Search Engine Optimization All-in-One For Dummies

From Search Engine Optimization All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies by Bruce Clay, Susan Esparza

You want your business’s Web site to show up quickly when people search for what you’re selling, and that’s what search engine optimization is all about. You want the key terms to pay attention to for SEO benefits; they’re here. You want to know what status codes on your Web server help or hinder SEO; they’re here. You want to know how using advanced search operators can help with SEO; that info is here as well. It’s all here and all in one place!

Key Items in a Search Engine Optimization Effort

You want search engines to find your Web site first. To maximize your chances, you organize a search engine optimization, or SEO, campaign. The items in the following list are ones you need to pay attention to in your search optimization efforts:

Title tag <title>
META description tag
META keywords tag
Heading tag(s): In hierarchical order, headline style
Textual content: A minimum of 400 words
Alt attributes on all images
Strong/bold tags <strong>/<b>: Use consistently
Fully qualified links: Begin all links with http://
Site map: Use a site map to outline silos; never exceed 99 links on a page
Text navigation: Preferred over image maps, JavaScript, or Flash-based navigation
JavaScript/CSS code should be externalized
Robots.txt file
Web analytics: Use tools to monitor traffic and ROI (return on investment)
Keyword research
Link development
Image names
Privacy statement
Contact information

Strive to be equal to your competitors first, and then focus on surpassing them.

How to Use Advanced Search Operators for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Using advanced queries in search engines enables you to mine the wealth of information they hold and help you achieve search engine optimization (SEO). Discover inbound links, related pages, synonyms, and problems with your Web site by diving into the search engine's data with the advanced search operators in the following table:

Advanced Search Operators
Google	Yahoo!	Microsoft Live Search	Result
cache:			Shows the version of the Web page from the search engine’s cache
link:	link: (Note: You must type http://)	link:	Finds all external Web sites that link to the Web page

linkdomain:		Finds sites that link to any page within the specified domain
related:			Finds Web pages that are similar to the specified Web page
info:			Presents information that Google has about a Web page
define:	define:		Provides a definition of a keyword
stocks: (Note: Type ticker symbols separated by a space; don’t type Web sites or company names)			Shows stock information for ticker symbols
site:	site: or domain: or hostname:	site:	Finds pages only within a particular domain and all its sub-domains
allintitle:			Finds pages with all query words as part of the indexed <title> tag
intitle:	intitle: or title:	intitle:	Finds pages with a specific keyword as part of the indexed <title> tag
allinurl:			Finds pages with all of the query words as part of their indexed URLs

url: (Note: You must type in http://)	url: (Note: You must type in http://)	Finds a specific URL in the search engine’s index
inurl:	inurl:	inurl:	Finds pages with a specific keyword as part of their indexed URLs
allinanchor:			Shows pages with all of the query words as linked text in the page
inanchor:		inanchor:	Shows pages with a specific keyword as linked text in the page

inbody:	Finds pages with a specific keyword in their body text

ip: (Note: The IP address you type must be a dotted quad address, such as 111.122.133.144)	Finds sites that are hosted by a specific IP address

How to Use Server Status Codes for Search Engine Optimization

Keeping your server happy and healthy is Job One for a good SEO (search engine optimization) professional. If your site isn't up, your customers can't find you. Use the information in the following table to diagnose problems, sort out redirects, and ensure that everything is working as it should.

Server Status Codes and What They Indicate
Code	Description	Definition	What It Means
200	OK	The Web page appears as expected.	This is what you want to see. Your server and Web page have the welcome mat out for search engine spiders (and users too).
301	Moved Permanently	The Web page has been redirected permanently to another Web page URL.	When a search engine spider sees this status code, it moves easily to the appropriate new page. A 301 Redirect status is NOT a problem for search engine optimization.
302	Found (Moved Temporarily)	The Web page has been moved temporarily to a different URL.	This status should raise a red flag if it’s on your Web server. Even though there are supposed to be legitimate uses for a 302 Redirect code, they can cause serious problems for your optimization efforts. Spammers frequently use 302 Redirects maliciously, so if you don’t want a search engine mistaking your site for a spam site, avoid them.
400	Bad Request	The server could not understand the request because of bad syntax.	This could be caused by a typo in the URL. Whatever the cause, you don’t want a search engine spider blocked from reaching your content pages, so investigate this if you see this status code on your site.
401	Unauthorized	The request requires user authentication.	Usually this means that you need to log in before you can view the page content. Not a good error for spiders to hit.
403	Forbidden	The server understood the request, but refuses to fulfill it.	If you find this status code on your Web site, find out why. If you want to block the spiders from entering, there ought to be a good reason.
404	Not Found	The Web page is not available.	You’ve seen this error code; it’s the “Page Cannot Be Displayed” page that you see when a Web site is down or nonexistent. You definitely do not want a spider following a link to your Web site only to be greeted by a 404 error! That’s like arriving for a party and finding the lights off and the doors locked. If your server check shows you have a 404 error for one of your landing pages, you definitely want to fix it ASAP.
500 and up		Miscellaneous Server Errors	The 500–505 status codes indicate that something’s wrong with your server. Check them out.