Search Engine Optimization Basics

Search Engine Optimization Basics – Lesson 5

December 2nd, 2009 |

Author: admin

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In the last post we talked about some of the do’s and don’ts of search engine optimization. In this issue we are going to go over some of the common mistakes that are made when it comes to SEO.

Search engine optimization doesn’t have to be hard, but it can be a complicated process, especially if you aren’t very familiar with basic SEO methods. A lot of beginners, and even some professionals continually make the same mistakes when they are optimizing their sites, making it even harder for them to get the page ranking results that they are hoping for.

Fortunately for you, by simply determining what mistakes they make and avoiding them, you can actually fair better than they do, even if you are an SEO beginner. If you are already well versed with the SEO process, then learning these mistakes won’t hurt your chances either, but rather, help improve them.

A lot of people try to use popular or common keywords in order to get people to their sites, regardless if the keywords that they use have any relevance to their site or not. You may be able to generate traffic using this type of method, but since you are not offering relevant content based on your keyword, people visiting your site will just end up leaving simply because you are not offering any content that they are looking for.

: Image via Wikipedia

Instead try to focus on relevant keywords that will help increase the amount of natural search traffic to you website.

As we briefly discussed in the last post, another mistake that people make when they try to optimize their site is over using keywords, or using them repeatedly in the title, tags and body.

They believe that by overloading their site’s content with their chosen keywords, they will be able to trick search engines, and improve their site’s page ranking in the process.

Unfortunately, this is not necessarily the case. Search engines are smart and they will be able to detect if you are trying to over use keywords and they may look at it as “spamming”, and if they do your site will pay the ultimate price by getting itself banned from the search engine’s index.

You may be under the assumption that you don’t have to offer any good content on your site because it is good enough to get and keep the traffic that you are a

ble to produce, but this is the wrong assumption, because relevant content is what will get the search engines and visitors to your site and keep them coming back for more!

People are driven to your site by the keywords that you have chosen, but it is your site’s content that they will be looking for, so make sure that whatever keywords you have chosen to use, those keywords will direct them to relevant web content in your site.

When you take the time to update your site with good content you will ensure that your site will continue to rank well against others offering the same thing. Remember that is the only way that you can get your site to stand out against other sites that are using the same keywords.

HTML errors are a big consideration as well. If your site has a lot of HTML errors when people try to access it, even if it has very good content, chances are people leave as fast as they came. So before you submit your site to search engine directories, you need to check and double-check your HTML codes to avoid any problems with your site, such as slow loading time, browser conflicts, and low page ranking.

Don’t panic if you don’t know anything about HTML. There are many free tools available online that will help you check your website for errors, load time and comparability. Just do a quick search for “website checking tools” and you will find several to choose from.

You also want to bear in mind that search engines detect text when indexing, analyzing and checking sites, and are not programmed to look for graphics alone, so while creating a graphics rich site will look good it may not give it an edge over other sites in terms of SEO.

The basic rule of thumb is to only use a graphic if it contributes something positive to your web site. For instance a header graphic for site recognition, a cover of your product, arrows or check boxes to draw attention to important points, and a button for your subscription or order links.

You will also want to make sure that you use alt attributes with the images that you do include. This will allow easy accessibility visitors that are unable to see the images as well as provide descriptive text for the search engine spiders.

Assuming all search engines are the same is also a big mistake. Each search engine has their own set of rules and they can change them at anytime. That is
why you will want to make it your business to learn what each major search engine requires if you want to attain high visibility.

What ever you do, don’t use free web hosting if you are really serious about increasing your search engine visibility. Search engines will often eliminate
content from free hosts automatically.

These are just a few SEO mistakes that you should avoid. It is up to you to keep up with the search engines rules and regulations so that you don’t spend weeks of wasted effort.

If you invest the time it takes to learn the proper techniques for increasing search engine visibility you will avoid the disappointment of having your site banned and reap the rewards of achieving a good ranking.

Make sure you look for your next post soon. We are going to talk about more about effectively using SEO on your website to reach your target market.

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