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Search Engine Optimization Who Do You Trust
nternet search engines determine which web pages are
exist to organize the displayed in search results), and
seemingly immeasurable therefore, there is less
amount of information available likelihood of webmasters and
on the web. They direct people to search engine optimizers being
pages that are relevant to their able to achieve higher rankings
searches, pages that discuss the by manipulation and spamming.
exact keywords they are looking
for. For a business that receives Each search engine has its own
the majority of its clientele formula and criteria for indexing
from search engines, search and ranking pages. One can
engine rankings can make or break analyze SERPs and backward links
an e-commerce company. (all the links pointing at a
particular web page) and attempt
Search Engines to determine a search engine's
indexing criteria, however, there
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a lot of risk involved in
is the marketing technique of relying on a limited number of
enhancing a website and its optimization techniques.
content in order to increase the
chances of achieving a high rank Because of the unpredictable
on search engine result pages nature of search engines, a
(SERP) under relevant keyword website can easily move from a
searches. top ranking position on a SERP
down to the third or fourth SERP
Search engines are very secretive or even banned from the search
about their criteria and ranking engine altogether.
systems, they continuously update
and revise their algorithms (a To Trust or Not to Trust
mathematical formula used to
There are so many unethical SEO manipulate search engine results
companies that claim to be able to their advantage. These
to achieve your website #1 techniques are high risk or
rankings, they use overwhelmingly illegal and can get a site banned
aggressive marketing techniques, from search engines. Black hat
and attempt to manipulate search techniques can cuase seevere
engine results, that they give damage to the business of an
the industry a bad name. e-commerce company.
The main problem with SEO A few examples of ‘black hat'
companies is that they base their techniques:
methods and techniques on
research, trial and error, and • Hidden text/hidden links:
speculation. As a result of the stuffing your pages with keywords
secretive indexing criteria of or links too small to read or the
search engines, webmasters and same color as the background, so
SEO companies can only make an viewers are unable to see any
educated guess about the ranking difference in the aesthetics of
systems and possible algorithm the page.
revisions.
• Cloaking: using
SEO companies may be able to browser/bot sniffers to serve the
achieve high rankings in search search engine spiders a different
engines for your website, they page than the page visitors see.
are good at what they do, however It is used to show an optimized
it is the way they do it that is page to the search engines and a
precarious and dangerous. different page to viewers.
Some SEO companies may use • Mutiple submissions:
‘black hat', techniques to submitting your domain and pages
to search engines, for example techniques, there are some that
submitting http://www.logobee.com use safe techniques, however I am
and only pointing out that relying on
http://www.logobee.com/samples as an SEO company to achieve top
two seperate urls. rankings for your website is a
gamble.
• Link farms: sites created
soley for the purpose of search As Easy As ABC
engine ranking. These sites are
nothing more than random links You don't have to be a computer
which have no relevance to one genius to achieve higher search
another. engine rankings for your website.
Effective search engine
• Selling PR: sites that optimization can be done by
sell their high PR links for a anyone who has the time and
fee through direct advertisement determination. There exists
and for the sole purpose of hordes of information,
increasing link popularity. suggestions, ideas, methods and
tehnicques about successfully
• Doorways: having one page optimizing your website for
stuffed with keywords that search engines. SEO companies do
re-direct to another more user not use any ‘special' tactics
friendly page. that we don't already know or
that we can't easily research on
• Meta tag abuse: having the internet.
too many keywords in the meta tag
description, title and keywords. Safe SEO techniques:
I am not implying that all SEO • Content: Add valuable and
companies use ‘black hat' relevant content to your site.
The more content the better. Keep HTML header of a web page, that
your paragraphs brief and to the is not visible to browsers. The
point. most common meta tags relevant to
search engines are title, keyword
• Continuously update your and description tags. Title tags
website: Add new information and are the most important tags
new pages to your site. Create a because they contain the
section on your home page information that a viewer sees
containing up-to-date news items concerning your website on a
relevent to your business. search engine results page.
Choose a title that clearly
• Link popularity: represents your business. Make
Participate in link exchanges sure that your all your tags
that are relevant to your contain relevant keywords. Alt
business or that compliment your tags describe the graphical
business. The more inbound links, elements in a web page.
the more important your website
is perceived to be by the search • Header tags: Header tags
engine spiders. Progressively (H1, H2, H3....) are tags used to
build your links. Do not add 500 represent headers and important
links to your site at one time. titles. Use H1 tags for the most
important headers, H2 for the
• Site maps: Include a site next, etc...As well, use bold,
map on your site. Site maps can italics, underlines, and
help your visitors easily surf different font sizes. Spiders and
your site. bots give high value to sites
that contain a variety of text
• Meta tags and Alt tags: and font sizes.
Meta tags contain information
about the website, placed in the • Keep it simple: Make your
site simple and viewer friendly. websites and articles on various
Make you site easy to surf, SEO suggestions.
eye-catching, informative and
interesting. Keep in mind that • For other safe
surfers have a short attention optimization techniques see
span. Google's guidelines for
webmasters
• Stay away from large (http://www.google.com/webmasters
images and Flash images. Spiders /guidelines.html).
have a preference for html text
sites. SEO companies are by the dozen,
attempting to lure you in,
• Keyword density: Keywords convincing you to believe that
should exist in your title tag, they, and they alone, can help
headline tag, description tag and you attain top position results
throughout the content of your on search engines. While you
home page as well as other consider whether to go with an
internal pages. Be careful not to SEO company or not, you may want
over do it though. to do some research on the SEO
industry. You can find some
• Informative and helpful information at
authoritative: Include http://www.google.com/webmasters/
authorative articles pertaining seo.html.
to the topic of your business,
FAQ, tips, how-to's, etc.. Instead of spending big bucks on
achieving big results, take
• Participate in SEO and initiative, do it yourself. Don't
webmaster forums to keep up to spend endless hours worrying
date on SEO techniques and search about search engine results and
engine criteria revisions. Read crawling spiders. While keeping
in mind basic SEO techniques, and bots.
customize your web site for your
human users and not for spiders
About the Author:
Colleen Ryan is the Art Director of Logobee Inc., a logo design firm that designs high quality logos and corporate identity design for businesses worldwide. Logobee Inc. was founded in 2000 and since then the company has grown at an exponential rate.
http://www.logobee.com
Read more articles by: Colleen Ryan
Article Source: www.iSnare.com
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