Five Ways to Boost Your Website's Search Engine Ranking

by Vic Carrara - Successsecrets.co.uk

When people ask me how I earn my living, I sometimes say that I design ugly websites.

Ugly?

Well not quite - but my main aim is always to get the right message across. The right message to the search engines so that they index and give my pages good rankings, and the right message to the visitor so that they can see straight away what is on offer.

There are already several articles on site which deal with design and copywriting (see related links at the end of this article), so here I am going to share with you some of the ways webmasters help guide search engines into giving you good ranking.

Important --- Don't try to fool either search engines or prospective visitors. Getting visitors to your website under false pretences serves no purpose whatsoever. And trying to trick search engines may get your website banned completely.

The 'art' is to reinforce your message, clearly and strongly, so that there is no doubt as to what your webpage offers - and then deliver (preferably OVER-deliver!).

1. Metatags. Few search engines actually check most of them these days. Instead they use complex algorithms to check keyword density and relevance.
   
   (Not sure what metatags are? Right click with your mouse, then click view source. You'll see a set of lines starting 'meta name')
   
   Having said that, the title tag, and to a lesser extent the meta-description tag can still be important.
   
   One thing many webmasters try to do is to use the same phrase in the title tag (check the top left of the screen now), with the headline of the webpage (Five Ways...)
   
   You should also enclose the headline in the <H1 /H1> tags.
   
   This repeated phrase should completely sum up the content and benefits of the page, contain some keywords, make sense, and be intriguing (phew!)
   
   You should also try to repeat the keywords/keyword phrases that you've used in the title/headline phrase in the first few paragraphs of copy.
   
   

2. Comments. Right click and view source again. Scroll down a bit till you see <!-- This is a comment -->. The comment after that comment is the comment ... Just do it and you'll understand!
   
   Not to be overused (I only use one, but you can use a few spread about a page), they help reinforce the webpage message.
   
   Use the keyword/keyword phrases/title.
   
   

3. Image Tags. Pass your mouse cursor over the graphic at the very top of the page. Hold it there a second or two and you'll see a message. Now ideally you would use one or two small graphics which would relate to your salescopy, and then add some relevant keywords/phrases.
   
   You should be given the option of adding these tags easily depending on the web design software you are using. If not, right click and have a ferret about my code.
   
   

4. Link Titles. This is a link (just returns to this page) Put your cursor over it - nothing. Put your cursor over this link.
   
   Some webmasters are seeing a nudge in rankings by using this simple technique.
   
   Normal link:
   <a href="/Articles/get-high-ranking.html">Link text</a>
   With the title added:
   <a title="Get High Search Engine Ranking" href="/Articles/get-high-ranking.html">Link text</a>
   
   

5. Research Your Keywords. Don't imagine what people will type in to hopefully find your web page - RESEARCH, and find out for sure.
   
   Use Overture's keyword tool here
   And Google's keyword tool here
   (New windows will open)
   
   Type in a keyword, phrase whatever, and Overture will tell you how many times it has been used over the month on it's search engines, along with all the different phrases incorporating that word.
   Type in the word free and see what you get.
   The Google keyword tool won't give you numbers, but offers you ideas of other similar words/phrases people might using.
   
   Used together, these are great *Free* tools.

Onward to better search engine rankings!

Best of every success,

Vic Carrara
www.successsecrets.co.uk

PS. The 'rules', or rather guidelines change every day (depending who you listen to). If you are uncertain about a ranking 'tactic', try it out on a less important website first. Then if it gets penalised, your main websites haven't been hurt.

This article is copyright Vic Carrara 2003.
Please contact me directly if you wish to reprint this article.

Related Links:

Webdesign Software - Coffeecup website design software is well regarded, Coffeecup webdesign software...and more
I personally use an old version of 'Dreamweaver'. A bit of learning curve, but once you've mastered it, an excellent piece of kit.
I bought my version on eBay at a good discount.
Visit and register with eBay now: eBay.co.uk - Click here!
More webmaster software here...
And building your website resources here...

Articles:
How Not to Design a Webpage by Neil Shearing
Too Much Design?
Seven Secrets of Good Web Writing (Off site link, new window will open)
Do You Make Your Prospects and Customers Jump Through Hoops?