Sunday, July 11, 2010
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
SEO and common sense
So I went out and read a couple articles on Thursday about SEO and got some fairly interesting advice. I had planned to write this right when I was done with my assignment for the class, but instead Jeff wanted us to read an article written by google and the post was due Saturday. Well, obviously I postponed writing the blog post and eventually forgot about it. So today when I realized I hadn't done it yet I hopped online and read the google SEO article. Now this might be because I did a bit of html coding back in middle school, but almost everything in that article seemed like common sense. For most of the article the only thing that wasn't taught in this class or didn't seem like common sense was meta tags, and honestly meta tags are a very basic concept which every webmaster should already know about.
There was one thing I enjoyed reading in the google article was the robots.txt file. I had heard of a way to do that kind of stuff before, but this was the first place that explained it in detail and in plain english. Well, now that I look the article over one more time, rel="nofollow" and the list of free webmaster tools at the end are fairly helpful as well.
I found a couple new articles today because I couldnt find the links from the ones I read last week.
http://www.blog-maniac.com/blog-seo.htm
I liked this one even though it still had a lot of things that seemed like common sense again. It talked about some useful things like link exchanges and trackbacks. Things you might not necessarily think about but are still quite easy to do.
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/new-interesting-insights-into-google-rankings-spam-from-pubcon
This article was actually quite interesting because it tells you how to keep of the "naughty list" essentially. It basically just lists in detail a bunch of ways search engine crawlers classify malicious or spam sites. While there are a couple on there you might have legitimate reasons to do the opposite, chances are you can do them all fairly easily and avoid bringing negative "search engine vibes" to your site.
There was one thing I enjoyed reading in the google article was the robots.txt file. I had heard of a way to do that kind of stuff before, but this was the first place that explained it in detail and in plain english. Well, now that I look the article over one more time, rel="nofollow" and the list of free webmaster tools at the end are fairly helpful as well.
I found a couple new articles today because I couldnt find the links from the ones I read last week.
http://www.blog-maniac.com/blog-seo.htm
I liked this one even though it still had a lot of things that seemed like common sense again. It talked about some useful things like link exchanges and trackbacks. Things you might not necessarily think about but are still quite easy to do.
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/new-interesting-insights-into-google-rankings-spam-from-pubcon
This article was actually quite interesting because it tells you how to keep of the "naughty list" essentially. It basically just lists in detail a bunch of ways search engine crawlers classify malicious or spam sites. While there are a couple on there you might have legitimate reasons to do the opposite, chances are you can do them all fairly easily and avoid bringing negative "search engine vibes" to your site.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Twitter, Facebook set the pace
The recent announcement of bing to establish real time updates with facebook and twitter is a temporary advantage over google at least for now, google is expected to follow suit and they are even rumors that google is going to acquire twitter. Check this link for the story: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/174076/bing_lands_deals_with_twitter_and_facebook.html
Bing may also end up acquiring faceebook it has already invested 240 million on it, but neither twitter or facebook have signed exclusive agreements with either bing or google. The winners of all this are twitter and facebook because they are the ones who came up with real time innovations. Something to keep on mind for users or website administrators is that information posted on information networks became their property and it will be shared to third parties, there is no such thing as privacy on the web. All of this is something to think about when posting information that may possibly have adverse consequences, it’s like when a police officer said when they make an arrest: anything that you say can and it will be used against you in a court of law, as always use caution with what you share, this is just common sense.
Bing may also end up acquiring faceebook it has already invested 240 million on it, but neither twitter or facebook have signed exclusive agreements with either bing or google. The winners of all this are twitter and facebook because they are the ones who came up with real time innovations. Something to keep on mind for users or website administrators is that information posted on information networks became their property and it will be shared to third parties, there is no such thing as privacy on the web. All of this is something to think about when posting information that may possibly have adverse consequences, it’s like when a police officer said when they make an arrest: anything that you say can and it will be used against you in a court of law, as always use caution with what you share, this is just common sense.
Monday, November 16, 2009
SEO the trick behind website design
I never did fully realize how it was that search engines work. An interesting note is that currently my dad works for a search engine department called Fast search. They specialize in searching for parts of a site within that particular site. However, this SEO that we are discussing is much different. This pertains to the larger search engines that search the web to find you the closest match for what you requested. These include the obvious big ones such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing however there are other search engines out there that are a little less remembered such as AskJeeves.
