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IMPROVE YOUR SITE'S RANK IN THE SEARCH ENGINESOnce you have your website, the next step is to get it listed with Goggle and the other important search engines. Actually, getting listed is quite simple - but getting listed successfully so that your site receives the optimum number of hits is a bit more difficult. Getting listed does not mean that your pages will necessarily rank well in the listings, however. It simply means that the search engine knows your pages exist. Following are some tips to help you get your site ranked high in the search engines. 1. Think carefully about choosing keywords. What you consider adequate for your site may not be what other people are actually searching for. In finding the optimal words for your site, be very specific. Decide on two or three highly targeted phrases for each page of your site. Never go for general keywords such as "travel" or "holiday" -- as they are rarely (if ever) indicative of what your site is really about.
2. Include enough text in your pages. Your visible text copy, based on your keywords, should be at least 200-250 words. This is very important for building a successful web site. Search engines must be able to "read" keyword-rich copy on your pages so they can understand how to classify your site. Write the copy based on your keyword phrases, and try to use these phrases as many times as possible, without it sounding overly redundant. But, keep in mind that it is also important for your copy to read well, so just putting keyword phrases at the top of the page or only in headlines probably will not be enough to bring your site to the top. 3. Be extremely creative with your Title tag. You must put your keyword phrases into this tag and not waste space with extra words. Do not use the Title tag to display only your company name, or to simply say "Home Page." Think of this tag more as a "Title Keyword Tag" and create it accordingly. It should reflect exactly what your page is about, using the keyword phrases people might be using at a search engine to find your company.
4. Do not submit your site to search engines. This may sound wrong, but if a search engine does not find your website on its own, then the significance of the site is diminished and its rank will be lower. What you can do instead, is to submit your site to DMOZ (www.dmoz.org), a directory maintained by volunteers. If your site gets listed in DMOZ, then every major search engine will find it in no time. 5. Getting listed in DMOZ. In submitting your site to DMOZ (www.dmoz.org) there are four important rules: find the appropriate subcategory, be honest, patient, and persistent. - Find the right subcategory. Locate the most appropriate subcategory where your site fits in. If you have a website about a hotel in Heraklion, then do not submit your site to CRETE: HOTELS but go to CRETE: HOTELS: HERAKLION and submit there. - Be honest . Do not use a promotional language for your site's description. Keep it simple and do not try to impress the editors of DMOZ. They are very serious about that. - Be patient . You will have to wait at least 2 weeks before you check if your site has been approved by an editor and it is listed in DMOZ. - Be Persistent. If after 20 days your site is not listed in DMOZ, then submit again. You may need to submit at least 2-3 times before your site is finally added to DMOZ. 6. Don't expect quick results. Getting ranked high in the search engines takes time. Once your site is added to a search engine its rankings may start out low and then little by little works its way higher in the standings. All search engines measure link popularity, and it takes time to become one of the more popular sites in your category. It is estimated that Google will give a website the rank it deserves after 9 months of online presence. 7. Get quality links to your site. Constantly work on improving your site to make it better, and to make it compatible to linking with other sites. Always be on the lookout for other sites that might be interested in making your site available to their site visitors, and vice versa. Linking with other sites is critical for successful search engine optimization. Every major search engine places a good deal of emphasis on your site's overall link popularity. But, remember the old adage: You are known by the company you keep. So be sure that the sites you link with are well done, and important in their own right. To be associated with a poorly-produced site will reflect on your own image and to the way visitors view you. 8. Well-written texts with no errors. Be certain that your text is well-written and, more importantly, free of any typographical errors or misspelled words. Always (no exceptions) re-read your text several times, then have someone else proof read it! Those pesky little "misspelling" creatures have a way of hiding out in little crevices of your text. Be sure to exterminate them! We call it "expelling the misspelling". If you've followed these tips and still can't find your site in the engines, the first place to "tweak" (make changes) would be your page copy. If you have less than 250 words of visible text on your pages, this could be the problem. Also, double-check your keyword density, and make sure that you only targeted two or three phrases per page. It's a lot of work to build a web site, but if nobody visits it, the work is wasted. So, just when you think your web is finished, a lot of work remains to be done. |
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