Search Engine Optimization Secrets

Search Engine
Optimization Secrets
© Ewisoft Co.
E-mail: library@ewisoft.com
Second Edition
Table of Contents
Search Engine Optimization Secrets....................................................................... 3
Title Tags Should Contain Specific Keyword Phrases ................................................... 5
Compelling headlines to improve your search engine ranking....................................... 6
The Body Text of the Page Should Contain Information-Rich Content ............................ 7
Using Descriptive File Names .................................................................................. 8
Get other people to link to your website - Inbound links.............................................. 9
Using Descriptive Image ALT tags.......................................................................... 10
Keywords Meta Tags Not Really Supported Anymore ................................................ 11
How to Optimize Your Website............................................................................. 12
Input Title Tags .................................................................................................. 12
Apply a Heading Tag............................................................................................ 13
Use a Descriptive File Name.................................................................................. 14
Add ALT tag text to images................................................................................... 15
Insert Keywords Meta tags ................................................................................... 16
How Google Works ............................................................................................... 18
How Can I Improve My Website Ranking? ............................................................... 20
Google Sitemaps ................................................................................................. 20
How to Properly Submit to Search Engines .......................................................... 22
Submit to DMOZ - Open Directory Project ............................................................... 23
Submit to Google ................................................................................................ 23
Submit to Yahoo ................................................................................................. 24
Research and Analysis Tools ................................................................................ 26
Keyword Suggestion Tools .................................................................................... 26
SEO Tools for the Beginner User............................................................................ 28
SEO Tools for the Advanced User........................................................................... 29
Search Engine Optimization Secrets
Those days are gone when you could just build a new website, upload it to the Internet and
submit it to a few popular search engines and get traffic easily by using some keywords.
Getting listed well in search engines is not as easy as it used to be. Sure, there are those
companies that will charge you a small fortune to get you listed at the top but there are
common sense things you can do for search engine optimization that can help you get a
good start.
Definition: Search engine optimization is the process of preparing your website so that
search engines can better understand its content and/or purpose.
The search engine counts the words on the page and ranks them according to their
occurrence. Once it has that it then further scores those words based upon how “prominent”
they were on the page.
The objective of search engine optimization is to increase visitors by getting your website to
rank very high in search results by using the most appropriate keywords that describe the
content of your website.
Search engines are a very important source of traffic because everyone uses them.
Search engines rank websites based on these factors:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Title tags should contain specific keyword phrases
Compelling headlines will improve your search engine ranking
The body text of the page should contain information-rich content
Using descriptive file names
Get other people to link to your website
Using descriptive image ALT tags
Keywords meta tags not really supported anymore
As you go through this eBook and build your website using Ewisoft Website Builder and
follow these techniques, you will become successful in getting a great ranking for your
website.
Learn all the search engine optimization techniques to ensure a good ranking.
3
Here is an example of a successfully optimized page for the keyword phrase
"Computer Maintenance Package":
This page comes up Number 1 most times on a Google search for "computer maintenance
package"
4
Title Tags Should Contain Specific
Keyword Phrases
Overview
The title tag is the most important element on the page. It is the first
element the search engine spider encounters and serves as the headline
of a page.
Importance
Critical
All search engines use title tags to gather information about your website. The words
in the title tag are what appear in the clickable link on the search engine results
page. What you put in this tag is a key factor in which search queries you will rank
highly with in the major search engines. Title tags are definitely one of the "big
three" as far as the algorithmic weight given to them; they are equally as important
as your visible text copy and the links pointing to your pages.
Here is a scenario: As a New York Web Designer, you would want your company's
site to appear in the search engine results for searches on phrases such as "New
York Web Design". You would need to be even more specific if you prefer to work for
people only in the Syracuse area. In that case, use keywords such as "Syracuse Web
Design" in your site's title tags.
This is a key point: If you're only seeking customers or clients in a specific
geographical region, your keywords need to reflect that. People looking for a web
designer in Syracuse may begin their search by simply entering "Web Design" in the
search engine but find that it displays too many results. So, they will narrow the
search by adding "Syracuse" to their search terms. When they do, you want your site
to be right there on the first page of new results.