As far as both social networking and bookmarking are concerned, I thought that they article that Jeff assigned really addressed this well. The article discussed some issues that were very obvious when thinking about the issue while also addressing several more complicated ones that I certainly did not know about. An example of an area that I was familiar with was to create accurate page titles. This would help the person searching to find it easier as well as allow the search engine to locate your site easier. An example of something I was unfamiliar with was that of the description meta tag. I found this particularly very interesting and informative. When I was searching on Google, I would often see these snippets at the bottom, however I really did not understand what it was these were. Now I am beginning to see the whole picture much better.
http://online-social-networking.com/the-long-tail-and-social-media
This website discussed several different advantages that you get from combining your social networking sites with SEO. I found this to be an interesting concept that I would not have actually thought of. Now I better understand what was meant for the combination of the two features. Using the combo of the two really seemed to get your site much better recognition and also at a much faster rate.
http://www.deondesigns.ca/blog/top-social-bookmarking-sites/
This site lists out the top social bookmarking sites that are available online. I found this interesting as well because again, I was not very familiar with this concept. Scrolling through these sites I notice a few examples of sites that I am familiar with which include iLike, Google bookmarks, and Twitter. Surprisingly enough I am also not the most familiar with any of these sites either so I plan to look through a few of them to get a better grasp on these. Anyone have a brief summary of this concept that might clear it up for me?
As far as both social networking and bookmarking are concerned, I thought that they article that Jeff assigned really addressed this well. The article discussed some issues that were very obvious when thinking about the issue while also addressing several more complicated ones that I certainly did not know about. An example of an area that I was familiar with was to create accurate page titles. This would help the person searching to find it easier as well as allow the search engine to locate your site easier. An example of something I was unfamiliar with was that of the description meta tag. I found this particularly very interesting and informative. When I was searching on Google, I would often see these snippets at the bottom, however I really did not understand what it was these were. Now I am beginning to see the whole picture much better.
http://online-social-networking.com/the-long-tail-and-social-media
This website discussed several different advantages that you get from combining your social networking sites with SEO. I found this to be an interesting concept that I would not have actually thought of. Now I better understand what was meant for the combination of the two features. Using the combo of the two really seemed to get your site much better recognition and also at a much faster rate.
http://www.deondesigns.ca/blog/top-social-bookmarking-sites/
This site lists out the top social bookmarking sites that are available online. I found this interesting as well because again, I was not very familiar with this concept. Scrolling through these sites I notice a few examples of sites that I am familiar with which include iLike, Google bookmarks, and Twitter. Surprisingly enough I am also not the most familiar with any of these sites either so I plan to look through a few of them to get a better grasp on these. Anyone have a brief summary of this concept that might clear it up for me?
SEO is here to Stay
Search Engine Optimization(SEO)....not the first thing I think about when I set out to design a website. I want to be creative and have fun. Make the site look any way I want it to. The reality is, my efforts would all be for nothing is I didn't make my website searchable. The main way to find a new site is through searching.
http://www.networksolutions.com/online-marketing/index.jsp
The first site I looked at (using Good Search) was a business that makes websites more searchable. Most of what I could see, without signing up, involved figuring out based on the type if business how to make it more searchable. I never thought that what your business was trying to accomplish would make that big a difference. It does make sense though, considering a business looking to sell products need to approach advertising differently then websites trying to get views or clicks.
Bruceclay.com
The second site I looked at was more informative about SEO. The website reduced SEO to basic keywords and the ability to have as many keywords on your pages. The site also started by saying that there is no one secret, that SEO is something any site has the ability to do.
I thought the google article was interesting, how it showed SEO as being tweeks on the website and shouldn't change the site too much. I always wondered by websites made their titles so long, but that is the first thing looked at for SEO apparently. I also th ink metatags are interesting. It isn't something that would take away in the design of the website, rather just ad to the coding.
http://www.networksolutions.com/online-marketing/index.jsp
The first site I looked at (using Good Search) was a business that makes websites more searchable. Most of what I could see, without signing up, involved figuring out based on the type if business how to make it more searchable. I never thought that what your business was trying to accomplish would make that big a difference. It does make sense though, considering a business looking to sell products need to approach advertising differently then websites trying to get views or clicks.
