Why Optimize for Yahoo?
According to a recent study, of all the searches done through search engines, around 25% of searches are done through Yahoo. That means, if your site is not coming up on Yahoo, you lose 25 percent of your potential visitors. Until February 2004, Yahoo used Google results. So, optimizing for Google was enough to get a top rank on Yahoo. As of 17th February 2004 , Yahoo dropped Google results and instead showed search results using Inktomi algorithm. Yahoo's shift from Google to Inktomi made optimizing for Yahoo inevitable.
The New Yahoo Search Engine
Although Inktomi / Yahoo search algorithm doesn't differ too much from that of Google's, it is not exactly a clone of Google's algorithm. Based on the search results on Yahoo, it seems Yahoo's new algorithm gives much importance to keyword density in body text, Title tag, and META tags and to inbound links. Therefore, concentrating on these two items will definitely increase your site's ranking on Yahoo.
Keyword Density
The new Yahoo search engine gives more importance to keyword density. A Website with high keyword density may fare well in Yahoo. The average keyword counts that seem to work are as follows:
Title Tag - 15% to 20%: Yahoo displays the title tag content in its result page. Therefore, write the title as a readable sentence. A catchy title will attract the reader to come to your Website.
Body Text - 3%: Boldfacing the keywords sometimes boosts the page’s ranking. But, be careful not to be awkward to the readers. Too much of boldfaced content irritates readers.
META Tags - 3%: In META description and Keyword tags, provide important keywords at the beginning. Do not use the keywords repeatedly in the Keyword tag, because Yahoo may consider it Spamming. Write the description tag as a readable sentence.
Inbound Links/Back Links
Yahoo considers inbound links highly important. Inbound links are the links from other sites pointing to your site. Having considerable links, with appropriate link texts, from quality sites increases your site's ranking in Yahoo.
Static Pages versus Dynamic Pages
Like most other search engines Yahoo prefers static pages to dynamic pages. Sometimes, Yahoo may fail to index dynamic pages. Therefore, consider the following tips to ensure that Yahoo indexes all your web pages:
Have static pages with keyword-rich content; it increases the rank of your site on Yahoo
If you have some important dynamic pages, prepare a site map or quick links section with links to all the Web pages. This would help the Yahoo spider to craw all your pages.
Frames
Most of the search engines, Yahoo in particular, hate frames. Avoid using frames on your site, because Yahoo spider finds it difficult to crawl them.The sure-shot solution to rank high on yahoo is simply getting plenty of back links from quality sites, and then having copious keywords in the body text, title, META, and alt tags. As Yahoo holds the 25% share of the Internet searches, it is prudent to have your Web pages optimized for Yahoo. When your Web page ranks high on Yahoo, you get additional traffic that will convert into increased sales.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Common SEO mistakes
Ignoring the Title Tag
This is one of the gravest, but most common, mistakes that may spell doom for your site's SERP ranking. Most of the search engines consider the title tag very important. Search engines generally display the content that you give in the Title tag. Therefore, have most important keywords in the Title tag. DO NOT leave the Title tag empty or have irrelevant words such as "Home page", "Welcome to our site", etc. in the Title tag.
Irrelevant Keywords
Some Webmasters use irrelevant, but much sought after, keywords to drive traffic to their site. Getting traffic in such a way will not help your business in anyway. After all, you optimize your Website to boost your business. Say for example, you have a Website where you sell Desktop Computers. To increase the traffic, you use the keyword "Britney Spears" throughout your content, metatags, and Title tag. People who search for "Britney Spears" reach your page. But, when they find that your Website has nothing to do with "Britney Spears", they will move away from your site quickly. You don't gain anything from that traffic. In fact, had you optimized your site for genuine keywords, you would have brought in possible customers.
Spamming
Spamming is an unethical practice of using the same keywords repeatedly in Title tag, META tags, and Body text. Some shrewd Webmasters use this technique to artificially increase their site's ranking. However, search engines are shrewder enough to find out Spamming and they lower the ranks of those sites that use Spamming. Sometimes, search engines may ban your site for Spamming. Therefore, never spam your site with repeated keywords.
