|
|
|
 |
Identify your
keywords before you start to write any copy. Look at what you do from
a potential customer's point of view, as well as your own. The
search words that customers use reflect their perception of
what they need, not your idea of what you supply.
For instance, someone with a flat bicycle tyre
might well search for ‘cycle repairs’ or ‘burst tyre’. What you’ll
eventually sell them is a new ‘inner tube’ or a ‘puncture repair
kit’. Your list of keywords should take account of all the
possibilities.
|
 |
Think about
the variations of your own company name. For instance, ‘Acme Trading
Ltd’ (operator of a bicycle shop) might well be known as ‘Acme
Cycles’, ‘Acme Bicycles’, ‘Acme Cycle Repairs’, or ‘Acme
Bikes’. |
|
Think about
the geographical descriptions of where you’re situated: town,
county, region, country. |
 |
Avoid using
proprietary keywords, or you'll infringe someone's trade mark. For instance, it would be tempting –
but ill-advised – for a manufacturer of vacuum cleaners to use the word ‘Hoover’
as a keyword. |
|
Here’s the
hard part: rank your keywords or phrases in order of importance. You can’t
work them all into your copy, so you have to decide which are your 'key' keywords
– the ones your customers are most likely to seek and find you with. |
|
|
|
Metatags are
funny bits of HTML that appear at the top of the source code for your
web page. An explanation is beyond the scope of this tutorial. If you
want to know more, you should speak to a grown-up. Break the subject
gently next time you ask for permission to use the sharp scissors.
We are only interested in three metatags: keywords, description, and
title (‘title’ isn’t really a metatag – but we’ll not worry
about that).
|
|
Some – but
not all – search engine robots use the data in your metatags to index
your web pages. But they don’t all use the data in the same way.
Unless you want to create several different websites (many people do – each one is dedicated
to a specific search engine), you’ll have to content yourself with a
generalised, average sort of approach. |
|
Surprise,
surprise! – the keywords metatag is where you put your keywords.
List your keywords separated by commas and a space. The space is
purely decorative; it makes the list easier to read. Keep the list on a
single line without carriage returns or line breaks. It should look
something like this:
"Acme Trading Ltd, Acme Cycles, Acme Bicycles, cycle repairs,
cycle sales, tyres, inner tubes" …and so on. |
|
Don’t make
your list of keywords too long. Each search engine sets a limit on the
number of keywords it recognises. Keep well below 1,000 characters. |
|
Don’t
repeat any keyword too often. Search engines penalise pages that fill
their metatags with the same word. Half a dozen instances of any one
keyword is as many as you're likely to get away with. |
|
Opinions
differ on how many variations of a keyword you need. I've not found a definitive answer
on whether search engine robots regard the word ‘bicycle’ as a separate
word to, or a subdivision of, ‘bicycles’.
There’s also conflicting advice on whether ‘bicycle repairs’ is a unique text string, or just
a combination of the shorter strings, ‘bicycle’ and ‘repairs’.
For safety, put as many
combinations in as you can, but avoid repetition (see above). If you can only get
one word in, use the plural because people tend to search using plurals. |
|
Don’t put
in irrelevant keywords. ‘Sex’ might sound appealing,
but, if you’re not selling it, why try to attract those who are
hoping to buy it? You’ll devalue your web page – and frustrate
innocent men in a dirty raincoats. |
|
Proofread
your keywords over and over again! A misspelt keyword commits sabotage day after day,
unseen and undetectable. |
|
Your
title tag contains the title text that appears in bold in a search engine
selection. It’s a piece of marketing copy. It has to inform and
entice: it has to catch a browser’s eye when scanning that selection.
Take time to get it right. |
|
Keep the
title simple and concise (no more than about 60 characters). Make it descriptive
of the actual page, and work in a couple of your most important
keywords. |
|
Your
description tag contains the descriptive text that appears in a search
engine selection. It’s another piece of marketing copy. It has to
persuade a browser to click the link to your page rather than anyone
else’s. Take time to get it right. |
|
Make your
description clear and inviting. Tell the browser that your page is the
one they are looking for, but be subtle about it. On the web, everyone
says they’re the best. Your task is to make browsers draw that
conclusion for themselves. |
|
Work some of
your keywords into the description, but avoid repeating the title. |
|
Don’t waste
words on puff and hyperbole. Think about it: would you
believe the tosh you've just written? And don't exceed about 200
characters. |
|
|
|
Your web copy
is primarily there to persuade and motivate potential customers. Those customers are
more likely to have found you through your own marketing efforts, than
through search engine referrals. Do not feed them search-engine-friendly text strings at
the expense of persuasive marketing copy.
|
|
Treat the
advice that follows with circumspection. Apply these – and anyone else’s
tips – where you can: reject them whenever there's a marketing
reason for doing something else. Aim to make your marketing copy
search-engine friendly without undermining your key marketing message.
|
|
Keep it
brief, and work your keywords in generously. Search engine robots look
for the frequency with which your keywords appear in the copy. It’s
much easier to score a high frequency when you have fewer words
to play with.
|
|
Try to get
somewhere between 2% and 5% frequency on your most important keywords.
