Search engines use spiders, or small software scripts, to crawl the Internet
and index web pages. When they do so, they categorise those pages according
to the relevant topics and keywords of each page. By ensuring that a page can
first be found and then adequately indexed and crawled, you can help to ensure
the success of your SEO efforts. Many DIY search engine optimisation marketers
tend to concentrate on building links and injecting keywords into their pages,
but creating a search engine friendly site should be the first step.

Starting From Scratch

If you do not have an existing website to work with, you have the choice of
having a new one developed to match your exact needs or searching for an existing
site to buy. Creating a site from scratch can be time consuming but by using
a good developer it is possible to start your SEO efforts on the right footing.
Clean code, good navigation, and compliant script is essential.

Using An Aged Domain Can Help SEO

A mature domain, however, can help give your site an immediate boost because
search engines prefer websites (or domains) that have been in existence for
some months. If you choose this route, or buying an existing site, ensure that
the domain is already indexed with the search engines to try and determine
that it has not been banned.

Navigation Options

Search engines deploy spiders to crawl from page to page via links. The easiest
links for spiders to navigate through are text links. If you do use flash or
image based navigation menus it will often pay dividends to include an HTML
sitemap and place a text link to that sitemap on your home page. This not only
helps ensure that you gain the benefit of SEO on every page but you can submit
updated sitemaps to most of the major search engines.

Content For Search Engine Optimization

Search engines have advanced their indexing methods and algorithms, but they
still prefer textual content. They have no method of “reading” or indexing
other forms of content except for the alternative text and supporting tags
that you provide. Include relevant keywords in your content but don’t get carried
away by cramming a page full of a single keyword or key phrase. One of the
early stages of SEO should be to determine your keywords.

Minimize Code, Maximize Content

Before you start SEO in earnest, ensure that all of the code and scripts used
on your site are standards compliant. Test your pages using various browsers,
operating systems, and screen resolutions and generally try to keep the code
to content ratio as low as possible. The more content the spiders can see,
the more effective your search engine optimisation will prove to be.

Early Search Engine Optimisation Steps

The first stages of any search engine optimization campaign should be to ensure
that all pages are search engine friendly. Doing so helps spiders crawl all
of your pages, access all of your content, and index the entire site under
relevant topics and searches. A side effect of these early SEO efforts is that
it will also help to ensure that all the visitors generated through search
engine optimisation will also be able to fully enjoy your pages.

Get Involved