LocalLeadGenie

A Beginners Guide to Search Optimization
At Local Lead Genie, we understand that everyone has to start somewhere, when it
comes to learning about search engine optimization. With this in mind, we've put
together this guide to help beginners, remind others of the basics of search engine
optimization techniques, and emphasis how important the basics are to the success of
your business website, and it's ranking in search engines. It's about making your
website easy for search engines to index, crawl, and understand what your page is
about. SEO is sometimes about making small adjustments to your website, while
ensuring your overall structure is friendly to your visitors and search engines.
If you're just starting to just learn search engine optimization, then the basics will guide
you to start correctly, and avoid mistakes of old search engine tactics, that are no longer
used in todays search engine world. It's important to remember that your website is not
about satisfying you, but giving your customers a rich experience while visiting your
website. When done correctly, search engine crawlers will recognize this, and it will play
a role in how well they rank your website in their search engine results.
This guide is designed to help you make use of the basics of search engine optimization,
and ensure that you're getting the most benefit possible, from the things that go on
behind the scenes of optimizing a website for search engines.
Search engines are there to make sure that what they give their customers, when
searching for a type of product or website, is the best of the best. They're in the
business of pleasing people who are choosing their search engine, so they're going to
base their decisions, just as you should, on what's best for the customer.
It does not matter what type of site you have or how big or small it may be, the topics
discussed below will apply to any website that's out there on the internet today. We
strive to have you learn from the ideas presented, get a good basic foundation, and
combined with our new newsletter, keep up with the changes that will come in the
future.
SEARCH ENGINE RESULTS EXPLAINED

There's a difference between sponsored search results that are paid for by companies,
and what you'll see when you search. This is an example of a search for "electric car."

This is typical of what you may find when conducting a search yourself, or what your
customers may see. In this example, the "pinkish" part at the top represents a paid
advertisement. Underneath that Google has decided that a Wikipedia entry may be
what you're looking for, often there will be news related stories, picture images, or
videos before you get to the real "heart" of what you are looking for. This shows the
importance of putting out news stories, using images on your website, having a
Wikipedia page, and uploading videos to your website, in order for them to show up in
search engines.
HOW TO GET STARTED WITH YOUR WEBSITE
Title Tags for Your Pages
A title tag is what your visitors see at the top of your website, and offers a description of
what they can expect to find on that particular page. It also informs search engines of
what the page is about, and allows them to classify the page, so it will show up in search
engines. It's also a way for you to put in some keywords, or long tail keywords, which
will help you to rank higher in searches.
Keyword = one word.
Site
• Your Website
• Great Content
Extras
• Images
• Videos
External
• Wikipedia
• News
Rankings
• Search Engine Rankings

Long Tail Keyword = a phrase of 3-4 words
When creating your website, title tags are used in the HTML code that is "behind the
scenes," and your visitors do not see all the coding that goes into this attribute. A title
tag goes in the <Head> section of your website and may look like this:
<title>How Electric Cars Run Without Gas</title>
The full section looks like this:
Each page on your website should have its own title, if you want better search engine
results. When your website does appear in the search results, your title tag will show in
the first line that people see.
It will look like this:
The first line here has been picked up by the search engines, from the title tag on the
website, which is listed underneath. Below is the description tag, which we'll discuss
later. Your title tag will be listed in BOLD, in order to help people searching, to recognize
whether or not your page is appropriate for what they are looking for. You may want to
list your websites name, location and any other information you consider relevant to the
person searching.
CHOOSING A TITLE THAT SEARCH ENGINES WILL LIKE

