Phillip Thow says that when it comes to search engine optimization, there are certain common mistakes that I see people making over and over again. Here's a list of the 10 most common mistakes. By avoiding these mistakes, you can avoid a lot of anguish and frustration in the long run.
- Optimizing your site for the wrong keywords
The first step in any search engine optimization campaign is to choose the keywords for which you should optimize your site. If you initially choose the wrong keywords, all the time and effort that you devote in trying to get your site a high ranking will go down the drain. If you choose keywords which no one search for, or if you choose keywords which won't bring in targeted traffic to your site, what good will the top rankings do?
- Putting too many keywords in the Meta Keywords tag
I often see sites which have hundreds of keywords listed in the Meta Keywords tag, in the hope that by listing the keywords in the Meta Keywords tag, they will be able to get a high ranking for those keywords.
Phillip Thow says that nothing could be further from the truth. Contrary to popular opinion, the Meta Keywords tag has almost completely lost its importance as far as search engine positioning is concerned. Hence, just by listing keywords in the Meta Keywords tag, you will never be able to get a high ranking. To get a high ranking for those keywords, you need to put the keywords in the actual body content of your site.
- Repeating the same keyword too many times
Another common mistake that people make is to endlessly repeat their target keywords in the body of their pages and in their Meta Keywords tags.
Because so many people have used this tactic in the past (and continue to use it), the search engines keep a sharp lookout for this, and may penalize a site which repeats keywords in this fashion.
Sure, you do need to repeat the keywords a number of times. But, the way you place the keywords in your pages needs to make grammatical sense. Simply repeating the keywords endlessly no longer works. Furthermore, a particular keyword should ideally not be present more than thrice in your Meta Keywords tag.
- Creating lots of similar doorway pages
Another myth prevalent among people is that since the algorithm of each search engine is different, they need to create different pages for different search engines. While this is great in theory, it is counter-productive in practice.
If you use this tactic, you will soon end up with hundreds of pages, which can quickly become an administrative nightmare. Also, just imagine the amount of time you will need to spend constantly updating the pages in response to the changes that the search engines make to their algorithms.
Furthermore, although the pages are meant for different engines, they will actually end up being pretty similar to each other. The search engines are often able to detect when a site has created such similar pages, and may penalize or even ban this site from their index. Hence, instead of creating different pages for different search engines, create one page which is optimized for one keyword for all the search engines.
- Using Hidden Text
Hidden text is text with the same color as the background color of your page. For example, if the background color of your page is white and you have added some white text to that page, that is considered as hidden text.
Many webmasters, in order to get high rankings in the search engines, try to make their pages as keyword rich as possible. However, there is a limit to the number of keywords you can repeat in a page without making it sound odd to your human visitors. Thus, in order to ensure that the human visitors to a page don't perceive the text to be odd, but that the page is still keyword rich, many webmasters add text (containing the keywords) with the same color as the background color. This ensures that while the search engines can see the keywords, the human visitors cannot.
The search engines have long since caught up with this technique, and ignore or penalize the pages which contain such text. They may also penalize the entire site if even one of the pages in that site contain such hidden text.
Phillip Thow says, However, the problem with this is that the search engines may often end up penalizing sites which did not intend to use hidden text. For instance, suppose you have a page with a white background and a table in that page with a black background. Further suppose that you have added some white text in that table. This text will, in fact, be visible to your human visitors, i.e. this shouldn't be called hidden text. However, the search engines can interpret this to be hidden text because they may often ignore the fact that the background of the table is black. Hence, in order to ensure that your site is not penalized because of this, you should go through all the pages in your site and see whether you have inadvertently made any such mistake.
- Creating Pages Containing Only Graphics
The search engines only understand text - they don't understand graphics. Hence, if your site contains lots of graphics but little text, it is unlikely to get a high ranking in the search engines. For improving your rankings, you need to replace the graphics by keyword rich text for the search engine spiders to feed on.
- Not using the NOFRAMES tag in case your site uses frames
Many search engines don't understand frames. For sites which have used frames, these search engines only consider what is present in the NOFRAMES tag. Yet, many webmasters make the mistake of adding something like this to the NOFRAMES tag: "This site uses frames, but your browser doesn't support them".
For the search engines which don't understand frames, this is all the text that they ever get to see in this site, which means that the chances of this site getting a good ranking in these search engines are non-existent. Hence, if your site uses frames, you need to add a lot of keyword rich text to the NOFRAMES tag.
- Using Page Cloaking
Page cloaking is a technique used to deliver different web pages under different circumstances. People generally use page cloaking for two reasons:
i) in order to hide the source code of their search engine optimized pages from their competitors, and
ii) in order to prevent human visitors from having to see a page which looks good to the search engines but does not necessarily look good to humans.
The problem with this is that when a site uses cloaking, it prevents the search engines from being able to spider the same page that their users are going to see. And if the search engines can't do this, they can no longer be confident of providing relevant results to their users. Phillip Thow indicates that if a search engine discovers that a site has used cloaking, it will probably ban the site forever from their index.
