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If you need an SEO consultant, you might look in the BST services threads for someone more qualified than me. In fact, I frequently use the BST forums to make service purchases. I've found that the sellers on mmo are some of the best in the world if you do your research before choosing a service provider.
Instead of responding to private messages, I'll just create this thread from now on.
Search engine optimization 101:
Keep in mind that Search Engine Optimization isn't a quick fix. It's crucial, but you can only optimize as best you can because nobody knows the specific algorithms used by the SEs. When creating a new website, there are a few things that you should always include. Don't worry too much about getting it all right; instead, focus on making sure you're actually making progress toward your goals.
Give careful consideration to the title, description, and keywords you use in your meta tags. The keywords meta-tag isn't as crucial as everyone else seems to make it out to be, but it does help me keep track of the various keywords I use. When you have multiple websites, it helps to keep as many reminders as possible. It's possible that when revisiting a previously worked-on site, you won't recall your previous train of thought. You can use the metatags to keep track of your site's data just as the SE can. A good rule of thumb is to use and use correctly anything that won't hurt you for SEO but might help. Make sure to use the title meta-tag, and aim to incorporate keywords therein. Use the description meta-tag, as this is what Google will typically use as the summary to display in the search results. Write it like you're talking to people and not a search engine; that's what will get people to click on your link in the search engine results page. Don't make the mistake of using the same metatags for every page. Spend the effort to make them unique for each page.
Make compelling content. Make sure the content is good. The original purpose of the internet was to disseminate content. All the work you put into SEO and backlinking will be for naught if your content isn't original and compelling. If you give the people what they want and tell them where to find it, they will come. If it's any good, word of mouth will spread and new users will sign up on their own because they like what they've found. The basic concept is the same. Therefore, always go for maximum quality in both page layout and content. If you have duplicate content on multiple pages of your site, the search engine will likely punish you.
Your content is the whole point of your site, not just something to make Google happy. What will convince site visitors to take the action you desire is the content and the organization of that content. If it's not good, people won't stick around, and almost none of them will leave by clicking on your AdSense or affiliate link. (Yes, of course, if you're up to no good, you can direct the browser to do whatever you want; however, that's a topic for another time.)
Put your keywords in there. Try to have a keyword density of around 2% in the content, and maybe 4% for the whole page including the metatags, alt tags, anchors, etc., and organize your content properly by using a few title headers in the content that include keywords (use header tags h1, h2, etc.).
Verify the integrity of your.htaccess file. Choose a slant and stick with it for your url. If you go the www route, stick with it throughout all of your links; don't mix and match. When possible, I use a 301 redirect to reroute users from www to non-www urls. If you don't do that, Google may interpret every page on your site as duplicate content. It's not the end of the world if that's the only problem with your site, and fixing it is a breeze. Do a search, there are plenty of other threads explaining how to set up a redirect in your.htaccess file. If you can't locate it here, try searching the web. Apples only.htaccess, too if you're using an Apache server; Windows servers handle this slightly differently; if this describes your situation, search Google for instructions. If your linking is consistent, the redirect won't be necessary unless you start receiving unintentional backlinks from other sites. If you use Google Tools, it's important to indicate whether you prefer the www or the non-www version. (If you don't already have one, you should definitely create one so you can access webmaster tools and analytics.)
The robots will cause file not found errors on your server unless you create a robots.txt file and add a favicon. Make sure your robots.txt is set up properly. Generating a personalized "page not found" error message is simple. Make a sitemap.xml file if your site has more than a few pages. Sitemaps are useful because they tell search engine crawlers exactly how to navigate your site. If you need help with any of these things and don't know how to do them, a quick Google search will get detailed guides.
There isn't much else you can do for on-site SEO, really. People usually picture on-site SEO when they think of SEO, but that's just the simple and quick part. Stop procrastinating and get to work.
Everything else, including link building and advertising, falls under "off-site" SEO.
You should direct your attention here. If there is a silver bullet, it would be here.
Start building your link profile with social bookmarks, directory submissions, profile links, and blog comments. Buying these links from a service is not a bad idea. Although simple to create, they are most effective when posted from numerous accounts and IP addresses. To get a feel for the process, it's recommended to do some of it yourself at first, before outsourcing the work in larger quantities. You need many links, but too many will hurt your rankings. You can learn more about how an unnatural appearance can result from rapid construction by doing some online research. It's up to your best judgment to decide how many and how quickly to move. Don't rush into complex linkbuilding strategies before you gain some experience. While linkwheels and similar link structures have the potential to boost your site's rankings, improper implementation can have the opposite effect.
