===============
Publisher's Note
===============
Insider SEO Tactics for Coming Up Higher in the Search Engines

As any seasoned SEO (search engine optimization) expert will tell you, achieving a higher ranking in the search engines is a moving target. Those smart developers at Google, Yahoo and the rest purposefully keep changing and refining the criteria they use to determine where your site ranks.

However, there are some practices that SEO insiders know will withstand the test of time. Below are 10 of those practices that will help you rank higher in the search engines. Enjoy... and get busy. :)

1. Frequency: You can pack your site full of the right keyword phrases and it will have an effect on your search engine rankings -- for a while. But more and more, the search engines are paying greater attention to how often your site is updated. This is one reason that blogs are such the rage.

2. Think SEO First, Not Last: Most companies think about SEO strategies after the site is launched. The big secret is to think about SEO strategies before the site is constructed. In fact, use them as a guiding principle when architecting the next version of your site.

3. Quality Content: Don't just fill up your site with a bunch of hot-air copy that pumps up your own ego. The visitor doesn't care about your ego. Put up high-quality content that offers high value to the user. The search engines pick up your high-quality content in the form of keywords, and it is also reflected in the snippets that appear in search results. In addition to publishing Web Digest for Marketers, I help companies identify and package high-quality content for their sites.

4. Get Links: The search engines place a very high value on the number of highly respected sites that link to you. When you have thousands linking to you, you are considered an "authority" site by the search engines... and they're more likely to visit your site more often if you are an authority site. If your quality is good enough, other sites will link to you as a resource so you get traffic from those links plus respect from the search engines. At the time of writing, over 23,000 sites point to my Web Digest for Marketers website.

5. Think Snippet: When you do a search, the 40 or 50 words you see for each search result is called a "snippet". Think very hard about what words you want to appear in that snippet. It will make the difference between someone clicking to your site versus passing you over for the next search result.

6. PR & SEO: Put out genuine, high-quality, information-packed press releases on a regular basis. This raises your profile at Google News and other online news outlets, and it often helps in terms of regular searches as well.

7. Hide the Java: Lots of java and Flash applets on your home page can make it difficult for search engine spiders to crawl and identify the content on your site. Talk to your webmaster about where to place these applets in your HTML food chain so they don't get in the way.

8. Use the Right Keyword Phrases: Sadly, many SEO expert wannabe's advise their clients to optimize their sites for keywords that they "think" the target audience is using, but they don't really know. Before you optimize, make sure you know how people are searching for what you have. Use keyword suggestion tools, many of which you can find at www.wdfm.com. Ask people at trade shows how they search, and use your common sense as well. But just remember, the keywords you think people are using may not be what they are actually using.

9. RSS (Real Simple Syndication): Lots of companies are trying to figure out a justification for budgeting for RSS. SEO is one good reason to get with the program.

10. Feed the Spiders: Search engine spiders have billions of pages to index. If you put a lot of heavy graphics, javascripts, HTML frames and other such obstacles in their way, they'll give up on that page -- and maybe on your whole site. You want to make it as easy as possible or search engine spiders to crawl all the way down to the bottom of the page.

Go Here For > More on Online Marketing Consultant Larry Chase

Return To > Larry Chase's Search Engine For Marketers Home Page

Order
Larry's Book
Now
from
Amazon.com