Search Engine Optimisation Tips

Registering your site with search engines is only the first step to getting found. You really do have to optimise your site if you want to get a good ranking. Search Engine Optimisation is the process of improving your ranking using fundamental methods which all Search Engines use.

Site Design / Set up

Some site designs can actually harm your search engine rankings, so ensure that you either avoid the following design elements or make the necessary adjustments.

Frames

Do not use Frames if you want to be ranked well in the search engines. There is no way around it, so just don't use them. The problem is that search engines do not properly index framed sites.

Flash

Only use Flash sparingly, not for the entire site, as flash does not get indexed by search engines. For this reason, make sure to avoid the following potential pitfalls:

Flash "splash" pages (a homepage made entirely from Flash). The problem with this is that the most important page to search engines is the homepage, but if the homepage is a splash page, then there won't be any content for the earch engines to index.
Flash navigation. This is also a problem as hyperlinks made with Flash can't be spidered by the search engines. Normally, when you submit a page to a search engine, it will follow the links in your navigation and index the rest of your site as well. Flash navigation will prevent this from happening.

If you really want to add a bit of flash, make sure to use it sparingly. Using flash elements will not hurt your ranking as long as you still have lots of content on your homepage and have either a standard HTML navigation or HTML sitemap for the search engines to follow.

Optimizing Your Title Tag

Most search engines and directories place a very high level of importance on keywords that are found in your title tag, so optimization of your title tag is critical.

Title Tips:

We recommend that you include 1-2 of your most important keyword phrases in the title tag, BUT be careful not to just list keywords. If you just list keywords you risk being viewed as a spamming the engines which can ultimately lead to you being blacklisted by the search engines. Your title tag should include your keyword phrases while remaining as close to a readable sentence as possible to avoid any problems.
Make your title enticing! Don't forget that even if you get that #1 listing in the search engines your listing still needs to say something that makes people want to click on it and visit your site.
Place the keywords as clost to the beginning of the title as possible.
Each page of your site should have it's own title tag with it's own keywords that relate to that page.

Optimizing Your Page Copy

Page copy (or content) is the actual text that appears on your web page. Just as people will read through the text on your web pages to see what you have to offer, so do Search Engines. And guess what there looking for?... 'keyword phrases' of course! This being the case, make sure to include your keywords as much as possible, while remaining readable and also following these tips:

Page text tips:

Include a minimum of 250 words of copy on each page. Many search engines penalize pages with very little content.
Your page copy should include your keyword phrases as much as possible, but should remain logical & readable.
Add additional copy filled pages to your site and update your existing pages periodically. Search engines value current content, so maintaining your content is the most important thing you can do.

Meta tags

Meta tags were originally meant to help search engines by describing your site, but most search engines no longer use them as they were so easily abused. It doesn't hurt to include keyword and description meta tags, but it really won't help your site in any way, so our advice is not to worry about it.

SEO Providers

You can optimise your site on your own or you can hire a SEO company to do it for you. Optimising and monitoring your progress can be a very time consuming process, so it's generally a good idea to hire an SEO provider if you do not have the time to do it yourself.

However, be careful when selecting a provider as there are some unreputable companies out there which use tricks to get you a better ranking. These tricks may work in the short-term, but it's also just as likely to get you banned from a search engine as they're taking a very hard line in this area, so it's just not worth the chance. Instead, find a reputable SEO firm with good references. We've used Cornerstone Technologies and would recommend their SEO+ service, but there are also many other reputable providers out there.

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