Search engine rankings are extremely important for a successful Internet marketing campaign. Before you go out and hire a search engine optimization company, try taking some of the simple steps listed bellow, and see if you can't boost your rankings yourself.
1. Make sure your site is fully operational before you have it submitted - Do NOT submite a site that is under construction or having just one page.
2. Submit the domain or URL that have content in the corect format (http://www.mydomain.com - some directories accept it without http://)
3. Do NOT submit domains that redirect to another site
4. Create a good website for users, NOT for search engines. Do NOT present different content to search engines that you display to your users
5. Avoid the Hype, Rants, Whining, and Speculation
6. Selecting the most relevant category for your site. Don't make the mistake of selecting the category too fast without checking if there would be a more relevant category. Take the time and choose the most appropriate category.
7. The links should ideally be optimized for the keywords that you want your site ranked for. Search engines utilize keywords or key phrases to identify web pages which are relevant to these terms. So, use the right keywords and keywords phrases.
8. Use relevant words in your title text and avoid words like "leader", "greatest", "best", "cheapest" or any other exaggerated adjective.
9. You should have researched your keywords well and chosen those that are minimally competed for but adequately searched.
10. Don't overstuff the anchor text - your title text for each page should be clearly defined with relevant keywords.
11. Don't use generic terms to optimize your website. You will not improve your ranking at all. It is important that you select keywords which are not improve your ranking at all. It is importantthat you select keywords wich are not overused and aptly describe (in a few words) what the site is about.
12. Select words or phrases that target a niche segment. Use the advanced tools available to create a list of relevant keywords which do not attract too much competition in your niche segment.
13. Check for broken links and correct HTML and avoid hidden text or hidden links.
14. Building links - which are effectively optimized - is essential to gain more traffic and obtain a high ranking on search engines.
15. To avoid your submission from being rejected, don't make your title and description sound too promotional. Make sure that your TITLE AND ALT tags are descriptive and accurate.
16. Try to use text instead of images to display important names, content, or links. The Search Engines crawler doesn't recognize text contained in images.
17. Do NOT mention in your description "and others" or "etc." Or even "..."
18. Include the email address of your site domain NOT a free account like yahoo, hotmail or gmail.
19. Is essential to test your robots.txt file. Robots.txt file crawlers which directories can or cannot be crawled.
20. Use relevant keywords in your title text and anchor text can improve your search engine placement
21. Don't repeat any keywords more than once
22. Don't create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substanially duplicate content. Provide unique, relevant and fresh content to your users with a good grammar, correct spelling, and sentence structure.
23. Do NOT submmit sites that instal viruses, trojans, or other badware.
24. Submit your site to relevant premier search engines and in the top directory such as the Open Directory Project, Yahoo, Google!
25. Make the best of directories by carefully submitting your links in the first place. Once your site has been accepted, it may be extremely difficult to change any of the mather submitted.
Remember, the higher your search engine ranking, the more quality customers will be directed your way.
