SEO Optimization

According to Wikipedia, SEO Optimization is the “process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via ‘natural’ search results.” After all, if your website is not on that first page of search results, the chances of people finding it are slim to none. So, instead of spending all your time making your site as pretty as possible, I suggest you spend more of that time, initially, on making your site search engine friendly. And just how do you do that?

I am not here to outline the basics of SEO to you; there are plenty of other articles on this site that will do that for you. What I wanted to write about today are some of the critical errors people make in their optimization strategy. They are little things that could make all the difference in the world. And before you think it is too late to change around all your beautiful HTML code, I would suggest that not doing so would cost you even more in the long run.

First of all, one of the major errors people make in designing in their website is in not realizing the importance of actually changing the title tag and making it unique on each of their pages. Whether you have five pages or 500, each of those pages’ title tags should be different. Why not take advantage of the space and chance the title tag to reflect the relevant keywords you are targeting for each individual page. I do not mean make the titles enormously long – that could get you in trouble with the search engine bots. Keep the titles short, just different between all of your pages.

Another design flaw with SEO optimization that could wind up hurting your website dearly is failing to make use of the header tags. Do not put fancy images where your H1 tag should be. Instead, fill it with keywords and help search engine bots index your site more easily. Even Google suggests that web designers should “make a site with a clear hierarchy and text links.”

Another fatal flaw that is too often overlooked is spelling mistakes. You may not think it is that big a deal, but a spelling mistake has other effects beyond just making your website look unprofessional – although that in and of itself is a major downside. Spelling mistakes, especially of your keywords, can have a huge effect on how your site is indexed. After all, if you’re in the business of selling ‘bear claws,’ but everything on your site reads ‘bare claws,’ guess what keyword terms you’re going to get indexed for? Then, your only traffic will be people who make the same spelling mistakes as you in their search queries.

SEO optimization is not necessarily a tricky business, but it is by all means a time consuming one. But trust me; make the necessary changes now and your site – and all your visitors – will thank you in the end.

SEO Optimization - To learn more about this author, visit Keenan McGrath's Website.

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Kalena Jordan Kalena Jordan is the search industry’s first agony aunt, here to answer your tricky questions about search engines. Kalena is Co-Founder and Director of Studies at Search Engine College, an online training institution offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and other Search Engine Marketing subjects. She’s been marketing websites online since 1996 and blogging about search since 2002. For her full bio, view Kalena’s Linked In Profile. When not working, Kalena likes to go geocaching, hiking or fishing. She also plays a mean darabuka. - Visit Kalena Jordan's Website

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