PM Photo & Computer Services
Web Site Design and Business Products

A lot of work, planning, and patience is the key to good search engine ranking. All the Search Engines have an algorithm or formula as to how they rank a site. Remember, Search Engines can’t “see” your page, they read it both from the text on the page and the code inside the page, where most viewers never look.

While there is never a guarantee, doing things correctly is the best way to get listed at or near the top of the listings.

• Good page titles with unique keywords and phrases for each page.
• Well written text containing specific keywords for each page.
• Proper use of the Description and Keyword Meta Tags. The description should describe each page, not the entire site. Keywords should reinforce the text already on the page.
• Using additional Meta Tags that will help identify your site and its content.
• Avoid deprecated Meta Tags that once helped index a site but now have a negative effect
• Fast loading pages. Many people still have dial-up modems and search engines have the ability to determine a page’s load time
• Use descriptive Alternate Text Tags on all graphics and photos.
• Pages that load in “Compliant Mode” as opposed to “Quirks Mode”.
• Writing pages according to current code standards.
• Descriptive links help. Use something like “Click here to view our large, red widget” gets better ranking than just saying, “Click here”.
• Link popularity: How many other sites link back to your site.
• Click popularity: How many times a link is accessed.
• Keep content fresh. * No broken links. A search engine cannot follow a broken link. This can cause the search to be halted and parts of your site not indexed.
• Listing your site with Directories not Search Engines. Listing with Search Engine Placement services can actually hurt a sites ranking.

Have patience. There are millions of pages on the web and it can take as long as six to eight weeks for the search engines to find your site. Then, it takes a while to start moving up in the ranking. You need to watch your site and adjust the words, links, and other aspects of the site for better ranking. It doesn't happen overnight.

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