The Content Maker

October 15th, 2008

Table Structures For Top Search Engine Positioning

Posted by admin in Search Engine Optimization Tips + More

So you have a beautiful website that you paid a pretty penny for and you are completely happy with it … except no one can find it. Many web designers do not understand search engine positioning, so when they design your website little or no thought is given to the elements of design that may affect your rankings on search engines. On the other hand some search engine positioning companies offer services that will boost your rankings but at the expense of your design. A good search engine positioning company can get your website ranking for key phrases without affecting the overall design and navigation of your site. You can make small changes to your website on your own as well utilizing the tips noted in this article. There is a happy medium, you can “have your cake and eat it too.”

The first step in designing a website that will rank well on search engines is to build the proper table structure. This framework for your website will easily guide the search engine spiders through your site taking the route you want them to. A good table structure is essentially a map to the spiders, it guides the way as they travel through your website.

This table structure is very beneficial to your website ranking as it guides the spiders to the text rich, most important content of your site as quickly as possible. The spiders will enter your site at the first table, the header, and then travel through to the empty cell in row 1 of the second table, the next stop is your content area, the “meat” of your website. After going through your content the spiders will then continue onto row 2 where you have inserted a table holding your navigation, if your navigation is image based, as most is, it holds very little content that matters from the spider’s perspective. The spiders will then follow through to row 3 where you have your footer, a place to add in valuable text links rich in targeted keywords.

If this table structure does not fit your design at all there can be work arounds. A good example of this is shown on http://www.far-sited.ca. Notice that the index page upon load has a very simple look, no text, clean, crisp image. This is a good way to present your business with a simple entry page. If you scroll down the page you will see that there is in fact a lot of text below this main image. With a simple 100% x 100% table you can achieve this affect on your website. This table will open the same way in all resolutions giving your index page the look of a text free page when in fact it is not.

100% x 100% table used as mentioned above:

If you choose to use the 100% x 100% table noted above you should still try to stick to the general table structure shown first for your internal pages. There can always be room for adjustments based on the size of your site however most websites use left hand navigation and this table structure is based on left hand navigation. If your navigation is across the top of your page, maybe reconsider it. It can remain at the top, I have designed a few websites that are ranking well with this top navigation, but for the best result, the left hand navigation using the table structure first mentioned in this article is best.

All in all I cannot stress enough that a well designed site will rank higher. Even if you do not have a complete SEO overhaul of your site this table structure will increase your rankings over those that do not have a clean, properly structured website. Though the table structure is not noticed so much by the visitors to your website aside from the look of it, it is very noticed by the spiders and they will go through your website based on it. For an added edge, have your site designed with this table structure, or do it yourself. Make a point of not only giving the visitors to your website the information you want them to have but also the spiders and as quickly and easily as possible.

About The Author

Mary Davies is the search engine friendly design expert for Beanstalk Search Engine Positioning (http://www.beanstalk-inc.com/). She works and writes with years of experience in web design and search engine optimization; info@beanstalk-inc.com

October 9th, 2008

A Play In The Sandbox Is Necessary

Posted by admin in Search Engine Optimization Tips + More

There has been a good deal written about the Google ’sandbox’ effect, as it’s known. It has been taking up a lot of forum and article space over the last few months. I can’t help wonder why most of the comment I’ve been seeing is negative or at least ambivalent about the concept (if of course, it really exists, as is the case with much about SEs that we don’t truly know).

I’m sure most are very familiar with the concept of the ’sandbox’ but for those who aren’t and at the risk of boring everyone else, here is a very brief rundown:

Google, it is said, have decided that newly listed websites should have their listing (and PR etc) placed on hold for an ‘unknown’ period (the consensus seems to be around 90 -120 days) in order to make sure that they firstly, stick around for more than the specified period, and probably also continue to rank in the same way as they ‘initially’ do. The concept has been likened to ’sending them off to play in the sandbox with all the other kiddies’ until they mature and can be judged by the same criteria as the rest.

Frankly, I can’t see any problem with the idea at all. I have websites that have been online some time and other, newer ones that would be included in this ’sandbox’ category, so I’m not saying this as someone who has only established sites that wishes to make it as difficult as possible for new competition to ‘get established’.

