How can I optimise
my website for search engines?
- Use the right content management system
- Define your keywords
- Find out your current ranking for your chosen keywords
- Use your keywords in the right places on your pages
Use the right content management system
If you are using iCode then you have already ticked this one off. If you are not using iCode then check this list of things that will make your website less "search engine friendly":- Using frames.
- Intro pages with very little machine-readable content.
- Javascript menus - search engines cannot follow the links to your other pages.
- Flash menus - ditto.
- Graphical menus rather than text - the search engines cannot get clues from text within the link.
- Bloated HTML code.
- Stylesheets and scripts included within the page rather than as separate files.
- Errors in the HTML code.
- Important keywords rendered in images rather than text - search engines cannot 'see' images.
- Headings styled using styled P or DIV tags rather than standard HTML header tags.
- Database-driven pages with querystrings (cryptic stuff after the "?" in the web address which tells the server what information to retrieve).
- Content generated by scripts.
Define your keywords
Saying 'I want my site to be top of the search engines' is meaningless. You must first define which phrases you want to be found under.
Draw up a list of a dozen or so phrases that you think people will type into a search engine. Then use a tool like www.KeywordIndex.com or WordTracker to discover how many times people actually type those phrases into search engines.You should now have a list of phrases that are likely to be used by potential customers to find your product or service.
Find out the ranking for your website
You'll want to know what effect your search engine optimisation strategy is having, so start by measuring your current rankings.
Google Rankings is an excellent tool for this purpose. Type in each of your key phrases and it will report your ranking on Google, MSN and Yahoo. Bear in mind that this tool is global, it will not tell you how you rank if people select 'only search the UK'.
Where to put your keywords
Search engines give more credibility to keywords used in sentences in a natural way. So just "stuffing" keywords into a page is unlikely to do much good, and in extreme cases could have a negative impact.Domain name
Often overlooked is the domain name. Search engines give a lot of weight to keywords found in the domain name, especially if the keywords are hyphenated, e.g. "spanish-holidays.co.uk".
If you are choosing a new domain name, give some thought to including some keywords within the domain name.
Page Title
The page title appears at the top of the browser, and many other places. The page title appears at the top of the browser when someone looks at your page. It also provides the text when someone adds the page to their favourites. And it appears in the browser's history.
Search engines also figure that the page title ought to be a fairly important indicator of the web page's content, so make sure it contains the important keywords that you would like it to be found under.
You can set the page title by right-clicking the page in the left panel or in your website's menu.
File name
Search engines look at the filename for your page to see if it gives clues to the content. By default, your page's file name will be the menu text with the spaces replaced by hyphens. For important pages that will be around for a while it is a good idea to manually set the file name to ensure it contains just your important keywords.
Once you have set the file name, don't change it unless you really have to, otherwise links to the page from search engines will not work until the page is re-indexed.
Separating the words with hyphens is important, if the words are separated by underscores or not separated at all, the search engines may not see them as separate words.
To set the file name just right-click the page in the left panel or in your website's menu.
Headings
iCode websites use standard HTML "header tags" which tell search engines how much weight to give content.
Make sure your pages have a main heading (heading 1) that gives search engines and human visitors the keywords they need to decide the relevance of the page.
Use subheadings (heading 2 to 6) to visually break up your pages and highlight more keywords.
Body text
If a phrase is found near the top of the page it will count more than if it is lower down. Indeed, search engines may not even read the whole page. iCode websites use highly optimised HTML code so that the visible text on your page is not buried amongst HTML formatting.
Links
Search engines look at the words within links to a page. This is one of the reasons it's better to use text links than graphical links.
Try to include keywords within links to your web pages. This includes links from other sites, and links within your own website.
Example:
Click here for more info - BAD!
Read about holidays in Spain - GOOD!
Those who are serious about SEO will encourage links from other sites. Non-competing sites are usually happy to do this, provided you link to them in return. Be clear to others what text you want in the link to your website. The text adjacent to the link will also be taken into account, so reciprocal links often have four or five words within the link itself, followed by a sentence or two of keyword-rich text.
Make sure that you only get links from genuine websites with content related to that on your own website. Links from 'link farms' are a bad idea, and can have a detrimental effect on your ranking.
Alt text
'Alt text' means 'alternative text for images'. It is used by screen readers for the visually impaired to tell them what the image is about.
The alt text is also read by search engines, so make sure it contains those vital keywords.
To set the Alt text in iCode just right-click an image.
Meta description
Meta description should be one or two lines in readable English that describes the content of the page.
The Meta description will not get indexed by search engines, but it is often used to provide the text for your entry in the search results. So make sure you encapsulate what this page offers potential visitors.
The meta description is easily set in iCode by right-clicking on a page in the left panel, or a page in your website's menu.
Meta keywords
Meta keywords are words that are included in your web page which are invisible to viewers. Their purpose is to act as a guide to search engines as to the content of the page.
At least, that's how it was in the old days. These days they are completely ignored by search engines, and can be ignored. So why does iCode allows you to set keywords? Quite simply because some people still believe that they hold magic powers!
A few more tips
Content is King!
Keeping your website up to date with lots of relevent content is the best way to get good search engine results. Websites that lie dormant for long periods will slip down the rankings. Search engines figure that websites that have not changed for a while are less likely to provide current information.
The 123Live content management system provides a quick an easy way to update the content of your website, so it need no longer be the chore that it once was.
Optimise pages as well as the website
Web pages are separate, independent documents and are seen as such by search engines. Although some keywords and phrases will run throughout your website, consider 'tuning' individual pages to particular keywords.
Consider your "human" visitors
Don't get so hung up on search engine optimisation that you forget your real human visitors. People need to find relevant, concise information about your product or service, don't let search engine optimisation get in the way of this.
The rules will change
Search engine technology changes frequently in order to provide the most relevant results to users. Your ranking may therefore fluctuate wildy. Don't worry about this too much, it is better to take a long term view.
The worst thing you can do is to try to trick (or 'spam') the search engines, as this can result in your site being de-listed permanently. Given time, if you follow these basic rules you should see your website ranking improve.
Be patient! It may take months or years for your efforts to turn into the results you wish for.
Don't be too optimistic - and be realistic! If you are planning to sell mortgages and expect to be found on a search for 'mortgage', bear in mind that you will be up against 100 million other web pages.