Bruceclay.com
The second site I looked at was more informative about SEO. The website reduced SEO to basic keywords and the ability to have as many keywords on your pages. The site also started by saying that there is no one secret, that SEO is something any site has the ability to do.
I thought the google article was interesting, how it showed SEO as being tweeks on the website and shouldn't change the site too much. I always wondered by websites made their titles so long, but that is the first thing looked at for SEO apparently. I also th ink metatags are interesting. It isn't something that would take away in the design of the website, rather just ad to the coding.
SEO Ranking
SEO is the process of enhancing the volume and quality of traffic of a web site through search engines. I found an interesting article titled "New Techniques Help to Boost Blog's Ranking in Google," (http://www.prweb.com/releases/SEO/linkwheel/prweb3210134.htm) According to the article, professionals those who make their living online, treat SEO like a sport. Michael Smith of metafever.com, intorduced LinkWheel.net, an invention that re-defined internet marketing especially to people who used this innovation as a factor of the optimization strategy. The structure of the linkwheel is well written in content and then a series of blogs that created on a high PR web 2.0. Overall, "linkwheels are an exciting new prospect and one you must consider if you are targeting a long term SEO strategy.
The Google article on improving SEO ranking is really helpful to web designers. I am new to web designing so I learned a lot of useful and helpful tips in web designing such as robot.txt, the use of images and tags, and so on.
SEO/Social networking
After researching SEO and taking a look at what may optimize search results for your site, I found that the best results are not only in the keywords you use in your page title, but also the positioning of keywords in the 1st paragraph of the body text. Editing the content of your page and the html is also influential to search engine results. One other idea that I found which I didnt know existed was the use of consultants and consulting agencies. They have the expertise to get your site ranked for terms that matter in your pages industry/areas of interest. Linking your site from others sites also can drive traffic to your own site. Here is a site that I found that lists a few tips:
http://www.wilsonweb.com/articles/checklist.htm
SEO and social networking sites work best when you use content in your page relevant to social networking sites, myspace, facebook, etc. Building relationships between your page and social networking sites . Using social networking sites in you SEO efforts requires you to find out what sites are most appropriate for you to frequent. It is useful to become familiar with the culture of the sites, including what kind of content people publish, what’s popular, and how people interact with each other. A site I came upon that has tips for business entrepreneurs is here:
http://yourwebchick.wordpress.com/
http://www.wilsonweb.com/articles/checklist.htm
SEO and social networking sites work best when you use content in your page relevant to social networking sites, myspace, facebook, etc. Building relationships between your page and social networking sites . Using social networking sites in you SEO efforts requires you to find out what sites are most appropriate for you to frequent. It is useful to become familiar with the culture of the sites, including what kind of content people publish, what’s popular, and how people interact with each other. A site I came upon that has tips for business entrepreneurs is here:
http://yourwebchick.wordpress.com/
SEO
Search engine optimization is the practice of tweaking your website to work with a variety of search engine algorithms and the natural users of your websites to create something that both “floats to the top” in organic searches and that users find easy to find, use, and link to. This is, in some ways, the opposite of SEM, or search engine marketing, which leverages paid inclusion in search engine result sets.
At one point, webmasters were in the habit of “stuffing” websites with keywords, repeating the words that they thought would increase their rankings. As early as 1997 search engines began to rewrite their algorithms to disregard such artificial inflations of rank. Since then, in order to achieve an optimized state for your website it is recommended that website designers make good use of all of the elements of the web page and use human-friendly naming conventions in their page URLs.
In practice, utilizing titles, friendly URLs and the tag will achieve better results in overall search-ability than paid inclusion, which cannot guarantee rank, or keyword loading within the body of a document. Following these guidelines in the development of web pages seems to be good advice.
At one point, webmasters were in the habit of “stuffing” websites with keywords, repeating the words that they thought would increase their rankings. As early as 1997 search engines began to rewrite their algorithms to disregard such artificial inflations of rank. Since then, in order to achieve an optimized state for your website it is recommended that website designers make good use of all of the elements of the web page and use human-friendly naming conventions in their page URLs.
