Each of the major search engines Google, Yahoo and MSN have quality webmaster guidelines in place to prevent the unfair manipulation of search engine rankings by unscrupulous website owners. These webmaster guidelines change frequently to 'weed' out any new deceptive practices and those websites found engaging in these illicit practices are consequently dropped from the search engine rankings of the major search engine they have offended.
Being banned or dropped from the search engine rankings can have dire effects on your website traffic, online sales generation and site popularity. Especially if your website is classified as a 'bad neighborhood' site, you can then kiss your reciprocal linking campaign goodbye, as existing and prospective link partners will not want to be associated with your site for fear of their own rankings dropping.
If you wish to avoid alienating the major search engines then do not engage in the following SE tactics:
1. 'Cloaking' or sneaky redirects - displaying different content to the search engines than shown to your normal website visitors including hidden text and hidden links. Often this is achieved by delivering content based on the IP address of the user requesting the page, when a user is identified as a search engine spider a side-server script delivers a different version of the web page to deceive the search engine into giving the website a higher ranking.
2. 'Doorway' pages created specifically for the search engines that are aimed at spamming the index of a search engine by inserting results for specific keyword phrases to send the search engine spider to a different page. With doorway pages a user doesn't arrive at the page they were looking for. Similarly avoid 'cookie cutter' approaches that direct users to affiliate advertising with little or no original content.
3. Don't create pages that install viruses, Trojans or badware. 'Badware' is spyware, malware or deceptive adware that tracks a user's movements on the internet and reports this information back to unscrupulous marketing groups who then bombard the user with targeted advertising. This type of spyware is often unknowingly downloaded when playing online games or is attached to software or information downloads from a site. They are often difficult to identify and remove from a user's PC and can affect the PC's functionality.
4. Avoid using software that sends automatic programming queries to the search engines to submit pages or check rankings. This type of software consumes valuable computing resources of the search engines and you will be penalized for using it.
5. Don't load web pages with irrelevant words.
6. Don't link to 'bad neighborhood' sites who have:
* Free for all links pages
* Link farms - automated linking schemes with lots of unrelated links
* Known web spammers or the site has been dropped or banned by the search engines.
7. Avoid 'broken links' or '404 errors', your site will be penalized for them.
8. Don't display pages with minimal content that is of little value to your site visitors.
9. Do not duplicate content unnecessarily.
10. Do not use pop-ups, pop-unders or exit consoles.
11. Do not use pages that rely significantly on links to content created for another website.
12. Do not use 'cross linking' to artificially inflate a site's popularity. For example, the owner of multiple sites cross linking all of his sites together, if all sites are hosted on the same servers the search engines will pick this up and the sites will be penalized.
13. Do not misuse a competitors name or brand names in site content.
14. Sites with numerous, unnecessary virtual host names will be penalized.
15. Do not use techniques that artificially increase the number of links to your web pages ie. Link farms.
16. Display web pages with deceptive, fraudulent content or pages that provide users with irrelevant page content.
17. Using content, domain titles, meta tags and descriptions that violate any laws, regulations, infringe on copyrights & trademarks, trade secrets or intellectual property rights of an individual or entity. Specifically in terms of publicity, privacy, product design, torts, breach of contract, injury, damage, consumer fraud, false, misleading, slanderous or threatening content.
________________________________________
About the Author: Rosemary Donald is an SEO Consultant with Rank1 Website Marketing (www.rank1websitemarketing.com) & author of the SEO ebook 'Insider Secrets of Rank1 Websites' available for $29.95 AU. Rosemary is a regular contributor to online article sites on the topics of SEO, website marketing, ecommerce, search engine marketing & small business development. Rosemary is also a successful online trader & owner of top ranking website .
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Understanding Search Engines So You Can Get a High Ranking
Just 5 years ago getting a high ranking in the search engines
was easy. As search engines have gotten smarter it has become
impossible to get a high ranking in the search engines with
gimmicks. Now the only way is to have one of the best pages
about your topic and lots of people agreeing that it is one of
the best by linking to it. Before explaining how to get high
rankings in the search engines it is important to understand
some basics about search engines.
If you were to run a search engine what would be your number
one goal. This one is simple; you would want to be the most used
search engine on the Internet. The only way to become the most
used search engine is accuracy. People use a search engine for
one reason and that is to find what they are looking for. When I
first started using the Internet 12 years ago, it was difficult
to find anything in a search engine. You would type in baby toys
and get hundreds of sex toy sites with a few baby toys sites
mixed in. Now you type in baby toys and you get baby toys. The
reason Google became number one was that for several years they
had the most accurate results. So if you want to get a high
ranking in a search engine for the terms your pages are about,
then you must give the search engine what it is looking for.
