Website Evaluation is the primary step towards providing search engine optimization support to your website. Before you start working on your website, you need to have ready initial report that gives you complete information on various aspects of your website. This report is handed over to clients by SEO companies. If the report is satisfactory, an SEO package is suggested.
What does a Web Evaluation Report consist of?
Web evaluation report is a blue print of your website. It pens down all the necessary information regarding your website. This information will help you understand your website better and plan out your SEO strategies accordingly.
The first aspect to look at is your overall website design. It is not necessary that a good looking website (attractive design) will rank high on search engines. Although a good design is essential to drag visitors to your website, search engines have set their own guidelines when it comes to website design. Webmasters across the globe design their websites along these guidelines, as they want their site to be crawled by the search engines on regular basis.
Along with having a good design, your website should be user friendly. If you want to rank well on search engines, you cannot ignore "users" that will browse through your website. A user friendly website is not far from being SEO friendly too. We at Nyasasoftec.com will suggest you necessary changes to make your website more and more user friendly.
The next step is to analyze on-page optimization factors. Again on-page optimization factors are more or less same for all search engines. Some of the commonly known on-page factors are keyword density, html tags etc.
Once the on-page optimization factors are done with, an online report is run using report generating (Google Analytics) to check the ranking of your website (for suggested keywords) on various search engines. Finally, all the above considerations are merged together which forms your Website Evaluation Report also commonly known as Initial SEO Report.
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/search-engine-optimization-website-evaluation.html
Friday, July 6, 2007
Impact of Content Optimization in SEO
Content Optimization is one of the most important factors to get higher ranking on search engines. The phrase "content is king" is very popular among search engine specialists. A good quality, well written content works wonders for a website.
Why is content so important for search engines? When we say search engine, the first thing that comes to our mind is a place where you can find information. The primary purpose of every search engine is to give as much information as they can to its users. If your site is not informative, chances are that you might not rank well on search engines (big brand name companies are exception here).
Writers need to be skilled enough to write quality material keeping in mind the guidelines of search engines.. To write content for any website, you need to understand the primary business of the company. After analyzing the business, content writers go through the Keyword Analysis Report to check for suitable keywords. Using keywords within the content in appropriate density is the biggest challenge for any content writer. Using necessary HTML tags within your content (wherever required) is very important for search engine spiders. Many content writers ignore this aspect when writing content for search engine. The language of the content is also very important. You are promoting your product within your content, so it is important to have a language that markets your product but at the same time is simple enough for users to understand.
This was about writing fresh content for your website. If you already have content on your website, modify the existing content as per search engine parameters. While modifying existing content, you must check the keyword density and also the language of the content. At times writing a new and fresh copy of content takes lesser time than modifying an existing one.
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/impact-of-content-optimization-in-seo.html
Why is content so important for search engines? When we say search engine, the first thing that comes to our mind is a place where you can find information. The primary purpose of every search engine is to give as much information as they can to its users. If your site is not informative, chances are that you might not rank well on search engines (big brand name companies are exception here).
Writers need to be skilled enough to write quality material keeping in mind the guidelines of search engines.. To write content for any website, you need to understand the primary business of the company. After analyzing the business, content writers go through the Keyword Analysis Report to check for suitable keywords. Using keywords within the content in appropriate density is the biggest challenge for any content writer. Using necessary HTML tags within your content (wherever required) is very important for search engine spiders. Many content writers ignore this aspect when writing content for search engine. The language of the content is also very important. You are promoting your product within your content, so it is important to have a language that markets your product but at the same time is simple enough for users to understand.
This was about writing fresh content for your website. If you already have content on your website, modify the existing content as per search engine parameters. While modifying existing content, you must check the keyword density and also the language of the content. At times writing a new and fresh copy of content takes lesser time than modifying an existing one.
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/impact-of-content-optimization-in-seo.html
Webecho Designs
webecho designs are ... a small West Australian web development company specialising in accessible website design and marketing.
Stylish, efficient and easy We produce only high quality, hand coded, custom built websites, ensuring lean code to maximise your websites' performance.
Search engine friendly Our website design packages come with basic Search Engine Optimisation including : Keyword Research, Competition Analysis, Content Advice, Search Engine Directory Submission.
Professional webecho designs offer much more than just website design and internet marketing. We provide an ongoing helpful service to make sure that your website continues to 'work for you'.
