Unfortunately simply submitting your web site to search engines will

not drive traffic to your site. Url submission is an integral part of

any effective search engine optimising strategy but you must also

achieve good search positions for anyone to find your listing.

Getting your site listed in the first ten results for a specific

keyword is as much art as a science. Anyone can get to number 1 on a

unique word or trade name, but on a generic key phrase, it's much

trickier. Search engine optimising can be difficult and confusing, but

once you are aware of the key search engine

optimisation techniques, time and persistence can yield a hugely gratifying reward if you get it right.

1. Site design considerations:

a) Do not use frames

One of the biggest potential pitfalls for Webmasters is search engines

that do not index the text within frames. A frame is an HTML page that

"frames" other HTML pages. For example, a search engine may index the

main content of the page but not the surrounding navigation frame. It

is usually best if you create non-framed versions of your site.

If you must use frames, include text in the tag.

Another solution is to create pages (without frames) to act as doorways

or alternate entrances to your site for the purpose of giving these

engines something they can see and index. Optimising a non-framed page

for the search engines will often gain better listings.

b) Try not to use dynamic URL's

Dynamic pages are often ignored by search engine spiders. Dynamic urls

are most common on database driven sites For example.

http://www.yoursite.com/products.asp?ID=dynamic+example

It is important to create static versions of each page your want to be

indexed.

c) Do not have an entirely FLASH homepage

Search engines cannot index pages made entirely with FLASH. When you

submit a page to a search engine a spider will follow the links on the

page and listing the rest of the site. The best way to remedy this is

to create a site map that uses normal html links to every page on your

site, also add a standard HTML link on each page of you site that links

to the site map.

d) Do not use image maps as the only method of navigation

Search engines cannot index the code that makes up image maps. You can

use image maps in your site but you should also include standard html

links. As with a Flash site, create a site map that uses normal html

links to every page on your site. Also add a standard HTML link on each

page of you site that links to the site map.

e) Do not use JavaScript as the only method of navigation

Search engines can't follow links that are within JavaScript, so your

site will not get spidered unless you also have some form standard HTML

hyperlinks that they can follow. You should add some form of standard

HTML hyperlinks to all of your pages on each of your pages so that your

site will be spidered properly. An easy way to do this is to create a

site map page uses standard HTML links to link to every page on your

site. Then add a standard HTML link on each page of your site that

links to the site map.

2. Carefully choose your keywords

Target the wrong keywords and all your efforts will be in vain.

Choose the right keywords and you’ll see your traffic dramatically increase.

Therefore, think long and hard about what keywords people are most

likely to use when search for your site.

3. Optimise your Title Tag

The title tag of your page is an extremely important factor to

consider during the optimisation of a web page for search engines. This is

because many engines and directories place a high level of importance

on keywords that are found in your title tag. The title tag is also

what the search engines usually use for the title of your listing in

the search results. Generally, we recommend that your title tag,

including spaces, be between 50-80 characters long. The optimum level

differs from search engine to search engine.

Tips for optimising your Meta Tags

We recommend including 1-2 of your most important keyword phrases in

the title tag, be careful not to just list keywords. If you just list

keywords you risk being viewed as a spamming the engines which can

ultimately lead to you being blacklisted by the search engines. Your

title tag should include your keyword phrases while remaining as close

to a readable sentence as possible to avoid any problems.

Make your title enticing! Don't forget that even if you get a number 1

listing on the search engines your listing still needs to say something

that makes the surfer want to click-through and visit your site. Since

the length of your title tag could be a little long for some engines we

suggest placing the keywords at the beginning of the tag when possible

so that you do not risk having them cut off. Each page of your site

should have a unique title tag with its own keywords that related to

the page that it appears on.

4. Optimisation of your page content

Your page content is another very important factor in achieving

better search engine listings. Your page content is the information that a

visitor would read from the page. Search engines look through your

pages looking for keyword phrases just like a visitor to your site.

Page content tips:

We recommend that each page you submit has at contains least 200 words.

This text should include your most important keyword phrases, but

should remain logical & readable. Include the phrases that you have

used in your other tags (i.e. metas, alt, headings, title, etc.) during

the optimisation process. Add additional content rich pages to your

site. For example, how-to articles, hint and tips, or tutorials. These

types of content pages not only help you in the search engines, but

other sites may link to them also.

