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Comprehensive Introductory Guide on Search Engine Optimization for Beginners

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Welcome readers! This ebook offers an introductory yet comprehensive guide on Search Engine Optimization or SEO for beginners. It was researched and compiled by a freelance writer, blogger, SEO, and social media consultant. This ebook is available for free through various sources. If you believe you have benefitted from this compilation and would like to contact the author for questions, comments, suggestions, hire offered services, or to even send a complimentary monetary incentive, please feel free to leave a message through the authors personal blog www.freemindsfreelines.com and use the contact form found on the site. Disclaimer No part of this manuscript may be used for mass reproduction and distribution. However, parts and portions may be quoted provided that a link redirecting to the blog www.freemindsfreelines.com is utilized as a reference.

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What to Expect
Table of Search Engine Scores for various elements: Keywords Links Meta tags Content SEO and Additional Elements Domain Names, URLs, etc. I. Introduction SEO Defined 1. The Functionality of Search Engines 2. Variations among Popular Search Engines II. Keywords the Most Relevant Element in SEO 1. Selecting the Proper Keywords to be optimized 2. Keyword Density 3. Keywords in Specific Areas a. URL and File Name Keywords b. Page Title Keywords c. Heading Keywords III. Backlinks Another Relevant SEO Element Backlinks Defined The Relevance of Backlinks Anchor Text Methods Used When Building Backlinks 1. Backlink Builder Tool 2. Submit Site in Directories 3. Article Directories and Forum Boards 4. RSS Feeds 5. Affiliate programs 6. News Updates and Press Releases Link Methods that are not recommended IV. Metatags Meta tags Defined Meta Description Meta Keywords Meta Robots V. Content is King Defining Good Content Writing SEO Content for Search Engines and for Real People SEO Killers Duplicate Content, Spamming, and Fillers VI. Visual Elements and SEO 1. Images 2. Videos, Movies, and Animation 3. Frames 4. JavaScript VII. Static and Dynamic URLs VIII. Gain Greater Traffic by Promoting Your Website 1. Submit your site to website directories, forum community boards, and others 2. Secondary Search Engines 3. Advertisements and Submission Services

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Keywords
1 <title> keywords tag It is vital to use keywords in <title> tags due to the fact that search results will display the contents of the <title> tag as the title of your site or page. Title tags should be comprised of no more than 7 words and the keyword should appear at the start of the title. Placing keywords in site or page URLs is advantageous such as http://sitename.com/seo-services.html, in which SEO services is the targeted keyword for optimization. But in case the keyword is not actually located anywhere on the text content, do not expect to achieve anything by placing it in the URL. This is one more factor which needs to be considered. Keyword density for major keywords is advisable at 37% and for minor keywords; it should be at 1-2%. Keyword density beyond 10% appears forced, unnatural and can be deemed as keyword stuffing. Keyword placement in anchor text is also vital, particularly anchor texts used for inbound links. If the keyword used for an anchor text found in other sites redirects to your site, it is counted as a vote for you by search engines. Its a vote not solely about the site but the keyword as well. Keywords placed in headings also matter. But make sure that such keywords are actually used within the text content. Keywords at opening sentences or paragraphs also matter but not as much as keywords located in the anchor text. This does not always apply to the very first paragraph. There are cases, such as in tables, wherewith the opening is actually not the first phrase or sentence on the table but the first paragraph after the table. Search engine spiders do not crawl images but they read the image descriptions found on the <alt> tag. So if there are images in your site or page, maximize the use of the <alt> tag by adding keywords to it. Meta tag keywords are not of primary importance to Google but are still considered highly by Yahoo and Bing. So make sure to utilize these tags correctly. It will cause no harm to have it done, so why not do it? Proximity in keywords refers to the distance between +3

URL keywords

+3

Keyword applied content

to

density text

+3

Keyword placement in anchor text

+3

Keyword tags in <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, etc. headings Keywords at opening sentences or paragraphs

+3

+2

<alt> tag keywords

+2

Meta tags keywords

+1

Proximity

in

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keywords

keywords. It is of course preferable to write the words closely such as, dog food with no interfering words in between. In case there are words in between them such as dog being in the first paragraph and food in the third, it still counts. But having no interfering words between the keywords is still better. Proximity in keywords is applied to keywords consisting of 2 words or more. Aside from keywords, keyword optimization can also be performed through keyword phrases. These are keywords composed of a few words such as SEO services or even longer. Keyword phrases to be enhanced should be highly searched ones. In this way, you get exactly the same words in search results. It is also logical to apply SEO for 2 or more words i.e. SEO and services. aside from phrases. Enhancing minor keywords is advantageous because everyone else is already working on primary keywords. This lessens the competition and will eventually result to more hits for sites and pages that are enhanced using minor keywords. As an example, real estate New York may result to thousands of hits more compared to using real estate alone. If you are targeting New York only, you may receive lesser hits but at least the traffic gained is from a locally targeted audience. Keyword roots are not much of an issue with the English language since most words are derived from the same root word. So if you used the word dog on your site or page, you will also receive hits for other related words stemming from the same root word including dogs and doggy. It may become a problem for other languages, however, since not all words are derived from the same root word. You can also optimize synonymous words related to the target keyword. Like the previous entry, this applies well for sites written in English. It is because search engines also consider synonyms when measuring the ranking of websites. This does not apply to sites written in other languages when calculating keyword relevance. Errors in spelling happen all the time, even when searching for keywords online. So if you happen to know misspelled or equivalent words of your targeted keywords, you may consider optimizing your site through them too. It will gain traffic for your site but will not impress your readers. It is recommended to use misspelled words in meta tags only and not in the actual content when optimizing. +1

10

Keyword phrase

11

Minor keywords

+1

12

Keyword roots

+1

13

Synonymous words

+1

14

Misspelled keywords

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15

Diluted keywords

An overuse of keywords, particularly those that does not correlate with each other will not benefit the primary keywords in terms of rank. In fact, it will dilute or drown them within the content.

-2

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Keyword stuffing

Unnaturally forced keywords which are used in a density of over 10% is considered keyword stuffing. Stuffing keywords may result to your site being banned from search engines.