Describe your website by giving searchers a good idea of what to expect when they click
on your link. Do not put information in the title that has little meaning to the person
searching, and never use default titles such as "Untitled" or describe it as "My First
Page."
The more unique your title tags are, on all your pages, the more likely Google will know
how to classify your website, understand what it's about, and know that when they list
it, their searcher customers will get the results they are looking for. Try to avoid naming
all your pages the same, as this can end up penalizing you in Google and other search
engine results.
Your titles need to have a good description and yet keep it to the point and short. If it's
too long, Google will only show a small section of it in their results. Do not use long
titles, that don't mean anything to a person searching, and more importantly, do not
stuff your title with keywords that are meaningless and not needed. Do this and you'll
be a long way from page one of the search results.
USING THE DESCRIPTION META TAG
How to Do a Description Tag
As you can see in the above graphic, and again here below:
<meta name="description=" content=, is where you'll give the search engine a
description of what their customers will find on your webpage. This allows all search
engines to get a good idea of what the page is about, and unlike the title tag, can be a
bit longer in its description.
Try to keep it to a sentence or two and not a long paragraph. Make sure, that in this
section you are not duplicating the contents of the "Title Tag." The description tag, like
the title tag, will also be placed in the <head></head> section of your website code.

Benefits of Good Description Tags
Very often Google and other search engines will use what is in your description tag, to
display in their search engine results. But this is not always the case. Occasionally,
search engines will take information from your webpage, if they feel it matches up with
a users search query.
Sometimes Google will take the description of your page and use it in the "Open
Directory Project." Website owners need to check the "Open Directory Project," and if
you are dissatisfied with the description they are using, then there are ways to block this
data. Again, in your header section you can include this code:
<meta name="robots" content="NOODP">
If you prefer to specifically stop Google, from taking this data and using it in the search
results, then simply put the following in the <head> areas f your website.
<meta name="googlebot" content="NOODP">
When using the "robots meta tag" (it tells any search crawler what it's allowed to do) to
give other instructions you can easily combine then together as shown below:
<meta name="googlebot" content="NOODP, nofollow">
Another thing done by search engines; is to take words that are used in the description,
match them up with the searchers words, and show them as bolded. This helps the
person performing a search to easily scan for the words their looking for. You can see
this in the example below for a search on "electric cars."
CREATE A GREAT SUMMARY
When you compose your description, try to do it from the point of view of what a
"searcher" may be looking for, when they use any search engine. Your description

should provide information to the person searching, by what you have entered into your
description tags. Make sure the description is related to what is on that particular page,
and don't use words that are generic. Keep it concise, to the point and use keywords to
describe what is on that page in a sentence structure.
Don't fill it with "only" your keywords, and don't use the copy and paste function to add
the entire page...believe it or not, some people actually do this.
When you make the description for each page, different and unique, you're helping
both the search engine crawlers, and their customers who use their search engine. The
more unique the description, the more likely someone will click on your link. Do not use
the same description on every page on your website.
How to Structure Your URL's to Optimize Your Website
When you construct a URL for your website, it needs to convey what the page is about.
It's a great way to stay organized, but an even better way to help search engines crawl
your website. It also helps others who are considering linking to your site, or that
particular webpage. When you have URLs that are non-descriptive, they don't offer
information to the person who's deciding whether or not to click on your site, and when
they're too long, they can be intimidating to searchers. If it's detailed and spells out
what the page is about, people will be more likely to click on your link.
Correct and Informative URL
Not Informative URL
The first URL is descriptive, by letting you know that the website has a blog about the
subject you're interested in learning more about, and is easy to remember. The second
URL is non-specific, and gives no real information. The second one would be harder for
anyone to remember than the first one.
There are other website owners who may want to link to your website page, and use
the keywords in your URL on their own website, in order to help you get more visitors,

