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The Birth of a
Professional Web Site
Part Seven Web Page
Optimization
Selecting the
right keyword phrases for each page of your web site is the first step
towards ranking high in the Search Engines. However, it is only the
first step.
In addition to selecting targeted keyword phrases, you must also
strategically optimize your page including:
• META description tag
• META keyword tag
• Title
• Image ALT tags
• Heading tags
• Image names
• Hyperlinks
• Body text
<META>
The META description tag will contain a description of your site. This
description will be visible in some of the Search Engines when your site
is returned in a search.
Your description should include your site's most important keyword
phrases.
Example:
<META name="DESCRIPTION" content="Providing dog grooming
tips, supplies and training.">
The META Keywords tag will contain a list of your keyword phrases
separated with a comma. Your primary keyword phrase should be first,
followed by one or two secondary keyword phrases.
Example:
<META name="KEYWORDS" content="dog grooming tips, dog
grooming supplies, dog grooming training">
<IMG ALT>
An image Alt tag follows your graphic address or URL in your HTML code.
These words will be displayed in place of your graphics through an older
browser or when your visitors have their graphics turned off.
To fully optimize your graphics, insert your keyword phrases within the
Alt tags of your graphics. At a bare minimum, make sure you use enough
images to display all of your keyword phrases. Remember...your primary
keyword phrase should always come first.
Example Images (Notice the images are named using the three primary
keyword phrases):
dog_grooming_tips.jpg
dog_grooming_supplies.jpg
dog_grooming_training.jpg
Example:
<IMG SRC="WIDTH="80" HEIGHT="105" dog_grooming_tips.jpg
ALT="dog grooming tips">
<IMG SRC="WIDTH="80" HEIGHT="105" dog_grooming_supplies.jpg
ALT="dog grooming supplies">
<IMG SRC="WIDTH="80" HEIGHT="105" dog_grooming_training.jpg
ALT="dog grooming training">
<TITLE> Tag
Just as you must place your keyword phrases within your META description
and keyword tags, you must also use your primary keyword phrase as your
web page title. Nothing more should appear between the <TITLE> and
</TITLE> tags except your primary keyword phrase.
<H?> Tag
Heading tags are used to separate topics and range from <H1> being very
large and bold to <H6> which is very small and bold. Some Search Engines
place relevance on text displayed within the heading tags. Top priority
is placed on the
highest listed heading tag.
Your keyword phrases should each be used as a heading for sections
within your web page (placed in the same order as your keyword phrases
within your META keywords tag) and placed within an appropriate heading
tag. These headings
should be followed by some descriptive text.
Your headings should look something like this:
<H?>Dog Grooming Tips</H?>
Your descriptive content containing your keyword phrase.
<H?>Dog Grooming Supplies</H?>
Your descriptive content containing your keyword phrase.
<H?>Dog Grooming Training</H?>
Your descriptive content containing your keyword phrase.
<A HREF> Tag
When creating links on your web page, your links should be displayed
together with a small image in front of each link. This image might be a
graphic bullet, arrow, or whatever you'd like. These images will not
only enhance your web
page, but they will also enable you to place your keyword phrases within
the Alt tags.
When you begin creating your links, make sure the page name, image name
and page description text all contain your keyword phrases.
Your HTML code might look something like this:
<img src="dog_grooming_tips.gif" alt="dog grooming tips"><a
href="dog_grooming_tips.htm">Dog Grooming Tips</a>
<img src="dog_grooming_supplies.gif" alt="dog grooming
supplies"><a href="dog_grooming_supplies.htm">Dog Grooming
Supplies</a>
<img src="dog_grooming_training.gif" alt="dog grooming
training"><a href="dog_grooming_training.htm">Dog Grooming
Training</a>
<BODY>Text</BODY>
Optimizing your text is another important step towards ranking higher in
the Search Engines. Your web page should contain plenty of text and
should contain each of your keywords and keyword phrases used in
different variations. If all of your keyword phrases you've listed
within your META tags aren't found within your text, the Search Engines
will simply ignore them.
Search Engine Submissions
Once you've optimized your web pages and uploaded them to your server,
your next step will be to submit your main pages to the Search Engines.
However, don't submit your pages to Google. Your pages will rank much
higher if you allow this Search Engine to find your pages on its own.
You may want to consider creating a site map for your site and submit
this page to Google instead. A site map is a page that outlines how your
pages are set up and linked together. If you design a site map
with links to all of your pages,
the Search Engine robots can easily spider and index them.
Taking the time to optimize each of your web pages is the most important
step you can take towards ranking high in the Search Engines and driving
your more traffic to your web site.
(Continued in part seven)
Copyright © Shelley Lowery 2003.
About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of the highly acclaimed ebook
series, Web Design Mastery -- An eight volume (500+ pages)
in-depth guide to professional web design. Web Design
Mastery is being hailed as the "Bible" for professional web
design.
http://www.webdesignmastery.com
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