What do you do for SEO?

[steveto]

I realize that SEO is a multi-factor thing and that there needs to be many things done in order to improve your website ranking. I want to know what you guys do to increase quality links. I have the content part down...but want to get pointers from you about increasing links and what you guys do.

[biggedon]

here's a tip i got in my faves

first put some keywords into the "alt" tag when you have a banner at the top of your site.


and this may be an old trick. but i read that since bots read left to right that if you have your site set-up with a menu or links on the left side of your website, then this is what gets indexed first, the links.

<table width="450" border="1" align="center" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1">
<tr>
<td colspan="2">Banner and Alt Text here - with keywords </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="122">
<p>Table of Contents</p>
<ul>
<li>Link 1</li>
<li>Link 2</li> <- This gets indexed first (after the alt text)
<li>Link 3</li>
<li>etc </li>
</ul>
</td>
<td width="311" valign="top">
<p>Main Content.</p>
<p>Here's where your content goes. This is what
you really want to get indexed by the search
engines </p>
</td>
</tr>
</table>



you really want the content spidered first, so it's best to either leave the top left table row blank.

<table width="450" border="1" align="center" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1">
<tr>
<td colspan="2">Banner and Alt Text here - with keywords </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="124">&nbsp;
</td>
<td width="309" rowspan="2" valign="top">
<p>Main Content.</p> <- All this gets indexed first
<p>Here's where your content goes. This is what
you really want to get indexed by the search
engines </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<p>Table of Contents</p>
<ul>
<li>Link 1</li>
<li>Link 2</li>
<li>Link 3</li>
<li>etc</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
</table>

[whitebark]

I sacrifice a lamb to the google gods after creating a new website.

[draggar]

Write like you're talking to people. I started to run a site for a friend of mine to compete with an illegal version of the site (HisName.com).

The illegal version was managed by an "SEO" expert.

My friend knows nothing about computers and wrote articles.

As soon as my site was indexed - we beat him in SEO.

[Keyboard Cowboy]

The saying about writing content for people and not engines, is also beneficial because of the fact it generally holds value. That means it'll most likely gain natural links while the other version may just seem spammy (usually high keyword density which can actually be annoying reading)

There's no reason not to include a keyword here and there in your copy, but for god sake, make it make sense and seem natural. For the trained eye it's extremely easy to spot if text is written for engines or people

EDIT: I realize the point of bigge's post wasn't to focus on the markup but on the order of lists etc. vs. text (content), but the <table> code does seem a bit outdated. The engines will pick it up regardless, but it's better to build sites using CSS (div structure). Tables are meant for tabular data, not for site structure

Also, a good idea is to include a couple of <h> tags. It will help theme your site. However, use with caution. I've seen countless of sites overdo it

[DomainMagnate]

links, links and guess what else...

[biggedon]

EDIT: I realize the point of bigge's post wasn't to focus on the markup but on the order of lists etc. vs. text (content), but the <table> code does seem a bit outdated. The engines will pick it up regardless, but it's better to build sites using CSS (div structure). Tables are meant for tabular data, not for site structure

Also, a good idea is to include a couple of <h> tags. It will help theme your site. However, use with caution. I've seen countless of sites overdo it

i agree also that <table> tag is sort of outdated, but i use a mixture of them and css tags on my main site.

google still shows me love, here are last 30 days referrals

Search Engine Hits
Google 398
Lycos 46
Yahoo 11
MSN 4
AltaVista 1
Ask Jeeves 1
AOL 1


Google worldwide!

Referrer Hits
www.google.com/search 7.91% 102
www.google.de/search 7.14% 92
www.google.co.uk/search 1.55% 20
www.google.fr/search 1.47% 19
www.google.ca/search 1.40% 18
www.google.es/search 1.24% 16
www.google.it/search 1.09% 14
www.google.com.br/search 1.01% 13
www.google.at/search 1.01% 13
www.google.nl/search 0.70% 9

[grace5]

links, links and guess what else...

agreed!

[rush123456]

I sacrifice a lamb to the google gods after creating a new website.

very funny



I think it is very genuine to promote to publish article in squidoo and twitter and publish these links in turn.!!

[tetrapak]

I buy beers for the Google guys.

[mkellerman]

I use the following site to find dofollow blogs:

http://theyfollow.seomysite.co.uk/index.html

do you think posting on these blogs is a good idea?

[wussadotcom]

I use the following site to find dofollow blogs:
do you think posting on these blogs is a good idea?

Its only a good idea if you find topics related to your site's niche and not an outdated post.

links, links and guess what else...

Links are important but On Page SEO is the basic step and relevant unique content.

[webdev08]

right keywords, quality content and postings to dofollow forums and blogs related to your site would help build quality backlinks.

[grace5]

Links from a related or NON related sties are the same in googles eyes.

[Stephe]

Links from a related or NON related sties are the same in googles eyes.

I disagree. A link from a site in the same niche is worth more to your site than a link from a completely different niche. Related links are given more influence in terms of seo.

[RustyK]

keyword research, relevant content, quality backlinks and a prayer. I like to structure my pages accordingly. Lots of work but well worth it.

[webdev08]

I disagree. A link from a site in the same niche is worth more to your site than a link from a completely different niche. Related links are given more influence in terms of seo.

Indeed! It's true.

[south]

I buy beers for the Google guys.

Got an address to send those beers?

[tetrapak]

1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

Don't forget to write your websites URL on the pack!

[grace5]

I disagree. A link from a site in the same niche is worth more to your site than a link from a completely different niche. Related links are given more influence in terms of seo.

I would really like to see proof of that, and do tell me how can you tell if a link is worth more (who is it worth more to you,SE,surfers or who?).