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Beginners Guide to Search Engine Optimization

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the how-to-until-search-engines-change-next-week dept.

isharq writes to tell us that SEOmoz has an interesting writeup regarding search engine optimization. The article has quite a bit of info and is geared so that even the inexperienced used can learn the basics of search engine optimization. From the article: "It is our goal to improve your ability to drive search traffic to your site and debunk major myths about SEO. We share this knowledge to help businesses, government, educational and non-profit organizations benefit from being listed in the major search engines."

6 of 124 comments (clear)

  1. Re:fundamental by Yjerkle · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Step 1: Write better content.

    No kidding. My website, Gullible.Info, is the #1 google result for "gullible", and we didn't do any of this "search engine optimization" stuff. We just wrote amusing stuff, and people linked to us.

  2. SEO by boingyzain · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If you're interested in Search Engine Optimization, the tool can be used like the Overture Keyword Selector Tool. Similar results are obtained with both, which is interesting all in itself. A guy built an interface similar to Overture to use with Google Suggest.

    Other than that I can't think of a real use... I usually know what I want to search for on Google. It could help optimize queries I guess (see the "number" of results before hitting submit, but not the quality...)

    Happy Holidays to all Slashdotters, by the way :)

  3. Re:fundamental by BarryLoper · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think history has shown that "better content" has little to do with search engine ranking. You just have to know how to work the system better than your competitor.

    Having said that, I wish someone would invent a search engine that would push some of this "better content" to the top of search engine results.

  4. Well.. by Sv-Manowar · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The problem is that the SEO spammers reset the game for the rest of the people over time by flooding out the methods that people can used to get ranked with their crap, meaning everyone has to keep changing to stay ahead, and obviously the way to do this is fresh, good quality, unique content. That's not to say that SEO spammers won't eventually see this and begin stealing/outsourcing content production in order to screw this up too

    --
    Business Voyeur
  5. Re:has anyone bothered to keep up with the times? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I bet nothing serious happened since the 1990's - right?

    Believe it or not, there are other ways at determining algorithms than having to read up on their original papers (or even current patents). Experiments, perhaps?

    Since most of the search engines like to keep everything under their covers, the only way for a professional webmaster or "website optimizer for search engines" can keep up with changes is by running 10's to 1000's of test sites on the side. Running 1000 sites is not as expensive as you would think and it allows you to test many variables, over time. If you're making money off of a website then these test sites pay for themselves within days.

  6. Re:Nevermind the META tags! by l00k · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Granted, for a number of years meta keywords have been only vaguely relevant for gaining a good search engine ranking. They're only one thing amongst many that are necessary to do in order to gain the best ranking possible, and definately down the list in terms of the most effective. Anyone reading through the linked article, or already familiar with search engine optimisation methods, will have come to the conclusion that ultimately (besides the notorious google-bomb method) the best way to have your site rank highly is to make an important and worthy site! So sophisticated are the algorithms used to judge search rankings.

    That's not to say keywords aren't important, it's just where they're placed that will make the difference. Try placing keywords in the 'alt' text of images, in links between pages, in-the-URLs.html of your site. Even then, I've told some customers that their expectation of getting their site shelved in 1st place in Google are completely unrealistic unless they are indeed something of an authority on the subject searched for. And this is the way it should be! Being someone who uses Google everyday to find content, I'm glad optimisation has its limits.