-3

Links - internal, incoming, outgoing

17 Anchor text incoming links for As explained in the keywords section, the anchor text for incoming links is one of the most vital elements to achieve good ranks. In relation to this, it is recommended to choose a keyword for the anchor text although it is not necessary to do so. Aside from the anchor text, it is also vital to know the reputation of the site where the incoming links are coming from. Sites with higher PR or page rank provide more valuable incoming links. Links coming from sites related to yours add more value to an incoming link. It creates an impression that competing sites vote for you and that you are known as an authority in your niche. Links from .edu and .gov sites are valuable than the regular .com, .info, .biz, etc. sites. It is also difficult to gain links from such sites. In general, it is better to have more backlinks. But there are also other factors which must be considered and are more relevant than the total number of backlinks created. These include the reputation of the site linking to you; the anchor text used, if there is any keyword attached to it, and so on. Internal links and their anchor text are also counted but not as relevant as the anchor text for incoming links. The text surrounding the anchor text is also important as it ensures that the link is relevant, natural, and not merely superficially planted to create a link. The more tenure the incoming links are, the better. So to acquire a lot of links in a short period of time may mean purchasing them. +3

18

Source of incoming links

+3

19

Links from related sites

+3

20

.edu and .gov. links

+3

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Total count backlinks

of

+3

22 23

Internal links and their anchor text Text surrounding the anchor text Tenure of incoming links

+2 +2

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+2

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Directory links

Directory links will help but it will be dependent on the directory itself. DMOZ, Yahoo, and other top directories will greatly improve your sites rank but acquiring links from PR0 directories wont help. It may even be considered as link spamming, especially if you have hundreds or even thousands of links coming from such places online. The less number of outbound links found on the site or page which links to your site, the better. This will make your link appear more relevant. Labeled anchors (the targeted area for incoming links) will help not only for navigating within the site but also contributes to SEO. This is due to the fact that labeled anchors highlight the importance of a page, paragraph, or text. The example below shows an example of how labeled anchors appear to be: <a href= #dogs>Read more about dogs</a>. Here, #dogs is the labeled anchor. Google shows no discrimination for incoming links that are created from the same IP address or the same IP classes (type C). Bing and Yahoo! on the other hand disregards links from the same source (IP address or IP class) so it recommended to gain links from varying links and link types. Link farms cause no harm if links gained from such sites are reciprocally created. The notion behind this is that we cannot restrict which sites links to link farms. So there is no penalty for linking to such sites as it is not you deliberately linking to them. But nonetheless, it is recommended to be wary of linking to link farms and other deceptive sites. Google abhor pages which are filled with links, so its best to maintain the number of links to 100 or below for every page. A lot of outbound links does not contribute to improving your sites rank and may even worsen it. or using Too many links going to or coming from the same site does not benefit your sites rank, whether it is about cross-linking or linking to suspicious sites. Either way, it still connotes spamming or even link buying. For the sake of SEO, not all links are counted in relation to ranking. Although incoming links from sites with negative reputation (i.e. link farms) are non-affecting, outgoing links from your site to them on the other hand is very

+2

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Total count of outbound links from the site which links to yours Labeled anchors

+1

27

+1

28

IP address where an incoming link comes from

+1

29

Incoming links from links farms and deceptive sites

30

Outbound links

-1

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Spamming excessively links

-1

32

Outgoing links to sites with negative reputation

-3

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disadvantageous to your site. Thus, you must regularly analyze the reputation of sites you link to. 33 Interlinking Interlinking happens when one site (site 1) links to a second site (site 2), whereas site 2 links to a third site (site 3), and site 3 links back to site 1. This is only a basic example, there are more complicated techniques used. It may appear to be reciprocal in nature but interlinking has a penalty attached to it. Pixelated links are almost unseen by the human eye and obviously will not be clicked. These are clearly created to try manipulating search engines. -3

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Pixelated links

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Meta tags
35 Meta tag <description> for Meta tags are slowly losing their value, but if there are meta tags which are still deemed valuable, these are the <keywords> and the <description> meta tags wherewith the latter is used to add a description of your website. Aside from the fact that Yahoo! and Bing still take into consideration the contents of the <description> tag, these also provide additional benefits. These are what come up for the description summary of your site in search engine results. The meta tag for <keywords> is also vital, but like all other meta tags, it loses value in the eyes of Google and is looked upon with only a minimal value in the eyes of Yahoo! and Bing. When using meta tags, these should be comprised of 10 to 20 words only. Never use keywords that are not included in the page content, it doesnt help your sites ranking. The meta tag for <language> must be filled out if your website has a specified language used. Search engines have alternative options to recognize what language is used on your sites but you should still fill out the <language> tag nonetheless as they still crawl it. The meta tag for <refresh> is used for redirecting web users from your web site to another. This is only applicable if there is a recent transition from one domain name to another. The meta tag for <refresh> is deemed as inappropriate and may even harm your sites rank. Aside from the <refresh> tag, you can also redirect through 301. +1

36

Meta tag <keywords>

for

+1

37

Meta tag <language>

for

+1

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Meta tag <refresh>

for

-1

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Content
39 Original content Content that is original, valuable, and presented differently from other websites both in words used and topics chosen will definitely help increase your sites rating. Constant change is highly valued. The duration by which updates are made matters. Adding updates regularly will benefit your site the most but it wont help much if the updates made are very minimal. If a keyword in the content is presented with a font which is larger than the ones used for the rest of the content, both web users and search engines notice it more than the rest. Thus, increases its value. The same rule is applicable for headings (<h1>, <h2>, and so one.), which are normally presented in larger font anyway. Applying formatting rules such as bold and italics are other means by which vital words as well as phrases are highlighted. When formatting through bold, italic, and enlarged font, however, caution must be exercised. Otherwise, the exact opposite of what you intended the formatting for might happen instead. Newer contents or those which are constantly updated are preferable. Lengthy pages are usually not preferred. You can receive higher ratings with 3 short files rather than 1 lengthy file on any subject. So it is more recommended to divide lengthy pages into shorter ones. For marketing purposes, separating content (based on IP address, browser usage, and so on) is useful but in terms of SEO, it is not. If there is only one website address but the contents are different, search engines will find it confusing when indexing the content of the page. Although there are nearly no sites that are banned due to coding and design, search engines are still clear in their stand against site codes and designs that are ineffective and improper. Its not just about the aesthetic value. Sites with messed up codes and designs are difficult to index. So with this, it means site codes and designs that are poorly implemented can be harmful. Plagiarized content or content glorifying unlawful +3

40

Duration of updates

+3

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Font size keywords

of

+2

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Applying format to keywords

+2

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How old the content is Size of the content file

+2 +1

45

Separating content

-2

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Site codes design

and

-2

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Unlawful

use

of

-3

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content 48 Hidden text

activities can have you banned by search engines. Hidden texts are applied in black hat SEO. When spiders stumble upon texts which are meant for them but not for human readers, expect a penalty for your site. Cloaking is one more unlawful method. It utilizes separation of content wherewith search engines are made to crawl one version (an optimized one, that is) while everyone else sees an alternate version of the same site or page. Bridged pages which are designed to convince search engines that your site is very valuable when it is actually not, will surely have you banned from search engines. Having identical content on different pages of your site does not help expand it, because sooner or later your site gets penalized for duplicating content. In some cases, identical content is not always penalized. There are article directories or mirroring sites which gain from the act. -3

