I got into search engine optimization back in 1998. It sure
has changed a lot since then. Back in the day you could use
invisible text, load keywords to the point of overflowing
and fill META tags with anything even close to what you had
on your page. And you could do well on Google, Yahoo, Alta
Vista; all the biggies. Not anymore.
Today SEO is about a 75% / 25% split between links and
content, with inbound links being the most important thing.
Especially on Google. When all is said and done, you can
get to the top of Google in just two simple steps.
Seriously. I've done it hundreds of times and it's easier
than you'd imagine.
Step 1: Develop Great Content
Writing great SEO content is a snap if you follow this
simple 5 step formula...
1.) Write naturally as if speaking with a friend. Record
yourself actually speaking to a friend about the topic of
your Web page and it will all come together automatically.
2.) Limit each page to 2 to 3 keywords or keyword phrases.
3.) Mention each keyword no more than 4 times per page and
split the usage somewhat equally between paragraphs. Two
mentions of your most important keyword in the first
paragraph is the only real exception. And be sure you
mention each toward the end of the page to show overall
consistency and topic authenticity.
4.) Try to incorporate the first mention of each keyword
into hyperlink anchor text. The link should lead to another
page of your own site. (Note: The keyword would then be the
clickable text leading to your other page.)
5.) Have between 150 and 250 words of text per keyword. So
if you have 3 keywords on one page, you will have about 600
words on that page, in total.
That's the quick and dirty SEO content writers course. And
believe me, it works!
Step 2: Link Like the Pros (Part 1; Strategize)
Linking is a bit more involved. The main thing to remember
is that you want as many high quality, topic relevant links
as you can get. And you want them all using the same exact
URL since Google sees URLs that begin with "http://www"
differently than links that begin with just "www". In other
words, even if you have 200 links to your page, if they are
split between URL formats, you are not getting full credit
for the links.
And forget all that stuff about links to the homepage being
"a must." Sure, having inbound links go to your homepage is
great but Google has smartened up. They figure your site
overall is probably not that great if nobody bothers
linking to your actual content pages. While it's true that
Google ranks pages rather than sites, they do still base
each of your page's worth on its supporting pages.
I won't bore you with a bunch of techno babble. In short,
if you keep this in mind, you'll always be ahead of the
game:
1.) Inbound links should be from pages containing relevant
content of a similar nature.
2.) Links to your pages from outside pages with high Google
PageRank (GPR) are most desirable. (Note: GPR is NOT the
page's position on Google. It is a value, from 1 to 10,
that Google assigns to all Webpages.)
3.) Links from (not to) a homepage are typically most
valuable, unless they have a higher GPR page to link from.
Focus on the GPR. If you use software like that mentioned
below, it will do all this automatically. If you do it all
manually, get the free Google Toolbar from
http://toolbar.google.com. GPR is shown for every page
(that has any) on the Internet.
4.) Inbound links to your pages should feature your keyword
as the anchor text triggering the hyperlink (keyword is the
clickable part leading to your page.)
5.) Do NOT use generic text for your link's surrounding
content. Make the sentence as relevant as possible.
6.) Use as many variations of your link's surrounding
content as possible so the search engines don't view your
inbound links as duplicate content.
Step 2: Link Like the Pros (Part 2; Do It)
As far as actually getting great links, avoid the automated
script based reciprocal link services. A lot of these
services link your pages to "gray barred" pages, which
means your site can get kicked off Google as well. And to
be honest, reciprocal links are not nearly as valuable to
Google as they once were, especially the junk link pages
most of these services create.
If you want the "set it and forget it" convenience of a
linking service, but not the problems I just mentioned, you
might want to try one like 3-WayLinks.com
(http://www.3-WayLinks.com). Although I'm not a fan of any
linking service, this one is the best I've come across so
far. They set it up so your page links to another, which
links to a third, which links to you. There is no direct
reciprocal beeline back to your page and each link is
counted as a one way inbound link by Google, which is the
most valuable type of link.
Of course, natural linking is the way to go whenever
possible. Google LOVES links that are part of page content
(see the anchor text notes above.) And getting great links
like this is easier than ever with the right software so
don't sweat the time or effort. Both are minimal.
The product a lot of SEO pros use (myself included) is SEO
Elite, available at http://www.SEOeliteWeb.com. It works
great as both a full function link building tool and
ranking checker for all major search engines. Even if you
don't need the app, take advantage of the free videos on
the site. They explain special linking considerations, like
special reserved commands such as "allinanchor" and how to
find Google "Authority sites." You can still benefit from
the information, even without the tool.
Big Tip: When approaching other sites for links, try to get
your link as anchor text in the actual page content, or a
margin. Also do their link that way and explain the
benefits and how much Google loves this type of natural
content linking.
So there you have it; everything you need to get your pages
on top of Google in record time. Best of luck. You'll do
great!
----------------------------------------------------
Mike Small is a ten year veteran SEO specialist with
thousands of top search engine rankings to his credit. He
is the author of seven SEO books and founder of
SEOpartner.com, http://www.SEOpartner.com
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