SEO top questions

Should I include the main keyword in the URL?

Yes. The best thing is a domain name that includes your main keyword. However, even subdomains, directory and page file names matter. It is always better to have your main keyword in the URL, unless you have a very-long-keyword-phrase-that-will-look-spammy.com. The keyword in the URL will not only tell search engines that your keyword relates to the topic you are concentrating on, but will help you get keyword-rich link texts (some people still link using the domain name as the link text). Besides the highlighted keyword in the URL on the SERPs, may positively influence the click through rate.

Are Meta tags important?

Not that important. Last September Google announced that they do not use the Meta Keywords tag in web ranking. But the Meta Description tag is often used as the text for Google search results snippets, so why not making it descriptive and attractive? One more Meta tag that is used by search engines is a Robots Meta tag.

Should I use both image alt text and image title?

Yes, especially if you are using them to help your visitors and not to stuff keywords. Image Alt text is used to provide explicit information on an image for those who are unable to see it; the Image Alt text should describe what the image is about. Image titles provide additional information; it is a title, so it should be short and catchy. Of course, you would like to use your keywords in both of them.

Will automatic site submissions to search engines harm me?

'No' more than 'Yes'. The major search engines won't ban your site because of them, but do not expect automatic submissions to improve your search engine rankings. It is much better to submit your website's Sitemap to the major search engines.

How soon will my position improve after I have submtted to search engines?

There is no direct dependence between your site's submission to search engines and good rankings. Getting your site indexed just means that search engines know about your site and will return next time to crawl it and update their listing of your site. To rank well, you should optimize your pages. This involves content optimisation for the targeted keywords, improvement of a site's link popularity (getting inbound links to your site), ensuring site quality (absence of broken links and other serious HTML errors preventing SE robots from crawling and indexing, search engine- and visitor-friendly design), promotion in social media, and advertising.

How do search engines know that you are the author of the unique content?

This question is usually asked when you think about a duplicate content filter that the major search engines apply. Let's see what happens when a search engine finds several pages with identical content. Its algorithms must select the page that offers the best information required and offer it to a searcher. How does it decide which page is better? Here the authority of the site and the number of backlinks pointing to the page come into play. So your task is not to just insist that you are the first to publish an article, but to prove to search engines that your page is relevant and authoritative enough to be listed in SERPs higher than others who only copied it.

original article can be found at http://­newsletter.­webceo.­com/­issue-31/.

Contact Martin Roche Brick's Internet Marketing Manager for more information or to book a free report and evalution of your current website rankiings. m.roche@brickweb.co.uk or telephone: 01254 277190

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