Should We Create Sites For Users Or Search Engines?

Should We Create Sites For Users Or Search Engines?
Knowing whether to focus more on users or search engines can be a hard dilemma for all website owners. However, the truth is you should design your website for both purposes. Designing your website for only visitors without any concern search engines will provide you with few visitors. On the other hand, if you fill your site with tons of keywords and you don’t make your site user friendly, your visitors will not come back. It is actually very simple to optimize your site for both purposes. Search engines want to see that your site is built properly to provide valuable information for visitors. You can actually have your search engine ranks fall if you do not use visitor friendly techniques.
Optimize Your Web Pages
The first step in making your website user and search engine friendly is optimizing your web pages. The first step is to use the keywords that you want search engines and users to recognize you for. The text on your pages should include these keywords throughout the page. Do not simply shove them in anywhere; make sure they flow along with the text. Your keywords should also be used in your website name and page titles. Make sure that if you are using a specific phrase, you use it in the correct order. You will also want your keywords used in your meta keywords and meta phrases. Make sure the flow of your pages is also easy to go through; you should use a site map for the search engines.
Offer Links to Information
The search engines want to see links from your website to other information, as well as links into your site. This is also helpful to your visitors. If you run a wedding planner service, you might consider offering links to bands, florists, or even caterers. This will bring visitors back to your site, since they can find all the information they need. You also need to have links from other websites, so users can find you. In the same way you would place radio ads for your local business, links are like ads for your website. There are many ways you can build up your links with help from other website owners you know, or you could build your own links using social sites like Myspace or Blogger.
As you can see, many of the things you do to bring visitors to your webpage will also make the search engines rank you higher. One of the main factors in how high you rank in search engine results is the number of visitors you average. If you can build a site that is popular and has a lot of visitors, the search engines will find you important. Make sure that when you are developing your site, you use ethical practices. Don’t link to pages that have bad sites or build your pages in a way that forces your keywords on your visitors. The best way to get results is by slowly building your link campaign and offering a great, user friendly web page.

Top 7 Most Common Mistakes with Do-It-Yourself SEO

Top 7 Most Common Mistakes with Do-It-Yourself SEO

Most people today seem to understand that they need to optimize their website for search engines. However, with the vast amount of conflicting information on the internet today, many people are still getting it wrong. In recent investigations, it has been found that one out of three websites has at least one of the following seven issues on their website.

Check your website for the following seven mistakes:

1.  Description Tag – The description tag is supposed to describe the page on your website. It should not be used to stuff keywords for search engines. This tag should be about 25 words long and it should include your keywords as part of the normal sentence structure. You also shouldn’t overdo it; a whole paragraph is not going to improve your results.

2.  Keyword Tag – The keyword tag is meant to hold the keywords you want your site listed for. The tags should represent the things visitors can find on that particular page. Do not use things from other pages on your site or keywords that you think people might search for if they are not part of your site. The keyword tag should only contain twenty words or less; do not go over. You also shouldn’t repeat the keywords more than three times. For example, if you sell shoes, you shouldn’t put red shoes, blue shoes, black shoes, tennis shoes, and basketball shoes. You should only use the word shoes three times and each of the descriptions three times.

3.  Anchor Text – Many people think that they should use the name of the link they are providing on their webpage. This could not be further than the truth. Search engines want to see your keywords used as anchor text whenever possible.

4.  Title Tag – This is one of the most important aspects of your website. It is the very first thing a search engine will see when it comes to your page and this is what the engine will look at to decide what your page is about. Don’t include your url in your title tag and your company name should not be in the beginning of the description either. Don’t go over 60 words.

5.  Keywords In Your Text – Your keywords should be included within the text of your page. They should flow as a part of the normal sentence structure, and should not be stuffed into sentences that don’t make sense. The keywords used on your page should be the same ones you used in your title and description.

6.  Abstract Tag – many people are now using abstract tags within their sites. Some are replacing the description tag with an abstract and stuffing it full of unnecessary keywords. This should never be done. Most experts agree that an abstract tag is just that abstract. Leave it out.

7.  Image Tags – While Google and other search engines rarely look at image tags, they do hold value. Many sites like Google Images or Flicker spend their time searching sites for pictures. When they find a picture, they don’t want to see “jpg123,” they want to see “shoes worn at the Grammy’s”.

If you are one of these people, don’t get discouraged.  You might consider hiring a professional SEO expert to give you some advice. The rules of SEO change on a regular basis; you just have to stay ahead of the curve.