Getting started with Webmaster Tools

The first thing you will want to do is login to your Google Account and travel to Webmaster Tools. When you first arrive you will want to add your site’s domain.

Verifying your site

Next you will need to verify that you are the owner of the domain by either adding a meta tag or load an HTML file. I prefer the upload process. Just FTP the file to your www root and click Verify.

Creating an XML sitemap file

If you are a Wordpress user I suggest using a plugin called XML Sitemap Generator. If your not a WP user check out the new Google Sitemap tool.

Insert XML sitemap into Webmaster Tools

Once you have a verified you have a valid XML file you will need to copy it’s URL. Then explore to Sitemaps within Webmaster Tools and in the box provided simply paste the location of your sitemap.xml file then Submit Sitemap.

SEO sitemap accomplished!

Now sit back an wait. In less than a few days Google’s bots will crawl your sitemap.xml and index all the pages on your site. Once this has happened, its status will change to OK. Under Diagnostics | Web Crawl, you can see if there were any errors indexing your site, then fix them as needed.

Bing also parses small bits of information like weather and stock prices very efficiently and can be used for shopping for an item as well.

The new Microsoft search engine also displays related search query at the left side of the page and search history directly below it. I find it interesting to see if it brings any new keywords which I may have overlooked for SEO.

Some Wordpress themes do not optimize headings correctly. You will need to check your source code to verify your header tags make sense.

Always try to use heading tags in the order of importance.

H1 – Use it just once per page as the main header at the top of the page.

H2 – Use it as subheadings on the page to show main content

H3 – Use it as sub-subheadings nested within H2s.

Strong tags- Also try and bold as many keywords as you can and emphasize content when trying to make a point.

SEO Tip: Make your page relevant includes putting keywords into the Some keywords here.

Of course with Textile there are easy way to show headings within your post.

h2. Heading 2 produces…

This is a H2 Heading!

By analyzing your competition you can find new keywords you never thought of for your website. Find out how effectively your competitors have used these targeted keywords. Notice the target phrases (usually the most competitive term) your competitor is using. Also take note of the long tailed keywords used as well.

Analyzing the keyword popularity rating if each phrase and then creating new content with appropriate phrases will only bring you better search engine ranking!

There are lots of keyword research tools available online if you look for them. Look for keywords that bring a fair amount of traffic but are not too competitive. And as always choose the keywords that are the most relevant to your website theme.

Always try to remember that your customers and visitors are on a simple mission. They want to find and learn about your product or service that will in turn answer and solve their problem. These visitors need information fast and will leave your site if they get the slightest bit confused or lost.

The analogy of a good site could be thought of as this: Imagine your visitors jumping from stone to stone to get across a small creek. The creek (good quality content) and the stones (the quality links) are the only way to get across to the other side (the solution or answer they are looking for).

Your job as a Seo is to make sure that the creek (the content) is interesting and enjoyable, and most important provide enough stones (good links) to keep the visitor from turning back or worse yet slipping and finding a better way to cross altogether (your competitor).

The Seo’s goal is not only to optimize but at the same time organize the content. By clarifying what your are trying to publish on a given page you are both optimizing (for Search Engines) and streamlining the page (for your customers) so they get to your content quickly without even thinking about it.

A tip: While you organize your site, keyword phrases must always be at the back of your mind. First identify the keywords and phrases relating to the your content, then lead your visitor to the desired page where they will
take some action!

Find out more about our services see examples of client results or learn how to create content easily. We can setup and design a site where you can execute your Search Engine Marketing strategy on a daily basis!

Talk directly to the reader whenever possible. Do this by using the word “you” or “your” instead of “we” and “our”. Doing so creates content for the reader keeping your site on level ground.

Refrain from getting too stuffy with big words. Ask yourself if you were reading your site how you would benefit and what you would get from its content.

Write your page around the keywords that relate to you page. Make sure to write your copy for both the reader and the search engine.

Try to make your first paragraph on each page the most important and fill it with related keyword phrases to what your page is all about. At the end of the page draw a conclusion in the same way.

Break your page into shorter sentences and paragraphs instead of long drawn out clumps of text. This is not only easier to look at but will help your readers absorb your content easier as well.

Use bold font and headings tags, underlining and italics (including your keyword phrases) to both help your visitors scan the page for importance and help search engines scan though it as well.

Google uses the Title Meta Tag as it spiders your site. Make sure you keywords appear inside this tag. A properly formated Title Tag plays a vital role in your Google Ranking and SEO stradegy. Try not to repeat your keyword more than twice within the Title Tag. You may also want to add a description tag expecially when content is not clear or not available.

Yahoo seems to place a higher priority on Meta Tags as compared to Google. Separate your Meta Keywords with commas. Multiple instances of the same word – as long as it’s in a phrase – are acceptible – just be careful to add them without too much repetition.

When adding content into your pages try to organize each page sort of how a term paper is formatted. Do this by placing your description and intro to the page toward the top. The top of your document is the most important place to introduce your important keywords and phrases. Placing important key phrases in the intro to your document will boost your Google ranking.

Use the middle of you content to outline the meat of what your trying to get across. Depending on the length of your document you can use the end of page summarizing what you introduced in the beginning. Although not crucial, it will give you extra opportunity to repeat your keyword introduction.

Google also analyses the keyword density within the entire body of a page. For optimal Google Ranking make sure your keyboards flows through your content naturally. Shoot for a density of about 5-10 percent.

Links play an important role here too! Make sure your keyword are linked both relevant pages within your site and to favorite external sites. Google pays special attention from where the link is coming from to where the link goes. So try to make the link follow a path the relates to the rest of the site. This theme rule applies to both outgoing links and interlinking as well.