49

Cloaking

-3

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Bridged pages

-3

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Identical content

-3

SEO and Additional Elements

52 JavaScript Using JavaScript does not cause any harm when applied properly. But if the sites content is widely presented in JavaScript, it will become a challenge for crawlers to crawl it most especially if the JavaScript codes are messed up and prevents spiders from following it. This will certainly affect your sites rank. Sites which are exclusively filled with text only bores readers but all too many images with little text is a sinful act in SEO. The <alt> tag must contain a description that fits the image. But it should not be utilized for keyword stuffing or for information that doesnt match the image. Videos and podcasts are gaining ground but like other elements that are non-text, they are unreadable by search engines. So if there is no script of the text, it will appear as if the videos or podcasts are not present as search engines are unable to index them. Images replacing text links is not good, particularly when the <alt> tag is not filled out. Filling out the <alt> tag is still nothing though compared to a link highlighted in bold, underlined, and enlarged with a 16 point font. You can use images for graphical design only and not for navigational purposes. 0

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Text and images

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Videos and podcasts

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Images text links

replacing

-1

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56 57

Frames Flash

Frames are really, really not good for SEO. These must not be used unless it is needed to do so. Search engines do not include Flash files in their index so if there are any in your site, make sure to include an alternate text to describe it. Good to hear that main pages exclusively available in Flash no longer exist. Main pages that are composed mainly of Flash with no HTML are considered a suicidal act in SEO.

-2 -2

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Main page in flash

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Domain names, URLs, and Web Familiarization

59 URLs and domain names that are keyword rich Access to site sections and pages Having URLs and domain names that are keyword rich are very vital particularly for Yahoo! and Bing. Access to site sections and pages is a basic factor but is disregarded most of the time. Sites or pages which cannot be accessed due to missing links, 404 page error messages, password restricted sections, and other related error messages are not indexable. Search engines love sitemaps, especially if it is updated and comprehensive. It doesnt matter if its formatted in basic HTML or is written in a special Google formatting. Search engines love big websites so the rule is that the larger the website is; the better. Large websites are not user friendly at times and cannot provide easy navigation due to their size, so it may be necessary at times to break large websites into a number of smaller sites. There are no websites being banned because they contain more than 10,000 pages though, so there is no need to break your site apart just because it is growing in size. +3

60

+3

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Sitemap

+2

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Website size

+2

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Domain age

Just like wine, more tenured sites gain greater authority. The reason behind this is that tenured and established sites can be trusted (they have been existing for long and are more likely to remain) more than budding sites which have just been recently created and may probably die soon. Keywords found in domain names and on site content are not the only ones which are vital. The websites niche is also relevant when it comes to site rating. This is due to the fact that when the niche of the site falls under one theme or topic, the rank of all pages related

+2

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Website niche

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to it will be increased too. 65 Location of within the site files The location of files within the site matter too. Those that are found anywhere within or near the root directory of the site are ranked higher than those which are found further below. A main domain is preferable than sub domains. For example, a main domain like www.freemindsfreelines.com is much better than a sub domain like www.freemindsfreelines.blogspot.com. TLDs dont have the same value. Some TLDs are preferred over others. As an example, the most used TLD which is .com has an advantage over .info, .biz, .ws, and other domains. But all these are conquered by domains .edu and .gov. Hyphenated URLs make the website addresses more readable and also improve SEO ranks. This is applicable to hyphenation in domain names as well as the whole site name found in the URL. The length of the URL actually doesnt make a difference but if it is very lengthy, it may appear like spam. So it is recommended to keep the URL length to no more than 10 words with 3 or 4 applied for the domain name and 6 to 7 to complete the site address. The IP address may have an implication for websites hosted in a shared or a free hosting service, most especially if the type C of IP addresses is banned because of unethical techniques like spamming. Adsense is not connected to SEO rating. Google does not increase your sites rank because of Adsense. It may become an additional source of income but is not associated with search engine ratings. Like Adsense, Adwords is also not connected to search engine rank. Adwords can help gain greater traffic to your website but does not directly contribute to your sites score. Website downtime makes your site inaccessible and so if it is always experiencing downtime, it becomes unindexable. This matters only if your web hosting service cannot be relied upon and offers an uptime below 97% to 98%. Search engines have a preference over static URLs although some websites with dynamic URLs may +1

66

Main domain versus sub domains

+1

67

Top level domains or TLDs

+1

68

Hyphenated URLs

+1

69

Length of the URL

70

IP address

71

Adsense does not contribute to site rank Adwords is not associated with your sites score Website downtime

72

73

-1

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Dynamic URLs

-1

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dominate search results at times. Lengthy dynamic URLs with more than 100 characters and symbols are disadvantageous. These must be rewritten into a version which is SEO friendly and readable by humans. You can use dynamic URL rewriter tools to have it done. 75 Session IDs Session IDs are far worse than dynamic URLs. Session IDs must not be used for content which you would need search engine crawlers to index. Banning robots from an extended area of a website will create a domino effect on other areas because crawlers tend to visit sites with a noindex rule less often. If not utilized correctly, redirects can cause damage such as when the targeted site does not load or even worse, the redirect will be deemed as a black hat strategy when the web user is redirected to another page right away. -2

76

Banning robots through robots.txt Site redirect 301 and 302) (like

-2

77

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I. Introduction SEO Defined

Every time you enter a keyword or set of keywords on a search field and hit the enter key, a list of websites shows up on the search results. Web users often visit websites listed at the top of the list since they are thought to be of greater relevance to the keywords being searched. If youre wondering why some sites rank higher than others, then you should know that this is due to a powerful Internet marketing method called Search Engine Optimization or SEO. SEO is a method which enables your website to rank higher than millions of others in relation to a searched keyword. SEO thus contribute in increasing your websites traffic from search engines. This tutorial on SEO will discuss all information you must learn about Search Engine Optimization including its definition, how it works, and the different criteria used by search engines when assigning ranks to websites.

1. The Functionality of Search Engines

The first thing you should know about SEO is that search engines are not actual humans. Although this is very obvious, how humans and search engines take a look at web pages is not the same. Search engines are not viewing web pages based on text, like humans do. Despite advancement in technology, search engines have not evolved to an intelligent form which can appreciate website designs as well as the audio and moving images in movies. Search engines are crawling the Web, taking note of specific items in a site (mostly the text portion only) to understand what a website is all about. This short explanation is not the most comprehensive yet because next we will see what search engines do in order to provide search results. They will crawl, index, process, calculate relevance, and retrieve.

