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|  |  | SEO is not a magic art. If you want to rank highly in the search engines, you simply need to focus on building a great site, finding the right search words, and getting the right people to link to you. - Keywords tell search engines what your page is about.
- Inbound Links tell search engines that your page is important.
In fact, the two most important ranking factors in Google are: - The quality and age of your incoming links
- The age of your site (the length of time your site has been online).
Keyword-Rich Domain Names
If you're looking to get your site quickly ranked highly in the search engines, then one of the most basic, yet critically important, strategies is to use your best keywords in your domain address. The reason for doing this is threefold- First, whenever another site links to you, you want them to use your keywords in the visible text of their link. Having your keywords in the anchor text of links pointing to your site is one of the most important aspects of high-ranking pages. When most sites link to you, they will typically use your domain name as the anchor text. If your domain name already includes your keywords, that makes it easy for them to use keywords in the anchor text and saves you the trouble of having to chase down those links and get people to change them.
- Second, in regards to visitor click-throughs, having your keywords in your domain name can make a big difference. When browsing through the lists of links on search engine results pages (SERPs), people are more likely to click on domain names containing the keyword they’re searching for. Even if your competitor provides otherwise similar-to-equal enticements, if they're lacking the specific keywords within their link, they are more likely to be overlooked.
- Third, using your keywords in your domain name means that search engines may then assume your domain to be slightly more relevant to those keywords. We recommend no more than one dash, and to strive for a shorter domain. In a perfect scenario, your best domain name is typically your primary keyword or keyword combination. Whenever that isn't possible, at least try to get the most important keyword mentioned somewhere in your domain name.
TITLE TAGS
The most critically important location to place keywords is within your web page's HTML title tag. You should limit your title tag to less than 60 characters (usually about 7 to 10 words). Anything longer and you risk getting part of your title chopped off by some search engines. In our example above, we would consider placing Kiluhana Inn at the end of our title tag only if it fits within the 60 character limit and there isn't any better keywords to use in its place. By the way, here's a shortcut to help you find all of the other web pages that are using your keywords in their titles. Go to Google and enter... intitle:"put your title keywords here" ...into the search field. This can help you get a handle on how many other pages are competing for the same keywords.
<H1> <B> <A> Tags
We know that text inside h1 and b tags are given more weight by search engines. And we also know that link anchor text is also given more weight. It follows that it can also be beneficial to combine them, when formatting allows. h1 b a
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) can be used to alter the standard appearance of any tag. In such cases, h1 tags don't have to make text unusually large, b tags don't necessarily make text bold, and links can even be made to not look like links. It all depends on whatever style you've assigned the tags within your webpage's associated stylesheet.css file.
Image Tags
Use this Tag Wisely: Turn Images into Assets. Use the Tag Wisely: Turn Images into Assets. Always use the alt tag and match it to the name of the image also. Add the word image or picture to the name of the file and in the alt tag. Example: alt="Keyword(s)Image" src="/Portals/0/Keyword(s)Image.gif".
Become a good writer, someone who understands your industry and has a flair for creating interesting, useful information that people want to read. Probably the best article directory to get started with is Ezine Articles. This site allows you to submit up to 10 articles for free after which there is a small charge for each additional article you submit. If your articles are especially good, you may qualify for Expert Author status whereas you'll be allowed to continue submitting articles for free. Ezine Articles may then syndicate these articles out to other sites. This means that, not only do you get the link from EzineArticles.com, but you can also expect to pick up additional links if your article gets syndicated. Here's a list of some of the top article directories that accept submissions:
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 | | Inbound Linking Stategy Tips | |
|  |  | - Focus on creating a natural incoming link structure that builds steadily but gradually over time.
- Focus on getting links from authoritative sites with high PageRank. If they also happen to be on-topic, then all the better.
- It's ok to get links from less important sites but remember: the lower the PageRank of a referring page, the more you'll want it to match your topic.
- Strive to get your inbound links placed on pages with few outbound links...the fewer the better.
- Avoid run-of-the-site links. These are links where every page of a site links to your homepage. When you have, say, 1000 incoming links all originating from subpages within the same site, it appears to Google that your link count is artificially inflated.
- See to it that the URL format of your referring links are consistently identical.
- Get your keywords into the anchor text of your incoming links as much as possible. However, avoid identical incoming link anchor text.
- Make sure that some of your links are deep links — i.e., links to sub-pages within your site and other than your homepage.
- See to it that your incoming links from off-site pages do not include the rel="nofollow" attribute within the source code of the link; nofollow renders the link useless to your ranking efforts because Google doesn't credit your page for having that incoming link.
- When starting out, focus on the major directories as a source of important links then shift to the topic-specific directories to solidify the theme relevance of your site.
- Work your trade directories, press releases, suppliers, customers, and testimonials as an outside the box approach to building a gradual, solid, lasting, and natural incoming link structure. Think creatively.
