Keywords in text and page headers

October 6, 2011 by Ray

For best possible search engine optimization (SEO), keywords and keyphrases must be used appropriately within the text of pages. This includes page titles, sub titles, headers, bullet lists, photo captions and regular page text.

Make text readable by search engines
Most of your page text needs to be typed as standard HTML which can be “read” by the search engine bots that regularly visit your site. The font must be available on nearly all computers. If a particular font is not available on someone’s computer, they will see it in a more common form (such as arial, Tahoma, Times New Roman).

Flash movies and images can’t be “read”, so any text contained in them does not count. This means that a completely Flash site might have horrible rank, making it less likely to draw visitors from organic search results. A site using images to display fancy text would face the same dismal results. If vast majority of visitors don’t come from search engines, this is not as important. Examples would be membership sites where only members are invited.

Searchable text must include targeted keywords, with an optimal “density” of 3-4% for each particular word or phrase. This means that if there are 200 words on a page that you want optimized for the phrase “black shoes”, you should try to incorporate that phrase 6-8 times. Any more than that and you may actually be penalized for “keyword spamming” by a search engine – lowering your rank rather than increasing it!

Create distinct pages for each search term so that any single page might rank highly enough to appear within the first 3 pages of directory or S.E. results, even if it is not the actual home page. If you have several products or services, give each it’s own page where you can highlight the distinct terminology and characteristics. When the differences are slight, consider writing a page or article on one of them where you merely replace one possible keyword for another. For example, you may use the word “car” on one page and “auto” on another page. Even then, you should edit the text to avoid a possible “duplicate content” penalty.

Utilize heading tags appropriately
HTML heading tags (h1, h2, etc.) carry more weight than standard text since their purpose is to show a hierarchy of importance. Try to work keywords into the highest level tag possible. Having headings and sub-headings also makes pages easier to browse by humans! Sample:
<h1>Main Heading</h1>
<p>Paragraph of text describing heading</p>
<h2>Sub Heading (work in some additional or secondary keywords)</h2>
<p>More text…</p>

This is a case where having a human web designer or at least good software is always preferable than most word processing web page generators. That’s because the word processor uses it’s own code instead of the standard heading tags favored by search engines.

Multiple subheadings, short paragraphs
Keep pages “skimmable” with the generous use of subheadings and white space. Make it easy to pick out important terms when visitors are quickly glancing at a page to see if it contains worthwhile material. They can then concentrate on sections of text that give the information they need. More meat and less filler! You can always link from there to ‘more details.’

META Description Tag and Robots.txt

August 29, 2011 by Ray

META tags are a fundemental component of HTML and good SEO practices. A META Description tag is a free advertisement in search engine results, so don’t waste it!

Your description “tag” appears near the title in the header area and should be unique to each page. It’s purpose is to be an accurate description of page contents and goals, of course including as many major keywords as possible. 10-20 words are appropriate since total length should be under 170 characters. This will appear in the results of some Search Engines, so it should not be just a collection of random words and phrases. Here is what the tag looks like:
<meta name=”description” content=”Brief description of the contents of your page.”>

META Keywords tag
While not nearly as important as Title and Description, the keywords tag should include any search terms that actually appear within the text of the page. The following practices are advisable: (1) keep your list below 20 unique words or phrases; (2) separate the words or phrases using a comma; (3) put most important word or phrases at the beginning of your list; (4) do not repeat words or phrases. The keywords tag is not as important as it used to be in the early days of the internet. But it’s use has been downgraded since it became an early source of “keyword stuffing”.

Invite search engines to map your site
Be nice to those search engine spider robots which are constantly crawling the web looking for new and updated files. Invite them to chow down at your picnic! The META tag to include within the header code of each page you want them to find/index would be:
<meta name=”robots” content=”index,follow”/>

Upload a robots.txt file
Another welcome to search engine spiders to visit your entire site is by placing a robots.txt file on your server to tell them which pages or sections to crawl or index and which to ignore. For example, you may not want an images directory or javascript file spidered. You may also issue individual indexing instructions to specific search engines. The file itself is a simple little text file, which needs to be saved to the root directory of your site (where your home page or index page is). In other words, you would
upload your version of this to your web host along with your HTML pages, images and other files:

#The following allows all robots to visit all files because wildcard is used
#But all robots are barred from cgi-bin images and scripts directories
User-agent: *
Disallow: /cgi-bin/
Disallow: /scripts/
Disallow: /images/

Again, be nice to the search engine robots and you will be richly rewarded!