The search engines became more accurate because now they look
primarily at one thing. That one thing is content. The only way
for a search engine to find out what a page is about is to scan
the page and see what it is about. Yes, there are a few other
things the search engine looks at but none of those things matter
if the content does not match what people are typing in a search
engine. If you want to rank high in the search engines, you must
make a great page specifically about the topic that page is
about.
Natural Language
It also matters how you put your content on the page. One of
the things search engines look at now is natural language. You
cannot just put a search term a bunch of times on the page. It
is true than once upon a time that worked. But stacking search
terms no longer works. Search engines look at how many times a
term shows up in a sentence and how many times it shows up in a
paragraph. In a normal paragraph you will not have a search term
that shows up 6 to ten times. That is not the way a paragraph is
normally constructed. When a search engine sees this it counts
against you and not for you. The same is true about sentences.
So be careful how you word your content. Try not to put the same
term multiple times in a sentence or several times in a
paragraph.
It is also a good idea to make sure you write in complete
sentences and make your content read well. This is not just a
good idea for search engine consideration but also for the
reader of your page. You want them to find the page informative
and easy to read. Having them come back and telling their
friends about the page is important. If they find it interesting
enough, they may just give you that all-important link to your
page.
Here are some other things to consider about content.
The content of your page is not just limited to the words
written on the page. Search engines also look at how you present
your content and what you say about it. For example, every page
in your site should have a title. This is the first thing
written on the page such as the title to an article. When you
present a title you place it as a heading. Heading tags are a way
to tell the search engines this is what my page is about. To be
effective your heading needs to be about the same thing as the
rest of the content of your page. You can also put sub headings
on the page. You can title different sections of the page with
heading 2 or heading 3 tags.
Search engines also give you two places to tell them what you
think your content is about. This is done through your meta
title and description tags. These are the only two meta tags
that most search engines look at so far as determining how
they are going to rank your page. I do not even add a key word
tag to any of my pages. The meta title is the place where you
tell the search engine what your page is about. It can be
exactly the same as the title on the page itself (your H 1 tag
or page heading). Your description tag gives you the opportunity
to describe the content of the page to the search engine. The
description needs to be short and to the point. It should be no
more than two sentences but preferably only one sentence. There
is no reason a good description of a page cannot be made in one
simple but complete sentence.
Last but not least is the overall content of the page. Make
each page about one thing. The more topics your page talks about
the less credit you get for each topic. For example you want to
make a page about the three most influential people in medicine
today. You can make your first page generic and mention the
names of the three people and their general contributions to
medicine while concentrating on making sure every paragraph is
about the main topic of "most influential people in medicine".
Then, if you want to go into detail about the three individual
people, make a separate page about each and have them linked to
from the "most influential" page.
Article by Rusty Ford, Editor (http://arthritis-symptom.com/)
was easy. As search engines have gotten smarter it has become
impossible to get a high ranking in the search engines with
gimmicks. Now the only way is to have one of the best pages
about your topic and lots of people agreeing that it is one of
the best by linking to it. Before explaining how to get high
rankings in the search engines it is important to understand
some basics about search engines.
If you were to run a search engine what would be your number
one goal. This one is simple; you would want to be the most used
search engine on the Internet. The only way to become the most
used search engine is accuracy. People use a search engine for
one reason and that is to find what they are looking for. When I
first started using the Internet 12 years ago, it was difficult
to find anything in a search engine. You would type in baby toys
and get hundreds of sex toy sites with a few baby toys sites
mixed in. Now you type in baby toys and you get baby toys. The
reason Google became number one was that for several years they
had the most accurate results. So if you want to get a high
ranking in a search engine for the terms your pages are about,
then you must give the search engine what it is looking for.
The search engines became more accurate because now they look
primarily at one thing. That one thing is content. The only way
for a search engine to find out what a page is about is to scan
the page and see what it is about. Yes, there are a few other
things the search engine looks at but none of those things matter
if the content does not match what people are typing in a search
engine. If you want to rank high in the search engines, you must
make a great page specifically about the topic that page is
about.