Accessible We specialise in accessible website design, meaning your website will reach more and exclude fewer internet users to maximise your potential custom.
http://www.hotfrog.com.au/Companies/Webecho-Designs
Stylish, efficient and easy We produce only high quality, hand coded, custom built websites, ensuring lean code to maximise your websites' performance.
Search engine friendly Our website design packages come with basic Search Engine Optimisation including : Keyword Research, Competition Analysis, Content Advice, Search Engine Directory Submission.
Professional webecho designs offer much more than just website design and internet marketing. We provide an ongoing helpful service to make sure that your website continues to 'work for you'.
Accessible We specialise in accessible website design, meaning your website will reach more and exclude fewer internet users to maximise your potential custom.
http://www.hotfrog.com.au/Companies/Webecho-Designs
SEO - search engine optimisation Pty Ltd
Here are the basic guidelines you need to follow to obtain high rankings in the major search engines;
1. Keyword Strategy Object to find out what termsyourendusers are actually typing in to find your business. Overture and Google provide keyword tools, and other third party companies such as Trellian and Wordtracker also have products. Your whole campaign rests on getting this right. Understanding your money keywords, the keys that give the greatest return is most important and then the long tail of variations and related keys.
2. Domains If you have not registered a domain then obtaining a domain that contains your main keyword will (currently) help your cause. e.g. www.travelinsurance.com.au . Note this cannot last however and long term building a brand will return you more in my opinion.
3. URL Directory structure When building your site having a meaningful url and directory sructure will pay dividends, both for your enduser and your search engine rankings. http://www.iflorist.com/en/act/item/2971/?nref=1 versus http://www.iflorist.com/en/bouquet/lillies.html. Structure your directories and urls so the information is grouped and the urls are keyword rich. That does mean doing something like this; http://travel-insurance.worldnomads.com.au/travel-insurance/travel-insurance.aspx which amounts to spam.
4. Site Technology Don't use flash to build your site, by all means use flash elements but remember how search engines work, they take text copies of your pages and store them in their databases for reference. Ensure site navigation is both logical, easy to follow and that search engines can follow the links.
5. Add Content Based on your keyword strategy build content pages for your main keywords or keyword groups. Content is King the more the better, noting it must be unique and not duplicated.
6. Meta Data Each and every page needs unique descriptive meta data. That mean page title, meta keyowrds and meta descriptions. Don't scrimp here this is important.
7. Obtain Incoming Links AKA Link Popularity To assist your site rankings, you need to obtain incoming links that contain in the anchor text the keywords you want to get rankings for. Register your site in on topic directories, approach similar themed sites and ask for a link exchange, publish articles, register your site in any trade sites. What you want is to be the center of the universe for your topic/products.
Sounds easy right? If you require professional help drop us a line at Sales@seo.com.au. We can either consult and give you a roadmap, or do the work for you.
http://www.hotfrog.com.au/Companies/SEO-search-engine-optimisation/FullPressRelease.aspx?id=2315
1. Keyword Strategy Object to find out what termsyourendusers are actually typing in to find your business. Overture and Google provide keyword tools, and other third party companies such as Trellian and Wordtracker also have products. Your whole campaign rests on getting this right. Understanding your money keywords, the keys that give the greatest return is most important and then the long tail of variations and related keys.
2. Domains If you have not registered a domain then obtaining a domain that contains your main keyword will (currently) help your cause. e.g. www.travelinsurance.com.au . Note this cannot last however and long term building a brand will return you more in my opinion.
3. URL Directory structure When building your site having a meaningful url and directory sructure will pay dividends, both for your enduser and your search engine rankings. http://www.iflorist.com/en/act/item/2971/?nref=1 versus http://www.iflorist.com/en/bouquet/lillies.html. Structure your directories and urls so the information is grouped and the urls are keyword rich. That does mean doing something like this; http://travel-insurance.worldnomads.com.au/travel-insurance/travel-insurance.aspx which amounts to spam.
4. Site Technology Don't use flash to build your site, by all means use flash elements but remember how search engines work, they take text copies of your pages and store them in their databases for reference. Ensure site navigation is both logical, easy to follow and that search engines can follow the links.
5. Add Content Based on your keyword strategy build content pages for your main keywords or keyword groups. Content is King the more the better, noting it must be unique and not duplicated.
6. Meta Data Each and every page needs unique descriptive meta data. That mean page title, meta keyowrds and meta descriptions. Don't scrimp here this is important.
