SEO tips
1)Be bold. Use the tags around some of your keywords on each page. Do NOT use them everywhere the keyword appears. Once or twice is plenty.
2)Deep linking. Make sure you have links coming in to as many pages as possible. What does it tell a search engine when other web sites are linking to different pages on your site? That you obviously have lots of worthwhile content. What does it tell a search engine that all your links are coming in to the home page? That you have a shallow site of little value, or that your links were generated by automation rather than by the value of your site.
3)Become a foreigner. Canada and the UK have many directories for websites of companies based in those countries. Can you get a business address in one of those countries?
4)Newsletters. Offer articles to ezine publishers that archive their ezines. The links stay live often for many years in their archives.
5)First come, first served. If you must have image links in your navigation bar, include also text links. However, make sure the text links show up first in the source code, because search engine robots will follow the first link they find to any particular page. They won't follow additional links to the same page.
6)Multiple domains. If you have several topics that could each support their own website, it might be worth having multiple domains. Why? First, search engines usually list only one page per domain for any given search, and you might warrant two. Second, directories usually accept only home pages, so you can get more directory listings this way. Why not a site dedicated to gumbo pudding pops?
7)Article exchanges. You've heard of link exchanges, useless as they generally are. Article exchanges are like link exchanges, only much more useful. You publish someone else's article on the history of pudding pops with a link back to their site. They publish your article on the top ten pudding pop flavors in Viet Nam, with a link back to your site. You both have content. You both get high quality links. (More on high quality links in other tips.)
8)Titles for links. Links can get titles, too. Not only does this help visually impaired surfers know where you are sending them, but some search engines figure this into their relevancy for a page.
9)Not anchor text. Don't overdo the anchor text. You don't want all your inbound links looking the same, because that looks like automation - something Google frowns upon. Use your URL sometimes, your company name other times, "Gumbo Pudding Pop" occasionally, "Get gumbo pudding pops" as well, "Gumbo-flavored pudding pops" some other times, etc.
10)Site map. A big site needs a site map, which should be linked to from every page on the site. This will help the search engine robots find every page with just two clicks. A small site needs a site map, too. It's called the navigation bar.
The first thing to consider is the importance of hiring an ethical SEO specialist. SEO ethics is not just about being nice little boy scouts. An ethical SEO specialist will make sure your website is not penalized or even banned from the search engines.
To the outsider or the novice, SEO (search engine optimization) seems a bit like voodoo magic. Not surprisingly, website owners want some kind of guarantee. This makes them easy prey for the most common scam: a false promise.
How can you tell if a guarantee is false? Any guarantee is. A reputable freelance SEO specialist or SEO firm will not provide a guarantee, because too much is out of his control. Consider the following professions:
A stock broker cannot guarantee that a stock will rise. The economy could tank, the CEO could skip the country, or the product could be discovered to cause cancer in children.
A baseball player cannot guarantee the team will win. The pitcher could give up too many runs, the other teams could be really good, or he could have an off-season.
A lawyer cannot guarantee you will win your case. The star witness could die or leave town, the judge might be in a really bad mood, the other lawyer might be a whiz. Your search engine optimization specialist cannot guarantee results either, because the search engine algorithms can change unexpectedly, the competition might be better entrenched than appears, or the competition might start getting better optimized, too. Such promised are 100% unethical and most likely illegal.
Why search engine optimization ethics is important
Because the SEO field is unregulated and operates in the virtual world, some SEO specialists have been known to take the money and run. This is where SEO ethics hits you where you feel it most -- in the pocketbook.
To make sure you hire an ethical SEO specialist, always check that he has a physical address posted on his website. That is a sign that he is less likely to disappear. Most reputable search engine optimization specialists will ask for some of the payment up front. Some will bill in arrears. There should be no reason to give full payment up front to a perfect stranger.
Another typical scam is to use dirty tricks, called "black hat SEO", to get your website ranking highly. You are pleased as punch, hand over the money, then five months later you wonder what happened to your rankings when the search engines get wise and ban your site.
It is important to ask an SEO specialist about his methods before hiring him.
Another common trick, often in conjunction with a false guarantee, is to choose poor keywords.I could get your automotive site to rank #1 at every major search engine for the term "double-decker bus sundae delight". Unfortunately, not too many of your customers are searching for that term.
Be careful, however, not to demand the most competitive terms, either. For instance, if your automotive site is for a chain of repair shops in Pennsylvania, you probably do not have the financial means to compete for the term "automobiles", nor is that the most effective term to target your most likely customers.
Ask an SEO specialist how he plans to select the keywords for you. If your bottom line is not his top priority, find another SEO specialist.
Another search engine optimization scam is to guarantee placement within a short period of time, and to buy pay-per-click ad space. Pay-per-click ads appear as "sponsored" listings in the search engines. While they will attract some targeted traffic, only 40% of Internet searchers click on the sponsored listings. Worse, they are temporary listings that end when the account is depleted.
A similar scam some SEO specialists do is to place temporary links on their own sites or buy paid advertising links on other sites. Once the money is paid, they remove the links on their own sites, and once the ads expire on other sites, your site loses those links and rankings also fall.