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Crawling is the first thing which search engines do. It is done through software called a spider or crawler. In Google, its a Googlebot. Spiders or crawlers visit links from one to another and indexes everything they pass by along the way. Since there are quite a number of web pages online (about 20 billion), it may be impossible for spiders to crawl a site everyday just to check for newly added pages or for modifications of existing pages. In some cases, crawlers may not be able to visit a site in a month or more. What you can at least check is what the crawlers actually see from your website. As mentioned earlier, crawlers do not have human characteristics. They dont see images, Flash videos, JavaScript encoding, website frames, pages protected by passwords, and insite directories. So if there are a lot of these elements on your website, you should try using the Spider Simulator found below to find out if such elements can be viewed by spiders. If these cannot be viewed, they are not indexed, spidered, or whatever you want to call it. In other words, they simply wont exist for search engines. After crawling, what should follow next is indexing. The page will be indexed and kept in a data storage center for later retrieval. Indexing is the process by which keywords that best describes a web page is assigned. It will be humanly impossible to process a huge amount of information but search engines are able to do so with a breeze. In some instances, they are also having trouble identifying the meaning of a page but you can help them understand pages better through SEO. It makes it easier to have pages classified and will also improve your sites ranking. When a query happens through a search field, search engines will process it. The search engine will compare the keywords being searched with the pages already indexed in the database. It is likely that millions of pages are related to what is being searched; the search engine then begins to calculate the relevance of related pages. Search engines utilize different algorithms in order to calculate relevance. All algorithms follow varying value assigned to common elements such as links, tags or meta tags, and keyword density. This explains why all search engines show different search results for the same keywords or search string. It is also a given fact that search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing regularly update their algorithms. So if you would like to stay on top, you need to adapt well to such changes. This is one reason why you need to be dedicated to SEO efforts. Another reason is of course the constant addition of competition every day. Lastly, search engines retrieve search results. Its simply the process of showing the search results to the browser you are using. Retrieved pages will be displayed based on relevance in a seemingly endless list of pages.

2. Variations among Popular Search Engines

Although all search engines function similarly, the minimal differences among these explains why there are variations when it comes to displaying search results based on relevance. Different search engines have differing considerations. These factors are also considered differently when it comes to relevancy. Some SEO experts sometimes joke about these differences. Some say that the algorithms used by Yahoo or Bing are intended to be the exact opposite of Google. There may be truth in such jokes as different search engines pay attention to different details. So if you intend to dominate more than one of them, optimizing must be done very carefully. One major difference between search engines is on keywords. Yahoo and Bing assign greater significance to keywords on the actual pages. Google on the other hand, places

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more importance to links. Google also compares websites and domain names with wines; the older, the better. Yahoo normally does not play favorites among sites and domains in relation to tenure. This means you may need to wait for a little while longer for your site to mature for Google to recognize its potential but doesnt have to in Yahoo.

II. Keywords the Most Relevant Element in SEO

Keywords play the most important role in SEO. These are what search strings are compared with. So selecting the right keywords for optimization is the first and most important step for a higher success rate in any SEO campaign. Not succeeding in this step will result to a difficult and obstructed road ahead where you will most probably end up wasting your money and time too. There are various methods used to choose keywords which can be optimized and the final selection from the list of keywords can be determined only after carefully analyzing what web users are generally searching for, which keywords are being utilized by the competition, and most of all, which keywords perfectly describes your website.

1. Selecting Proper Keywords to be Optimized

The time where you can easily be on top of search results for a single queried word was ages ago. Today, when the Internet is filled with a huge population of sites, it is almost impossible to constantly (if you can reach it at all) hit that number one spot for a single word search string. Reaching number one for two or three word queries can be closer to achieve. For example, if you own a website about dogs, do NOT attempt in optimizing it for the search term dog or even dogs. You can utilize keywords such as training dog obedience, small dog breeds, recipes for dog food, homemade dog food, and so on instead. There is no assurance of success for one or two-word keywords. It is also difficult and not worth the effort. Rather, it is better to place emphasis on keywords that are very specific and with less competition. Finding out which keywords best describes your websites content is the first step. You probably know your users and will have an idea which search strings they are going to search for your site. You may also use keyword suggestion tools available online to get a few keywords. With a first set of keywords, you can use the Google keyword suggestion tool afterwards in order to find other related keywords, list a few keywords that are most relevant to your site, and view a satisfactory statistics page when it comes to global searches. When selecting which keywords to optimize, there is a need to consider not only the potential number of searches per month but also the relevance of such keywords in relation to you sites content. Although narrowed down keywords receive fewer searches, they have more value than generic keywords because users will be more interested in what you specifically have to offer. For example, there is a section in your site where advice on what to consider when adopting a dog is available. You may realize that keywords adopt German shepherd provides better search results than the key phrase German shepherd dogs. The section will catch the attention of aspiring German shepherd owners and not existing owners. So, when considering the number of monthly searches of keywords, you also need to consider unique keywords which best describes your sites theme.

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2. Keyword Density
After choosing the appropriate keywords which perfectly describes your website and are possibly interesting to your users, the next thing you need to do is to optimize your site to become keyword rich and to reach a good keyword density level for the targeted keywords. Although keyword density is not so important in SEO anymore, it is still a factor for measuring the relevancy of a page or site to a specific search string. Ideally, the higher the keyword density, the greater the relevance of the site in relation to a specific keyword phrase. For major keywords of about 2 or 3, the acceptable density is around 3-7% while minor keywords will do with 1-2% density. You can use keyword density checker tools online in order to check the keyword density used by your site or page. Despite the lack of strict rules for keywords, optimization should still be reasonable with 5 up to 10 number of keywords recommended. Attempting optimization of 300 keywords or so will have you realize that you cannot achieve an acceptable keyword density for a lot of keywords without ending up with overly stuffed keywords that dont sound naturally written either. Worse than that, search engines penalizes keyword stuffing and may even ban your website. This practice is actually deemed an unethical method of manipulating search results.

3. Keywords in Specific Areas

Keywords matter a lot not only in numbers (as in the case of keyword density) but also in where they are specifically used as well. If keywords are placed on the content title and the initial paragraph, this has greater weight than using a lot of keywords at the lower portion of the page. The idea behind this is that the URL (more specifically the sites domain), file or directory name, title, headings for different sections are far more relevant than the actual text found on the page itself. Thus, even if the competition have similar keyword density for the same search string but your keywords are placed on the URL, it will improve your sites rank amazingly, most specially with Yahoos search engine. a. URL and File Name Keywords The site URL and domain name says a lot about a website. The general notion is that if your website is about dogs, the domain name should naturally have dogs, dog, or even puppy. For example, if your website is more about the adoption of dogs, it is of greater effectiveness to use a site domain such as adopt-dog.net rather than animal-care.org. This is because in the former you have two potential top keywords in the URL already, whereas, in the latter theres only one possible keyword and is a minor one at that. When searching for domains that are filled with keywords, avoid greediness. Despite the fact that for SEO purposes, about 5 keywords in the URL is better, it will not be easy to remember the URL. So there is a need to maintain a balance between keywords used in the URL and familiarity with the site it represents. More than 3 words in the URL is in fact a lot already. You may not be able to decide what to use from a lot of ideal recommendations. Also, there is a possibility that good domain names you will come up with can be already in use by other sites. In these events, domain name selection tools can be very useful.

