32 Most Important SEO Tips
32 Most Important SEO Tips
By Edwin Reyes (c) 2008
Following these simple tips will definitely boost your traffic and search engine rankings for free.
1. Make sure your site is not under construction or incomplete with little or no unique content.
2. When your site is ready, submit it to Google, Yahoo, MSN and ASK.com. Consider also submittíng to other search engines but most of them are powered by these four leading search engines. Also submít your site to reputable high PR web directories, open directories, yellow pages and social bookmarking sites such as del.icio.us, furl, etc.
3. Submit your sitemap to Google, Yahoo, MSN and ASK.com (sitemap for search engines usually in XML format)
4. Offer a sitemap to your site visitors for easy page navigation. (sitemap for visitors in HTML format)
5. Create unique and rich content sites. Avoid duplicate content. Do not create multiple pages, sub-domains, domains, mirror sites or sites with different domain names but the same content.
6. Check your keywords and make sure they are relevant and actually are contained in your site. Avoid keyword stuffing.
7. Use text instead of images in your content, links and important subjects.
8. Make your TITLE and ALT tags descriptive, simple and keyword rich. Avoid irrelevant and repeated keywords.
9. Your Title tag should be 60-80 characters maximum length.
10. Your Meta tag description should be 160-180 characters, including spaces. (about 25-30 words)
11. The keywords Meta Tag must be 15-20 words maximum.
12. Optimize pages with Headings (H1, H2, H3..) containing your site's primary keywords.
13. Validate your CSS and HTML. Check for errors and broken links.
14. If your site contains dynamic pages (i.e., the URL contains a "?" character), make sure you use SEO friendly URLs. Search engine spiders have difficulty indexing dynamic pages.
15. Maximum links per page must be fewer than 100. Avoid the risk of being flagged as a link farm by search engines.
16. Use Lynx as text browser to check your site.
17. Allow search bots (good ones) to crawl your sites without session IDs or arguments that track their path through the site. Using these techniques may result in incomplete indexing of your site.
18. Check your web server/host if it supports the If-Modified-Since HTTP header. It tells search engines whether your content has changed since your site was last crawled. It will save you bandwidth, resources and avoid server overload.
19. Use a Robots.txt file to manage and control search engine spiders that index your site. You can allow and disallow spiders and choose directories you want to be crawled and indexed. With bad bots or spam bots you need to modify your HTACCESS file to properly and effectively manage bots or spiders. Visit http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/faq.html to learn more about the Robots.txt file.
20. Do not attempt to present different content to search engines than what you show to your site visitors.
21. Avoid dirty tricks and exploiting loop holes to improve search engine ranking.
22. Avoid links to bad neighborhoods such as web spammer, link farm, phishing, hacker, crack, gambling, pörn and scam sites. Linking to them will greatly affect your search engine rankings.
23. Do not attempt to join in link schemes, excessive reciprocal links or excessive link exchanging and link exchange web rings.
24. Do not use unauthorized programs or online tools to submit your site, check page rankings or perform other automated queries. Avoid the risk of being flagged as a spammer.
25. Do not use hidden text and links. Show the search engines what you show to your vistors. It will greatly affect your site's reputation.
26. Do not attempt to create pages that contain phishing, scam, virus, trojan, backdoor, spyware, adware or other malicious programs.
27. Make your site useful and informative.
28. Improve your link building. Link to high PR websites. Quality of relevant links is far more important than quantity. Links will greatly improve your site's visibility, popularity and ranking. Search engines consider links as votes to your site.
29. Check your page link structure. Every page should be reachable by a single static text link.
30. Be extra careful in purchasing SEO services. Some use illegal and questionable methods to improve rankings.
31. Do not buy or sell links.
32. Do not create sites that contain purely affiliate links and no valuable content that is useful to users.
I hope these tips will add more popularity and visibility to your site. Enjoy!
About The Author
Edwin Reyes is a Web Developer and the Webmaster of Findmesoftware.com, a Philippine based website that provides free software downloads, tools, reviews, online tips, blogging resources, tutorials and Free SEO Tools and Software Download.
