If you have an internet business, having an attractive website is just the beginning. If you want your website to rank highly in the search engines when the public searches for your line of business, you will need to know how to optimize your website. Here are some tips on how to do that.
Don't bother trading links with a website that uses the nofollow attribute on their links, there's no point! Always check their code for links before you ask them to trade, it will look silly if you end up saying nevermind later and have to explain yourself. Do your research ahead of time!
Avoid using meta tags that point to your site that are not really related. That is extremely bad for business and it will make users look at you in a bad light. The other downside is the fact that it is possible for doing that to get you into some trouble with Google.
You can optimize your website by allowing your visitors to subscribe to your RSS feed. Make sure your RSS feed is category specific. This means you have to tag your feed properly and register it under certain categories. People might even find your website by looking for feeds if you do this properly.
Viral components are key to your website or blog. Think about using reviews, sharing functions, ratings, or visitor comments to actively involve your readers/users and also cause more interaction, as well as it gives users the freedom to share your content elsewhere which will optimize search engine results more and also cause your site to gain more hits.
When you look at competitor's websites for search engine optimization analysis, make sure you examine their site map carefully. A competitor that gets consistent high rankings from the search engines, likely has a very well-optimized site. Inspect the keywords that show up on their site map. Ask yourself if there are any keywords on your competitor's site that your site could use.
Paid keyword services, while costly, can provide a definite competitive edge as you begin to narrow down your list of keywords for SEO. Wordtracker, Keyword Discovery, and SEO ToolSet are ideal for determining competitors' keywords, helping you select only the most effective keywords, and also for suggesting new keywords. You might consider these tools at the outset while you familiarize yourself with SEO, then unsubscribe when you feel more confident in your own insights.
Though it might seem arcane at first glance, search engine optimization is really not complicated. Tactics like the ones you have just read about can make a big improvement in your web site's search engine rankings. In the end, good SEO is just a matter of knowing how to get the most out of your website and the effort you put into it.