Search Engine Optimizing for Europe

There's actually quite a lot to take into account when targeting a new geographic territory. I asked my two experts to share just two or three of the most important tips they would give to someone launching in the German marketplace.

Grehan, Mike. ClickZ (2006). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Strategies for Success: 2006

Every year is always rocked by a plethora of changes in the search engine marketing world. The acquisition of smaller companies by the Big 3 changes the marketing landscape as we know it every month and with every update to the index that is made, we hold our breath and hope that we come out better (if not, the same) in the end. So when it comes to the new year, there are many things that we should look out for to stay on top of the rankings.

Wooton, John. stevenforsyth.com (2004). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Search Engines as Leeches on the Web

Search engines extract too much of the Web's value, leaving too little for the websites that actually create the content. Liberation from search dependency is a strategic imperative for both websites and software vendors.

Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2006). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

SEO and the Zen Factor

When practiced at the level of those of us who've been in the game for 5-10 years, SEO is in fact very Zen-like. We can look at a website and know exactly what needs to be done to make it the best it can be for the site visitors and the search engines. Often, it's easiest for us when we can just roll up our sleeves and do what we know needs to be done, rather than try to explain the whys and wherefores. Many times it's not even possible to explain exactly why we are doing a specific thing, because it simply comes from the gut.

Whalen, Jill. High Rankings Advisor (2005). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

SEO for Dummies (well, and Web Developers)

Sometime Search Engine Optimization (SEO) seems to have morphed into a mystical creature. Most people, even those who design and develop websites for a living, know they need it, but don’t know exactly what it is. They have been feed so much rheteric and sales speaches that they seem to have given up on SEO long ago.

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

SEO Outbound Link Relevance

Outbound links' anchor text affects a page's search engine ranking in much the same way that inbound links' anchor text affects search engine ranking.

Walsh, Joel. stevenforsyth.com (2006). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>Search Engine Optimization

Strategies for Improving Enterprise Search

Acquiring and installing a search engine is just the beginning of creating an effective enterprise search system. John Ferrara walks us through strategies for addressing critical aspects of the user experience often overlooked or ignored.

Ferrara, John. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>Search Engine Optimization

Top of the Top of the Top of Search Results

Virtually every search engine and directory is now associated with some kind of paid solution, and it is tempting to see them as an easy way to get top ranking for your web site.

McAlpine, Rachel. Quality Web Content (2004). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Use PHP to Build a Search Engine Optimization Application

PHP, a dynamic Web-based programming language, takes a variety of input formats and uses a built-in SOAP client to obtain information from the Web. PHP, combined with applications using search engine optimization (SEO), is a powerful tool for obtaining information from major search engines, allowing this information to guide a webmaster's online marketing and SEO strategies.

Anderson, Tyler. IBM (2006). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Users Can Bask in the Benefits of Google Analytics

Google has earned its giant position in search engine marketplace through real innovative solutions, and of course, strategic moves all aimed at users ultimate convenience. It has been almost customary for Google to bring in some exciting features initially for a price then slashing the rate drastically to making it FREE for all. This sort of repeated move could be seen as first serving the target market with its innovative solutions, and later making it free to give many a business in similar or remotely similar categories a run for their money. Critics claims have to stand the test of contemporary business realities.

Azam, Rahbre. Amateur Writerz (2008). Articles>Web Design>Server Side Includes>Search Engine Optimization

Using XHTML/CSS for an Effective SEO Campaign

Improve your search engine ranking by harnessing the benefits of well-authored XHTML and using CSS to boost your code-to-content ratio.

Olejniczak, Brandon. List Apart, A (2003). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

What Search Engines Need to See to Rank Your Site Well (Part 1)

A substantial number of people use search engines to find goods and services that interest them. Incredibly, though, many web designers don't pay much attention to designing sites to rank well in searches. This means that in order to protect your investment in your website, you need to know what has to be done to get good rankings, and how to make sure that your designer has done it.

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

What Search Engines Need to See to Rank Your Site Well (Part 2)

A substantial number of people use search engines to find goods and services that interest them. This second half of a two-part article explains how to make sure that your web designer has set up your site so search engines will like what they see and rank you high.