Natural Language
It also matters how you put your content on the page. One of
the things search engines look at now is natural language. You
cannot just put a search term a bunch of times on the page. It
is true than once upon a time that worked. But stacking search
terms no longer works. Search engines look at how many times a
term shows up in a sentence and how many times it shows up in a
paragraph. In a normal paragraph you will not have a search term
that shows up 6 to ten times. That is not the way a paragraph is
normally constructed. When a search engine sees this it counts
against you and not for you. The same is true about sentences.
So be careful how you word your content. Try not to put the same
term multiple times in a sentence or several times in a
paragraph.
It is also a good idea to make sure you write in complete
sentences and make your content read well. This is not just a
good idea for search engine consideration but also for the
reader of your page. You want them to find the page informative
and easy to read. Having them come back and telling their
friends about the page is important. If they find it interesting
enough, they may just give you that all-important link to your
page.
Here are some other things to consider about content.
The content of your page is not just limited to the words
written on the page. Search engines also look at how you present
your content and what you say about it. For example, every page
in your site should have a title. This is the first thing
written on the page such as the title to an article. When you
present a title you place it as a heading. Heading tags are a way
to tell the search engines this is what my page is about. To be
effective your heading needs to be about the same thing as the
rest of the content of your page. You can also put sub headings
on the page. You can title different sections of the page with
heading 2 or heading 3 tags.
Search engines also give you two places to tell them what you
think your content is about. This is done through your meta
title and description tags. These are the only two meta tags
that most search engines look at so far as determining how
they are going to rank your page. I do not even add a key word
tag to any of my pages. The meta title is the place where you
tell the search engine what your page is about. It can be
exactly the same as the title on the page itself (your H 1 tag
or page heading). Your description tag gives you the opportunity
to describe the content of the page to the search engine. The
description needs to be short and to the point. It should be no
more than two sentences but preferably only one sentence. There
is no reason a good description of a page cannot be made in one
simple but complete sentence.
Last but not least is the overall content of the page. Make
each page about one thing. The more topics your page talks about
the less credit you get for each topic. For example you want to
make a page about the three most influential people in medicine
today. You can make your first page generic and mention the
names of the three people and their general contributions to
medicine while concentrating on making sure every paragraph is
about the main topic of "most influential people in medicine".
Then, if you want to go into detail about the three individual
people, make a separate page about each and have them linked to
from the "most influential" page.
Article by Rusty Ford, Editor (http://arthritis-symptom.com/)
Monday, September 03, 2007
How to Build a Better Website Without Building a Website
How to Build a Better Website Without Building a Website
By Richard D S Hill (c) 2007
The most important thing to consider, when first thinking
about any website, is the user. Like so much marketing,
websites are, unfortunately, too often developed 'inside
out' (company focused) rather than 'outside in' (customer
focused).
All website users have their own reasons and objectives for
visiting a site. No matter how targeted, any website has to
communicate with a wide range of individual users.
To be successful, therefore, every site has to give each and
every user a thorough but simple presentation of the site's
content so that the site achieves your objectives e.g.
registrations, leads, sales.
To do this successfully, users want:
Simple Navigation
Navigation that is clear and consistent.
Probably the worst issue is 'lost visitors' – those who are in
a maze and don't know where they are in the site.
The site should always allow users to easily return to the home
page and preferably get to any page with one click.
Studies have shown that users want to find things fast, and
this means that they prefer menus with intuitive ranking,
organization and multiple choices to many layers of simplified
menus. The menu links should be placed in a consistent position
on every page.
Clarity
Users do not appreciate an over-designed site.
A website should be consistent and predictable. For maximum
clarity, your site design should be built on a consistent
pattern of modular units that all share the same basic layout,
graphics etc.
Designing Websites That Meet Their Objectives
Everything above is pretty simple, but how do you ensure that
you can achieve it?
The answer is website architecture – an approach to the design
and content that brings together not just design and hosting but
all aspects of function, design, technical solutions and, most
importantly, usability.
The distinction may seem academic but imagine trying to publish
a magazine using just graphic design and printing whilst
ignoring content and editing. It just would not work yet that's
what too many people still try to do.
Website Architecture
Defining a website using web architecture requires:
- Site maps
- Flow charts
- Wireframes
- Storyboards
- Templates
- Style guide
- Prototypes
This planning saves you (the client) money. The better the site
map, flow chart, wireframe, storyboard, templates, style guide
and prototype the more time and money you save because it gives
the designer who has to do the graphics and the developer who
has to do the programming a blueprint.
