SEO - Boost Traffic

SEO is a technique which helps search engines find and rank your site higher than the millions of other sites in response to a search query. SEO thus helps you get traffic from search engines.
I will cover here 4 important topics on seo.

1 Automated Backlinks
2 Keeping Spiders on your page to index more
3 Importance of Yahoo Traffic
4 Sitemaps

Automated Backlinks

Directed more to legal websites, however you can still try. Submit your RSS feeds and get automatic high PR backlinks.

1. Blog Digger
Google PR: 6
Alexa Rank: 27154

2. Feedage
Google PR: 6
Alexa Rank: 4471
This feed needs a login account which is free to create.

3. Feedcat
Google PR: 6
Alexa Rank: 23010
This feed needs a login account which is free to create.

4. Plazoo
Google PR: 6
Alexa Rank: 25313

5. RSS Network
Google PR: 6
Alexa Rank: 31104

6. URL Fan
Google PR: 6
Alexa Rank: 71451

7. ReadABlog
Google PR: 5
Alexa Rank: 55727

8. Feeds4All
Google PR: 5
Alexa Rank: 111069

9. Million RSS
Google PR: 5
Alexa Rank: 41019

10. Golden RSS Feed
Google PR: 4
Alexa Rank: 43994

11. Ice Rocket
Google PR: 5
Alexa Rank: 5569

12. FeedAgg
Google PR: 6
Alexa Rank: 14978

13. FeedSee
Google PR: 5
Alexa Rank: 53388

14. Solar Warp
Google PR: 5
Alexa Rank: 104977

15. Feedgy
Google PR: 4
Alexa Rank: 56902

16. Feedlisting
Google PR: 3
Alexa Rank: 22,369


Keeping Spiders on your page to index more

Search Engine Spiders are similar to guests. They want to be entertained.

Think of a spider as a maze game. When they come to your site they are at the start. If they get cornered into a wall its game over and they leave your site, so try to keep many open pass ways for it to go around.

A few examples using your site.

- Contact us, would be a useless page for a bot to index and once there on the page they would be bored and leave.
- Calendar is another useless page as its turned on most vb forums. The spider is wasting its time, unless you actually use it and add content
- login page

It's far better to your advantage to add no follow as these page will not get you any traffic anyways. When the spider is on your page it is always looking and trying to find out where it can click next. You can do this by something like recent posts/topics, tags, random topics ect.

It's extremely important to point Google in the direction you want it to go. It's not the fact that they are boring pages it's more they are distracting. No forum has every single page indexed and if you have more than 70% of your forum indexed your doing ok. The trick is to help get as much of that last 30% as possible indexed and if Google finds itself on a page with a login, contact, register, dcma and topic link and all except the topic are nofollow then the chances of that topic being indexed are way way higher. It's a simple matter of calculation and options which is exactly what Google is based on. Google doesn't index every link it sees it has to make choices from time to time so by adding nofollow your helping guide and influence those choices.

 Importance of Yahoo Traffic

This is based on comscore from 2009 which is the latest I found. Guess they have not released anything for 2010 and 2011 yet.

65% Google
20% yahoo

So consider a 10,000 uv/day site. In my case 99.99% of my organic traffic is all google.

Lets assume 25% of the traffic is direct, and another 25% is referral (I like round numbers ) that leaves 5,000 uv from just google. Since yahoo is just under 1/3 there is a good 1600+ uv that you could add to your site by working on yahoo. also consider the fact that most don't care about it and that 1600 could be over 2000 with some work.



Site Maps

What are they?
Like the name implies, they are a map of your site. A site map makes navigating through your site a lot easier, and is very important for spiders.

Format are they?
Yahoo and MSN can still read HTML format, however if you use the XML format which is read by all spiders (Google most importantly) you will be better off.

Why Use them?
They offer the opportunity to tell search engines that changes have happened on your site. The results will not be in seconds, however generally a lot faster then without a sitemap. By submiting a sitemap to search engines you don't need external links to bring search engines to your site as they will know your site exists.