- Don't waste a lot of time getting reciprocal links. Their value is diminishing in the current SE environment. We see a time coming when the value of reciprocal links between non-authoritative sites will be discounted or entirely cancelled out.
- Avoid reciprocal links with pages that are designed solely for exchanging links.
- Avoid linking back to sites that are unlisted by Google or Yahoo. Seriously avoid linking to link farms, web rings or any site that exhibits behavior contrary to a search engine's recommended protocol. Avoid linking to controversial sites unless they perfectly match the topic of your page.
- Always remember that profits are your goal. More links does not always add more customers. Avoid wasting energy on projects that may increase link counts but add little or nothing to gain customers that generate profits.
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 |  |  | | | Directories | |  |
Guide to the Major Web Directories
The 10 Best General Directories| Directory | Add | Cost | Comments | | DMOZ | Add | Free | Could take up to a year or more for your site to be listed. | | Yahoo Directory | Add | $299/year for commercial sites, free otherwise | Your site will also be listed in several international Yahoo directories. | | Business.com | Add | $199/year, renewable for $149 | Get a regular annual listing, not a PPC featured listing (which is redirected). | | Best of the Web | Add | Free for non-commercial sites. $49.95/year or $149.95 one-time. | As name indicates, was once an award site. | | GoGuides | Add | $69.95 per URL. If you want to add multiple sites, charges between $19.95 and $49.95 per month to be an editor. | Sites are instantly included. High prices makes it best suited for SEOs who might like to add a lot of their client's sites. | | JoeAnt.com | Add | $39.99 one-time fee, free for editors | Takes about a week to be listed either way. | | Gimpsy | Add | $40 to be reviewed within 72 hours, $20 refund if site is turned down. Free submit available, but can take months to be listed. | Focused primarily on commercial sites. Can be difficult to find the proper category to submit to. | | Uncover The Net | Add | Paid submission costs between a $39 one time fee and $348 per year, depending on features | No free submission feature. | | Site-Sift | Add | $34.95 one-time fee, Sponsored Listing $100.00 per year | Not very well known, but lots of high PageRank internal pages. | | Wow Directory | Add | Free normally; $20 for express review; $40 gets you "Top of Category Placement". | Claims to be the worlds largest free directory. Maybe no one told DMOZ :) |
Other Top General Directories| Directory | Add | Cost | Comments | | This is Our Year | Add | $19.95 one-time fee, every 10th site added is free. | Price includes at least 10 direct links to your site. | | Massive Links | Add | $9.99 one-time fee for basic listing, $19.99 one-time for 5-link listing, $49.99/year for premium listings. | Permits you to write your own keyword-rich link anchor text. Free for non-profits. | | Tygo | Add | $39.99 one-time fee. | Permits you to write your own keyword-rich link anchor text. | | Rubber Stamped | Add | $25 one-time review fee. | Nice, growing directory. | | IllumiRate | Add | Free. | Can take up to 6 months to be listed. Faster if you become an editor. | | Browse8.com | Add | $35 one time review fee, free for editors. | Fairly new directory, not a lot of entries, but decent PageRank. | | Web Beacon | Add | $39.99 one-time review fee, free for editors. | Originally created from the GoGuides database, expanded since. | | 01 Web Directory | Add | Free. $49 one-time fee for Priority Express 3-day Submission | Full refund if site not accepted. | | Site Snoop | Add | $10 one-time fee. | | | Azoos | Add | $69.95 for the first URL, $59.95 for each additional submission | Allows you to modify your listing whenever you choose | | SevenSeek | Add | $49.95 to add a url, will list within 2 days. No free submit. | Also operates a moderately popular web portal. | | Skaffe | Add | One time $39.99 fee, free if you become an editor. | Becoming an editor is not difficult, and is an easy way to get listed for free. |
The Top Article Directories| Directory | Add | Cost | Comments | | Ezine Articles | Add | First 10 articles submitted are free. | If they like your articles, they'll let you submit unlimited articles for free. | | GoArticles | Add | Free. | Unlimited numbers of articles can be submitted for free. | | Article Dashboard | Add | Free. | Unlimited numbers of articles can be submitted for free. | | Article Finders | Add | Free. | Unlimited numbers of articles can be submitted for free. | | Article City | Add | Free. | Unlimited numbers of articles can be submitted for free. | | Idea Marketers | Add | Free. | Unlimited numbers of articles can be submitted for free. | | Article Alley | Add | Free. | Unlimited numbers of articles can be submitted for free. Can take awhile for your application to be approved. | | Article Depot | Add | Free. | Unlimited numbers of articles can be submitted for free. | | Certificate.net | Add | Free. | Unlimited numbers of articles can be submitted for free. Will sometimes include your email address in your signature line, so you may want to use an email address that you don't mind being publicly available, such as a hotmail, yahoo, or gmail account. | | Amazines | Add | Free. | Unlimited numbers of articles can be submitted for free. |
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