Search Engine Optimization tips

I'll assume that you are not a total beginner reading this post. It's short and sweet and gives you great easy to do pointers on SEO (Search Engine Optimization). 

I've been on the internet for the past 3 years writing my heart out and researching as I go,  the  subject of Search Engine Optimization.  But the more I researched and read on, the more I realized that a lot of the information out there is not fresh and is false. As a matter of fact I got quite confused and this is why:

Some veterans, even though they mean well, will give you pointers that got them a Page One Ranking that they got many years ago and struggle to keep at the top.  Notice I said "struggle". One such marketer is Griz.  He's pretty good. I don't know how much money he makes, but he's an authority on the Make Money Online niche. His number one rankings or even Page One rankings keep falling.  Maybe Google has started to penalize all the Make Money Online sites.  Most of them are crap anyway.

Google keeps is algorithms very secret.  Fair enough.   If we all knew exactly what to do to optimize our sites, then the playing field would be very level, as SEO would not be a fine skill to master.  So Google is right in keeping them secret.  But not all of them are secret.  Actually most of them are not.  Google will go to great lengths to show you how to optimize your sites.  It's that 10% or so of its algorithms that still mystify even the experts that keeps the guessing game interesting and the diligent rewarded.

OK, enough background info.  Here are my pointers:

1. Make your domain name as similar as possible to your site title. If you sell cookies, make your site "thebestcoookiesonline.com".

2. Have more than 3 pages besides your home page and keep them all related.   I.e.:  "Cookies Homepage";  "All about Chocolate chip cookies"; "My grandma's Oatmeal cookies", etc.  Get the picture?

3.  Make every post, article or picture related to your site.  Don't show a pictures of a cute baby, unless it's related.  Baby eating cookie is OK.

4.  Tag and title your pictures.  Bots can't read pictures. They read text.

5.   Make your content unique with about 7% keyword density max.  Make sure your keywords are related to your topic and site.  Don't copy and paste.  If you have to, keep it down to a minimum, like a quote or so and in the middle of your article.  Google now has a free tool that checks your "keyword density".  If you use it as a browser, others might do this too, just highlight a term in an article you run across with your mouse. Right click it and pick "show keyword density".

If your main keyword is "Make money Online", just do the above and check it.  If you're over 7%, cut back.  The robot may "sand bag" your site (make it disappear from any possible ranking).  Too heavy a keyword density can be considered "Robot crawler spamming". Just be careful with this one.

6.   Get lots of back links to your site.  Go to Article base, Zimbio, Ehow.com and many like sites.  These are article submission sites.  There are a few downsides to this.  Google seems to disdain them now,  it may not give your article a back link. But it's worth a try.  The other: you have to subscribe. Just come up with an e mail address that you give only for this purpose.  Don't give out your personal e mail address. You may get spam.  Back links should come from related sites.  The higher these sites rank, the better.  Getting a back link from a two-bit No Rank site may actually hurt your rankings.

Make sure that the back links are in the form of anchored text.  Instead of back linking:  "http://www.thebestcookiesonline/granmascookies.html", cloak the address by just linking: "My grandma's cookies".  Look up "anchored text" in Google if need be to find out more about this. It's a very important point and perhaps the most vital in getting good Page Ranking.

7.   Add videos.  Google loves videos.  Make them unique and related.

8.   Keep your site fresh with new content, especially if you have a blog.   Static sites should also be refreshed at least once a month.

9.   Keep your site clean looking and free of clutter.  Don't add tons of gadgets, affiliate links, pictures or nonsense.

10.   If you add Adsense to your site. NEVER click on these ads.  Google will ban you.  Add Adsense only after your page views pass a hundred per day.  Otherwise it's not worth doing.

Oh, and you may ask: "why optimize my sites?"  Well, unless you're rich and want to get traffic to your site, this is what you do.  Google rewards the diligent.  Those who put up sloppy useless sites don't get traffic unless they pay to get it such as Adwords or paid banners and "misdirectors" on other sites.  That costs money.  Why pay out the wazoo when you don't have to.

The object of Search Engine Optimization is getting tons and tons of free traffic.  Why pay for it when you don't have to?

But paid traffic is often needed.  Depending on the site budgets vary.  One of my sites: Hurricane shutters pays Google over $200 a month.  That's not too bad considering that I get about 25,000 free hits per month by having the site optimized.  The paid advertising is needed because even though this site ranks number 1, first page for many keywords, there are others where I have to pay to get traffic.

Consider paid traffic as a temporary measure.  You can always pause, start or delete your ads or campaigns.  Paying to get traffic allows you to see what keywords are working.  Why go to all the trouble of optimizing your site and pages with the incorrect keywords?  Paying initially can save you lots of work.  Time is money in this business.

Apply this motto to Search Engine Optimization: "Once you know what is working for you, put all of your effort into this and you'll multiply your returns exponentially".   When something doesn't work, and you've given it enough time,  just drop it like a hot potato.

Here's a great article on Search Engine Optimation not written by me: A1 Optimization 

Alright, I hope I covered enough ground here to keep you busy and better yet optimizing your site or sites so that you don't have to spend years doing Search Engine Optimization.  Depending on your site, you can do this in as little as a couple of days per site.

To your success,

Carlos