Invisible Text & Links
This is one of those old tricks used by Webmasters to cheat search engines. Webmasters stuff the Web page with keywords and links, which will be invisible to readers but will be visible to search engines. Nowadays, search engines have intelligence to find out this. If you use this trick, search engines may send your site into oblivion -- into perpetual ban!
Links to and from Bad Sites
It is a known fact that links from external sites would increase the rank of the recipient Website. However, links from low ranking sites or banned sites will not add much value to your site. Therefore, ensure you link to and get links from top ranking sites. Linking to link farms or banned sites can be harmful to your pages SERP ranking.
Invalid HTML
Most new Webmasters commit the mistake of not checking their Website's HTML code. When your Website has HTML errors, it will fare poorly on search engines, even if it has optimized content. When your site's HTML code has errors, it will be slow to load, appear incorrectly on different browsers, and rank low on search engines. Therefore, validate the HTML code before submitting your site to search engines and directories.
Having too much Graphics in your page
Search engines view Websites much as a text browser would Large amount of graphics won't help you get a better ranking. In addition, lots of graphics will make your pages slow to download, which will drive search engines and visitors away. For better ranking on search engines, have keyword-rich content instead of graphics.
7 advanced seo tips
If you're like most online webmasters, then you have probably read one article after the other about search engine optimization. Most of them rehash the same old information and you end up wading through tons of fluff. However, this isn't one of those articles. Listed below are 7 advanced SEO tips that you won't find on every digital corner.
1. Syndicating Articles that Link to Your Sitemap
As you probably know, syndicating articles is one of the best methods for obtaining one-way backlinks.
They are also valuable pieces of search engine bait because search engine crawlers are frequent visitors to many high-profile article directories. If you want to get the spiders quickly crawling your site, simply submit an informative article to a site like EzineArticles, GoArticles, or ArticleCity.
However, there's another article marketing strategy that isn't mentioned much in marketing circles. This tactic can get the crawlers searching deeper into your site and indexing more of your pages. Simply link to your sitemap within the resource box. This will send the spiders straight to a content buffet where they can quickly slurp up all of your pages.
2. Translating Your Website Into Other Languages
Are you marketing in just one language? If so, you are missing out on 64.8% of your marketing potential. This is because 64.8% of the world is surfing the internet in a language other than English. By becoming a multilingual marketer, you immediately open up a stream of new markets. Google alone crawls web pages in 35 different languages.
One of the best ways to attract worldwide traffíc is to translate your site and register it with both English and foreign-language search engines and directories. If you are a seasoned SEO, you'll be happy to hear that the competition in foreign search engines is much less than in those of the United States.
In addition, online foreign language markets are currently growing at a much faster rate than English speaking markets.
You have the opportuníty to tap into this market while it's in an exponential growth phase.
3. ROR Sitemaps
As you probably know, sitemaps are important for making sure your site can be completely spidered and indexed by the search engines. Unfortunately, many of these sitemaps are specific to one search engine or another. For this reason, there have been a number of Google and Yahoo site map generators produced in recent years.
However, there is an alternative that is even more exciting. These are ROR sitemaps and they are readable by all search engines, not just by Google or Yahoo.
ROR is an exciting new sitemap tool that uses XML feeds to describe your website. These sitemaps are structured feeds that enable search engines to complement text search with structured information to better interpret the meaning of your site. With a ROR sitemap, search engines can better understand your products, services, images, newsletters, articles, podcasts, and anything else that you want to describe.
For example, if you are selling products, a ROR file enables you to document your product names, descriptions, prices, images, availability, affilíate programs, and any other
relevant information. Search engine crawlers like the Googlebot have an enormous job to do. It's time we start helping them to better understand our content.
