Basic Search Engine Optimization Guide And Tips

Search engine optimization or SEO is very important to get your website listed in search engines. Even if this is the first website you have built there are a few basic and easy steps that will help you with optimizing your website without being a pro.

DevBay (2005). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Compelling Headlines to Improve Your Search Engine Ranking

Write compelling headings that attract both search engines and your desired kind of site visitor.

Jackson, Steve. Webcredible (2005). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Comprehending the Google Dance to Stay Updated

The updating of massive indexes by Google is not a smooth affair by any means. Notably, as a result of updating process, old indexes do not simply yield to new indexes, but there is quite an haphazard movement in transition. It takes a couple of days for Google to complete its update. Especially during this period, both old and new indexes get their place on www.google.com, albeit alternatively or even in unpredictable ways before new indexes stabilize there for all to see. The fluctuations witnessed on Google between transition from old indexes to new indexes seem as if Google were dancing. Hence, in SEO parlance comes the word Google Dance. Varying indexes have a say in the final rankings just when PageRank calculation sets in action. So, the fluctuating indexes of your site should not be a cause of concern when Google is dancing. Wait for Google to come to a halt and you will see all the things stabilize.

Azam, Rahbre and Tabassum Naz. Amateur Writerz (2008). Articles>Web Design>Business Communication>Search Engine Optimization

Creating Usable, Search Engine Friendly URLs

There are many reasons to use mod_rewrite to create informative, useful URLs for your website. Most dynamic websites use some form of PHP or ASP to pull the data from the database and often times use that data in the URL as a string. This is not only a potential security flaw, it also gives the user and search engine alike a very uninformative destination for your website.

Robbins, Kyle. ReEncoded (2008). Articles>Web Design>Search Engine Optimization>Usability

Diversity is Power for Specialized Sites

Small websites get less traffic than big ones, but they can still dominate their niches. For each question users ask, the Web delivers a different set of sites to provide the answers.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2003). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Effective Search Engine Submission Strategies

Now that you've got a website it's time to start thinking about promoting it. Search engine listings are the number one way to generate traffic to your website.

stevenforsyth.com (2005). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>Search Engine Optimization

Florida Update One Year Later - The Year Google Grew Up

The Florida Update effected more than site rankings in the SEO industry. Jim Hedger looks at Google one year later after the disaster.

Hedger, Jim. Search-This (2004). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Google Optimization Secrets From The Trenches

What do learning how to outline a research paper and optimizing your website to rank highly in Google have in common? Much more than you might think at first glance.

SEOchat (2004). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

The Google Sandbox and How To Get Out

The Google Sandbox is a filter that was put in place in about March of 2004. New websites with new domain names can take 6 to 12 months to get decent rankings on Google. Some are reporting stays of up to 18 months. The Sandbox seems to affect nearly all new websites placing them on probation. Similarly, websites that have made comprehensive redesigns have been caught up in this Sandbox. Does this Sandbox Really Exist, or is it just part of the Google algorithm? This has been a big controversy with many different opinions. Most now believe that this is an algorithm. In either case, the Sandbox functions to keep new sites from shooting to the top of Google in just a few weeks and overtaking quality sites that have been around for many years. This appears to be an initiation period for new websites.

Williams, Doug. stevenforsyth.com (2006). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>Search Engine Optimization

Google Search Engine Optimisation and their 80/20 Rule

Google's increasing use of anti-spam features has meant that optimising websites for Google has become much harder and it's now not just a case of opening your websites source files in notepad, adding some keywords into your various HTML tags, uploading your files and waiting for the results. In fact in my opinion and I'm sure others will agree with me, this type of optimisation, commonly referred to as onpage optimisation will only ever be 20% effective at achieving rankings for any keywords which are even mildly competitive. Those of us who aced maths in school will know this leaves us with 80% unaccounted for.

Callan, David. stevenforsyth.com (2005). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>Search Engine Optimization

Guide to Buying Traffic

While many niches depend on PPC search traffic, there’s a wide group of sites that benifit from bought traffic from individual sites. Often times you can get very high quality traffic that converts very well from niches that tend to deal in a more direct site to site type traffic deal, rather than 3rd party ad networks. This guide is mostly to be used when buying traffic from forums, from individual websites, and from “plug” type packages, yet there are many things that transfer over to more traditional PPC outlets.

Robbins, Kyle. ReEncoded (2008). Articles>Web Design>Search Engine Optimization>E Commerce

Introduction to Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of analyzing your site and modifying it to enable search engines to read it, understand it and catalog it correctly. This is not rewriting the site or changing the look and feel. It is subtle changes, adding or modifying inconspicuous visible and invisible text so that the search engines can read the site. SEO is not 'spamming' the search engines - it is simply helping the search engines help you - by specifying information using a variety of methods.

