As you endeavor into the world of SEO, you will come across many tools and search engine optimization programs that will enable you to quickly generate pages, scrape other sites, and in general violate the terms of service with all or most search engines.

As a general rule, anything that is scraping other sites is a direct violation of most countries laws. You are in essence stealing copy-written work. More than just getting banned from the search engines can happen when you go this route.

Specific software will generate thousands of pages from your chosen keywords and it’s quite easy to generate a lot of traffic with these black hat methods, TEMPORARILY. For long term success cheating is not the answer in regards to raising your search engine rankings and PR.

We can’t stress highly enough to do your homework and learn how to be a successful webmaster with out cheating. You will get caught and all of your “hard” work will be for naught.

Your website should always follow the first rule of content. Write for people, not machines.

SEO – Anchor Text

Anchor text in a web page is a gateway to yet another page in the website. It reflects what you can expect from the page, which you are about the view. So, anchor text is an important entity in web design and search engine optimization (SEO).

SEO experts have come up with various ways to write the anchor text in a standard website. They feel that if you optimize the anchor text, you will be able to attract more customers and increase search engine ranking.

Anchor Text is important for both internal website structure and external linking.

Internally it is wise to use anchor text with your keywords when you link between pages in your website.

To use an Anchor Text Hyperlink view code example here:

Your anchor text

When you discuss a topic in the content of your web page and mention a keyword that is covered on its own page, you should use a hyper linked anchor text to that page. Anchor text is a factor that can increase your Search Engine Results for keywords and are assumed to be part of Google’s algorithm to determine search engine results.

A prime place to have anchor test is also in the footer section of your website where copyright information is placed.

Example:

2005 Copywrite- All rights reserved “Keyword” www.yoursitename.com

(Hyper Linking the word “keyword” to the url for the page where this Keyword prominent)

External Linking should also utilize the anchor text hyper linking method.

Your anchor text

From articles, to forum signatures, to reciprocal links or, link to us directions, all should include your Major Keyword as a descriptive anchor text hyper link.

It is smart to utilize several different keyword anchor text hyperlinks for various different backlinks. Make a list of all your major keyword phrases and create the anchor link code. Each time you link to a different site, attempt to place a different anchor text link on each site. If you have five major keyword Phrases, you should have multiple links for each of those anchor text hyperlinks.

Watch your search engine results and traffic increase when you utilize the power of anchor text hyper linking.

SEO – Improve Via One Way Link – 3 Easy Steps to Improve Your Page Rank

Targeted One-way links are the most beneficial. Linking to sites within your same dedicated theme is also important.

3 Easy Steps to Improve Your Page Rank through One Way Back links are

Directory Submissions

Besides the Major search engines there are countless smaller Directory Sites where you can submit your website. Most are free and a majority do not require a Link back to their site. You will need to have a well-written title tag, website description, and keywords. We suggest that you copy and paste your title tags, description and keywords, into a text file so that you can copy and paste as you submit to a variety of Directories. It may also be wise to change your title to include different Keyword Phrases as you expand and submit to numerous directories.

The site below contains a large number of directory sites that are SEO Friendly and normally free.

http://info.vilesilencer.com/main.php?rock=seo-friendly-c.php

You can also easily make a free keyword rich back link via stmadvertising.com.

You can also do a search for “SEO Friendly Directories” and get a list from any major search engine.

By submitting to directories, you are creating a Back link to your site. As the directory grows and ages, your Back link Page Rank can grow as well.

Article Submission

Articles are the fasted and easiest way to gain back links.

There are many article submission sites, each have different protocols. Some of the best are:

http://www.articlefinders.com

http://webpronews.com

http://www.certificate.net

http://www.articlecentral.com

http://www.ezinearticles.com

http://www.goarticles.com

http://www.ideamarketers.com

Press Release Submissions

The press release submission is relatively close to an article submission process. The Press Release sites have human reviewers that look for content and style in true journalistic fashion. The want a good headline and a good story that includes the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How.

If you can write an effective press release that is picked up by a major news source, you can gain tons of traffic; as well have a quality link from relatively high Page Rank trusted sites.

For different Press Release sites, just do a simple search for that term.

If you can successfully write a few articles, submit to several free SEO friendly directories and get a well-written press release picked up, your Back links, Page Rank and Traffic will grow exponentially.

SEO – SITE PR AND HOW IT AFFECTS

Every website page is assigned a Google Page rank, based upon a mathematical algorithm. Pages rank on a scale of 0 (zero) the lowest, and 10 (ten) the highest. Linking between websites both internally and externally pass a value or Page Rank.