How to submit?
Sign up
Google - http://www.google.com/webmasters/
Yahoo - http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/

Replace Your site url with your own url
Ask - http://submissions.ask.com/ping?sitemap=http%3A//Your site url/sitemap.xml
Bing - http://webmaster.live.com/
- http://www.bing.com/webmaster/ping.aspx?siteMap=Your site url/sitemap.xml


Thanks for reading.I will get back to you shortly.

Read more »

Seo tips for website

Search Engine Optimization! That's the buzzword for amplifying page ranks today. Bill Gates once quoted, if you can't make it good, at least make it look good. While the internet has become the mainstream of any and every business, individuals and companies are doing everything it takes to keep on the top. Top? Where? Well, top on the search engine ranking. Today, companies who practice effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) by enhancing their website attributes are able to boost traffic from the search engine. There are a number of website SEO tips and constituents that are worth considering before you launch a website of your product or business. However, before we zero in to the tips and tricks to increase web traffic, lets get acquainted with how does this SEO thing work for the web. After all, you want to target maximum audience, don't you?

Search Engine Optimization: How Does it Work?

Make people want you more. Nothing is as dreadful as lowered search engine ranking. Don't you agree? When you put everything into designing a website that would, in future, bestow upon you endless profits, even a single dimension gone wrong can take your website far away from being the numero uno. That's where effective search engine optimization comes into play. It not only helps in improving search engine rankings of a website, but also makes sure you get hits in bulk regularly. But what to do in order to get optimization right and rankings boosted up? Well, with the help of the right search engine optimization, you just need to take care of the right keywords (the ones you think are the most searched words), structure the site in a way that Google crawlers easily move over, and measure as well as analyze traffic in terms of sales. The following website SEO tips will help you getting a load of how to exactly do all that. Have a go!

Website Top SEO Tips and Tricks

Believe me, it's not a cake walk. With countless websites launched everyday, and new content getting developed every single second, it is almost impossible to amplify the rankings of your website on Google. However, with some easy SEO tips put forth here, you can easily make your website's presence felt in an ocean of 'n' number of web-pages on the giant search engine. So, here we go with the seven most important and webpage SEO tips you-cant-afford-to-miss:

Tip #1: Keywords are the Key!
Having a website with content that is worthless, and does not contain words that are the most searched on the web is sheer wastage! You need to do effective keywords research, thereby, using maximum keywords in your content which will get more and more hits. Google Adwords can help you judging which words have the most number of hits, and accordingly, you can include them in your content research.

Tip #2: Be 'Bold' Enough!
HTML tags that bold, italic, and underline your content must be used everywhere. The most important thing while optimizing content is to use as many tags as possible. There is a plethora of cool HTML codes for your convenience. Okay, that doesn't mean you flood your content with unnecessary bolds and underlines! Just keep in mind that Google crawlers identify and lay emphasis on these tags the most.

Tip #3: Go Hyperlinking!
Links are an essential part of search engine optimization. Links make navigation extremely easy, as when you link different pages of your website, the crawlers think there is a lot of significance in your content, and hence, they will surely boost your website rankings. Same is the case with links within the text. The links should be arranged in such a way that the crawlers always have something new to enter into, and not go back to the homepage.

Tip #4: Content that Contents Readers!
Quality, more than quantity, matters. You need not have a 10,000-words long article as it would do no good but distract the crawler. Instead, you need to have adequate website content having significant knowledge, keywords, links and something unique for every reader. Subtle language, not offensive at all, and something that a reader learns from… contributes to the best produced content.

Tip #5: Title Optimization!
Well, one might not judge a book by its cover, but it's not the same case here. A good title is one of the most important website SEO tips to be kept in mind. The title should have as many keywords as possible, along with a meta title. Meta tags explained in a simple manner can help you understand what is the importance of having different titles and tags on every page. In simple words, in order to stay at the top, you need to have the most attractive title and content that satisfies the user in a way that he doesn't go on any other result.

Tip #6: Acknowledge Yourself on Social Media!
In other words, bookmark your websites on various web pages so that the users find different ways to navigate through your site. This is called social bookmarking which is essential to effective SEO, and can prove to be immensely beneficial to website owners who struggle for higher rankings on the internet search engine. Social bookmarking will put the information on your website to a wide audience, which will also help in getting introduced to new clients all over the world for an enduring period of time. After all, it is a giant platform you're bookmarking your website on!

