Introduction to SEO

11 December 2008
Posted in D.I.Y. Ecommerce - SEO - Search engine optimisation

It is important to stress that people are more important than search engines. That is why the section on quality content for humans(users) came first. It true however that there are lots of things you can do (and avoid doing) to dramatically increase your search engine rankings, and the number of people who find your store.

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How to choose keywords

11 December 2008
Posted in D.I.Y. Ecommerce - SEO - Search engine optimisation

What keywords are you using?

Are you using the best keywords? For example if you are selling flat panel televisions and in all your content you refer to them as such, is that the most popular word people will search for your product by? If people don't search for 'flat panel televisions' but instead use 'hdtv', 'LCD TV' or something else entirely then you need to know what it is they are searching for.

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Page formatting and search engine optimisation

11 December 2008
Posted in D.I.Y. Ecommerce - SEO - Search engine optimisation

Headers, underline, italics, image tags, file names, descriptions etc. That's what formatting is. All the different ways you can present information or add additional descriptive information. There are a few absolute MUST DO's with regard to formatting and a few should do's that can be refined and optimised.

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Keyword density

11 December 2008
Posted in D.I.Y. Ecommerce - SEO - Search engine optimisation

Keyword density, location and optimisation in general

This is probably one of the most widely sought after pieces of information to do with SEO. What percentage keyword density is perfect? That is, if your page has a hundred words how many of them should be the words you think people searching for you will use?

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Page length cosiderations for SEO

11 December 2008
Posted in D.I.Y. Ecommerce - SEO - Search engine optimisation

I have heard lots of theories by SEO professionals with much greater qualifications and experience than myself. However they are not consistent and there is enormous variance in their opinions. I would even go so far as to say they sometimes contradict each other.

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Enhance your site with Meta Data - For Zen Cart only

11 December 2008
Posted in D.I.Y. Ecommerce - SEO - Search engine optimisation

Meta data is almost invisible to your customers. Most internet users do not know what it is or even that it exists. In fact I have spoken to some web store owners who did not know about it.

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How to get inbound links to your store

11 December 2008
Posted in D.I.Y. Ecommerce - SEO - Search engine optimisation

First of all a word of warning about obtaining links from other sites. Not so long ago every link was a bonus. It was almost as if Google simply counted the links and the more the merrier. This is not the case any more.

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How to get CSS & HTML validation certificates

11 December 2008
Posted in D.I.Y. Ecommerce - SEO - Search engine optimisation

It is a fact that all the search engines like a website that is well written. Not just for humans but for their software as well. There are internationally agreed and clearly defined standards for creating the different aspects of a web site. There is an organisation called the World Wide Web Consortium who offer a free service called validation.

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SEO integrity

11 December 2008
Posted in D.I.Y. Ecommerce - SEO - Search engine optimisation

Have you got it? What lengths are you prepared to go to to get your site noticed? If you stumble across a cool trick to get noticed or raise your rankings. DON'T DO IT.

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Cool SEO plugins for Firefox web browser

11 December 2008
Posted in D.I.Y. Ecommerce - SEO - Search engine optimisation

A number of times I have referred to Page Rank and comparing pages. Here is an efficient and free way to do this. Get and install Firefox web browser from http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/  if you haven't already.

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Catch broken links and server errors

11 December 2008
Posted in D.I.Y. Ecommerce - SEO - Search engine optimisation

If you accidentally create a link that is broken(doesn't go anywhere), if you delete a page and forget to delete one or more of the links to it or perhaps a customer, eager to place another order mistypes part of the URL then your users will be redirected to a page which rather cheekily is an advert for 1&1.

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How to add keyword variety with Zen Cart

11 December 2008
Posted in D.I.Y. Ecommerce - SEO - Search engine optimisation

You are probably getting the message by now that words are king when it comes to SEO. Here is a really easy way to increase the keyword quality of your category pages.

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Duplicate products in simmilar categories using Zen Cart

11 December 2008
Posted in D.I.Y. Ecommerce - SEO - Search engine optimisation

So now you now you have written quality category and product pages that interweave with alternately worded product and category pages in order to provide solutions and satisfaction to multiple personalities as well as specific requirements but without creating pages that are 10 miles long that cause customers to leave.

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