SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) means making your web site and web pages readable by search engines such as Google & Yahoo. Optimization means that the search engines will pick up more pages in their index with higher importance which will increase the chance of web users finding and visiting your web site. The net result is increased traffic to your web site.
There are many factors that the search engines use to index pages - but here is a review of some of the primary influences, concepts and tools.
HTML - the web site should be largely built in standards based HTML with separate HTML pages and correct tags (some of which are defined here). The HTML should be validated and all tags closed properly so that the search engines can read the page well. Flash only web sites cannot be properly optimized for search engines as the concept of page and tags is not inherent.
Site structure - the site structure should not be manipulated for the search engines. It should be logical to follow and navigate for any users with proper links to all the pages in the site. Links from the home pages will have more importance and the number of links on a page will reduce their importance. A site map somewhere near the start of the web site will help the engines get quickly to all main pages with less hops.
Title tag - this is by far the most important tag. It is displayed in the web browser's title bar and is also used by the search engines to give a name to your page.
Meta description - this tag should provide a short description for the page and although it is not visible to the user on screen - the search engines use this to describe your site. An additional tag called meta keywords exists but its influence is not so clear.
Descriptive domain and URL - the domain name and the URL should be clean and descriptive of the page being referenced. The domain name should be registered for more than 5 years.
DMOZ - the web site should be registered and indexed on the core http://www.dmoz.org/ index used by most search engines. The web site should also be registered on other relevant indexes/search engines.
Text on page - the page should have text with more information about the subject. Titles should be highlighted with 'h' tags or emphasis put on text with 'strong' tags.
Keyword density - how many times a certain keyword appears on a page effects its rank when searching on that particular keyword. If the keyword appears too many times than the search engine might think you are spamming it, however if it does not appear very often then it might not be considered important. Additionally, keywords towards the top or start of the page are more important than keywords at the end.
Internal links - links within the site should be clearly made using the full URL including the domain name, e.g. "http://www.yoursite.com/catalog/cosmetics/".
External links - other well ranked sites should link to your site. Go to Google and search for "link:www.yoursite.com" to see which pages link to your site.
Page Rank - you can see the page rank for any web page by installing the Google toolbar.
Pages indexed - go to Google and search for "site:www.yoursite.com" to see which pages are indexed by the search engine.
Single URL - the site should just have one single domain name pointing to it.
Links as text - textual links should be used where possible (not images).
Spelling - the text in tags and on pages should be spelt correctly.
Robots.txt - a special file should be added to your site to make sure you tell the search engine's robots where to search (and where not to search!).
Google webmasters - Google provides a wealth of information and tools for webmasters and search engine optimization at http://www.google.com/webmasters/.
Google analytics - See how well your web site is performing, how much search engine traffic is being generated, what keywords are arriving at your site etc. with http://www.google.com/analytics/.
SEO Key Factors
There are many factors that the search engines use to index pages - but here is a review of some of the primary influences, concepts and tools.
HTML - the web site should be largely built in standards based HTML with separate HTML pages and correct tags (some of which are defined here). The HTML should be validated and all tags closed properly so that the search engines can read the page well. Flash only web sites cannot be properly optimized for search engines as the concept of page and tags is not inherent.
Site structure - the site structure should not be manipulated for the search engines. It should be logical to follow and navigate for any users with proper links to all the pages in the site. Links from the home pages will have more importance and the number of links on a page will reduce their importance. A site map somewhere near the start of the web site will help the engines get quickly to all main pages with less hops.
Title tag - this is by far the most important tag. It is displayed in the web browser's title bar and is also used by the search engines to give a name to your page.
Meta description - this tag should provide a short description for the page and although it is not visible to the user on screen - the search engines use this to describe your site. An additional tag called meta keywords exists but its influence is not so clear.
Descriptive domain and URL - the domain name and the URL should be clean and descriptive of the page being referenced. The domain name should be registered for more than 5 years.
DMOZ - the web site should be registered and indexed on the core http://www.dmoz.org/ index used by most search engines. The web site should also be registered on other relevant indexes/search engines.
Text on page - the page should have text with more information about the subject. Titles should be highlighted with 'h' tags or emphasis put on text with 'strong' tags.
Keyword density - how many times a certain keyword appears on a page effects its rank when searching on that particular keyword. If the keyword appears too many times than the search engine might think you are spamming it, however if it does not appear very often then it might not be considered important. Additionally, keywords towards the top or start of the page are more important than keywords at the end.
Internal links - links within the site should be clearly made using the full URL including the domain name, e.g. "http://www.yoursite.com/catalog/cosmetics/".
External links - other well ranked sites should link to your site. Go to Google and search for "link:www.yoursite.com" to see which pages link to your site.
Page Rank - you can see the page rank for any web page by installing the Google toolbar.
Pages indexed - go to Google and search for "site:www.yoursite.com" to see which pages are indexed by the search engine.
Single URL - the site should just have one single domain name pointing to it.
Links as text - textual links should be used where possible (not images).
Spelling - the text in tags and on pages should be spelt correctly.
Robots.txt - a special file should be added to your site to make sure you tell the search engine's robots where to search (and where not to search!).
Google webmasters - Google provides a wealth of information and tools for webmasters and search engine optimization at http://www.google.com/webmasters/.
Google analytics - See how well your web site is performing, how much search engine traffic is being generated, what keywords are arriving at your site etc. with http://www.google.com/analytics/.