4. Keyword Phrases that Convert
Selecting the right keyword phrases is the single most important aspect of any SEO campaign. Unfortunately, many webmasters target the wrong keywords. Too many of us target very general keywords like "real estate" or "internet marketing". Although these terms get lots of visitors, it is unlikely that you will be able to rank highly for them. Then, even if you do, this type of traffíc produces very low conversion rates because it does not target prospects.
You will be much more successful, if you target keyword phrases that are 3-4 words long. These terms are much less competitive and have been proven to convert much better than keywords that are 1 to 2 words long.
Who do you think is more likely to buy; someone who goes to Google and searches for "ipod" or someone who searches for "4gb black ipod nano"? Obviously, the person who searches for a more specific phrase is much closer to making a buying decision.
5. GoogSpy
Would you like to get an in-depth view of how your competitors run their business? Well, you can do exactly that with an online service known as GoogSpy. GoogSpy is a free research tool that will tell you what keywords your competitors are bidding on.
This tool tracks over 500,000 keywords every day from Google and then loads this goldmine of information into the GoogSpy.com database. Using this tool, you can browse by company or by search term.
This tool is extremely powerful. Unfortunately, many people take it for granted. This service basically hands you a business strategy on a silver platter. Maybe we should just keep this one to ourselves and enjoy the benefits of being one step ahead of our competition.
For example, let's say you wanted to do some in-depth research on Overstock.com, one of the largest companies online. You would simply go to googspy.com and type in overstock.com. You will then be shown thousands of words that this company bids on. These keywords are proven profít generators. Research like this would normally cost thousands of dollars, but they are providing it free of charge.
If you want to find keywords with high conversion rates, simply type in words such as buy and purchase. You will be shown keyword phrases that are bid on that include the words buy or purchase. These are very lucrative keyword phrases because the person who types in "buy sony playstation 2" knows exactly what they want. They're not just looking around, they are in buying mode. These are the type of keywords you want to bid on. Using GoogSpy, you can uncover these hidden gems in seconds.
Other high-converting keyword phrases include brand names and product names. Type in the keyword "camera" and you will find thousands of different brands and product names for cameras. These keywords are some of the best keywords because of their high conversion rate.
6. Internal Links Within Content
The navigation of your site is a crucial element of your search engine optimization campaign. Each link within your navigational structure should correlate with a keyphrase that you are trying to rank for.
However, you can also include internal links within your content. For example, let's say you have written an article about online marketing. Within the article are a number of keyword phrases. Some of these phrases include "link popularity" and "web site traffíc". If you have other articles within your site that pertain to these topics, then you should definitely link those keyword phrases to those articles. By doing this, you can increase the link popularity of other pages within the same site.
There are very few sites that take advantage of this optimization technique. By doing this, you enable the search engines to find and index much more of your site. These internal links also contribute to a higher ranking because of the anchor text that is used.
Many people only think of inbound links from outside websites when trying to raise their link popularity. However, the internal link structure is also a major ranking factor.
7. Using Your Log Files for SEO
Your server logs reveal very important information about your site. If you learn to use them properly, they can quickly help to maximize your site's traffíc and conversion rates.
One of the most valuable pieces of information found in your log files are search phrases. The log files will tell you exactly which keywords people are using to find your website.
Once you have optimized a page, the log files will tell you how people are finding that page and what keywords they are searching for to get there. If you find that people are using keywords that you hadn't thought of to get to a certain page, it would probably be in your best interest to further optimize that page for those keywords.
You might also want to create a new page optimized for that particular term. This is especially true if a new page would enable you to serve better information on the phrase being searched for.
In addition, by looking at how your site is found organically, you can determine whether the same keyword phrases belong in your paid search campaigns. Only choose the ones that are highly relevant. You will find that these keyword phrases have the best conversion rate.
10 basic SEO Tips
Basic SEO
1. Insert keywords within the title tag so that search engine robots will know what your page is about. The title tag is located right at the top of your document within the head tags. Inserting a keyword or key phrase will greatly improve your chances of bringing targeted traffic to your site.
Make sure that the title tag contains text which a human can relate to. The text within the title tag is what shows up in a search result. Treat it like a headline.
