20 QUICK TIPS - SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION - (SEO) FOR THE NOVICE
1. Always own your own domain name
2. Host your site on a reliable server (and not a free hosting site). You can get cheap enough hosting these days
3. Spend time selecting your keywords and phrase
4. Keep your titles to 55 characters or less
5. Use your page names to advantage
6. Be creative with page content when incorporating keywords and phrases
7. Make sure you have a robots.txt tag
8. Try to keep each page under 100k
9. Make use of the bottom of the page by having menus as text links
10. Upload robots.txt file to your root directory
11. Generate a sitemap.xml file and upload to your root directory (point to sitemap in robot.txt) file
12. If you must use js, put it in an external file
13. Don't use link buttons or js links - use text links
14. Use css in lieu of color, size, font tags
15. Make sure you have a 404 page (colour code to match your website with your own message and a link back to your index page (or wherever)
16. Submit site to ODP and Yahoo Dir (select the appropriate category)
17. Follow search engine guidelines
18. Don't use doorway pages. If you have to use them, use your robot.txt file to restrict access to all but the main page
19. Do not cloak unless absolutely necessary. If you do, restrict access in robot.txt file
20. Don't spam
Search Engine Optimization really isn't hard. It's all about content. It is also "doing the right thing".
If you don't know anything about SEO, don't worry. It really is a piece of cake. There is no need to "find the latest cheat" or jeopardize your site by using "black hat" tactics. You simply need to give the search engines what they want - relevant content. And optimise your site so that they can find that content. Simple!
About the authorDi Kemp is the author of "Easy-SEO-Book". This book is a Step-by-Step Guide to Optimizing your Website for Search Engine Ranking. It is SEO for the novice. Di has personally used all of the information in this guide to secure Top 10 Google rankings for all of her websites, some consistently at No: 1. Further information available at http://www.easy-seo-book.com See book review by John Roberts http://www.ebook-village.blogspot.com
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