If site M links to site N, a percentage of Site M’s Page Rank is passed or credited to site N. Nothing is lost from site M in terms of Page Rank unless the link is to a banned area, or bad neighborhood.

The amount of Page Rank Site M passes is determined by the amount of Outbound links of site M’s page. The more Outbound links, the smaller percentage of Page Rank is passed. Pages with large amounts of outgoing links pass very little Page Rank and in some cases may cause more harm than good. Try to avoid linking to pages that have large amount of outgoing links, Like Link Farms etc.

A real life true example. Site M had a Page Rank of 4, there were only 2 outbound links on Site M. One of those outbound Links was to brand new Site N. Brand new Site N had 3 out going links, and NO other Incoming Links, besides the one from Site M. Google awarded Site N a new Page Rank of 4.

From this real life example, we see that the fewer outbound links per page, the more Page Rank is passed.

If Site M in the example above had a large number of outbound links on the page, then a smaller percentage of Page Rank would have been passed and New Site N would have received a lower rank then the equal rank that was passed.

It is also hard at times to get a quality higher Page Rank page to link to your site. Lower Page Rank sites are very important in Passing Page Ranks and link exchange. Their Page Rank usually grows with age and has more inbound links than outbound links, creating a higher Page Rank, which in turn passes to your site via it’s outbound link.

In general terms, an individual page’s Page Rank is determined by the amount of links going out of that page (outbound) and the amount of links coming to that page (Inbound). A general rule of thumb: you want to have more inbound links than outbound links.

Few things to avoid,

You can lose Page Rank and Search Engine Results by Linking to sites that are considered Banned, or Bad Neighborhoods. Be aware and check before linking.

Be aware to whom your site is linking to via outbound links. Periodically check your outbound links making sure that they are:

1)Still an active website.

2) Still a resource for the reason you linked to them in the first place.

3) They have not changed theme formats and are still a quality site.

When doing reciprocal linking, make sure you check the amount of outbound links that not only the page has but the overall site as well. Search engines such as Google doesn’t like Link Farms (1000’s of links on the site), gambling sites and pornography. Unless that is your business, don’t link to any of those types of sites.

Page Rank grows over time. Google updates visible Page Rank infrequently, like every 4-8 months or so. The best SEO strategy is to link to and link exchange with like themed sites or quality site.

SEO – Forum Signatures build back links

There are numerous ways to build back links. As you are now very much familiar with Directory Submissions, Article Submission, & Press Releases, The next simple easy and trouble-free way to get a back link as well as free traffic is the Forum Signature Tags.

Forums that do get indexed in the search engines create individual pages per thread. Your hyper linked signature tag is now a back link.

If you are not a member in any forum, find one that interests you and join as they are usually very informative and helpful.

Most Forums allow a user to add a signature tag line to their posts. Usually in the member’s area, you can edit, add and create a forum signature.

while creating your signature tag it is best to use your real name, also use a hyper linked URL and briefly describe your service or product. An example of a good signature tag would be:

The Authors Name

“Your Product line description in less than 10 words”

www.yourwebsite.com

Your signature tag can also be an Alt text hyperlink to create a keyword target back link.

For Example:

The Authors Name

“ Your Product line description in less than 10 words”

This entire phrase would be a hyperlink.

Your Product line description in less than 10 words

Each post that you make in a forum is now a back link to your site. Remember though not to spam and that your behavior in a forum can be extremely profitable or detrimental based on your attitude.

When posting in a forum, remember that you are in a public dome. If you are courteous, helpful, friendly, kind and post intelligently, you will get traffic from people clicking on your signature tag besides the back link. If the above does not describe you, then maybe you should avoid the benefits of a hyper linked signature tag?

Forums allow individuals to build trust and familiarity that is normally not present through the Internet. As trust grows, people will click on your signature tag and will purchase your product or service.

SEO – Google Page Rank

Google does not manually assign keywords to sites, nor is the ranking of sites manually “boosted”. The ranking process is completely automated and takes into account more than 100 factors to determine the relevance of each result.

Google uses a complex algorithm to determine the value or page rank of each and every web page that is published on the Internet. The page rank for each web page is prominently displayed in the Google toolbar. Google Ranks pages from a value of 0 (zero) the lowest, to 10 (ten) the highest. You will notice that large authority type sites have the highest page rank. Page Rank for these upper level sites is mostly determined by the total number of outside links coming to the site.

The higher the value of Page Rank for each page does influence in part the position of Search Engine Results. Higher Rated Pages get spidered and indexed quicker than lower rated pages.

