Making it to Page 1 - How to Increase Your SE Ranking
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a process. The technology changes all the time, so there is no one-time quick fix; to optimize your SEO takes time and continuous management. This article will explain ten ways that will help you to boost your SEO.
1. First and foremost, page content is the most important factor in SEO. While Google is not the only Search Engine around, Google is responsible for generating almost half of all Web searches. They have a proprietary algorithm designed to determine the importance of a page for a particular search term.
2. There are a number of areas in the HTML of a Web page that the algorithm pays attention to: meta tags, title tag, description tag, keywords tag, comment tag, heading tags, formatting tag, and the alt image tag. All of these are invisible to the end user, but very visible to Google and other major search engines.
3. As well, the page’s copy (the text that is visible to the user) plays a huge role in your SE ranking. It not only has to be solid marketing copy, but also search-optimized copy. Unlike many other search engines, Google prefers to look at the text on the page.
4. The days of having Flashy, heavily designed sites are over. As the Web 2.0 trend continues, it has become clear that it’s less about flash and more about simplicity. The trend now is to develop index-friendly pages without a lot of Flash, graphics, JavaScript, etc.
5. Another important factor is your site's navigation and information architecture. It's really crucial that your navigation uses HTML text and not graphics (ideally search terms) which point to other content related to that search term.
6. One interesting fact is that major search engines like the popular sites. The more popular sites that point to your site, the more the SEs will like you and raise your listing. Think of this as high school. If the cool kids like you, then other kids will think you are cool. So get your links out there and get them on important sites. A link on 300 mom and pop sites is not going to be as positive as a link on CNN.
7. Publish, post and blog. Increase your Web presence and gain lots of exposure by publishing articles on Web sites like The Phantom Writers, eZine, and iSnare. Each of these sites where your article appears will include a "resource box" for your sales pitch and a link to your site.
8. Also, post on networking sites like LinkedIn, del.icio.us, digg, and MySpace to build a large base of connections. And don’t forget blogging--the perfect platform for distribution--as blogs naturally tend to link to each other. Hit the RSS Subscribers, get on blogrolls, and syndicate content to sites and blogs.
9. Offer a free tool to entice customers. This can be anything related to your company’s offerings, from a productivity tool to an ROI calculator. The point is to get some viral marketing going so that site owners and bloggers will link to you.
10. Generate links from directories. With hundreds of directories out there, you can easily list your site with Yahoo!, DMOZ, and the Internet Search Engine Database.
The last thing to think about is refreshing your site. How much you update and actively maintain your site also play a role in your ranking (along with your longevity online)--so don’t forget these important factors as well.