In practice, utilizing titles, friendly URLs and the tag will achieve better results in overall search-ability than paid inclusion, which cannot guarantee rank, or keyword loading within the body of a document. Following these guidelines in the development of web pages seems to be good advice.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
S E O
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/
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/
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Search Engine Optimization
“The objective of search engine optimization (SEO) is to increase a Web site's traffic counts, and ultimately conversions, by ranking very high in the results of searches for the keywords in the search query. It is the mission of SEO to make the site's content worthy of higher search engine ranking by being more relevant and competent than the competition's. This SEO process is often viewed as a struggle to rank well for just a few keywords, instead of a struggle to satisfy the needs of those entering the query. If you search on your best keywords you will see the leading sites in the rankings and to obtain traffic for your content you will need to rank higher than those top sites. Our free site and full services optimize and improve your search engine rankings (traffic and profits) via our books, classroom SEO training, search engine optimization tools, site assessments, services including placement advice, tips, information and hints to improve your search engine marketing relative to the existing leaders. After all, better keyword ranking is the first step to increased Web traffic.” (http://www.bruceday.com) Obviously, the best way to increase traffic on your site is to use the correct wording in your title and choice of keywords, and to use a variation the keywords like synonyms because not everybody thinks of looking for a business or other sites the same way. Just the same way a phone book is organized is kinda the same way search engines are organized. If you were to look for your favorite restaurant and looked for it by name, somebody else might look for it under restaurants in a location and somebody else might look for it by what they offer on their menu, so the key to optimization is to select all the keywords that relate to the most popular ways that people search for your site and put in a few of the non-popular ways also to optimize the search engines’ capabilities.
“As far as traffic generation is concerned, there are very few techniques and channels that will beat social bookmarking promotion.
That being said, there are a couple of things that you should know. First of all, social bookmarking traffic is very peculiar. It does not click on ads. It does not stick around on your site. And it rarely subscribes to your RSS feed.
Secondly, not all types of content will work on all social bookmarking sites. SEO and blogging related topics tend to perform really poorly on Digg, for example, while political coverage receive good attention on Reddit. Over the time you will need to find what is the right social bookmarking site for your content.” (http://www.dailyblogtips.com)
Social bookmarking is a good way to get your site out there but with the difficulties it poses it is not always the right choice to make for your site promotion. If certain sites do not perform well with your related topics it is sometimes not worth the trouble if people cannot view it. So to better optimized your site, sometimes social networking would work better, it just all depends upon your content and desired audience. Jenn Powless
“As far as traffic generation is concerned, there are very few techniques and channels that will beat social bookmarking promotion.
That being said, there are a couple of things that you should know. First of all, social bookmarking traffic is very peculiar. It does not click on ads. It does not stick around on your site. And it rarely subscribes to your RSS feed.
Secondly, not all types of content will work on all social bookmarking sites. SEO and blogging related topics tend to perform really poorly on Digg, for example, while political coverage receive good attention on Reddit. Over the time you will need to find what is the right social bookmarking site for your content.” (http://www.dailyblogtips.com)
Social bookmarking is a good way to get your site out there but with the difficulties it poses it is not always the right choice to make for your site promotion. If certain sites do not perform well with your related topics it is sometimes not worth the trouble if people cannot view it. So to better optimized your site, sometimes social networking would work better, it just all depends upon your content and desired audience. Jenn Powless
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization is basically what helps specific sites get out to the user through a process that is free. In other words, there is no advertising required to make a site get a lot of hits or to make it profitable. SEO helps search queries receive the most relevant sites just by reading simple elements of HTML code.
In the process of creating a site it's important make sure thee is a title for each page that is short and sweet. When someone reads the title it should be instantly recognizable what each specific page is about. Similar to title tags, meta tags also come in handy. They are more specific than title tags as they give a brief sentence pertaining to the content of each page. It's important to make them clear and concise so that they will appear as part of the search results when someone types in a query.
Some people think that social networking should be used instead of SEO as sites can be even more specifically directed to the user (http://online-social-networking.com/social-media-vs-search-engine-optimization). Social bookmarking also applies to this as it enables users to tag websites and keep them organized in a sort of directory. It enables fast access to heavily traffic sites or site that are visited frequently by the user (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_bookmarking). The metadata is used to mark the site. SEO is great to market one's site without having to spend any money. Using SEO is great with social networking as many people are interconnected and care share different sites with one another. It's probably the fastest way for a site to become big. The inclusion of bookmarks also allows for these sites to not only be passed on throughout the Internet but to also be remembered thus building a solid foundation for a specific website and it various deeper content.