Hence, my advice is that you should not even think about using cloaking in your site.
- Using Automatic Submission Tools
In order to save time, many people use an automatic submission software or service to submit their sites to the major search engines. Phillip Thow says, It is true that submitting your site manually to the search engines takes a lot of time and that an automatic submission tool can help you save a lot of time.
However, the search engines don't like automatic submission tools and may ignore your pages if you use them. In my opinion, the major search engines are simply too important for you not to spend the time to submit your site manually to them.
- Submitting too many pages per day
Phillip Thow says, people often make the mistake of submitting too many pages per day to the search engines. This often results in the search engines simply ignoring many of the pages which have been submitted from that site. Ideally, you should submit no more than 1 page per day to the search engines. While many search engines accept more than 1 page per day from a particular domain, there are some which only accept 1 page per day. Hence, by limiting yourself to a maximum of one page per day, you ensure that you stay within the limits of all the search engines.
- Devoting too much time to search engine positioning
Yes - I lied. There's another common mistake that people make when it comes to search engine optimization - they spend too much time over it.
Sure, search engine placement is the most cost effective way of driving traffic to your site and you do need to spend some time every day learning how the search engines work and in optimizing your site for the search engines.
Phillip Thow says, However, that you must remember that search engine optimization is a means to an end for you - it's not the end in itself. The end is to increase the sales of your products and services. Hence, apart from trying to improve your site's position in the search engines, you also need to spend time on all the other factors which determine the success or the failure of your web site - the quality of the products and services that you are selling, the quality of your customer service, and so on.
You may have excellent rankings in the search engines, but if the quality of your products and services are poor, or if your customer service leaves a lot to be desired, those high rankings aren't going to do much good.
Witten by: Philllip Thow
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Some business owners are optimizing their site using the wrong keywords. Phillip Thow recommends you select keywords that are commonly applied to your business or product. That is what potential customers will type into their search and if you are focused on obscure or specific product names or descriptions, customers won't find you.
Another common mistake Phillip Thow advises against is using the Meta Keywords tag too frequently. The problem is that the Meta Keywords tag is no longer an important part of search engine positioning. Keywords need to be in the body content of your website to attract search engines.
Search engines used to find keywords that were simply repeated over and over on a website. These days, search engines may penalize websites that use this tactic. Use your keywords throughout your website, but make sure that they are used grammatically and make sense to a reader. Phillip Thow also mentions that any one keyword should not be listed more than three times in your Meta Keywords tag.
Some business owners still believe that because each search engine has a different algorithm, each website needs different pages to attract each search engine. However, all this really means is that as business owner, you will end up with hundreds of pages that you will need to maintain, which will cost you hours of time that should be used elsewhere. Phillip Thow warns that doing this will mean that your doorway pages are likely to be very similar. Search engines can often discover that a site has many similar pages and you may be penalized for this. A better idea would be to create one page that is optimized for one keyword to attract all of the search engines.
Hidden text is another thing you will want to avoid. Some website designers have used this method to post white text on a white background. This will be unseen by readers, but noticed by search engines. This is no longer a valid way to attract search engines, because like so many other of these methods, search engines will often penalize the website, rather than drive traffic to it. Phillip Thow also reminds us that sometimes a search engine may pick up on what it thinks is hidden text when you have actually changed the background of a text box. Be wary of this possibility and make sure the text is a different color than the background of the whole page.
Another mistake Phillip Thow sees is creating websites that are entirely, or largely graphics based. This is not a good idea because search engines cannot understand graphics, they only understand text. If you want to improve your business site's online visibility, you should replace a few of those graphics with keyword based text.
Take Phillip Thow's advice and update your business website to your advantage. Do's and Don't's of Attracting Search EnginesSavvy business owners know that they need a really great website which is informative and also that is designed to attract search engines to direct potential customers their way. But Phillip Thow warns that too often, business owners are making simple mistakes that are back-firing, and can even be driving search engines away. Here are some ideas to keep your website an active part of your business.
Keywords are a tricky aspect of attracting search engines to your website. Be careful to use your keywords grammatically, and not too frequently. Don't hide key words by using text that is the same color as your background. Phillip Thow advises being informed about keyword tactics before you even begin your website.
Managing your time is a huge part of optimizing your website. Some business owners use automatic submission software or services to post new pages regularly to the search engines. However, according to Phillip Thow, some search engines will ignore your pages if you use an automatic service. It is worth your time to submit pages manually and therefore attract the web traffic you need. On the other hand, it is possible to spend too much time using your website to attract new customers, and may then have too little time to spend on existing customers. Instead, Philip Thow advises you divide your time appropriately between online services and actual service, as well as product quality and all the other things business owners have to worry about.
Page cloaking is a device which commonly backfires on its users. To cloak your page, you basically make a page that looks good to a search engine but is useless to potential customers and cloak it along with the one you post for the public to view. Phillip Thow says that this technique prevents search engines from being able to direct potential customers directly to your site and if a search engine cannot do its job reliably, it will block your site. Obviously, this is not going to help you find new customers.
