META Tag

May 18, 2007

Meta Tags :

Meta tags are tags, which are embedded in the HTML code of a page, you should insert the META tag element at the top of your document, just after the <TITLE> element.

The basic syntax for Meta Tags is:

<HEAD>
<TITLE>Your Page Title Goes Here</TITLE>
<META name=”description” content=”type your description here”>
<META name=”keywords” content=”type, your, keywords, keyword phrase here”>
</HEAD>

Tips on META Description Tag :

<META name=”Description” content=”Your descriptive sentence goes here.”>

1. Write it in sentence structure.

2. Should be relevant to the similar 25-30 words (under 150 characters) description of the first text within the visible page.

3. Don’t repeat your keywords more than 3 times in description tag, If you need, make alternatives (e.g. ‘book’ and ‘books’ can be used 3 times each).

4. Minimize the use of “stop words” such as “and, the, of”.

5. Keyword phrases that appear earliest in the Meta description will generally receive higher ranking value.

6. Try to include this tag in all pages by describing the content and it should be unique.

7. Don’t load your Meta description with only keywords.

8. Strive for 6%-20% keyword density.

9. Use different Meta Description tag for each pages.

Tips on META Keyword Tag :

<META name=”keywords” content=”your keywords, go here, separated by a comma”>

1. Keep 100 to 200 characters to get better results.

2. Start with the most important and then proceed to less important.

3. Use keywords/Phrases.

4. Don’t repeat any word more than 3 times.

5. Don’t place repeated keywords close together.

6. If your site has content of interest to a specific geographic location be sure to include the actual location in your keyword Meta.

7. Use keywords that are actually on the page and reflect the essence of your content.

8. Try to use keywords in your Meta keywords tag with comma, not by space.

9. Try to use small case in keyword/phrases.

(e.g. replace the keyword phrase – “Website Design” with “website design”).

10. Srtive for 4%-10% keyword density.

Leave a Comment » | META Tags | Permalink
Posted by seohelpdesk

The Main Body Text

May 9, 2007

Tips for Main Body Text

1. Keyword prominance: make sure to put the most important keywords into a carefully crafted paragraph at the beginning of your HTML page. Prominence is how close to the start of the area that the keyword appears, In general, a keyword that appears closer to the top of the page or area will be more relevant.

2. Keyword Density : If the page contains less than 500 words, keeping 1%-3% of those words is better, If the page contains more tha 500 words, keep 3%-5% of the overall content.

3. Try to provide a minimum word count of 250 and a maximum of 750 words on each page.

4. Use CSS instead of <font> tags.

5. Get rid of the java script in the code and put it in an external file.

6. Avoid image buttons, Javascript links and keep it as pure text links.

7. use heading tags (<h1>,<h2>…..<h6>)

Most search engines dictates the <h1>,<h2>, <H3> tags and if you are using these, the text in between this tags must be more important.

eg: <h1> Search engine marketing tips </h1>

By default heading tags are not prettiest in terms of formatting , but you can override the default look by using CSS. See the example of styleshee below:

<style type="text/css">
<!–
H1{
color: #0000FF;
font-family: Arial,Verdana; font-size:11px
}
–>
>/style>

Note that placing more than 75 characters in these tags are not a good idea!!

8. Repeat the page <title> in a heading at the top of the page if possoble.

9. Keyword Proximity: It refers to the closeness between two or more keywords. Always try to group words together that might be seardhed on as a single phrase by a user.

(eg: Use "home loans" instead of "home mortgage loans" assuming that a user searching only for the phrase "home loans".)

10. Place some important K/W in Bold or Italic.

11. Use ‘ALT’ tag to describe the image.

ALT tag defines the text to display for a image if the user has graphics turned off, or if they put the cursor over it in internet Explorer(IE). Some search engines including google will look for keywords in the ALt tags.

eg: <IMG SRC="image.jpg" ALT="Blue Widgets,Red Widgets,and GreenWidgets" </a>

12. Insert comments tag in your page, it is hidden and not visible to the user. A couple of search engines will read this text, so you may wish to include keyword in these tags.

eg: <!– Blue Widgets, Red Widgets, and Green Widgets –>

13. Make sure the code of home page is not bigger than 32K.

14. Try to keep font size to a min. of size 11px of 12px (2 or 3 in DreamWeaver).

15. Try to avoid using nested loops in <table> srtucture.

16. Use W3C technologies and guidelines.

17. Try to target two or three main keywords for a website.

18. Avoid listing the same word multiple times in a row.

19. Update your body text at regular intervals.

(Many of the major search engines prefer to give imprtance to websites, which updated its contents at regular intervals.)

1 Comment | The Main Body Text | Permalink
Posted by seohelpdesk

What is SEO?

April 7, 2007

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ?