In the Syracuse Web Designer example, you might create a title tag as follows:
Your Company Name - Web Design in Syracuse
However, there's more than enough space in the title tag to include both of these
important keyword phrases. (In fact, search engines will display 60 to 115 characters
of your title tag.) Here's an example of an approach that's even better:
Your Company Name - Web Design in Syracuse - Low cost startup website
packages
Click here to learn how to Input Title Tags using Ewisoft Website Builder.
5
Compelling headlines to improve your
search engine ranking
Overview
Headlines are simple and concise descriptions of the page that
immediately focus the user's attention similar to the headline of a
newspaper article. Accordingly, they are given significant weight by the
search engines due to its prominence on the page.
Importance
Critical
The headlines are more important than the regular body copy for both your human
readers and for the search engines. Always include your keywords in the heading
tags, preferably as the first words of the heading.
By writing headlines that actually appeal to human beings, while also improving your
search engine ranking, you can greatly improve the quality of visitors at your
website.
Search engines actively seek out the headings in your content. By using heading
tags, you give the search engine something to focus on by telling them what your
page is about.
Here are some ideas to create a headline and attract the right kind of visitor to your
website and increase your search engine ranking. We will include "Web Design" as
part of our targeted keywords in these example headlines.
Pose a question rather than a statement:
These examples are aimed at 3 different target markets.
1. Are you having difficulty finding Web Design?
(This is targeting visitors who can't find it)
2. Do you need high quality Web Design?
(This is targeting visitors looking for good quality)
3. Are you looking for reasonably priced Web Design?
(This is targeting visitors looking for good prices)
6
Pose a problem rather than a solution:
These examples are focusing more on the visitor's problem but still including the
keyword phrase "Web Design" as the most prominent words for the search engines.
1. Are you tired of wasting your time looking for professional Web
Design?
(Time is the problem)
2. Is your past Web Design not up to standards?
(Poor quality is the problem)
3. Have you been paying a lot of money for Web Design?
(Price is the problem)
Pose a curious question:
These examples are to get the reader hooked into reading about your offer and still
including the keyword phrase "Web Design".
1. Want to know 5 simple ways to save time finding professional Web
Design?
2. Is your Web Design supplier playing these tricks on you?
3. Paying through the nose for Web Design? 3 things to look out for...
Apply these methods to write powerful, targeted headlines to improve your search
engine ranking for your target keyword phrases.
Click here to learn how to Apply a Heading Tag in Ewisoft Website Builder.
The Body Text of the Page Should Contain
Information-Rich Content
Overview
The first sentence of the page should be a brief statement of a specific
call to action and/or purpose of the page. This sentence is like the
opening sentence of an article and sets the theme for the page. Many
search engines pull the first full sentence that “wraps” the first
occurrence of the keyword phrase.
Importance
Critical
Here are some general rules of writing the body of the page
•
Keep your content focused to a single theme per page. Focus on one
specific keyword phrase. Blend in common synonyms for your keyword and
some general keywords to cover multi-word searches. Not too much, though,
or you will dilute your most important keywords.
7
•
Include content on each page, not just graphics and links. Search
engines index by content and desperately need words. Pages that are less
graphical and more text oriented have better search engine rankings.
•
Never place the same keywords directly beside each other. A search
engine will think you're trying to spam it and you will get a lower ranking.
Use your keywords at the start, middle, and end of your content. This will
emphasize an overall theme on your web page and will give you a better search
engine ranking. Use your keywords more frequently in the opening two paragraphs,
and also in the closing paragraph.
The first 200 words of the body copy tell the story about the page and is the most
important part of the body copy to the search engine. Search engines prefer pages
with an overall “body” word count of between 300 – 500 words.
Some engines don't use the META Description tag in their search results. They will
usually use the first few lines of text in the body of your page and display them as
the description, so make sure these lines are attractive to humans.
Using Descriptive File Names
Overview
Ensure that the filenames being used in your site are well named and
relevant to the site. Because many search engine index file names, it is
very important that these are created using relevant keywords.
Importance
Very
Try to make your file names descriptive and use targeted keywords whenever
possible.
Use search engine friendly, human readable file name or URLs. This will both help
your ranking and your users, so do not miss the opportunity to include your
important term either in your domain name or in your file name.
For example, if you have a page about Web Design, initially you might consider a
page like design.htm to keep it short. Instead consider naming it to:
the-most-affordable-web-design.htm. This puts your keywords directly in the file
name.
