside a No Script tag will fix this problem. It will also provide another opportunity to improve keyword density using the Anchor Text method. Be sure to use the no script tag for legitemate reasons, like the one mentioned above. Any other use is considered "cloaking," and can lead to severe penalties from search engines.

Inbound Links:
Inbound links can greatly increase your website's visibility to search engines. A search engine's "spider" has no rhyme or reason as to where it crawls. It simply starts with the pages in its index, and follows text links endlessly around the web. If using Keyword Anchor Text within your site is important, then the same applies for inbound links. When the spider sees your inbound URL it makes a record of the Anchor Text associated with it. Using Keyword Anchor Text in you inbound links is the #1 way to strengthen your site's relationship with a keyword!

There are many other things you can do to make your site search engine friendly, but strategic keyword placement should be at the top of your list. Using keywords with Body Text, Meta Tags, Alt Text and Anchor Text are four easy and effective ways to optimize your site.

Publication/Reprint Terms:
-You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the "About the Author" footer is included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.
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About the Author:
Jason McElwaine is the owner of P.B. Boston Website Design located at P.B. Boston Website Design. He can be contacted at contact@pinbottle.com
Added: 25 Sep 2006
Article Source: http://articles.simplysearch4it.com/article/37653.html

Writing SEO Copy – 8 Steps To Success

We all know that the lion’s share of web traffic comes through the search engines. We also know that keywords and links to your site are the two things that affect your ranking in the search engines. Your keywords tell the search engines what you do, and the inbound links tell them how important you are. This combination is what determines your relevance. And relevance is what the search engines are after.

There’s a lot of information around about how to incorporate keyword phrases into your HTML meta tags. But that’s only half the battle. You need to think of these tags as street-signs. That’s how the search engines view them. They look at your tags and then at your copy. If the keywords you use in your tags aren’t used in your copy, your site won’t be indexed for those keywords.

But the search engines don’t stop there. They also consider how often the keyword phrase is used on the page.

To put it simply, if you don’t pepper your site with your primary keywords, you won’t appear in the search results when a potential customer searches for those keywords.

But how do you write keyword-rich copy without compromising readability?

Readability is all-important to visitors. And after all, it’s the visitors that buy your product or service, not search engines.

By following these 8 simple guidelines, you’ll be able to overhaul the copy on your website ensuring it’s agreeable to both search engines and visitors.

1) Categorise your pages

Before writing, think about the structure of your site. If you haven’t built your site yet, try to create your pages around key offerings or benefits. For example, divide your Second Hand Computers site into separate pages for Macs, and PCs, and then segment again into Notebooks, Desktops, etc. This way, you’ll be able to incorporate very specific keyword phrases into your copy, thereby capturing a very targeted market. If you’re working on an existing site, print out each page and label it with its key point, offering, or benefit.

2) Find out what keywords your customers are searching for

Go to http://www.wordtracker.com and subscribe for a day (this will only cost you about AUD$10). Type in the key points, offerings, and benefits you identified for each page, and spend some time analysing what words customers use when they’re searching for these things. These are the words you’ll want to use to describe your product or service. (Make sure you read WordTracker’s explanation of their results.)

3) Use phrases, not single words

Although this advice isn’t specific to the web copy, it’s so important that it’s worth repeating here. Why? Well firstly, there’s too much competition for single keywords. If you’re in computer sales, don’t choose “computers” as your primary keyword. Go to Google and search for “computers” and you’ll see why… Secondly, research shows that customers are becoming more search-savvy – they’re searching for more and more specific strings. They’re learning that by being more specific, they find what they’re looking for much faster. Ask yourself what’s unique about your business? Perhaps you sell cheap second hand computers? Then why not use “cheap second hand computers” as your primary keyword phrase. This way, you’ll not only stand a chance in the rankings, you’ll also display in much more targeted searches. In other words, a higher percentage of your site’s visitors will be people after cheap second hand computers. (WordTracker’s results will help you choose the most appropriate phrases.)

4) Pick the important keyword phrases

Don’t include every keyword phrase on every page. Focus on one or two keyword phrases on each page. For your Macs page, focus on “cheap second hand macs”. For the PCs page, focus on “cheap second hand pcs”, etc.

5) Be specific

Don’t just say “our computers”. Wherever you would normally say “our computers”, ask yourself if you can get away with saying “our cheap second hand Macs” or “our cheap second hand PCs”. If this doesn’t affect your readability too badly, it’s worth doing. It’s a fine balance though. Remember, your site reflects the quality of your service. If your site is hard to read, people will infer a lot about your service…

6) Use keyword phrases in links

Although you shouldn’t focus on every keyword phrase on every page, it’s a good idea to link your pages together with text links. This way, when the search engines look at your site, they’ll see that the pages are related. Once again, the more text links the better, especially if the link text is a keyword phrase. So on your “Cheap Second Hand Macs” page, include a text link at the bottom to “Cheap Second Hand PCs”. If you can manage it without affecting readability, also include one within the copy of the page. For example, “As well as providing cheap second hand Macs, we sell high quality cheap second hand PCs”. TIP: If you don’t want your links to be underlined and blue, include the following in your CSS file:

Then format the HTML of each link as follows:

As well as providing cheap second hand Macs, we sell high quality cheap second hand pcs.

7) Use keyword phrases in headings

Just as customers rely on headings to scan your site, so to do search engines. This means headings play a big part in how the search engines will categorise your site. Try to include your primary keyword phrases in your headings. In fact, think about inserting extra headings just for this purpose. Generally this will also help the readability of the site because it will help customers scan read.

8) Test keyword phrase density

Once you’ve made a first pass at the copy, run it through a density checker to get some metrics. Visit http://www.gorank.com/analyze.php and type in the domain and keyword phrase you want to analyse. It’ll give you a percentage for all the important parts of your page, including copy, title, meta keywords, meta description, etc. The higher the density the better. Generally speaking, a density measurement of at least 3-5% is what you’re looking for. Any less, and you’ll probably need to take another pass.

Follow these guidelines, and you’ll be well on your way to effective SEO copy.