O'Gribin, Niall. Erigena (2006). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Is There a Way Out Beyond Google to Bring in Revenues?

No webmaster worth his salt can rule out the indispensability of Google for enhancing the prospects of one's business potential the online way. The ways and means to augment your business statistics are fine as long as they are paving the way in your business interest. The fact is that end results are always important and determine the continuation of a set of strategies or tactics in the future. Notwithstanding the enormous benefits accruing from top positions in Google's rankings, you will end up to lose sight of the long term survival if you drive your business on a Google-only focus.

Azam, Rahbre. Amateur Writerz (2008). Articles>Web Design>E Commerce>Search Engine Optimization

It Takes More than Money To Reach The Top

To get the first spot on Google, Yahoo, or MSN, all it used to take was the highest bid. Today, even the experts aren't sure exactly what it's going to take.

Janisch, Troy. Icon Interactive (2007). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Link Popularity

For years, 'link popularity' and 'Google PageRank' have been the talk of the town in the search engine optimization community. However, the definition of link popularity and how it differs from PageRank (PR), as well as how much effect these actually have on search engine rankings, is often misunderstood.

Whalen, Jill. High Rankings Advisor (2004). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

The Meta Description Tag

The keywords and phrases you use in your Meta description tag don't affect your page's ranking in the search engines (for the most part), but this tag can still come in handy in your overall SEO campaigns.

Whalen, Jill. High Rankings Advisor (2004). Articles>Web Design>Metadata>Search Engine Optimization

No Quick Fixes Where Search Engine Optimization is Concerned

There are simply no quick fixes regarding search engine optimization. Adding META tags on your site neither a quick fix nor a slow fix. It won't fix anything and it won't have any effect on your search engine traffic.

Whalen, Jill. High Rankings Advisor (2006). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Realistic Search Engine Optimization Expectations

Even keyword phrases that nobody's searching for can sometimes be difficult to obtain high rankings with unless you really and truly know what you're doing. And even then, those rankings may be here one day, and gone the next.

Whalen, Jill. High Rankings Advisor (2006). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

RSS, Search Engine Visibility and Brand Perception

Branding has been called the most powerful idea in business, yet few companies consciously craft and promote their brand. Making a brand visible to an online audience can be an additional challenge. Studies show that searchers regard the companies that are placed on the first page of search engine results as the major players in the field. So how do you get the coveted page-one positioning? New technologies like RSS feeds are one way to accomplish this and make your brand more visible in the process.

Falkow, Sally. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Web Design>XML>Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Copywriting: Comprehensive Guide for Beginners to Content Writing for Search Engine Optimization

This article will try to tell you about the basics of copywriting and its advanced application on the SEO aspect. This article aims to provide the beginners in the Search Engine Optimization industry, an in-depth but friendly guide to seo content writing, as well as providing the more advanced copywriters with a guide to remind them of the several tricks they might have forgotten about the craft.

Anthony, Liam. SEO Global Pro. Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization Basics, Part 1: Improve Your Standing in Search Engines

Making your Web site attractive to search engines is a key factor for your success as a Web site developer. Get the basic information you need to organically optimize your Web site in this four-part series. In Part 1, you'll receive a foundation in search engine optimization so you can organically optimize your Web site and create Web pages that are usable, accessible, and friendly to search engines.

Banks, L. Jeannette. IBM (2006). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization Basics, Part 2: SEO Keyword and Infrastructure Strategies

Making your Web site attractive to search engines is a key factor for your success as a Web site developer. Get the basic information you need to organically optimize your Web site in this four-part series. In Part 1, you learned the background of why white hat SEO is good for your site. In Part 2, you'll start optimizing. You'll create a strategy for choosing and optimizing your keywords from the top-left-down and learn more about other factors that can influence your success in search engines.

Banks, L. Jeannette. IBM (2006). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization Basics, Part 3: Get Your Web Pages Into Search Indexes

Making your Web site attractive to search engines is a key factor for your success as a Web site developer. Get the basic information you need to organically optimize your Web site in this four-part series. In Part 3 of the series, you'll learn how to get the pages of your Web site into the search indexes.

Moran, Mike and Bill Hunt. IBM (2006). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization Basics, Part 4: Improve Search Marketing for Large Sites

Making your Web site obvious to search engines is a key factor for your success as a Web site developer. Get the basic information you need to organically optimize your Web site in this four-part series. In this final part of the series, learn specialized techniques for large Web sites or sites with many dynamic pages.

Moran, Mike and Bill Hunt. IBM (2006). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization: Getting Started

Explain some of the first steps to get your website not only optimized for the search engines, but to push your website up in the rankings war.

Garite, Joe. stevenforsyth.com (2006). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>Search Engine Optimization