Make use of keyword anchor text and title/alt tags on your backlinks whenever possible. Avoid overusing the same anchors; instead, switch things up by using three or four distinct keywords and even a few anchors that aren't keywords. You want it to appear as though many different people have taken an interest in your site, so you need to make the links look as though they were generated by a random number generator. The goal of any backlinking strategy should be to mimic the organic growth of a site. If you are successful, the SEs will place you highly in their rankings, bringing your simulated reality one step closer to fruition. The goal is, of course, to increase visitors.
Anchor text replacement is in order. The point of backlinking is to give the impression that increasing numbers of people are curious about your site. In order to appear natural, there should be an element of randomness to it. I've seen some fabricated numbers about what works best, but I'd say 45% primary keywords, 35% secondary keywords, 15% something completely unrelated like "Click Here," and 5% just the url is about right. It's not crucial that the percentage be precise, but it should appear natural.
Build keyword-rich articles, embed them with relevant backlinks using those keywords as anchor text, and send them off to article directories. The majority of article directories are trustworthy resources, so submitting an article to one will increase your site's authority and traffic. The next step is to open accounts on various online platforms like forums, social media sites, and blogs. Always remember to add a link back to your site when doing so, increasing the number of backlinks you receive.
That stats the matter. Yes, in a way.
Check your analytics again to see which keywords are bringing in the most visitors, do some light data analysis, and make any necessary changes to your content, tags, and anchor text for inbound links.
Maintain your network. Keep in mind that your goal is to trick the SE into thinking that your site is more popular than it actually is. When this occurs organically, new links to your site will continually be generated. If you want people to take you seriously, you'll need to adopt the same behavior. Building backlinks is an ongoing process.
So, there you have it. That's search engine optimization 101, right there. Everything else is nuanced and needs to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis for optimal results.
Read the threads in the White Hat SEO forum and do some online research if you have any further inquiries before sending private messages to other members. There is excellent data available, compiled by people far more knowledgeable than I.
Experts in search engine optimization are welcome to elaborate, and any mistakes they find are fair game for discussion.
I truly hope this is of use to someone. :beerchug:
Instead of responding to private messages, I'll just create this thread from now on.
Search engine optimization 101:
Keep in mind that Search Engine Optimization isn't a quick fix. It's crucial, but you can only optimize as best you can because nobody knows the specific algorithms used by the SEs. When creating a new website, there are a few things that you should always include. Don't worry too much about getting it all right; instead, focus on making sure you're actually making progress toward your goals.
Give careful consideration to the title, description, and keywords you use in your meta tags. The keywords meta-tag isn't as crucial as everyone else seems to make it out to be, but it does help me keep track of the various keywords I use. When you have multiple websites, it helps to keep as many reminders as possible. It's possible that when revisiting a previously worked-on site, you won't recall your previous train of thought. You can use the metatags to keep track of your site's data just as the SE can. A good rule of thumb is to use and use correctly anything that won't hurt you for SEO but might help. Make sure to use the title meta-tag, and aim to incorporate keywords therein. Use the description meta-tag, as this is what Google will typically use as the summary to display in the search results. Write it like you're talking to people and not a search engine; that's what will get people to click on your link in the search engine results page. Don't make the mistake of using the same metatags for every page. Spend the effort to make them unique for each page.
Make compelling content. Make sure the content is good. The original purpose of the internet was to disseminate content. All the work you put into SEO and backlinking will be for naught if your content isn't original and compelling. If you give the people what they want and tell them where to find it, they will come. If it's any good, word of mouth will spread and new users will sign up on their own because they like what they've found. The basic concept is the same. Therefore, always go for maximum quality in both page layout and content. If you have duplicate content on multiple pages of your site, the search engine will likely punish you.
Your content is the whole point of your site, not just something to make Google happy. What will convince site visitors to take the action you desire is the content and the organization of that content. If it's not good, people won't stick around, and almost none of them will leave by clicking on your AdSense or affiliate link. (Yes, of course, if you're up to no good, you can direct the browser to do whatever you want; however, that's a topic for another time.)
Put your keywords in there. Try to have a keyword density of around 2% in the content, and maybe 4% for the whole page including the metatags, alt tags, anchors, etc., and organize your content properly by using a few title headers in the content that include keywords (use header tags h1, h2, etc.).
