Search Engine Optimization

[Shimmy]

Just curious as to what others are doing to optimize their websites. I have received a page rank 5 from google which is very good in my line of business in comparison to my competition. I am still not coming close to being on the first page for main key word searches though, even though all of the websites ahead of me have a smaller page rank. Does anyone know how this works and what I can focus on?

Thanks!

[Evan]

Congrats on your success Shimmy! A 5 Page Rank is very respectable for a small business website. How long has the site been around for?

[Shimmy]

I have had the website for 6 months and have done a lot of work to get a higher ranking and more google traffic. I am number #1 on MSN search engine but not even close in google. Why??? There doesn't seem to be a reason why the top websites are there. We have more content and more links, I believe.

Any advice???

[enlivener]

Congrats on your efforts! Some things you may want to consider are the keywords used on your homepage. More specifically are your target users searching, in high volume (between 200-1000 hits/mth), for the keywords on your website.
Check out Overture and use the Keyword Selector Tool
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchi ... suggestion
Secondly, you may want to use the same keywords in the title area of your homepage. Thirdly, use one of these keywords, 2 to 3 times in the description area of your website and on the homepage. This will trick the google "bots" and may help to increase your ranking.

[Evan]

Great comments enlivener!

Shimmy, you may just have to wait it out with Google - they don't tend to send much traffic to newly setup pages so at 6 months you should be coming online soon! If your competition is much older than you this is probably why they're ranking well.

[myownboss]

Hello, I'm just launching my website and want to get it ranked in google - what are the first steps that you need to take to get a website ranked?

[tim.rob]

One of the most important aspects to getting your website noticed is using the proper keywords.

For instance, our site is all about product packaging design.

So all of our title tags have "product packaging design" in them.

As well you should makes sure the keyword is located in the body of the homepage, as well as in links to other pages.

A keyword, by the way, is a search phrase used by Google and Yahoo users to find what they are looking for.

So I would start by studying how people search, and match my website to those particular keyword searches. This would be one of the first places to start.

Keep in mind that if you can't be found, you are at a huge disadvantage on the internet!

[Evan]

Great comment Tim!

To follow up myownboss on Tim's thoughts - you might want to check out http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchi ... uggestion/ - it's Yahoo's tool that tells you how popular a keyword is.

[bushaex]

I have been told by a trusted web advisor that Page Rank is well down on the list of important things needed in order to improve search results. The gradually-increasing presence of fresh and relevant links will ultimately help as much as anything to improve search results. My three favorites for obtaining such links are via articles (see http://www.evancarmichael.com/Small-Bus ... ummary.php for an example of how my company has accomplished this), press releases (for examples see the Press Releases topic on this forum) and blogs/forums (see http://aexbusinessloan.blogspot.com and http://aexcommercialfinancing.typepad.com and http://aexcommercialfinancing.typepad.c ... _questions for three examples).

[Shimmy]

Hi everyone!

I am starting to receive all these automatic emails asking for a link exchange. I am curious to know which ones I should accept. Are they legit? Will they help me? They have nothing to do with my business so there is no relevance.

Thanks!

[bushaex]

In my direct experience with about 10 websites which I manage in a very hands-on way, link exchanges are NOT productive EVEN IF there is relevance. They also do not contribute to the need for fresh links since once added they are static and become "stale" rapidly. One of the best discussions of links can be found at http://www.sbo-linknet.com (I believe you can sign up for more information at this site). This particular site will give you a very relevant discussion of one-way links.

[Evan]

Hi Shimmy,

You should also look at the PageRank of the site that want to link to you. Most webmasters who look for link exchanges are very new and don't have any authority online. You won't get much benefit from a link with them.

But if the site has a higher Page Rank you are much more likely to benefit.

One way links are always better than link exchanges but you do still benefit from link exchanges with high quality Page Rank sites from my experience.

[Shimmy]

Ok that makes sense. Thanks guys. Does anyone have a good list of free directories that businesses can post their services on? I have found quite a few but there are so many options. Would like to get a good top ten list maybe.

[mrLenin]

Hi there,
I am new here and found much useful information on your forum.

Shimmy,
good article and suggestions about directories can be found here http://www.netcashcows.com/forum/link-b ... vt821.html

Hope it will help you


Thanks

[ltrahan]

I have a question - what is considered a reciprocal link?

If I arrange to be linked from the index page of an external site to my sites' index page and I give a reciprocal link from deep within my site - is it reciprocal?

In other words, are reciprocal links site-specific or page specific?