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Don't Make Your Head Spin, Read This First!

By: Dan Enlow, Wed Apr 5th, 2006 01:44:38 AM

Search Engine Optimization

This article is basically for anyone and everyone new to SEO. So, if you are a SEO veteran then this article probably isn't for you. I have been living in books and articles about SEO for a few days now and I have found a lot of great information that can help you optimize your website.

First off, You must AVOID these SEO practices...they can get you banned from search engines. Being banned from Google will actually put a MASSIVE BLOW TO YOUR WEBSITE TRAFFIC! Don't know about you but I want to be friends with Google. :)

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Avoid These Common Practices...

1. Stuffing keywords in the META tag. It is a good idea to have your basic keywords included in your meta tag. Do NOT overstuff keywords in the tag. Google doesn't even check in the META tag for keywords anyway but they will ban you if they think you are trying to cheat the search engine. So, since it doesn't help anyway why would you want to do it?

2. Stuffing keywords in the IMG ALT tag. Yes, you do want descriptive words for your pictures just in case the pictures won't load but don't OVERLOAD! I have seen a lot of websites that try to stuff 100s of keywords in there. Another great way to try to get banned.

3. Putting keywords on website using hidden text. Hidden text is text that is the same color as the webpage background. Sometimes people try to get more keywords on the page that anyone viewing the webpage will not see but the search engine spiders will. This is considered cheating and can get you banned.

4. Having keywords in the text that doesn't naturally flow in the text. That would be stuffing keywords in the text where they wouldn't belong if you were just talking to someone. This really comes down to not hurting your message to your reader! The reader is most important! If you are trying to sell things online the reader is the CUSTOMER! They are the whole reason for the website!

Do These Things Right...

1.Keywords! This is the part that most people mess up with. It is imperative to know exactly which keywords you are focusing on. A big mistake a lot of people make is focusing on the big keywords that have the most competition such as..."work at home", "home business", etc. You want to be able to narrow it down at first and later on when you start having traffic to your site you can start focusing on those big keywords.

Yes, it does take a lot of time when researching good keywords to use. Just don't be afraid to do a little work! You do not get something for nothing. You must invest time and energy to create anything worthwhile. (Sorry, i'll stop ranting now!) A great keyword tool to use is Good Keywords (http://www.goodkeywords.com) and best of all it is FREE.

2.Learn how to optimize your page!

Ok, now that you have picked some keywords you want to use, be sure to choose a main keyword that will rank your page the highest in the search engines. You will want to place your top keywords in your web page title (the least amount of words in your title the better). Next, you want to place your main keyword in your h1 HTML tags and your second keyword in h2 and so on. In your text you will want to have around 1-2 keywords per paragraph. Remember, DON'T OVERDO IT!

Here's a quick tip: Search engines scan your web page from the top left corner to the bottom right corner. Keep that in mind when creating tables in your page. Also, if a search engine sees an empty cell it will skip an entire column! That's great to know if your main content you want the search engines to see is in the middle cell.

The first and last thing you want a search engine to see is your main keyword. That's why it is put into the title tag. You also want to put your keyword at the very bottom of your page.

Properly use the img alt tag. Remember...don't stuff it full of keywords because that will hurt you more than help, but you do want to put a valid description of your image. Just find a way to fit a keyword in the description without spamming!

You might find that bolding your keywords just 1 time throughout your main text can also help out but be sure as always not to overdo it!

I hope this will be able to help some with optimizing your web pages!

If you would like more information about optimizing your web pages for search engines just shoot me an email and I will gladly email you a free ebook about search engine optimization. It is written by Brad Callen, a SEO expert. It is the easiest book on SEO I have ever found. Great for beginners! A lot of ebooks on this subject are way too technical and are hard to read but not this one!

Brad also has a great software title called SEO Elite, which is the best SEO software I have ever seen. If you are serious about SEO then this software is a must have! Get it here: SEO Elite

About the author: Dan Enlow, founder and owner of QualityIPA.com, reviews home based business opportunities and products and helps people make quality decisions that will put money in their pocket!