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First and foremost, you should avoid creating a duplicate title tag which is one of the most common SEO mistakes. As most of us are aware, the title tag is the words or phrases, which appear at the top of the browser when the page is displayed. Search engines obviously give prime importance to the title tags. A standard title element should contain one or two of a web site's keywords and include a reference to the page's fundamental content within the first three to five words. The rationale behind doing this is that spiders only consider pproximately the first 60 characters of a title element. Additionally, they are adept at identifying cases of keyword overusage. So, adding too many keywords to the title is a wasteful exercise since the spiders read roughly the first 60 characters alone. Again, when more than one page displays the same title tag, the search engines disregard the importance of those pages.
Meta tags have lately lost much of their significance in the larger search engines. The biggest mistake one can make with Meta tags is to have the same Meta description for every page. Please note that pages with duplicate Meta descriptions can never fetch good rankings. The same applies to the Meta keywords tag also. The golden rule is only those keywords found on that page should appear in the keyword tag. You should avoid using the same word in the Meta tag descriptions more than thrice.
Internal linking, when not done properly, can create avoidable problems. Too many links in a site can induce the search engine spider to stop indexing the site even before it is actually finished. Although Google restricts a site from having a maximum of 100 links on a page, it is advisable to restrict it to not more than 50 links.
When you aim at better SEO results, the links should always be made with text. Many web designers use images for their linking little realizing that this will not be effective for optimization purposes. They create a site with bulk of the text- embedded into graphics instead of using actual text. Please know spiders and bots cannot see images and thus the words embedded into pictures serve no purpose. Having your mission statement embedded into fancy graphics may certainly look fascinating but will not index in any search engine.
Moreover, you should scrupulously avoid using large Image Files. Potential buyers and other clients are generally impatient and will abandon the site if it takes too long to load. If you really need the large images then consider using thumbnails that lead to a separate page. This has added benefit of creating another page and additional text that spiders and bots would favor.
Another important aspect to bear in mind is the navigation system should never be in any form of java script, Flash, or image map. It is very helpful to provide multiple links on every page of your site as pages which have only one incoming link may not fetch good ranks. More than anything else, linking to other sites has to be done with lot of care. As we are aware, spamming has become an acute problem that the search engines have now changed their algorithms with respect to linking.
It is worth re-stating that content is king. When you have a bunch of pages that have little or no text, you will be straightaway ruining your chances. Go through your site and see if there are opportunities to add content. Elevate your SEO expertise and try using keywords in you copy. Consider adding content that has substance and offers related and valuable information to you products or services. Do not cut and paste and pass off other people’s work as your own. It’s not only unethical but also illegal. |