Over the last few years, I’ve seen so many people decide (often on a whim and as often again with much planning) to try their hand at one form of Internet business or another, only to give up after a very short time. Certainly not long enough to see themselves out of the ’sandbox’ (if it exists).

I’m not sure of the exact count, but Google® have around 8.2 billion web pages indexed and in my opinion, that’s far too many websites in almost every category on every topic. It’s also true that the vast majority are idle and contributing nothing to the average Internet user. Speaking strictly about the Home Based Business area, I’m sure no one could possibly disagree that any kind of idea or system, which requires a website to first prove itself as a positive contribution and demonstrate it will be online for more than a few months, is surely welcome.

After all, anybody who has had any degree of success in an Internet Home Business will tell you that it takes work, time and perseverance to get to the point where it is remotely worth your while (except for a few limited exceptions). So why would anyone who is serious about it be opposed to a relatively short ‘trial’ period, where their commitment needs to be examined and established? If anyone really thinks that they are going to see any great benefit from an Internet business website in the first 90 -120 days, then they really need to re-evaluate their reason for doing it (even though so many ‘gurus’ guarantee success in far less time…)

As for websites of an educational, information or entertainment nature, I feel the same should apply. If something like the ’sandbox’ had been around a lot earlier and was implemented by all the SEs, there certainly wouldn’t be as many dead links and inactive websites as there are.

In most cases and in most places, there is no licensing or certification whatsoever needed to begin a website about anything at all (even in the guise of a so called ‘expert’ or ‘guru’). So anything in the form of a trial or cooling down period (even though the ’sandbox’ doesn’t fill the bill to any great degree) is a step in the right direction towards controlling the number of completely useless and pointless websites that exist, for a short time, purely on a whim or search for a quick buck.

Just to qualify my comments a little, I know there are a number of ‘personal’ websites and ‘Journals’ etc. These, of course, are a means of personal expression and everyone has the right to tell the world about themselves and to discuss whatever their fancy. I don’t believe that these types of websites are in any way unwanted. Obviously, such sites would not be included in the vast majority of meaningful searches, purely by virtue of their very nature and such, are not contributing to the abundance of ‘dead’ or ‘idle’ websites.

The 2005 Edition of Steve Brennan’s popular ebook title ‘The Affiliate Guide Book’ is now available. He also operates a number of Affiliate wesbites including Hair Loss Remedy and Quit Smoking OnlinePlus.

October 8th, 2008

How to Improve Your Search Engine Positioning and Increase Traffic Today

Posted by admin in Search Engine Optimization Tips + More

Every website has times when traffic is higher than others. However, in the downtimes you need to figure out why your traffic is lower and what you can you about it. The following suggestions have been proven to increase website traffic and will be effective in getting you more customers. However, before implementing these tips into your website promotion plan make sure you have a clear understanding of how to perform them effectively because if you are not aware of how to do something right, it could possibly backfire and work against you.

Tip #1 Keyword Phrases

Keyword phrases and rich content are a major concern when it comes to bringing in more traffic and getting a higher ranking with the search engines. The reason for this is that when people search they search for particular terms, or keywords. If you have these on your web page then you will be returned as a result. To make this work for you, make sure that you know the important keywords for your website and optimize each page around those certain keyword phrases. Don’t overdo it however, or fill up pages with keywords because this will work against you. If you plan on using keyword phrases as part of your site promotion plan do some research and educate yourself on the right way to carry this strategy out.

Tip # 2 Focus on Content, Not Images

Content, again, is a major concern because that is exactly what the search engines and Internet surfers are looking for. Don’t fill up all of your web pages with photos and graphics, no matter how great, because it will not help you in the rankings. Make sure you have some really great copy and accent that with photos and graphics where necessary. You will immediately see the difference.

Tip #3 Submit to Search Engines

Make sure you have submitted your website URL to all of the large and popular search engines. Then, double-check to make sure you are listed with them. Also, know the rules when it comes to submitting to search engines and follow them. Above all, do not try to trick search engines because this will more than likely work against you and could even get your website blacklisted.

