Site Map - Link Structure within a Site

This is probably the most obvious, but certainly one of the most overlooked aspects of search engine optimization. This helps to make sure that search engine spiders can actually
find (crawl) all of your site’s pages. But if they can not find them, then they won’t get spidered, and this means that they won’t get indexed. In fact, no amount of search engine
optimization you try will help. Below are some points that should be taken note of in respect of link structure for your site. Spiders can not see links which are accomplished by
JavaScript. This is because, as far as search engines will be concerned, they do not exist. So if you want spiders to follow the links on your site, do not use JavaScript. In fact, you will find that Google will not spider any URL if it looks like it has a session ID in it. So any URL’s that have a longish number or odd characters (such as a question mark) in them should be avoided (these are often dynamic URL’s). It is important that you make sure that all pages link to at least one other page. Pages which do not link out are known as “dangling links”. It is important that you structure the internal links so that targeted search terms are reinforced. So make sure that you organize your links so that your topic’s sub topic pages are linked to it (ensuring that you use the right link text that is specific to the page being linked to) and vice versa. See below for the different types of methods we mean.

Link Text - This is one of the 2 most important elements to ensure good rankings for a site. It can either be on pages within the site, or on other sites’ pages. But which ever way you do it, it is important that it is included. It is vital that you include the target page’s main search term in the link text. Also, whenever possible, do not use identical text for every link that links to a page. But if you can include the target page’s main search term in the link text instead. In fact, links will carry more weight with search engines if the text around them is concerned with the target page’s topic and search term(s).

Title Tag - This is probably second most important element in order to get good rankings for a site. It is important that you make sure the page’s search term is contained within this tag. So place it as near to the front as possible while ensuring that the title reads well. In fact, there is nothing wrong with you placing the search term up front on its own and then follow it with a period such as “Page Rank. Google Page Rank and how do I make the most of it?” As you can see, the target search term here is of course “Page Rank”. But what you should obviously do is make sure that each page’s title tag is different from the title tags on your site’s other pages.

Description Tag - You will find that some search engines, such as Google no longer display the description like they use to. But no matter what, you should include this on each page for those search engines that do. There are even the odd times when Google will actually display them. So it is vital that you write a description that is appealing and incorporates the page’s search term into it at least once but preferably twice is better. So if you can, place one at the start or as near to the start of the description as possible.

Keywords Tag - It is important to remember that the keywords tag is never actually treated by search engines as keywords. They will be treated as text on a page. Although this tag is not effective as it used to be, there is no reason to leave it out. Instead, make sure that you put in plenty of relevant keywords and include the search term once at the front of the tag. Also, you do not need to separate keywords or key phrases with commas (as is often done) as search engines ignore these.

H Tag some heading words - The “n” in this tag represents a number from 1 to 6. The biggest heading is represented by 1. You will find that H tags are given more weight than ordinary text in a page, and so the bigger the H size, the more weight it will have. So it is important that you include your target search term in the H tags at least once on the page, but if possible two or three times is even better. Also place your first H Tag as near to the top of the site page as possible.

Bold Text - This gives more weight to a page than ordinary text, but not as much as an H Tag does. So where ever possible, enclose the search term in bold tags occasionally where it appears on the page.

Normal Text - Whenever possible, use the search term as often as you can on the pages of your site. But ensure that they do not detract from how the page actually reads. Ensure that you use the term once or twice in the very early pages of the body text, and then as often as possible throughout. If you need to, reword small parts and add sentences to ensure that the search term is well represented in the text for good search engine optimization. But you will probably find that each word you have in your search term will be found separately on the page. So, if you need to, add a few of them throughout the page.

Alt Text - Include your search term in the alt text of all images on your pages. It is important to remember that some systems, such as those used by Braille readers and speech synthesizers, use the alt text. So it may be advisable to make them usable while including the search term.

So in summary what you need to do is as follows:-
 1. Select the main search terms you wish to use.
 2. Allocate these search terms to a suitable existing page, and if you need to, split pages.
 3. Organize your internal links, and then link text, to suit the target search terms and their pages.
 4. If you can, organize those links from other pages to suit the target search terms and their pages also.
 5. Now organize all the on page elements in order that they suit each page’s target search term.
 6. Finally, now sit back and watch your site’s page rankings begin to improve.