ChannelAdvisor Announces Acquisition of RichFX
CHANNELADVISOR ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF RICHFX
Acquisition Helps Internet Retailers Offer Increased Usability, Improve Conversion Rates with Fewer Clicks via Rich Media Applications
Research Triangle Park, NC– July 16, 2008 – ChannelAdvisor, the leading provider of e-commerce channel management solutions, today announced the acquisition of RichFX, further increasing its multi-channel offerings to online retailers. A leader in the rich media image space, RichFX’s rich media solutions have been helping retailers design, implement and manage effective rich media across online channels since its inception in 1997.
The combined companies will offer three new rich media products for Internet retailers with proven abilities to increase website usability and improve conversion rates with fewer clicks. ChannelAdvisor’s myRichFX™ is a hosted rich media platform that enables retailers to quickly implement and manage enterprise-scale rich media image, catalog and circular solutions including:
• RichImage™ – The Rich Imaging solution allows retailers to manage their digital assets and add dynamic merchandising to their e-commerce products. In addition to standard zoom and pan functionality, comprehensive merchandising solutions are possible such as builders, configurators and more.
• RichCatalog™ – For retailers that have a printed catalog, the catalog can now be brought online with a much richer and integrated experience. Consumers can click through the RichCatalog experience directly into the e-commerce site.
• RichCircular™ – For retailers with regional circulars, RichCircular brings the regional circulars online. Buyers can now search, click and view multiple regional circulars and then buy the products online or order them for in-store pick-up.
RichFX has over 200 retailers as customers, including over 45 that are included in the coveted Internet Retailer 500 list. RichFX’s customer list includes Wal-Mart.com, Disney, Saks, Lillian Vernon, Men’s Warehouse and Brooks Brothers. RichFX customers report a 10%+ increase in online conversion when their online merchandising is enhanced via one of the RichFX offerings.
“MyRichFX provided a cost effective way to help me dramatically increase clicks and conversion rates,” said Anthony Johns, Web Merchandising Manager of Lillian Vernon. “I was amazed at the platform’s usability and flexibility right from the start. The rich media experts proved that they cared about my results with insights and tips after the sale, and provided personal attention throughout the implementation and incorporation processes. A great overall business decision.”
“As we’ve worked with thousands of retailers to manage their e-commerce channels, we have become convinced of the advantages of conversion enhancement technologies,” said Scot Wingo, CEO of ChannelAdvisor. “We are constantly looking for ways to open up more multi-channel functionality to our customers to help them succeed. With rich media’s ability to enhance website interactivity and attract more conversions, RichFX appeared to be a natural extension of ChannelAdvisor Complete core capabilities.”
ChannelAdvisor plans to aggressively offer rich media solutions to its existing customer base. In addition, ChannelAdvisor will extend its ChannelAdvisor Complete e-commerce solutions for search, comparison shopping engines and marketplaces to the existing RichFX customer base. Several integration points are being developed as well. ChannelAdvisor is also working on solutions tailored to SMB and mid-tier internet retailers. Before the ChannelAdvisor/RichFX combination, world-class rich media Internet solutions were out of reach for mid-tier and SMB retailers.
Eoin Townsend, RichFX CEO, will join ChannelAdvisor as General Manager and Vice President of the RichFX business unit.
“At RichFX, we’ve been dedicated to finding innovative ways to help our customers increase conversion rates. That’s why partnering with a company like ChannelAdvisor who is equally committed to customer care seemed to be a perfect fit” said Eoin Townsend, General Manager and Vice President of ChannelAdvisor. “We see this combination as an ideal opportunity to apply our understanding of the elements of enhanced conversions with a like-minded focus on expert services to increase the multi-channel sales opportunities for our customers.”
To learn more about the new rich media Internet solutions, ChannelAdvisor will host a webinar for existing ChannelAdvisor customers and prospects on Wednesday, July 23 at 3:00 pm EDT. To sign up, visit http://www.channeladvisor.com/richmediawebinar.
