Valerie Coskrey's Classroom Tools and Ideas

On this Page

• Using SEO
• 3 Key Factors
• Content
• Images
• Keywords and Key Phrases
• Books

Articles in this Series

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3 Key SEO Factors & 3 Important Keyword Sets:
Advice for Rising to the Top of the Internet Search Lists

Using SEO to Obtain a Higher Page Ranking

Some say that good SEO is an art. Common sense says that not everyone can be #1, first. Yet, we all strive to be among the most popular Web sites so that when internet users search, ours will be the site they find.
Tumblers, modified,©2009 by V. Coskrey; available on t-shirts and gifts.

So how do you get your site discovered? The 3 magic keys seem to be content, images, and keywords.

Web Page Content Draws a Faithful Audience

Beautifully crafted sites with interesting, useful content will attract casual internet grazers, and keep them coming back for more. Giving readers something for free-- a tool, article, video, newsletter, form, gadget, widget, forum or poll-- help motivate interest and loyalty. Something that gets visitors actively involved tends to generate repeat traffic.

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Include technical white papers, product critiques, and articles about activities related to the products and information on your site. Not only does this bring readers to the site, it provides you with opportunities to use numerous keyword combinations. Keeping your articles short creates opportunities for additional pages of related articles using other keyword combinations. Repeat visits will require new articles or an extensive listing of articles on numerous topics.

If you really want to use a longer, highly informative article, frame it with headings for sections and use a keyword-rich introduction. The introduction can be a brief summary of the article, related comments, or a related anecdote. Follow this section with the entire article--even if you place the entire article on another print-ready page. This way, you can write an article without the worry of making it conform to SEO techniques while using SEO techniques to bring the reader to the page.

Regularly adding new articles gives the spiders something new to crawl, and adds an additional listing to the search pages. New articles also give you something else to write about in your newsletter and email campaigns.

Images

Graphics, especially ones that are unique to your site, bring traffic* from Google image searches. Have you noticed that the text nearest the image will often be cited in the blurb below the image on the search page? To control the search response, try writing text that uses your keywords while describing the image. Place this text in the page section surrounding the image. If you are using CSS to format your pages, make at least one unique image float within a paragraph that describes the image in terms of how it illustrates your page contents.

Will this Sitting Hen be located as a graphic on a site for traffic, graphics, or as a hen? If you locate the hen in images, let us know your search terms, please. This charming fowl is a Picket Fence Friend © 2008 Wendy Sterling and V. Coskrey, modified, available on our templates and cafepress.com items.

Writing this image description with page content keywords turns the image into a meme that represents your page content. Also, use these same keywords, or a closely related set of keyword synonyms, in the image alt property, the alternative text that describes the image within the img tag. Unique graphics and photographs, not commercial clip art, should bring a steady flow of traffic to your site. Try to have a unique image on each page. Use your logo as a brand for your site, and your images as memes for site content.

Keywords and Key Phrases

Keywords bring visitors via the search engines. The key to word use (Yeah, it's a pun. And while we are in the aside mode, remember that keyword means key phrases, too.) is to use sets of keywords in specific locations on the page. In this article, I want to discuss types of keywords.

I have identified 3 types of keyword sets that are used with slightly different effect: highly competitive keywords; niche keywords, and image keywords.

Image keywords were discussed above and are those that describe the image in terms of how the image relates to the page contents.

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Competitive keywords are those that everyone uses when searching for the topic of your page content. These are the keywords that bring up your site most often, but not necessarily near the top of the list. Use these words to make sure your page gets listed.

Use the niche keywords to bring in a more narrowly-focused search to your page. For example, if you are selling shoes, using the words shoes, sneakers and tennis shoes generates a competitive keyword set; using a brand name narrows the search. But using the word orthopedic-friendly brings only those viewers seriously interested in locating a particularly useful product or category of information. Inserts, orthotic, arch supports, and bunions would be other useful words in the niche set.

Casual browsers resulting from the more competitive keywords add to your traffic count, which is an important variable in the search algorithm for determining your search ranking. However, specific terms most likely used by only a small niche will bring in customers most likely to buy your products or services. You must have a balance of both sets of traffic to generate a high ranking on the search pages. You will get that balance by using a combination of both types of keywords. Knowing your customers or audience will help you determine the best niche and competitive keywords and phrases to use. A site that will help you choose by showing the ranking of keywords is https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.

Maintaining a top-ranked position is easier than first gaining one, but having regular traffic already established is a plus. Adding new articles and new, fresh pages regularly helps too. Adjusting keywords to match the changing times, cultural usage, and current competition is a must for staying on top of the list. Sometimes it helps to climb to the top. Just be sure the network branches you used are strong enough to hold you there. This Arizona Palm ©2008 is a modified photo by V. Coskrey and is also on templates and gifts.

Of course, one must consider that everyone else competing with you is doing the same, so do not despair if you do not reach #1. Just keep trying. A solid set of informative articles, a good product, an attractive site, and judicious use of SEO tactics should help you rise upwards and keep you near the top.

For a list of references, useful sites, and more advice, continue on: The Webmaster Pages: SEO Techniques 2: 12 Keyword Tips

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