7. Obtain Incoming Links AKA Link Popularity To assist your site rankings, you need to obtain incoming links that contain in the anchor text the keywords you want to get rankings for. Register your site in on topic directories, approach similar themed sites and ask for a link exchange, publish articles, register your site in any trade sites. What you want is to be the center of the universe for your topic/products.
Sounds easy right? If you require professional help drop us a line at Sales@seo.com.au. We can either consult and give you a roadmap, or do the work for you.
http://www.hotfrog.com.au/Companies/SEO-search-engine-optimisation/FullPressRelease.aspx?id=2315
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Do You Know the Secret to a Top Search Engine Ranking?
I do and I'm about to share it with you because you deserve to have a number one ranked website.
As search engines have evolved to meet the needs and demands of the internet, they have changed the way they rank websites.
In the beginning keywords were the main factor that search engines used in website ranking. However, over time website owners discovered the trick to a high ranking was to load down their pages with keywords. This resulted in search engines returning results that were not very useful to searchers.
In an effort to provide quality results for their users search engines began looking at other factors. Today one of the main factors of search engine ranking is content.
With the introduction of blogs many website owners are integrating blogs with their websites. The blogs allow them to publish fresh, quality content on a regular basis that in turn helps to keep them at the top of search engine rankings.
So, if you want to get to the top of search engine rankings you have to get some quality content. Add a blog to your website so you can publish new content on a regular basis.
You can write the content yourself, but that can be time consuming. For a small fee you can hire someone to write your content for you.
By using a content writer you can get good content for your website without a lot of time spent doing it. You get the top search engine ranking and you reap the benefits all for a few well written articles.
About the Author
Heather Higinbotham is a freelance writer who specializes in content writing. She has written on numerous topics, including working at home, search engine optimization, internet advertising and home business. To check out her work visit http://writerheatherh.wordpress.com/
As search engines have evolved to meet the needs and demands of the internet, they have changed the way they rank websites.
In the beginning keywords were the main factor that search engines used in website ranking. However, over time website owners discovered the trick to a high ranking was to load down their pages with keywords. This resulted in search engines returning results that were not very useful to searchers.
In an effort to provide quality results for their users search engines began looking at other factors. Today one of the main factors of search engine ranking is content.
With the introduction of blogs many website owners are integrating blogs with their websites. The blogs allow them to publish fresh, quality content on a regular basis that in turn helps to keep them at the top of search engine rankings.
So, if you want to get to the top of search engine rankings you have to get some quality content. Add a blog to your website so you can publish new content on a regular basis.
You can write the content yourself, but that can be time consuming. For a small fee you can hire someone to write your content for you.
By using a content writer you can get good content for your website without a lot of time spent doing it. You get the top search engine ranking and you reap the benefits all for a few well written articles.
About the Author
Heather Higinbotham is a freelance writer who specializes in content writing. She has written on numerous topics, including working at home, search engine optimization, internet advertising and home business. To check out her work visit http://writerheatherh.wordpress.com/
Online Internet Marketing - 3 Top Tools and Services for an Effective Internet Marketing Solution
Everyone knows the Internet is growing exponentially and continually evolving. The major players in the continual evolution of the Internet are the major search engines and consumer generated media such as blogs. Because of the continual changes, a well rounded Internet marketing strategy must include a variety of proven marketing options to ensure success. I will outline 3 of the most effective Internet marketing solutions available and how they relate to your marketing strategy.
SEO Optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the first because the free advertising afforded by the search engines is partly determined by on-page optimization techniques. With thousands of new Websites being created daily, the competition for a listing on the first search result page is increasingly saturated for the popular keywords. Statistics show better than 90% of people only look at the first search result page, and a similar percentage only click on the top search listing.
In order to compete effectively, a Web page must be designed around a keyword or more effectively, a keyword phrase. The keywords must be included in the page's title, keyword META tag, page's description, the first heading (using the H1 HTML tag), throughout the body of the page and within the last 25 words on the page. These are just a few of the basic SEO on-page options that although will not guarantee a first page listing, are definitely required as a starting point in an effective Internet marketing strategy.
In most cases, there is too much competition for certain keywords such as "golf clubs". A better strategy would be to use "golf clubs Chicago" or handcrafted golf clubs". The more specific you make your keyword phrase the better. A number of free tools are available that will show the popularity of keywords and how often they are used in the search engines on a monthly basis. These will allow you to customize your Web page knowing the keyword phrase's popularity. If you get the first page listing for a keyword with less than 100 searches per month for instance, then it doesn't matter because your traffic will be very limited.