2. Use the same keywords as anchor text to link to the page from different pages on your site. This is especially useful if your site contains many pages. The more keywords that link to a specific page the better.
3. Make sure that the text within the title tag is also within the body of the page. It is unwise to have keywords in the title tag which are not contained within the body of the page.
Adding the exact same text for your h1 tag will tell the reader who clicks on your page from a search engine result that they have clicked on the correct link and have arrived at the page where they intended to visit. Robots like this too because now there is a relation between the title of your page and the headline.
Also, sprinkle your keywords throughout your article. The most important keywords can be bolded or colored in red. A good place to do this is once or twice in the body at the top of your article and in the sub-headings.
4. Do not use the exact same title tag on every page on your website. Search engine robots might determine that all your pages are the same if all your title tags are the same. If this happens, your pages might not get indexed.
I always use the headline of my pages as the title tag to help the robots know exactly what my page is about. A good place to insert the headline is within the h1 tag. So the headline is the same as the title tag text.
5. Do not spam the description or keyword meta tag by stuffing meaningless keywords or even spend too much time on this tag. SEO pros all agree that these tags are not as important today as they once were. I just place my headline once within the keywords and description tags.
6. Do not link to link-farms or other search engine unfriendly neighborhoods. A good rule of thumb is if your pages do not contain any words that reflect the content of the site you are linking to, do not link to it.
7. Do not use doorway pages. Doorway pages are designed for robots only, not humans. Search engines like to index human friendly pages which contain content which is relevant to the search.
8. Title tags for text links. Insert the title tag within the HTML of your text link to add weight to the link and the page where the link resides. This is like the alt tag for images.
My site contains navigation menus on the left and right of the page. The menu consists of links not images. The links are keywords. When you hover over the link with your mouse, the title of the link appears. View the source of this page to see how to add this tag to your links.
9. Describe your images with the use of the alt tag. This will help search engines that index images to find your pages and will also help readers who use text only web browsers.
10. Submit to the search engines yourself. Do not use a submission service or submission software. Doing so could get your site penalized or even banned.
Here is the submission page for google: http://www.google.com/addurl.html
Submit only once. There is no need to submit every two weeks. There is no need to submit more that one page. Robots follow links. If your site has a nice link trail, your entire site will get indexed.
My site has a nice human friendly link trail which robots follow easily. All my pages get indexed without ever submitting more than the main index page once.
More SEO Tips
Get the facts here: http://www.google.com/webmasters/. This page will explain most of what you should focus on along with what you should forget about.
If you have been thinking about handing over the task of SEO to someone outside of yourself, you should read some warnings before you part with any money. http://www.google.com/webmasters/seo.html
SEO Discussion
Most SEO Professionals will not tell you about the goose that laid the golden egg. The following link will take you to a jealously guarded FREE SEO discussion.
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=google.public.support.general
You can search the forum for specific questions you may have. I like to just lurk around and read the messages.
What is search engine optimization?
SEO is the process in which your Website undergoes redevelopment to properly and best communicate your keywords to search engines. In order for your Website to rank highly among major search engines, you must understand how they become ranked. Search engines rank Websites based on two major factors: Unique content with pertinent keywords in the body, and link popularity - the number of quality incoming links your Website has. Other important algorithms that determine your ranking with search engines are the architecture of the site, visibility of your content, underlying code and how natural your site appears to the engines.
Add your url to google
After building your site one of the first things you should do is to submit your site to google and other searh engines. You can add your url to google here: http://www.google.com/addurl/
and yahoo here: http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/dir/suggest/suggest-01.html
You should also add your url to: Dmoz but you must be carefull. If you built your site by copy-paste , it mayde a disappointment for you. http://dmoz.org/add.html
Long titles
Titles take an important place in searh engine optimization. Most searh engines just look at the title and the meta tags. So you should keep the title of your site long. Instead of "my site" you can set your title as " my site , web, internet,blog, seo, search engine... etc" you can write keywords, or a description of yous pages. So you should set dynamic titles.
