Search Engine Optimization Web

What is SEO? Search engine optimization is the process of modifying your website to increase its relevance ranking on search engines such as Bing and Google. On average, sites receive about half of their traffic from search engines, so ranking high is paramount to a site’s success.

Problems with SEO SEO is not an exact science, because major search engines keep their results algorithm a secret. Search engines also change over time to reflect changes in behavior and technology. (Example: search results are usually now location-based.)

SEO strategies Meta tags Linking Alt tags Headline keywords Regular updates Separation or editorial/paid content

Meta tags Meta tags are hidden words on a page that are seen by search engines. Try to develop meta tags that apply to every page on your site (such as the name of your mascot, school, city and state). “Description” tags are used by Google and Bing. “Keyword” tags are only used by Bing.

CNN.com <meta name="description" content="CNN.com delivers the latest breaking news and information on the latest top stories, weather, business, entertainment, politics, and more. For in-depth coverage, CNN.com provides special reports, video, audio, photo galleries, and interactive guides."/>

NYTimes.com <meta name="description" content="Find breaking news, multimedia, reviews & opinion on Washington, business, sports, movies, travel, books, jobs, education, real estate, cars & more at nytimes.com.">

ChicagoTribune.com <meta name="description" content="Chicago Tribune: Your source for Chicago breaking news, sports, business, entertainment, weather and traffic" />

ESPN.com <meta name="description" CONTENT="ESPN.com provides comprehensive sports coverage. Complete sports information including NFL, MLB, NBA, College Football, College Basketball scores and news." />

Linking It’s widely held that linking to other, relevant Web pages helps increase your ranking. Consider links to businesses or organizations mentioned in your stories. Consider links to other news organization’s coverage. Consider links to social media of groups.

Alt tags Using alt tags to describe images makes them more relevant in image searches. Also make sure filenames refer to the specific image, too, as Google uses filenames to match search terms, too.

Alt tags BAD: <img src=“IMG7765.jpg”> BETTER: <img src=“kitten.jpg”> EVEN BETTER: <img src=“kitten.jpg” alt=“kitten”> BEST: <img src=“kitten.jpg” alt=“orange tabby kitten playing with string”>

Headline keywords Search engines can distinguish between headlines and other text on the page, and therefore give greater weight to the words in headlines. Ensure you include keywords from the story (Ask yourself: What would I search for if I wanted to find a similar story on the Web?)

Headline keywords (cont.) Don’t include uncommon proper nouns such as students’ names. Don’t include words already included in your meta description. Make sure you write the headline for both humans and search engines (so include verbs) Remember Web headlines last forever

Headlines Bad: Tigers win Better: Football team wins Best: Football team stomps rival Washington High 45-10

Headlines Bad: Smith earns scholarship Better: Senior earns scholarship Best: Senior earns $5,000 mathematics scholarship

Headlines Bad: ‘Tradition!’ Better: Drama department presents ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ on Friday Best: Drama department presents ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ on April 14

Regular updates Search engines rank regularly updated websites higher than static or out-of-date sites.

Separation of paid/editorial content Search engines rank sites lower when they try to mislead or confuse readers. Linking with “link farms” or “spamdexing” can actually hurt your search engine rank.