Just remember, don’t overdo it. It’s not easy to find the balance between copy written for search engines and copy written for customers. In many cases, this balance will be too difficult to achieve without professional help. Don’t worry, though. If you’ve already performed your keyword analysis, a professional website copywriter should be able to work your primary keyword phrases into your copy at no extra charge.

About the Author:
* Glenn Murray is an SEO copywriter and article submission and article PR specialist. He is a director of article PR company, Article PR, and also of copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com. Visit http://www.DivineWrite.com or http://www.ArticlePR.com for further details.
Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Essential SEO Tips To Boost Your Search Engine Positioning And Increase Your Online Profits

In very simple terms, search engine optimization (SEO), is the process of making your website site and its individual pages visible and relevant to search engines and search engine users. If you want to successfully earn money at home, it is very important that you understand the basics of SEO.

When you optimize your web site, your making it easier for search engines to find your site and index your content, such that when someone searches for keywords that relate to your website, your site is displayed on the search engines. A well-optimized site is one which people will find easily when they use search engines to look for information. For you to earn money at home online, you will need a high volume of traffic to your website.

If you arent satisfied with the volume of traffic you are getting on your website, its important that you follow these simple steps that will help you improve your search engine ranking and get high volumes of traffic. More traffic to your website means that you'll be able to earn money at home successfully with your online business.

The first step towards search-engine optimization for your site is to know your targeted market and have appropriate content on your website. Although this is a very obvious and simple fact, some people overlook it. In order to earn money at home successfully, your website will need traffic.

Keywords and phrases for your niche and website are important in SEO. Keywords determine the group your site will be listed under in search engines and directories. When web surfers type keywords on search engines, relevant sites will show up. If you have the right keywords, it means that you are increasing the chances of searchers finding your site when they do a search on search engines. You can use many tools to find all the relevant keywords for your website. Once you have these keywords, you increase the chances of your site being found on search engines. The page titles and subtitles for your website are also very important in SEO, and must contain your targeted keywords. If you want to succeed in your earn money at home business, a good understanding of your keywords and phrases is important.

You can improve your websites position on search engines by having content on your site that is fresh, unique and key-word-rich. Search engines crawl of sites with fresh and unique content, and such sites are ranked higher. In order to earn money at home with your website, you must ensure that you have unique and useful information.

Writing and submitting articles and Press Releases can also be very effective in improving your position on search engines. Your articles and PR will have your websites URL, thus you will have many links pointing back to your site. This is useful in improving your sites position on search engines, which will help you to succeed in your earn money at home business.

Participation in relevant forums for your niche is also effective because you can have your signature with your URL in all the posts you make. All these activities basically increase links to your website, which boosts your position on search engines. To earn money at home with your website, you must aim to have many links back to your website.

Blogging is also very useful in improving your SEO, which in turn will help you earn money at home online. The blog posts and articles that you have on your blog must be rich with your keywords. You can also add some links to other web pages on your blog. All this is effective in improving your position and visibility on search engines. The more visible you are on search engines, the more easily you will earn money at home through your website.

The steps outlined above can help you improve the position of your website on search engines and help you earn money at home online. The higher your site is ranked, the more traffic you get.

About the Author:
Jeff Casmer is an internet marketing consultant with career sales over $25,000,000. His "Top Ranked" Work at Home Directory gives you all the information you need to start and prosper with your own Internet Home Based Business.
Posted: 13-02-2007
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com

You Must Use The Right Key Words To Succeed In The SEO Game

Know what words your customers will use when searching.

You might know what your customers search for. If not, find out. Is it a description of "pants" or "jeans?" One may be searched more often than the other, but why not target both? How about "executive gifts?" Maybe "desk accessories" will broaden your web site marketing strategy.

Ask all kinds of people. Get advice from people in all walks of life including management, employees, customers, vendors, friends and family on how they would search for effective search engine positioning keywords. Ask them how they would search for different products and services. It's really not about what you think they would search for, its about what they think. Believe me, they can many times be two totally different things.

Once you have successfully harvested a meaningful keyword list, remove any keywords that are too targeted or not to specific. Also remember that keyword placement is important. Try to put as many keywords as possible in the beginning paragraphs, and of course the title line.

The higher the value of the keyword the more competition you will have. Every SEO utilizes tools similar to the Overture Keyword Suggestion Tool and also know the value of a keyword. The lower the value of the keyword the less competition we will have.

We don't want to aim to low but we also don't want to aim to high. We need to find a middle ground. For you that may be a keyword with a value of no less than 1000 and no more than 10,000. It will be up to you to determine what you deem reasonable.

Also, the keywords should appear regularly throughout the opening Web page. It is especially important that they appear frequently in the opening paragraphs.

However, resist the temptation to overuse keywords. The search engines can spot it and will reduce your page rankings. Tools are available to help with optimal keyword density. However, avoid software that writes the site's pages. Search engines can sniff these out, too.

A good rule of thumb is: Never sacrifice quality of content for keyword placement. This will affect your page ranking. Most importantly, your site won't appeal to visitors. For a FREE EBOOK detailing the fastest way to the top of the search engine, visit:

http://www.1StepSystemSuccessSecrets.com/affh/tooleey or http://www.ride-to-the-top.com and http://www.1stepsystem-premier.com

About the Author:
PJ Riley has given away many a FREE E-BOOK detailing the simplicity of making your way to the top of the search engines. See www.ride-to-the-top.com
He has been reporting on new business opportunities for many years. He's not afraid to speak what's on his mind. He will be the first to tell you if it's a golden opportunity, but has had numerous occasion to report a scam in the making.
Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

The Basics of SEO - Some FAQs

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a foreign field to a lot of people. Rarely does a day go by when I don't get asked a few questions on the subject. So I've decided to post this FAQ article in the hopes that it will help people understand the basics, and make them a little more comfortable with the whole domain.

Q: Why are search engines important to me?

A: 85% of all website traffic is driven by search engines. The only online activity more popular than search is email. 79.2% of US users don't go to page 2 of search results. 42% of users click on the no.1 result. For the under-40 age-group, the Internet will become the most used media in the next 2-3 years.

Q: How do search engines decide on their rankings?

