Making your web pages search engine friendly is the basic first step in getting higher rankings for your keyword(s) of choice.
Before optimizing any individual page, you need to choose a primary word or phrase that you want to optimize it around. This word or phrase should be something that relates to the content of your page, and that you have a realistic chance of ranking well for. Being the #1 result for your primary keyphrase is a good long-term goal to have.
Once you have selected your primary keyphrase, it is a good idea to put it in high-visibility locations, such as the title and heading tags. You might also want to incorporate it into your meta tags. These tags can be very useful for organizational purposes, even though most search engines pay them little or no attention.
In addition to your primary keyphrase, you should come up with a few secondary keywords. These should be things that relate to your primary keyphrase in some way. A good place to put secondary keywords is in secondary heading tags, outgoing anchor text, and scattered throughout the content itself, as well as in the alt attribute of relevant images.
A final step to take in making your site as a whole more search engine friendly is to link every page back to the homepage at least once, and to as many other (relevant) pages within your site as possible.
Once you are satisfied that your page is well optimized around the words and phrases of your choosing, its time to move on to the next page, and start the process again.
About the Author: Jeremy Maddock is the owner SEOMix.com, a high quality source of useful SEO tips.
According to the July 2005 Nielsen//NetRatings survey of the search habits of over a million web users, Google accounts for over 46.2% of the estimated 4.5 billion searches that occurred in that month.
Google clearly dominates the search market and is twice as popular as its nearest rivals, Yahoo and MSN.
Increasingly however, frustration has begun to build in the web community with regard to Googles reluctance to index and catalogue new websites.
Newly launched websites are being spidered by Googles robots as normal but the information that they obtain is not being converted into actual page listings for time periods that exceed, in some cases, nine months.
This listings delay has become known as the Sandbox and would appear to also affect existing sites that undergo significant design or navigational changes.
As with all things Google related, the exact nature of any filters or algorithmic changes remains purely conjecture as Google never reveals anything about its inner workings.
Empirical evidence however does seem to point to a delaying filter being applied by Google in an effort to stop those seeking to unfairly manipulate its search listings.
These short term spamming techniques involve the establishment of thousands of search engine optimised web sites that link to one another with the sole aim of manipulating Googles search results in their favour, without providing any real value to the unsuspecting searcher.
This being the case, Googles motives for delaying the cataloguing of new websites for up to nine months, would indeed seem honorable in its intentions.
The problem is that owners of legitimate new web sites are being denied the opportunity to position their products and services in front of Googles massive audience.
Those of a less than generous nature may say that this is an attempt by Google not to rid the world of search engine spammers, but instead is a covert operation designed to increased advertising revenues as those sites denied organic listings on Google are forced to resort to Pay Per Click advertising through Googles Ad Words programme.
Indeed many are now openly asking why Google does not give users the option to search the fabled Sandbox for new web sites and content, and provide warnings that these new sites have not yet proved themselves through longevity, relevance or popularity.
Rumblings within the internet community now point out that the original quality that first attracted them to Google, the ability to easily find new and exciting content, is now absent from its present offerings and that alternatives such as MSN now offer the real deal in terms of new and original content.
The one thing that has always stood Google in good stead is its ability to adapt and evolve whist mirroring the needs of the internet community.
Only time will tell if its mystical Sandbox proves to be an anti-spamming filter too far and if Google can once again return to the affections of the web community.
Ivor Conway is the Managing Director of Neuchi, UK Search Engine Marketing and UK Search Engine Optimisation company that promotes the matching of UK clients products to interested and ready to buy online customers.
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