Posted by admin in Uncategorized on 12 18th, 2006 | Build your website for search engine crawlers
Make the decision before building your website, that you will create a domain that is attractive to search engine crawlers. Crawlers are little programs or algorithms sent out across the web by search engines. These crawlers find their way around by text and links. Text links and relevant web content are the crux of a search engine friendly website.
Demand clean code and CSS
Messy code trips up the very crawlers you are trying to welcome. Crawlers have only a short while to visit your site, why fill them with garbage? Keep your code clean using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and XHTML, the breakfast of search engine crawlers. Your meta tags and alt tags should jive and be concocted using experiential SEO strategies.
Keep web pages about one topic
Niche marketing becomes crucial during search engine optimization. In order to succeed online, you must spend your valuable time on your core competencies and scrap the unnecessary. It seems the more narrow-focused the website, the more successful it becomes in the search engines. This is largely due to the nature of SEO. There is only so much room for so many keywords, topics, meta tags and titles. This rule does not apply to the home page!
Get connected online with both links
It’s the incoming links that count. It’s how the search engines determine the value of your website, it’s how search engine crawlers locate you, and it’s how people find you too. Your website should be replete with incoming links from other high ranking websites as well as a handful of interesting outgoing links related to your subject at hand.
Provide relevant web content
Search engine crawlers are looking for good, meaty content. If you have it search engines will visit your site more frequently, as will your web site visitors. Relevant content on your website corresponding your niche market helps you gain search engine rankings for a variety of reasons.
Web visitors. By making your website more attractive to your website visitors, causing them to hang around longer, and potentially even bookmark your website for future reference.
Popularity. The more information you provide, the more visitors love your website, the more they visit your website, the more popular you become, the more popular your website, the higher ranking you get on the search engines.
ODP / DMOZ Directory. This directory is the world’s largest human-edited directory, and one with the strictest rules. Having a web presence in this directory determines your ranking on search engines, especially Google. In order to be admitted in the ODP directory, you must have relevant content-period.
Keywords. Web content is an excellent place to weave keywords into your website. The whole process of search is conducted using words and text, so it makes sense to have keywords online. (Just don’t make it obvious, please.)
Market your web site like crazy online and off
Search engine optimization involves more than creating a website and walking away. Your web site will not “get into orbit” on it’s own. You’ve got to market it extensively at every turn. Knowing that popularity is a determining factor of your website’s effectiveness and search engine ranking, you should do everything possible to get people to visit your domain.
Submit your web site to paid and niche directories
Once your website is completed, it’s crucial that it be submitted to directories. The more times your website is submitted, the better chance crawlers will find your website. The higher quality the directory, the better chances that your website will achieve high search engine rankings.
Find web advertising venues
Once your website is ready for the public, advertising becomes necessary. There are a variety of ways to market your website and generate business before your search engine rankings peak. Online yellow pages, paid for performance listings, web banners and paid directories all contribute to gaining you customers and increasing your search engine rankings.
Get involved in web forums, groups & blogs
Writing articles for blogs, posting comments in forums and being actively involved in Yahoo or Google Groups will also increase your search engine rankings. These three arenas all offer ways for you to link back to your website, as well as communicate with other web surfers who will visit your site, refer you business or potentially become customers.
Send a regular email newsletter
Email newsletters not only help get the blood flowing on your website by generating visitors, but they also help you stay connected with your clients. The newsletter articles chosen for your newsletter can serve as back-up keyword laden website articles for visitors and search engine crawlers to gobble up later. Provide links throughout your email newsletter back to your website, and you’re in business.