A: IMPORTANT: You cannot pay a search engine in return for a high ranking in the natural results. You can only get a high ranking if your content is seen as relevant by the search engines.
Search engines identify relevant content for their search results by sending out “spiders” or “robots” which “crawl” (analyze) your site and “index” (record) its details. Complex algorithms are then employed to determine whether your site is useful and should be included in the search engine’s search results.

Q: Can't I just pay for a high ranking?

A: No. The biggest concern for search engine companies like Google and Yahoo is finding content that will bring them more traffic (and thus more advertising revenue). In other words, their results must be relevant. Relevant results makes for a good search engine; irrelevant results makes for a short-lived search engine.

Most search engines these days return two types of results whenever you click Search:

„X Natural/Organic ¡V The “real” search results. The results that most users are looking for and which take up most of the window. For most searches, the search engine displays a long list of links to sites with content which is related to the word you searched for. These results are ranked according to how relevant and important they are.
„X Paid ¡V Pure advertising. This is how the search engines make their money. Advertisers pay the search engines to display their ad whenever someone searches for a word which is related to their product or service. These ads look similar to the natural search results, but are normally labeled “Sponsored Links”, and normally take up a smaller portion of the window.

Q: How do I get a high ranking?

A: There are four main steps:
Step 1 - Use the right words on your website
Step 2 - Get lots of relevant sites to link to yours
Step 3 - Use the right words in those links
Step 4 - Have lots of content on your site & add more regularly

Q: What is search engine optimization (SEO)?

A: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the art of creating a website which is search engine-friendly. This means:
„X using the right words in your copy
„X using the right words in your HTML code
„X structuring your site properly
„X designing your site properly

For more information on these 4 elements, download our free 'SEO Secrets' eBook from divinewrite.com/seosecrets.htm.

Many people use SEO to also describe the other ingredient in a high ranking, 'Link Popularity'.

Q: What is link popularity?

A: Think of the search engines as a big election. All the websites in the world are candidates. The links to your website are votes. The more votes (links) a candidate (website) has, the more important it is, and the higher it’s ranking. Link popularity is all about how many links you have, and how you can get more.
Links to your site tell the search engines how important your site is. They assume that if it’s important enough for a lot of other sites to link to, it’s important enough for them to display at the top of the rankings. Links are the single most important factor in ranking. Generally speaking, the more links you have to your site from other sites, the better your ranking.

Q: Are some links better than others?

A: Yes! The ideal kind of links are those that:
„X come from relevant sites (sites which use the same keywords);
„X come from important sites (have a high ranking);
„X include your keyword as part of the visible link text;
„X include varying link text (not the same link text each time); and
„X come from a page that links to few other sites.

When a search engine sees a link which satisfies most or all of these conditions, it says, “Hey, this site must be credible and important, because others in the same industry are pointing to it.”

Q: How do I get lots of links back to my site?

A: There are many possible ways to generate links. Some are dubious (like auto-generation software, and sites set up by webmasters simply to host links to their other sites) and I won’t be discussing them here. Others, like those discussed below, are legitimate.
„X Add your site to DMOZ & Yahoo Directories (and other free directories)
„X Check where your competitors¡¦ links are coming from
„X Article PR - Write and submit articles for Internet publication
„X Swap links
„X Partner websites
„X Pay for links

For more information on these methods, download our free 'SEO Secrets' eBook from divinewrite.com/seosecrets.htm.

Q: What do you think is the best way to get lots of links?

A: Article PR. Write helpful articles and let other webmasters publish them for free in exchange for a link in the byline. With article PR, you don't have to pay for the link, you determine the content of the page containing the link, you determine the link text, and the link is more or less permanent. A single article can be reprinted hundreds of times, and each time is another link back to your site!
For more information, read divinewrite.com/seoarticles.htm or visit ArticlePR.com.

Q: How do I write a good article PR piece?

A: See divinewrite.com/seoarticles.htm.

Q: How do I get a high ranking using free reprint content?

A: See divinewrite.com/Top_Ranking_Free.htm.

Q: How long does it take to get a high search engine ranking?

A: A long time! It’s impossible to say how much time you’ll need to spend generating links, but you can be sure it’ll be a while no matter which method of link generation you use. You just have to keep at it until you have achieved a high ranking. Even then, you’ll still need to dedicate some ongoing time to the task, otherwise your ranking will drop.

Q: What is the Google Sandbox, and is it real?

A: The Google Sandbox theory suggest that whenever Google detects a new website, it withholds its rightful ranking for a period while it determines whether your site is a genuine, credible, long term site. It does this to discourage the creation of SPAM websites (sites which serve no useful purpose other than to boost the ranking of some other site).

There is a lot of anecdotal evidence supporting the theory, but there is also a lot discounting it. No one has categorically proven its existence.

Q: What is the Google Dampening Link Filter, and is it real?

A: The Google Dampening Link Filter theory suggests that if Google detects a sudden increase (i.e. many hundreds or thousands) in the number of links back to your site, it may sandbox them for a period (or in fact penalize you by lowering your ranking or blacklisting your site altogether).

There is a lot of anecdotal evidence supporting the theory, but there is also a lot discounting it. No one has categorically proven its existence.

Q: What SEO companies should I be wary of?

A: Be wary of SEO companies that promise or guarantee results in a given timeframe, especially if they won't expand on their methods for generating links back to your site.

Q: What tools can you recommend?

A: There are many very useful tools to help with your SEO. The following are just selection. All tools are free unless otherwise indicated.
„X Backlink checker - http://www.webuildpages.com/neat-o/
„X Backlinks by IP address - http://www.webuildpages.com/cclass/index.php
„X Link Popularity Tool - http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop/
„X Number of links required to rank - http://www.iblcheck.com/
„X Google Alert - http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=en
„X Google Sitemaps - http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps
„X Google Sitemap Generator - http://johannesmueller.com/gs/
„X Google Toolbar - http://toolbar.google.com/
„X Indexed Pages - http://www.webuildpages.com/cache/cachetoolpublic.pl
„X Keyword Analysis (Nichebot) - http://www.nichebot.com/
„X Keyword Analysis (Overture) - http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
„X Keyword Analysis (WordTracker - Paid) - http://www.wordtracker.com/
„X Keyword Difficulty - http://www.seomoz.org/tools/keyword-difficulty-tool.php
„X Keyword Identifier - http://www.googlerankings.com/ultimate_seo_tool.php
„X Keyword Density Measurement (Simple) - http://www.live-keyword-analysis.com/
„X Keyword Density Measurement (Complex) - http://www.gorank.com/analyze.php
„X Plagiarized Copy Search - http://www.copyscape.com/
„X Traffic Rank - http://www.alexa.com/
„X Search Engine Rank - http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop/
„X SEO Report - http://www.urltrends.com/
„X Top 10 sites for a keyword by no of backlinks and age - http://www.webuildpages.com/seo-tools/whoischeck-bykeys.pl
„X Top 10 sites for a keyword - http://www.webuildpages.com/cool-seo-tool/
„X Spider Simulator - http://tools.summitmedia.co.uk/spider/

Q: I'm confused about all the terms used in SEO, can you help?

