Top 10 Search Engine Optimization SEO Tips

10 - Set Your Title Attributes on Your Links

Title attributes, when set in your “<a>” tag, is what’s revealed when a use mouses over your link. As pictured below.

It may appear excessive to code but this little attribute can be used internally within your site to throw in a few keywords into an otherwise keyword-weak webpage. For example, I have an About page, and my name is Patrick Burt, and for some reason, I want that site to excel at the keywords Patrick Burt. What I can do is throw in those keywords into the title tag:

Patrick Burt is cool, you can read about him <a href=”http://www.example.com/about.html” title=”About Patrick Burt”>on his About page</a>

9 - Configure your robots.txt

Robots.txt is a text file placed in the root of your server, example: http://www.pat-burt.com/robots.txt which can disallow spiders (Search Engines used spiders to “scan” your site) from accessing files or folders. You can use this from preventing Google or any spiders at all from accessing Search Engine irrelevant content. This can be anything from your Content Management System login and configs, to a directory full of your baby pictures. Nine pages of relevant content is better then nine pages of relevant content and nine pages of irrelevant content. You can set one up similar to having a txt document with nothing but:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /directory-i-dont-want-search-engines-to-see

Please keep in mind though, anyone can open the robots.txt file for your server and see what directories you have listed as non-spiderable. Your baby pictures may not be so safe after all.

8 - Know When To Use rel=”nofollow”

When rel=”nofollow” is used in an “<a>” tag, it means the typical Search Engine spider will not count your link as a “Backlink” to another website. This can help if you don’t want to directly promote a competitor, help link spammers or simply give away links to websites that don’t need them. Here’s an example of how to use the “rel” tag:

Learn about the <a href=”http://www.microsoft.com” rel=”nofollow”>creators of Windows</a>

7 - Fill in Your Meta Tags

Even though the Google Search Engine may not use these, there still are a number of Search Engines that can factor your Meta Tags into your Search Engine placement. All you have to lose is adding them, or including them on every page. It’s a relatively small investment with some return. Here’s an example of how to use a meta tag:

<meta name=’dc.title’ content=’Search Engine Optimization SEO Tips’ />
<meta name=’dc.creator’ content=’Patrick Burt’ />
<meta name=’dc.subject’ scheme=’gccore’ content=’Top 10 Search Engine Optimization SEO Tips’ />
<meta name=’dc.date.created’ content=’2007-5-22′ />
<meta name=’dc.language’ scheme=’ISO639-2′ content=’ENG’ />
<meta name=’Keywords’ content=’search engine optimization, seo, seo tips’ />
<meta name=’Description’ content=’Top 10 Search Engine Optimization SEO Tips’ />

6 - Put An “alt” Attribute on Your Images

Most Search Engines spiders can not “see” images. So it is only logical to add an “alt” attribute to your image to help with Search Engine Optimization. If the spider can’t see pixels, tell them what they’re supposed to look at. Not only would this help describing your content, but you can throw in a keyword or two. And it doesn’t stop there, people with screen readers would also be thankful. Here’s an example of how to use an “alt” attribute.

<img src=”images/my-dog-Freddy.jpg” alt=”Patrick’s dog Freddy” />

5 - Avoid Variable-Based Websites

If you can, stay away from having a website revolving around variables, and example would be: http://www.pat-burt.com/?pid=4. There are many reasons for this:

In the case of a directory where you have to type in data to search for it, a spider can’t do that. You may have a directory with 50,000 Kentucky Fried Chicken locations, but unless everything is laid out for a Search Engine spider to see, it won’t get indexed very well.

Folder names and file names do help when it comes to placement. Examples:

http://www.pat-burt.com/driving_a_car.html
http://www.pat-burt.com/?article=85

One clearly has an advantage over the other.

4 - Remember To Have <noscript>

Search Engine Optimization just wouldn’t be complete without <noscript> tags. A spider is not a browser. Javascript is rendered in your browser. A Search Engine spider will not see your drop down menus or your drag and drop interface, neither will the spider care. It’s also important to use the <noscript> tag especially if you’re using something similar to SWFObject which uses Javascript to integrate flash. Rule of thumb: If you use Javascript, have a <noscript> alternative.

3 - Use Text Instead of Images Wherever Possible

As much as you may like having headers typed out in elegants fonts such as Warnock Pro or Helvetica Neue, a Search Engine spider will not care. If you had the choice between using a static image for a header or text styled with CSS styled in an H2 tag, which would you pick? If you’re looking for Search Engine placement, it would definitely be the latter. You can do enough with the “letter-spacing” CSS attribute to make even Times New Roman look like a million bucks.

2 - Make Good Use of Your H1 through H6 Tags

Incredibly important tags. There is no reason these should not be used on your site. Not only can it help screen readers, but it can help spiders identify primary, secondary, tertiary, etc. content on your website, and rank you accordingly. I go in-depth in this blog post about advice concerning how to use your H1 (and title!) tags effectively.

And… drum roll for the best tip I can give on Search Engine Optimization…

1 - GREAT CONTENT

I hope some of you didn’t see this coming. Great content:

• Gets you featured on Digg, Technorati, del.icio.us which may give you that user jumpstart you were looking for.
• Search Engines absolutely hunger for it. The more, the better. The only instance where the more, the better isn’t accurate is if you’re spreading yourself too thin in terms of content, you may achieve worse results then you expected.
• Gets you return visitors and subscribers
• Definitely helps in terms of viral marketing

Write great content, get great content, have user-generated content. Great tips to get you started. Hope that helps.

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