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File and directory names are also relevant. Search engines prioritize pages or sites with keywords in the file name. As an example, http://mysite.com/adopt-dog.html may not be as effective as http://adopt-dog.net/adopt-dog.html but is at least more ideal over http://mysite.com/animal-care.html. What makes keywords in file names more advantageous than keywords used in URLs is the fact that it will be easier to change it in case a new site niche is chosen. b. Page Title Keywords Page titles are one more important place for keywords because <title> tags are often displayed in most search engines (Google included). HTML guidelines do not require adding contents in the <title> tag. You can actually keep it blank and the browsers title field will simply read Untitled Document or something similar. For the sake of SEO however, it is best not to keep the <title> tag blank. You should write the title of the page on it instead. Unlike URLs, you can use a generous number of words for page titles. Applying the dog example earlier, the <title> tag for the domain http://adopt-dog.net may include the following titles: <title>Adopt a Dog - Save Lives and Bring Joy to Your Home</title>, <title>What You Must Know About Adopting a Dog</title>, and other lengthier titles. c. Heading Keywords Headings are often used to categorize different sections of a page based on topic so its easier to read. It doesnt seem fit on a literary sense to use headings for every other paragraph. But for the purpose of SEO it is advisable to have as many heading as can be tolerated on a single page, most especially if the headings contain keywords. There is technically no restriction when it comes to the number of <heading> tags used, i.e. <h1>, <h2>, <h3>,<hn> but headings that are too long are obviously not recommended as theyre very unsightly to read. So you need to be careful when it comes to the number of words used in headings, in the same way you would pay attention to URL length. Another consideration is the layout of the heading itself. The first heading or <h1> is usually displayed in larger fonts. Also, it is recommended to use 7-8 words or even less for the heading. More words used will mean spreading the heading in 2 or 3 lines, which is not advisable and should be avoided.

III. Backlinks Another Relevant SEO Element

Backlinks Defined
For easier understanding, there are classifications of links. These are inbound and outbound. Outbound links begin from your website and redirects to another site. Inbound links on the other hand, starts from an external source redirecting to your site instead. For example, if another site links to your site, the link from that site is an inbound link for your site. However, it becomes an outbound link from the other sites point of view. Backlinks are actually one of the main components to an effective SEO or Search Engine Optimization.

The Relevance of Backlinks

Backlinks indicate how popular a website is. It also measures the relevance of the site. Backlinks are relevant because there are certain search engines such as Google, which gives

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greater importance to websites with a large number of quality backlinks. Search engines rank such websites higher than others when displaying search results in relation to a keyword search. When search engines measure the relevancy of a website to a given keyword, they take into consideration not only the quantity of backlinks connected to the site but also the quality of each link. In determining the quality of links, search engines check the content of the site where your link is placed. When evaluating the quality of links, search engines examine the sites content. If other sites are the source of backlinks for your site and if such sites have similar content or theme with your site, these backlinks are deemed of greater importance to your website. If backlinks found on other sites have different theme from that of yours, then these are deemed with lesser relevance. The more relevant the backlinks are, the higher the quality. For instance, if a website owners site discusses about rescuing orphan dogs, and a backlink for it exists from another site which is also about dogs, then a greater relevance is placed on it by search engines compared to a link about racing cars. Thus, the more relevant the site linking to your own website is, the higher the quality of the backlink it provides. Search engines advocate a fair play among websites and are in search of naturally placed links that comes as a result of a slow but sure process in time. Although it wont be a problem to optimize your websites page for SEO, it will be more difficult for you to entice other sites to create links for your site. This is why search engines place a greater value with links. Also, the criteria used by search engines to classify quality backlinks has become more difficult to achieve, thanks to unethical web owners who attempt to acquire backlinks through deceiving and surreptitious means. Some of which include hidden links or pages resulting from automatically updating pages which simply aims to create backlinks for sites. These types of pages are called link farms. Not only are they ignored by search engines when analyzing links, but creating links through link farms may result to your website being banned for good.

Anchor Text
An anchor text is a link which applies the hyperlink onto a keyword. The anchor text in a link can be considered as one of the most useful tools a webmaster may ever have. Backlinks from various websites wherewith the anchor text is orphan dogs will help build your sites rank for the keyword orphan dogs. Applying hyperlinks on keywords is more powerful than creating links which simply say click here or the like that doesnt describe your site at all. There is a backlink anchor text analysis tool which you can use in order to search for backlinks made for your site and the keywords which were used for the link. Should you ever stumble upon a site creating links for your website but the anchor text used is incorrect, you may contact the sites admin and ask them to update the anchor text in order to associate it with keywords that are of greater relevance to your site. Doing so will help increase your sites rank.

Methods Used When Building Backlinks

Despite natural backlinks which will eventually be created for your site, more quality backlinks should not be turned down. 1. Backlink Builder Tool

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This type of tool allows you locate websites where you can possibly find and plant quality backlinks just by entering related keywords in the search field. After typing in keywords you would like to search for, the backlink builder tool will display suggested sites where you can possibly create links from. 2. Submit Site in Directories If you really want to establish your presence online, then submitting your site to directories like DMOZ and Yahoo is necessary. Its not only about creating free quality backlinks but it is also about promoting your site easily amongst search engines and actual web users. Normally, being listed in website directories is free but the only problem is that you may need to wait for a few months before you are finally listed in the category you choose. 3. Article Directories and Forum Boards Search engines usually index forum boards so participating in forum threads is another option to create quality backlinks using the anchor text of your choice. The backlink created is of greater value if the blog is a highly respectable one. There are some instances wherewith a forum moderator or administrator may edit your reply or at worse, delete it in case it violates the terms of use within the forum though. The forum admin may not even allow links within posts unless it is really necessary. This is very rare but there are forum owners who intentionally block search engines from crawling or indexing the entire boards. So it will be useless to create links in such forums. 4. RSS Feeds You may also offer RSS feeds for free in case some sites become interested. Once your RSS feeds are published in other sites, you gain a backlink for your site and possibly a swarm of visits too. People will visit your site to see more details after seeing the headline published in the other site. 5. Affiliate programs Affiliate programs also provide an opportunity to build more quality backlinks and attract more visitors and potential buyers at the same time. This method can be very costly though since affiliate commissions are normally at 10% up to 30%. If you do have an affiliate program to attract buyers, then is there a reason why you should not use it to gain quality backlinks? 6. News Updates and Press Releases News updates and press releases are not used regularly when building backlinks but you can expect great results in case the method is applied correctly. There are various websites which posts about news updates and press releases for free or after paying a minimal fee. If the press release about a relevant event is written by a professional, it may attract potential visitors. The backlink created about your site coming from a respectable site will also help encourage your SEO attempts. There is an issue though as press releases cannot be released if its not news worthy. This is the reason why we mentioned earlier that news updates and press releases are not often utilized to create backlinks.