Link Exchanges
Once the on-page optimizations are complete, the off-page optimization options need to be addressed. Link exchanges are perhaps the best off-page SEO technique available. If you download and install the Google toolbar on your browser, you will see the Google PageRank of each site you visit. Your PageRank is determined by the number of other sites linking to your site, and the QUALITY of the link is a major consideration. Pages are ranked from 1 to 10. The higher the PageRank of the site linking to yours, the better. Sites with a PR7 and above are considered as authority sites and a back link will send Google's spider to your page on a regular basis.
There are a number of ways to get a back link to your site. You can email a request to the Webmaster for a link exchange and if they agree you would return the favor by placing a link to their site on your page. You can also purchase the link. A number of sites offer this service for a monthly fee. So if you want to quickly get your site listed by Google and the major search engines, then paying for a PR8 back link for a month or two might be well worth the investment in the long run, as new sites are placed in a "sand box" by Google for several months until they prove their longevity.
One back link from a PR8 site is worth 1,000 back links from PR2 or less sites. As a matter of fact, numerous links from low ranking sites will actually be detrimental to your site, because each back link is like a vote for your site. If you have too many low ranking sites voting for yours, Google will be reluctant to reward your site with a higher PR. You have to do your research on the site that offers to link to yours because if they were blacklisted by Google, your site will receive the same fate and you probably will never recover from this.
A PR 4 or 5 is relatively easy to attain. So your best bet is to limit your back links to PR5 and above for the best results. And by all means avoid link farms. Before Google upgraded its algorithm, just the number of back links was considered. But now the actual PageRank of your back link is considered AND the PageRank of the sites listing to THAT link. Links from link farms are now looked upon as basically spam links. You would be better off purchasing a listing in a major link directory like Yahoo or DMZ. It's definitely worth the investment as these are authority sites and are a major vote for your site!
Blogs
As previously indicated, consumer generated media is a major factor in the evolution of the Internet. Case in point is the enormous effect blogs had on the last Presidential campaign. A very large percentage of most searches will include blogs on the first page listing. Over 50% of purchases, online and offline, are preceded by an online search for more information. And a large percentage of the information is offered by blogs. People are very interested in the opinions of others on their topic of interest.
The major blogs are updated on a daily basis which is very important to Google's algorithm which uses the frequency of updates (daily, hourly and by minute) as a determining factor in the search result ranking. A powerful marketing method used by the major blogs is to submit articles on a particular topic to the major article hubs such as EzineArticles.com. The article hub benefits by having continually updated information (which Google likes) where they can place their money making AdSense ads. The blogger benefits by having a back link to their blog at the bottom of the article.
As numerous other bloggers and Webmasters access the article hubs for fresh information, the article can be syndicated virally to a number sites on the Internet. This creates a number of back links to your blog or your site generating an enormous amount of pre-qualified free traffic.
In Summary
These are just a few of the most effective online Internet marketing options available. Other options such as auto-responder email, Ezine advertising and pay per click advertising should be included in a well rounded Internet marketing strategy. No matter what options you use, you definitely need to start with your on-page SEO techniques. Your listing in the search results will be enhanced by a properly optimized page.
Further optimization must include the off-page SEO techniques such as generating back links with the major site directories, link exchanges and articles submitted to the major article hubs. Using a blog for a reference in your article can be a good thing as people will be more inclined to visit a blog since it's not a sales page. Once they have received enough information and you have generated their confidence in your opinions, you can end up with a life time customer.
About the Author
Sydney Nelson is a Microsoft Certified Professional and has a Bachelor in Information Technology. Please go to http://PromoBlackBoxZone for more information on how to dramatically increase your Website's conversions and presence on the Internet. More articles on Internet marketing can be found at http://blog.PromoBlackBoxZone.com
SEO Optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the first because the free advertising afforded by the search engines is partly determined by on-page optimization techniques. With thousands of new Websites being created daily, the competition for a listing on the first search result page is increasingly saturated for the popular keywords. Statistics show better than 90% of people only look at the first search result page, and a similar percentage only click on the top search listing.