In the process of creating a site it's important make sure thee is a title for each page that is short and sweet. When someone reads the title it should be instantly recognizable what each specific page is about. Similar to title tags, meta tags also come in handy. They are more specific than title tags as they give a brief sentence pertaining to the content of each page. It's important to make them clear and concise so that they will appear as part of the search results when someone types in a query.
Some people think that social networking should be used instead of SEO as sites can be even more specifically directed to the user (http://online-social-networking.com/social-media-vs-search-engine-optimization). Social bookmarking also applies to this as it enables users to tag websites and keep them organized in a sort of directory. It enables fast access to heavily traffic sites or site that are visited frequently by the user (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_bookmarking). The metadata is used to mark the site. SEO is great to market one's site without having to spend any money. Using SEO is great with social networking as many people are interconnected and care share different sites with one another. It's probably the fastest way for a site to become big. The inclusion of bookmarks also allows for these sites to not only be passed on throughout the Internet but to also be remembered thus building a solid foundation for a specific website and it various deeper content.
SEO-Caution to Beginners
For web developers and online businesses alike, three little words equate to a very strategic and crucial principle: search engine optimization (SEO). This is the practice of employing a variety of strategies in order to get a particular website ranked higher in search engine results. According to A Discussion on SEO Strategies by Scott Johnson, “it is true that all of the websites that you may view on the Internet are after this very thing to get a better ranking, and who are already on the topmost position are on to remain in that very position. The reason behind this is that the better the ranking a website is having the better are its chances of getting the maximum number of visitors to their website, which would ultimately make their business more profitable.” The higher a website or business ranks in search engine results, the more traffic it will have, the more business it will have, the more it will be able to charge for advertising, etc. SEO, if properly pursued, can have grossly beneficial results for any website or business.
There are a litany of methods by which a developer may improve the SEO of a website. According to the article SEO and Website Optimization “these site optimizations can be spread across metrics like site accessibility, URLs, meta-tags, site architecture and many others.” The key is to knowing which tweaks to make where, and how often. For those, like myself, who are completely in the dark as to how these matters work, the handy dandy guideline published by Google called Google’s Search Engine Optimization Guide alludes to many of the manners in which SEO may be achieved. According to this guide, “Search engine optimization is often about making small modifications to parts of your website. When viewed individually, these changes might seem like incremental improvements, but when combined with other optimizations, they could have a noticeable impact on your site's user experience and performance in organic search results.”
It then goes on to elaborate on ways in which a developer may achieve these small modifications. First, the title is of utmost importance. The more specific keywords placed in the title, the more likely it is to turn up higher on relevant searches. Do not make the title just the title, make it the title and a short description of it in pertinent keywords. The guide offers “The title for your homepage can list the name of your website/business and could include other bits of important information like the physical location of the business or maybe a few of its main focuses or offerings.”
Another way to capitalize on website exposure is to properly employ the usage of meta tags. A meta tag, if used properly, gives Google and others such search engines a brief summary on what the website is about. Meta tags are different from title tags in the realm of SEO in that search engines may use the meta tag as a brief description when the page turns up in a site. Therefore, not only are meta tags used to rank the site in terms of relevance in a search engine result, but it gives the searcher a rough idea of whether that particular site is what he or she was looking for. This fact makes meta tags that much more important.
A third manner in which someone may employ SEO is to improve the structure and composition of URLs. According to SEO and Website Optimization, “If the number of dynamic parameters exceeds two, the length and complexity of the URL increases. With this, user readability as well as search engine comprehension will diminish. Wherever possible use human readable links.” The way to go about this for beginner to intermediate SEO-ers is to simply make the URL simple, easily remembered words. For advanced SEO-ers, rewriting a dynamic URL to a static one can be greatly beneficial. However, this task should only be attempted by experts because the guide states that “while Google is fine with this, we'd like to note that this is an advanced procedure and if done incorrectly, could cause crawling issues with your site.”