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In the past few months, reciprocal linking has been the talk of town. Google had also targeted these in one of their recent updates. In the update, reciprocal links were filtered by search engines. In relation to reciprocal linking, what webmasters do is to create a mutual agreement with other sites in order to exchange reciprocal links in order to build the rank of their sites. In this type of exchange, a web owner places a link which redirects to another site on his own site while the other site will also do the same for your website to return the favor. Problem is, a lot of such links are irrelevant and were not counted anymore. During the whole time, links that are not relevant are disregarded. This had caused the relevancy score of a lot of websites to drop and eventually remove them off the Google top ranks. Google is also working on a patency that will consider not only the popularity of the site you create links for but will take into consideration the trustworthiness of such sites. It means that your site may get penalized by search engines just by creating backlinks for black listed sites. A lot of webmasters own more than a single site. The sites created may or may not be relevant to each other. In case it is the former, you have to be cautious about interlinking various sites on a single IP. If you have a few sites that are related to each other, then creating a link for each of the websites on a single page may not become beneficial to you. Search engines may detect that you are trying to manipulate rankings. A lot of webmasters have utilized the same method. Having numerous links for specific sites coming from a single IP address is called as backlink bombing. One fact is for sure, linking between your own sites will not become advantageous to you from the point of view of search engines. The only purpose for interlinking between your sites is to redirect web users to additional resources available through other sites. If this is the purpose for interlinking between your sites, then it will be allowable provided that the links coming from one IP address alone is done minimally. A single or even two links in one page from time to time will not have the sites penalized.

IV. Metatags
Meta tags Defined
Meta tags function as a summary of the information found on a specific page for search engines crawlers. Meta tags are not visibly seen by site visitors. The most common Meta tags utilized are tags for the keywords used and the sites description. You must insert these tags anywhere in your sites page. Years ago, Meta tags are the main tools used in search engine optimization and you can directly correlate keywords found within Meta tags and the sites rank for search results. Search engine algorithms have improved since then though and it decreases the weight of data found in Meta tags every day. Meta Description The Meta description tag is another option for you to describe your site. It will inform search engines about topics and themes that your site is related to. There are even search engines (like Google) which uses meta descriptions when displaying a summary of your content once it is included in the search results list for a specific search string. So if the Meta

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description written for your site is very descriptive and keyword rich; you may be able to gain greater traffic for your site. As an example, for the site about adopting dogs which we have cited earlier, the Meta description tag may be similar to this: <Meta Name=Description Content=To adopt a dog means to save a life and to bring joy to your household. These are important reasons you must know about when considering to adopt a dog.> Meta Keywords The Meta keywords tag can be possibly used to add keywords which have great relevance to your sites pages. Popular search engines may not consider it but this is still an opportunity to specify and place emphasis on your targeted keywords. You can also include misspelled words and related words to your keywords in the Meta keywords tag. The effect may be very minimal but if it helps improve your websites rank among search engines, why not take advantage of the opportunity? e.g. <Meta Name=Description Content=adopt, adopting, adoption, dog, dogs, canine, puppy, homeless animals, save lives.> Meta Robots Meta robots tag makes specifications about pages and sections in your site that you do NOT want for search engines to crawl and index. There are certain contents which you dont want search engines to index but at the same time, need them to remain where they are placed on your site. Excluding such pages from search engines index can be accomplished in two ways. You can either do so through a Meta robots tag or through a robots.txt file. The latter is a more recommended option. But in case you apply the former, this is how it will look like: <Meta Name=Robots Content=NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW>

V. Content is King
If textual content for SEO is being written exclusively for machines, then optimization would have been very easy. Just choose keywords, use them in specified areas of the article, and watch how fast your hits go up. At some point, SEO writers dont remember that this is not how it works. Real persons read the content and they presume that your article or web content will be beneficial to them in return for the favor of visiting your site. They are expecting a worthy content and these presumptions have developed the system used by search engines in ranking websites.

Defining Good Content

Good search engine optimized content possesses three principal distinguishing elements: Provides relevant information which engages human readers Improves rank for search engines Entices other sites to create backlinks Notice that human readers are on top of the list. Your website should provide valuable content wherewith visitors can engage with. There are not much sites with expertise on a single subject alone to have a very informative niche. Competition sites actually abound.

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Your website can stand out by featuring interviews, useful lists, and researching all information well. Its either you write the content greatly or spend money on hiring a prolific writer. Shelling out for this purpose will greatly reward you in the long run for the greater traffic achieved. Search engines are not your number one spectators but they do matter when it comes to your sites rank. When SEO was first introduced, Meta tags filled with keywords can already drive traffic back to your site. Web users get enticed to stay on a site which offers affordable flight fares and featured advertisements, but that did not bother search engines. Each update made on the algorithm of search engines improved how they differentiate relevant sites from garbage, so webmasters needed to improve their methods too. Instead of Meta tags, keywords were used all throughout the article instead. The algorithm update in April 2011 for Googles search engine demoted the use of keyword and key phrase spamming and assigned greater value to other methods used to evaluate a sites importance to visitors. This change had affected a remarkable population of Internet sites. It included popular business sites to personal blogs and top ranking websites which trusted on keyword stuffing. A lot of powerful sites lost their might down due to this. Although the importance of keywords did not waver, they are not the sole element used by search engines when ranking sites now. The fall of SEO keywords have caused the rise of links. If other sites link or ping your site back as an attention worthy read, a thought provoking rant, or as a source of content with authority, search engines will judge your page or site as something readers may need to see and as a result, increases its points. Applying link baits to your site will attract the attention of search engines and readers who utilize them. The best way to accomplish this is through a powerful and fresh content. Adding social media to the picture, they are also attracted to pages with amazing content. Links provided by social media sites still matter, so entice such sites through a link worthy content.