About ChannelAdvisor Corporation
ChannelAdvisor Corporation provides technology and services that enable leading online retailers to maximize their products across multiple e-commerce marketplaces such as eBay, Amazon.com and Overstock.com, comparison shopping engines such as Shopping.com, Shopzilla, Nextag and Google Product Search and search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN. In 2007, ChannelAdvisor managed over $2.1 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) on behalf of its customers. ChannelAdvisor solutions combine best practices, on-demand software and integration technology to help retailers sell more products, faster, by automating labor-intensive, manual functions so they spend less time optimizing campaigns and more time solving marketing and business issues. ChannelAdvisor's customers include GSI Commerce, Brookstone, Abebooks and Motorola. ChannelAdvisor Corporation is headquartered in Research Triangle Park, NC with offices in Atlanta, New York, Seattle, the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland and Germany. For more information, visit http://www.channeladvisor.com/.
Google Landing Page Load Time
Back in March Google announced that there would be a new factor in the Quality Score algorithm, landing page load time. With this, not only does the quality of the page content affect your ranking, the speed of which it is displayed will come into play.Last Thursday (May 8, 2008) Google added a new feature to help facilitate the management of landing page load time and its affect on your keywords.
On the Keyword Analysis page you will be able to find the load time evaluations and from that data take appropriate measures to help increase that performance on your site.
You have a little bit of time to evaluate your page situation and get any changes done before the landing page load time will start affecting your Quality Score. The implementation for the algorithm change is scheduled for mid-June 2008.You can read more about how load time will affect your landing page quality in this AdWords Help Center article.
Technorati Tags: Google, Landing Page, AdWords, Ironvine
New Search Engine Searchme.com
Here is a first look at a new visual search engine at searchme.com.Searchme does look good, resembling a mashup of Google with Apple's popular Cover Flow three-dimensional graphical user interface used on its iTunes service, with a little of Ask.com's categories thrown in.For now, Searchme is only going into private beta, adding users by invitation only.To create the page-riffling effect, Searchme has been working with Adobe. The top screen, after a search term has been entered, then creates a stack of pages to represent the page links on a list below.Technorati Tags: Searchme, Searchme.com, Search, Engine, Google, Apple, Ask, Ironvine
Google Closes Acquisition of DoubleClick
Google Closes Acquisition of DoubleClick
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., (March 11, 2008) – Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) announced today that it has completed its acquisition of DoubleClick, a company that offers online ad serving and management technology to advertisers, web publishers and ad agencies.
Eric Schmidt, Google's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are thrilled that our acquisition of DoubleClick has closed. With DoubleClick, Google now has the leading display ad platform, which will enable us to rapidly bring to market advances in technology and infrastructure that will dramatically improve the effectiveness, measurability and performance of digital media for publishers, advertisers and agencies, while improving the relevance of advertising for users."
About Google Inc.
Google's innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google's targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.
About DoubleClick, Inc.
DoubleClick is a premier provider of digital marketing technology and services. The world's top marketers, publishers and agencies utilize DoubleClick's expertise in ad serving, rich media, video, mobile, search and affiliate marketing to help them make the most of the digital medium. From its position at the nerve center of digital marketing, DoubleClick provides superior insights and insider knowledge to its customers. Learn more at www.doubleclick.com.
Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements relating to our ability to improve the performance of digital media and the relevance of internet advertising. Actual results may differ materially from the results predicted. The potential risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ include, among others, risks related to our ability to identify and pursue the technologies necessary to achieve these goals, as well as those risks and uncertainties included under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations," in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007, which is available on our investor relations website at www.investor.google.com. All information provided in this release is as of March 11, 2008, and Google undertakes no duty to update this information.
Media Contact:
Ellen West
212.565.1986
Investor Contact:
Maria Shim
650.253.7663
Technorati Tags: Google, DoubleClick, News, Search, Marketing, Ironvine
Ask.com Downsizing and Refocusing
Today CNN published an article about some major changes in the way Ask.com is going to be doing business moving forward. They are changing their focus from an all inclusive, interactive search engine and adapting it to target a specific audience.