Verify the integrity of your.htaccess file. Choose a slant and stick with it for your url. If you go the www route, stick with it throughout all of your links; don't mix and match. When possible, I use a 301 redirect to reroute users from www to non-www urls. If you don't do that, Google may interpret every page on your site as duplicate content. It's not the end of the world if that's the only problem with your site, and fixing it is a breeze. Do a search, there are plenty of other threads explaining how to set up a redirect in your.htaccess file. If you can't locate it here, try searching the web. Apples only.htaccess, too if you're using an Apache server; Windows servers handle this slightly differently; if this describes your situation, search Google for instructions. If your linking is consistent, the redirect won't be necessary unless you start receiving unintentional backlinks from other sites. If you use Google Tools, it's important to indicate whether you prefer the www or the non-www version. (If you don't already have one, you should definitely create one so you can access webmaster tools and analytics.)
The robots will cause file not found errors on your server unless you create a robots.txt file and add a favicon. Make sure your robots.txt is set up properly. Generating a personalized "page not found" error message is simple. Make a sitemap.xml file if your site has more than a few pages. Sitemaps are useful because they tell search engine crawlers exactly how to navigate your site. If you need help with any of these things and don't know how to do them, a quick Google search will get detailed guides.
There isn't much else you can do for on-site SEO, really. People usually picture on-site SEO when they think of SEO, but that's just the simple and quick part. Stop procrastinating and get to work.
Everything else, including link building and advertising, falls under "off-site" SEO.
You should direct your attention here. If there is a silver bullet, it would be here.
Start building your link profile with social bookmarks, directory submissions, profile links, and blog comments. Buying these links from a service is not a bad idea. Although simple to create, they are most effective when posted from numerous accounts and IP addresses. To get a feel for the process, it's recommended to do some of it yourself at first, before outsourcing the work in larger quantities. You need many links, but too many will hurt your rankings. You can learn more about how an unnatural appearance can result from rapid construction by doing some online research. It's up to your best judgment to decide how many and how quickly to move. Don't rush into complex linkbuilding strategies before you gain some experience. While linkwheels and similar link structures have the potential to boost your site's rankings, improper implementation can have the opposite effect.
Make use of keyword anchor text and title/alt tags on your backlinks whenever possible. Avoid overusing the same anchors; instead, switch things up by using three or four distinct keywords and even a few anchors that aren't keywords. You want it to appear as though many different people have taken an interest in your site, so you need to make the links look as though they were generated by a random number generator. The goal of any backlinking strategy should be to mimic the organic growth of a site. If you are successful, the SEs will place you highly in their rankings, bringing your simulated reality one step closer to fruition. The goal is, of course, to increase visitors.
Anchor text replacement is in order. The point of backlinking is to give the impression that increasing numbers of people are curious about your site. In order to appear natural, there should be an element of randomness to it. I've seen some fabricated numbers about what works best, but I'd say 45% primary keywords, 35% secondary keywords, 15% something completely unrelated like "Click Here," and 5% just the url is about right. It's not crucial that the percentage be precise, but it should appear natural.
Build keyword-rich articles, embed them with relevant backlinks using those keywords as anchor text, and send them off to article directories. The majority of article directories are trustworthy resources, so submitting an article to one will increase your site's authority and traffic. The next step is to open accounts on various online platforms like forums, social media sites, and blogs. Always remember to add a link back to your site when doing so, increasing the number of backlinks you receive.
That stats the matter. Yes, in a way.
Check your analytics again to see which keywords are bringing in the most visitors, do some light data analysis, and make any necessary changes to your content, tags, and anchor text for inbound links.
Maintain your network. Keep in mind that your goal is to trick the SE into thinking that your site is more popular than it actually is. When this occurs organically, new links to your site will continually be generated. If you want people to take you seriously, you'll need to adopt the same behavior. Building backlinks is an ongoing process.
So, there you have it. That's search engine optimization 101, right there. Everything else is nuanced and needs to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis for optimal results.
Read the threads in the White Hat SEO forum and do some online research if you have any further inquiries before sending private messages to other members. There is excellent data available, compiled by people far more knowledgeable than I.
Experts in search engine optimization are welcome to elaborate, and any mistakes they find are fair game for discussion.
I truly hope this is of use to someone. :beerchug:
