Advanced Search Engine Optimization Techniques

An often overlooked topic in search engine optimization, or SEO, is the proper formatting of web page content. Just because the page has perfect keyword density and heaps of unique content does not mean the page is optimized. Your content needs to be formatted in a manner that search engines can understand what the page is about. Using headers is a great way to boost the search engine rankings of any given page. Headings should be descriptive, but avoid keyword stuffing and unnecessary titles. Headings that contain search phrases are a bonus, but only if its natural. Headings need to match the paragraphs that follow or they will make limited sense to search engines. Relevant, descriptive headings will serve explain the content of a given page, helping search engines provide your web page as a result to relevant searches.

Almost every industry has competition, e-commerce and web based businesses are no exception. Rather than targeting common keywords that point to many large and established websites, original websites should target more specific keywords that have less competition. You will have better luck acquiring a significant amount of traffic from keywords that have limited competition. In order to check the competition for a particular keyword, simply type if into the search engine of your choice. Ideally, you want to be on the first page of search engine results (ideally, at the top of the list), so it is unnecessary to search past the first results page. While you’re at it, do not ignore the “alt” tag of images on your website, as filling them in explains to search engines what the image is, since they obviously can not tell. Keywords in the “alt” tags is a plus, but do not Force keywords into them.

Targeting certain keywords will require you to experience what the IT world typically refers to as the “sandbox”. The sandbox refers to a hold put on recent websites that target common, and usually unspecific, keywords. While in the sandbox, your website will have grief appearing high in the search engine results for the keyword(s) you’re targeting. Though time varies from application to application, websites that land in the sandbox typically will not be qualified to plot high (first few pages) for up to a year. Google is one search engine that utilizes this process as a way to avoid spammers from launching invaluable pages and using SEO techniques to have the irrelevant pages appear high on the search results, forcing relevant and valuable websites to be displaced and lose traffic. If your page appears to be in this situation, target less specific keywords until your website grows and ages enough to avoid being sandboxed. Search engines often use the age of a website as one factor in sorting search results.

Using sitemaps is a simple and effective way to ensure all the pages of your website are found and indexed by search engines. A sitemap is honest that, a map of a website. Sitemaps make indexing easier, especially if you have a expansive website. They allow you to include all the links you want the search engine to spider, as well as present the priority level and change frequency of each individual page. Sitemaps.org has great tutorials and information on building sitemaps, a process that should not be ignored.

The more primary a website, the more back links it will have pointing to it. Or at least, that is how search engines feel. If a website contains useful content, people will make note of it and link to the URL, factual? Back links play a Huge role in SEO. There are a few things to remember before you begin acquiring links to your website.

1. One way links are better than reciprocal links. A one way link occurs when a website has a link that points to your URL. A reciprocal link occurs when websites exchange links, meaning a link from a website points to your URL, while a link from your website points to their URL. Do not ignore reciprocal links because they are less valuable, as link exchanges are a great source of additional traffic and still work well as an SEO tactic. Do find creative ways to acquire one way links, as they are good as gold.

2. Make sure to include your keywords in the title of any links you catch. This will help increase your search engine rankings. You can target multiple keywords by varying the title tags on different links. Keyword stuffing is a rookie move; don’t do it.

3. The quality of a back link is in the station that is linking to you. When trying to earn back links to your site, recall the quality of the website in question into consideration. A link from a bad website (spam, etc) can give your website a bad reputation in search engine land.

4. Building links is a process, and should take time. If you build back links to lickety-split, they may be discredited, as this may flag you website as spam. Perform links over an extended period of time, instead of performing hundreds of link exchanges in a few weeks. Though there is no set safe number, limiting yourself t0 5-10 quality back links in a months time is a safe link building speed.

5. If possible, building deep links is also a good belief. Especially if you want search engines to show pages of your website in the results instead of just your home page. This can be tricky, but will be well worth your efforts.

Avoid “black hat” SEO at all costs. Black hat SEO consists of tactics that are misleading and attempt to trick search engines. If caught using black hat tactics, such as invisible text stuffed with keywords or link farm spamming, search engines will more often than not ban you and all your SEO efforts will have been deemed useless.

Measuring your SEO efforts is equally indispensable. Use a good analytics program, such as Google’s free Google Analytics, to measure the effectiveness of your optimization. This will allow you to test different formats, web page arrangements, and title/heading effectiveness. There is no use working to optimize your site if you have no way to measure its performance. This is also a large way to view your traffic grow, and is very satisfying when you can verbalize your hard work has been for good reason.

Sources:
SEO Chat
10 Secrets of Advanced SEO Copywriters
SEO Optimise