Much less and a robot will downgrade the relevancy of that keyword; much
more and it may assume spamming.
If a website which purports to be about ‘bicycles’ barely
mentions the word in the body copy, a robot may be justified in
assuming that the site has very little to do with bicycles.
|
|
Place
keywords towards the beginning of your copy, rather than the end. Some
search engines only check the first few words for keyword relevancy.
|
|
Put a simple
statement of what you are about, right at the very top of your
home/index page. Some search engines ignore the description metatag and
concoct their own description from the first twenty-or-so words they
find on a page. They extract words from unexpected sources –
hyperlinks, <alt> tags, <title> tags – so your extracted description could be a
string of nonsense. Make sure that the first thing they find makes you
look good.
|
|
Some engines
index every web page on your site, others only index the home/index
page. Concentrate on getting your key keywords featured prominently on
your home/index page.
|
|
Dedicate
other pages to different keywords, and write the copy accordingly. For
instance, if your bicycle website features a page on 'inner tubes', make
sure the keyword frequency and metatags on that page exploit inner tubes
to the full.
|
|
Make use of
image <alt> tags. <alt> tags provide an alternative piece of text for browsers who cannot – or
choose not to – view images. Put your cursor over the green tick to the left of this copy and
you should (depending on your browser) see the contents of an <alt> tag.
You should always include <alt> tags, because they make your site more accessible. And, if you can
work a few extra keywords into the <alt> tag copy, so much the better.
|
|
Don’t use
Flash animations. They’re a boring waste of browsers’ time – and
search engines can’t extract anything from them.
|
|
Some search
engines stumble when they come to pages with frames. Never put frames in
your home/index page.
Many people advise against frames altogether. But what’s the harm
in using them elsewhere if they make your site do what you want it to?
|
|
|
|
Search
engines fall into two classes: those that index your web pages directly
and extract data from them; and those that compile their own
database using information that you supply. For simplicity, let’s
call them ‘indexes’ and ‘databases’.
|
|
Submitting to
search engines is a tedious business. If you do it regularly
(recommendations vary between once a week to once every couple of
months!), you could spend hours tapping away at your keyboard.
|
|
Don't over submit –
you might get marked down as a spammer – especially if an unscrupulous competitor decides
to make a few extra rogue submissions on your behalf.
|
|
If it ain't broke,
don't fix it. If you've already got a good ranking, leave it alone.
Resubmission might well get you a lower placing.
|
|
You can buy
software that will do the job for you. I’ve never tried any, so I’ve
no idea how good they are. Some search engines apparently penalise sites
that use submission software.
Maybe software works fine for the indexes, but how
good will it be with the databases? Each database requires
specific information (usually a description) about your
site. The words you feed to one database may not be appropriate for
another.
|
|
There are
services that will submit your website to several thousand search engines
for nothing. Nothing comes for nothing: ask yourself what the catch is.
In any case, there are only a dozen search engines that count. And
some search engines reject automatic submission systems as spam.
|
|
With indexes,
the job is simple: you key in your URL, and you follow the instructions
to the letter.
|
|
Databases
are more complicated. Apart from your URL, some want a list of keywords –
but most want a site title and a brief site description.
|
|
Think
carefully about what you submit to a database. It may be difficult to correct an error
once it’s been indexed. Always write your copy offline. That gives
you time to get it right – and to proofread it thoroughly. It’s
amazing how many people bang a few misspelt and ill-considered words
into the submission form. Those typos will shout ‘careless and inept’
for months or years to come.
When you’re happy, cut and paste into the submission form. Once
again, it’s best to work offline with a cached version: less chance of tears
if you accidentally click the ‘submit’ button before you’re ready.
|
|
The words you
use are a careful balance between astute marketing copy and database
keywords. Study how the database works. Key in a few of your keywords
and see what comes up. You’ll soon see how the database indexes
entries. Some look for the presence of your keywords in the title, others
in the description. Some look in both fields.
|
|
Look also at
how many words or characters each database allows. Find out if more than one sentence
is allowed.
Use as much of your allowance as you can – but don’t exceed the
limit or your submission may be rejected or truncated.
|
|
Examples of four
different types of search engine
| name:
|
type:
|
title from:
|
description from:
|
| Alta Vista
|
index
|
metatags
|
metatags
|
| Lycos
|
index
|
metatags
|
the first 150 characters
of body copy
|
| Google
|
index
|
metatags
|
the 170 characters
of body copy surrounding the search word
|
| Yahoo!
|
database
|
submitted specially
|
submitted specially
|
|
|
|
|
Spamming is
hard to define. What’s spam to one person, is well-targeted marketing to another.
