Search Engine Optimization is a very good and useful tool to increase hits and make your site more widely known. The Google SEO Start Guide was very helpful and informative. There were obvious know-hows such as the title tag but others like the description meta tag were new to me. I didn't know that Google showed the description meta tag. I always thought Google just showed snippets of text from the website. Also, having a good URL structure was also a good tip. Other tips like the breadcrumbs navigation and the customized 404 page are also great ideas. This entire guide had tips of subtle changes but when utilized all together, I bet the search can be greatly optimized. I never really knew how important the individual title, anchor, h1, etc tags were in a website. Honestly, I kind of found it tedious to have all of those individual tags. But after reading this article, I realize that there is a reason for all of the extra work. For example, I used to avoid or be too lazy to put the "alt" in the image tag but the article states that it is also a good method for optimized search.
As for ways to promote my site, I would say that methods would be different depending on what kind of site you have and what demographic group your site targets. But for the general population, I think social media sites such as facebook and twitter are your best bets. After I launch the site, I would try to make maybe a facebook event on the launching or even a facebook group that people can join. Facebook groups are good for discussions and even posting pictures and events within it. For twitter I would maybe make an account for my site and start following people that i think would be interested in my site.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization
http://www.seochat.com/
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I have often used the alt tag in images, but wasn't aware of the importance of the heading, nav bar, etc for anything other than structure and organization. If the keywords are located early in the page's text, I understand that it is more likely to be found by a search engine.
ReplyDeleteI didn't mention in my post, but many sites have started to use the linked image for the company's facebook, twitter, youtube, and digg links. As web designers, this can be a quick and easy way to let people know you have a social site, and quickly allow them to link to it.
Just so you know google doesnt always use the description meta tags (except to index the site). Most often it is just text from the site itself. Your more likely to see the description meta tag used if there is just a ton of pictures on the page, or just a general lack of text.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with you on the laziness factor of the alt attribute in the anchor tags. Everyone should really use them all the time, but I always forget. Hopefully from now on I wont.