First off, what is SEO? It stands for “Search Engine Optimization” and is the process by which a Web site is prepared so that it ranks well and appears favorably in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) for keyword phrases.

And “White Hat” SEO? It’s the ethical, honest way to optimize a Web site for the search engines without resorting to skullduggery and trickery. On the other hand, “Black Hat” SEO uses techniques which try to fool the engines and can get you banned.

Over the coming months, we’ll focus on important factors that can affect your Web site’s visibility on the search engines.

#1: TITLE TAG
This is also known as the bookmark (under Favorites) and is THE most important factor a search engine takes into account when ranking your site. It always shows up at the very top of your browser (above the BACK button) and as the link in the SERP. It’s important to:

• We recommend using your 3 main keyword phrases for the page separated by a | pipe character. For example, Keyword Phrase 1 | Keyword Phrase 2 | Keyword Phrase 3
• Use your top-researched phrase first.
• Try to limit the length to 54 characters (including spaces) as sometimes, they will cut off your tag and replace it with a “…” if there are more. The engines may well take the entire title tag into account but display only some of it.
• If you have to incorporate your company name for branding purposes, “Professional Web Design & Development | Paul Mycroft + Company” is better than just, “Paul Mycroft + Company”, right?
• Avoid “stop” words such as is, and, the, of, it.
• Don’t repeat keywords.
• We prefer to have the company name after the keywords as people will read left to right to see (1) the keywords they used and (2) the company that can help with your query.
• Include your top keyword phrases logically, in a way that reads well, and describes what is on the page. Don’t just list them for the sake of listing them. Remember that you want people to click on your link.
• Try to repeat the title tag in the H1 header tag. If the user has clicked on a link because of the words used, repeating them in the main header tag will reinforce to the user that they have found what they are looking for.

Next month, we’ll focus on #2: anchor text of links.

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 9th, 2007 at 9:59 am.