Learn SEO | Search Engine Optimization Tips and Techniques

Is your website easily readable on a mobile device?  With more and more people accessing the web with mobile phones and devices, it is becoming increasingly important to provide an option on your website that allows the mobile user to view your content easily.

Let me preface this by saying I am not an expert at mobile accessible websites – this is based on my experience.

There are several ways to this such as duplicating the content of your site in a different layout with a .mobi extension or by using a sub domain with link off your main page.  When it comes to the actual site that will be viewed on a mobile device there is one rule that stands above the others:  Keep It Very Simple.  Stay away from heavy graphics and provide the user with the information they are seeking.  There are a variety of screen sizes and resolutions with mobile devices and this can become a challenge when trying to present the same information you have on your three column blog to the mobile viewer.

Several of my websites are directory or “hub” sites which provide a massive amount of information to the viewer and my challenge is to present that information in an easily accessible way. I am able to accomplish this by setting up my mobile site in a single column format with no graphics.  I am reminded of outlines I used to do in school where we had major topics, sub topics and then sub sections of those.

The opening page of the mobile site has a text blurb about the information available and how to access it and then links to various topical pages within the site. Each sub-page then has a single column displaying the information for each item.  There are times when photos or graphics are necessary but I try to keep them to a minimum.  On a side note, be sure to use alt tags on your graphics and photos as some mobile devices do not display graphics.

In the coming weeks I will be converting one of my sites into a mobile accessible site and will post the url to the main site and the mobile site for you to review.

What are your tips and techniques for displaying your websites on mobile devices.

I saw a posting at WebProWorld.com today titled “Increase Internal Page Rank” which caught my eye. The question was:

          ”How can we increase our internal pages rank. Do you have any technique for it…”

Internal page rank is important to the overall strength of a website. Anytime someone links to an internal page it gives your whole site a boost. Personally I would prefer that at least one third of the links into any of my sites were to internal pages, especially the one way organic links.  How can you get other sites to link to internal pages? Simply make sure your internal pages (or at least some of them) have superior quality content and provide answers for the topic at hand. If your internal page has great content and provides a quality solution to a problem then you will start to see other sites linking directly to your “solution” page.

This may not be an overnight process but once you establish yourself as a site that has quality information and quality solutions to questions then others will link to you.

Do you optimize for images? There are a lot of people who go to Google and/or Yahoo Images and conduct searches for various topics. By optimizing your images for the search engines you increase the chances of your site being found by searchers. What do I mean by “optimizing images”? By using the “alt” tag and putting a little thought into how you name your actual images, you will greatly increase the chances of showing up on an image search.

The “alt” tag is an HTML attribute that is used to textually describe an image. The “alt” tag or textual description of the image will display if a browser has the image display settings turned off. In Internet Explorer the text in the “alt” tag will display when the user place the mouse pointer over the image. The use of the “alt” tag provides another opportunity for the search engines to pick up your keyword for that image which should correspond to the information being provided on that particular web page.

Naming your image properly will reap many benefits with the search engines. For instance, if your website is about barbecue pork ribs and you have a photo of a rack of cooked ribs you should name your photo “barbecue-pork-ribs.jpg.”   When an image search is conducted for barbecue pork ribs your image has an increased chance of showing up. When the visitor clicks on your image they are then transported to your website. This provides another route to your website from the search engines.

The “alt” tag and proper image naming is a quick way to increase your SEO efforts. If you haven’t used this technique on your site you can simply take a little time and go back through your site and make these changes. Yes, it may take a little work but the payoff will be worth it.

It has been my experience that one of the most important steps in the SEO process happens before you even sit down to your computer. Pre-planning is essential for an effective SEO campaign, whether your website is new or you are taking on an existing website optimization project. I usually start with a large piece of newsprint paper which will eventually become the “map” to my site.

One of the key steps in the SEO process is the flow of traffic throughout your website from the index page. I have mentioned before that I prefer a shallow and wide website which means no single page ever being more than 2 clicks from the home page. By drawing the flow of traffic on paper before you sit down to the computer you become more aware of how traffic can move down into and between pages of the site. Internal linking structure is important to both the human visitor and the search engine bot who is going to index your site.

By mapping out your pathways you can see how your traffic will move from page to page and section to section. Mapping out your traffic flow also provides you with a trail with which you can place “breadcrumb navigation links” on each page. These links will allow both the visitor and bot to move with ease throughout the site. I even go as far as to use several color markers to indicate specific subject related pathways that I want the visitor to follow.  Often times I will discover instances when I may want to establish a pathway from a page that is 2 clicks from my homepage to another page that is also 2 clicks away from the home page. By establishing this link the visitor can move from page to page with one click. While this may seem mundane, it really does add to the ease of use your site for the visitor. It also adds a new pathway (link) for the search engines to follow.

Do you pre plan your website navigation paths before you start coding?  What is your first step designing an optimized web site?