D. Keith Robinson's Gorilla Web Tips

Tip Number Two - Practical Search Engine Optimization

June 25th, 2003

Getting your site to rank higher with search engines is at best a calculated crap shoot. There are so many rules and arcane methods that can be used it's hard to keep track of them all and frankly, while some of these do work they often can cause usability problems and actually make your site worse in the long run.

On the other hand there are a few quick and easy things you can do to your pages to not only increase relevance in search engines, but also increase the overall usability of your site.

Proper Page Titles

The single most important thing you can go to optimize your site for search engines is make sure your pages are titled correctly. These titles should be clear and concise, using trigger words and phrases that will have meaning to your users and those searching for the content on the page. They should not be over long and the relevant keywords should, if possible, appear at the front of the title.

For example, the title of this page is: Practical Search Engine Optimization - Gorilla Web Tip Number Two - DKR Productions. This may be stretching the limit lengthwise, but it contains a clear title that describes what this page is all about. I've put the most relevant information first, so that when it shows up in a search result, the user will have no doubt in their mind what they are clicking through to.

It's also a good idea to mirror what is in your title tag in your headings. I've not done this exactly, but in most cases that is what you would want to do. As always this must be weighed against the goals of the page, but I imagine usually this would be a non-issue.

The Homepage and Interior Pages

As your homepage is usually where users enter your site this is where the majority of your search engine optimization should take place. However, don't neglect your interior pages, it's a common misconception on many sites that users only come in through the homepage and often time not enough effort is put into the interior pages, in many ways.

If you use meta tags, use them properly on all pages. You can start with the Keywords Meta, here you want to list keywords that users will be looking for, it's important not to over use one keyword or phrase and only use words that you also use in the title, Meta Description or body copy. Don't do too many keywords, keep them simple and keep them relevant. In the Meta Description you'll want more of the same. Have an accurate description and keep it relatively short, try and use some of the keywords and phrases but don't ramble.

It is important to note that many search engines (Google) don't use meta tags as a factor in their rankings any longer, so while they probably won't hurt, they won't help a whole lot either.

One way to introduce key words and phrases into your copy is by using sub headers. This can also help users quickly scan through your content to find what they are looking for. By doing this you don't have to try and squeeze your key phrases into copy that might do better without it. This keeps the actual copy clean and natural as well.

On the homepage in specific it's a good idea to try and include keywords that will work as a window to the content of your site, if possible use link titles and short summary blurbs rather than copious amounts of text. You may have been told to place as much text and as many keywords as possible on the homepage in order to increase your search engine relevancy. Don't do this. Users will come to your homepage looking for a way into the content and too much too soon can be a bit confusing and cause other usability problems. They key is not to overwhelm the user with details and text on the homepage, but provide them with directions, as it were, to your content. Instead strive for a balance, use keywords and phrases in your links and link titles and have short and relevant blurbs containing key phrases. That way you can increase your relevancy and insure a good experience for your users.

Use the ALT attribute

An easy way to help insure search engine relevancy is to use keywords in your images ALT attribute whenever possible. These should be kept short and strive to describe the image as closely as possible. Don't just try and cram keywords into an ALT attribute for the sake of getting keywords on a page.

Don't Get Clever

There are a few things you do not want to do when optimizing your site for search engines. These mostly have to do with trying to trick or manipulate the search engine. Don't do these, you could be blacklisted and that is never good, and most often these tricks can cause significant user frustration as well.

Here is a list of things you shouldn't be doing:

Listing your keywords anywhere aside from the Keyword Meta, this includes "hiding" them with a font color that matches the background.
Using more than one title tag or multiple versions of the same Meta tags.
Using keywords (like "Harry Potter" or "Britney Spears") just for the sake of getting higher hits, keep them relevant to the page and site.
Spamming a search engine with multiple requests to be indexed.
Making up text or copy just to please a search engine, this will be noticed by your readers and looked down upon.

Search engine optimization is a tricky business, but with a few common sense guidelines you can help folks find your site via search and insure they have a good experience when they get there.

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