Sometimes a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. There is an overload of information available about ranking higher in the search engines, or Search Engine Optimization as it is most commonly called. Unfortunately, things change so quickly, some techniques that worked in the past are ineffective now—or even worse—could get your site banned by the search engines.

So, if you have any desire to get your site ranked higher in the search engines, take note and avoid making these common mistakes:

MISTAKE #1: Targeting the WRONG keywords."

The vast majority of people don't give any thought to the keywords they want their site to be known by until AFTER the site is online.

That's like trying to decide where you want the windows, doors, power outlets and telephone jacks in your new house after the walls have been up and bricked in for 6 months!

You have to know - not guess - which keywords people will use to find you in the search engines.

Do you know anyone who did this?
• Developed a web site
• The site had lots of interesting visual "gimmicks"—perhaps a Flash intro or special rollovers or other functionality "enhancements"

THEN they added their "keywords"—the ones they hoped the search engines would find them under. Of course, then they wondered after three weeks why nothing happened.

Two months later they think the Internet won't work for their business.

Where did people come up with their keywords anyway?

Most people just pull them out of thin air. They say to themselves, "These are the words I would search for I'll use these."

In actuality, your customers don't care what you would search for—they care about what they're searching for. Give them what they actually want, not what you "think" they want.

TIP: Here are some good options to research your keywords:

Overture suggestion tool
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
This shows you a rough number of searches for the previous month for a particular term. You should make sure the key word or phrase is getting some traffic.

http://www.wordtracker.com

This web-based software is the perfect tool for brainstorming and selecting the appropriate key words. It not only shows you popular keywords, but also indicates how many other sites you’ll compete with over those key words.

http://www.goodkeywords.com
This software is free and can be downloaded to your computer.

MISTAKE #2: falling for the “GET LISTED IN HUNDREDS OF SEARCH ENGINES” ploy."

If you are ever tempted by an offer touting getting you listed in hundreds of search engines, here's a word of advice: RUN!

First, the top 6 to 8 search engines deliver over 80% of the web traffic. And often the remaining engines use the results of the bigger engines in building their indexes.

Even worse, many of these “we'll submit your site to hundreds of search engines” offers are just a scam to get your email address so they can sell it to others that will spam you day and night.

TIP: Before you give any information to any so-called search engine optimization provider, do a little research:
• Do they show you their results?
• Do they show you specifically what they’ll do for you? (The services performed?)
• Do they follow the standard and industry principles as set forth by the Academy of Web Specialists?
• Do they give you references you can contact directly?

MISTAKE #3: "Poorly written titles and TITLES WITH NO KEY WORDS.”

First, let's make sure we’re on the same page with what we mean by title. The title for the page is written into your HTML code. You can see the title by doing the following:
1. Open your browser.
2. Find the pull down menu "View" and go to "source."
You should be able to see your title page copy.

Note: the title copy should be as high on the page as possible. (And the keywords should be as early as possible in the sentence.)

WHY? It's easier for search engines to read it and it won't get lost in a bunch of other code.

TIP: Put your keywords as earlier in the title as possible. This will increase the chances of it being seen.

Finally, keep your title relatively short: no more than 10 words, and preferably 6-8 words.

MISTAKE #4: "The BIG LAUNDRY LIST of Key words approach."

Otherwise referred to as the spaghetti test—you know—throw it at the wall and see what sticks.

There are many problems with this. When it comes to your keywords, search engines look at the following criteria:

Keyword density, keyword proximity (how close your keywords are to one another as important and if you have more than a dozen keywords, chances are your keyword density will be far too low for successful ranking.

Second, a far better strategy is to develop a TARGETED KEY WORD strategy of 6-10 words. And you don’t need to get every word on every page—pick two to three key sections/pages of your site and break up those keywords into 2-4 for each section or page.

TIP: Now, if you'd like to see where your web site’s keywords rank in keyword density, here’s a handy, free resource:
http://www.keyworddensity.com

It's recommended your keyword density be between 2-8%. It's also recommended you have at least 250 words MINIMUM on a page.

MISTAKE #5: “Not fully leveraging your key words on every page."

Did you know there are almost a dozen ways you can get keywords into your web site? The text and source code are just the most obvious ones.