Click here to learn how to Use a Descriptive File Name in Ewisoft Website Builder.
8
Get other people to link to your website Inbound links
Overview
The number and quality of inbound links from other websites can have a
significant effect on your rankings in some search engines, particularly
Google with its PageRank calculation. The text of the inbound link is also
important and it should preferably contain the keywords of the page
being linked to for maximum impact.
Importance
Very
In the longer term other sites will eventually link to you if your content is interesting
and unique. However, actively pursuing links from other sites is an important part of
the process to begin with. Most quality sites will benefit with a link from the Open
Directory Project, also called DMOZ.
Most search engines will list your site free but the best way to get your site
indexed is through having a search engine follow a link from another site.
Participate in Blogs, Weblogs and Forums leaving relevant comments that
interest you and be sure to include a link to your website through your signature.
This is a very effective method to get listed in search engines but do not spam them.
Don't value anyone else who gives you a link from some automated linking program
or web directory, unless the directory is known to be useful and have real human
editors.
Write a testimonial for a website or product on a website. If you have come
across a website or product that you think is great, write them a testimonial. A
9
webmaster may likely post it on their website. Make sure you include your real name
and website address in your signature.
Contact your friends, suppliers, customers who have websites and ask them to link
to your website. Do the same for them. The most valuable links will come from your
suppliers and retailers, and other websites of interest to your industry sector.
Write articles that contain original content. Some of the most effective articles
are: tips & tricks articles, how-to articles, and news stories. Search for popular
websites who may post your articles that are related to your content.
A great place to start posting your website is to do a search for shopping directories
where you can submit your website under a related category.
The more quality websites your website is posted on, the better search engine
ranking your website will get.
Using Descriptive Image ALT tags
Overview
Image ALT tags, when used properly, add to the overall keyword count
within the page. Your ALT text descriptions should be complete
sentences and not a list of keywords lumped together.
Importance
Somewhat
Image ALT text provides search engines with a "translation" of the content of the
image. A search engine cannot read the text in an image. Image ALT text is
presented in place of an image if the link to the image is broken or the visitor is
using a text only browser. Your visitors may see it when they mouse over an image.
Because it can be easily stuffed with keywords, image ALT text has been widely
abused in the past. Because of this search engines don't place a whole lot of value on
it but it still provides a little weight in the search engine ranking as it adds to the
keyword density on your page. Including image ALT text in your web pages is a good
design practice, regardless of how much it helps to improve your search engine
rankings.
10
Ideally, your image ALT text descriptions should be complete sentences, rather than
a list of keywords or obscure phrases.
Click here to learn how to Add ALT tag text to images in Ewisoft Website Builder.
Keywords Meta Tags Not Really Supported
Anymore
Overview
The meta keywords tag is sometimes useful as a way to reinforce the
terms you think a page is important for on the few search engines that
support it.
Importance
Not important at all
Far too many people new to search engine optimization obsess with the meta
keywords tag. Very few search engine crawlers support it, most importantly, Google
does not support it in their crawling algorithms. For those search engines that do,
it may help improve the ranking of your page. It also may very well do nothing for
your page at all. In fact, repeat a particular word too often in a meta keywords tag
and you could actually harm your page's chances of ranking well. Because of this, we
strongly suggest that those new to search engine optimization not even worry too
much about the tag.
The ascendancy of the tag did not last after 1997. Experience with the tag has
showed it to be a spam magnet. Some website owners would insert misleading
words about their pages or use excessive repetition of words in hopes of tricking the
crawlers about relevancy. For this reason, Excite (which also owned WebCrawler)
doesn't support the keywords meta tag. Lycos quietly dropped its support of the tag
in 1998, and newer search engines such as Google and FAST never added support at
all.
It is most important to write pages with useful, information-rich, keyword rich
content, that clearly and accurately describes your content.
Click here to learn how to Insert Keywords Meta tag using Ewisoft Website Builder.
11
How to Optimize Your Website
Ewisoft Website Builder software generates your website pages with Search Engine
Optimization in mind. We have spent many years studying Search Engine
Methodologies and Techniques and have consolidated the most important
information for you to use.
There are many resources on the Internet covering this subject that can become
confusing and even overwhelming to understand. We have done all the hard work for
you and have presented the information in plain terms.
