Thursday, August 24th, 2006...11:22 am by Leroy Brown
6 Ways to get more search engine traffic
I’ll assume that you already have your blog set up, so I’ll skip over how to choose an optimal domain name. Here are some easy tips to make your site more search engine friendly, and bring in more traffic.
- Clean up your code. Search engines hate cluttered code. Everyone, even seasoned pros, should periodically go through and optimize their html, php , and css code. Remember, just because the page looks good to you, that doesn’t mean it looks good to search engines.
- Create a Google sitemap. This will help the #1 search engine index all your pages.
- Provide easy access to your archives - from every page. The fewer links the search engine spiders need to follow, the better.
- Optimize your titles. Good titles help search engines decide what your page is about, and index them properly.
- Get links. This could be the single most important item on this list. You’ve all heard it before, and that’s because it works. Numerous, high quality links help you rank well in every major search engine.
- Hire an SEO Expert. This ties in to #’s 1,4, and 5 , but goes a step further. A full fledged search engine optimization campaign can work wonders. Remember - quality SEO is not cheap. Check references, ask to see examples, and be prepared to shell out some real money.
My last bit of advice is excercise patience. Some sites get indexed or improve search engine presence very quickly, while others can take up to a year or more. No one knows exactly why this is the case, and it doesn’t seem to follow any particular pattern. I have had sites take several months to get indexed by the search engines, and I’ve had sites indexed within a day or two from launch. There is no secret, but following these steps should help speed along the process, and bring you better results. Does anyone have a few tips to add?
9 Comments
August 24th, 2006 at 11:56 pm
About number 5, links:
If I leave a comment like this one, and have typed my url into your link field. Does that count as a link? Will writing many comments at other peoples blogs increase my page ranking with google?
August 25th, 2006 at 5:48 am
That would depend on how the particular blog that you comment on is set up. Most blogs use the “rel=nofollow” command attached to all links in their comments section. If they use this command, then you won’t get any search engine benefit from commenting.
Some blogs do not use this tag, so you would get some benefit.
Either way, you are likely to get at least a bit of traffic from commenting, if you have some good stuff to say. I know I visit almost everyone’s site when they leave a comment, so I can find out more about them. I’ve added quite a few sites to my Bloglines account this way.
August 26th, 2006 at 7:49 am
Good tips, Leroy. As far as number 4 (optimize your titles), I find it difficult to do when I’m tempted to go for a pithy, creative-ish title rather than a keyword-laced one - but I still try to always mention something relevant to the topic of my blog (business blogging) in my post titles.
Nice clean design ya got here. Subscribed!
August 26th, 2006 at 8:20 am
Easton,
The titles can prove troublesome. On one of my blogs I go with the creative route, and it does fairly well. I think it depends on your blog, topic, and style. The structure will always be important though.
Thanks for subscribing!
December 8th, 2006 at 3:09 am
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March 7th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
So one of my main concerns is my title and sense I read your blog its become more of a concern for me. Should I try to change it to something more keyword realated. Wich is difficult becasue I have a review site. Or should I try something catchy in large font.
http://productreviews101.blogspot.com/
March 8th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Hey Zack,
You might want to switch around your title so that the post title comes before the blog title. I haven’t used Blogger in awhile, so I’m not sure of the proper way, but it shouldn’t be too hard. I bet someone has a good Blogger title tutorial out there.
As far as the title itself, catchy is definitely good. Remember, the point of the title is to get the reader to actually take the time to read your post. An unread post doesn’t do anyone much good!
March 8th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Okay thanks for the advice.
http://productreviews101.blogspot.com/
June 2nd, 2007 at 7:19 am
Wow, wish I’d read your post earlier… I just posted at Blog Band-Aids some of the best, recent links about building blog traffic.
I’ll definitely return and pick up your link for inclusion in my next such round-up article.
Thanks for the excellent tips!
kweenkong
http://blogbandaids.blogspot.com
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