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The Importance of Fresh Content:

Search Engine Optimization 101

The Laws of Attracting Search Robots and Spiders

Improving site rankings with search engines may take patience but should not be a daunting task. In order to understand the inner workings of search engines, we need to enter the fascinating world of search agents often described as robots, spiders or web crawlers. These agents have the critical task of finding new sites or pages and indexing them according to their importance and relevance within search engine listings. Search engine optimization (SEO) can be achieved in many ways, the most popular of which are through organic search campaigns and pay-per-click listings.

An organic search campaign focuses on refining site content and structure such as page titles, headings, body text and links to invite visits from search robots. These techniques are relatively cost efficient but require a long term commitment to improve rankings over time. Pay-per-click advertising offers immediate listing placements but can be costly depending on the ad position and search word. Depending on your budget, a combination of campaigns may be the best approach. Red Dog Software, for example, employs both organic methods and paid placements with major search engines to ensure SEO for its corporate site.

When building a new site, it is prudent to consider the basic principles of search outlined in this article to set your site on the path of SEO. If you have been wondering why your existing site is not being picked up by search engines or your listing remains buried, it is high time to review your SEO strategy. Basic practices of SEO can easily be implemented by ReadyPortal administrators and do not require specific technical expertise. For more complex campaigns such as creating an XML file for your site map or if you're competing in an extremely crowded market, you may wish to consider hiring a reputable SEO consultant to support your optimization efforts.

Whether you decide to organically grow your credibility with search engines or would rather opt to pay for placement, the first critical step in SEO is to identify search words, terms or phrases that are targeted, relevant and unique to your business.

In Search of Winning Descriptive Keywords, Terms and Phrases

The starting point for any SEO project is to understand the key search words, terms, and phrases your target audience will most likely use when searching for your company and products or a business like yours. Research your industry, talk to your target customers and review the search phrases your competitors are using. Particular search words or terms may be saturated, in which case a better way may be to find alternate unique search terms that are untapped. Keep in mind that the search phrases you decide on will need to coincide with the page you are optimizing. Once you have compiled your key search phrases, the next step is placement.

Before Google claimed its domination over the search world, cramming keywords into your Meta Tags was enough to get your site listed. This is no longer the case. Meta Tags comprise three components — the title tag, description tag and keyword tag. The title tag remains one of the most important elements to secure good rankings. Descriptive and keyword tags are no longer as critical. Following Google's lead, most search engines place higher importance on relevant body text as a primary methodology for search rankings. Points to note about Meta Tags:
Optimize each site page with related search words or phrases within your title tag.

Ensure each page has its own unique title. ReadyPortal makes this process seamless by capturing the title section of the page as the default title tag. Alternatively, ReadyPortal users can customize their sites' Meta Tags at every level as needed.
Search terms should be descriptive, yet relevant. Less is more when optimizing.

There's no reason to leave out description and keyword tags despite its diminished value with leading search engines as these tags may influence other smaller search engines.

How to Invite Spiders and Robots to Improve Rankings

With the right search phrases, spiders will at least be able to find your site. The next step is to make sure these agents visit often and find content significant enough to improve your rankings. It is important to remember that search robots are blind and it is our responsibility to make our site pages accessible and guide them through their crawl. Search phrases alone are not enough to convince these robots that your page or site deserve a higher rating. Site content and links play a crucial role in SEO.

1. Relevant Content, Readable Content, Fresh Content

There is no substitute for good content to achieve consistent high rankings. Think of it this way, if your content does not bring return visitors, spiders will not be interested either. Your site text needs to be “good” in 3 ways:
Search title phrases need to be relevant to body text. Use search terms in your copy as often as possible.
Content has to be readable and free from spelling and grammatical errors.

Update your site content regularly as spiders do not like stagnant pages. An example of a way to infuse fresh content to your site is to add a news or RSS feed that corresponds to your search phrases.

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