SEO Tips
Before you start thinking about how to attract search engine spiders to your website, you need to make sure your pages are in top shape so that the spiders won’t have any problems in understanding your site and what it’s all about when they index it.
Your site may look great, but if it’s difficult to navigate or if your keywords aren’t in the right places, then the spiders won’t give you a top ranking.
You need to make it as easy as possible for them to index you. The spiders aren’t smart and they can’t see pictures or videos—they can only read text (in your HTML code and in your copy). If you put your keywords in the right places then you are leaving a trail that will lead the spiders where you want them to go. Here are some easy strategies you can employ to optimize your website and make your pages as spider-friendly as possible
Pepper Your Copy and HTML Code with Keywords
When it comes to using keywords correctly, there are only three things you need to remember: location, location, location! Spiders are looking for keywords in your text and HTML source code when they come to categorize and rank your website. If you use the right keywords in strategic hotspots on your website, then you can give search engine spiders an accurate picture of what your site is about.
Some keywords are so popular though, that it’s difficult to get a good ranking for them since there are so many other websites out there competing for them. You can cram your site full of these in-demand keywords and still not see any results.
You need to pick your keywords wisely. More specifically, you need to:
- Find keywords and phrases that your target market is searching on in search engines, and
- Stay away from keywords that are too highly competitive since this will make it too hard to rank well in search engines. Target niche phrases instead.
Boost Your Rankings With a Site Map
The strategies we’ve talked about so far are designed to help you optimize individual web pages for search engine spiders, but there’s no need to stop there!
The only thing a search engine spider knows about your website is the specific page it is currently crawling and indexing. You can get it to crawl on the rest of your site’s pages by giving it a trail to follow, in the form of a site map.
Adding a site map is a good way to increase the chances that your site will be indexed as quickly as possible, and it won’t matter which page of your site a spider lands on first.
Search engines need an XML sitemap (XML is a programming language). You can learn how to build one at www.xml-sitemaps.com. This is by far the easiest way to build a site map because all you need to do is enter your URL and they will create your XML map for you at no charge!
Your XML sitemap is different from the one that you display for your human visitors. Your visitors only need a simple index with links to your various pages in order to help people navigate your site.
A regular sitemap helps people navigate your site, and an XML sitemap helps search engine spiders do the same.
Category: SEO