A: See divinewrite.com/seo_glossary.htm.

Q: What is keyword analysis?

A: The first thing you need to do when you begin chasing a good search engine ranking is decide which words you want to rank well for. This is called performing a keyword analysis. Keyword analysis involves a bit of research and a good knowledge of your business and the benefits you offer your customers.
For more information, download our free 'SEO Secrets' eBook from divinewrite.com/seosecrets.htm.

Q: Do I need to submit my site to the search engines?

A: Theoretically, no. But I wouldn't risk not doing it - especially as it's free. As soon as you register your domain name, submit it to Google! Even if you haven’t built your site, or thought about your content, submit your domain name to Google. In fact, even if you haven’t fully articulated your business plan and marketing plan, submit your domain name to Google.

For more information, download our free 'SEO Secrets' eBook from divinewrite.com/seosecrets.htm.

Q: Should I submit my site to the search engines more than once?

A: No need. Although some of the search engines allow you to do this, there's really no need.

Q: What are directories and should I submit my site to them?

A: Directories are websites (or web pages) which simply list lots of website and give a quick description of the website. Some are free and some require you to pay for a listing. Free directories are useful because you get a free link. However, the links aren't worth that much. Paid directories can be good if they're relevant, but they can cost a lot in the long term, so choose wisely.

One essential directories for any website is the DMOZ Open Directory Project.

About the author:
* Glenn Murray is a website copywriter, SEO copywriter, and article submission and article PR specialist. He owns article submission service Article PR and copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com Visit http://www.DivineWrite.com or http://www.ArticlePR.com for further details, more FREE articles, or to download his FREE SEO e-book.
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Keywords are for humans not search engines

It seems keywords are making the top of SEO list time and time again. The problem is that some optimizers do not understand the rightful purpose of keywords. Keywords should not be solely embedded for the purpose of reaching the top of search engines. Search Engine Optimization should not be the primary focus of any website. The primary and number 1 focus should always be the visitors. If you create a website for your audience and for your visitors then you should rank fairly. I can't see why any legitimate website can not rank properly within search engines, after time and dedication. Search Engine Optimization main purpose is ranking faster within search engines. Instead of gaining a good balance of traffic within 1 or more years, it is possible to gain a good balance of traffic within 6-9 months with SEO.

Keywords play a major factor in SEO and search engines in general, but the question is are keywords for the search engines or the visitors? The visitors are the ones who are trying to find your site by typing in a keyword, but the search engine is the one locating your site and delivering your site to the visitor based on the searched keywords. Therefore I would have to say, keywords, visitors, and search engines all work hand in hand, but if you focus on the visitor and not the search engine, then you will reap greater rewards. A webmaster should have a plentiful of quality and researched keywords, which becomes the sites core. To receive a good balance of keywords you need to think like your visitors or know how your visitors think. It boils down to research and tracking your visitors. Tracking visitors on your site is business-wise and is not an unethical practice, it’s your website (business). In an offline business you are well aware when a visitor opens the door to your business and comes in the store, the same applies online. It becomes unethical when you continue to track visitors when they exit your site, when you invade visitors’ privacy, or when you intentionally collect personal information about a visitor without their consent or knowledge. Tracking a visitor within your site does not need to be intense, the common web log files are helpful enough. With the web log files you should be able to track the keyword used to find your website, track where a visitor came from to find your site (the referrer), track the total number of unique visitors, track the total number of all visitors, track how many pages were viewed, track the path visitors take within your site, and much more information is available through the web logs. There are many tools that can translate your raw web log files into graphical and legible text, such as: Nihuo or Web Log Expert which both offers a free log analyzer download as well as an inexpensive analyzer for more detailed stats and more features. There are other upscale web log analyzers which are mostly for enterprises or larger sites but are extremely detailed and rewarding, such as: Web Trends, Deep Matrix, or Urchin (which has recently been acquired by the search engine giant 'Google'). Knowing your visitors can only benefit your site. If you have a new website without any visits then you will not have the benefit of knowing your visitors and you will have to create your visitors habits, by using good judgment and research to determine which keywords best suits your site. Your best effort should provide you with at least 250 keywords and keyword phrases, depending on your site category.

Once you have tracked your visitors and/or have completed researching keywords, you are ready to make informed decisions and begin the process of elimination. Many argue to stay away from popular or general keywords because the market for popular and general keywords is flooded and over-crowded, you will never be able to compete. My sentiments exactly, but remember keywords are for visitors, not search engines...so yes, I recommend including popular and general keywords as long as the keyword(s) show room for opportunity. Meaning, it has been used by your visitors...as a solitaire keyword or within a keyword phrase. Creating keyword phrases is important because at least 95% of internet users search using keyword phrases, not many use one word. With that said, you should still include a few solitaire keywords. Use singular and plural expressions for keywords. Once you have gathered all your keywords make two lists, one list can be titled active keywords...keywords which you are currently using or plan to use in the near future. The second list can be titled inactive keywords...keywords which have been eliminated and may never be used. Eliminate keywords based on your research, visitor data, and site category. Regardless how general your site is try to have only one focus audience, this zooms in on your target, makes marketing the site easier, and more successful. When done eliminating you should have a plentiful of keywords and keyword phrases. Generally, the goal should be to have at least a combination of 100 keywords and keyword phrases. This number may be greater or lesser depending on your site category/niche market. Keyword research can be accomplished a number of ways. I would recommend using best judgment and sticking to your site topic. If your site is about “the rules of playing baseball” then anything pertaining to the rules of baseball should be included as keywords. Remember think like your visitors, if you were a visitor looking for 'the rules of baseball' how would you search...your search words would probably be something like "rules of playing baseball"...."baseball playing rules"...."playing baseball rules"....rules of baseball"...."baseball rules"...."how to play baseball"...."baseball and the rules"...if your site contains the 'rules of baseball' then each of those keyword phrases will be sufficient for inclusion into your active keyword list. A few links that can help with keyword research are: NicheBot, Wordtracker, Google Keyword Tool, Digital Point Keyword Tool. Some of the main attributes which you want to research is how often the keyword/keyword phrase is searched for within search engines, how much competition there is for the keyword/keyword phrase, and if you are considering pay-per-click then you would probably like to know the average cost per click for each keyword/keyword phrase. You should not rely 100% on any of these reports or other reports from any third-party because there are many deterrence which may offset the reports, you should collect data from each of them and derive a census report which will allow you to make an informed decision.

