search engine listings

nothing strikes a cord in a website owners mindset like the realisation that "oh my gosh!!!! my site doesn't show up on the first page of google!!!!!!! it's the end of the world as we know it!!!!!!". It absolutely amazes me that people think their site should magically appear where they expect it to. So here goes - my guide to simple stuff that everyone can do to improve listings.

1. Get as many other sites to link to you as possible. The higher the traffic and more popular the sites are that are linking to you, the better chance you have. Scenario: If Amazon and YouTube had permanent links to your site on their front page, you would be in a very good position. (be realistic though… you’ll never get a link from Amazon unless you pay lots and lots of money for an advert). Blogs are a great way to get other sites linking to you. Start up your own! Comment on other like minded peoples blogs (but don’t spam them) – you might be able to strike up a relationship with them so you can swap links.
2. Change the textual content of your site often, while keeping the relevance of the information. Google keeps a copy of your site on its own servers (the copy is called Google’s “cache”), and compares this cache with your actual site on a regular basis. If you have changed the content often, in the eyes of Google you are being seen as proactive in keeping information up to date. You have to ask yourself, is your site static brochure ware? Or is your site a selling tool for your business? Selling tools such as websites need constant refinement to keep information relevant and interesting for your users – otherwise, why would they come back?
3. Major keywords need to be in “heading” format (This is HTML jargon). If you want to be found by the keyword “widget”, it needs to be in a Heading 1 format on the front page of your site. You must target your major keywords and concentrate on these throughout your site.
4. Make sure your HTML page titles display appropriate text. Don’t just give a page the title “Home”, this doesn’t mean anything to someone choosing your site over another one in a search engine listing. Give the page title your business name, followed by what the page is about. E.G. “Widgets Incorporated – About Us”. Even better is to have one of your major keywords in the title.
5. Paid advertising – Pay per click campaigns such as Google Adwords do really work. You need to make the decision of whether it's right for you.

Like I said, simple stuff. There's alot more that can be done.... but I dont feel like getting into that right now. It's actually hard work to keep a site at the top - and pretty dry work at that too. I might do a post later on for the more advanced stuff if I'm in the mood.