In search engine terms, it means any technique that seeks to gain an unfair advantage
over other sites, or which devalues the results of a search engine selection.
When you look at specific techniques, it’s hard to say what it is that’s actually
wrong with them. We all want to improve our rankings and, if you follow the tips above,
you might well succeed at the expense of a competitor who’s less switched on. That’s what
competition is all about.
Everyone can see that the endless repetition of keywords in a metatag devalues the
search engine. If you can repeat your keyword 500 times, what’s to stop your competitor
doing it 5,000 times? At the same time, no one will object if you gain an advantage by
massaging your keyword frequency up to about 5% in your body copy.
If there is a simple explanation for these conflicting attitudes, it’s that some
techniques are overt, whereas others are covert. Multiple keywords are invisible to
browsers, whereas cleverly-written text is there for everyone to see.
|
|
Covert
spamming is usually regarded as a bad thing. It gets your site marked down – maybe
even banned from some engines. But there are still a few techniques you can
get away with…sometimes.
Every search engine is different. They evaluate sites in different ways and allow
or disallow certain techniques. And they’re always looking for new ways to outwit
spammers and improve their selections. That means that something you might have got away
with last week, could become illegal this week.
|
|
Using
inappropriate keywords is a waste of time. It might attract browsers who are interested
in that keyword, but you can be pretty sure they won’t be interested in what you’re selling.
|
|
Don’t
use a competitor’s trade mark in your body copy, or as a keyword. The trade mark may well
attract the right sort of browser, but it'll attract the trade mark owner’s lawyers
first.
Don’t even think about this technique. You’ll be caught in no time. Your competitor
only has to look for their trade mark on a few search engines and your name will pop up.
|
|
Hidden
text is an old trick; but it’s easily rooted out, and heavily penalised, by search engine robots.
The technique seems deceptively simple: you just add a few words in a colour that matches
the background colour, and – hey presto! – they become invisible.
|
|
But
there is a variation on this technique that I’ve managed to get away with. Colour the
text just one shade off the background colour. If you get the shading right, the text
is still invisible. It’s theoretically possible for a search engine algorithm to pick
up tiny shade variations, but there are so many possible combinations that, in practice,
they might never go looking for your particular pair of colours.
|
|
Misspelt
keywords are frequently entered into search engines. Some misspellings are more common than
others. For instance, you occasionally see ‘bycicle’ instead of ‘bicycle’.
If you were a cycle shop, you would want to appear in the selection that the mis-keyed
‘bycicle’ produced. You’ll get yourself a few illiterate customers, but who cares so long
as they own a credit card.
Put the misspelling into your metatag keywords and – if you have the nerve – work
it into your body copy.
|
|
A page
full of misspellings doesn’t look good on your perfect website, so you’ll probably try to
disguise them by hiding the text. Here’s a better idea: make a virtue of them!
This is a technique that applies to any piece of text you might be tempted to hide.
Bring it out into the open and devote a whole page specifically to it. For instance, you
could have a page that covers common misspellings of words related to cycling.
Sounds odd, but you’ll be able to list all the misspellings you can think of, repeat
them as many times as you like – and put them in the metatags for that page. The result
is that your dedicated misspellings page will almost certainly come near the top of a
misspelt search – just
like this page.
Go the whole way. Make the page humorous, and you’ll make browsers laugh at
their own mistakes. You’ll be laughing too, because they’re now your customers.
|
|
Web pages
with frames aren’t recommended for search engines. You should definitely avoid them for your
home page, but you can use framesets elsewhere to help catch a robot’s eye.
The trick is to use the <noframes> tag. This tag is often left empty because modern browsers
are all capable of reading frames. But older browsers – and some search engine
robots – can’t read frames; they look instead at the content of the <noframes> tag.
Construct a framed web page within your website. The content of the frames is largely
irrelevant for this exercise, though it would be wise to make them consistent with the rest
of your site – and intelligible to a potential customer. Now fill the <noframes> tag with
some or all of your keywords. Add those keywords to the metatags of the framed page, and you
have a page which, to some robots, looks like real content. Maybe you could construct a
framed page for each of your main keywords.
|
|
This
is dodgy, but you could submit a competitor’s site dozens of times to a search engine
for which they get good rankings. You’re unlikely to improve their ranking, but you might
well get it lowered – or banned altogether.
I’ve never done this, and I wouldn’t recommend that you do it either. It’s not
sporting – but then the internet isn’t known for good sportsmanship.
|
|