Think about your visitors each step of the way when using keywords. Which keywords will catch their attention, directly or indirectly? Meaning, if a user searches for 'baseball rules' then when the search engine searches through billions of web pages...it should pull your web page into the results because you have a entire website dedicated to baseball rules and the entire site is centered around keywording. When the search engine crawls through the billions of web pages it should see that your web page title has "baseball rules" within the title, your meta-tag description has “baseball rules” within the description, your meta-tag keywords have “baseball rules” within the keywords, the link to the page is titled “baseball_rules.htm”, and the content on the web page itself has a proper amount of keyword density, basically, the keyword phrase "baseball rules" is plastered throughout the web page mostly leading towards the top of the page. I know most of what I have just mentioned is Search Engine Optimization practices and techniques, yes, that is true, but in actuality the entire process is for the visitors not the search engine. If you create your site easier for the search engine to find then the visitor will also find it easier and faster, but at all times it is important to keep the visitor in mind. Many SEO practitioners would include any keyword about baseball such as: "baseball"..."major leagues"...."major league baseball"...."minor leagues"...."minor league baseball"...."atlanta braves"...."new york yankees"...."baseball players"….etc. Those keywords are for the search engines not the visitors. If a visitors enters "atlanta braves" as a search keyword and your link is displayed as an result the visitor will be disappointed when he clicks on your link and does not find any solid information pertaining to the "atlanta braves"...instead he/she is greeted with "baseball rules". The visitor will immediately back out without referencing your site or indexing it for later retrieval because it does not pertain to their search quest. Once in a while you may become lucky and get someone who stays because it does mention baseball, but if you tracked conversions, it would surely sink, using this method. The better you target your visitors the more success you will have on the web. Properly using keywords to target your visitors and not the search engines will aid in more ways than one. It will create a healthy online circuit and greater chance for success. Imagine if each time you search the web...you had a perfect search! You only needed to search once, because exactly what you were looking for was found in the first results.

About the author:
Ant Onaf is the owner and founder of www.JournalHome.com He is an online internet marketer, web advertiser, and IT consultant. Ant Onaf has years of IT-related experience and Internet-related experience. His ingenuity, dedication, and passion for technology & internet marketing have made him a monumental icon in the World Wide Web. His blog can be visited at http://www.journalhome.com/AntOnaf
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High Paying Lateral Keywords

If you run AdSense on your site you know that some words pay more than others, much more in fact. More than likely you have also learned that terms like "structured settlements" and "mesothelioma" can produce incredibly high PPC revenue, if they show up on your site at all. Unfortunately hundreds of thousands of other webmasters are "on" to this practice judging by the number of sites created regularly to capitalize on the phenomenom. So, where does this leave you? Out in the cold? No, by going after "lateral" keywords and terms you can produce a site that is even more profitable than these other sites. I will show you how you can do just that.

What do I mean by "high paying lateral keywords?" Essentially, these are words, or terms, that webmasters dismiss as not being relevant or are unrelated to certain high paying keywords. For instance, you know that the term "free adware" has a nice payout. You gear your article or page accordingly to have AdSense produce the lucrative ads and, instead, you come up with ads that are relevant but not big payers. Should you give up? No, of course not. Instead, research similar terms that can also serve up high paying ads and go with them. In this case the following could be considered:

adware blocker

adware removal

lavasoft adware

free adware removal

adware spy removal tool

remove adware

get adware

adware search and destroy

As you can see, each term contains the keyword "adware" but other words are added. In a recent survey that I conducted some of these "lateral" keywords/terms paid even more than the "free adware" terms. In addition, some nice ads were served up too.

What about mesothelioma? Isn't that a hot keyword? Yes, and an overworked one. Lateral keywords for your consideration here can include:

lawyers

attorneys

asbestos cancer

lung cancer

personal injury lawyer

personal injury attorney

The common thread with these keywords? Mesothelioma wasn't even mentioned. Sure, when you think "attorney" or "lawyer" you think of ambulance chasing terms like: bextra, malpractice, and physician neglect. Heck, if other ads are served up instead of mesothelioma ads, do not despair. Chances are that the deep pocket lawyers give a nice payout per click for these keywords too!

Alright, one final example before I turn you loose to do your own research. The keywords: credit cards.

student credit card

airline credit card

business credit card

Visa credit cards

credit card consolidation

rewards credit cards

online credit cards

0% interest credit cards

cash back credit cards

credit card counseling

The options for some keywords are obviously greater than others. If you write your own articles and/or web content you may need to experiment in order to produce the highest paying keywords. Still, these "lateral" keywords will push up your profits almost as much as standard keywords. Now, go and do your own research!

About the Author:
Matt Keegan is The Article Writer (www.thearticlewriter.com) who covers topics as diverse as: aviation, business, customer service, driving, ezines, first aid, global issues, high paying keywords, internet, and more.
Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

High Rankings - How do Search Engines fit into Your Business?

Even if you’re clueless when it comes to Internet marketing, you probably already know about search engine rankings and the importance of being near the top of the list when people search for key words related to your product or service. Although there are other ways to get attention and drive customers to your website, rankings are still an important part of the online marketing puzzle. The rules often change, and it can be difficult to keep up with the crowd, but if you follow a few tried-and-true tricks of the trade you will be more than likely to meet with success.

