Web site search engine optimization purposes to conform page design and content to meet precise search engine methodology.  Electronic Spider robots crawl the web, scan individual site pages and then sort them by relevance.  The search engine uses this information to index the pages.  When the content of a page is deemed appropriate to be placed in the search engine results report, interested people click on the links and visit the site.  Your product or service gets viewed.

The information in this article presents points of web site adjustment that can help increase your rankings and traffic.  This is part one of a series.  An essential part of search engine optimization (SEO) depends upon accurate, informative, and effective page design.  We begin with the application; the science of SEO will follow in a later article.

Things that will hinder your site rank:

Irrelevant content.  When someone clicks on a site that promises garden tools, they expect to see garden tools.  Sites that focus away from the promised content rob visitors of time, offend their intellect, and result in zero return business.  Keep your subject matter on track.

Fraudulent schemes.  Software sites often promise FREE products, and then end up offering no more than a crippled trial package.  It takes time to download and install a new product.  When a web site fails to deliver as promised, when an advertised product is surrounded in guile, your reputation will suffer.

Refrain from hidden text.  Adult web sites have been famous for this, slipping themselves under the radar by posing in the likes of a legitimate web business.  Be who you are and no one else.  Honesty wins repeat traffic.  Deceit kills traffic.

Avoid cloaking techniques.  Web cloaking is the deliberate practice of false programming.  A server presents false or misrepresented data to search engine spiders.  It can get you banned from the search engines.

Irrelevant Keywords.  This is a reflection of inappropriate content description.  When words that have no association to the web site content are thrown out for the sake of misleading net surfers, the lifespan of your business will decrease.

Content Duplicating Sub-Domains.  Maintain one business per sub-domain.  Avoid any appearance of content duplicating sub-domains.

Keywords, Not Graphics. Do not capture keywords as an image display: spider crawlers do not recognize text within an image.

Things that will increase your site rank:

Site Hierarchy: Establish a concrete website hierarchy.  Create distinct links that are easy to navigate.

Include a Site Map. Google provides a free site map generator tool (http://googlesitemapfree.com/).  Use it.

Keywords.  It is critical to have a list of keywords that create an exact mental and electronic footprint of your website’s features and purpose.

Stick With Plain Text. When dealing with keywords, links, and important events refrain from the temptation to publish them as graphics.

Page Title and Alt Tags. Fill these in.  Be accurate and descriptive.  Spider crawlers will use this information.

Robots.txt.  Know your site.  Block only what must be kept private.  Otherwise, give the crawler free access.

Final notes:

Content is what counts.  The HTML title and the beginning text are more important than the ending text.  For great search results, use precise and unique titles.  Note your own browsing likes and dislikes and then incorporate them into your web site designs.