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By
Martin
Kerrigan
from
myDreamDesigns.com
Part 3
Welcome
to the
third
part of
our
series
of
articles
on
getting
the best
out of
your
website.
If
anyone
missed
parts 1
and 2,
published
originally
in the
Paphos
Scene
magazine,
you can
catch up
with
them
online
at
www.scenethenews.com
This
month’s
topics
are
effective
linking
strategies
and some
of the
pitfalls
to look
out for
with
some of
the less
reputable
search
engine
optimisation
tactics.
Linking
Strategies
Despite
abuse of
the
system
in
recent
times
via the
development
of “link
farms”
of pages
of
largely
irrelevant
links,
search
engines
still
rely
heavily
on
inbound
links to
help
them
establish
the
authority
and
relevance
of a
site. A
useful
way of
building
your own
links
network
is to
make use
of
social
networking
sites,
such as
MySpace
and
Facebook,
to build
a
community
of users
and
visitors
– an
established
“Group”
for your
business
on one
of these
sites
will
help
generate
visits
from
both
potential
customers
and
search
engine
robots.
It is
also
worth
considering
setting
up and
maintaining
a blog
to raise
your
profile
and help
highlight
any new
products
or
services.
Keep it
above
board!
As with
most
things,
there is
often a
temptation
to cheat
with
search
engine
rankings,
and a
number
of less
reputable
companies
are
around
that
will
make
bold
claims
about
the
results
they can
achieve
for your
site’s
ranking.
However,
the
search
engines
are
increasingly
becoming
alert to
the
possible
short-cuts,
and will
punish
offending
sites
harshly.
A clear
line
exists
between
what is
termed
“White
Hat”
optimisation,
including
the
legitimate
strategies
outlined
above,
and
“Black
Hat”
tactics,
which
aim to
trick
the
search
engines
into
ranking
a site
inappropriately.
Black
Hat
techniques
to watch
out for
include
hidden
content,
pages of
irrelevant
links
and
repetitive
meta-tags,
and if
anyone
recommends
approaches
such as
these
for your
site it
is
recommended
you give
them a
very
wide
berth!
For more
information
on
search
engine
optimisation,
or a
free
review
of your
site’s
current
status,
please
contact
info@mydreamdesigns.com
Part 2
Last
month we
talked
about
the
basics
in
checking
to see
if your
website
is
properly
configured
for
accessibility
to the
search
engines,
in order
to
ensure
you’re
getting
the best
exposure
possible.
Well by
now you
should
have
checked
that
everything
is OK,
and
taken
any
remedial
action
where
necessary;
delaying
this
will
only
hurt you
in the
long
term,
because
if the
search
engines
establish
that
your
site
isn’t
properly
built
then the
frequency
with
which
they
return
to check
on it
can be
greatly
reduced.
The
longer
you
leave
any
remedial
action,
the more
time it
will
then
take to
have an
effect.
So what
else can
you do
to try
and give
yourself
an edge
in the
shadowy
world of
search
engine
optimisation?
This
month,
we’re
looking
at 2
very
important
factors
–
sitemaps
and
links.
Sitemaps
As the
name
sounds,
this is
basically
a
dedicated
page
which
lists
all of
the
pages
available
on your
site,
and is
very
important
in
ensuring
that all
of your
pages
are
successfully
located
and
listed.
Not only
will
your
site’s
users
find
this
useful,
but it
is also
one of
the
first
pages
the
search
engines
will be
looking
for. The
page
should
have a
title
tag of
simply
“sitemap”,
and can
be
either
in the
same
format
as the
rest of
the site
(HTML,
PHP etc)
or for
more
advanced
users a
specialised
XML
sitemap
can also
be built
and
uploaded
to your
webserver,
and then
submitted
directly
to
Google.
It is
very
important
that you
link to
this
page
from
your
Home
page,
preferably
from
somewhere
near the
top of
the
page.
Links
Possibly
the most
important
factor
in
establishing
the
prominence
of your
site is
building
a strong
network
of
inbound
links.
To be
most
effective,
these
links
should
be
relevant
to your
own
site, in
terms of
either
content
and/or
location,
and the
best
links
are
those
with a
high
PageRank.
(a
number
between
0-10
assigned
to every
site by
Google,
and
representing
a quick
measure
of
Google’s
opinion
of the
importance
of that
site –
download
yourself
a copy
of the
free
Google
toolbar
if you
haven’t
already,
and you
can then
monitor
the
PageRank
of every
site you
visit).
The
search
engines
keep a
close
eye on
the
number
and
quality
of links
to your
site,
and if
they
like
what
they see
they
will
assume
you are
an
authority
in your
particular
field,
and rank
you
accordingly.
This
doesn’t
just
mean
that you
should
recklessly
acquire
as many
links as
possible,
they
need to
be
relevant,
and you
also
must be
very
careful
to avoid
being
linked
in any
way to
“bad
neighbourhoods”
(gambling,
pornography
sites
etc.) as
this can
have an
adverse
effect
on your
own site
– if you
are
linked
to a
site
that is
blacklisted
(i.e.
removed
completely)
by the
search
engines
you run
the risk
of
sharing
their
fate,
and
there’s
little
or no
recovery
from
that
point.
Next
month –
More on
effective
linking
strategies,
and the
key
importance
of the
difference
between
“white
hat” and
“black
hat”
search
engine
optimisation
tactics!
Part 1
It's one
thing
paying
to have
a
website
for your
business
designed
and
published,
but if
it isn't
constructed
properly
then you
could be
wasting
an awful
lot of
time and
effort.
A couple
of quick
things
to check
to see
if your
site is
on the
right
track:
- Are
you
properly
listed
in the
search
engines?
Google
is by
far the
most
popular
search
engine,
so this
is the
best
place to
check.
Try a
Google
search
for
site:yourdomain.com
and see
how many
pages
are
returned.
It can
take a
few
months
for
Google
to fully
explore
your
site, so
don't
worry
too much
if you
don't
get many
results
for a
new
site,
but if
your
site has
been out
there
for a
while
and
Google
isn't
listing
the
majority
of your
pages
then you
may have
a
problem.
- That
problem
is most
likely
to be
the
coding
of your
site -
when
they
check
out your
site,
the
search
engines
are
looking
for Meta
tags
built
into the
code of
the site
that
should
tell
them
what
they
need to
know to
be able
to rank
it
properly.
There
are
three
main
Meta
tags of
interest;
the
Title,
Description
and
Keywords
tags.
There
are a
few ways
you can
check
yours,
but the
easiest
is
probably
to right
click
your
mouse on
an empty
area of
the page
you're
interested
in, and
select
the
option
"View
Source".
This
will
show you
a new
window
with the
code for
that
page in
it.
You're
looking
towards
the top
of this
page for
something
that
looks
like
this:
If it
isn't
there,
or if
the
information
in there
is
minimal
or
inaccurate
then you
need to
resolve
this
quickly,
as a
site
incorrectly
or
inaccurately
coded
isn't
going to
work
anywhere
near its
full
potential.
A common
shortcut
is to
put
identical
data in
the tags
for all
the
pages on
a site,
which
kind of
defeats
the
object.
If this
has been
done on
your
site, it
will
become
quickly
apparent
when you
do the
site:
search
above,
as the
results
will all
look the
same.
So once
you've
checked
the
basics
are
correct
and in
place,
is there
anything
else you
can do
to
maximize
the
performance
of your
website?
Well,
there
are lots
of
things
actually,
but
you're
going to
have to
wait to
find
out!
Check
out next
month's
issue of
Paphos
Scene
for our
top tips
on
search
engine
optimisation.
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