8
Jan
2010
The Forgotten Fundamentals Of SEO
Introduction:
Firstly, many thanks for taking the time to read my SEO hints and tips e-book on the often forgotten aspects of SEO. This book was written from the collective information and info gathered by Chris Diprose, owner and manager of Kanga Internet. Kanga Web are located in Melbourne, Australia and they specialise in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Net Development for the Joomla Content Management System (CMS).
With Search Engine Optimization there are plenty of unknowns, educated guesses and knowledge gained from personal and associative experience. Google, Yahoo and MSN keep their cards shut to their chest when it involves revealing how their ranking systems truly work. They tell the community trickles of data on what things will have an effect on search engine results, how they’ll be improved and what to do in bound situations, however principally knowing what to do to attain smart results is achieved by learning and arduous work. Much alike other SEO consultants I have gathered data from numerous sources and worked constantly on improving results for customers. I’m continuously looking for brand spanking new intelligent ways that to enhance search engine results. I think in “White Hat” (or a lot of appropriately, “Gray Hat”) principles.
Edition 1 of this e-book is meant for individuals wanting to enhance their websites from the bottom up. I address SEO style fundamentals; the things you would like to think about before embarking on any text and keyword analysis. I hope you discover these hints and tips useful.
Enjoy the readings herein.
- Chris Diprose
The Web site Revelation – What owning a website really means.
As a Internet Developer and SEO consultant I house many existing website owners who are wanting to modify or improve their website. I additionally cope with several individuals who are trying to start their internet presence with a replacement website. Through each of those interactions there is typically a common theme; a misunderstanding or an attitude. I call this a misconception of reality, as often the fact of what the Net can truly do for the persons business and what they suppose it can do differ massively.
Often it is presumed that by merely owning a site and having a web site engineered and revealed on the Net, thousands of folks can magically realize the web site, visit it and get their products. “If you build it, they will return” ought to be faraway from the vocabulary as soon as possible if you’re to adjust attitudes to the underlying search technology. As a businessman in the $64000 World, it’s obvious that it wouldn’t happen outside of the Net ether, thus what’s so different on-line? Maybe it absolutely was the Technology boom ten years ago that caused a rift in understanding or even the excitement that caused the meteoric rise within the stock costs of Tech Companies, I can hear the thoughts of the little businessman, “surely this will be replicated for my business” – in answer I’d say, “well, it is unlikely, however you ought to be in a position to attain some results over time”.
It is most vital when absorbing a project like Search Engine Optimization for a website, to know that it is necessary to be committed for the long haul. It is no little task and sufficient funds want to be allocated to the project. Delivery deadlines want to be properly scoped against required changes, so as to satisfy consumer expectations. The key points of responsibility to the SEO project are in knowing that there are massive changes near the start and during setup but the changes don’t stop once setup, there are a continual ongoing refinements to the design and system over time. During this regard I realize it necessary to manage expectations and set realistic long term goals on what a web site can be expected to realize and in what time frames those goals hope to be met.
Thus what ought to your goal be when you are delving into SEO for your website? Well, everybody’s goal is strictly the identical; improve page rankings, improve page visits and hits and eventually gain additional sales through the website.
When it involves SEO and achieving these goals you have got to own principles and my main principle is, “Sensible websites get sensible ratings and unhealthy websites get unhealthy ratings or none at all.” As time goes on with the improvement of search engine technology and therefore the refinement of search engine results this statement becomes truer and truer. I feel in results through “white hat”(reads; “Grey Hat”) principles and methodologies.
What are “white hat” principles? I guess I’d compare it to doing things the honest way and the proper means without risk. Therefore develop a good web site, promote smart linking, have smart informative content and keep operating on it and then you are on the move to sensible rankings through “White Hat” principles.
Thus, why ought to you are doing things the “white hat” way? Well, search engines do have some kind of understanding, an artificial intelligence. They soon catch on to websites spamming or linking to websites with no relevance and unhealthy cross linking. It’s about being sensible, in for the future and wanting your business to grow organically, naturally.
Thus how do I am going concerning improving my site and creating it optimized for search engines naturally? Well, that’s why you’re here! Thus let’s run through few of the items you must be doing in your websites from a elementary level.
