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The 10 Search Engine Commandments

by Anthony Kavas

Thou shall not overlook the POWER of the search engines!

After all, where do over 80% of Internet users look before finding the website of their choice?

Here are 10 tips that will help you on your journey toward search engine heaven!

#1: Thou shall not try to trick the search engines with techniques such as invisible text. This will only make your journey a difficult one. Try to work together with thy search engine brother, and HELP them to find your website's useful content.

#2: Thou shall not fill thy "meta keywords" with useless words such as "business" if your site is about "computers". Be kind to your search engine neighbor and try not to confuse him. These days, it's virtually impossible to be placed for "business" if your site is about "computers"! Narrow your focus, and you'll start to notice that it was MUCH more difficult to be a "jack of all trades", yet master of none!

#3: Thou shall not submit thy site more than ONCE a month! Search engines are very strict about SPAM. If you've been submitting your site every day, chances are that you have been banned by the time you read this article!

#4: Thou shall not repeat keywords right next to each other! Make sure to include each keyword only ONE TIME! Too many people make the mistake of repeating keywords over, and over again. For example: "computers, business, computers, components, computers". This is a HUGE mistake, and will only make sure that you end up at the BOTTOM of the list!

#5: Thou shall not use the same keyword list and "title" for every page! Each one of your pages can get placed for a different keyword. Don't "sell your pages short". Besides, one page on your site might be seen as more relevant for a particular keyword when compared to another.

#6: Thou shall not submit dynamic pages such as ASP, or Cold Fusion, because most search engine spiders can only read basic HTML pages. If your site was developed in a language other than HTML, make sure that there's AT LEAST SOME static content for the spider to read.

#7: Thou shall write relevant, useful content that pertains to your website and it's keywords. Whatever you do, make sure that writing educational, informational, and useful content is your FIRST priority. Search engines cannot read your pretty web design, graphics, or FLASH. The only thing that is of use to them is your content, and the code that verifies what each page is about ("meta keywords", "description", "title", "alt tags", and the list goes on). Be specific! Tell your users what each page is about, and include the keywords a few times within the text. Do not repeat your keywords excessively but make sure to include them!

#8: Thou shall make all pages accessible to the search engine spiders within 1 or 2 levels of the home page. Even better, if you make a web page with a list of every page on your site (kind of like a "sitemap"), then the search engine spiders have a way to find all of your content!

#9: Thou shall attempt to get reciprocal links between your site and other sites in the same industry. This should be easy, as it will benefit both your site AND theirs. Link popularity is one way in which some search engines judge what your site is really about. website's with more "link popularity" can place higher on some major search engines.

#10: Thou shall be patient! You will not achieve top placement overnight. You might not even get placed at ALL for months! The major search engines can get backlogged or full, and sometimes will not even accept your submission. One thing that I've learned is that successful search engine optimization is a time-consuming and laborious task. You must be patient and will learn the most about it mostly through trial and error.

Conclusion: These 10 Search Engine Commandments are just a very basic set of rules for your website to live by. Thank you for taking the time to read this article, and I hope that it has helped you. Good luck!

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