Search Engine Ranking - 'getting it right from the start'

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phase There are many ways that you can improve the probability of achievinghigher search engine rankings.The most effective way is to consider how search engines rank your pages- during the 'planning' phase of developing your site.Most issues that adversely effect search engine ranking are in-built duringthe design, and are more difficult to remove once the design is complete.Consider that most web design contracts are fulfilled when a site is postedto the web, looks as intended and is functional. What happens to your sitebeyond this is not the concern of the people who designed your site, theirwork is complete.
So if you are fortunate enough to be at the 'specification'stage of planning a web site, there are a few simple things that you shoulddo. Ask the designer specifically what steps he or she will implement to ensureyour site is 'search engine friendly'.
If you pre-arm yourself with a littleknowledge of the subject, you can easily gauge from their reaction just howwell your site will be prepared for search engine submissions. You are notlooking for guaranteed top 10 positions at this stage.
You are looking forsome evidence that the designer understands the basics of how searchengines work, how they 'crawl' your pages, and what they do with theinformation that they retrieve. If their reaction does not instill confidencethat your site will be designed with consideration towards the searchengines, you have one of two choices:- go elsewhere and seek the servicesof a company who can demonstrate reasonable knowledge of the subject,or take it upon yourself to lay down the basic guidelines to your designer.The basic guidelines are: Include all the important Meta tags on each page.
Keywords, Description and Title tags should be included as a minimum, and each should be set to focus on the content of the specific page, remaining where possible within the 'theme' of the site. Add 'robot instruction' tags indicating which pages should be indexed by the search engines and which should not.
If you have pages that detract from the overall theme of the site, use the 'noindex', 'nofollow' tags. Avoid using 'Meta Refresh' tags that are set to automatically direct the viewer to another page.
If you must use 'refresh' set the time to a minimum of 15 seconds. Design a navigation structure that allows search engines to crawl the important content pages from the home page.
This can be done easily using transparent image files and setting them as hyperlinks. Remember that using Java, Flash software or 'Frames' to facilitate navigation, can often present a 'closed door' to search engines, preventing key areas of your site from being indexed.
Use the alt-attribute and name images descriptively. Some search engines read the alt text and it can help, though marginally.
Name pages using keywords. Instead of 'page2.html' use 'american-ginseng.html', if your site is about herbal products! If your site uses 'Frames' there are important techniques that go beyond the scope of this report.
Many search engines cannot navigate through the Framed section of a site, unless the Frames are prepared in a specific way. As a minimum, ensure your designer includes a detailed description about your business, products or services on the 'noframes' page, and ask them to research more specific information about Frames and search engines.
If the site is designed using dynamic content pages as with ASP, consider designing additional pages that use static HTML. Having an 'about us' page in HTML is always a good strategy when using dynamic content pages or 'active server pages'.These are some of the basics to consider when designing a web site.Consider also, 'who will submit your site to the search engines once thedesign is complete?'.
Some of the design companies offering this serviceuse 'bulk submission' software, which in many cases can be ineffective. Werecommend that the first time you submit your site to the 'leading' searchengines you do it manually.
Take the time to follow the instructionscarefully. On directory sites like Yahoo and the Open Directory, youshould only submit your site one time, so get it right.The last point is 'Hosting'.
If you are serious about your web business, tryto avoid free-host sites. Most of them use redirection scripts that some ofthe search engines cannot follow.
If you are considering a 'Mall' site, orany site that is 'template' based, find out the constraints that they imposeon the information you can post to the site. Many will allow only basic text,product and image loading to the site, and may not allow you to load'optimized' HTML pages.Having a web site is all about 'exposure', and search engines provide themost effective vehicle for delivering your site to the masses.
On average,businesses spend around $1500 on improving search engine rankings,usually following a period of being 'lost in the wilderness' of the Internet. Inmany cases, careful design is all that is required, and it need only addaround $200 to the initial design cost of the web site.
If your site is already online then the above techniques can still be appliedretrospectively, though making changes is more difficult than getting itright the first time. Article Tags: Search Engine Ranking, Search Engine, Engine Ranking, Search Engines, Content Pages Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com .