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

Why SEO Matters

A developer friend of mine, before he knew I worked for an SEO firm, told me he thought of SEO as 'snake oil,' not an uncommon view among many Web professionals.

Wilkie, David. Search-This (2004). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Semantic HTML and Search Engine Optimization

So what is POSH? No, it's not just some new clothing fashion hype amongst web designers - POSH is the acronym for Plain Old Semantic HTML. The term Semantic HTML is used for a variety of things, but it has it's origin in one objective: creating (X)HTML documents using semantic elements and attributes, as opposed to using presentational HTML.

De Valk, Joost. Opera (2008). Articles>Web Design>Standards>Search Engine Optimization

Intelligent Site Structure for Better SEO!

Search engines are one of the most important traffic drivers to sites these days, which is why Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is becoming more and more important. SEO is often thought to be just a set of some technical tricks, and as a professional SEO, I confess to spending a lot of time with clients fixing technical issues. A site's structure though, is just as important. Your site's structure determines whether a search engine understands what your site is about, and how easily it will find and index content relevant to your site's purpose and intent. By creating a good structure, you can use the content you've written that has attracted links from others, and use your site's structure to spread some of that "linkjuice" to the other pages on your site.

De Valk, Joost. Opera (2008). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>Search Engine Optimization

Five Ways to Increase Targeted Website Traffic

Website visitors do not arrive magically… they follow recommendations from others, such as links, display ads, or even offline word of mouth. As 2007 turns into 2008, here are 5 easy ways to substantially increase the amount of traffic coming to your site.

Jason, Chris. ChrisJason.com (2007). Articles>Web Design>Search Engine Optimization

Findability/SEO Cheat Sheet: Quick Guide to Web Standards SEO

A findability strategy cheat sheet that will guide you through all of the stuff you should be doing when creating new websites or even redesign existing ones.

Walter, Aarron. AarronWalter.com (2008). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Search Engine Optimization

Free Search Engine Tools and Services  

You can communicate information about your site to search engines and see your site from their perspective using some free services and utilities from Yahoo! and Google.

Walter, Aarron. Building Findable Websites (2008). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Places to Promote Your Site  

You’ve built a great site-now get the word out! There are plenty of places where you can promote your site for free.

Walter, Aarron. Building Findable Websites (2008). Articles>Web Design>Search Engine Optimization

Black Hat SEO Techniques to Avoid  

Desperation, ignorance, and a moral compass that doesn’t point due north often get perfectly logical, good people and companies in trouble with search engines. Because being listed high in search results is such a desirable goal to attain, many people search for shortcuts to the front of the line—which can land them in serious trouble.

Walter, Aarron. Building Findable Websites (2008). Articles>Web Design>Search Engine Optimization

SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Why It Works Best With Quality Writing

Attracting the attention of Google and other search engines is crucial for bringing visitors to your website. To achieve this effectively, search engine optimised copy should run parallel with good website construction.

Ward, Merlin. Webcredible (2008). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Search Engine Optimization

Accessibility as Part of The Search Engine Marketing Strategy

In traditional marketing you're looking to define your targeted audience for your business or organisation. In Internet marketing things work in the same way. Unfortunately, with the growing popularity of the Internet in the past years and with the growing number of people building sites, a certain part of the online audience has been overlooked.

Big Mouth Media (2004). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Search Engine Optimization

Secret Benefits of Accessibility Part 2: Better Search Ranking

One of the main benefits of Web accessibility is that a Website that's more accessible to people is also usually more accessible to search engines. The more accessible your site is to search engines, the more confidently they can guess what the site's about, giving your site a better chance at the top spot in the search engine rankings.

Moss, Trenton. SitePoint (2004). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Search Engine Optimization

Metadata: Seven Tips for Writing Better Keywords

The shift in how search engines treat keywords is significant. They tend to ignore the keyword metatag and rather look for keywords in the actual page content. This means that you need to figure out your keywords before you write any content. Then, you include them throughout your content, particularly in headings and summaries.

McGovern, Gerry. New Thinking (2004). Articles>Web Design>Metadata>Search Engine Optimization