There is certainly a huge amount of hype within the Search engine optimization industry probably because it is a techno field plus is very competitive so everyone is endeavoring to eyebrow everyone else and get the upper edge.
Being in my antiquated 40's - hippy 1965 baby to be exact - I have been around the IT industry well before most of the current players were out of diapers. I was there in our computer room when they unveiled the latest hard drive - it looked like a modern day top-loader washer and was the same size! All up it held a 'breath-taking' 40 Meg of data. Yes that is right 40 Meg! When we saw the new micro PC's come out we felt they would never take off (we must have had IBM blood in us!) and the IT journey went on from there.
Today my 'long teeth' dip in my beer and my eyeballs roll back in their sockets when I hear some of the hype plastered around the Search engine optimization playing field.
Yes SEO can be specialized but only usually after you got it completely wrong from the outset - your site that is. If you did not engage a good SEO consultant to give you the run-down BEFORE you started building then you most probably finished up with a website punctured with a trillion Search engine optimisation holes. These web sites normally takes some fixing for sure. The majority of web developers have no knowledge about Search engine optimization and what they do know they rarely put into practice because they aren't requested to by you! Not appointing an SEO consultant is like building a 3 storey house without having an architect and engineer and expecting the contractor to get it right - no way.
I come across a great Search engine optimization site once in every 100 web sites. This is a very poor track record for web-developers. Nearly every other single web site is a ship filled with holes sinking in the lower regions of page 196 of Google!
So apart from adding some colorful pros to this piece I guess I should add some substance. Well here it is - short and simple (well maybe not that short!)
Content is King
Google makes use of back links a lot right now to judge a internet sites popularity. However, it's now super easy to produce backlinks of good quality in large amounts to unbalance the ranking game. Google knows it's got to find the right way to balance this out. When it does, most people's position will probably come crashing towards the ground overnight.
On the other hand, Google always wants Top quality content material - the best it can display. If you have this, then because content is the only reason why we have search engines in the first place, your internet site will usually do well no matter what twists and turns Google puts its search engine algorithms through.
Never ever forget that content rules inside the Search engine optimisation jungle. Ignore at your peril.
We fought to get content material on clients sites for so long until we built it into our SEO ranking packages. We now offer a content and back-linking service (SEO.SIMPLE.) that solves this inherent problem. Now our clients get fresh unique content on their internet sites weekly and gain ranking results from it seeing it is Search engine optimisation optimised as well.
Your content delivery engines needs to be well tuned
Don't believe that anyone can easily just add content to a web page and miss out on the platform you're adding it to. Google wants to be sure that the content material is not just the best for the key word requested, but it also offers the best user experience. So make sure you cross your T's and dot your SEO eyes when it comes to making certain your internet site delivers the best experience such as doing these :
Make sure your server is quick - Google a short while ago added this one - upgrade today if it takes too long to load your web pages
Ensure ALL images have ALT tags WITH purposeful content material
Make sure every page has a UNIQUE page title relevant to the content of the page
Fix Canonical problems (were http://www.yoursite.com and http://yoursite.com and http://www.yoursite.com/index.php etc all resolve to the same page but have different addresses. Instead they should all redirect to a single page and that page should be utilised throughout the site in all links. If you are on a UNIX based server this can be fixed quickly usually through the htaccess file)
Make sure there are at the least 300 words of meaningful text on any page - the more the better for Google
Make sure that if you are using a Content management system that the URL's are fixed so only phrases appear (and preferably keywords) and not funny programming expressions and numbers
Whenever you create a link use a keyword(s) and not the notorious 'click here' as the anchor text
If you cannot add content material to your website (maybe you have a flash site), then at the very least add a blog attached to your website - this helps a whole lot
When you next renew your current domain, renew for at least three years - after all longevity shows maturity and improves trust
Back-links and more back links
And lastly don't stop back-linking. Right now it is the powerhouse for Search engine optimization but don't rely on this for the long term.
