Dear readers,

In this first post we would like to share with you a list of helpful recommendations that we have recently prepared on what you need to do, what you don’t have to do, and what you can do externally regarding optimizing your website for search engines.

Tips on what should be done:

1. Number of words per page should be 500 – 3000 (40 lines with 10 – 15 words in a row). The more text on page, the better; because there is a possibility of a random match of a phrase in a search engine’s search line.
2. Use keywords no less than 3 – 4 times per page. Upper limit depends on text amount. In case of a keyword, words that make up a phrase should be used several times on page in that order in which they are represented in the keyword. Besides, the words contained in the keyword should be met separately on the page a number of times. Moreover, the number of times separate words from the keyword are used on the page shouldn’t coincide with the number of times the keyword is met in the text as well as its other constituent words.
3. An optimal density of keywords usage is 5 – 7%. In case of a keyword, the density is calculated for each of the component words. It shouldn’t exceed 7 – 8%.
4. Keywords and phrases must be placed as closer to the document beginning as possible.
5. It is desirable to use keywords in headings (h1, h2) as well as highlight with bold font (strong).
6. In Title tag it is necessary to use keywords. First 50 – 80 signs of this tag are used by search engines as a header of a request result.
7. Use keywords in a link to a page.
8. Use keywords in Alt tag – picture description – if this picture is a link to a page.
9. Fill in Description meta-tag since search engines use this information in generating search results if this tag is filled in. The description should attract attention of a user.
10. Fill in Keywords meta-tag though it is not used by search engines. Include keywords there which are met on a page.
11. “The more, the better” is the rule applicable for website pages quantity. Create as many pages as possible. Besides, it is recommended to add pages from time to time. It shows to search engines that the site constantly grows and develops.
12. In the navigation menu it is recommended to use keywords.
13. Use keywords in the names of HTML pages.
14. Avoid using sub-directories. Store data in root catalog. Such pages are more useful from the point of view of search engines.
15. Use one keyword per page.
16. Home page should contain the most important keywords.
17. Each website page should be reached from the home page using no more than 3 clicks.
18. Create a sitemap.
19. Search engine indexes the first 100 – 200 Kb of text on page.
20. Behavior of a search engine (index or not index a page) can be managed with the help of robots.txt file.

What one shouldn’t do:

1. Use graphic headlines. It is advisable to duplicate them with text ones.
2. Use graphic menu.
3. Use navigation based on scripts. It is desirable to indicate static or sensible path to a page not containing special codes.
4. Use redirection.
5. Use hidden text and 1-pixel links.

What can be done outside the website:

1. Register manually on search engines.
2. Create external links to the website – the more, the better. It is desirable to have no more than 50 outcoming links on page with a link to the site. It is also important for the resource to be well-known and its content should be related to the topic of the promoted website. The frequency of site re-indexing depends on the quantity of external links to the site.
3. External links should contain keywords.
4. Add the website to corresponding sections in external directories.
5. Register on websites which have similar subject area (not competitors).
6. Publish more articles – blogs, news, notes, press releases, stories, etc.

We hope you’ll find these recommendations helpful and will successfully apply them to your websites.

Regards,

Softheme team

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