Follow these instructions when building your pages using Ewisoft Website Builder and
you will be on the right path for success in the search engines:
•
Input Title Tags
•
Apply a Heading Tag
•
Use a Descriptive File Name
•
Add ALT tag text to images
•
Insert Keywords Meta tags
Input Title Tags
Here is how to input a Title Tag in Ewisoft Website Builder:
1. Right click on your page and
select Properties.
12
2. In the Page Title field,
enter the title of the page as
you would like it to appear in
the browser window title. In
other words a long name for
the page.
3. Below you will see how the
Page Title will look in the
browser window.
This will apply the title tags to
your page title which is ranked
very high by the search
engines.
<title>Ewisoft Website Builder
- The fastest way to create a
website</title>
Apply a Heading Tag
Here is how to apply a Heading tag to your headline in Ewisoft Website Builder.
1. Type in your headline as the first
line on your page.
13
2. Highlight the headline, click the
Paragraph pulldown and select
Heading 1.
This will apply the heading tags to your
headline which search engines put a
lot of weight on.
<h1>News</h1>
Use a Descriptive File Name
Here is how to name a filename in Ewisoft Website Builder:
1. Right click on your page and select
Properties.
14
2. In the File Name field, enter the
name of the page. Never use
spaces or special characters in
filenames.
•
You can use dashes or
underscores to separate words.
•
Always use lower-case text to
ensure users will be able to see
the page as some servers are
case-sensitive.
Add ALT tag text to images
Here is how to add ALT text to your images in Ewisoft Website Builder:
1. Select your image and click the
Image
button in the toolbar.
2. Enter a meaningful sentence that
describes your image into the Alt
field and click OK.
15
Insert Keywords Meta tags
For those search engines that still do support the keywords meta tag, we have
included a field to insert up to 250 characters in Ewisoft Website Builder.
There are two options for you to add keywords into Ewisoft Website Builder.
Option 1: You can enter one set of keywords and have them appear on every page
in your website.
or
Option 2: You can enter keywords for each page in your website.
Option 1: Here are instructions for entering one set of keywords to appear
on every page:
1. From the Site menu, select
Website Setup.
2. Click the Advanced button.
16
3. Enter your keywords and keyword
phrases separated by commas and
click OK.
Option 2: Here are instructions for entering keywords on an individual page:
1. Right click on the page you
want to add keywords to and
select Properties.
2. Click the Advanced button.
17
3. Enter your keywords and
keyword phrases separated by
commas and click OK.
How Google Works
Give visitors the information they're looking for
Provide high-quality content on your pages, especially your homepage. The
homepage is the most important page in your website. If your pages contain
useful information, their content will attract many visitors and entice other websites
to link to your website. In creating a helpful, information-rich website, write pages
that clearly and accurately describe your topic. Think about the words users would
type to find your pages and include those words on your website.
Try to get other sites link to yours
Links help Google's crawlers find your website and can give your website greater
visibility in their search results. When returning results for a search, Google
combines PageRank (their measure of a page's importance) with sophisticated textmatching techniques to display pages that are both important and relevant to each
search.
Google counts the number of votes a page receives to determine its PageRank,
interpreting a link from page A to page B as a vote by page A for page B. Votes cast
by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make
other pages "important."
Keep in mind that Google's algorithms can distinguish natural links from unnatural
links. Natural links to your website will develop as part of the dynamic nature of the
web when other websites find your content valuable and think it would be helpful for
their visitors, they will link to your website.
Here is an example of a natural link:
18
Unnatural Links:
Unnatural links are when a chunk of unrelated links is placed on a page. Some of
these types of links are called link schemes, link farms and doorway pages. Avoid
submitting your website to these link farms. It can hurt your website and is frowned
upon by Google. They may even ban your website from their search engine. This
would be a grave mistake for your website.
Only natural links are useful for the indexing and ranking of your site.
Make your website easily accessible
Build your website with a logical link structure. Every page should be reachable from
at least one static text link. Ewisoft Website Builder uses the navigation links (new
pages) for this purpose. Site maps are also a great way of providing a link to all your
pages.
Things to Avoid
•
Don't fill your page with lists of keywords, attempt to "cloak" pages, or put up
"crawler only" pages. If your website contains pages, links, or text that you
don't intend visitors to see, Google considers those links and pages deceptive
and may ignore your website.