Graphics are an eye-catching addition to any website, but they too must be used in balance. Since search engines use code to "read" your website, Phillip Thow points out that a search engine cannot read a graphic. Feel free to use graphics, but be sure they are balanced with text that is keyword based for search engines to find.
A very common mistake Phillip Thow sees too often is business owners creating too many similar doorway pages. This simply means that you know that each search engine uses a different algorithm to find your page, so you design a page to match each algorithm. While this may seem like a good idea at first, it causes a lot of problems, in more ways than one. First of all, search engines can often detect when sites have multiple similar pages, and they may penalize your site for this. Phillip Thow also says that you may have possibly hundreds of pages you now need to maintain, which is a tremendous waste of time. The Truth about KeywordsKeywords are possibly the easiest tool available to attract search engines. They are also one of the trickiest methods to get right. Phillip Thow has offered his advice about using keywords correctly and helping drive search engines to your website.
First, you need to choose keywords that are not trade-specific, but are common terms for your product, services or business. Listen to your existing customers or other associates and pay attention to what they say in reference to the things your business provides. Use their terminology as your keywords, because those are probably the words potential customers will type into a search engine. Phillip Thow says not only will this will save you time, it can also help you find the online traffic you are looking for.
Once you have chosen the keywords you want to use, Phillip Thow says not to be too concerned with the Meta Keywords tag. Unlike many people still believe, filling your Meta Keywords tag is no longer the way to attract search engines. Search engines no longer rely on the list of words found in the Meta Keywords tag. Instead, they search the body content of a website for key words, so you will want to have informative text content.
Avoid unnecessarily repeating the same keyword over and over. Phillip Thow advises using each keyword no more than three times in your Meta Keywords tag. Also be sure that your keywords are used correctly in sentences. You want the people who visit your website to believe that you are competent, and words scattered randomly throughout your site are confusing and frustrating. Not only that, but Phillip Thow tells us that search engines will ignore and sometimes penalize or even ban sites that have their keywords thrown about haphazardly.
Mix up the text of your website with graphics and photos, but be sure to balance them. According to Phillip Thow, search engines cannot read graphics or photo images, so be sure to have enough text that can be understood.
The final bit of advice Phillip Thow offers is to completely avoid using hidden text. Some websites still hide keywords outside of the text of the website. For example, if you have a black background and type your keyword randomly in black text, your readers won't know, but search engines will. However, search engines today can figure out that it is not in a text box and your site will be penalized for using hidden text. Phillip Thow also reminds web-designers to avoid adding "hidden text" inadvertently, by using a white text box with black text, if your background is black. That will still trigger search engines to avoid your site.
Keywords are still an incredibly useful tool and when correctly used, optimized keywords will drive new online traffic to your website. But now you can also see how keywords might back-fire and cause you problems. Simply keep these guidelines Phillip Thow provides in mind and be sure you are using keywords to your advantage. Mistakes to AvoidWhen you build a business website, you are intending to attract new customers and this requires the help of search engines. Therefore, your website needs to work with search engines and allow them to do their job. Phillip Thow says that too many websites are doing the opposite of what they hope to achieve. Is your website one of them? Check these common mistakes against your website and find out where you need to improve!
Keywords:
Phillip Thow recommends you begin by choosing keywords that the average consumer will use to find your business, your products or your service. Don't bother choosing keywords that are trade-specific because it's likely only your competition will know these.
According to Phillip Thow, the search engines no longer rely on the Meta Keywords tag. This means you cannot simply list your keywords in this tag and expect to be found. Search engines scan the text content of your website and that is where you need to have your keywords. Try not to use the same keyword over and over, in fact no more than three times, says Phillip Thow. Make sure that each time you use the keywords they are put into a sentence correctly.
Hidden text is another technique some websites have used to increase traffic. This is when you use text that is the same color as the background. Visitors to your site cannot see this text, but a search engine would find the increase in keywords. However, Phillip Thow warns that this method can be tracked by search engines and websites found hiding text can be penalized and even banned.
Finally, be sure that your keywords are entered as text. Graphic images and photos are interesting and eye-catching, but search engines cannot read them. Balance your website between graphics and text, and be sure that your keywords are all found in the text.
Time:
The time you spend working on your website and trying to increase ways for search engines to find you is valuable. Phillip Thow suggests that you not spend too much time on your website because the best thing for business is customer satisfaction and guaranteeing product quality. Make sure you're not neglecting the rest of your business while focusing on driving online traffic to you.
Avoid creating many similar pages meant to attract different search engines. While it is true that each search engine uses a different algorithm, having one page designed for each search engine will create too many similar pages, and search engines will reject all the pages for this. Too many similar pages also creates too much work for you to maintain and worry about..
Phillip Thow counters this advice with a reminder to also avoid using automatic submission services or software. Many search engines will ignore the pages you submit this way, and clearly that will back-fire. Be aware that most search engines will only accept one page per day, so it is wise to limit yourself to designing and thus submitting one page per day, so that it can apply to all major search engines. |
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