Search Engine Optimisation
When ever we build a website for a client they usually, at some point ask how to get indexed by search engines such as Google and how to get to the top of search engine rankings, so we decided putting some useful hints and tips on SEO into a quick blog post was in order.
Getting indexed by search engines is fairly easy but may take a little time. Generally there are two ways to do this; the first way is by manually adding your website to the search engine, like with Google’s add url page, but usually search engines don’t guarantee that your site will be indexed. The second method which is the technique we prefer as it gives your site some merit is to have it linked from another website which has already been indexed by the search engines, this means that next time the site is crawled the crawler will follow the link to your website and hay presto, your site is now indexed with a search engine.
Why does this method give your site some merit? The world wide web is exactly that it is a web of pages with each page having links to other pages and those pages connect to other pages and so on and so fourth. When a website is built with a new domain name and you launch the website, the site is basically floating in the web with no links to it, nothing apart from you know it exists and nothing will find it because nothing knows about it, it just sits there, floating around the void. If you add your site to a search engine, for example Google and they index your site, your site is still basically floating in the great void but now Google know you’re there are have thrown you a rope. The problem now is this, Google have thrown you a life line, so the world wide web now knows about your site and your indexed in Google so your no longer floating in the void but your website is not very important in the web because no one has links to your website and no-one really knows it exist and this means your site has little or no merit in the world wide web. In order to avoid the void and give your website some merit the second option is better because it gives you two or more life lines, one from the site that’s linking to you and one from each search engine which indexes you through that original link. This is a more powerful method as the link which found your site is a real world link, you haven’t asked to be indexed by a search engine but you’re being indexed because you’re important!
Getting to the top of search engines is a little tricky. Search engines use some really funky algorithms these days and they keep them hidden behind lock and key but there are some things which are understood to help raise a websites position on search engine ranking and here are some examples of things you can do. One thing you should do is get your site linked to by as many reputable places as possible as links to your site show your site is important as people are linking to it, there is such a thing as bad links but what you’re looking for honest, links, if you manage to get a link from say the bbc, then you’re doing very well. You also need to update your site from time to time so the search engines know that the site is still active and being maintained and that’s about it. Add keyword and description meta tags, these aren’t used by search engines much these days as they can be abused, search engines mainly look at visible content, data / text people will see because there is more chance that this will be accurate rather than hidden meta data which can have anything written in it. Try and minimise certain types of content, remember search engines can’t read images or flash so keep them to a minimum and use as much HTML and plain text as possible, write text over the images instead of the test in the image.
Getting indexed by search engines is fairly easy but may take a little time. Generally there are two ways to do this; the first way is by manually adding your website to the search engine, like with Google’s add url page, but usually search engines don’t guarantee that your site will be indexed. The second method which is the technique we prefer as it gives your site some merit is to have it linked from another website which has already been indexed by the search engines, this means that next time the site is crawled the crawler will follow the link to your website and hay presto, your site is now indexed with a search engine.
Why does this method give your site some merit? The world wide web is exactly that it is a web of pages with each page having links to other pages and those pages connect to other pages and so on and so fourth. When a website is built with a new domain name and you launch the website, the site is basically floating in the web with no links to it, nothing apart from you know it exists and nothing will find it because nothing knows about it, it just sits there, floating around the void. If you add your site to a search engine, for example Google and they index your site, your site is still basically floating in the great void but now Google know you’re there are have thrown you a rope. The problem now is this, Google have thrown you a life line, so the world wide web now knows about your site and your indexed in Google so your no longer floating in the void but your website is not very important in the web because no one has links to your website and no-one really knows it exist and this means your site has little or no merit in the world wide web. In order to avoid the void and give your website some merit the second option is better because it gives you two or more life lines, one from the site that’s linking to you and one from each search engine which indexes you through that original link. This is a more powerful method as the link which found your site is a real world link, you haven’t asked to be indexed by a search engine but you’re being indexed because you’re important!
Getting to the top of search engines is a little tricky. Search engines use some really funky algorithms these days and they keep them hidden behind lock and key but there are some things which are understood to help raise a websites position on search engine ranking and here are some examples of things you can do. One thing you should do is get your site linked to by as many reputable places as possible as links to your site show your site is important as people are linking to it, there is such a thing as bad links but what you’re looking for honest, links, if you manage to get a link from say the bbc, then you’re doing very well. You also need to update your site from time to time so the search engines know that the site is still active and being maintained and that’s about it. Add keyword and description meta tags, these aren’t used by search engines much these days as they can be abused, search engines mainly look at visible content, data / text people will see because there is more chance that this will be accurate rather than hidden meta data which can have anything written in it. Try and minimise certain types of content, remember search engines can’t read images or flash so keep them to a minimum and use as much HTML and plain text as possible, write text over the images instead of the test in the image.
posted by Phil at
5:14 AM
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