Once a developer begins to delve into these basic procedures, he can hone his SEO skills an continue onto the more complex methods associated with SEO.
http://www.selfseo.com/story-19722.php
A Discussion on SEO Strategies by Scott Johnson
http://losangelespublicrelations.com/seo-website-optimization/01466
SEO and Website Optimization by Los Angeles Public Relations Firms
SEO Rankings
The Google article on SEO Rankings was very interesting. It pointed out many new ways of increasing a site's ranking that are actually quick and easy to do. I knew that the title section was important but I did not realize that unneeded words can actually hurt your website. So therefore it is better to include a brief and descriptive title instead. This logic can also be applied to the URLs for your site. By having words in the URL that describe the page, search engines are able to find your website faster and easier. It is very interesting how something as simple as the way you structure your URLs can be the difference between having your site come up on the first or last page. The main message from this article is that there are a lot of small things that go into websites, and all of these parts are typically quickly overlooked. So by taking your time to make sure these small parts are done correctly, you will be able to greatly increase the SEO rankings of your website.
Organization seems to be another main theme of the article. Even though you main think your organization makes sense or is good enough, the search engine may not. If you do not use a simple organization structure that can be easily identified by the search engine, it will either skip over your site or you will fall very far behind other sites because it takes too long to go through your site. This includes the way the site is coded and how the navigation overall is structured. A very complex and hard to understand navigation system will not help your SEO rankings. Also it is important to understand that when creating the site, make sure that everything is done when necessary and appropriate. Do not just add in extra parts for the purpose of trying to increase your SEO ranking. These extra random parts will only have the opposite result for your website according to the article.
I was reading a similar article in the New York Times the other day. It was talking about how with the growing number of websites on the internet, it is getting harder and harder to bring people to your website. So this article from Google includes very valuable information in terms of solving this growing issue. I found this article very helpful and I think developers should pay close attention to it in order to improve their websites. The times are changing and it is time to change the ways that websites are designed. This change is actually good because it will lead to better organized and clearer websites.
Organization seems to be another main theme of the article. Even though you main think your organization makes sense or is good enough, the search engine may not. If you do not use a simple organization structure that can be easily identified by the search engine, it will either skip over your site or you will fall very far behind other sites because it takes too long to go through your site. This includes the way the site is coded and how the navigation overall is structured. A very complex and hard to understand navigation system will not help your SEO rankings. Also it is important to understand that when creating the site, make sure that everything is done when necessary and appropriate. Do not just add in extra parts for the purpose of trying to increase your SEO ranking. These extra random parts will only have the opposite result for your website according to the article.
I was reading a similar article in the New York Times the other day. It was talking about how with the growing number of websites on the internet, it is getting harder and harder to bring people to your website. So this article from Google includes very valuable information in terms of solving this growing issue. I found this article very helpful and I think developers should pay close attention to it in order to improve their websites. The times are changing and it is time to change the ways that websites are designed. This change is actually good because it will lead to better organized and clearer websites.
search engine optimization
The search engine optimization refers to the process of improving quality of traffic to any website. Basically this means that the higher website appears in the search result, the more users it will receive. In term of the Internet advertising, the search engine optimization reflects on how different search engines work and what different users search for. Web developers usually edit the content and the codes of the website in order to increase the relevance of some keywords so that the website would appear in search result more often.
One of the ways that web developers can used to promote their sites, which have been discussed in the Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide, is creating a unique and accurate page titles. In this way, each time your website appear in the search result the contents of that title tag will appear in the first line of the results. This step is a one way that developer used when they are coding the site, yet after launching the site there are many different ways as well to promote the website. One of them would be blog posts, where you can blog about new content or products.
In term of promoting a website on social networking sites, I believe that many people create a user in those sites to represent a company or a website. For example, they use facebook or twitter to update the latest information or products of their sites. So users of that social networking site can get an idea of what’s going on. In this way, they are marketing their sites in those social networking webpages for free.
One of the ways that web developers can used to promote their sites, which have been discussed in the Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide, is creating a unique and accurate page titles. In this way, each time your website appear in the search result the contents of that title tag will appear in the first line of the results. This step is a one way that developer used when they are coding the site, yet after launching the site there are many different ways as well to promote the website. One of them would be blog posts, where you can blog about new content or products.
In term of promoting a website on social networking sites, I believe that many people create a user in those sites to represent a company or a website. For example, they use facebook or twitter to update the latest information or products of their sites. So users of that social networking site can get an idea of what’s going on. In this way, they are marketing their sites in those social networking webpages for free.
