SEVEN TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH
KEYWORDS TO GET A LOCAL LISTING
By David Dimas
Want to get a top listing for your local
Internet webpage? Here are seven changes that you can
implement today that can make a big difference on your
search engine rankings. Some of you may have the working
knowledge to make these HTML changes, others of you may
need a little help. These tips will help make your website
search engine friendly.
I live in Ventura County in Southern California.
I've spent many hours looking at hundreds of local websites
for Real Estate, Chiropractic, and Dentist clients. It
is very important for them to show up on search engines
for local search terms. I'm going to use my local Chiropractor
listings as examples in this HTML tutorial. I looked up
websites using Keywords like, "Chiropractor in Ventura
County," "Chiropractor in Thousand Oaks," and "Chiropractor
offices in Ventura County." I want you to know that with
a few minor adjustments to your HTML you can gain a distinctive
advantage over other local websites that could mean more
business to you in the coming months. Who isn't interested
in some new business in today's economy?
Let's examine what top ranked Chiropractor
sites are doing to gain Keyword relevancy on search engines.
You can look at your competition's HTML tags by going
to your browser of choice, clicking "View" in the upper
left hand corner of your browser (Internet Explorer or
Netscape Navigator), and then scrolling down to the word
"Source". It will open another browser window with the
HTML language for you to look at.
1. USE YOUR KEYWORDS
IN YOUR TITLE TAG
Several search engines use Keywords in
the Title tag as part of the their algorithms. Algorithms
are rules that search engines use to calculate a ranking
of a website. Each engine uses different algorithms. Using
a Title tag like;
<TITLE>John Q. Smith Chiropractor
</TITLE>
is wasted text unless you think that people
are going to be using the name (John Q. Smith) as search
term. If you want to attract visitors who are looking
for Chiropractor in Ventura County" you may want to use
the Keyword phrase, "Chiropractor in Ventura County" in
your Title tag.
Here is how you may want to put Keywords
in your Title tag.
<HEAD>
<TITLE> Chiropractor in Ventura
County, Thousand Oaks, and Westlake California, Chiropractor
office in Ventura County.</TITLE>
</HEAD>
It doesn't matter what order you place
the tags in the HEAD area, although some experts recommended
that you include the TITLE tag first on the page, before
listing any other tags.
2. USE KEYWORDS
IN YOUR META TAGS
There's a continuing debate about whether
to separate each Keyword in the Meta tag by a comma, or
to group related words (i.e, phrases) by commas, or to
list all the words in one long string separating each
word only by a spaces.
Which method is better? The most common
method is separating each word or phrase by a comma. However,
many experts contend that the search engines ignore the
commas. Their thought is that by eliminating them, you
can include more words in the tag. My position is that
it won't likely affect your rankings either way.
Caution: Be careful not to repeat
the same Keyword more than two or three times in the Meta
tag. NEVER repeat the same word twice in a row or you
may trigger a search engine's "spam filter." Never include
Keywords that do not apply to the content of your page.
Here's what your Meta tag may look like
for "Chiropractor in Ventura County".
<Meta Name="keywords" content=" Chiropractor,
Family Chiropractor, Chiropractors,Chiropracitic, Chiropractic
care, Ventura County, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village,
California, John Q. Smith Chiropractor." >
3. USE KEYWORDS
IN YOUR META DESCRIPTION TAGS
Each engine that supports the Meta description
tag will shrink it down to 150 to 350 characters depending
on the engine. Therefore, include the best portion of
your description in the first 150 characters, but go ahead
and add additional text to fill it out to about 350 characters.
Here's what your Meta Description tag may
look like for "Chiropractor in Ventura County".
<Meta Name="description" content="Looking
for a Chiropractor in Ventura County? Find expert advice
from a proven Ventura County Chiropractor, Thousand Oaks,
Westlake Village Chiropractor expert, John Q Smith, dedicated
to providing the best service in Ventura County.">
4. USE KEYWORDS
IN THE BODY OF YOUR TEXT
Many engines look at your first paragraph
for Keyword relevance. By carefully wording the text in
your first paragraph, you can add to your Keyword relevancy.
My suggestion is not to use your Keywords more than five
times on any page in the body of your text.
Here is an example of using Keywords in
the body of your text. Keywords = " Chiropractor in
Ventura County."
When you're looking to purchase Chiropractor
in Ventura County you want someone who is an expert
in buying and selling Chiropractor in Ventura County.
We are here to help. Located in the Thousand Oaks/ Westlake
Village area in Ventura County. Our Chiropractor
office is here to focus on you and your personal needs.
Some engines will also check the last paragraph
of the body of your text. One local Chiropractor uses
this text at the bottom of his homepage to gain added
Keyword relevancy for his website.
"ABC Chiropractic proudly serves the following
areas of Ventura County: Conejo Valley, Agoura Hills,
Calabasas, Camarillo, Lake Sherwood, Moorpark, Newbury
Park, North Ranch, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, and Westlake
Village."
