10 Great SEO Tips

There was a time when companies could simply boot up a Web site and their content would immediately begin showing up in various search engines. For better or worse, those days are long gone. To have content displayed, corporations need to understand what the search engines are looking for and then provide it to them. If one company does not want to do that, a competitor certainly will.


As evidenced by the phenomenal success of Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) , search has evolved from an interesting sideline into a primary function for many, if not most, Internet users. Consequently, more and more companies are putting content up on their Web sites to attract the attention of search engines.

"You can have really great information on a site, but if a potential customer can't find you, what good is it?" asked George Aspland, president of eVision.

Chances are that most times a person won't find the company. If a user types in a simple query today, tens of thousands, millions and even billions of results come pouring back in an instant. In most cases, a user will sift though a couple of pages -- basically a few dozen links -- and either re-enter the query or give up the search in disgust.


Those First Few Pages
Consequently, companies are trying to make sure that their sites show up on those first few pages. In response, a booming cottage industry creating search engine optimization (SEO) specialists has emerged. What follows are five tips from such experts that a company can use to increase the likelihood that its name will pop up quickly.


1. Keep tabs on search engine rules. The search engine vendors would like to make it easier for themselves to collect information. Consequently, they have devised Web page design guidelines that help their software index new Web pages.

"The search companies expect to see basic items, such as a site map, so their Web crawling software -- as well as your customers -- can find information on different pages," George Chaney, president of SEO King, told TechNewsWorld.

Repetition is another item that these vendors value. "Keywords belong in page titles, image names, headlines, body content and links," Todd Follansbee, vice president at Web Marketing Resources, told TechNewsWorld. In certain cases, following this guideline may diminish the graphical appeal of a page or not follow business writing rules, but that is a price a company has to pay to be displayed on those first few search pages.

2. Pay special attention to the title of a page. Search engines list a company's title at the top of search results, so it is not surprising that they examine titles carefully. An obvious item -- but one sometimes overlooked -- is that companies need to put titles on all pages, not just main entry points on their Web site. Also corporations need to be direct, rather than clever, when crafting their titles because the Web crawling software does not have a sense of humor.

Brevity is an important consideration in regards to the title -- the search engines want companies to limit text to less than 80 characters, which translates to one short sentence. All caps should be avoided because it detracts rather than enhances reading comprehension.

3. Label graphical content. Increasingly, companies are putting more graphical and video elements on their Web sites. "Currently, most search engines are not able to understand and rank thumbnail pictures and video content," Andrew Frank, a research vice president at Gartner (NYSE: IT) , told TechNewsWorld.

Since they cannot understand the information, they simply pass on indexing it -- although their algorithms are getting better at working with such information. If a company has a number of these items, there are alternative tags that can be used to describe them. When a company uses one of these tags, it should include keywords in the text and clearly label the item. Generic descriptions, such as pix1, and abbreviations should also be avoided because search engines do not value them highly.

4. Support link exchanges. Search companies have taken on the communal characteristics found in the Internet. If a number of other sites link to a company's Web page, then the engines give it more credence. "Companies should include link bait, phrases or pages on Web site that others can use to link to it," eVision's Aspland told TechNewsWorld. Also, a company can search for sites similar to its own, contact the creators and build a new community. Another option is to join a webring, a string of linked sites dedicated to a certain topic. There are plenty of them on the Web, and more arising daily.

5. Be prepared to tweak Web content consistently. Search companies, such as Google, determine which items to display by relying on ranking algorithms, formulas they have developed that decide which Web pages best match each user's query. With the dynamic nature of the content and the vendors' desire to deliver the best page out of millions and billions of possibilities, these algorithms are constantly being scrutinized.

Daily, vendors' engineers work busily to make them more precise. After undergoing a test phase, changes are put into production. No one knows when this occurs -- observers expect it at least once every three months -- because companies like Google never announce them. The only time it becomes clear is when a company's page rankings change dramatically. Consequently, firms need to track their rankings and make changes when they are needed.