Tip #7: Update Your Website Regularly!
This is, perhaps, the last and the most important tip, people miss out on. Too often, many website owners create onetime content, and forget it. You need to understand that with new content being introduced on the web, it is more than hard to keep an effective hold on the web market. Hence, regularly updated content, a fresh interface, and latest keywords can not only amplify your search engine rankings, but also keep you on top. So what if thousands of web pages come over Google everyday? You have your updated content ready to slump the others down!

Hopeful as I am, the above tips must have satiated your appetite of information about how to increase your rankings with search engine optimization strategies, has it? While it dreads me to even mention the countless bits and nuances that one needs to ponder over while doing successful search engine optimization of a website, the above seven website SEO tips, according to me, are the ones you can't do without. Beyond everything, reaching the numero uno isn't the only destination for a search engine optimizer. Instead, one needs to have his website extremely user-friendly to keep that attention soaring high. Moreover, you may even be successful in fooling Google crawlers, but eventually, it is the audience of your site that is the ultimate judge of how worthy your website is!

Read more »

An Introduction to SEO

Search Engine Optimization - What & Why?

We are living in the age of Google now. For anything and everything, people tend to do a Google Search. While in need for services and solutions for business challenges, people do a quick search to get what they want. Businesses that appear top on web search could reap huge revenue and profits.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) deals with the technique of writing/organizing web content in such a way that your web pages appear top on web search results and bring more traffic to your web site. This tutorial explains the ways of optimizing your web pages for better search results, the basic concepts of SEO and the tools involved.


SEO - How to do it yourself?

Search Engine Optimization is not a complex process. With proper understanding, you can in fact do it by yourself. Here are the simple steps:
Step 1: Identify your keywords

* The first step in the SEO process starts with identifying the keywords specific to your business.
* Keyword refers to the words or phrases, which your prospects are likely to use when searching for web content.
* This is a very crucial step as the success of SEO depends on this largely. Proper identification of keywords could hugely boost your business.
* On the other hand, improper selection could conceal your business from the eyes of prospective customers.

How to identify the keywords?

* Do a thorough analysis of your business to identify the keywords.
* The analysis should focus on identifying the common terminologies used in your business.
* For example, if you are offering a Network Monitoring solution, Network Monitoring would be your primary keyword.
* You can also interact with your existing customers to identify the keywords.
* A large number of web tools are available to guide you in identifying the keywords.

Following are some of the prominent tools:

1. Google:
2. Microsoft: AdCenter Keyword Forecast Tool
3. WordTracker: Keyword Suggestion Tool
4. Keyword Discovery: Search Term Suggestion Tool
Use the above tools to identify all your keywords.

Step 2: Organize your web content

* After identifying your keywords, you need to organize your web content in such a way that the search engine crawlers identify your keywords.
* Just as we read a book from left-to-right and top-to-bottom, the search engines also follow a similar reading flow.
* They normally start reading the title tag, then look for the headings written in bold, then the content from left-to-right etc.
* Organizing your web content (specifically the keywords) along the lines of the Search Engine reading flow will enable your web page get a better rank in the web search results.

How to choose the domain name url?
What are the rule of thumb?

URL of your web page

The URL of your web page plays a very prominent role in determining the importance of your page.

For example, if you are offering a Network Monitoring solution, if the URL (domain name) is in the form of http://www.network-monitoring.com, it will generate more traffic than http://www.yourcompnayname.com. In case, you have already registered your domain name and it is not possible to change the domain name to reflect the keyword, add keywords to the names of your pages. For example: http://www.yourcompnayname.com/network-monitoring.html

While constructing the URL, keep in mind the following golden rules:

1. Hyphens in the URL should be limited to a maximum limit of three
2. Total number of characters in the URL should be limited to 100.
3. Research by SEO analysts has proved that the optimum limit is 72 characters.

URL length of 30 characters provides the best results


How to use title tag and meta tags?

