Make My Own Web Page - Web Site Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Friendly

     In order to make my own web page search engine friendly, I must first include content. Content for people, content for search engines.

     People use search engines to find what they are looking for! Content is what people are looking for. Search engines keep tuning their algorithms to help people find the content they are looking for. You can become your own search engine positioning specialist by simply using the words people are looking for.

     Your keywords are what your content is all about. Include your keyword in your text. Include your keyword in your Image/Alt tags. The keywords should also be included in names of graphics, headings <h?></h?> and other files. Once you have included your keywords where ever you can, without sounding hokey, then you can play with the meta-tags.

     Meta Tags are what can help make my own web page be found by the search engines. All are contained within the <head></head> tags.

Title Tags

     The <title></title> tags define the title of your page. It not only appears on the top of your browser window, but as the title of your page according to the search engines also. Be aware that some of the search engines lop off the title at 30 characters or so. They don't eliminate your page or anything, just cut off the title. Make sure your keyword and the most important parts of your title appear within the first 30 characters.

     The title tags are within the head tags and takes the form:

<head>
     <title>Make My Own Web Page</title>
<head>

Meta Description

     This tag is within the head tags. The actual web page doesn't show this code at all, but the search engines use it as the description for the page. A search engine positioning specialist will use this tag to help the page be found for that keyword.

     One exception to this rule is Google. They completely ignore the meta description tag and use the phrases around the keywords instead.

     This description should be written almost like a tiny classified ad. It needs to give a full description while enticing the user to click in. This all should be done within the alloted 150 characters.

     The Meta-Description tag takes the form:

<

META NAME="DESCRIPTION" CONTENT="Make My Own


				    
				Web Page - Tactics for Search Engine

				    
				friendly pages that people will read."

Meta Keywords

     Here is another meta tag within the head tags. A keyword is a target word for your web site search engine optimization. These should be as accurate as possible, not just a free for all. You should not choose words just because everybody is looking for them. Choose words because they can be found here in your new web page.

     I'll repeat it again, give the people great content, give the search engines great content. Then, you will have a happy audience, who are looking for exactly what you are delivering.

     The keywords should be separated by commas. The number of keywords is limited to 874 characters by some search engines. Do not feel obligated to fill every single character. Just don't repeat the same word over three times, as some search engines may disqualify you as a spammer.

     The Meta-Keywords take the form:

<

META NAME="KEYWORDS" CONTENT="make my own web

				    
				page, search engine, title, head, meta,

				    
				description, keywords"

Miscellaneous Meta Tags

There are several other tags that should be included. They aren't quite as important as the ones previously mentioned, but still deserve mention.

The purpose of the RATING meta tag is to filter questionable content from younger viewers.

The RATING meta tag takes the form:

<META NAME="RATING" CONTENT="general">

Where the options are general, mature, restricted and 14 years.

The ROBOTS meta tag tells the Search Engine robots what to do when they get to this page. The default (without this tag) is to index and follow everything.

The ROBOTS meta tag takes the form:

<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="index,follow">

Where the options are index or noindex for the first term. This determines whether the robot includes this page in the index. The second term can either follow or nofollow. This instructs whether the robot should follow every link on the current page and index them too.

The AUTHOR and COPYRIGHT tags are just informational.

The AUTHOR tag takes the form:

<META NAME="AUTHOR" CONTENT="Michael T. Gray, mET">

While the COPYRIGHT tag takes the form:

<META NAME="COPYRIGHT" CONTENT="MTG EnterPrizes, 2002-10">