While quality content is important for retaining visitors, search engine
optimization is essential to drive traffic to your website in the first
place. Since over 80% of all web traffic comes from search engines, it is
crucial to optimize your website so that it appears among the top results
for searches on keywords related to your site. Various factors, such as page
content and link popularity, are weighed by the search engine's algorithm to
arrive at the order in which it lists sites on the search result pages.
Ideally, you want your web site to rank among the top ten results for
keywords that you are targeting (keyword in this article refers to both
keywords and key phrases). To improve your search placement, you may have
to sacrifice some visual aesthetics to ensure that your HTML code is search
engine friendly. This section discusses some page elements that influence
your search engine ranking.
1. The <HEAD> area
The <TITLE> Tag
The <TITLE> tag is perhaps the most important factor influencing search
engine placement. Make sure your keyword is present once in the tag. It is
advisable to use five to eight words in the <TITLE> tag. The use of more
words may be penalized by the search engines.
Do not spam the <TITLE> tag with your keyword-- your keyword should not
appear more than twice in the tag. Some search engines penalize you for
using all CAPS. In general, choose a title that is appealing to both the
search engines and the visitors. Keep tag less than 59 characters in length.
META Description
The META Description is not as important as it used to be; however many
search engines display it as your page description in their results. Make
sure your description is meaningful; if it doesn't make any sense, chances
are, visitors won't click on your link. The meta description tag should
incorporate your keywords into a meaningful sentence. Place your keywords
closer to the beginning of your description to achieve better rankings. The
length of your description should be 159 characters. Do not repeat your
keyword more than three to five times.
META Keywords
Not all search engines support META keywords, but you should include them
for those that do. Use this tag to list your keywords in descending order of
importance. Do not repeat the same keyword more than five to six times
times-- doing so may be interpreted as spam. Keep tag less than 874
characters in length.
Regards Gerald Crawford
Webcraft.ws Stellenbosch
PO BOX 12216 Die Boord 7613 Stellenbosch South Africa
Telephone: +27-021-8833027 (office)
Cell: +27-0720390184 (mobile)
SMS: 0796343545
Skype: webcraft.guru
Fax: 0865657300
After Hours: 0881242372
Website: http://www.webcraft.ws
E-mail: gerald@webcraft.ws
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Blog: http://webcraftws.blogspot.com/
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