We are constantly amazed that people who wouldn't think about
building a house, car, ship or whatever will still build a
website without an architectural plan.
The benefits include:
- Meeting business goals
- Improved usability
- Reducing unnecessary features
- Faster delivery
Site Maps
Many people are familiar with site maps on web sites which are
generally a cluster of links.
An architectural site map is more of a visual model (blueprint)
of the pages of a web site.
The representation helps everyone to understand what the site
is about and the links required as well as the different page
templates that will be needed.
Flow Charts
A flowchart is another pictorial or visual representation to
help visualize the content and find flaws in the process from
say merchandise selection to final payment.
It's a pictorial summary that shows with symbols and words the
steps, sequence, and relationship of the various operations
involved and how they are linked so that the flow of visitors
and information through the site is optimized.
Wireframes
Wireframes take their name from the skeletal wire structures
that underlie a sculpture. Without this foundation, there is no
support for the fleshing-out that creates the finished piece.
Wireframes are a basic visual guide to suggest the layout and
placement of fundamental design elements on any page. A
wireframe shows every click through possibility on your site.
It's a "text only" model to allow for the development of
variations before any expensive graphic design and programming,
but one that also helps to maintain design consistency
throughout the site.
Creating wireframes allows everyone on the client and developer
side to see the site and whether it's 'right' or needs changes
without expensive programming. The goal of a wireframe is to
ensure your visitors' needs will be met in the website. If you
meet their needs, you will meet your objectives.
To create a wireframe requires dialogue. You and your
developers talk, to translate your business successfully into
a website. Nobody knows your business better than you and your
developers should listen to ensure the resulting wireframe
accurately represents your business. You, however, must answer
the questions; questions such as:
- What does a visitor do at this point?
- Where can a visitor go from here?
and ignore questions about what your visitor sees at this
point. Sounds easy, but!
Storyboards
Storyboards were first used by Walt Disney to produce cartoons.
A storyboard is a "comic" produced to help everyone visualize
the scenes and find potential problems before they occur. When
creating a film, a storyboard provides a visual layout of events
as they are to be seen through the camera. In the case of a
website, it is the layout and sequence in which the user or
viewer sees the content or information.
However, the wireframe provides the outline for your
storyboard. Developers and designers don't need to work in a
vacuum - the wireframe guides every design, information
architecture, navigation, usability and content consideration.
Wireframes define "what is there" while the storyboards define
"how it looks".
Templates and Style Guide
Templates are standard layouts containing basic details of a
page type that separates the business (follow the $) logic from
the presentation (graphics etc) logic so that there can be
maximum flexibility in presentation while disrupting the
underlying business infrastructure as little as possible.
Style guides document the design requirements for a site. They
define font classes and other design conventions (line spacing,
font sizes, underlining, bullet types etc.) to be followed in
the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) used to provide a library of
styles that are used in the various page types in a web site.
Prototypes
A prototype is working model that is not yet finished. It
demonstrates the major technical, design, and content features
of the site.
A prototype does not have the same testing and documentation as
the final product, but allows client and developers to make
sure, once again, that the final product works in the way that
is wanted and meets the business objectives.
Once you have built your virtual site, it's a lot quicker, easier
and cheaper to build the real one.
About The Author
================================================================
Richard Hill is a director of E-CRM Solutions and has spent many
years in senior direct and interactive marketing roles. E-CRM
provides EBusiness, ECommerce and Emarketing and ECRM.
http://www.e-crm.co.uk/profile/message170807.html
================================================================
By Richard D S Hill (c) 2007
The most important thing to consider, when first thinking
about any website, is the user. Like so much marketing,
websites are, unfortunately, too often developed 'inside
out' (company focused) rather than 'outside in' (customer
focused).
All website users have their own reasons and objectives for
visiting a site. No matter how targeted, any website has to
communicate with a wide range of individual users.
To be successful, therefore, every site has to give each and
every user a thorough but simple presentation of the site's
content so that the site achieves your objectives e.g.
registrations, leads, sales.
To do this successfully, users want:
Simple Navigation
Navigation that is clear and consistent.
Probably the worst issue is 'lost visitors' – those who are in
a maze and don't know where they are in the site.
The site should always allow users to easily return to the home
page and preferably get to any page with one click.
Studies have shown that users want to find things fast, and
this means that they prefer menus with intuitive ranking,
organization and multiple choices to many layers of simplified
menus. The menu links should be placed in a consistent position
on every page.
Clarity
Users do not appreciate an over-designed site.
