Optimize Your Web Presence with

Healing the World Wide Web... One Page at a Time

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This is my Private process to Search Engine Optimize a website.

First determine if the website even needs optimizing

Remember Yellow Seed Bamboo? All that time trying to optimize when there were only two bamboo nursery on Maui? Is there really any competition for the relevant keywords?

If there isn't any competition and the site still doesn't show then the job is probably a simple task of cleaning up the meta tags.

Next: look over the page code

If you are even seriously looking at the site then there is probably a number of things wrong here. Look for these things

Is there just way too much code that could and should be on a separate CSS page?
Are the keywords stupid, repetitive and over abundant?
Don't forget the img title and alt tags.(The title tag is what shows as you scroll over the img)
Before fixing do your keyword analysis.
Vary your meta tags or they won't mean anything.

Content is King... Still.

Your home page is the directory for what is on the whole site AND it is your summary page. After your intro paragraphs, it is best to have small paragraphs that summarize the different sections of the site with a link to that section or even several pages within that section.

The first paragraph of every page or section is the summary, take the time to do it right; it matters.

The first paragraph is the summary of the page; again take the time to do it right, it does matter; the first paragraph is used as a summary by the robots and more.

Finally, in the content it is okay to repeat yourself if you vary the words around. Plagiarizing is also okay if you link to the source of the content and only use some of it, and quote what you are quoting. Quoted, plagiarized and linked to content is WAY better than no content!

Next: fix the errors, if you can.

Every little error is going to have cascading consequences that hurt. Most of these are unforeseeable so just do your best to fix them.

In Dreamweaver click site, at the top toolbar, then reports. Run the HTML report with all boxes checked. Then goto W3.org and see if you can pass their tests.

For web language standards and tutorials go to
www.w3.org
www.csszengarden.com/ for css help and understanding
And don't forget Google with more tools and advice and code and and stuff...

There are also many helpful review sites out there. Here is a good one: http://www.aboutus.org/

The Princes of SEO!
Prince Link and Prince Review

It is possible that one day one of these princes will usurp the throne of SEO from King Content. At the moment if both of these cooperate you can actually do it now with nothing but crap for content. But in the long run who is going to keep up a link on their site that only links to crap? And who is going to sign reviews about crap service? This is ultimately why the S.E.s put so much value on these things.

This is where the real labor of SEO is hidden. Getting links and good reviews is an ongoing, never ending job. This is what you want to charge clients a monthly fee to perform and it is well worth it. Here is what you need to do every month to earn that fee.

Register the website with relevant directories

Set up the website in:

google - use webmasters tools to register the account. Put the tracking code in the bottom of the page html to get data about visitors and much more.
google places - to get on google maps!
yahoo.local - Yes they still matter, just search your subject and see where someone on their site shows on google.
superpages - see yahoo above
linkedin.com - takes a little work but it helps and can be very useful
Facebook - good if site owner wants to help a lot

Reviews

Reviews are not so hard and are usually overlooked as an extremely valuable source of good things for a business. Many SE robots use reviews as a prime indicator of site value. In most of the items I stated above in "register the website" there is opportunity for reviews. This is GOLD!

Build a page that is just for folks who you want to give you a good review. Put a link to this page from somewhere on the site, but you probably don't want it on the home page; you don't want everyone to be able to find it easily. A shitty review will stink for years, even decades. Maybe put it at the bottom of your contact page with the link text: "how to help".

On this page give specific directions on how to write a review for the website/ business. Provide links and sample letters. If they have to jump through hoops, like they will for google places, then hold their hand and describe each step of the journey. Then print some flyers or stamp, write the address on some of your business cards; make sure these get into the hands of the customers who you are sure will write you a good review.

Links. 1, 2 or 3 way

Reciprocal Linking. Want to exchange links with this website?

First build your links homepage and describe what you want willing others to write when they link to your site and how to contact you to create a link exchange.

2-way link exchange

Personally I stand unconvinced of the value of exchanged links, at least a link from a page that has lots of links to other sites. I mean do you ever look at these pages, do you ever click on one of these kinds of links? Not entirely valueless but don't waste quality time on simple link exchanges with those sites that are going to place your link on a page with dozens of other wannabes.

If you can do an exchange with someone that is more relevant then that link becomes more relevant. If the page that the link is on has content that is relevant to the content on your site, then that link become more valuable. Creatively search out and pursue these kinds of links. My friend in another city does computer repair. If he had a page on his site that talks of website construction or website SEO and I got a link to my site from his AND that link was on that particular page THEN the link would really be valuable. If his website was also well ranked then that link would sway the SERPs.

OK so now you get an idea of what to work towards. Keep you eyes open, your creativity stoked and be ready to move when the time is right. I believe that it is probably worth the effort to actually build a special page just for such an exchange, if the page is not wildly inappropriate. If I made a page on auto sales it would be pretty crazy as part of this site, however if I used the page to highlight an example of an auto sales company whose business spiked after I modified their website and promoted their business... AND on their website I put a little tiny blurb on the bottom of the pages that states that this auto website is optimized and promoted by the ever fabulous WorldWideWebDoctor. So you see this is how link exchanging is valuable. Be creative, it will be worthwhile.

Checking link reciprocity:

There are a few ways to check if the website you are exchanging with still has a return link up:

you can do a broad link review at Yahoo. (more tools there also)
Submit Express has a great tool for this. Make a list of the urls and check this list every month or so.

Link text

Take these things into account when writing your link code.

The text that contains the hyper link is the gold so think it through. Notice in the example below, that "best website SEO" is the link text. That is where you want attention at.

