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 Not
a stupid question when you consider how many so-called
search engine optimization experts offer different
opinions. Read a few articles on how to optimize your web
site and you feel like screaming. It seems that most of
the experts have different opinions on what techniques to
use to improve your ranking.
The fact is that none of the experts really know Google's
tightly held secret on how they go about assigning page
ranks. So where does that leave you?
The best way to improve rankings is to follow some
specific guidelines that most search engine marketing
experts do agree on. Don't try to place much more emphasis
on just a few techniques. Yes, doing that will probably
help to improve your Google PR but if you spend time on
most, or all of the known ways to improve rankings you
most likely will fare much better.
The following is a list of techniques you should
implement to improve your Google ranking.
Choose The Right Keywords and Phrases
This might be one of the easiest things you can do to
get a better listing on Google. But it is also one of the
techniques that most webmasters do not make a solid effort
on. Keywords and phrases must be optimized. Fail here, and
you can forget about taking additional steps to improve
your ranking. You must determine what words and phrases
are most important and then make sure you use them within
your web site. There are several valuable and free tools
you can use to determine the right keywords and phrases
for your site.
Google's Adsense Preview Tool:
You can download Google's Adsense Preview Tool from http://www.google.com/adsense/previewtool.
You can then use this tool to preview what advertisements
would be displayed on your web page if you were a
subscriber. Follow these steps to utilize the tool
correctly. First, go to www.google.com
and enter the keywords and phrases you have been using to
optimize your web page. Make note of what ads were
displayed on the right column of the search results. Next,
go back to your web page and use the preview tool. You'll
know if your keywords and phrases are optimized correctly
if the preview tool delivers advertisements that are
similar to those that were displayed when you did your
search. If they are not similar you have more work to do.
Web CEO Free Edition: This
free software can be downloaded at http://www.webceo.com/freeware/.
Use it to obtain a list of keywords and phrases that are
relevant to your web pages.
NicheBOT: This online tool
allows you to search keywords and keyphrases. It delivers
results for the "Top 10" Keyword Discovery
listings. NicheBOT is available at http://www.nichebot.com/
Optimize Your Content
The primary technique to achieve search engine
optimization is determined by your content. Google loves
original content that is well written, informative,
relevant to your site category, and is fresh. Simple
things like spelling and grammar will certainly improve
your Google position as well. It is also very important to
make sure that all of your important information appear
within the first paragraph as Google places more weight on
content displayed highest in your pages. Be sure to
include as many of your keywords and phrases in the first
few paragraphs as well. SEO experts suggest that as much
as 15% of your text should include keywords and phrases.
Do not exceed 15%. Google may interpret it as 'keyword
stuffing' and your ranking will not improve and most
likely will fall. You can easily check the keyword density
of a page using tools such as
IMO Toolbar at http://www.internetmarketingoasis.com/toolbar/
Keyword Density Analyzer at http://www.keyworddensity.com/
Keyword Country at http://www.keywordcountry.com/
Instant Keyword Research at http://www.instantkeywordresearch.com/
Keyword Elite at http://www.keywordelite.com/
Click Ad Equalizer at http://www.clickadequalizer.com/
Keyword Explosion at http://www.keywordexplosion.com/
Rapid Keyword at http://www.rapidkeyword.com/
Top Keyword Data at http://www.topkeyworddata.com/
Wordtracker at http://www.wordtracker.com/
Meta Tags
Yes, even Google still uses meta tags to determine
relevance. You are more likely to improve your search
engine ranking by properly using the keyword and
description meta tags. One of the best tools to use to
determine what should be included in your meta tags is
Meta Maker Wizard. It is a free tool available at http://www.pixelpersuasion.co.uk/.
It automatically generates keyword and description meta
tags code to insert into your pages. Several other
excellent tools that are available are
Good Keywords v1.0 at http://www.goodkeywords.com/
BHead at http://www.minostudio.com/
Metty Freeware Meta Tag Maker at http://www.clickfire.com/tools/freeware/metty/
Search Engine Buddy at http://www.searchenginebuddy.com/download.htm
Meta Tag Expert at http://www.dark-street.com/darkstreet/meta_tag_expert.php
Page Layout
A well organized page layout will improve your Google
Page Rank! Your most important content should appear at or
near the top of your pages. Eliminate unnecessary code.
Too much code makes it difficult for Google to index. Do
not use frames, avoid using dynamic URL's, keep popups at
a minimum and don't use images in place of text.
Links Are Very Important
Having a good balance of 'relevant links' can
drastically improve your Google PageRank! The keyword here
is relevant. Reciprocal links should be from similar web
sites. Making a 'links page' (example: http://www.thebusinessjunction.com/Link_Partners.htm)
available is important. Try to swap links with sites that
have a Page Rank equal to, or higher than your web site.
It is okay to swap links with similar and quality web
sites with a lower Page Rank but the rule of thumb should
be to not swap links with a site that is more than 1 PR
below yours.
 Techniques That You SHOULD NOT USE
Private Label
Rights Articles: You are seeing more PLR offers
these days. Purchase hundreds or even thousands of
pre-written articles to use on your site to fatten your
content. These do not work! Google frowns upon duplicate
content, even when you have changed the title, author and
some of the copy. Take the time to write your own content.
Keyword Stuffing: Overuse of
keywords will certainly lower your PR. Keep keyword
content between 10-15% of your content. More, and Google
will interpret it as 'keyword stuffing', and will penalize
you for using it.
Link Farms: So you want
reciprocal links to improve your page rank. It is
important and it can be time consuming but do it the
correct way. One on one with other webmasters having
similar or relevant web sites. Link farms can get you
hundreds or even thousands of links in a matter of days.
But most are not relevant to your web site and Google will
penalize you heavily for using them.
Conclusion
Use the search engine optimization techniques that
have been outlined and your Page Rank will certainly
improve. These are not difficult techniques to implement
and yes, they can be a little time consuming, but the
rewards are well worth the effort.
This article was originally published by The Business
Junction on April 17, 2006.
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