DO's

Highly indexed Web sites are designed to be both user-friendly and search-engine-friendly. Search engines periodically send "robots" or "crawlers" to scour every Web site. The following initiatives will make it easier for those crawlers to search, index, and output the information within your Web site, which will improve your natural search rankings.

  1. Title Tags (Page Titles): Each of your Web site's pages should have a distinct 6-10 word title using relevant keywords found throughout that page. If,.for instance, your Web page provides advice regarding college entrance exams, your title might be "SAT Tips and Hints for Students". Visit www.washingtonpost.com for an excellent example of great page titles.

  2. Site Maps: Site maps are crucial to improving natural search rankings precisely because they enable engine crawlers to access each of your Web site's pages. Your site map should begin with a brief description of your Web site's purpose or mission and then include text links to all major site pages (maximum of 100 links). You should also include a brief explanation above each subset or category of links.

    Each page within your Web site should provide a text link to your site map. Additionally, your site map should be stored in your root directory - making it easily accessible to all crawlers. Visit WashingtonPost.com's "Site Index" for an excellent example of a site map best practice. Remember, that search engines only crawl the first 100 links on a webpage - including your sitemap.

    It is important to note that search engine crawlers have difficulty with drop-down menus, JavaScript, and search boxes. Site maps are simple ways to attract crawlers to each page.

  3. Utilize Your Error Pages: Too often companies forget about error pages (such as 404 errors). Error pages should always re-direct "lost" users to valuable, text-based pages. Placing text links to major site pages is an excellent practice. Visit www.cnet.com/error for an example of a well-utilized error page.

  4. Meta Tags: Make sure that 100% of your site is tagged with pertinent keywords found throughout your site. Beware, however, that the search crawlers will interpret excessively long tags with superfluous words negatively!

    Visit www.duke.edu and select "View" and then "Source" from your browser's navigation menu. Duke.edu lists all related meta tags by keyword and by description. The meta tag listings are stored in the html code, beneath the page title.

  5. URL and File Names: Short, appropriately named files and URLs enable engines to easily crawl your site. Always keep the most important content at the root level and name directories appropriately (think keywords!). If possible, try to place pages at a maximum of two directories deep. For example, NFL.com lists the entire roster of the New England Patriots at this straightforward link: www.nfl.com/teams/rosters/NE.

    Additionally, when naming files or folders with two words, separate the words with either a dash or underscore. For example, name a directory /horse-racing/ rather than /horseracing/.

  6. Page Size Under 75k: Always keep page sizes under 75k - most search engines stop crawling when a page exceeds this limit.

  7. robots.txt: Robots.txt is a text file that essentially speaks to search engine crawlers -effectively welcoming or prohibiting them to various parts of a Web site. Utilize your robots.txt file to ensure that crawlers are invited to your site and excluded from those areas with sensitive information (such as files contained within a CGI folder). If you are unfamiliar with robots or your robots.txt file, visit www.robotstxt.org/wc/faq.html for a thorough explanation.

  8. Links: Strong linkage to your Web site raises your relevance and eventually your page rank. Improve linkage by contacting related Web sites and Webmasters and kindly ask them to create a text link to your site. Forming strategic alliances with relevant sites and services also works well. Additionally, construct and submit related articles to online publications in exchange for linkage.

  9. Page Content: Your page content should mirror all of the optimization you have performed within your page titles, meta tags, and file names. Make sure to place strong, relevant keywords throughout the page body and in text. Place pertinent keywords within your headers by using header tags (H1, H2, etc). Keywords can also be stressed by bold and italics formatting. Go to www.itt-tech.com to see an excellent example of highlighting keywords and terms with text.

  10. Submit Your Site to the Engines: Of course these best practices are useless if a search engine fails to find your site! Most of the search engines (Google, Yahoo!, AltaVista, etc) allow you to submit your site for free; upon entering your URL, email contact, and other pertinent information, the search engine directs its crawlers to enter your site.

    However, before submitting your site to the major search engines, submit it to www.dmoz.org. Dmoz.org catalogs over 3.8 million Web sites and distributes collected information to many of the major search engines and portals. Inclusion in the dmoz.org catalog typically has a beneficial impact upon page rankings.

    The following are links to the site submission pages for several of the major search engines:

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