•
Don't feel obligated to purchase a search engine optimization service. Some
companies claim to "guarantee" high ranking for your site in Google's search
results. While legitimate consulting firms can improve your site's flow and
content, others employ deceptive tactics in an attempt to fool search engines.
Be careful; if your domain is affiliated with one of these deceptive
services, it could be banned from Google's index.
•
Don't use images to display important names, content, or links. Their crawler
doesn't recognize text contained in graphics. Use image ALT tags to display
what the image is about.
•
Don't create multiple copies of a page under different URLs. Many sites offer
text-only or printer-friendly versions of pages that contain the same content
as the corresponding graphic-rich pages.
Click here to see How Can I Improve My Website Ranking
Click here to learn about Google Sitemaps
19
How Can I Improve My Website Ranking?
Some sources have said that Google is uncomfortable to rank newer websites until
they have proven their viability to exist for more than a period of "x" months. All
new websites have their ratings placed on hold until this period of time has passed
before a ranking can start.
However the website is not hindered as much as the links that are reciprocated from
other users. Newer links that are created are put on a "probationary" status until
again they pickup in rank from other matured sites or placed directly by an ad
campaign. The idea behind the hindrance is to prevent a fast ranking to occur on a
new website. The usual holding period seems to be between 90 and 120 days before
a site would start obtaining rank from reciprocal or back linking.
People have noticed a 0 page rank when first signing up and receiving a huge 7 page
ranking after 4 months. Why the delay? The fact is, that if people realized how easy
it would be to get a high ranking that would take away the credibility of the engine.
It depends on whom you ask, but it does seem to be happening frequently to newer
subscribers. Do not discontinue back linking, your rank will eventually appear.
Websites' positions in Google's search results are determined automatically based on
a number of factors:
•
In-bound links. PageRank™ uses its vast link structure as an indicator of an
individual page's value. Which means, Google looks at a link from page A to
page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than just
that; it also looks at the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that
are also "important" are weighed more heavily and help to make other pages
"important."
•
Information-rich content. Google examines all aspects of the page's
content, and the content of the pages linking to it, to determine if it's a good
match for your search. They combine PageRank with sophisticated textmatching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to
your search.
In summary, you can improve the rank of your website by increasing the number of
high-quality sites that link to your website.
See also Google Sitemaps
Google Sitemaps
Google Sitemaps is an easy way to tell Google about all the pages on your site,
which pages are most important to you, and when those pages change, for a smarter
crawl and fresher search results.
Find out how Google sees your site
Google Sitemaps also answers questions you might have about how Google sees
your site. For example, you can learn about errors (such as if they're having trouble
20
crawling your pages) and statistics (such as what search queries return your site in
the results).
How do I add a site to my account?
To add a site:
1. Sign into Google Sitemaps at https://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/
with your Google Account. If you don't have one, you can sign up for a free
account.
2. On the My Sites page, type the site URL in the "Add site" field. Make sure you
type the entire URL, such as "http://www.example.com/"
3. Click "OK."
4. The site will appear in the Site column. Click the Verify link beside the site
and verify site ownership to see detailed statistics and errors for it. You will
need to follow the instructions to verify your website in order to see the
statistics and information from Google Sitemaps.
Google Sitemap generator
http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/
There are many tools out on the Internet that can generate a Sitemap made for
importing into Google Sitemaps. We have found the most effective and easy to use
Sitemap generator below.
This Google Sitemap generator tool will generate up to 500 pages for free.
21
How to Properly Submit to Search Engines
Contrary to popular opinion, submitting a website every week or every month to the
major search engines will not help your rankings. In fact it might hurt your website
as some engines may treat it as spam. Once a website is in a search engine's
database, it usually won't go away.
Once your website has been optimized for all its major keywords and keyword
phrases, your website should consistently drive targeted visitors to your website. You
should be careful of any company or individual that claims otherwise.
There are only about a dozen or so major search engines and a few good search
directories that, altogether, provide about 96.5% of all Internet search engine results
in the world.
Most search engines will list your site free but the best way to get your site indexed
is through having a search engine follow a link from another site. Participate in
Blogs, Weblogs and Forums leaving relevant comments that interest you and be sure
to include a link to your website through your signature. This is a very effective
method to get listed in search engines but do not spam them.