Title Tag

1. Use Keywords in title tags
2. Keep the title tag as simple as possible and as short as possible (less than 10 characters)
3. Do not repeat the keywords in title

Stop Words /Poison Words

Search engines categorize the pages containing certain keywords as offensive or not useful to the reader. They call those words as stop words or poison words and the occurrence of such words anywhere in your document title, description or content could poison the ranking of your page. The following document provides a list of such poison words and it is better to avoid them in your pages.

Meta Tags

Next to the title tag, meta tags represent strategic importance. In each page, use meta description tags and meta name tags.

For Example:

<meta name="description" content="Network Monitoring Solution">
<meta name="keywords" content="network monitoring, network management ">

Try to use different meta description and keywords for different pages. Using the same description on all pages might diminish the importance.

How to optimize keywords in heading and webpage contents?

Heading Tag

<h1></h1>

All search engines give great importance for the heading tag. So, if you have your keywords in heading tags, you are likely to add importance to your pages. Try to optimize keywords in all heading tags h1, h2, h3 etc.
Body Content

Content in your web pages are the primary communication means between you and your prospects. While tweaking the content for search engines, you should take care not to irritate the readers with unwarranted repetition of keywords.

Always keep in mind that you should write the content for the readers and not for the search engines. If the content is good/relevant and if you follow all the SEO best practices, the chances of attaining a good ranking are bright.

Analysts say that around 4 to 6 % keyword density per page is healthy. You can properly place and optimize the keywords within this prescribed density.

You should not attempt to have hidden keywords (that is, optimize keywords in white colour not visible to the reader, but available to the search engines) anywhere in the page. If search engines find out the trick, they impose stringent penalties and your web page would not be shown in the results at all.

What is Link Building?
How to get external or back links to a website?

Link Building/Popularity refers to the number of links pointing to your site from other sites on the Web.

If external websites have a direct link pointing to your website, it is more likely that the popularity of your site will improve. You can start with submitting your site to dmoz.org, Yahoo! and other directories first.

In SEO parlance, external links are also called as Back Links. Back links from reputed sites (that is, sites with a good page rank) could definitely improve the importance of your web page. If the page (from where a back link comes to your page) has been optimized for the keywords relevant to your business, your page will also be rated high by the search engines.

You can also make effective use of forums and blogs to post links to your website popularity. However, keep in mind that many forums do not allow blatant advertising. So, wherever some discussion very relevant to your business is going on, participate in the discussion and then post your link.

To find the number and list of back links pointing your page, you may just do a google search as link: For example, if your website is www.e-geeks.in, you can find the number of back links as link:e-geeks.in.

What is an Anchor Text?
How to use Alt Tags for Images?

Anchor Text

The anchor text of the backlinks also play a major role in SEO. Anchor text is the descriptive labeling of the hyperlink as it appears on a webpage.

For example, while Network Monitoring will be the content visible on the webpage, the actual link will be http://www.your-company-name/network-monitoring.html. Search Engines examine the anchor text to decide the relevance of the content on a webpage.
Alt Tags for Images

The alt attribute is used to define an "alternate text" for an image. The alt text is nothing but a description for the image. The original intention of the "alt" attribute is to help the reader when the image does not load on the browser. The alt text will tell the reader what he or she is missing on that page. The browser will display the alternate text instead of the image. For instance, in the following example, if the architecture image fails to load, the reader will know he is missing the software architecture image.

<img src="http://www.blogger.com/network-architecture.gif" alt="Network" monitoring="" software="" architecture="" />

Nowadays, SEO engineers have started using their primary keywords in the alt text of the images with a view to improve their ranking.

What are dynamic web pages?
What is meant by keyword stuffing?

Dynamic Web Pages

All web pages can be broadly classified into two categories the pages that change often (dynamic pages) and the pages that remain unchanged for a long period of time (static pages). SEO Analysts have found that the dynamic pages rank higher in the search engine results. It is better to dynamically change your web content at frequent intervals.
Keyword Dilution/Stuffing

Normally, it is better to concentrate on optimizing one or two keywords on a single page. If you try to optimize more keywords on a single page, it will lead to keyword dilution as you will be stuffing your page with many keywords making it uninteresting to the reader as well as lowering the overall ranking of the page.

Read more »