SEO and gaining Traffic
Like many web designers and others who make websites, they just want their page to be noticed and used. A successful site is one that not only gains the attention of it's users but also helps them with something that they set out to do by visiting your site. The search engine optimization article that we had to read for class contains a lot of valuable information on this type of topic. Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the process of finding the targeted keyword phrases related to a website. The article points out that many people try to get their website out there by gaining popularity over search engines such as google. They work to achieve high rankings in the search results by a number of different processes. Some processes I already knew but I did not consider many others that important, whereas this article, did.
For one, I knew having grammar errors and not well-picked keywords in your title code could affect your search results in google. However, I had no idea about meta data and tags and robot tags that could be used to help find your page or could even prevent you page from being seen on a search engine like google's or bings. Also, by writing cripser and cleaner code, your website would be more likely to show up on a search engines results. There are many different ways people gain popularity to their site but a key way of doing so would be to use a social networking site. Networking is everything. If you know a lot of people or know a person who knows a lot of people, using a social networking site to gain publicity to your site will be a lot easier. Using facebook or my space would be a great tool in this case to gain creditably for your site.
For one, I knew having grammar errors and not well-picked keywords in your title code could affect your search results in google. However, I had no idea about meta data and tags and robot tags that could be used to help find your page or could even prevent you page from being seen on a search engine like google's or bings. Also, by writing cripser and cleaner code, your website would be more likely to show up on a search engines results. There are many different ways people gain popularity to their site but a key way of doing so would be to use a social networking site. Networking is everything. If you know a lot of people or know a person who knows a lot of people, using a social networking site to gain publicity to your site will be a lot easier. Using facebook or my space would be a great tool in this case to gain creditably for your site.
SEO, Website Promoting
Search Engine Optimization is not something to be over-looked or taken for granted. We have already used some simple methods in our class. I found the following site that describes many methods to improve SEO for your site. First and foremost is to select keywords that are appropriate for your site. For us, the foucs is on optimizing the webpages themselves within the content and tags. Things to make use of is the title in the head section and the alt attribute for images, links, other media. Using the keywords effectively in your content, such as headings and navigation links is a good way to add searcable content. I consider the site map to be one of the best methods that basic users might not create or know about. A site map is like a index that makes it easy for search engines to find all the sites pages. As for methods outside of the website content, there are options for getting on directorise and getting you and your company's name out there. Many of these methods are becoming more focused on the owners of the site doing the work.
Social networking sites are a great way to connect with people, but until I read this article, I never thought of using them to market/promote my websites. I do use LinkedIn, and they have a section of your profile where you can enter up to three website links. Using other sites like Facebook or Twitter can be effective if you highlight products, services, etc on a periodic basis.
Social bookmarking can be used to promote your site in a similar fashion as social networking as described here. One very important technique is to make sure that your bookmarks include interesting content, and not simple promoting your business. For the web developer, the advantage here is to highlight websites that you have built. Not only will people be able to see your work, like a portfolio, but it will also make you customers successful to the point where they might continue to use your services. Particularly for social bookmarking is grouping your links in sites of similar interest. It should have some general theme or industry.
Chuck
Social networking sites are a great way to connect with people, but until I read this article, I never thought of using them to market/promote my websites. I do use LinkedIn, and they have a section of your profile where you can enter up to three website links. Using other sites like Facebook or Twitter can be effective if you highlight products, services, etc on a periodic basis.
Social bookmarking can be used to promote your site in a similar fashion as social networking as described here. One very important technique is to make sure that your bookmarks include interesting content, and not simple promoting your business. For the web developer, the advantage here is to highlight websites that you have built. Not only will people be able to see your work, like a portfolio, but it will also make you customers successful to the point where they might continue to use your services. Particularly for social bookmarking is grouping your links in sites of similar interest. It should have some general theme or industry.
Chuck
SEO
The search engine optimization article contained lots of best practices and things to avoid for search engine optimazation. Much of it seemed like basic good website building strategy, such as not having spelling/grammar errors, and creating a good hierarchy within the website. Some things that I didn't previously know about were meta tags and robot tags that can be used to help find your page or prevent your page from being searched. Following this guide and utilizing the free web developer services that Google offers would be great ways to start promoting websites that we create.