In order to compete effectively, a Web page must be designed around a keyword or more effectively, a keyword phrase. The keywords must be included in the page's title, keyword META tag, page's description, the first heading (using the H1 HTML tag), throughout the body of the page and within the last 25 words on the page. These are just a few of the basic SEO on-page options that although will not guarantee a first page listing, are definitely required as a starting point in an effective Internet marketing strategy.
In most cases, there is too much competition for certain keywords such as "golf clubs". A better strategy would be to use "golf clubs Chicago" or handcrafted golf clubs". The more specific you make your keyword phrase the better. A number of free tools are available that will show the popularity of keywords and how often they are used in the search engines on a monthly basis. These will allow you to customize your Web page knowing the keyword phrase's popularity. If you get the first page listing for a keyword with less than 100 searches per month for instance, then it doesn't matter because your traffic will be very limited.
Link Exchanges
Once the on-page optimizations are complete, the off-page optimization options need to be addressed. Link exchanges are perhaps the best off-page SEO technique available. If you download and install the Google toolbar on your browser, you will see the Google PageRank of each site you visit. Your PageRank is determined by the number of other sites linking to your site, and the QUALITY of the link is a major consideration. Pages are ranked from 1 to 10. The higher the PageRank of the site linking to yours, the better. Sites with a PR7 and above are considered as authority sites and a back link will send Google's spider to your page on a regular basis.
There are a number of ways to get a back link to your site. You can email a request to the Webmaster for a link exchange and if they agree you would return the favor by placing a link to their site on your page. You can also purchase the link. A number of sites offer this service for a monthly fee. So if you want to quickly get your site listed by Google and the major search engines, then paying for a PR8 back link for a month or two might be well worth the investment in the long run, as new sites are placed in a "sand box" by Google for several months until they prove their longevity.
One back link from a PR8 site is worth 1,000 back links from PR2 or less sites. As a matter of fact, numerous links from low ranking sites will actually be detrimental to your site, because each back link is like a vote for your site. If you have too many low ranking sites voting for yours, Google will be reluctant to reward your site with a higher PR. You have to do your research on the site that offers to link to yours because if they were blacklisted by Google, your site will receive the same fate and you probably will never recover from this.
A PR 4 or 5 is relatively easy to attain. So your best bet is to limit your back links to PR5 and above for the best results. And by all means avoid link farms. Before Google upgraded its algorithm, just the number of back links was considered. But now the actual PageRank of your back link is considered AND the PageRank of the sites listing to THAT link. Links from link farms are now looked upon as basically spam links. You would be better off purchasing a listing in a major link directory like Yahoo or DMZ. It's definitely worth the investment as these are authority sites and are a major vote for your site!
Blogs
As previously indicated, consumer generated media is a major factor in the evolution of the Internet. Case in point is the enormous effect blogs had on the last Presidential campaign. A very large percentage of most searches will include blogs on the first page listing. Over 50% of purchases, online and offline, are preceded by an online search for more information. And a large percentage of the information is offered by blogs. People are very interested in the opinions of others on their topic of interest.
The major blogs are updated on a daily basis which is very important to Google's algorithm which uses the frequency of updates (daily, hourly and by minute) as a determining factor in the search result ranking. A powerful marketing method used by the major blogs is to submit articles on a particular topic to the major article hubs such as EzineArticles.com. The article hub benefits by having continually updated information (which Google likes) where they can place their money making AdSense ads. The blogger benefits by having a back link to their blog at the bottom of the article.
As numerous other bloggers and Webmasters access the article hubs for fresh information, the article can be syndicated virally to a number sites on the Internet. This creates a number of back links to your blog or your site generating an enormous amount of pre-qualified free traffic.
In Summary
These are just a few of the most effective online Internet marketing options available. Other options such as auto-responder email, Ezine advertising and pay per click advertising should be included in a well rounded Internet marketing strategy. No matter what options you use, you definitely need to start with your on-page SEO techniques. Your listing in the search results will be enhanced by a properly optimized page.
Further optimization must include the off-page SEO techniques such as generating back links with the major site directories, link exchanges and articles submitted to the major article hubs. Using a blog for a reference in your article can be a good thing as people will be more inclined to visit a blog since it's not a sales page. Once they have received enough information and you have generated their confidence in your opinions, you can end up with a life time customer.