Domain names:
When choosing a site name, select one that’s relevant to the merchandise or service you’re going to produce and that’s as easy as possible. There are concerns of branding and products/service provided that should go into this choice. Involvement of promoting personal and merchandise understanding is required however conjointly consultation along with your SEO professional is advantageous. In this step I might say, take some time and choose wisely. Keep it simple and straightforward to recollect, typically saying it out loud can make it clear whether it can be understood by a simple man.
It is a strongly held belief by many SEO professionals that purchasing a site which is older, and that has been around for a whereas, suggests that it will not be sand boxed by Google. What’s the sandbox impact? Well, it refers to what Google does to a website or domain that’s new or is comparatively unknown by Google. In many instances Google’s Sandbox impact relegates the new domain to sub-optimal inclusion in search results. Irrespective of the sites optimization it lowers the websites relevance and ranking to the term searched upon. If you’ll be able to use your recent business domain name, then take into account this very important.
If, however, you are buying a replacement domain name then keep it relevant to the product or service being sold or offered on the website. Keep it close, relevant and simple. Relevance is primary.
Location specific domain or international domain ( .com or com.au)? Personally I suppose dot com’s are higher, mainly because they appeal Internationally however if you want to you’ll keep it location specific and to your region then take into account getting all similar higher level domains, yourdomain.com and yourdomain.com.au, if you can.
Choosing a Host:
Fast, reliable and offers you all you that you need and want. Ideally gives a unique IP. Once more some SEO professionals believe this will also have a detrimental affect in Google rankings but from my experience it generally will and it generally doesn’t. I’ve got had some sites return in with high PR rankings on shared IP’s and others after I shifted to a brand new IP the PR of the location jumped, so this is often still a little bit of a mystery when it involves Google rankings. I suppose a thought
Traffic concerns: When choosing your host guarantee the plan you are on will be expanded so that any new will increase in traffic will be accommodated accordingly.
Web site Style:
There are several elementary things to consider when you’re modifying or designing a website.
Flash:
Flash is has been well-liked for some years currently and I actually believe it’s its place. It’s a nice manner of showing many products or services in a little space, has nice visual impact if done properly and will set a good friendly tone to the web site visitor. Having said that, I also hate flash; it can be an absolute nightmare when it comes to search engine optimization.
What you ought to apprehend regarding flash; it can’t be scan by a probe engine as the search engine cannot read the text or the images contained within it nor will it interpret what is in the pictures being shown.
When it involves flash I might suggest, not making your whole website flash. If you are designing a brand new website and you wish to use flash then use it in high impact areas to capture the eye of your intended audience however use it sparingly. It is important to ensure that as abundant text content(to a maximum discussed in my next book, usually three hundred-500 characters) is accessible on the webpage and in simple HTML.
Frames:
Several older websites were designed with frames. Frames are where the most home page is really a frameset page that includes many other pages into it. This makes the page exhausting to index in search engines and ought to be avoided. While Google do currently index framed sites, it is important to note that most of the opposite high search engines still cannot follow frame links. They solely see the frameset page and ignore the remainder of the inner frames. This presents an SEO downside to us because it is highly doubtless those inner pages contain our content keywords.
Today this can be not really a large issue as it is thus uncommon for a designer to actually use frames but the easiest approach to resolve the problem would be to enforce a no use policy on frames.
Page Layout:
According to analysis the Googlebot trawls internet pages from left to right and prime to bottom. So given this little tidbit of knowledge it’s clear that you must be putting our most precious keywords and data on the left and near the top. Of course this can be a blanket statement and does not take into consideration design principles and beautification. Just keep it in mind throughout style of page layout. Position your move relevant keywords to the left of the page and close to the top.
Sensible HTML Coding:
A lot of HTML generator programs out there bloat HTML to the purpose it’s three-four times larger than what it would be if you hand coded it. Keep it easy, use a text editor, edit your HTML the old-fashioned way; until there is a HTML generator tool deserve use. If you can’t code HTML then do a probe on the Web and realize a decent, free, e-book and learn how to do it.
Javascript:
This is very standard among several net development professionals for menu’s, popups, scollers etc etc. It would be my suggestion to use straightforward plain HTML menu’s or as very little Javascript as doable in net pages. There are a number of small JavaScript menu’s out there that are slim on JavaScript code to reduce this issue and make it nearly negligible. Don’t over litter your website with JavaScript because it increases page size, page load times and therefore the search engines won’t understand it.
Image Sizes:
Keep them tiny and use solely what you would like to. This is often essential for decreasing page loading times and obtaining data onto the users screen as possible.