5. Optimisation of your META tags

The head element contains general information (meta-information)

about a document. HTML also includes a Meta element that goes inside the head

element. The purpose of the Meta element is to provide meta-information

about the document.

Most often the Meta element is used to provide information that is

relevant to browsers or search engines like describing the content of

your document. Some search engines will use the name and content

attributes of the Meta tag to index your pages.

This meta element defines a description of your page:

This meta element defines keywords for your page:

The intention of the name and content attributes is to describe the

content of a page. However, since too many webmasters have used Meta

tags for spamming, like repeating keywords to give pages a higher

ranking, many major search engines have stopped using them entirely.

Where they belong:  The correct placement for both meta tags is

between the and tags within the HTML the

makes up your page. Their order does not really matter, but most people

usually place the description first then the keywords meta. Tag limits:

We recommend that your Keywords Meta not exceed 1024 characters

including spaces. We recommend that  your Description Meta tag not

exceed 250 characters including spaces.  

Meta description tips:

Make sure you accurately describe the content of your page while trying

to entice visitors to click on your listing. Include 3-4 of your most

important keyword phrases., particularly those used in your title tag

and page copy.

Try to have your most important keywords appear at the beginning of

your description. This often brings better results, and will help avoid

having any search engine cut off your keywords if they limit the length

of your description.

Meta keywords tips:

Aside from what we mention in the other tips below you should only use

those keyword phrases that you also used in the copy of your page,

title tag, meta description, and other tags. Any keywords phrases that

you use that do not appear in your other tags or page copy are likely

to not have enough prominence to help your listings for that phrase.

Watch out for repeats! You want to include your most important phrases,

but when doing so it can be difficult not to repeat one word many

times. There in no limit, but we recommend that no one word be repeated

in the keyword Meta more than 5 times.

If your site has content of interest to a specific geographic location

be sure to include the actual location in your keyword Meta.

6. Optimisation of your images using

"alt"

The alt attribute is used to define an "alternate text" for an image.

The value of the alt attribute is an author-defined text:

The "alt" attribute tells the reader what he or she is missing on a

page if the browser can't load images. The browser will then display

the alternate text instead of the image. It is a good practice to

include the "alt" attribute for each image on a page, to improve the

display and usefulness of your document for people who have text-only

browsers.

Although not all search engines use the Alt tab it can help your

listings on some of them. We recommend on using 2-3 words for each

image and using it where ever possible.

7. Optimisation of Text Hyperlinks

Search engines use complex algorithms to see if what you are

linking to is something closely related to the content of your page. Some of the

engines look for keywords in hyperlinks and in the surrounding text of

the hyperlinks. We recommend including your most important keyword

phrases in the link itself and possibly the surrounding text.

8. Optimisation of Heading Tags

Headings are defined with the to tags.

defines the largest heading. defines the smallest heading.

This is a heading

This is a heading

HTML automatically adds an extra blank line before and after a heading.

Although they are used less frequently due to new technologies, HTML

heading tags can help improve your listings in the search engines also.

You should include you most important keyword phrases in the heading

tags on your page. Some search engines use them in the analysis of your

page content.

9. Things to avoid attempting

Optimisation techniques for Search Engines

You should not try to trick a search engine in any way because you

risk being blacklisted by them.

Excluding the Meta keyword tag, do not list you keyword one after

another anywhere on the page

An old trick is to try and keyword stuffing the page by using the same

colour text as the page's background. Search engines can detect this

and view it as spam.

Submissions Limits: Some engines do not like more than a certain number

of submissions per day for the same domain. If you exceed this limit,

you may find your submissions for that day ignored. Do not submit the

same page to any search engine more than once in any twenty-four hours.

Do not submit identical pages. You should instead give them different

filename and change the title and, if possible, the content and

keywords for the page.

Do not use any keywords in your keywords Meta tag that do not directly

relate to the content of your page.

Don't use any keywords in your keywords Meta tag that do not directly

relate to the content of your page.

Good luck with your search

engine optimising!