Next: Effective Use of Keywords

White Hat SEO

There are 8 main components which determine your ranking on search engines:

1. Site Quality and Content
Create useful and comprehensive content that's related to your market to keep your visitors there. Adding keyword-rich text that makes sense and serves the concept of the web page improves your ranking and keeps your visitors interested. The more text, the better for search engine spiders when they index a website, it is strongly recommended that your homepage has at least 200-300 “visible” words. Moreover, the search engine spiders crawl especially the first 20 words of your website so try to keep an eye on them and make them really relevant to what your site is about. In addition, valuable, dense and regularly updated content is one of the most important items you need for your website because  visitors who stay longer while visiting a website help measure the popularity of the site in the search engines. Therefore try to put at your homepage such elements, content of which you will change regularly, e. g. news, events, recent articles etc.

2. Site Title
It is the most powerful SEO technique you have, so use it creatively! When search engine results are displayed the title is the first thing people see. Thus each page should have a different which will be generally the first sentence on at page. The Description Meta tag is also fairly important. Your  description should also have 2 or 3 of your keyword phrases at the beginning as so should your first sentence. Just like the

3. Meta Tags
Although many people incorrectly rely on them when performing SEO, META tags have decreased in importance recently, but are still worth using for clarity and search results. Their initial purpose was to help search engines find out important information about your page that they might have had difficulty determining otherwise. The Keyword tag is now the least important but is still used by some engines. As you never know when the rules of the search engines will change, or a new engine will want them, so take the time to include these tags in all your web pages. We recommend you do not overdo it with meta tags as well; your Keyword Meta should not exceed 1024 characters including spaces. If your site especially interesting for a specific geographic location be sure to include the actual location in your keyword meta. When performing SEO, you should always use the same keywords which also appear in the copy of your page, title tag, meta description etc. Any keyword phrases which are used in your meta tags only, will not have enough prominence to help your listings for that phrase.

4. Good Navigation
Having good navigation is important to the indexing of your web pages. There is nothing worse than arriving at a website and having difficulty understanding where to go for the
information you are seeking. Have easy to use, clearly marked navigation so your visitors click through instead of click-away in frustration.

5. Right Keywords
Use your keywords both low and high on the web page, keywords should be in the first sentence and in the last one. Keep in mind that for the target audience to find a site on the
search engines, the page must contain keyword phrases that match the phrases the target audience is typing into search queries. The first step before starting your SEO (and PPC campaigns as well) is to make the best keywords list possible. It is a fundamental step that will have a strong impact on your campaign success. Avoid expensive general keywords: you will certainly get a high rate of impressions, but not necessarily high conversion sales. Focus on specific key phrases that will get more highly targeted people to your site.

I would advise you to apply the following methodology to choose the right words:
1) Organize a brainstorming with your co-workers, business partners, friends and relatives to find keywords relevant to your business. Focus on the needs of your target audience,
what they would type in when looking for your products.
2) Try to make a list of 100 keywords minimum. Providing that you barely reach this goal, do use search term suggestion tool (such as www.inventory.overture.com or
www.wordtracker.info). Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture) also comes with a keyword suggestion tool, available to Yahoo! Search Marketing advertisers only.
3) Don’t forget dashes, apostrophes, spelling variations, plural versions and paste tense. Your potential customers will not search a keyword in the same way. For instance:
website, web site, web-site.
4) Check out your competitors’ webpages for ideas. View the source HTML code and take a look at keywords in their meta tags. They could be a good tip for yours!
5) When you are combining your SEO with PPC advertising campaigns, it is very helpful to use tracking results from Google Adwords or Yahoo! Search Marketing to revalue your
keyword list. Try to put emphasis on those which gain the highest number of clicks in your PPC campaigns.

6. Site Popularity
As determined by the number, quality and type of linked pages, most search engines don't even consider web sites if there is not at least one or two links pointing to the web
site. Links from other popular websites back to your website are one way of increasing your site's popularity. Finding websites with similar content (but not your competitors) and high link popularity, then trading links to be posted on each site, is one way of increasing your site popularity.

7. In-site Cross Linking
Get all of your web pages indexed by the search engines by implementing your sitemap. Your web pages should be no more than three clicks away from the home page. On every page you
should link back to your home page and your main service(s) or product(s).

8. Web Site Design
This is also important, if you want to get indexed! Text content should outweigh the HTML content. The pages should validate and be usable in all of today's leading edge browsers. Stay away from Frames, Flash, Javascript, Image Maps, and Dynamic URLs, search engines dislike them all a lot. One prudent tool to use is the “alt” attribute of pictures on your site. You simply describe the pictures and this description can include your keywords. It is essential not to put more than 2-3 keywords to one picture.