Although each search
engine uses a different formula to determine the
ranking of web sites, they will all use some or all of
the following:
Content
Your web site should be content-rich, and the
body of your text should include your keywords. Search
engines factor in 3 things regarding
keywords:
1. Keyword
Prominence/Location
Words that are found
at the top of the page are given more weight than those at
the bottom of the page. You should focus on the first 1000
characters of text on your page. (The sooner your keywords
appear the better). This should be complete sentences
and not merely a listing of keywords.
2.
Keyword Frequency
Keywords
and keyword phrases that are used more often are given more
weight.
3. Keyword Density
Search
engines look at the density of your keyword phrases relative
to the text on your web site. If your web site contains 100
words and your keyword phrase is used 10 times, your keyword
density is 10%. Your web site would (all factors considered)
rank higher in the search engine
results than a web site that only used the keyword phrase
one time, with a density of only 1%. Generally keyword
density should be in the 2%-8% range, because search engines
will penalize you for using keywords too
much! To check your web site’s keyword frequency and
density use keywordcount.com.
Summary: Keep your web page focused to a
single theme and a limited number of keywords so you don’t
dilute the effectiveness of the page. Your content should
include keywords! If you
create the perfect Title Tag and Meta Tags, but your content
does not contain your keyword phrases, you will probably be
listed low in the search engines.
Note:
To rank well on the search engine Lycos, your web page
should include at least 100 words of text.
Title
Tag
This is not the
title on your home page, but the title that appears in the
browser window. Some search engines give more weight to
titles than body text. Use a descriptive Title Tag that
contains your keywords; don't use generic phrases such as
"Home Page".
Meta
Tags
This includes the Keyword Meta Tag and the
Description Meta Tag. For more information on developing
meta tags visit Yahoo,
or Click here.
You can create your own Meta Tags
here
and Analyze
it.
ALT
Tags
Use the ALT text in <IMG> Tags to include your
web site's keywords.
Some search engines include the ALT attributes of images in
their indexing procedure.
Link
Popularity
Get linked! The number of pages that have links to
you can influence your listing in some search engines.
Search engines can determine how many other web sites link
to your web site, and some will give your web site a boost
in the results when a lot of pages link to you. Find out
where your competitors are linked and start there.
Encourage people to link to your site by providing banners
or other linking graphics for them to use. Be sure to
provide detailed instructions on how to link to your web
site. You can even actively encourage people to link to you
by running a link contest. The prize can be something that
you already provide in the way of a product or service.
Strategic links are also a good source of additional traffic
to your web site. Target web sites that have some real
affinity to yours.
You need to focus on as many of the
above factors as possible to optimize your web site for high
search engine placement.
