How to Achieve High Search Engine Visibility
Each search engine has its own method of indexing, sorting and storing web pages. Different search engines store the same web page differently and assign differing levels of importance to the various attributes contained within each web page downloaded.
By and large web crawlers work in a similar way, it is only the method used to assigning importance to different attributes that changes.
SEO, search engine optimisation, can be split into two main factors, off page optimisation and, on page optimisation. 'On page' optimisation is impacted by all the information contained in a page, both visible and non visible. 'Off page' optimisation is impacted by information about the page that is not on the page.
On page optimisation
The following basic points should be addressed to ensure that a website is as visible as possible on search engines.• The correct domain name
• Using the best and most effective keywords
• Repetition of page keywords in the first 200 words of the respective page
• Correct syntax in all HTML code
• Preferably create pages using an HTML editor
• All images must contain an informative HTML <ALT> tag
• Aim to have at least 20 website pages, having many pages is better than having a few
• Having standard HTML hyperlinks on website's that have JavaScript powered navigation menus
• Having no "dangling links"
• Having a Site Map page and having standard HTML hypertext links to it
• Ensuring that text used in HTML hyperlinks is relevant
• Present the reader with interesting, on topic, and original informative text
• Do not duplicate text on different page's
• Describe all images
• Ensuring that images contained on a web page are given a relevant and descriptive name
Selecting the correct domain name is important. Domains that use the ".com" identifier rate the highest with search engines, and are generally preferable to a .co.uk domain name, unless the product is totally UK specific. The domain name should include one or more of the web sites keywords if possible. For example if a website's primary aim is to provide information on "Jaguar Cars", then www.jaguar-cars.com is a sensible and appropriate domain name.