while providing good information to their visitors. If your URL is non-descriptive, they'll
be less likely to link to you.
It's important to remember, that when a search engine is displaying your link, the URL
they display will be the one you've used to name the page. The URL also appears in
BOLD to draw attention to it; so having it inform searchers will not only help you in
ranking, but will also help the person doing the search.
The worst type of URL is one that appears as /articles/347265/. This offers the searcher
and the search engine crawler no information whatsoever and is not considered user
friendly.
Spend some time and create a well structured URL, and make things easier for the
search engine crawler and the person looking for information. The more friendly the
URL, the more visitors you'll have coming to your website, which is the real goal.
Make Navigating Your Website Easy for Visitors and Search Engine Crawlers
The easier you make navigating your website for your visitors, the more time they'll
spend on your pages. If a visitor gets frustrated and can't easily find what they're looking
for, they're most likely going to leave quickly, and look somewhere else for the
information they need.
It makes it easier for search engine crawlers to find and understand your content, and
assess which content is important. The search engine will also look at how easy it is for a
visitor on your main page, to find information about other pages. If you have a number
of pages on a specific topic you might want to consider a separate page that lists all your
information on that topic. If you have multiple products, then you may want to list them
on different pages that are defined for each category.
Understand How Simple "Breadcrumb Lists" Help Visitors
Put in simple terms, breadcrumb lists, show internal links, that make it easier for your
visitor to navigate back and forth between pages on your website pages. Sitepoint is a
perfect example of what a breadcrumb list looks like.

Some users have been known, to take a URL and remove parts of it in order to find more
relevant information.
THE VALUE OF SITEMAPS
Including a sitemap on your webpage, is a way to allow your customers to try and find
what they are looking for, by seeing all web pages for your entire site. Search engines
also look for sitemaps, in order to crawl your entire website, but basically it's there for
your visitors.
There's another type of sitemap you can create for search engines to use. This sitemap
is an XML file, and can be submitted to some search engines, but it's also a way to allow
them to crawl your website. There are a number of free programs on the internet,
which will automatically create a sitemap file for you. The most preferred one is
"Sitemap Generator Script."
When you begin to lay-out a plan for your website, try to think in terms of making it
easy for people to navigate through all your different categories and web pages. Don't
create a navigation system that's complex, such as linking pages on your website to all
your other pages, and don't make it so complicated that it takes someone a long time to
get to the information they're looking for. That's one sure way to lose them as a visitor
or customer.
Another thing to consider is making it easy to move from page to page for search
engines. This is normally done through text links. It's also easier for visitors, and today
most people prefer text links over JavaScript or Flash presentations. Another
consideration is drop down menus. Do not rely entirely on these to help people navigate
your site. It's also wise to avoid the overuse of flash animations and images. Not every
search engine can read these links. Search engines will judge your site on how easy it is
for their customers, to navigate their way through your site, and the more complicated
you make it, the lower your rankings will be.
OFFER YOUR VISITORS QUALITY
Content Is King

We've all seen content that is atrocious. It's full of bad grammar, spelling errors, and you
can tell it's been written by someone who was not brought up using English as a first
language. When search engines see this they'll rank this type of content very low. When
a website provides quality content, that is interesting and compelling, that site will see
better rankings because of it. It can be one of main things that a search engine will use
to rank your website, more so than most other things; so be sure to create the best
content possible on a regular basis.
When you provide your visitors with relevant content that's interesting and useful,
they're likely to share this information with their friends through Facebook, Twitter, and
Google+, and through emails. This starts to build the "buzz" that your site needs to rise
even higher in the rankings. Without good content, this is not going to happen.
How Users Find Your Content
When you search for a topic, think about how you yourself, type words into a search
engine. Your visitors are doing the same thing, and a few things you may not have
considered. If a user has a good understanding of the topic they're searching, they're
likely to be using terms that are more sophisticated. If someone is new to your topic,
they'll be putting in basic words.
You, as the content provider, will need to use different words for different user levels of
searching. The more keywords about your subject, which you use in your writing, the
better your site will rank in search engines. This doesn't mean you can "over do it," or it
will start to look "spammy" to search engines, and you'll be penalized.
You need to research your keywords for your topic, and a good place to start is the
Keyword Tool, that's provided by Google. Using this tool, you'll discover what users are
entering in the search box, when searching for information on your topic.
You'll likely see words or phrases that you haven't considered, and you'll see the volume
for each search word or phrase. In their Webmaster Tools section, you'll find even more
information that will help you to write about your topic with specific keywords.
Although you can target popular keywords, you need to be aware, that the large volume
for those keywords, are being divided between numerous websites. You may want to
search for terms that get lower volume and target those visitors. The best overall plan is
to target as many different keywords as possible, while still providing overall content
that is relevant.

