Search Engine Optimization Guide

SEO Guide

A simple guide to optimizing your website for search engines.

Search engine optimization is the practice of designing or altering your websites content to rank higher in search engine results.

This SEO Guide is a fairly comprehensive review of the 'Themed Content" approach to search engine optimization. The "Themed Content" approach requires each page to be focused on a particular subject, that can be describe in 2-3 concise keyphrases.

This guide will not recommend any methods that are remotely questionable. Such tricks, while sometimes effective initially, usually run into trouble, and are often completely banned or ignored by search engines in the long run.

Our methods will help search engine determine what your pages are about, and the quality of your content will help them determine the value of your site. No Tricks.

Core Search Engine Optimization Elements

Title, Meta, Headers, Alt tags and Content

Optimize your Page Titles:

Your page title is one of the most valuable elements of search engine optimization. This tells the spider what your pages content is about. Use the keyphrases that best fit your pages theme.

Optimize your sites Keywords:

Some search engines place more importance on keyword meta data than others, but its always good to thoroughly theme every element.

2-3 keyphrases with variations (plural, spelling, partial, and added terms)

All Keyphrase	"Search Engine Optimization"
All Keyphrase + word	"Search Engine Optimization Guide"
Partial Keyphrase	"Search Optimization"
Partial Keyphrase + word	"Search Optimization Guide"
One Keyword	"Optimization"
One Keyword + word	"Optimization Guide"

Optimize the Meta Descriptions:

The description primarily gives search engine users an opportunity to 'preview' the content of the site by reading the description below your link in search engine result. The description should include your branded terms, top keyphrases, and promotional language that encourages searchers to click on your link in the search results.

Use Optimized H1, H2, and H3 Headers:

Also a very valuable aspect of search engine optimization. The header tags (H1, H2, H3 and so on) represent the beginning of a new section or area of a ages content, and alert search engine spiders of the relevancy of the content.

Bad: " no header tags at all "
Better: "Keyword" or "Relevant text"
Best: "#1 Keyphrase | #2 Keyphrase | #3 Keyphrase"
or H1= "#1 Keyphrase", H2 = "#2 Keyphrase", H3 = "#3 Keyphrase"
(be sure to place relevant keyword rich content below each header)

[ NOTE: CSS can be used to size the header tags to fit with any design. ]

Optimize your sites Content:

Sounds like yours is already relevant, maybe too rich though, there is no magic density %. Check the density of the sites with top 5 rankings for your phrases, match that density range.

Relevant Content:
Keep your content relevant to the pages theme.

Use Keywords / Keyphrases:
Be sure to use keywords / keyphrases in content. Break up a keyphrases and vary the placement. Underline, bold and or italicize the link for added emphasis.

All Keyphrase	"Search Engine Optimization"
All Keyphrase + word	"Search Engine Optimization Guide"
Partial Keyphrase	"Search Optimization"
Partial Keyphrase + word	"Search Optimization Guide"
One Keyword	"Optimization"
One Keyword + word	"Optimization Guide"

Keyword Density:
Keyword density is important to helping a search engine spider to determine what your website is all about. Use a keyword too seldom and the search engine spider doesn't place much value or relevance on on the page for that term. Use a term too often and the spider may perceive this as spamming, and devalue the page for that term.

Keyword density can be determined by using any number of popular textual density measurement tools. See our Search Engine Optimization Tools page for a Keyword Density Checker.

Use relevant Image Alt Text:

Alt tags are the textual description of an image that appears when your mouse is over an image. This alt text appears when the image cannot load for some reason, which is rare in our day of broad band. Since search engine spiders cannot see image text, the alt text provides a description of the image, the page it is on, or the page that a linked image is pointing to.

Relevant Content:
Keep your image alt tag content relevant to the pages theme. Each image should be assigned a relevant alt tag.

All Keyphrase	"Search Engine Optimization"
All Keyphrase + word	"Search Engine Optimization Guide"
Partial Keyphrase	"Search Optimization"
Partial Keyphrase + word	"Search Optimization Guide"
One Keyword	"Optimization"
One Keyword + word	"Optimization Guide"

Optimized URL Structure:

Domain Name, Directory Structure and Naming, File Names, Static URLs

What is your Domain Name...?

Bad: "Mispelt.ws"
Better: "www.Brand-Keyphrase.org"
Best: "www.Keyphrase.com"

What are your Folders Named...?

Bad: "/na/do/"
Better: "Word/Keyword/"
Best: "Keyphrase/Key_Phrase_+Word/"

What are your Pages Named...?

Bad: "prod.jsp?fl3%fl_id=11&fm%3mm_id=11"
Better: "RandomWords12345.html"
Best: "Free_Key_Phrase.html"

What do your final URLs look like...?

Bad: "https://Mispelt.ws/na/do/prod.jsp?fl3%fl_id=11&fm%3mm_id=11"
Better: "www.Brand-Keyphrase.com/Word/Keyword/Words12345.html"
Best: "www.Keyphrase .com/Key_Phrase_+Word/Key_Phrase_Terms.html"

[ NOTE: Although Google has exhibited the capacity to read, follow and index sites with URL that contain up to 4 variables it is best to implement URL rewrite so that Google and other search engines have the best opportunity to index and rank your pages. ]

Linking for Search Engines:

Inbound Links, Outbound Links, and Internal Linking Strategy

Inbound Link Optimization:

Links to your site are much like votes for your site. The more votes you get, the more popular a search engine perceives your site to be. The quality of the page linking to you can affect how much value a search engine spider may place on that link.

The text of a link helps to let the search engine spider know what the page it is traveling to is about. A keyphrase link will be viewed as a vote for your site regarding content related to that keyphrase.

Inbound Link Text Ratio:

1: Primary Keyphrase* - 50%

2: Primary Keyphrase with +word* - 25%
[ IE: "Keyphrase By Brand" or "GeoSpecificTerm Keyphrase" ]

3: Secondary Keyphrases* - 15%

4: Secondary Keyphrases with +word* - 10%
[ IE: "Keyphrase By Brand" or "GeoSpecificTerm Keyphrase" ]

* Vary your keyphrase link text:

All Keyphrase	"Search Engine Optimization"
All Keyphrase + word	"Search Engine Optimization Guide"
Partial Keyphrase	"Search Optimization"
Partial Keyphrase + word	"Search Optimization Guide"
One Keyword	"Optimization"
One Keyword + word	"Optimization Guide"

Internal Linking Strategy:

Links count as votes whether from an external site or from other pages on your own site. Be sure to create a comprehensive navigation that appears on each page of your site, this will not only help visitors to navigate from page to page on your site, but will assist the search engine spiders in finding and indexing all of your pages and ranking them for relevant terms.

Use keyphrases relevant to the content of the page being linked to. Underline, bold or italicize the link for added emphasis.

Bad: "Home"
Better: "Brand Home"
Best: "Keyphrase" or "Keyphrase"

Outbound Links:

Sites with 300+ inbound links, and 3 outbound links, are very suspicious to the spiders...keep that in mind. Build linking relationships with quality sites, that have content that is complimentary to your own. Use relevant keyphrase text to link to sites with relevant content.