So what is the best way to optimize your site without getting into trouble with the search engines? Set up to constantly work against spammers and provide search results that users can trust, Google and Yahoo! work with search algorithms in order to come up with relevant search results. They change these algorithms on a continual basis to stay one step ahead of those looking to exploit the methods employed by search engines and reach the top of the list unfairly. But there are legitimate ways to optimize your site without landing in hot water with Yahoo! and Google.

One method of achieving a good rank in the major search engines is to optimize your site’s content using keywords, although this technique is losing ground in favor of newer ranking systems. Including particular keywords in your site’s content makes it easier for the search engines to find you on the web. You must also keep up with relevant keywords over time and continue to optimize accordingly. Keep in mind it’s best to focus on Yahoo! and Google search engines because they are the top 2 in the search engine world and will drive the most traffic to your website.

Keywords can help improve your rankings, but you have to be careful when using them. Only use keywords that are relevant to your site’s theme because inserted keywords that are unconnected to your site are a cause for penalty. One great place for a keyword is in your domain name. Just be sure that the keyword shows up in the root of the URL, rather than the stem, as some search engines do not take kindly to sites that include keywords in a URL’s stem.

Also add keywords to any content you have on the site. Other places to put keywords include: title tags in your source code; in the meta description of your site; and in your meta keyword tags.

But now the best way to become popular in Google and Yahoo’s books is by proving your popularity in the online world. The way the search engines determine a site’s popularity is by analyzing how many other sites link to it. So let’s say you run a website selling cookie cutters. You will rank high in the search engines if a lot of other quality websites, related to your business in some way, contain a link back to your site. For instance, you might ask the person running a site selling cookie dough or baking accessories to place a link to your site on one of their pages. Getting your link on a site offering cookie recipes, baking tips and other cooking information might be a good idea as well. In turn, offer to list their websites, and you just might start showing up higher in the rankings.

Of course, the pure number of links you have is not the only test of popularity. In fact, the major search engines mostly look for quality links. If you have a bunch of links to irrelevant websites, you won’t really turn up in the search engines. But if your links show up on high-traffic, quality websites relevant to your own site’s theme, the search engines are going to pay more attention to you as a trusted site.

Another effective way to rise in the search engine rankings is by including high-quality content on your site, such as articles. Good information related to the theme of your website will ensure that real people find your site useful and want to link to it. Sprinkling keywords throughout the text naturally is also a good way to make use of the content on your site as a way to attract search engines.

Next, submit your site to online directories, such as Yahoo! and the Open Directory Project. Search engines also scour these directories so being listed in as many places as possible can’t hurt.

You can also create several sites all related to your overall theme or product as a way to boost rankings. This establishes a community of sites that is easier for the search engines to sniff out. Then use your group of sites to link to one another, thus making all your product sites more popular in the eyes of the search engines.

If you work hard to establish your site and avoid the pitfalls that can get you kicked out of the search engines, your site will climb the search engine ladder before you know it.

About the Author:
This article was written by Katerina Mitrou sponsored by templatedogma.com/. Template Dogma offers a huge selection of professional, ready to use website templates and custom products too. Build your professional website in minutes with the help of Templatedogma.com. Reproductions of this article are encouraged but must include a link back to templatedogma.com/
Article Source: http://www.articles411.com

Designing a Site Map for SEO

Search engine optimization involves many components including linking, keyword research, content development, page titles, and other methods used to improve your search engine rankings. All of these methods can increase your results piece by piece but there is a way to combine many of these elements into an SEO method that can improve your web ranking and drive targeted traffic to your web site. This method is designing a site map to be used with your other search engine optimization efforts. Knowing how a site map can help you improve your SEO results will help you to better design your site map and make it conform to the guidelines of ethical and successful SEO.

Site Maps Defined

A site map is a graphical or textual representation of each of the pages on your web site. Site maps can be very complex and include professional graphics and they can also be very simple and have only text. A site map helps people find the information they are looking for on your web site. You can use a site map to incorporate some of the major components of SEO and improve your search engine rankings in the long run.

Site Maps & Text

Text-based site maps are the most effective for search engine optimization purposes. This is because you can use your chosen keywords in both the content of the site map and in each link to other pages within your site. If you have carefully chosen your keywords, implementing them into your site map can benefit your search engine optimization efforts and help improve your search engine rankings.

Site Maps & Links

Links are a very important part of successful search engine optimization. When search engine crawlers visit your web site, they look for links that can be used to help determine the relevance of pages and assist with search engine indexing. If you build a web site and have a link to each one of your other pages, this can improve your web rankings and make it easier for search engines to find your site when people search for the keywords you use on your web site.

Site Maps and Content

You can also use site maps to your advantage by writing keyword-optimized descriptions of each page that you are linking to from the site map itself. Your descriptions can include several keywords that describe your products and services and make it easier for people visiting your web site to find what they need. In addition to helping you optimize your web site, site maps are a valuable resource for visitors to your site.

Professional SEO Consulting

If you’re not sure how using a site map fits in with your search engine optimization strategy, you should consider hiring a professional SEO consulting firm. The SEO Team offers a wide variety of web design, SEO, and internet marketing services for web sites of all levels. If you’d like to know more about our services, visit our web site and learn how we can improve your web site SEO.

About the Author:
Bryan Garcia and his team of Internet marketing experts have been delivering TOP search engine results by using their unique formula of search engine optimization, Web site development, professional copywriting, and conversion consulting for a combined total of 20 years. Visit http://www.theseoteam.com to learn how your site can get to the top of the rankings.
Article Submitted On: October 18, 2006
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

The Ultimate Free Google Ranking Tool

The first months my website was online, I was constantly checking the search engines to see if my site was listed under the keywords that I was targeting. And always with the same negative results.

The truth is that the keywords that you are targeting are often not showing your site the first months at all on the first 200 search listings. OK, if you try to get your site listed for hoooohjgaagga or something like that, it could get you a first place in no time. But who wants to target that keyword?

In fact, I get a lot more traffic from keywords that I haven't thought of using as a keyword in the first place. One tool that I have found online can easily show you the keywords that your site is ranking well for.