Writing SEO Content for Search Engines and for Real People
SEO is not about spreading keywords anymore, the way Hansel and Gretel spread breadcrumbs. Newly developed search engines crawl pages as if they were actual readers. Jakob Nielsen from Copenhagens Technical University, a popular research professional and an expert when it comes to how humans and machines communicate discovered that about 80% of a sites viewers actually scan pages instead of reading the content per line. The first few seconds will be crucial for them to decide if a website or page deserves their time. Search engine programming professionals still make use of Nielsens study to apply technique which will create natural and useful rankings. What entices web users in a site also works for search engines. The upper left hand side of the site is the most profitable real estate-like section of the site. This is what viewers will first notice. This section should house texts of great importance so search engines will easily find it. It is also a perfect area for texts inside boxes and for items under a list. Both of these look appealing on more human brains (based on carbon) and machine brains (based on silicon). Text highlighted in bold grabs the attention of humans and machines alike, but the application of these should be done with a sound judgment. A lot of bold texts will appear like your advertising too much and search engines will demote your site because of it. HTML tags for bold and italicization should be applied for text with informative ideas, and not to simply highlight words. The words very or more in bold or italics does not imply anything

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to search engines, so these must be utilized only for placing tags on valuable ideas and headings. Queries now search for related terms and important phrases, not mere keywords. Anyone can get clues from contextual meaning and easily differentiates the word clipping while it refers to hair from the exact word which denotes film or video games. You must make sure that your sites viewers whether human or machine understand if youre referring to German shepherds as one of the breed of dogs or as an enticing job in farming for wool and mutton in Europe. In SEO, your text must be filled with synonyms of related words to make search engines understand what your site is all about. Luckily, there is a method to apply proper words into the content without the need to keep track of the density of keywords and key phrases. All you must do is to write an enticing content which human readers are sure to enjoy reading. As you go ahead and write for human visitors, the problem with pleasing search engines will definitely follow after.

SEO Killers Duplicate Content, Spamming, and Fillers

You already know what describes SEO content of today, but it is also necessary to know what it should not contain. The same research from Nielsen revealed what made web users stay on a website and what turned them off. All search engines consider the same reasons when assigning low ranking to websites or when removing them completely from the ranking. Duplicate content can pull down a website. Even duplicate content that is gathered through lawful means such as linking articles fully to news bits and an ample quote devaluates a sites SEO efforts. Viewers will not keep visiting a website which provides them only with another sites content in summary. If there is no original content to boast of, page ranking will eventually slip down. Although you will not like an ample supply of duplicate content delivered to your site, you do need the fresh information which news feeds provide. So what you need to do is to write up-to-date content based on data gathered elsewhere whenever you can. You will have to exert greater effort to associate and make a summary of news stories or to apply it on a new article only as a link, but applying these steps will place your site in a more advantageous position. If you include enough valuable information combined with great writing plus add useful links, you will see your site in the heights of search engine ranks. The traditional way of using keyword computation and keeping up with the right calculation for keywords is not only old; it will also hurt the ranking of your site. Keyword stuffing is the trademark of websites filled with advertisements, and search engines are aware of it. Making use of associated words and important phrases to emphasize a topic labels your website with relevance and increases it advantage over search engines. A variation in words also enhances readability for human readers. Still citing the Nielsen research, human viewers avoid websites that are filled with fillers. Pure and complete web writing is more valuable than endless pages filled with fluff material. Exaggeration and overly promoting content such as calling a product as ever perfect or the best solution as an example does not add valuable content. Human viewers elude fluff material and search engine software pulls down sites filled with it so it is best to minimize or completely remove it from your sites content.

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Search engines actually update their algorithms periodically in the hope of providing web users with search results that are of greater relevance. The status of SEO art also updates alongside these changes. The only element which remains the same in web content writing is human readers. Pages filled with content which appeals to readers and are presented in a user-friendly format will rank higher. You can use tools online such a Similarity Page Checker in order to determine the similarity by simply entering the URLs of both sites.

VI. Visual Elements and SEO

It was noted earlier that search engines cannot index certain elements such as images, audio, videos, and Java Script. Rather, they depend upon the text content and description provided in relation to such files for indexing. In a way, this scenario can be comparable to how everything works about 10 years ago. The Meta tag allows you to write a description of your site and search engines utilize this description in order to analyze and index your site and page. In the future, there may be a possibility for search engines to index the aforementioned types of data. But for now, the idea is still far from reality.

1. Images
Images are an important element in any web page and from a web master or designers perspective. It is no ordinary element but a necessary feature in all sites. But search engines and web designers do not share the same idealism. For search engines, everything else other than the text fades away in the background. Web designers may find it difficult to understand that links based on text (with correct anchor text) as well as a pure text page presentation in exchange for attractive images is not a fancy but a necessity. True, it will be a struggle to maintain a balance between the application of both art and SEO in a website. But because of the fact that even the most appealing site is not visible online if it does not attract search engines, compromising visual appeal is a must. With everything that has been mentioned, the bottom line is not about completely removing images. Of course, this is not feasible because it will leave the site empty and unappealing. Instead, the real score is about using images to illustrate the text or decorate the site and not for navigational purposes or in worst cases, to display fanciful text or font. Most importantly, the <alt> tag of the <img> must be filled with a relevant description of the image. It is not a requirement for HTML components but it is for search engines. It will not be bothersome to add appropriate file names to the images instead of generic names such as image 1, image 2, image N, and so on. As an example, we bring you an illustration of the proper way to name an image file and to include a detailed description through the alt tag. Sample: <img src=Tom_at _first_month.jpg alt=A photo of Tom on his first month at home as a little pup.> Just make sure that when writing descriptions for the <alt> tag, most especially for smaller images, the content should be no more than 20 words. A small image file with a long description may arouse the suspicion of search engines and may even look like keyword stuffing.

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The issue with videos, movies, and animation can be comparable to images. These are important for a web designer but are not preferable for search engines. For example, an appealing Flash animation welcome is still usually applied for home pages. But you do not realize how disadvantageous this is for search engines. It is in fact the top killer for rankings! It may become worse than that when you apply Flash when narrating a story which can actually be written in textual content and will be easily crawled and indexed by search engines. You can deal with this by creating an HTML version of the Flash based file for search engines. You must also create a robots.txt file in order to restrict search engines from crawling and indexing the Flash file. Otherwise, there may be a penalty for duplication of content. We will not be expounding on the topic of robots.txt file; however, as it is not for starters. Google is trying to develop new search software which will permit the search function to crawl videos, movies, and animation. This technology will also enable .swf format to be accessible and usable for search engines. But since this is not an available technology yet, it is still recommended to minimize the use of Flash in websites or in case it is used, a description in text must be present alongside the Flash file through the <alt> tag.