Overall page size and loading:
The overall page size is a crucial factor. It should load quickly and be easily trawled. If you have got followed the HTML hand coding, used minimal javascript, used easy table layouts and good image sizing then you should be fine. There is a lot of evidence that supports the fact that Google and most likely the opposite search engines conjointly, do not wish to scan huge files, thus keeping your overall HTML page size below 25k is my suggestion.
Dynamic URL’s & page/file names:
Dynamic pages are roadblocks to high search engine positioning. Particularly those who end in “?” or “&”. In a dynamic web site, variables are passed to the URL and the page is generated dynamically, typically from data stored in an exceedingly database as is the case with many e-commerce sites. Traditional .html pages are static – they’re laborious-coded, their info does not change, and there are not any “?” or “&” characters within the URL.
Pages with dynamic URLs are present in many engines, notably Google and AltaVista, although publicly AltaVista claims their spider will not crawl dynamic URLs. To a spider a “?” represents a ocean of endless potentialities – some pages can automatically generate a doubtless massive number of URLs, trapping the spider during a nearly infinite loop.
As a general rule, search engines will not properly index documents that:
• contain a “?” or “&”
• Finish in the following document types: .cfm, .asp, .shtml, .php, .stm, .jsp, .cgi, .pl
• May probably generate a giant variety of URLs.
To avoid complications, contemplate making static pages whenever attainable, perhaps using the database to update the pages, not to get them on the fly.
Slightly Off Topic Thoughts:
The topics lined here are not considered completely SEO topics but in terms of overall objective – increasing sales, this section is very important. Take these things on board, consider them, consult along with your designer and selling team. Create educated and informed decisions on these topics when considering your audience and what your web site objectives are.
Screen Size:
Over 65% of all screens in the World are set to run at the 1024×768 resolution. Of the remaining share, 13% are running at 800×600, twenty% running at larger sizes and a couple of% are unknown. So this affects the means you design. It would be my suggestion to always style for the tiniest user to visit your web site, but often I find 800×600 restrictive therefore I tend to style for slightly larger. Not massive enough to form an 800×600 user angry however giant enough to form it look good on larger screens also. I weigh up my target users, my intended amount of content and realize some happy medium. I usually design for 1000×620 as this can be the perfect quantity of realty for a 1024×768 user once they have the browser prime bar and standing bar and Windows taskbar.
colours and themes:
One necessary aspect of selling – selling – is the use of color. Meanings are connected to colours in the identical method meanings are attached to words.
• Gold is the colour of wealth and prosperity.
• White is the colour of pure innocence and cleanliness.
• Pink is the color of femininity and softness.
• Green is the colour of natural things and freshness.
• Red is the color of danger and stress.
• Blue is the colour the calmness, intelligence. The bulk of the World selects blue as a favourite color. It usually represents “trust”
Use of color to establish an image or a brand is common within the marketing community, nevertheless when you visit the websites of the many search engine optimization skilled’s, it’s obvious that color significance plays no part in their own net optimization. A number of the colours I found on SEO websites:
• Baby Blue, a color that implies weakness.
• Red, a color which implies risk, or danger.
• Orange a color which implies a cheerful “levity”. Orange is one of Americans’ least favorite colors.
Though color choice is off topic for SEO I would contemplate it a very vital factor in what SEO is trying to achieve, in the top, for your website – selling a lot of product, creating loyalty to your whole and customer impact. color research is one thing you must seriously consider. In outline of color selections I’d recommend finding out and learning a lot of about your customers, researching color choices and their relevance to your underlying products and creating informed decisions on these in collaboration. If unsure then I counsel sticking to safe and trusted colors at intervals safe eye pleasing designs.
Gifs for logos & jpgs for pictures:
Ensure you are using gifs for logos and background placements and jpgs for photos on your website. This helps reduce size and improve clarity of the internet site overall.
Browser:
It’s vitally vital to confirm your web page works in each IE, Firefox and Opera. Testing other browsers is additionally a bonus but these are the most 3 in use nowadays (2007). I assume quoting stats on the browser breakdown are irrelevant as you would like it work in all browsers. W3C cross browser compliance is great for this.
Therefore, this brings us to the end of Volume one: Fundamentals of SEO Net Design. There are many things to consider when planning a web site or modifying a web website to form it a lot of SEO friendly. Clearly I’ve got some a lot of volumes left in SEO for websites.
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