You can find it at:
http://www.googlerankings.com/ultimate_seo_tool.php
Here you simply enter your domain name and hit the "Analyze Keyword" button. If you want to, you can change the different settings on this page before you hit the button. But I usually leave this at default.

Then on the next page you can see a detailed report on keywords that are found on your site. You can see their numbers and density. It shows the number of 2 Word Phrases and 3 Word Phrases.

Step 2 Create Position Report

Now to the cool part of this tool. When you hit this button, the tool will search Google for the keywords and keyword phrases that it have gathered from your site. After a few seconds it shows your position for each of them. So now you don't have to wonder if your site is listed in Google.

But as I said, the first months you shouldn't be worried if you don't find your site under any keyword at all. Google use a lot of time to index new websites. I have found that MSN are a lot faster to show my pages under the keyword that I want.

I hope you'll find this tool as useful as I have.

Copyright 2005 Torgeir Sunnarvik

About the author:
Torgeir Sunnarvik, Norway mailto:webmaster@everypleasures.com Torgeir Sunnarvik is the owner and webmaster of http://www.everypleasures.com/ His site offer free ebooks, ebooks with reprint rights and review of business ebooks.
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Simple SEO Tips to Optimise Your Page for the Big 3

Search Engine Optimisation is a big scary topic for a lot of people, but it doesn't have to be. The principles behind it are all pretty simple, and these tips will take less than an hour to implement, but should boost your rankings significantly!

1-Don't shoot for the moon. By that I mean don't go out there and choose the most competitive keyword in your field. Chances are that the #1 ranked site for the most competitive term has been there for some years. Why should your site suddenly come along and oust them in short order? Instead, focus on longer, less competitive phrases. Use keyword selection tools to help you find them. You will find longtail phrases are more targeted also as it means the searchers have a more focused idea of what they are looking for.

2-Make sure you put your main keyword/phrase in the page title, and also in the footer. The title is the first thing the search engines will look at, so it's important to let them know exactly what we are about as early as possible, and it's also good to make the main phrase the last thing they see. A fundamental tip, but something 99% of webmasters do not do.

3-Switch your navigation. Most web pages have the navigation bars on the left or along the top. This is not good from an SEO point of view. Search engines read pages in vertical strips, starting on the left, then gradually moving across. The problem that the navigation presents is that 98% of web navigation menus are the same or very similar-this means that with the navigation in the same place as everyone else's, we are telling the engines that our web site is the same as everyone else's. They will see our super relevant page title, and then read our navigation links, which are not likely to be keyword relevant at all, and then conclude that this site is not all that relevant to their beloved searchers, and consign it to page 558 or something. This is NOT what we want! If we put the navigation on the right instead, we can then put lots of interesting content on the left, so it's the first thing they see after they read our page title.

4-Make sure your content is original, and READABLE. Who stays on a website after they realise the content is nothing but keyword stuffed garbage? I certainly don't, and neither will your customers. It's very important that your keywords are in your content, but make sure it's in a relevant fashion-I think the best term I have heard for it is "sprinkled." Sprinkle the keywords through the content of the page. It's also useful to embolden them occasionally and italicise them, as the search engines then assume they are important words regarding your site and content, which is exactly what we want them to think.

5-Use the heading tags, etc. That's what they are there for, and yes the search engines do pay attention to them. It's especially useful if you can use your main keywords as headings, or part of headings. For example, if your site is about extreme skydiving techniques, your heading may be "My favourite extreme skydiving techniques" or something like that. A good technique in certain cases is to combine two phrases, but you need to be careful as you don't want to damage the readability of the phrase- For example, you may have "Top Rated Extreme Skydiving Techniques" as a heading if your targeted phrases were "extreme skydiving techniques" and "top rated skydiving techniques," and you would likely get ranked for both these phrases from doing that. Be careful though, as it's easy to get carried away and reduce the quality of the content in this fashion.

6-Don't put all your eggs into one basket, or one keyword.phrase. As we said before, it's unlikely for a new website to choose the most popular phrase in a category and come straight in and take #1 on Google. The sites that rank #1 for such phrases are very established and will have thousands of backlinks built up over the years, and for that reason alone will be very difficult to oust. What we can do though, is choose ten less popular phrases, and make a different page for each one, or each pair. We can have the same items for sale etc on each page, but you can make the content custom written for each phrase. This is a great way to exponentially get more traffic, as you will have multiplied your market presence by ten. Obviously, the sky is the limit with this strategy; you could have 50 or 1000 subdomains all pulling in search engine visitors for different phrases. You only need 5 or 10 visitors to each page, and if you have a hundred pages that's 500 or 1000 visitors each day.

So there you have it-these techniques will take less than an hour to implement, and will guarantee an increase in your search engine rankings-What are you waiting for?

About the Author:
David Raybould has been an internet marketer for just over a year and in July this year was able to quit his day job through online earnings. He is eager to help others buck the trend of the dreaded day job and you can find useful info and resources at his site http://www.no-more9to5.com, and join his newsletter by sending a blank email to no-more9to5@getresponse.com
Submitted: 2006-10-28
Article Source: GoArticles

A Brief Tutorial on Keywords and SEO

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is something that webmasters try to implement on their websites, particularly if it's an online business or if they want a lot of traffic to their sites. Basically, SEO is developing your website in such a way that the search engines will display your site whenever someone does an internet search for specific keywords that you have craftily sprinkled throughout your pages. With the millions of websites out there, it can be very difficult keeping up with the competition so that your site is displayed in the top few search results, or even the first two pages of search results. This article will describe a few things you can do when optimizing your site for the search engines.

Firstly, there are different search engines that people use to find information on the net. The top three that you should be trying to optimize your site for are MSN, Yahoo, and Google. We all want to be at the top of the Google search listings, but it's a good idea to start with MSN and Yahoo, simply because it's usually quicker to get indexed and you still get a significant amount of your website traffic from these search engines. You will get more traffic from Google, but it's a little trickier and probably more competition there.

