So How Will Google Caffeine Affect Your Website & SEO

Many of you will be aware that Google is pretty close to rolling out it's new algorithms in an update nicknamed 'Google Caffeine'. We've spent some time playing on their test servers (you can try some comparative tools setup yourself, I used http://www.comparecaffeine.com/ but there are others). As many SEOs will most likely realise, results for their clients shouldn't change very much at all if ethical SEO practices have been followed. Our clients so far seem to hold very similar or the same positions in Google to what they currently hold. This just goes to show that sticking to proper SEO strategies is important to winning the long-term race for high positions!

Google No Longer Uses Your Keyword Meta Tag

So it's official, Google is no longer considering your site's meta keyword tag when ranking your page (see the official Google blog post)! Okay, so this news isn't going to make a huge difference to your SEO efforts or ours. To be frank, I've been neglecting the keywords tag for some time now. Let's be honest, it's been an age since optimizing your keywords tag made any kind of real impact on a site's rankings.

The main reason we have optimized keyword meta tags for our client websites is because clients are already aware of it's existence and often look for this optimization method in an SEO company's list of services. If you were to analyze our own company websites and the keyword tags you would soon discovery many (almost all) have not changed since the site was first published.

Well, I for one am happy to hear Google is no longer considering the keywords tag simply because it will save me some time when optimizing a new site!

AtoZ SEO Tip #1: Use HTML text links in your website navigation instead of images/Flash. Built-In SEO with http://www.atoznetventures.com

Teach yourself to design websites without tables; use CSS instead for better SEO http://www.atoznetventures.com/blog/ css webdesign seo

Tabless CSS Website Design for SEO Has Changed My Web Page Designing Forever

I am a self-taught Search Engine Optimization (SEO) guy, something I take pride in. I am also a self-taught website designer and get excited when I learn new skills that both improve my design and SEO abilities. I am not, however, programming minded and so getting my head around an entire page layout without using tables was a bit daunting.

I finally decided to take some time to teach myself and I’m glad I did. Using CSS instead of HTML tables reduces you page HTML code. Reducing your page code means it loads faster which is always a great thing.

For search engine optimization, less HTML code means the important content with your chosen keyword phrases is more prominent - the code to keyworded copy ratio is much better. Search engines will value this improved ratio and so your website stands a better chance of ranking higher for keywords on your page (assuming you use other SEO methods - title tags, incoming links, etc). A quick word of caution; do not over-use keyword phrases (known as ‘keyword stuffing’) as this may cause your page to actually lose positions. Always try to write so that when you read you content out loud it doesn’t sound like you are repeating words too often.

So, if you know some HTML and CSS, I strongly recommend you learn to build a page without tables. When you get your first tabless web page working you will be glad you took the time. If you are like me and need software help to create your websites, programs like Dreamweaver are very helpful so you can see how your page looks as you go (WYSIWYG). WARNING: these ‘what you see is what you get’ (WYSIWYG) programs are not always correct in their representation so be sure to check browser compatibilities (see below).

Once your tabless CSS design is working, you will want to check it displays properly across popular browsers such as IE, FireFox, Opera, Safari, etc. I use http://ping.fm/DKebs which allows you to paste in your web page URL/URI and choose the browser you want to test (they have all of them). Give the site some time to do its thing and you will get screenshots of your web page’s appearance in each browser. You can also download the screenshot to your computer.

I recommend you also validate your CSS. If you do this then when it comes to checking your cross-browser compatibility, you will find very few issues. You can validate your CSS by going to the W3C CSS Validator at http://ping.fm/7YFG7

For some great information on designing a tabless website using CSS, I highly recommend SitePoint’s ‘CSS Utopia: Designing Without Tables Using CSS’ (see http://ping.fm/mqU9U). This ebook helped me a lot and I found it less of a trauma then I thought I would. I already had an understanding on a good amount of CSS so found it easy but it teaches you the very basics step by step with actual web pages you can download. Combining resources like this book with the W3C CSS Validator allows you to learn a lot.

Well, that’s it for now. Make sure your website has built-in SEO!

Ok, it's been a while, but has the SEO world changed that much?

Well, it has been a while since I posted on this blog for various reasons. The SEO world has gotten a lot tougher but in my opinion things haven't changed quite as much as many people make out. The principles are basically the same. Don't get blinded by SEOs that go on about how Google analyzes over 150 factors to determine it's deserved rank. Although Google algorithm does consider a large number of different factors (I don't know the exact count), in my experience, sticking to the fundamentals of SEO and concentrating on long term ranking goals is the key - there is no need to get stressed out about every single factor. Of course there are many new ways of approaching SEO and you need to consider the bigger picture (blogging, social media, etc) but high rankings depend on the same basic principles - building quality incoming links, providing quality content on your market, and optimizing your website design and structure and content.

You Need Great Website Copy: Quick Advice for Copywriting

Search engine optimization is an integral part of a successful website. If your website is not found then what is the point of having a website? Similarly, if your website does not have well written and useful copy, what is the point of getting it found in the search engines?

People's attention spans are shorter than ever so if your website copy does not speak to each reader personally, don't expect them to stick around, let alone come back in the future.

Karri Flatla's Five Ways to Write Web Copy That Sells article is a great quick and easy to follow introduction to writing for your website visitors. You should not be writing for the search engines only.

Although many copywriters will tell you not to write for the search engines at all, at AtoZNetVentures we do not quite agree with this. It is very rare for a webpage to find the perfect balance of content that reads well to a human and also is well optimized for higher search engine positions. The fact is, unless your website is already well established in the search engines with great PageRank and high search engine positions, you will need to modify your copy to make sure it includes the keyword phrases you want it to rank for. The key is to make sure you do not over-use your keywords (learn more about 'keyword density') in such a way that it does not sound natural when a human reads it. TIP: After writing your website copy, be sure to read it out loud to yourself. You will very quickly be able to spot when you have crossed the line.