Follow these instructions on how to submit to the most important search
engines and directories:
•
Submit to DMOZ - Open Directory Project
•
Submit to Google
•
Submit to Yahoo
Prepare to be patient
Once you have submitted your website to the search engines and directories, the
best thing for you to do is wait. We suggest you wait for about 60 days. Check back
with all the engines to see if you have been listed.
Search Engine Relationship Chart™
Bruce Clay, Inc. is a leading provider of search engine marketing services with
emphasis on search engine optimization. He has put together this amazing chart that
displays how the search engines and directories work and who feeds who. Click or
visit the links below to see this amazing chart:
http://www.bruceclay.com/searchenginerelationshipchart.htm
22
Submit to DMOZ - Open Directory Project
The most efficient way to get listed in all the major search engines is to submit your
website to the DMOZ - Open Directory Project.
If your site has been accepted into the Open Directory, it may take anywhere from
2 weeks to several months for your site to be listed on partner sites which use the
Open Directory data, such as AltaVista - A9 - AOL - Clusty - Gigablast - Google Lycos - MSN - Teoma - WiseNut - Yahoo , and hundreds of other sites. They
make updates of the data available weekly, but each partner has their own update
schedule.
DMOZ - Open Directory Project Submit
1. Prepare your website to make sure you have done following:
• Your full contact information should be there
• Double-check your website for spelling errors or typos
2. Visit here http://www.dmoz.org/
3. Drill down into the category where you believe your website should be posted.
• According to sources, you are only allowed to submit to one category.
4. At the top of the page, click suggest URL.
Submission Times - Because this is volunteer-based editing and inclusion it can
take up to 8 weeks (reportedly sometimes 6 or more months) to get listed in The
Open Directory. Once there, it may take additional time for the listing to be used by
sites using The Open Directory data.
The thing to remember is that you must have suitable URL content and be
engineered to beat your competition within The Open Directory before you register
your pages. Just registering with The Open Directory does not assure a suitable
ranking.
Submit to Google
Google is the number one search engine on the Internet. Getting a listing in Google
should be a top priority if you wish to have a serious website presence.
Google Search Engine Submit
1. Submit your website to Google by visiting here
http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl
2. Fill in the information and click Add URL.
23
Google Directory Submit
In addition to submitting your website to Google, you should also submit to the
Google Directory. It is the largest human-edited directory on the web. It also gets
spidered by all the popular search engines.
1. Go here http://directory.google.com/
2. Drill down into the category where you believe your website should be
posted.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Submit a Site.
4. Fill in the form information and click the Submit button.
Submission Times - Upon submitting to Google, it can take up to 3-6 weeks for
your site to be listed in the index. Google will respider every page in its database
approximately once every 3-6 weeks and usually publishes a major update to its
index during the last week of each month.
Submit to Yahoo
Yahoo is the number two search engine on the Internet. Getting a listing on Yahoo
can be very important too.
Yahoo Search Engine Submit
1. Visit here http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html
2. Click Submit Your Site for Free
3. Log into your Yahoo account. You will need to register for a free account if
you don't already have one.
24
4. Enter your website URL and click Submit URL.
Yahoo Directory Submit
To list your website on Yahoo Directory may not be free. It depends on which
category you choose to list your website in. The free categories are the ones that are
non-commercial. Yahoo now charges $299 per year to be guaranteed a spot in their
listing.
The difference between a non-commercial website and commercial website is if you
are selling a product or service, then your website is a commercial website.
If you are lucky enough to find a free non-commercial category, then submit your
website to it.
1. Visit here http://dir.yahoo.com/
2. Drill down into the category where you believe your website should be posted.
3. Click the Suggest a Site link at the top of the page
4. If you have found a non-commercial category, you will see a screen like this
that offers a Standard Consideration button. If you clicked into a
commercial category you will only see the $299 Yahoo Directory Submit
button.
5. Follow their directions and complete the forms.
25
Submission Times - Upon submitting to Yahoo for free, it takes approximately two
to six weeks to get listed in Yahoo’s directory.
Research and Analysis Tools
There are several tools available to you on the Internet to assist you in determining
where you rank for particular phrases, what your domain Google PageRank is and
how many incoming links you have.