In addition to utilizing code, when creating a new website we should utilize any means available to get the word out. One such way is through social networking sites. This article here discussed some basic ways to promote your websites using social networking sites. The simplest way would be to set up profiles in social networking sites such as Facebook or Myspace, and provide information about our webpages in there. Adding friends, especially others with similar interests, and letting them know about our webpages may not be the most effective means of promotion, but it is a simple way to get the word out.
This blog post here talks a bit about using social bookmarking websites to promote webpages that we create. Its very simple to do. Basically, submit material about your website to the bookmarking website. If users like and rate your content, it can move up through the bookmarking site, gaining more and more viewers. If your content makes it to the homepage, you can gain thousands of viewers within hours. This seems like a very effective way to promote your website, provided you provide your best content on the social bookmarking website and that you post your content on social bookmarking sites featuring topics relevant to the topic of your webpages. I would definitely utilize all of these strategies when creating websites.
In addition to utilizing code, when creating a new website we should utilize any means available to get the word out. One such way is through social networking sites. This article here discussed some basic ways to promote your websites using social networking sites. The simplest way would be to set up profiles in social networking sites such as Facebook or Myspace, and provide information about our webpages in there. Adding friends, especially others with similar interests, and letting them know about our webpages may not be the most effective means of promotion, but it is a simple way to get the word out.
This blog post here talks a bit about using social bookmarking websites to promote webpages that we create. Its very simple to do. Basically, submit material about your website to the bookmarking website. If users like and rate your content, it can move up through the bookmarking site, gaining more and more viewers. If your content makes it to the homepage, you can gain thousands of viewers within hours. This seems like a very effective way to promote your website, provided you provide your best content on the social bookmarking website and that you post your content on social bookmarking sites featuring topics relevant to the topic of your webpages. I would definitely utilize all of these strategies when creating websites.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Moving up in the ranks
Search engine optimization (SEO) deals with the rank number of a website when searched for something related to a website. For example when you search for laptops the Dell, Gateway and Hp websites come up (because they are big in the sales of laptops). Optimization is a very important tool in website promotion because if a person needs information on a given topic they most likely will use a search engine to find desired content, and if your website is on of the top results in a search your name will get to be well-known.
One way of promoting your website is to use Google AdWords. This service gives a person managing a website the option to increase result rank and pay by the amount of clicks per ads. You basically give Google keys words you want to associate to your website and having your site appear when those words are searched, and the website is charged every time someone clicks on their website after a search. Making sure you are specific in using key words and in setting a reasonable budget is something one must take into consideration as described in this New York Times article
Social bookmarking is another way of promoting a website. This is where people can search organize and share websites they have bookmarked. This is people referencing other people's websites and is also a way a website can get its name out there. Instructions explained of this process are explained in three steps in this article http://www.ehow.com/how_4687770_use-social-bookmarking-effectivley.html
Google AdWord seems to be the best way to go in promoting a website because Google is such a household name and has such a wide audience. Another essential way a promotion is word of mouth. It may seems prehistoric in this day and age but it still is effective and can help in promotion efforts.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
SEO
In today's computer-centric economy, search engine optimization is extremely important no matter what business you are in. In brief, SEO is the soliciting of web traffic using search engines. The most common form of this is trying to obtain a higher ranking on the major search engines (google, yahoo, bing).
While few understand how the google ranking algorithm works, resources such as http://www.seomoz.org/article/beginners-guide-to-search-engine-optimization explain some of the things a web host/designer can do to raise your ranking on search engines. Some things include keyword placement, meta data and tags, and making sure your web design code and content is clean and efficient.
Here's an example of how SEO can be crucial for businesses. I had a teacher who wrote a fairly prominent blog on the internet. She had a poor experience at one of her local car dealerships (lets call it Bob's Cars), and decided to post about it on her blog. Since her blog was fairly popular (and had existed for over 10 years), whenever someone searched "Bob's Cars" in google, her blog (containing the negative opinion on the company) came up higher in the search ranking than the actually dealership's website. The dealership ended up giving my teacher a great deal on a car, as long as she took the post down.
Companies are also using social networking sites to promote their businesses. Even though this may seem unnecessary or 'tacky', I feel it can be very successful for promotion. The age old marketing slogan, "any publicity is good publicity" really comes into play here: Social Networking sites pull in record amounts of internet traffic. Companies that host advertisements on these sites are getting their name out, which is important for a business.
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