Friday, January 16, 2009

How To Handle Search Engine Optimization For Your Website

By Chris Channing

Web designers today are now being trained with much more knowledge in Internet marketing and the sort, since clients are always looking to get as high up on search engines as possible. The process of optimizing a website starts at the design process, where choices are made on how a website is going to be built from the ground up, and how it will expand in the future.

The first method is to make use of meta and heading tags. Meta tags have been said to be extinct, but they still play an important role in search engine optimization. One example would be that Google prefers to use a website's meta information to show a listing in search results, rather than searching for text and showing a brief summary.

Newspapers and websites aren't so different. Websites have the ability to use headings much like newspapers do, and in fact, search engines reward website that use such headings. Using a heading or subheading tag helps search engines sort and organize the data they read from a website, and this often results in a better ranking.

After a web design is complete, a designer should always be held accountable in how well it performs in different web browsers. This also brings up the point that all designs should be validated against strict rules and standards, so as to ensure that a website has the highest chance possible to be rendered correctly for anyone trying to view it. It also helps search engines read content easier, which can keep a website running strong.

Alternate text is another tool to use when linking to other content, or even when putting images into a website. Alternative text is what is displayed when a mouse hovers over a link or an image. This is usually used to help the reader understand what they are interfacing with, but is also read by search engines to help tag content in a website and to determine the overall subject being discussed.

A sitemap is another way to keep search engines happy. A sitemap will link to every page in a website that you'd like search engines to look at. It's much easier to get new pages in a website indexed this way than to wait for search engines to find a new website from other sources. In addition, they help out readers who may be looking for a certain piece of information or subject.

In Conclusion

Looking at more tutorials for SEO is a sure-fire way to get more experienced in search engine optimization. Otherwise, hiring a company to do the work for you is also a good idea if you have money to burn. Either way, keep up to date on SEO and search engines, as rules and conditions change all the time.

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