3. Frames
Its great to hear that frames are starting to become obsolete from the Internet as the days pass by. Web designers love frames about 5 or 10 years ago but search engines never did. Search engines find it trivial to index pages with frames due to the fact that the URL for these pages remains constant regardless of which frame you view. It was confusing for search engines to see that there is only a single URL for 3 or more pages. Search engines follow a rule when it comes to this - that there is 1 URL for 1 page. Although search engines can actually index the pages by checking the links from one frame leading to the next, but this is rather challenging for them. Should you ever use frames nonetheless, there should be relevant description about the site placed in a <noframes> tag. An example will be provided below. It is not for newbies so in case you do not comprehend what it is all about, just bear in mind the fact that the <noframes> tag is used to create an alternate (or a brief description) of your website for search engines and also for web visitors who utilize browsers which cannot interpret frames. Moreover, if you consider the use of the <noframes> tag, it is recommended for you to learn more about it before you actually use it. Sample: <noframes><p>This website works best for browsers that are compatible with frames.</p><p> Welcome! Our site is dedicated for everyone who is contemplating upon the thought of adopting dogs. Dog adoption, particularly dogs without homes they can call their own, is an act of nobility. You rescue the pitiful animal by doing so.</p></noframes>

4. JavaScript
It is a fact that sheer HTML alone does not contribute much when it comes to the complexity of websites and in providing a lot of extra features needed. HTML was not created for advanced web site structures anyway, so it is not expected for HTML to be able to store web session data as well as to handle an actual written database of programs needed by websites of today. This is why other languages for scripting like JavaScript and PHP are used to improve what HTML can do.

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As of the moment, search engines simply skip JavaScript when they see one. Due to this, first off, links that are embedded within JavaScript codes are not crawled. Second, when JavaScript is presented in the actual HTML file instead of uploaded through a .js file when needed, it scatters the HTML file and search engine crawlers will most often than not, jump over it and proceed to the succeeding site for spidering. For the sake of providing information, the <noscript> tag will show an alternate version to be displayed in browsers but the use of this functionality is difficult to discuss, so it not actually worth expounding here.

VII. Static and Dynamic URLs

In reference to the preceding chapter, you probably think that everything about search engines is designed to be against webmasters intentions to create an impressive site. But it was already discussed earlier why search engines are not in favor of additional elements such as images, videos, and other extended programming. You probably also believe that search engines are too audacious to disapprove of dynamic URLs but in truth, web users are also not attracted to URLs such as http://site.com/section.php?cid=2&pid=10 because these types of URLs will not describe what the site or page is all about. There are various explanations why static URLS are ahead of dynamic URLs. First, dynamic URLs are not often present. These come up as a result of an end user action such as completing a form, sending electronic data, and initiating a search with the sites own search engine. You can say that in the eyes of search engines, these types of pages are not present at all, because spiders index pages when they crawl through it, and not by submitting answers to forms. Second, although a dynamic page is created after a user fills up a form and its saved on the server, search engines may still possibly ignore it due to multiple questions and other neither non-alphabetical nor numerical characters present. In the past, search engines does not even index dynamic pages altogether, they are trying to do so today but at a normally slower pace when compared to indexing static pages. This limitation is not to promote the use of static programming only. Websites based on data are exceptional but it will be preferable if pages are presented to search engines in a language they can understand better. This issue with dynamic URLs can be resolved with the use of URL rewriting. All servers and control panels actually have systems which can be utilized in order to rewrite URLs in a format which present them in browsers as if they are standard HTML pages. You can try URL Rewriting Tools available (over the web) in order to change an encrypted text like the sample below: (http://site.com/section.php?cid=2&pid=10) into a more understandable version, such as http://site.com/product-categoryid-2-productid-10.

VIII. Gain Greater Traffic by Promoting Your Website

SEO was mainly created to increase your sites visibility with search engines which in turn elevate your sites rank in search results. This obviously translates to greater traffic back to your site. Acquiring more visits (especially more buys) to your site is the main goal as to why you promote your site. The truth is; SEO is just one of the many ways to promote a website and gain traffic. There are various other options both online and offline in order to achieve the goal of generating greater traffic and extending reach to a targeted group of

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web users. We will not discuss about these in this guide but bear in mind that search engines are not the sole option to attract visits to your website, but they appear to be a better option and it is easier to gain traffic through them.

1. Submit your site to website directories, forum community boards, and others
After applying search engine optimization techniques to your site, the next step is to have it submitted to search engines. Usually, there is nothing needed to be done for your site to be indexed as search engines will normally crawl your site and index it. Although problem is, there is no definite time frame as to when they will crawl your site initially and at what duration they will do so again afterwards. There is nothing which can be done in order for you to entice them to do so. True, you can always utilize their Submit a Site option in order to provide information about your website (URL, most of the time) but it does not guarantee that they will actually crawl your site immediately. Moreover, even after submitting your site URL, search engines will still decide whether or not to visit your site afterwards. Nonetheless, these are the URLs to where you can submit your site in the top search engines: Google and Bing. Yahoo is actually consolidated with Bing now so submitting website URLs are processed as one (Bings submit URL page). Aside from search engines, you can also submit your site to website directories. Although these directories also compile websites based on topic, they are not the same as search engines in a few factors. First, website directories normally employ humans and the websites submitted to them are manually analyzed based on relevance upon submission. Second, website directories do not utilize crawlers to locate URLs, so you must visit them and have your site details submitted. But at least after doing so, your site is listed for all time and you dont need to do anything after. Popular website directories include DMOZ and Yahoo! directory (not the search engine) and these are where you can submit your site for listing: DMOZ and Yahoo!. In some cases, adding link which redirects back to your site in appropriate forums and related sites can generate traffic. You may have to locate these forums and sites that are relevant to your sites specialty but searching through search engines such as Google and other top search engines will help you know what these sites are. As an example, if you love hardware, you can key in hardware forums through the search field and after a few seconds, a compilation of the top hardware forums will be displayed. You will then have to visit each site one after the other as some does not permit mentioning links, particularly commercial ones in posts. Although participating in forums for the purpose of promoting your site will take longer as compared to the time it takes to submit site information to search engines, the benefits derived from such an effort will be worth it.

2. Secondary Search Engines

Primary search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing are not the sole search engines in the world. Nor are they the only search engines designed for general searches. There are other secondary search engines which also exist for the same purpose and will be beneficial in your quest to reach out to a targeted group of web users. You dont have an idea about the total number of search engines specializing in a specific niche such as law-related, educational, and so on. There are actually some which are large websites on their own and collect data on other sites which deal about a specific topic. Most of them however, accept all sorts of sites and have these organized into different categories. So upon finding a

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secondary search engine, you can visit the site and submit the URL of your website for listing. This may provide the traffic you need rather than working your way up to Google.

3. Advertisements and Submission Services

Other options for acquiring site traffic aside from search engines were already listed earlier forum community boards, niche based sites, secondary search engines, and website directories. But if you would want your website to be more visible, you can opt to use paid advertisements and submission services. Yes, getting listed by paying for services which offer such is a sure fire method to be included in search results. A majority of search engines actually offer paid services that will have your site placed on a certain section when a selected keyword is searched by a web user. When considering this option though, you should bear in mind that Internet users normally disdain clicking on links that are paid for display and will prefer normally displayed links. In a way, it may appear a bribe to the search engine to have you assigned somewhere you cant reach by yourself. So its best to ponder upon the advantages and disadvantages of following this idea first before you start subscribing to this type of service.

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