Unique Page Titles include Keywords

June 22, 2011 by Ray

Use unique title tags for each page of website. This is one of the most productive and easiest SEO features to build into your pages.

The title tag appears in the header section of HTML code, near the top of the page. Search engines give it considerable weight, so create your page titles carefully.

Officially (from World Wide Web Consortium http://www.w3.org):
“Authors should use the TITLE element to identify the contents of a document. Since users often consult documents out of context, authors should provide context-rich titles. Thus, instead of a title such as “Introduction”, which doesn’t provide much contextual background, authors should supply a title such as ‘Introduction to Medieval Bee-Keeping’ instead.”

Brief explanation of page content
Page titles display at top of the visitor’s browser and should represent an abbreviated description of that particular page’s contents. A title such as “Home” or “About Us” tells nothing about the content of a page, so it is useless to readers and search engine robots. No “Welcome to my website” or other superfluous headings, please! Proper titles should be under 64 characters in length, so 5-7 words is a good guideline. Include the most relevant keywords or keyphrases.

Avoid using “filler” words (the, your, home) since they take up valuable characters from a limited supply. Avoid strings of keywords that appear more like “keyword stuffing” than a complete thought (“Web design – hosting – SEO – internet marketing”) Your organization name should be part of your home page title if possible. Here is how the title appears in page code:
    <head>
    <title>XYZ Shoe Company sells shoes and boots</title>
    </head>

Providing each page with a unique title and it’s own keywords enables visitors to find pages other than your home page when doing searches. For example, the following are titles of 2 pages at Attraction Web Design. If someone is searching for “search engine optimization”, they may find my (more appropriate) SEO page before my home page.
[Home] Website Designer – Hosting – SEO by Attraction Web Design of Delaware
[SEO] Website search engine optimization – SEO and keywords

Your page title will appear in the following places:
• Browser window title bar, and when printed, at the top of the page
• As title for web page listing on the search engine results. This helps to guide interested parties to your site.
• Default entry in favorites (bookmarks) and history lists. This helps repeat traffic come back to the correct site.

Location of your office or customer base
If you serve a particular population, your location is a keyword too! Notice that my home page title (above) includes “Delaware”. Web surfers realize that they have to limit their search to a geographical area if they are looking for someone local to work with, so adding your state, city or town will rank you higher in those cases.

For the home page, I include my complete business name in case someone is aware of the name but not the web address. The other words will give me a better chance of a high result for various combinations of searches, such as “web designer in Delaware”, “Delaware website”, “website design and hosting”, etc.

My business serves the entire USA, although most people find me by including “Delaware” in their search. Especially if you only service a particular area, it is critical to include that state, city, county or locality on your home page and other important pages (both text and title).

Website Images and Video

April 15, 2011 by Ray

Integrate photos and graphics in attractive ways. Slideshows, photo galleries, videos and flash movies bring your site to life and stir interest, while reinforcing text.

Images on your website reinforce text for better conversion rates. Pictures, photographs, graphics, diagrams all help visitors more quickly grasp your content.

Slideshows reduce need for scrolling
For your home page or another page that you wish to keep clean and compact, a slideshow is a collection of two or more alternating images. You can incorporate effects to transition from one image to another in a set or random order. Besides showing your story, this is a simple way to bring your site to life with motion. [Sample: http://www.pcvrc.com]

• Display products – show samples of your work
• Examine a process – give a visual tour of each stage of your service
• Text statements / quotes – complementary famous quotes, lists of accomplishments, awards, recognition
• Logos of affiliations – move through logos of your professional affiliations, vendors, partners, customers or any groups that help build your credibility

Photo galleries tell your whole story
Set aside pages or portions of pages to providing enough photos to satisfy visitors and persuade them to get in touch. A slideshow may be best for home page, but details pages can devote more space for all to display together. Make it interactive so visitors can control what they want to view, clicking or mousing over thumbnails of their choice. [Sample: http://www.jmweddingcreations.com/gallery.php]
• Show a process – include a storyboard from step one through step “x”
• Display options – show samples of each color, style, or other variation
• Multiple applications – Show samples of different ways to use the same product

Video can be casual
From a 20 second “Welcome” message to a 30 minute movie, allow the visitor to sit back and relax while you introduce your company or a particular product. Decide whether to upload a movie viewer to your own server or just let the visitor open the movie with an application installed on their own machine. The most common client-side pluggins are Windows Movie Viewer and Quicktime. [Sample: http://www.gndcollects.com]
• Automatically running welcome message on home or about page
• Video clips collection to allow viewing of any particular clip
• Longer movies should indicate their file size and length so the visitor can decide if they have enough time (or fast enough internet connection)
• Humorous video can entertain while explaining your message
• Include link to download (free) movie player in case visitor does not have one installed. Never make assumptions about your visitors.

