! H8 D- M s7 P6 |4 X0 ~& zSEO for the Novice in 20 quick tips:& w9 c* R$ f( A9 p, p9 V6 `) ~
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1. Always own your own domain name
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c5 c) y f p: C; R7 r2. Host your site on a reliable server (and not a free hosting site). You can get cheap enough hosting these days" ^' `2 |/ r) U" z$ |
7 p$ X6 B1 Q- G, D3. Spend time selecting your keywords and phrase- p8 z: M9 F# N" y$ |! h+ n6 Z+ V [
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4. Keep your titles to 55 characters or less! ~# E. q% E8 a3 i3 ?
2 I; f0 F% s; I7 J% X3 T" n3 X1 ?$ ^5. Use your page names to advantage
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6. Be creative with page content when incorporating keywords and phrases9 {% I- }0 D3 N2 B3 B8 w
: n1 b# |4 `" d7 }: X' @8 f- v7. Make sure you have a robots.txt tag
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. Q* |& b+ F* s; ]( K$ J( m8. Try to keep each page under 100k# b9 B& Z' ]) l: ~; E' ?; |3 G
2 H, t3 k" A, z) O9. Make use of the bottom of the page by having menus as text links
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10. Upload robots.txt file to your root directory
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11. Generate a sitemap.xml file and upload to your root directory (point to sitemap in robot.txt) file
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s" \+ j9 J& z! p: p/ e12. If you must use js, put it in an external file' c- f' }; ^& K/ K/ q9 Y
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13. Don't use link buttons or js links - use text links
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I0 W# m$ s3 T8 c! v14. Use css in lieu of color, size, font tags
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$ A- d8 U8 |( W# t- F15. Make sure you have a 404 page (colour code to match your website with your own message and a link back to your index page (or wherever)
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2 j. b' I( l3 g& o- f4 j16. Submit site to ODP and Yahoo Dir (select the appropriate category)6 v" e& X0 i3 Z8 W* s: D2 d; z* `
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17. Follow search engine guidelines
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18. Don't use doorway pages. If you have to use them, use your robot.txt file to restrict access to all but the main page
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. y4 m3 t' \4 t- N. u( o19. Do not cloak unless absolutely necessary. If you do, restrict access in robot.txt file
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20. Don't spam3 W* ^" C1 h- v' J7 x
# m2 T5 V$ o+ U! jSearch Engine Optimization really isn't hard. It's all about content. It is also "doing the right thing".
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+ Y- d8 i: \/ x' d4 _If you don't know anything about SEO, don't worry. It really is a piece of cake. There is no need to "find the latest cheat" or jeopardize your site by using "black hat" tactics. You simply need to give the search engines what they want - relevant content. And optimise your site so that they can find that content. Simple!
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