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[#1]10 Search Engine Ranking

by Anton Cheranev, Ant

Search engine rankings are an important factor to consider when you have a website that needs more traffic. If your website doesn't have a good position in the rankings then no-one will find it, so you need to make sure that your website is ranked highly enough to be seen. The other important quality to getting high traffic to your site is having a nice arsenal of links. The more links that you have to your site the more traffic you will get, but also, the more links to your site the more search engines like your site. Keeping a nice supply of links pointing at your site requires similar precautions and practices as getting high search engine listings.

Although no SEO company can guarantee a high ranking for your site, here are some tips for raising your search engine ranking. Using these tips will not get you to the top unless your site is the best out there, but they will at least put you into the positioning that you truly deserve. After all, the internet is basically a free market. You will naturally flow into the place that you deserve and many search engines try to insure that you do not rise above or fall below this position. This is why they are so strict, and this is why you must keep yourself on good terms with them.

1) Content is an important factor in high search engine rankings. Make sure that you have plenty of content throughout your site with your target keywords in the articles. It's also worth doing a search for websites similar to yours and taking a look at their articles for ideas. The more content you have the better. It is generally a good idea to have between three hundred and five hundred words per page, but more important than a quantity of content is the quality of the content that you are providing. You cannot just put out three hundred words of jargon and expect your visitors to find it interesting and stick around for the long haul.

2) Your website's URL can help you rank higher with the search engines if it contains your keywords. However, don't think that naming your site after your keywords will always help your rankings – you need to do more than just that.

3) Search terms should be written out in text, instead of graphics. If you do use pictures, be sure to give them alt tags. The alt tags in your pictures are almost as important as text. It's also a good idea to put some of your key words in links to other pages. In the eyes of a search engine it is almost as good to have a link to a page full of the content that the visitor is looking for as it is to have the content that the visitor is looking for on your page. If a visitor is looking for something that you are linking to and he or she finds your page, they may look around your site on the way through.

4) The title of your page is very important, and making sure that you choose it wisely will make a big difference. Terms such ‘free article on safe children's toys', or ‘contact the children's toy expert today' are good to use as titles, for example – they would get you a high ranking. The title area is the most important place to include your keyword phrases, so make sure that you put them all in.

5) The navigation menu that appears on each page of your website should include your page's title.

6) Don't just use the most popular keyword phrases – the market is so competitive that you should be sure to include some niche keywords too.

7) Make sure that you don't have a lot of irrelevant links on your site. The more closely related to your site your links are, the better your chances of being ranked in a higher position.

8) You need to periodically update the content of your website, even if it's only a slight change, as websites like sites that are kept updated.

9) You need to consider the fact most search engines don't like automatic submissions or multiple submissions – submit once, manually.

10) Always be on the look out for SEO news – staying up to date and using the latest techniques will help you stay one step ahead of your competition.

Many online sellers get frustrated with search engines regularly changing algorithms. But there are basic principles that haven't changed through the years. Try these time-tested tips to boost your web site's ranking:

Tip 1 ? Don't be too quick to change domain names.

Google has an aging delay for any new domain ? it can take up to a year for your keywords to start showing in the searches.

Tip 2 ? Optimize your site for your target audience, not the search engines.

Don't butcher your site, trying to jump through SEO hoops. Always think about what impression your site gives your users ? you'll create a better site the engines will like.

Tip 3 ? Do KEYWORD RESEARCH extensively.

Everything else revolves around the keyword phrases you use, so it's critical you choose the best ones. Http://WordTracker.com and http://KeywordDiscovery.com are two information databases that show you what words people are searching for, and suggest words you can use.

Tip 4 ? Design and categorize your site architecture and navigation based on your keyword research.

Jill Whalen, founder of http://www.HighRankings.com, says, ?Your homepage should be optimized for the more general phrases, and your inner pages for the more specific ones.? If possible, use keyword phrases as your navigation words.

Tip 5 ? Program your site to be ?crawler? friendly.

Search engines send out ?crawlers? to gather information from your site so they understand how to rank it.

? Create your links using HTML, not javascript. Crawlers can't follow javascript and won't be able to read your information.

? Don't design your site in Flash ? there's nothing for the crawlers to read. If they can't interpret the information, they can't classify your site.

? Make sure your copy is HTML, not a graphic of a text. It may look like copy. But if you have a text graphic, all the crawlers will see is a blank page.

Tip 6 ? Label your internal text links and clickable image ALT attributes as descriptively as possible.

Within the text links in your site, use the phrase that describes the page you're clicking to. For image links, make sure those phrases are contained in the image's code.

Tip 7 ? Write compelling copy for key pages of your site based on your chosen keyword phrases.

Choose a few keyword phrases that apply to the particular page you're writing, and work those phrases into the copy.

Tip 8 ? Incorporate your keyword phrases into each page's unique title tag.

Title tags are given significant weight with search engines. Because the title tag is the information that shows up in the search engine results, it's crucial that it also be enticing, not just crammed with keywords.

Tip 9 ? Make sure your site is link-worthy.

Search engines judge a site's popularity (and therefore, its importance) by the number of links pointing to it ? especially one-way links. To make sure people will want to link to your site, you have to offer something worth linking to. Beyond your product or service, you need something that puts you over the top: an information service, a superior presentation, or great variety.

Tip 10 ? Don't be married to any one keyword or phrase.

Optimize for a number of relevant phrases. Says Whalen, ?If you can rank highly for a good portion of them, they're going to add up to a lot more than just that one keyword phrase that you think is the big money one.?

Article Source : Pg. 140

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Both Anton Cheranev & Chris Malta & Robin Cowie are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Anton Cheranev has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet, SEO Search Engine Optimization and High Cholesterol. Achieve 100% Message Delivery Rate, Boost Your Customer Loyalty, Skyrocket Your Message Response Rates, Recover 'Lost' Revenues & Generate Mega Sales from Your Messages and Newsletter! Here's How:. Anton Cheranev's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.

Chris Malta & Robin Cowie has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet, Free Credit Report Score and Computers and The Internet. Product Sourcing Radio is Created and Hosted by Chris Malta and Rob Cowie of WorldwideBrands.com, Home of OneSource: The Internet's Largest Source of Genuine, Factory-Direct Wholesalers for online sellers.. Chris Malta & Robin Cowie's top article generates over 74000 views. to your Favourites.