TIP: Pages heavy with text in a
small font size may not get listed. Avoid using font size
lower than 2 as the dominant size for your body copy.
5. USE KEYWORDS
IN YOUR IMAGE/ALT TAGS
Some engines will actually look at your
Image and Alta tags as part of their Algorithms. On way
to take advantage of this is by renaming your Image and
Alt tags with your Keywords.
Here is an example.
You have an image named, "image1.jpg"
Change the name to "chiropractor1.jpg"
or "venturacounty.jpg"
Here is an example of how your Image
tag may look in HTML.
<A HREF="welcome-ventura-county-thousand-oaks.asp">
<IMG SRC="images/venturacounty.jpg" >
An Alt tag is the text that pops up when
you move your mouse over a Hyperlink and some text is
displayed in your browser as the mouse rolls over the
link.
Example: "Find more information
about Chiropractors in Ventura County, Thousand Oaks and
Westlake Village California."
Here is an example of how your Alt tag
may look in HTML.
<ALT=" Find more information about Chiropractors
listing in Ventura County, Thousand Oaks and Westlake
Village California.">
6. USE KEYWORDS
IN YOUR HYPERLINKS
Some engines will actually look at the
words in your Hyperlinks for added relevancy. If you have
several pages on your website, consider renaming them
with your Keywords. One local top ranking Realtor uses
this technique to gain a top ranking on Google.
Each of the Hyperlinks on the home page
are packed with Keywords and Keyword phrases. Here are
several examples for John Q. Smith of ABC Realty:
TESTIMONIALS:
For John Q. Smith of ABC Realty from satisfied home buyers
and home sellers in Ventura County, Thousand Oaks and
Westlake Village.
WELCOME: From
John Q. Smith of ABC Realty in Ventura County, Thousand
Oaks and Westlake Village.
Featured homes
in Ventura County, Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village.
Take a look at Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village and Moorpark,
California homes for sale.
ABOUT: John Q.
Smith from ABC Realty serving Thousand Oaks, Westlake
Village and Ventura County. Get to know all about your
real estate and relocation professional in Ventura County
California.
These are just a few examples of clever
ways that you can add Keywords to your Hyperlinks to gain
extra Keyword relevancy for your website. Consider adding
some links about your local city with hyperlinks that
use your Keywords, such as;
Learn all about Ventura County, Thousand
Oaks and Westlake Village.
Information and hot links about Ventura
County.
My favorite places to visit in Ventura
County.
School information for Ventura County,
Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village.
Suggestions_ feature local businesses,
landmarks, points of interest.
Be creative. Make your links stand out
so people will want to click them. The more time they
spend on your site, the better chance at gaining a new
client.
7. USE H1 TAGS
TO BOOST RELEVANCY.
Some search engines will give words found
in your "H1" tag a boost in relevancy. The H1 tag is used
to specify page or topic headings. In most browsers H1
is an oversized font that looks out of place on a page.
Here is a smart way that you can gain keyword
relevancy both ways by using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).
With CSS, you can specify that the browser display the
H1 tag or other tags on your page anyway you please. By
using CSS you can get both a boost in relevancy and get
better control of your webpage's appearance with this
easy step.
In the <HEAD> area of the page, put
the following STYLE lines:
<STYLE TYPE="text/css">
H1 {font-family: arial,helvetica; font-size:
12pt; color: black}
</STYLE>
This will force all H1 tags on the page
to use a 12 pt Arial or Helvetica font in black text.
This will also allow you to adjust the point size or font
to whatever size may look best on your webpage.
Using this CSS tag, you can now use the
H1 tag on all your pages to gain extra relevancy Keyword
relevancy without sacrificing the look of your pages.
Many experts agree that a majority of the engines give
more weight to Keywords that appear within H1 heading
tags. Try it, you'll be amazed at the results.
A QUICK CLOSING COMMENT.
This past summer I spent some time with
my family at the Palm Desert Marriot Resort. While playing
in the pool with my kids, I noticed that several people
kept asking me what I do for a living. After some conversation,
I realized that the Hotel was host to Mike Ferry Real
Estate Trainer. The number one question I was asked that
day was, "How can I get my site to show up on search
engines for my local area?" By following the above
advice you can help your website's ranking on many search
engines.
All of this information will make a difference
in the way your website is indexed on search engines that
are Keyword driven. I would love to get you started with
making these changes. If you need any help, you can e-mail
me at david@webpositionadvisor.com
A couple of hours with me may mean a couple
of new patients to you. You will need a slightly different
strategy on some of the other Search Directories.
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David Dimas is an off-site Internet manager in Ventura
County, California. He is a widely read author of Internet
Tutorials. His website contains 30 tutorials on Search
Engines, Internet Advertising, E-zines, Press Releases,
and other "How To," tutorials on Internet marketing. He
is also an approved instructor at USCB Extension in Santa
Barbara, California for Internet Advertising 101 and Search
Engine 101.
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