About the Author
Sydney Nelson is a Microsoft Certified Professional and has a Bachelor in Information Technology. Please go to http://PromoBlackBoxZone for more information on how to dramatically increase your Website's conversions and presence on the Internet. More articles on Internet marketing can be found at http://blog.PromoBlackBoxZone.com
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Thinking of Creating Gateway or Doorway Pages?
How many of you think the best and/or only way to get top placements on the search engines is to create gateway pages (aka doorway pages or bridge pages)? If you raised your hand, you are certainly not alone, but you are also mistaken!
If you check out most search engine positioning companies' Web sites, you will find that most of them promise to get you high rankings by creating gateway pages for your site. These are pages that the positioning companies create independently of your current pages, which they load with keyword phrases then submit to the search engines.
Many of these companies use automated programs such as WebPosition Gold (WPG), which features a template that the company fills in with the "proper" amount of keywords and other text. The program's Page Generator function then generates a page that supposedly will rank high for a particular engine.
These positioning companies will even go to the trouble to create different gateway pages for each search engine, using the WPG Page Critic function. This tool tells Webmasters what keyword density each engine supposedly wants to see (based on past results), and how many times you should put particular keyword phrases into the text and meta tags of the gateway pages.
Are Doorway Pages and Gateways Pages Worth the Effort?
Sounds like a lot of unnecessary trouble, if you ask me. Consider this: Each and every search engine wants to see the same thing -- Web sites that are filled with good, useful content. All engines base their ranking algorithms on this.
For certain, there are slight variations in the number of times a keyword should appear and/or how many words should be on a page, as WPG's Page Critic tells us. But generally speaking, these numbers are not going to make or break your ranking.
If I paid attention to these automated programs, I'm sure I'd find out that most of my clients' sites have an "incorrect" keyword density for specific engines. The program would tell me that certain pages have too many keywords, and that others don't have enough. My answer to that is: hogwash!
In reality, these pages rank high for numerous keyword phrases regardless of the "proper" keyword density, because they are filled with great content.
If you already have a Web site, and it's more than one page, then you have your own built-in, natural gateway pages. Each and every page of your current site is a doorway to the rest of your site.
To be sure, there are sometimes technical reasons why each page of a site cannot be a gateway. However, there's no excuse for having your main page be so technically challenged that the search engines can't find it and read it.
With your main page as your jumping-off place, you simply create other informative (static HTML) pages that link from the main page to the rest of the site. These are not gateway pages in the original sense of the word, because you're linking to them from your main page, and you actually want people to visit them. These pages should give useful information about your site, your business, and the people who run it; and of course, these pages should be easy to navigate.
Gateways and Doorways can be a Costly Lesson
Creating gateway pages that are not linked to the rest of your site and don't provide important information about your site are not necessary, and may even harm your site's rankings.
The main thing typical gateway pages do is create clutter in the engines. What? A search engine optimization specialist who is worried about cluttering the engines? You bet!
I have to use the engines as much as the next person, and I'm as frustrated by the lack of good content and hard-to-find Web sites as everyone else is. There's no way that I want to contribute to that, and for this reason, I have always advocated against using gateway pages.
I'm probably one of the few search engine placement experts who is extremely happy that many search engines such as AltaVista are starting to take a stand against gateway pages by not allowing them and by deleting them from their databases. Believe it or not, this development has put a number of search engine placement companies suddenly out of business. However, if they were doing it "the right way" to begin with or were willing to learn the right way, they'd still have a lucrative business.
Repeating My Mantra ... Again!
Those who know me and my other articles on this subject know my mantra, which always bears repeating:
If your site has content that naturally uses your relevant keyword phrases, and you follow simple guidelines on how to create your titles and meta tags, your Web site will rank high.
No gateway pages necessary. No separate pages for separate engines. No keyword density percentage numbers to give you a headache. (They always give me one!) In the simplest terms possible: You do not need to reinvent the wheel! Use your current site's pages to the greatest advantage, and high rankings will come to you on a silver platter!
I'm sure some of you are shaking your heads and asking, "What if my site doesn't have much useful content or doesn't use my keyword phrases effectively? Shouldn't I create gateway pages that do this?"
The answer to this is quite simple. Fix your site! If your site doesn't have useful content that naturally utilizes the keyword phrases for which you should be ranking high, then it's missing the essential elements of a good Web site and needs to be altered accordingly. Not only is this a solid search engine strategy, but it's also important for getting people to click further into your site and ideally, for making some sales.
