How to Do Your Own Search Engine Optimization

By Leif Bryan

There are companies out there that will charge you a lot of money with the promise to have your site appear on top of search engine results. In all honesty, though, this is no guarantee. There are companies out there that will indeed make your website appear closer to the top in search results, but there are many that will not give you what you paid for. That is the problem. Why spend money when you are not guaranteed results? So save your money and do it yourself.

That brings to light the question, “How can I make my website search engine friendly? Once again, there is no clear cut answer. There are, however, some things you can do to increase the likelihood that your website will appear in search engines. Even if it does not rise to the top, it can rise considerably.

1) Improve the quality of the text content within your website.

Search engines want to make sure that websites that are content rich are placed near the top of their searches. If the quality of your content is lacking, chances are your website can go unnoticed. But there are ways to fix that.

One thing that you can make use of is your company name. Your company name is a very important aspect that should be used multiple times within the body of your website. For instance, instead of using terms like ‘my company is,’ ‘we will,’ or ‘our staff,’ you should use the company name. So if your company name was WS Trading, those phrases would be, ‘WS Trading is,’ ‘WS Trading will,’ and ‘the staff here at WS Trading.’ This increases the name of the company in the content and search engines look for that.

Also check the grammar and spelling on your website. If your website fails in this regard, it can be overlooked. Also a good technique is to fully write out words. Avoid using ‘isn’t, ‘can’t,’ ‘doesn’t,’ or ‘don’t.’ Make full use of the words.

2) Add efficient meta tags in moderation

Adding meta tags to your website is a good way for search engines to pick up on your website. However, they need to be used in moderation. Putting too many words in the meta tag might do more than good. Also, putting irrelevant meta tags that have nothing to do with your website is another harmful approach. Instead add meta tags that describe your website and are words that will be searched and that deals with your website. Popular search terms can be found on the internet and it is okay to make use of these.

3) Cut down on the amount of images you use

Images cannot be analyzed by search engines the way text can. So if you have a site full of images, it takes away from the text content that could be on the site. Plus, search engines want content, not a bunch of images. Therefore, your overuse of images can lower your standing on the results page of a search engine.

But in using images, making use of image descriptions within the code of your web pages is very helpful. Also, naming the file something that has to do with your website is worth a shot also. So instead of naming an image butterfly.gif, name it JP_zoo_butterfly.gif. This can go a long way in making your page more search engine friendly.

4) Improve your Title tag

Believe it or not, your title tag on your page is very important. Instead of using it to just give the title for the page, it can be used to describe the business. For instance, supposed my New Jersey based company was named Gateway Sweepers. Many will put this for the services page in the html code: <title>Gateway Sweepers - Services</title>. On the services page, however, it will be a better idea to put something more lucrative and descriptive. Perhaps, you could put, “<title>Gateway Sweepers Provides Quality Sweeping Services throughout New Jersey</title>.” Not only does this title provide the name of the company, but it also states where the services are done and what the service is. This seems like a small thing, but the results can be surprising.

So as you put your website or blog together remember these steps. Not only does it help optimize your website for searching, but more importantly, it is FREE!!

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