So I hope this has helped 'de-hype' some of the Search engine optimization materials out there and assisted you along the Search engine optimization highway a little bit further.
Being in my antiquated 40's - hippy 1965 baby to be exact - I have been around the IT industry well before most of the current players were out of diapers. I was there in our computer room when they unveiled the latest hard drive - it looked like a modern day top-loader washer and was the same size! All up it held a 'breath-taking' 40 Meg of data. Yes that is right 40 Meg! When we saw the new micro PC's come out we felt they would never take off (we must have had IBM blood in us!) and the IT journey went on from there.
Today my 'long teeth' dip in my beer and my eyeballs roll back in their sockets when I hear some of the hype plastered around the Search engine optimization playing field.
Yes SEO can be specialized but only usually after you got it completely wrong from the outset - your site that is. If you did not engage a good SEO consultant to give you the run-down BEFORE you started building then you most probably finished up with a website punctured with a trillion Search engine optimisation holes. These web sites normally takes some fixing for sure. The majority of web developers have no knowledge about Search engine optimization and what they do know they rarely put into practice because they aren't requested to by you! Not appointing an SEO consultant is like building a 3 storey house without having an architect and engineer and expecting the contractor to get it right - no way.
I come across a great Search engine optimization site once in every 100 web sites. This is a very poor track record for web-developers. Nearly every other single web site is a ship filled with holes sinking in the lower regions of page 196 of Google!
So apart from adding some colorful pros to this piece I guess I should add some substance. Well here it is - short and simple (well maybe not that short!)
Content is King
Google makes use of back links a lot right now to judge a internet sites popularity. However, it's now super easy to produce backlinks of good quality in large amounts to unbalance the ranking game. Google knows it's got to find the right way to balance this out. When it does, most people's position will probably come crashing towards the ground overnight.
On the other hand, Google always wants Top quality content material - the best it can display. If you have this, then because content is the only reason why we have search engines in the first place, your internet site will usually do well no matter what twists and turns Google puts its search engine algorithms through.
Never ever forget that content rules inside the Search engine optimisation jungle. Ignore at your peril.
We fought to get content material on clients sites for so long until we built it into our SEO ranking packages. We now offer a content and back-linking service (SEO.SIMPLE.) that solves this inherent problem. Now our clients get fresh unique content on their internet sites weekly and gain ranking results from it seeing it is Search engine optimisation optimised as well.
Your content delivery engines needs to be well tuned
Don't believe that anyone can easily just add content to a web page and miss out on the platform you're adding it to. Google wants to be sure that the content material is not just the best for the key word requested, but it also offers the best user experience. So make sure you cross your T's and dot your SEO eyes when it comes to making certain your internet site delivers the best experience such as doing these :
Make sure your server is quick - Google a short while ago added this one - upgrade today if it takes too long to load your web pages
Ensure ALL images have ALT tags WITH purposeful content material
Make sure every page has a UNIQUE page title relevant to the content of the page
Fix Canonical problems (were http://www.yoursite.com and http://yoursite.com and http://www.yoursite.com/index.php etc all resolve to the same page but have different addresses. Instead they should all redirect to a single page and that page should be utilised throughout the site in all links. If you are on a UNIX based server this can be fixed quickly usually through the htaccess file)
Make sure there are at the least 300 words of meaningful text on any page - the more the better for Google
Make sure that if you are using a Content management system that the URL's are fixed so only phrases appear (and preferably keywords) and not funny programming expressions and numbers
Whenever you create a link use a keyword(s) and not the notorious 'click here' as the anchor text
If you cannot add content material to your website (maybe you have a flash site), then at the very least add a blog attached to your website - this helps a whole lot
When you next renew your current domain, renew for at least three years - after all longevity shows maturity and improves trust
Back-links and more back links
And lastly don't stop back-linking. Right now it is the powerhouse for Search engine optimization but don't rely on this for the long term.
So I hope this has helped 'de-hype' some of the Search engine optimization materials out there and assisted you along the Search engine optimization highway a little bit further.
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