When it comes to providing good content for high rankings, you should focus mostly on your main page. However, all major inside pages should also be edited as necessary to ensure that each key area of your business is well represented in the search engines. If you design your Web pages with these things in mind, high rankings will be sure to follow.
http://www.articles-hub.com/Article/47381.html
If you check out most search engine positioning companies' Web sites, you will find that most of them promise to get you high rankings by creating gateway pages for your site. These are pages that the positioning companies create independently of your current pages, which they load with keyword phrases then submit to the search engines.
Many of these companies use automated programs such as WebPosition Gold (WPG), which features a template that the company fills in with the "proper" amount of keywords and other text. The program's Page Generator function then generates a page that supposedly will rank high for a particular engine.
These positioning companies will even go to the trouble to create different gateway pages for each search engine, using the WPG Page Critic function. This tool tells Webmasters what keyword density each engine supposedly wants to see (based on past results), and how many times you should put particular keyword phrases into the text and meta tags of the gateway pages.
Are Doorway Pages and Gateways Pages Worth the Effort?
Sounds like a lot of unnecessary trouble, if you ask me. Consider this: Each and every search engine wants to see the same thing -- Web sites that are filled with good, useful content. All engines base their ranking algorithms on this.
For certain, there are slight variations in the number of times a keyword should appear and/or how many words should be on a page, as WPG's Page Critic tells us. But generally speaking, these numbers are not going to make or break your ranking.
If I paid attention to these automated programs, I'm sure I'd find out that most of my clients' sites have an "incorrect" keyword density for specific engines. The program would tell me that certain pages have too many keywords, and that others don't have enough. My answer to that is: hogwash!
In reality, these pages rank high for numerous keyword phrases regardless of the "proper" keyword density, because they are filled with great content.
If you already have a Web site, and it's more than one page, then you have your own built-in, natural gateway pages. Each and every page of your current site is a doorway to the rest of your site.
To be sure, there are sometimes technical reasons why each page of a site cannot be a gateway. However, there's no excuse for having your main page be so technically challenged that the search engines can't find it and read it.
With your main page as your jumping-off place, you simply create other informative (static HTML) pages that link from the main page to the rest of the site. These are not gateway pages in the original sense of the word, because you're linking to them from your main page, and you actually want people to visit them. These pages should give useful information about your site, your business, and the people who run it; and of course, these pages should be easy to navigate.
Gateways and Doorways can be a Costly Lesson
Creating gateway pages that are not linked to the rest of your site and don't provide important information about your site are not necessary, and may even harm your site's rankings.
The main thing typical gateway pages do is create clutter in the engines. What? A search engine optimization specialist who is worried about cluttering the engines? You bet!
I have to use the engines as much as the next person, and I'm as frustrated by the lack of good content and hard-to-find Web sites as everyone else is. There's no way that I want to contribute to that, and for this reason, I have always advocated against using gateway pages.
I'm probably one of the few search engine placement experts who is extremely happy that many search engines such as AltaVista are starting to take a stand against gateway pages by not allowing them and by deleting them from their databases. Believe it or not, this development has put a number of search engine placement companies suddenly out of business. However, if they were doing it "the right way" to begin with or were willing to learn the right way, they'd still have a lucrative business.
Repeating My Mantra ... Again!
Those who know me and my other articles on this subject know my mantra, which always bears repeating:
If your site has content that naturally uses your relevant keyword phrases, and you follow simple guidelines on how to create your titles and meta tags, your Web site will rank high.
No gateway pages necessary. No separate pages for separate engines. No keyword density percentage numbers to give you a headache. (They always give me one!) In the simplest terms possible: You do not need to reinvent the wheel! Use your current site's pages to the greatest advantage, and high rankings will come to you on a silver platter!
I'm sure some of you are shaking your heads and asking, "What if my site doesn't have much useful content or doesn't use my keyword phrases effectively? Shouldn't I create gateway pages that do this?"
The answer to this is quite simple. Fix your site! If your site doesn't have useful content that naturally utilizes the keyword phrases for which you should be ranking high, then it's missing the essential elements of a good Web site and needs to be altered accordingly. Not only is this a solid search engine strategy, but it's also important for getting people to click further into your site and ideally, for making some sales.
When it comes to providing good content for high rankings, you should focus mostly on your main page. However, all major inside pages should also be edited as necessary to ensure that each key area of your business is well represented in the search engines. If you design your Web pages with these things in mind, high rankings will be sure to follow.
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