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

The Page Title and Meta Description

Never underestimate the importance of the page title and meta description - they're used by both search engines and people to judge your website.

Usborne, Nick. Webcredible (2006). Design>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

The "Right" Keywords  

Last fall, one of the people I mentor, Andrew White, e-mailed me, asking how to get his site ranking higher on Google. He is the webmaster for a church Web site and was not happy that another church site with the same name outranked his site. I looked over his keywords and site text: He did not have very strong keywords. His primary keyword phrase was the name of his church. I wondered about this: How many people search for the name of a church? If you want your efforts at search engine optimization (SEO) to bear fruit, be it an organic campaign, a paid sponsorship, or Google Adwords, you must choose the keywords that your target audience is using to find your site or product. Otherwise all your efforts are in vain.

Leonard-Wilkinson, Theresa A. Intercom (2004). Design>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

Sales Without Search Engines

Search engines may be crucial to your internet marketing strategy but it can be dangerous to rely on them. Find out why and what other marketing options are available to you and your website.

Bliss, Paul. Webcredible (2006). Design>Web Design>Search>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 Copywriting: Get Past Lumpy

As a writer of copy or content online, knowledge of search engine optimization is fast becoming a basic requirement.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2005). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Marketing

A concise history of search engine optimisation and online marketing all the way to the present. The article covers the evolution of search and describes search engine algorithms and the use of correct semantic mark-up to gain better search engine rankings.

Search and Go (2005). Reference>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimisation

Search engine position is an important element of online marketing. Obviously your company is at a significant advantage if you come top of a search for ‘cheese’ (assuming you are a cheesemonger that is – if you aren’t you have a problem). Not only will this drive traffic to the site, but this traffic is also highly targeted, being people who have already expressed an interest in your product or service. Given that this is the case, a whole industry has developed around ‘optimising’ a site’s position on these search rankings. In the past, most search engines have referred to the HTML itself in order to judge how relevant a site is to any particular search. So our hypothetical cheesemonger would be advised to include the word ‘cheese’ in the Title, meta tags, content and header of his or her homepage, whilst avoiding elements such as frames and splash pages which may confuse the automatic 'spiders' which collect this information.

Farrell, Tom. Frontend Infocentre (2001). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): the Basics

SEO is about making your website in such a way that it will appear higher in the search rankings. A website that's optimised for search engines can reap huge benefits on to your website and your business.

Moss, Trenton. Webcredible (2004). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization and Non-HTML Sites

Think about all the PDF, sound and other rich media files out there. Can this content be indexed by search engines? The answer is yes and no.

K'necht, Alan. Digital Web Magazine (2004). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization and the Bottom-Line

A question on many Webmaster's minds these days is whether or not they should bother with optimizing their site to rank high in the search engines. We've discussed this in previous articles, and it always seemed to come down to a big 'it depends.' However, I'm starting to realize that for many clients, good search engine rankings can actually make or break a business.

High Rankings Advisor (2004). Design>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 Code of Ethics

The discussion of any Code of Ethics is like a discussion on politics or religion: there are more than two sides, all sides are strongly opinionated, and seldom do they choose the same path to the same end. Most Search Engine Optimization (SEO) practitioners understand these ethics, yet not all practitioners practice safe-SEO. Too many SEO practitioners claim a bias towards surfers, or the search engines, or their clients (all are appropriate in the correct balance), and it is common for the 'whatever it takes' excuse to bend some of these ethics to fit their needs. This page does not pass judgment, it simply states the obvious.

BruceClay.com (2003). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization: A Must

Discover the importance of search engine optimization and the steps required for a successful SEO campaign.

Duncan, Alec. Lil Engine (2003). Design>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

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 Spam

Hidden text, doorway pages and mirror sites are all examples of search engine spam and could get you banned from the search engines - make sure your site avoids all of these!

Townes, Frederick. Webcredible (2007). Design>Web Design>Search Engine Optimization>Spam

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 and the Will to Truth  

Thousands, probably millions of writers are putting up pages of information or speculation on the Web. They are choosing to bypass the whole apparatus of referees, editors, reviewers, catalogers, and indexers to make a direct appeal to 'the world' on the Web. If the cost of Web publication were that the pages remained un-indexed, few would choose it, for it would amount to being one drop in a sea of 1.5 billion pages: the chance of anyone with an interest in the topic finding the page would be infinitesimal. But along with all this unauthorized, uncatalogued writing has come the development of fast and powerful search engines, some of them indexing over one billion pages. And suddenly 'to look something up' means 'to run it by Yahoo!' It is easy to make a case against the Web search engines, and from that a case against the Web itself as a medium, or even a tool, for making and exchanging public knowledge. But...

Dillon, George. Kairos (2001). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization