Better Search Engine Rankings (2)
Armed with the results of your keyword research (see last month's column) you should make your website more relevant for the best keyword phrases. Yes, phrases. There are so many (established) websites out there now, that it is virtually impossible to be in the top 30 (let alone the top 10) for just one keyword. On the plus side: two or three keyword phrases are more targeted, so they will convert better!
Search engines value three things most: content, content and content! So, using the best possible keywords you should make sure these phrases appear in relevant content on your website. Not too often, because that is considered spamming, and not too sparsely, because then the page is not considered relevant enough for good rankings.
As far as I am concerned, a lot of good optimization for the search engines comes from using the HTML codes as they were intended, and truly making a site more relevant - for search engines and humans alike. So: targeted use of title, description and keywords, H1-H6 title tags, ALT attributes and all those other things that good designers really should be doing anyhow. Plus of course: good content!
Part 3 next month.
For more information: contact your webmaster, or email Nardo Kuitert at nardo@u-cwebs.com.
Nardo Kuitert is an Internet Consultant with Fergus Website Development and Optimization firm U-C WEBS (www.u-cwebs.com). U-C WEBS also offers Internet advertising opportunities on www.ferguspages.com.