The next thing you want to do is come up with keywords for your website that you think a lot of people will do internet searches for. This is harder than it sounds and you have to be really careful to choose the right keywords and keyword phrases so that you can beat out the competition. The way to find the best keywords to use on your site is to use a keyword research tool that displays the number of times per month your chosen keyword is searched in the three major search engines. You may initially think that the more a term is searched, the more traffic you will get, but think again! The more a term is searched, the harder it will be to get your site ranked in the top few search results, or the first few pages of search results. You want to choose terms that are less popular, but still have a significant number of searches. A good number to aim for is any term that is searched about 5000-10000 times per month. It's pretty difficult to do this without using a keyword research tool, such as Good Keywords.

Once you've found some good keywords, you want to go into the source code for your site and add those keywords to your HTML code in the right places. The best places to put your keywords are in the title tag, H1 and H2 header tags, the description tag, and then sprinkled throughout the text on your pages. Keyword density is an important factor that the search engines take into consideration when listing pages in the search results. While you want to repeat your keywords throughout your text, you also want to be careful not to overload your pages with the same keywords to make it obvious that you're just trying to get ahead in the search engine listings. If you try this, you risk getting your site banned, so try to maintain a relatively high keyword density, but not too high.

Now that you have your site sprinkled with enough good keywords, it's time to write articles on topics related to your keywords. Use those keywords in the article title, the first paragraph, within the body of the text, and in the conclusion, again without overloading the text with your keywords. There is no better way to get traffic to your site, links pointing back to your site, and the search engines to visit your site than by writing a good quality, original article with your search terms embedded throughout. These are the basics of keywords and SEO!

About the Author:
Liane Bate owns a Plugin Profit Site web business, and is a member of Success University, and the IAHBE. Visit: www.HonestMoneyMaking.com and HonestMoneyMaking.com's Home Business Blog
Article Submitted On: October 16, 2006
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Search Engine Optimization Tips

How do you get the most out of your web site? Setting up and maintaining your web site isn't at all difficult, and if there is anything you need to learn you can find out everything you need to know on the Internet. Without too much effort and a lot of time, you can create a beautiful web site, filled with images and great content.

So…how do you get people to visit your site?

Just because you know that your web site is great, it doesn't mean that everyone else does. There are thousands upon thousands of web sites floating around out there in cyberspace, and everyone has a piece of the pie. For everything there is, there exists a web site. Every single type of business that you could name has its own web site on the Internet. How are you supposed to get yours to stand out above so many others that are out there?

How do you get traffic?

Internet users know that search engines are your key to finding what you want. Search engines are a friendly little Internet tool that does the work for us. All we have to do is think about what we're looking for in the vaguest of terms. For instance, you're doing a research paper on the wives and daughters of King Henry the eighth of England. So, you go to a search engine and type in the keywords, "Henry VIII and wives." Just like magic, the search engine instantly presents you with a list of web sites filled with information about King Henry and his many wives.

As most everyone knows, those sites that appear at the top of the list get visited most often. The top of the list is definitely where you want to be, so that potential visitors will see your web site proudly displayed among the best. But, in order to appear at the top of list, you need to know something about search engine optimization.

Which leads to the burning questions: what is search engine optimization? It sounds sinister, but really search engine optimization is simple and easy. The following is a list of tips that will help you with search engine optimization. Using these tips, your web site will appear closer to the top of that list, and you'll get more traffic on your site:

- Simple, easy to spell keywords
Internet users don't want to take a lot of time - with anything. They aren't going to spend a lot of time looking at the bottom of a search engine list, and they aren't going to be that specific or exacting (at least not in the first search) with the keywords that they use. Keep your keywords as simple as possible. Commonly misspelled keywords should be featured on your site under all possible spellings, to maximize the possibilities of getting hits to your site. Long, complex, and hard to spell words don't get searched out very often, so be sure to use as many short, simple keywords as possible.

- Lots of links
Search engines love links, so include as many as possible on your site. Both internal links, links that link to pages within your own site, and external links are good. The more links you have, the better your chances with the search engines.

- Lots of content
The more content you have means the more possible keywords you'll have on your site. Search engines look at sites for content and their rankings are based upon that content, so you'll want to have plenty of it. Keywords without content is nothing, and search engines don't give good rankings to sites that have lots of keywords but very little content. Even if you content isn't the greatest, it won't hurt your chances with the search engines.

About the Author:
Charles Preston is the president of Click Response. Click Response offers small businesses a search engine optimization service that guarantees 1st page ranking at an affordable price.
Article Source: http://www.articles411.com

How to raise your rankings in the search engines with some basic SEO "Search Engine Optimization" tips

I don't know how many times I've been asked. "Many People ask How do I get traffic to my website?"

To best discuss this topic I should break this down into categories

1. Title Tags The title Should contain keywords and keyword phrases that is important to your site. Our recommended maximum number of characters for this tag is 60. Also when counting your characters remember that spaces are considered as well. Titles should appeal to the reader otherwise even a top position will lose a lot of clicks. For example, "shoes,nike shoes,best shoes,review shoes," is unlikely to induce a click. What may induce a click would be like: Shoes - Find out the latest styles on name brand shoes.

2. Description The maximum number of characters I recommend for this Tag is 150. Any longer than this and it will only be cut off and may count against your site being listed high in the search engines. Try to repeat your keywords that you used in your title in a proper sentence and in 3rd party. Advoid I, Me, Myself etc

3. Keywords keywords My recommended maximum number of characters for this tag is 250. Any more than that may be considered spamming. Keep your keywords focused upon what your site is about. Don't think that if I use an assortment of different keywords that your site will be a seller. Targeted marketing is associated with your keywords.

4. Keyword Nesting keyword nesting is nesting your top 5 most important keywords in the html page that the public will see. I would recommend using the keywords that you've used in your title, description.

5. Head Tags Head Tags should be a repeat of your title tag. Most webmasters put their head tag right after the body tag.

6. Anchor Links Anchor Links is one of the most important html tags that your site needs to gain search engine page rank especially in google and msn.

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About the Author:
Duane Jacobson
I've been self employed and working on the internet since September 28, 2000. My company is registered with the state of Minnesota. I run a website hosting & design firm. I do SEO work on the side usually for my clients. My website is: New World Products . Com
Submitted: 2006-10-20
Article Source: GoArticles