Welcome to Algoholics, the pet project of Direct Hit Solutions- Chicago’s top rated SEO company 6 months and running according to TopSeos.com. We’ll go ahead and just say it: We’re addicted to SEO. When we build a site, we’re always looking for new ways to bump it further up in the rankings.
We’re pretty sure- if you’re like us- you like pushing your site further up the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) too. Have a sip of these tips: some are tried and true, some are a little newer. Leave a comment at the end if you found something useful, and of course feel free to visit our website.
33 Search Engine Optimization Tips from Direct Hit Solutions
1) Repeat information throughout your page.
Make sure your title tag, meta content, headers, and content all match up.
2) Have a strong text to code ratio.
If 95% of your page is made up of code the search engines are going to have a harder time reading the content.
3) Add keywords to your page names.
A page with the name of purina_dog_treats.html is more likely to boost search results than treats.html.
4) Bold keywords in your content.
Many search engines give more relevance to bolded terms.
5) Don’t create a Flash website.
Maybe someday in the future search engines will be able to make sense of Flash, but for now, you won’t get ranked under more than one page if you build your entire site in Flash.
6) Promote your website on blogs, forums, and other websites you webmaster.
Backlinks are important for seo, but traffic can be too. If your link is in a relevant place and it draws a steady stream of traffic, search engines will give it more relevance.
7) Make sure you use your keywords in your alt tags.
But avoid keyword stuffing.
8) Practice only ethical seo.
Unethical seo practices could get your site banned from Google.
9) Use <h1>, <h2> etc. in your headers.
Search engines place more relevance on header tags.
10) More content is typically better.
A page with more content will have a better text to code ratio meaning the search engines won’t have to wade through as much code. This also allows for more opportunities to use your relevant keywords.
11) Make sure to research your keywords.
Choosing keywords that merely represent the company or services your website offers isn’t always the best route to take. Instead, look for relevant search strings and alter your content to reflect what is actually being searched. For example, if your company sells all sorts of posters and frames, but gold framed posters are getting a high search volume, target those keywords instead of being general.
12) Put some thought into your description meta.
This is the text that people will typically see on the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). If the description is not enticing or relevant, users will not click.
13) Track which pages get hits and find out what is working.
Using software like Visitorville lets you see very detailed statistics about which pages are getting hit and what site directed them there. If you are getting a lot of traffic from a certain keyword, considering writing more content for that term.
14) Avoid using text colors that are similar to their background colors.
Google may interpret your text as being cloaked- meaning a possibility that you will be taken off of their list. Contrasting text is not only search engine friendly, you will be doing a service to your readers.
15) Move away from tables in your designs.
Tables create code bloat which makes it more difficult for search engines to find the relevant content on your page. Use css positioning whenever possible.
16) Install Firefox developer toolbar and poke around competitor sites that have high ranking.
If you want to compete with the big companies, find out what they’re doing right and try to emulate them. Seo techniques aren’t copyrighted.
17) Pay a blogger to review your website.
Not only will you get backlinked, you may also generate some decent traffic.
18) Target appropriate backlinks.
Quality backlinks are great for your site’s organic relevance and will also drive traffic.
19) Create a facebook, myspace or moli page for your site.
All of these are indexed by Google.
20) Add keywords to your image names.
Sometimes people will find your site on a Google images search. Image names will also be read by search engines and give the page more relevance.
21) Create a text document called robots.txt in the site root.
The text to place in it should be:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /
22) A frequently updated sitemap is vital.
Whether you use an xml or html sitemap, it’s important that search engines can easily find every page that you want indexed. Make sure to update the sitemap every time you add a new page.
23) Create a 404 page.
In some cases you will have to fight against Internet Explorer which likes to hijack your 404 functionality, so Google a tutorial if you’re having trouble. 404 pages are an excellent way to capture any misspelled links or broken anchors that would anger your users and throw off search engines.
24) Use external styles and javascript.
Don’t clutter your page with in-line styles or heavy handed javascript statements. This is more code that search engines have to wade through to get to your content.
25) Don’t add too many conditions to dynamic urls.
A url of only one or two conditions will do much better on the SERPs than a url with 5 conditions (all other things being equal).
26) Rewrite dynamic urls if possible.
It’s an advanced technique- but if you have access to a knowledgeable developer it is advantageous to rewrite dynamic urls to contain keywords from the page content.
27) Submit your site to DMOZ.
But don’t hold your breath. DMOZ chooses which sites they want to add to their directory- and the waiting list is typically very long. It’s worth it to submit to their list- but definitely not essential.
28) Clean up your code.
Programs like Visual Studio and Dreamweaver allow you to automatically clean up your code for readability. This will help you trim the fat and eliminate as much code as possible.
29) Don’t duplicate content in your site.
Search engines are looking for unique content that can only be found on any given page. If you duplicate large portions of content from one page to another you will be creating competition within your own site for top ranking on the SERPs.
30) Write a blog.
Many webmasters, seo specialists, etc. have created blogs that they update 2-3 times a week. The more popular the blog gets, the more value the backlinks you’ve created will be to the search engines.
31) Create a Youtube channel.
If you don’t have video content relating to your website, buy a webcam and start filming some. Even if your videos are only moderately successful, they can provide a fair amount of regular traffic to your site- as well as provide backlinks.
32) Create microsites.
Many companies have created microsites that have gimmicks in them such as flash games- and backlinked to their main website. This not only produced more interest in the company services and products, but improved seo results.
33) Post a tips list on a blog and hope and pray that it gets popular so you can get a regular stream of hits to your website.
On a completely unrelated note, our website is directhitsolutions.com
