There's More to Search Engine Optimization Than Meta Tags
Search engine optimization (SEO) services tend to comprise a wide range
of capabilities:
- There are low end services that promise to submit you to 500 search engines
for $50. The problem is that they usually get you classified as spam and then
don't address the root issue - what are the top 20-30 search phrases used
by your prospects and what needs to be done to your site to generate better
rankings.
- There are SEO services that employ "doorways" and "cloaking,"
but end up getting you blacklisted from the search engines because these techniques
aim to trick the search engine into thinking you have a valuable, content-rich
site.
- On the high end, there are services priced at $100,000+. They provide the
custom site analysis and coding that's needed, but for a hefty price.
Search engines are too important to ignore. So to be able to sort good SEO
vendors from bad, you need to know something about the SEO process.
Meta Tags
Many people think "SEO = meta tags," those little bits of HTML code
that describe the content of a web site. In the world of SEO, the two most popular
meta tags are the meta description tag (a phrase or sentence) and the meta keyword
tag (a string of keywords related to the site's content). In the early days
of the web, search engines relied heavily on meta tags to determine the importance
and relevance of a site. But as web site owners tried to fool the search engines
into thinking they had better content than they did, search engine algorithms
became more sophisticated and turned to other site information.
Content
The single most important factor in determining your page rank is your visible
content. Start by creating the best possible content for your customer, then
tweak it a little to make sure the important search phrases appear on each page.
But don't overdo it or you'll be penalized. For instance, don't try something
like this:
Telesian is the best technology marketing firm in the technology markets.
Telesian knows technology marketing. Telesian's technology marketing work
with its clients…
I'm going to stop here before this page gets penalized!
To create the best possible content for both your prospects and the search
engines, make sure your SEO provider knows your customers and your markets.
That's the only way they will be able to make the right recommendations for
improving site rank based on content.
Invisible Text & Doorways
I am always amazed at how often we have to warn companies about things that
seem too good to be true. Invisible text at the bottom of web pages and doorway
pages are two that quickly come to mind. And both are a big no-no in the SEO
business. If an SEO vendor suggests them to you, quickly walk away and by no
means provide them with access to your web site.
These two techniques are ways to fool the search engines. Invisible text is
often found in low-end web sites created by web designers who are pretending
to be in the SEO business. To include more key phrases on the site, they insert
a repetitious list of the phrases in the same color as the background of the
page. This makes the nonsense text invisible to anyone but the search engines.
Doorway pages and cloaking are used when a visible site is so poorly designed
and written that it won't rank well on its own. Instead, a special set of web
pages is created specifically for the search engines. These pages will never
be seen by humans, only by the bots sent out by the search engines to spider
a site. More and more, we've see this approach used by large companies with
weak web sites who insist it's impossible to change the corporate content. By
the way, I've yet to meet a web site that can't be optimized the right way.
Btw, if you don't believe me about the do's and don'ts of the SEO process,
read what
Google has to say.
External Links
All SEO programs should include a way to increase the number of external web
sites that link back to yours. For several search engines, this is one of the
most important factors. But avoid affiliate programs or broad-based link exchanges
as they can harm you more than help you. Focus your efforts on relevant web
sites within your industry. And make sure you use optimized text for the links.
Wait, There's More!
If you're aiming for the top, there are many more components that must be included
in an SEO program: optimizing tags and tag attributes; registering a unique
IP address; properly applying cascading style sheets; implemeting fail-safe
navigation; restructuring a frames-based design; fighting code bloat; producing
regular rankings reports and competitor analyses; and more. Make sure your SEO
vendor addresses all of these issues before you sign on the dotted line. Because
there's more to SEO than meta tags.
For more information on an effective yet reasonably priced optimization service,
check out Telesian's SEO offerings. Number
1 rankings have been obtained for all clients.
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