There was a time when companies could simply boot up a Web site and their content would immediately begin showing up in various search engines. For better or worse, those days are long gone. To have content displayed, corporations need to understand what the search engines are looking for and then provide it to them. If one company does not want to do that, a competitor certainly will.


Garnering the attention of the search engine vendors requires a delicate balance. While there are some steps that companies can take to improve their ranking, there are other items that lower the company's search rankings, and can even result in them being blacklisted in some cases. Consequently, they need to maintain a proper balance.


Search engines have taken on the role of parents doling out rewards as well as punishment to companies building Web sites. The punishment comes from two sources. For one, the search engines are flawed, often unable to work with various types of information.

"At one time, search engines could not make sense of PDF data, but that was one shortcoming that the vendors were able to overcome," said Andrew Frank, a research vice president at Gartner (NYSE: IT) .

The other set of problems comes from companies bending -- and in many cases, knowingly breaking -- rules in order to have their results displayed more prominently. "Because of the high stakes involved in search, scams have become rampant in the industry," George Chaney, president of SEO King, told TechNewsWorld.


Avoiding the Punishment
Part 1 of this two-part series features five tips on how a company can increase the likelihood that its name will pop up quickly and high on search pages.

What follows are five steps that a company can take to avoid being punished by search engines:


6. Submit Web pages to search engines judiciously. When the Internet was first booming, search vendors had rudimentary techniques to identify new Web pages. Consequently, they often appreciated it when companies submitted new Web pages to them.

Much has changed in the past few years. If a company puts a new page up, a search engine will find it. That statement assumes that a corporation has made other groups aware of its site. When it puts up a new site, a firm needs to register itself with a domain name services provider so the page makes its way into the Internet's global network index.

If a company is nervous, wants to be on the safe side, and decides to submit its content to a search engine, that step should only be taken once. If it is done repeatedly, the search engines may deem the material as spam and blacklist it, removing the site from all search mentions.

7. Make sure Web links lead somewhere. Links to other sites help a company gain a higher site rating, so many sites have them. However periodically, search engine suppliers will check to make sure a link is working, so companies have to make sure that their referenced content has not moved or been taken offline.

Some unscrupulous companies have pushed the idea of embedded links a bit too far. They include bogus Web links on their pages in order to generate higher site ratings. While there is a link, it leads to a blank page in some instances or in other cases will circle back on itself -- thereby creating an infinite number of links. Search engine vendors are not particularly fond of such links and blacklist sites known for them.

8. Minimize use of flash. Flash is a programming tool used to add video-like animation to a Web site. These animations are small programs that can be embedded into HTML pages and provide cool visual effects, often close to video.

"While flash can be compelling, it is not something that search engines can easily recognize and categorize," Gartner's Frank told TechNewsWorld. Consequently, many search engines do not read or catalog any flash content. If a company wants to use flash, it needs to make sure that similar textual content is available so search engines can work with the data.

9. Do not react to every algorithm change. The search engine vendors are constantly trying to fine tune their algorithms and make them more accurate. "A company can drive itself nuts reacting to each change that the search vendors make," George Aspland, president of eVision, told TechNewsWorld.

After they make a change, search engine vendors then examine how well it works. In certain instances, the change hurts rather than helps the company deliver appropriate content to users. As a result, the search engine company will pull the change and go back to its original algorithm. Rather than rush back and forth through such exercises, it is better for companies to wait about three or four weeks after noticing a change before making their own alternations.

10. Limit use of pop-ups. Pop-ups have become items that help companies gather information quickly and effectively. These items are still associated with spamming sites, so search engines flag sites with excessive numbers of pop-ups as spammers. In designing a Web site, a company should limit the number of pop-ups.

Garnering the attention of the search engine vendors requires a delicate balance. While there are some steps that companies can take to improve their ranking, there are other items that lower the company's search rankings, and can even result in them being blacklisted in some cases. Consequently, they need to maintain a proper balance.