Page Rank fluctuates daily by the mathematical algorithm; however it’s not publicly reported very often. On average Google updates their Page Rank Toolbar to show a value approximately every 4 to 6 months. This timeline is always fluctuating and changing.

The little green meter bar in the Google Tool Bar that shows your current page rank is actually only the page rank from the time of the last update.

Here is a brief look at the history of Page Rank updates:

Year Date Info Days (between last update)

2005 Apr 22 Page Rank Update 111 Days
2005 Jan 1 Page Rank Update 87 Days
2004 Oct 6 Page Rank Update 106 Days.
2004 Jun 22 Page Rank Update 22 Days
2004 May 31 Page Rank Update 38 Days
2004 Apr 23 Page Rank Update 16 Days
2004 Apr 7 Page Rank Update 22 Days
2004 Mar 16 Page Rank Update 50 Days
2004 Jan 26 Page Rank Update 15 Days
2003 Dec 23 Page Rank Update 17 Days

From the chart above we can see the frequency of which the public display of Page Rank is released. If Page Rank is a true concern, then you usually have 2-3 months of work to improve your page rank before its next public unveiling.

The factors that influence your actual Page Rank are a highly guarded secret by Google. The true mathematical formula or algorithm changes often, and the weight or percentages of key elements to that formula change as well.

Here is a brief history of the Google Algorithm changes or Updates.

Year Date Info

2005 Feb 03 Algorithm Update
2004 Feb 11 Algorithm Update (Known as Brandy)
2004 Jan 11 Algorithm Update (Known as Austin)
2003 Nov 16 Algorithm Update (Known as Florida)

With each update in the algorithm, Google changes the weight or percentage of some factors in its formula. These changes have a dramatic effect on Page Rank and on Search Engine Results.

One thing is known about the Google Page Rank calculation. It is highly determined by the internal and external links on your site as well as off site incoming links or Back links.

You can control the internal linking of your site, by utilizing a strong navigation plan. You can control the amount of out going links from your site as well. The real job to increase Page Rank is by receiving more off site Back links to your site.

A simple formula for personal use is to have more off site links coming to your site than out going links from your site. It is also a key that your Back links come from different IP addresses than just links between several of your sites on the same server. Google also seems to weigh back links from relevant sites to the content of your site more than non-relevant site.

Increasing your page rank is simply done by increasing the amount of back links to your site, and/or having higher rated Page Rank Sites link to your site.

To improve your page rank through back links, see related topics of gaining back links or links (Live Link).

SEO – Sitemaps

Sitemaps are a value internal linking structure to your site. It is very spider friendly and can increase the amount of pages indexed by the major search engines.

Google now offers a way to submit your own site map directly to their search engine. Go here to find out more: google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/login

There is a site out that is a fun parody on SEO, and it’s also a great place to get a XML site map generated for free.

Now every site should have a sitemap. This should just be a page that has all the urls on the site.

Either way, if you don’t have links on your site to a sitemap or a page with all your links your missing out on a lot of search engine activity.

Learn how you can tell when the search engines spider your site map and site.

You should consider the size of your website files both for the benefit of search engines and your visitors.

Obviously, you want your visitors to be able to get your website to load fast, but you need to help the search engines as well.

You can reduce the file size in a couple of ways:

1.) Use External Style Sheets

2.) Use Validated Code

3.) Cut out all the junk

Most search engines spiders don’t read JavaScript unless you include it from another page, so consider making all your menus real hyperlinks with anchor text. Your pages will load faster and the SE’s will be happier.

Reducing the size of your pages will help with your overall search engine optimization.

Most webmasters don’t worry about validating their code as frequently as they should. Running validation through a service is a great way to make sure that your website is readable by the search engines.

Validated code means that all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes is laid out the way it should be. If it’s all good, the spiders don’t miss things.

SEO – Style Sheets

Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS for short, are another great way to help create top Search Engine rankings.

When I get a new webmaster as a client the first thing I suggest to them is to allow me to switch their site over to using a cascading style sheet (or CSS for short).

There are a thousand reasons for this, beyond loading faster and taking up less resource, it makes the page less cluttered with tags and font styles and allows the search engine spiders to really cruise through a site.

The page you are looking at right now is a table less CSS style sheet designed website that loads fast and is geared just towards making the search engines happy from a technical view point.

Now you might not think that page size matters much to search engines, but remember to get to your internal links, they have to “read” your whole site to find them. If your page is smaller they can do more crawling before the resources they have allocated for your site are exhausted.

Style sheets and clean code are a must for good readability and keeping the search engines happy.