Overview
This page provides a search engine optimization checklist that every new web site owner should perform to ensure their web site is optimized for search engines.
SEO TOOLS
Search Engine Position Checker
Home Page Links
Ok. I admit it. One of my pet peeves as a designer is to see a beautiful entrance or home page destroyed by dozens of advertising banners or off-site links.
I realize many escort directory web sites require a front page link, but before you submit to this demand - ask yourself the following:
What do I get? Sure, you get a free listing on their web site - but how much traffic from your target market is actually coming from that web site? What is the page rank of that web site? Are they being penalized by Google for being a linking farm? If so, putting a link to them on your home page can actually hurt your page rank.
Where is my backlink? Where is your reciprocal link located on their web site? If it is several levels deep from their home page, the value of that back link to you is very low. Even more so if your link is on the same page as dozens of other escort links.
Do I really need this? With the above considerations in mind, try to identify where most of your patrons are coming from. If you aren't getting any business from a particular directory or web site, why make your entrance page look like a giant advertisement just so you can maintain a free listing that isn't even doing you any good? Many of these web sites require their link to be placed on your home page because that is where it would score highest for improving their page rank, yet rarely do they return the favor.
SEO Checklist
#1: Keywords in Page Content Your web site copy is the most important element in terms of keyword targeting for search engine optimization. When adding content to your web site, ensure it contains the groups of keywords that you want people to find you by. Identify the most important three to four keywords for your market and location, then focus on those as opposed to trying encompass a wider range of search phrases. Target these keywords by making them into text links or emphasize them with text formatting such as bold, italics, underline or a larger font.
Try to use popular keywords that are more likely to be used by potential visitors on search engines. Grouping a range of keywords together is better than individual words. Avoid common words like 'or', 'and', 'with'...etc, as these are ignored by search engines. Keywords placed at the top of the page are scored higher than lower down. Update your content regularly to ensure they're crawled more often by search engines. Your home page (the first page someone sees when they go to your domain) is the most important of your site. This is why photo-only entrance pages are a BAD IDEA, as they don't provide the amount of content exposure you would get with a regular content page. Every page of your web site should contain a link back to your home page.
#2: Domain Name Considerations Domain names that contain one of your target keywords will have an impact on search engine rankings. Domains that are registered for multiple years or have been registered for at least two years will score better than a newly registered domain that is set to expire in one year.
#3: Meta Tags Although site copy is most important, ensure you have also filled out your Title, Description and Keyword meta tags and that they not only identify your target market, but also include information relevant to that page. Your title tag is the most important. Keep it short (about 10-60 characters) and prioritize keyword placement in the order of importance
#4: Internal Links When linking to internal pages, don't link words like 'Click here'. You should always link text that identify keywords you are trying to target for search engines. Check regularly to ensure there are no broken links.
#5: External / Outbound Links Linking to quality web sites will score higher than those with low rankings. Linking to escort farms or web sites blacklisted for spam can actually devalue your web site seo score. Inspect outbound links regularly to ensure none are broken. Avoid having more than 100 links on a page to avoid being flagged as a linking farm.
#6: Inbound Links (backlinks) Try to obtain quality backlinks. As with outbound links, those web sites with higher page ranks will give you a higher score than if a lower-ranked or link farm site were to link to you. Increase your backlinks gradually over time. A sudden high increase of backlinks all at once has the potential to flag your web site for spam. Aged backlinks (those established for longer than 1-3 months) will improve your ranking more than new or temporary backlinks.
#7: Final Considerations Ensure your html content is coded to web standards and understandable to the major browsers. Avoid using flash or frames for major content. Many search engines can't or won't read either. Don't copy other people's web sites. A search engine will pick up on large blocks of duplicate content and will usually place the oldest web site first. Don't try to trick search engines by hiding dozens of keywords between comment tags in your source code. They aren't stupid. Most search engines will consider this SPAM and penalize you for it. Text is preferred over images to display content. A search engine cannot crawl an image and the image 'alt' tag is scored lower than text would be.
And finally, DO NOT SPAM your web site with an over-indulgence of search engine optimizations techniques. Doing so may result in an Over optimization penalty (2) (OOP). Be honest, be patient, maintain your content regularly, market your web site and exchange links with other quality web sites. Be less concerned about drastically improving your page rank and, instead, just focus on providing a quality service and maintaining your web site content effectively.