TIP: Here is just a sample of different areas of your site you can place your key words:
1. Title
2. Meta_Description
3. Meta_Keywords
4. Visible_Text
5. Alt_Tags
6. Comment_Tags
7. Domain_Name
8. Image_tags
9. Linked_Text
10. Option Tags
11. Reference_Tags

MISTAKE #6: "Failure to recognize the importance Search Engines place on LINK POPULARITY."

What is link popularity, anyway? Primarily, we're talking about inbound links—those web sites that link to your site.

Why is this important?

Search engines, especially Google, are placing increasing importance on what is referred to as "site relevance."

In essence, the search engines determine how relevant your site is by not just how many sites link to it, but how many sites with similar themes or subject matters link to your site.

The more similar-themed sites that link to your site, the more relevance your site will be given by the search engines and the higher it will rank.

There is also recent evidence that outbound links (links form your site to another site) help incrementally, but not nearly to the level of inbound links.)

TIP: So how can you boost link popularity? There are many ways. Do a little brainstorming and you’ll probably come up with lots of ideas. Here are a few to get you started:
• Industry directories
• Awards programs
• Media sites
• Local/regional portal sites

To check the link popularity of any web site, go to:
http://www.linkpopularitycheck.com

MISTAKE #7: "Stealing other people’s code.”

Many so called "experts" tell you to go to the search engines, find a page that ranks well and take their code straight out of the html source code. They tell you to post the page to your website and submit the page to the search engines.

What they don't tell you that the search engine duplicate content filters will most likely catch you - and slam or ban you.
FACT: Time is the only thing you have online!

Your time and your money (which only buys you time to a certain degree) are all that matters as far as accomplishing your goals online.

Even if you operate a non-profit site, you can only reach your goals by using your time effectively!

Wasted time = wasted money = FAILURE.

The number one time waster in Search Engine Optimization is...

MISTAKE #8: "Using most AUTOMATIC SUBMISSION tools.”

Any program that submits fifty web pages in two minutes alerts the search engines to a possible "spam" submission of low-grade "bridge" pages.

They figure anyone who is submitting that many pages has to be submitting what they consider "junk" pages.

Result for you - at best it means poor positions IF the search engines even accept your pages at all

You must learn the PROVEN methods for submitting your pages quickly and easily to the search engines without getting flagged as a spammer!

MISTAKE #9: "Not understanding HOW SEARCH ENGINES “READ” YOUR SITE.

Search engines are like people: they read left to right and top to bottom.

That’s why it’s important your site be constructed so that nothing gets in the way of the search engine spiders as they “read” your code.

For example, one of our Search Engine Optimization clients committed this BIG MISTAKE: located in the very first column of their home page, in text, not as a graphic, was their address and phone number.

Since it was created as text, that was the first thing the search engines indexed. And that meant the listing that appeared in the search engines didn’t make a whole lot of sense. (Naturally, we advised them to remedy the situation, which they did.)

Also, since the engines read top to bottom, try to have your key words close to the top of the page—preferably in a heading or bold face. Because just like you would be drawn to a word that’s bold or in a heading, so too will a search engine.

TIP: If you're using custom fonts as graphics, the search engines can’t read those. They can only read the default fonts that come with your browser.

MISTAKE #10: "Failure to recognize the NECESSITY of an Optimization MAINTENANCE program.”

People always ask us how their web sites can keep their high rankings? And it’s a one-word answer:

MAINTENANCE.

Search engine optimization is not a one-shot deal. It takes diligence and monitoring to achieve and maintain high rankings. That’s because the data flow is fluid, and things change, sometimes dramatically.

We’ve seen a company rank #1 one month and drop out of the top 30 the next month. What happened? It could be any number of factors—a search engine glitch, your site was dropped from the index, competitive forces, all sorts of things.

Of course, the opposite is true. We’ve seen clients rocket up the rankings thanks to an ongoing maintenance program. SEO maintenance can keep you and your web site on top long-term. And what would that be worth to your business?

This email represents just a small summary of the mistakes people make promoting to the search engines.

With consequences ranging from weeks of WASTED EFFORT to having your domain BANNED FOR LIFE from the search engines, take the time to educate yourself on the proper methods of site promotion.

Marc Harty is the owner of SearchEnginePatrol.com. His firm has obtained hundreds of top 10 search engine rankings for a diverse list of clients, including those in the financial, legal, human resources, educational and manufacturing sectors. Marc regularly leads Internet marketing seminars and is an authority on guerilla-style e-marketing.

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