We have researched these tools and have put together a short list of the best and
most effective tools out there today.
•
Keyword Suggestion Tools
•
SEO Tools for the Beginner User
•
SEO Tools for the Advanced User
Keyword Suggestion Tools
There are some great tools on the Internet that can help you choose some keyword
phrases in which to build your content around. They can also give you an idea of
which keywords and keyword phrases are most searched for.
Overture Keyword Selector Tool
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
Overture was acquired by Yahoo in 2003 and is the leader in paid search services on
the Internet. Overture tool combines singular and plural versions of a word and only
can track those terms which already have ads in place. Since Overture makes money
by selling ads and many automated bots search through their distribution network
their results may run high (some highly competitive commercial terms are off by a
factor greater than 10 times).
26
Google Suggest Tool
http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&complete=1
As you type into the search box, Google Suggest guesses what you're typing and
offers suggestions in real time based by popularity.
Google Keyword Sandbox
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
The Keyword Tool generates potential keywords for you and reports their Google
statistics, including search performance and seasonal trends. Start your search by
entering your own keyword phrases or a specific URL.
27
SEO Tools for the Beginner User
These tools are great for the beginner user to see some quick statistics on your
website:
Ewisoft Co. - Search Engine Tools
http://www.ewisoft.com/a/search-engine-tools/
This is a password protected website:
Username: ewbuser
Password: drivetraffic
•
Inbound links Backlink checker
Find those backlinks linking to you, their Description, Language and Size.
•
Keyword density checker
Find out what keywords are popular on your pages. The keywords will be
shown in a visual way (cloud view).
•
Keyword suggestion
This handy tool will display up to 10 popular keywords matching your initial
keyword.
•
Link popularity
Find how many links your domain has on the most common search engines.
•
Rank checker
Use this online tool to see what your ranking is. Find out how popular your
website is to users and search engines. Also, find out how many search
engines linked to your website.
•
Search engine position
Use this tool to check what search engine position you have for Google and
Yahoo.
•
Spider bot view
Find out how Spider bots view your website. This includes most major search
bots including Google, MSN and Yahoo!
•
Visual PageRank
View the PageRank of links visually rather than in text.
•
All-in-One Lookup
Retrieve a number of information about a detail including age of domain,
speed, Dmoz listings, Current PageRank, Predicted PageRank, Alexa Ranking,
Backlinks, Listings on Google/MSN/Yahoo and Website's competition.
See also SEO Tools for the Advanced User
28
SEO Tools for the Advanced User
Bruce Clay, Inc. offers a wealth of very useful and important information on Search
Engine Optimization. These tools are great for the advanced user to see in-depth
statistics on your website. Bruce Clay, Inc. analytic tools are a cut above the rest. Be
prepared to take some time to read and learn about their methodologies. These are
the most comprehensive tools I have seen on the Internet and is well worth the time
and energy.
Bruce Clay, Inc. Internet Business Consultants - Search Engine Tools
http://www.bruceclay.com/web_rank.htm
Framework for Search Engine Optimization:
1. Identify competition
Submit your obvious keyword terms and use the Research Tool to locate top
ranked competing sites.
2. Link tracking
Link tracking allows you to identify and choose possible sites that you will
want as link partners once your site is content-rich and optimized.
3. Identify keywords
Research the competition and query history information available through
several sources.
4. Repeat 1-3
Repeat steps 1 through 3 until you have finished all your keyword searches
5. Combine keywords
Once you have your personal list, validate each phrase for popularity as a
search term.
6. Add keywords to content
You are about to discover your real issue... you have insufficient or weak
content. It takes a lot of words to convince a search engine that you are a
subject matter expert.
7. Tune keyword list
Once you have selected your major keywords, add the main words to your
TITLE string, your META description string, your META keywords string, ALT
tags (image tag parameter), and especially imbed them into your top-of-page
displayed content.
8. Submit pages to search engines
Once the same words are in your META title, description and keywords, and
also in other text (Alt and comments) and displayed content, and you are
satisfied with your results, and only then, is it appropriate to submit your
URLs to each major search engine.
9. Check search engine registration
Visit the search engine that you care about and see if you are registered by
searching for your url.
10. Check placement
There is a very specialized high-tech market for tools that convert raw data
into intellectual capital that you can actually use.
29