Still Room At The Top! (AltaVista search engine ranking)
By Earl B. Hall
There are millions of web
sites, with more being added
daily. Guess what! A great
many of them fail to use
proper meta tags or keyword
frequency. They will never
get a high ranking.
What does this mean for
you? There is room at the
top!
Over the next several weeks
I will be discussing some
suggested guide lines for
submitting to the major
search engines. A different
one each week. Any feedback
you may have will be
greatly appreciated.
Based on the comparison
of the top 20 pages and
the current submission rules,
here are my suggestions
for improving the ranking
of your pages on AltaVista,
when utilizing a 2-3 word
search phrase.
In short... make your pages
conform closer to the statistical
averages for the top ranking
pages:
1. A word count from 3 to
10 is suggested for the
Title area.
I am constantly ask to submit
websites for clients. Invariably,
I check out there home page
to see if it is ready to
be submitted and find no
title, or maybe just the
company name.
* Use your main keyword
phrase there.
2. A keyword frequency of
1 is suggested for the Meta
Keywords area.
For best results try using
the same phrase or words
in (lower case), (ALL CAPS),
and the (Proper Version)
3. A word count from 4 to
18 is suggested for the
Meta Keywords area.
You would be amazed at how
many people stick dozens
of words, even hundreds
in the Meta Keywords area.
All that does is reduce
the relevancy.
4. A word count from 2 to
9 is suggested for the Meta
Description area.
A generic example of proper
meta tags can be viewed
at http://www.powerpub.com/searchsecrets.htm
This is a "how to" article,
so feel free to change the
specific words to fit your
criteria.
5. A word count from 1 to
12 is suggested for the
Heading area.
<h1><font size="3">email
software, internet marketing
course, advertising, web
promotion</font></h1>
This is usually found at
the top of the page, just
inside the body text. Not
in the title area.
6. A keyword frequency from
1 to 4 is suggested for
the Link Text area.
Do you have other links
to sub pages with the keywords
in the hyperlinked text
or in the URL? It makes
a big difference.
7. A keyword frequency of
1 is suggested for the Alt
area.
This is the tag that shows
the name of the image when
you hold your mouse over
it.
<CENTER><P><IMG
SRC="bluelinenew.gif" ALT="free
software, shareware" width="640"
height="20"></P></CENTER>
8. A word count from 1 to
31 is suggested for the
Alt area.
However, keep in mind that
the more words you use...
the less density they will
carry.
9. A keyword frequency from
3 to 6 is suggested for
the Body Text area.
Start your first sentence
with your keyword phrase
and be sure to sprinkle
it though out the body.
End the page with it as
well, if possible. Be sure
to use the upper and lower
case
variations to match your
keyword relevancy.
10. A total frequency from
6 to 23 is suggested for
the page as a whole.
This depends on how long
your body text is, of course.
11. A total word count from
515 to 545 is suggested
for the page as a whole.
If you have Microsoft Word,
it has a feature that it
will tell you the total
"word count" for a page
with just a few clicks (pull
down menu: tools, word count).
If you are looking for an
additional advantage, you
might consider purchasing
additional domains named
after the most i mportant
Keywords you wish to optimize,
and then optimize the home
page for each domain for
a different Keyword. For
example, an ideal Url would
be "http://www.mykeyword.com"
IMPORTANT: As of December
4th, 1999 up to 67 character
domain names can now be
purchased versus 23 character
domains. This can significantly
increase the number of Keywords
you can include in a domain
name and thereby increase
your rankings for
those Keywords.
If you would like to do
some research on these keyword
stuffed domain names. You
can perform searches and
park your domain name for
free at http://www.abcHosting.net/whois1.htm
And save yourself $10.00.
Also, try their keyword
generator to find other
highly targeted keywords
and phrases. It will also
give you an idea of how
often they are used in a
search. A very valuable
tool.
========================================
Article by Earl B. Hall.
Earl B. Hall is
owner of NetPower Publishing
and http://www.powerpub.com
Discover tons of free tips,
tricks and tools to help
promote your website. Short
on time? You'll also
find a free shareware download
that will critique and generate
keyword rich, highly targeted
web doorway pages for you
at http://www.powerpub.com/webposition/