"The world's best website SEO can be obtained at WorldWideWebDoctor.com"

Another thing to be aware of is that as your link building progresses you won't want every link to go to your home page. You want a balance of links going throughout the website. Try to make it relevant to the site your link gets placed on. Let's say that I am exchanging links with the house builder I know. I would write the link like this:

"These guys are the best at restructuring your website for optimum SEO"

Then I would link to my restructuring page. This stretches the bounds a bit but the words in both his website and the page it links to offers legitimacy to the link.

Optimization Checklist

New website

keyword research
Verify all file names are lower case to avoid endless problems.
Go here to get a free review of relevant sites and directories that your site should be listed on.

Old Website

Create a custom 404 page not found page that has a site index on it.

Create a custom 404notfound.php page that sends the webmaster an e-mail for every attempt to access a page that is not there. Then use the .htaccess file to 301 redirect these attempts to the correct page. use this code: redirect 301 /lostpage.html http://www.domain.com/newpage.html

It is easy to flub this one. Linking to www.domain.com/index.html in your pages. All onsite links to the home page should be simply / with no mention of domain or index.html. A helpful article here.

There is a difficult htaccess fix to these. Click here for help

Make a cool website icon for bookmarks and more by clicking this link. Favicon? Make them here, its easy. Includes instructions.

Another word of warning on link exchanging.

These days there are so many crap sites out there dying to exchange links with anyone that it is often easy to get overwhelmed with requests. If you say on your links page to request the exchange before adding a link from their website to yours, then this absolves you from obligation to respond to all the crapsters out there.

If you are bothering with the link exchange game by having a "resource" page and exchanging links with everyone this way, I suggest you follow these guidelines.

Check their page rank - install google's toolbar and enable the page rank indicator in your browser. If there is no page rank then don't bother sharing with them.
If the requesting site's content has nothing to do with your site's content, just leave it alone.
Beware 3 way links. They usually want the link to your site to be from some link farm, total crap website.

3 way links are great cause they look like they are not an exchange, maybe.

If you are going to bother with any exchange, even 3 ways, remember first to check for relevancy. No relevancy in website content means it is probably not worth the effort.

Second, page rank of the site you are linked to and from. No rank means no value. It is probable, though unproven, that if the home page has significant rank but the page your link is on does not, then the link may still be valuable. Be sure there is good links from the home page to the links page in any case.

Third, how many other links are on the page and where on the page is the link to your site?

Subject Authority

This site is all about websites and website SEO. I am presenting myself as an authority on website optimization and SEO. A large part of my SERP rank depends on recognition of myself as an authority in this area. If i garner links from relevant sites on my ability as an authority then this really bolsters my position in the SERPs. That is why I write all this content on my website, in hope that someone will link to my site to use my authority to prove a point. As in "here, look at this and you will see what I am saying", this with a link to my site is way better than gold.

But it works the other way too. Google is the Authority on website SEO. If I link to Google, especially relevant pages in google's website, then this will help the rank of my website. This "proves" I know what I'm talking about cause I am citing the king of SEO authority in my content.

I know that standard wisdom holds that links away from your website drain your site's juice. This is true too. However remember relevancy. Also now consider "AUTHORITY". A link to a relevant authority defines more clearly and states boldly what your site is about. So even though I may register a drain on my "juice" by linking to google's page on SEO tips, I am also gaining in a number of ways.

If I quote some of their content and then link to them, I gain by way of added content and I gain by further defining what my site is about. I also gain some authority by citing an authority. Just like it works in any real life conversation. "well I heard it from google that 'website authority gets transferred by quoting an authoritative website'". If I then link to that page that confirms this as true then my content and page and site gain in authority.

So despite how crazy it sounds, one way links, off site, can be another way of furthering your site's rank in the SERPs. Just be creative and cautious, don't rely too heavily on just one authority and it is probably wise to not twist the intent of the content you are citing.

Adding a video to a website
Adwords notes

Don't Forget the Sitemap

A sitemap is easy nowadays. Just go here and they will build it for you Free. You can buy the basic package from them for $19.99 and do large sites, set it to update weekly or whenever,

If the images are important, and maybe even if they are not, you should index your images also. This linked to generator does not auto index the images. But if you buy the $20 basic package, for $5 more you get an image sitemap maker as well. Highly reccommended.

If you just have a few images that you want to index, or you have loads of free time and NO money, then what you need to do is follow the instructions here at google support.

You may instead want to use this site's sitemap maker, they have a free service too. You could also want to consider making a one time purchase, a same deal more or less, as the site mentioned above. If you make websites one of these is certainly a good investment, if your time is worth anything.

The following list defines the five parts of a Web site that Active Search Results displays in the search results paragraph.

Page Title - The page title text is located between the open and close <title> tags within the <header> tags. If the title does not exist or is less than eight characters, the URL is used in place of the title. The page title is the first line of text that people see when viewing the search results paragraph and is formatted with a link to the Web site. Each Web page should have a different page title. - Maximum length is 100 characters.

Meta Description - The meta description tag describes the content of the Web page. The meta description tag is located within within the <header> tags and formatted as follows:
<meta name="description" content="Describe your Web page here.">
Each Web page should have a different meta description tag. - Maximum length is 150 characters.

Body Text - The body text contains the first 300 characters found on the website. Active Search Results stores the first 1,000 characters of the website and uses the first 1,000 characters in its indices to provide search results.

Meta Keywords - The meta keywords tag provides to the search engine words to index the site. Web searchers will type in words to search on and the closer those words are to the meta keywords on the Web page, the higher the ranking will be for that Web page. - Maximum length is 100 characters.