Tip #4 Links

The more links that are on the web pointing to your website, the higher you are going to rank. Because of this fact, link building should be something you work on every day. The more websites you can get to trade links with yours means the higher search engine rankings you will receive. Consider websites that sell related products, but not products that are in direct competition.

When you put these suggestions to work for you it will not take long for you to revive and increase your website traffic. However, you must remember that once you have completed your website, your work is not over. You must constantly work to keep your website up in the rankings and if you do this on a daily or weekly basis you should never have problems with your traffic.

Michael Turner shows you exactly how to increase web site traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it today at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/

October 8th, 2008

SEO - Are You Making The Search Engines Mad?

Posted by admin in Search Engine Optimization Tips + More

If you’ve been involved in SEO (search engine optimization) for a while, you may remember the time when you could create a web page and get it ranked at the top of any search engine with little effort.

All you had to do was load up the page with the keywords you wanted to rank high for, make sure your meta tags were stuffed with those same keywords, submit the page and within a few days or weeks you’ve captured a top 20 or even top 10 result.

The major search engines were pretty easy to figure out. Some focused on the first 90 characters on a page, others gave more weight to the title tag in your HTML, another paid more attention to the overall content and finally some used a combination of factors to determine a page’s rank. And if you were a search engine expert, you knew which engine looked for what information.

Back then, you didn’t get penalized much for keyword stuffing, hidden text, and some of the other tactics that can get you into trouble in today’s world.

The bottom line is search engine optimization for the average webmaster was almost like a cakewalk years ago.

Well, times have certainly changed! Those same methods described above will not only hurt your rank, they can even get your banned from the engine permanently.

Below you’ll find some search engine optimization techniques that may have worked well in the past but have now been known to penalize you if you implement them.

Useless Link Exchanges

It used to be you could go scout out other websites that were related to yours and swap links to help boost your link popularity. These days the search engines are frowning on certain link exchange strategies.

The best kind of link exchange is one that offers a contextual link to both parties. So instead of creating a “page-o-links” that no one will even read, offer your potential link partner a contextual link in an article that is related to their site. Ask your partner to do the same for you. The search engines will see this link as a much better quality link than a link from a page chuck-full of other sites.

Let’s say you have a website on dieting. Instead of creating a “list-o-links” page titled “Other Diet Resources” where you list 300 different partner links, write some diet-related articles and recommend a few of your link partner’s sites within the context of the article.

I’m not saying avoid link directories altogether. There are some good ones like Yahoo!, JoeAnt and The Open Directory to name a few. None of these directories require a link back to them and they all have a pretty high Google PageRank.

Doorway Pages

Doorway pages are small, keyword focused pages that mainly serve the purpose of getting the visitor to your affiliated web site. They usually offer no value to the website as a whole, and often times they are cluttered with several different affiliate links.

Google is smart and can scope those kinds of pages out. You may be penalized if it finds these on your site.

Hidden or Tiny Text

This is an OLD tactic and it amazes me people still use this.

Using white text on a white background or making your text so small it is hardly visible to the human eye is one of the oldest search engine tricks in the book.

Many people would use this technique to hide tons of keyword phrases they wanted to rank high for by hiding the text at the very bottom or top of the page and make it match the background color so they are invisible. Others would use a tiny font to add these keywords in various places all over the site. The human eye may have a difficult time finding them but the search engine spiders would.

What You Should Be Focusing On…

Unique content rules. Don’t get stressed out about your meta tags, link lists, number of backlinks, etc. If you want the search engines to love you, build a website with lots of unique content, get a couple of high-quality sites to link back to you (Yahoo, The Open Directory, etc.) and develop a good link exchange program (described above).

That’s it! Keep building content and make your site as useful as possible. Pretty soon people will link to you voluntarily and your link popularity will begin to increase.

Write for humans, not the search engine spiders. Forget about keyword density (the ratio of a keyword phrase to total body content), just write for real people. After all, rumor has it that Google is using humans to review sites anyway! Could this be the future of search engine rankings? Only time will tell.

Bottom line: Don’t take shortcuts. Be ethical and work hard to build the best site you can. You’ll be rewarded in the end.

Lisa Irby is the author of http://www.2createawebsite.com, a site that offers tutorials on web hosting, HTML, traffic-building, earning money and more.