A website should be consistent and predictable. For maximum
clarity, your site design should be built on a consistent
pattern of modular units that all share the same basic layout,
graphics etc.
Designing Websites That Meet Their Objectives
Everything above is pretty simple, but how do you ensure that
you can achieve it?
The answer is website architecture – an approach to the design
and content that brings together not just design and hosting but
all aspects of function, design, technical solutions and, most
importantly, usability.
The distinction may seem academic but imagine trying to publish
a magazine using just graphic design and printing whilst
ignoring content and editing. It just would not work yet that's
what too many people still try to do.
Website Architecture
Defining a website using web architecture requires:
- Site maps
- Flow charts
- Wireframes
- Storyboards
- Templates
- Style guide
- Prototypes
This planning saves you (the client) money. The better the site
map, flow chart, wireframe, storyboard, templates, style guide
and prototype the more time and money you save because it gives
the designer who has to do the graphics and the developer who
has to do the programming a blueprint.
We are constantly amazed that people who wouldn't think about
building a house, car, ship or whatever will still build a
website without an architectural plan.
The benefits include:
- Meeting business goals
- Improved usability
- Reducing unnecessary features
- Faster delivery
Site Maps
Many people are familiar with site maps on web sites which are
generally a cluster of links.
An architectural site map is more of a visual model (blueprint)
of the pages of a web site.
The representation helps everyone to understand what the site
is about and the links required as well as the different page
templates that will be needed.
Flow Charts
A flowchart is another pictorial or visual representation to
help visualize the content and find flaws in the process from
say merchandise selection to final payment.
It's a pictorial summary that shows with symbols and words the
steps, sequence, and relationship of the various operations
involved and how they are linked so that the flow of visitors
and information through the site is optimized.
Wireframes
Wireframes take their name from the skeletal wire structures
that underlie a sculpture. Without this foundation, there is no
support for the fleshing-out that creates the finished piece.
Wireframes are a basic visual guide to suggest the layout and
placement of fundamental design elements on any page. A
wireframe shows every click through possibility on your site.
It's a "text only" model to allow for the development of
variations before any expensive graphic design and programming,
but one that also helps to maintain design consistency
throughout the site.
Creating wireframes allows everyone on the client and developer
side to see the site and whether it's 'right' or needs changes
without expensive programming. The goal of a wireframe is to
ensure your visitors' needs will be met in the website. If you
meet their needs, you will meet your objectives.
To create a wireframe requires dialogue. You and your
developers talk, to translate your business successfully into
a website. Nobody knows your business better than you and your
developers should listen to ensure the resulting wireframe
accurately represents your business. You, however, must answer
the questions; questions such as:
- What does a visitor do at this point?
- Where can a visitor go from here?
and ignore questions about what your visitor sees at this
point. Sounds easy, but!
Storyboards
Storyboards were first used by Walt Disney to produce cartoons.
A storyboard is a "comic" produced to help everyone visualize
the scenes and find potential problems before they occur. When
creating a film, a storyboard provides a visual layout of events
as they are to be seen through the camera. In the case of a
website, it is the layout and sequence in which the user or
viewer sees the content or information.
However, the wireframe provides the outline for your
storyboard. Developers and designers don't need to work in a
vacuum - the wireframe guides every design, information
architecture, navigation, usability and content consideration.
Wireframes define "what is there" while the storyboards define
"how it looks".
Templates and Style Guide
Templates are standard layouts containing basic details of a
page type that separates the business (follow the $) logic from
the presentation (graphics etc) logic so that there can be
maximum flexibility in presentation while disrupting the
underlying business infrastructure as little as possible.
Style guides document the design requirements for a site. They
define font classes and other design conventions (line spacing,
font sizes, underlining, bullet types etc.) to be followed in
the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) used to provide a library of
styles that are used in the various page types in a web site.
Prototypes
A prototype is working model that is not yet finished. It
demonstrates the major technical, design, and content features
of the site.
A prototype does not have the same testing and documentation as
the final product, but allows client and developers to make
sure, once again, that the final product works in the way that
is wanted and meets the business objectives.
Once you have built your virtual site, it's a lot quicker, easier
and cheaper to build the real one.
About The Author
================================================================
Richard Hill is a director of E-CRM Solutions and has spent many
years in senior direct and interactive marketing roles. E-CRM
provides EBusiness, ECommerce and Emarketing and ECRM.
http://www.e-crm.co.uk/profile/message170807.html
================================================================
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