A good video can convey your ideas and demonstrate your product much more quickly and effectively than lengthy paragraphs of text. Search Engines may reward sites with higher rankings, knowing that you’re more likely to please visitors.
An excellent resource for online video marketing tips is http://www.ReelSEO.com

Flash presentations are fancy
Flash movies can contain a multitude of effects and can integrate video, graphics, still photos and text on a server-side platform, to be independent from the visitor’s computer configuration. But costs can be greater to create and to change. Some web designers specialize in these sites or can create an individual flash movie for inclusion on “non-Flash” sites.

Images On Your Website- Best Practices

April 1, 2011 by Ray

Let’s explore how to best use images on your website to reinforce the text for better conversion rates (for more sales or return visits).

Images reinforce text
Images can include photos, graphics, illustrations, logos of your own or that you create or purchase. Professionally photographed images may be a requirement for glossy brochures, but there are sections of your website which may work well with simple candid photos or basic diagrams. “A picture is worth a thousand words”, so use visuals to complement and help explain what you are saying in text form.

Dispose of unnecessary images
Do not include images unless they support the message of that particular section of your site. Don’t confuse visitors by adding photos just because they’re pretty. If the correlation of images to your text isn’t apparent enough, you are not only wasting space, but wasting the time of visitors. If they came to your site to find a solution to a problem, a photo of your family on your Services page may aggravate them since they have to scroll past it to find what they seek. However, that same photo on your “About Us” page may put them more at ease since they appreciate the human touch.

As many images as possible
Insert appropriate photos and graphics, even if they are not the primary subject matter. On the web, you have plenty of room to add them. Convey your message in seconds, saving viewers time and the work of reading those extra thousand words.
– Take the time to gather or photograph images if you don’t already have a sufficient quantity. Choose the best so your webmaster doesn’t have to guess what to use.
– Several small images may be better than one larger one, since you have more opportunities to show just what the visitor is looking for
– Besides products, people or places, images can be used as metaphors or to illustrate a theme: a clock to signify time savings; a handshake to signify a successful partnership; a lightbulb to signify an idea.
– Include actual photos of your organization rather than stock (clipart) photos. You’ll make more of an impact with the real thing!

Crop images
Page space is valuable, so before uploading photos, remove any excess space that is not important and ensure that the subject is centered in the image.

Optimize images
You must optimize the photo or graphic to reduce the dimensions and file size to an appropriate degree for internet viewing. Photos out of a digital camera may have dimensions as large as 4000 pixels by 3000 pixels and file size of 3-4 MegaBytes (MB). For the web, these numbers must be much lower, for instance, 300 pixels by 200 pixels and under 80 KiloBytes (KB). Follow these steps, generally:

Open the image in editting software such as Photoshop, Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, or another program that came installed on your PC or came with your digital camera, scanner or printer. Specific procedures are listed below for using Microsoft Paint, which comes installed on many PC’s. When you complete the following steps, you may want to “Save As” a different name, so that you still have a full size original.

1. Crop the image to get rid of any unimportant parts except for the subject(s) of the photo/picture. Also take the opportunity to adjust brightness and colors. Snapshots often need some brightening for proper display.

2. Reduce the width/height, maintaining the proper ratio. It may start as over 1200px of both and you need it to be at least under 500px for both for a very large display and as little as 150-250px for a large thumbnail size.

3. Doing both of these will greatly reduce the “file size”. For a regular size photo on a website, we need it to be under 80kb, unless it will be appearing in a new window as a blown-up size. If the file size is too high, many imaging software programs will allow you to reduce the “image quality” (for example, from maybe 95% to 85% or from 10 to 8 on a scale of ten.)
Image filenames
“Name” of image is something like “joe23.jpg” or “DSC001255.JPG” or “logo1.gif”. It is usually case sensitive so joe.JPG is different from joe.jpg. Do not leave spaces in filename. Underscore character is OK to use. To prevent typos, it is usually best to shorten image names.

Image format must be .jpg or .gif. If it has an extension such as .tif, .bmp, .swf, .png or something else, it must be changed. Since working with images can be time consuming, any of the above that you can do before sending them to a web designer will save you money.
More info in my website tips eBook.