Search Engine Optimization – the process of increasing the amount of visitors to a Web site by ranking high in the search results of a search engine. The higher a Web site ranks in the results of a search, the greater the chance that that site will be visited by a user. It is common practice for Internet users to not click through pages and pages of search results, so where a site ranks in a search is essential for directing more traffic toward the site.

SEO helps to ensure that a site is accessible to a search engine and improves the chances that the site will be found by the search engine.

1 Comment | What is SEO? | Permalink
Posted by seohelpdesk

Title Tag

April 7, 2007

What Is A Title Tag

The title tag is an element in the header part of an HTML page denoted by two <title></title> tags. For instance, you might have <title> Using Title Tags to Improve SEO & Website Conversion</title>. That would mean that the title would read (as a link on search engines like Google for instance “Using Title Tags to Improve SEO & Website Conversion”. Setting yourself some simple guidelines to help you write your tags is a good idea.

Making the following changes to your title tag can help improve ranking and increase targeted traffic to your website:

* Include keyword phrases in your title tag
* Order keyword phrases effectively within the title tag
* Make the title tag appealing to the eye
* Try to keep title tags as unique as possible
* Avoid the list of common title tag mistakes

Include keyword phrases in your title tag:

Think of a title tag as the name above a shop. Imagine you are walking down a busy street with shops on either side of you. However every shop window is boarded up and all that is visible is its name. You mean to purchase a new Hi-Fi system and need to locate a suitable store. You look at all the names but are getting confused as to which one is for you. All of a sudden you see a store with ‘Hi-Fi and Electrical’ in its name. You enter and purchase your spanking new Hi-Fi system, but it is a bit expensive. And little did you know but the store next door also sold Hi-Fi systems but for a lot cheaper. However its name did not indicate this. In fact its name sounded more like a jewellery shop than an electrical store.

A search engine is rather like the shopper in the above example. It sees the title on each web page and determines whether this would be a good result to return based on its text. If you search for ‘Hi-Fi’ it is highly likely that some of the results returned will have ‘Hi-Fi’ in their title.

To be found using the search engines you should optimize your website for a set of keyword phrases. These keyword phrases should be included in your title tag. Suppose I was a website selling Hi-Fi systems, then I would like my website to appear in search engine results when searching with the phrase ‘Hi-Fi systems’. If I include ‘Hi-Fi systems’ in my title tag I will increase the chances that the search engines will find the page and my ranking will be higher. Of course you are not limited to adding only one keyword phrase to your title, I would recommend two perhaps three but be careful not to make it too long. Also remember make it easy to understand and descriptive for a human.

Order these keyword phrases effectively:

Placing a keyword phrase at the start of the title tag allows it to be seen better by the search engines. Look at the following examples:

* ABCDEF Electrical – Hi-Fi Systems
* Hi-Fi Systems – ABCDEF Electrical

Both of these two examples are acceptable to human eyes but in the eyes of the search engines the second is see as more relevant if ‘Hi-Fi Systems’ is searched for because it appears at the start of the title. Generally it is best to place company name or the name of website to the end of your title tag.

Make your title enticing to the eye:

    Although this point does not make a lot of difference to the search engines it can help to get people to click on your link in search results.
    Which is easier on the eye?

    1. XYZ COMPUTER HARDWARE
    2. XYZ CoMpUtEr HaRdWaRe
    3. XYZ Computer Hardware

    I imagine that most people would say that (3) is the most pleasing. (1) and (2) are harder to read because of improper captilization. In (1) you see that using all capitals detracts the importance of any words you actually want to draw attention to and also some search engines may penalise this practice. (2) is simply a nightmare to read.

    Try to keep title tags as unique as possible:

     As each page on your site should be unique so should your title tags. Not only do unique title tags make the site more descriptive and navigable to a person they help search engines answer queries more accurately and allow more penetration of your site’s pages in their databases.

    Common title tags mistakes:

    1. Do not leave your title tag blank, ever!
    2. Do not use ‘Untitled’ or default text in your title tag.
    3. If you are using a web page editing application it may place some default text in the title tag. Make sure you always check your title to make sure this doesn’t happen.
    4. Do not write title tags that are not relevant to the content on the page.
    5. Search engines compare text in the title tag against actual textual content on your page to rate relevancy. If the two are not related this will decrease your ranking. Also it is annoying to a person who visits your page when the title tag they saw going into your page does not relate to the content on the page. This will ensure that this person leaves your site and maybe never comes back.
    6. Do not stuff your title tag with repeating keyword phrases.
    7. This may be looked upon by search engines as spamming and they may penalise your ranking.

    Summary:

    Ignoring title tags is definitely a mistake if you aim to achieve high rankings. Although it takes a lot more than the title tag to propel you to the top of the search engines it can be very effective in making a search engine more secure that your site’s content is more relevant than a competitor’s.

    Leave a Comment » | Title Tag | Permalink
    Posted by seohelpdesk