Search Engine Optimization, also referred to as “SEO” is as much an art as a science and the standards and practices are ever changing. Every search engine and directory uses different algorithms and formulas to calculate a site’s position in their search results. Meta tags should be placed between the
section of your HTML document.
Keywords
When optimizing a site I generally try to use 25 keywords or less on the page. The first and most important keywords should be your individual brand and related terms, so if your site is called “Revolution Clothing”, your first keywords should look something like:
The next words should be geographic and industry terms that fit your brand…
urban wear, street clothes, new york, urban clothes, designer, ny, nyc, brooklyn…
If you still haven’t reached your 25 keywords, use general industry words that you think people might seach for….
shirts, jackets, pants, hoodies, wrist bands, hats, caps
So now you should have a basic keyword list to start with. We’ll refine these later when we look at our hit statistics and see which keywords are generating traffic and which aren’t. Your keywords should look something like this:
Description
SEO description tags should be customized for each individual page of your site. Properly implemented description tags can mean the difference between a click for your website or your competitor’s. Description tags are often the first impression your users will get of your website and the first information search engines will dipslay regarding your brand. Don’t make them too long or the will be shortened by search engines. Try to use 132 characters or less:
Page Title
Your page title is very important as it is the headline that will be displayed by search engines. It is given alot of weight by many search algorithms so make it as descriptive as possible. Your title tag is placed in the section of your HTML document. It will look something like this:
Website URL
Most search engines also give weight to search results where the search terms are included in your website URL. Try to purchase a URL that identifies your brand or at least your industry. Here are some examples.
www.revolutionclothing.com
www.revolution-clothing.com
www.revolutionnyc.com
www.revolutionnewyork.com
Multimedia Content
Unknown to the owners and operators of many sites, especially those with heavy flash, video and multimedia content, is that many sites that are beautiful to look at and highly informational are also invisible to search engines! Search engines rely on text based information and can’t see the content of your videos, flash presentations or images. That’s why it’s essential to code these multimedia features with search engine optimization in mind.
If you are using flash in your site, It’s important to place some decriptive text in your page behind the flash content. Search engines can’t see the information that your flash file contains. If you make your site entirely in flash, it may appear to be a collection of blank pages to the search engine robots. Usually when embedding flash content into your site, you’ll see
Luis Arana is a web Developer and Web Designer from NYC that is sometimes referred to as Lou Arana, Louis Arana, Louie Arana, Lewis Arana, or Lu Arana. Sometimes people even run my name together like luisarana, louarana, or louisarana. I doubt anyone would ever search for lewisarana but you never know. Here are some of the domain names people might search for: luisarana.com www.luisarana.com louisarana.com www.louisarana.com louarana.com or www.louarana.com. Ok, you got me! This text is actually here for search engine optimization. You can't see it unless for some reason you have CSS turned off or you're using a device for the visually impaired. In that case, Sorry!
