Search Engine Optimisation
Website Marketing and Promotion

Website Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Analysis

Internal and External Links

A Hyperlink (more commonly called a Link) is a connection between web pages on the same web site or external Web site. Hyperlinks are the basic building blocks used in a Website. The Hyperlinks is activated by clicking on a highlighted word or image.

There are two types of hyperlinked text to consider – Internal and External. Both are important to the Search Engine PageRank.

Internal Hyperlinks

The links between WebPages within the Website are important. The internal hyperlinks must be simple and straight forward. This will allow the Search Engine easy navigation throughout the Website.

• Link Web Pages together with hyperlinks that use targeted Keyword Phrases. This will improve the Keyword Density, and help the Search Engines relate to the Web Page.
• To separate the Keywords, the URL should contain hyphens, not underscores.
• Always use the Title attribute with anchor <a> tags.
• Do not use hyperlink text such as "Click Here!" or "Home". This will not improve the Keyword Density.
• Internal Linking may improve the PageRank.
• Make sure that all Links exist.
• If there are more than 100 links on a page, break it up into multiple pages.

Internal Linking and Sitemaps

A Sitemap helps visitors see all the pages of a Website, or Search Engines to crawl all the pages. A Sitemap is needed if:

• Dynamic Web pages or JavaScript is used for menu navigation. Note that the search engines cannot read or execute scripts – and pages may not be indexed.
• Archived pages are not available through the menu.
• Ajax, Silverlight, or Flash usage prevents crawling by the Search Engines.

Google, Bing and Yahoo now use the same XML protocol for Sitemaps. A Sitemap is declared in the robots.txt file, or by informing the Search Engine. It has no bearing on Rankings.

Outward Bound Links

Search Engines place a high value on outbound links to high quality Websites that cover similar topics.

External Linking

Inward Bound or Backlinks is text that is placed on external sites and is linked to your website. These may be:

• Directory listings. The most important are DMOZ and Yahoo.
• Listing on subsidiary and partner sites.
• In by-lines to articles that are published.
• Forum posts, blogs or a commentary on another website. Make sure that site is relevant.

Offsite Optimisation is all about Backlinks.

To help in building quality Backlinks, try the Backlink Builder Tool. Enter a keyword phrase that sums up the content of your Website. The Backlink Builder Tool will provide a list of related Websites. You then need to visit each of the Websites and verify that the site is well-matched. Then post an article, message, or a Backlink to your own Website.

External links help Search Engine Rankings, if they are well chosen and:

• They must be added gradually over time
• Relevant to the page subject
• Well targeted
• In high quality sites
• Well placed on the page
• Keyword rich in anchor text
• Link to different pages

Reciprocal Linking

Exchanging links with other webmasters is a good way of attaining additional incoming links to your site. Link only to sites that are relevant and related. The link must be monitored, as the content and purpose of the reciprocal link may change. If there are too many Reciprocal Links, the Website will be penalised.

Paid Linking

• Link only to good, quality sites.
• Do not link to link farms.
• Validate all links periodically. Links can change for the worse.
• The fewer the number of outgoing links on the referrer page the better.
• The best position of the link on referrer page is at the top. Placed last in a long list is meaningless.
• Old links are valued more than new links.

NoFollow Links

The NoFollow HTML attribute of the anchor tag was designed to discourage spammers on blogs. It can also be used on external links. Google will follow the link, but does not index the linked page. It is possible that well placed NoFollow links will improve search results.

The NoFollow Meta tag of a Web page can be used to exclude a Web page. Examples of pages that could be excluded are: Privacy, Term of Service, Legal notices and Login/Registration pages.

Indented Listings

Where multiple pages for a Website are found in the index for a Keyword Phrase, Google will indent the subsequent results. An Indented Listing can generate more traffic than a better ranked Website.

• The pages shown will all be on the same root domain.
• The Indented Listing can cause a decrease in traffic to the main indexed page.
• All the landing pages should be optimised to ensure good conversion rates.
• The Indented Listings can be derived from both External and Internal links.

Here is an example:

Neville Silverman: References
"Neville Silverman has been working using Microsoft Visual Basic and Microsoft Visual Basic
for Applications to develop and enhance custom systems for our ...
www.nevseo.com.au/Home-References.aspx - Cached

Neville Silverman: Experience and Skills
Expert advice on Search Engine Optimisation: Target the desired audience, increase Website
traffic and improve the conversion rate from visitor to customer.
www.nevseo.com.au/Home-Skillset.aspx - Cached

Show more results from www.nevseo.com.au