With the change it will return to its roots by concentrating on finding answers to basic questions about recipes, hobbies, children's homework, entertainment and health.
The decision to cater to married women primarily living in the southern and midwestern United States comes after Ask spent years trying to build a better all-purpose search engine than Google.
While I am fully supportive of them creating a niche market to provide specific answers, this comes as a strange choice to me. Thinking economically that demographic isn't among the stronger per capita income areas. They are going to have limited influence in the market base with advertisers who will also be constrained by their focused market.
It seems as this is yet another down turn in the search competition world, Ask.com is starting to fade away into its own corner and returning a small portion of the market share back into the search pool.
You can read the full article at CNN - Ask.com gets a makeover, lays off 40
Technorati Tags: Ask.com, CNN, Search Engine, Marketing, Search, Ironvine
Sun Microsystems acquires MySQL
Here is some interesting news for all those web developers out there from www.mysqlconf.com
We are pleased to announce that on February 25, 2008, Sun Microsystems acquired MySQL. This is great news for Sun, MySQL, the open source community, and the 2008 MySQL Conference & Expo.
Upcoming eBay Workshop: ChannelAdvisor’s Scot Wingo Shares Tips for Great DSRs
***Upcoming Workshop: ChannelAdvisor's Scot Wingo Shares Tips for Great DSRs***
We would like to invite you to attend the following workshop next week:
How to Improve Your Detailed Seller Ratings
This workshop will be held on Tuesday, February 26th from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Pacific time.
In January, eBay told the selling Community that "great service will mean the difference in 2008." Detailed Seller Ratings are an important factor in eBay's new seller standards and incentives. Please join Scot Wingo, CEO of ChannelAdvisor, for an hour covering some DSR Frequently Asked Questions, as well as proven ways sellers can improve their DSRs.
adExcellence Certified
Steven Terjeson of ChannelAdvisor is accredited as an official Microsoft adExcellence Member. A Microsoft adExcellence Member has completed comprehensive online training on managing Microsoft adCenter search engine marketing campaigns and has demonstrated expert knowledge by passing the Microsoft adExcellence accreditation exam.
This completes my suite of certifications, Google, Yahoo and now MSN.
Technorati Tags: adExcellence, Certification, SEM, adCenter, ChannelAdvisor, Ironvine
Microsoft vs. Yahoo
Yahoo board formally rejects Microsoft's $45 billion bid, saying it 'substantially undervalues' the company.
Microsoft responds to Yahoo. Says rejection of $45B bid is 'unfortunate' and that it's 'offering shareholders superior value.'
Read more about the battle at fortune.cnn.com
Marketworks replaced by MarketplaceAdvisor
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Jan. 15 — ChannelAdvisor, the leading provider of e-commerce channel management solutions, today announced the launch of its most forward-looking marketplaces solutions to date.
Just off the heels of ChannelAdvisor's purchase of Marketworks, a former Atlanta-based e-commerce solution provider, ChannelAdvisor introduced MarketplaceAdvisor(TM) and MarketplaceAdvisor Premium(TM). These new products replace Marketworks' primary solution and ChannelAdvisor's Merchant solution.
Designed exclusively for online sellers focused solely on eBay, MarketplaceAdvisor allows retailers to automate many of the processes vital to the growth and success of eBay businesses. In addition, sellers can leverage time-saving efficiencies including tracking and shipping of orders all from a consolidated interface.
(Read full article)
Technorati Tags: ChannelAdvisor, Marketworks, MarketplaceAdvisor, eBay, Ironvine
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Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to everyone, I hope you had a safe and happy holiday season.
I know I was very busy as most marketers are in the last part of the year.
Remember to make your post holiday paid search bid corrections, and plan those budgets for a highly competitive online year!
Technorati Tags: Marketing, Ironvine
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