The more unique your website or service is for your visitors, the more likely you'll be
ranked high in search engines. Unique means less websites to compete with, and more
visitors for your site.
How to Write for Your Target Audience
On the one hand, visitors will like reading text that is easy to read and written well, but
it's important to write at a reading level, that's geared to your readers. Don't write at a
university level, which then forces your visitors to need a dictionary to get through your
articles. They won't stay around long if a dictionary is required.
Before beginning to write your text, consider organizing your thoughts, and doing a
rough outline of the points you'd like to make. Your post needs to stay on topic and not
wander off into other areas, unless you use a new heading for it. Long paragraphs can
be another issue, and many writers will break content into shorter paragraphs, even
though it may not be the spot to do it. This makes reading your article easier for them,
and creates "white space" on the page. This makes it easier for your visitors to read your
entire page. You can also break it up with bullet points, if appropriate, along with the
different headings.
The Importance of Fresh Content
We all know that search engines like fresh content, but it's also important for your
visitors. Once you've created fresh content, make sure to post it on your Facebook,
Twitter, or Google+ accounts. Since many people will follow you using social media for
updates, this is important for your website visitors and rankings.
Make sure your topic is not one that's been covered before, or if it has, let users know
that there's new information. Simply rewriting old content doesn't add value to your
visitors experience and cause them to looking for a new site where the information is
more relevant.
Never use content from another website and pass it off as your own. If a search engine
finds that a website is doing this, they may ban them from their search engine. It's
simply not worth the risk, and creating new and fresh content is not that difficult.
You can present other content as a few lines of their text, their headline, and then a link
to where the entire article can be read. In this case, you should create the link in such a
way that it opens in a new tab, so that your website remains open as well.
One last caveat; write for your visitors and not for what you think the search engines
want to see. If you do this, and create your site with your visitors needs in mind, the

search engine ranking will come over time. Don't use a lot of keywords in places where
they obviously don't fit, don't misspell words simply for search engine purposes, and
NEVER hide text on your page that your visitors can't see, but is there only for search
engines. They will catch it and lower your rankings.
WHAT IS ANCHOR TEXT?
When you visit a website, you'll see text in blue that is a link to another page or website.
Visitors can click on this text, and be taken away from the original article, and through
the use of "anchor text," they'll understand what to expect on that page. The text is also
helpful for search engines, as it tells them what the page you're linking to will be about.
These links can be external to another website, or internal in your own website. The
more concise your anchor text is, the easier it will be for your visitors to navigate to
other pages.
Make your anchor text as descriptive as possible. It should give your visitor a good idea
of what that page will be about. Using text such as, "click here" or "page 2", will do
nothing to help the user, or a search engine understand what the page will be about.
It's also unwise to use text that is misleading or off topic. Search engines will believe
that you're intentionally misleading them and your visitors, and will penalize your for
this. The anchor text should be short and to the point, and under no circumstances
should it be a sentence or even an entire paragraph.
Your anchor text should be easy for your visitors to see, and noticeably different from
the regular text you're using. This alerts them to the fact that it's linked to another page,
and ensures they won't miss the link or click on it by accident.
Don't make the links the same color as the text you're using in the entire article. Using
both internal and external links, helps your users and search engines to navigate your
website, and will help in your search engine rankings.
Make sure you're not using keywords, with a lot of links, as this is annoying to your
visitors and search engines will see it as "spammy." Links that are not necessary to the
visitor's experience are not looked upon favorably by them or search engines.
USING IMAGES FOR WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION IN SEARCH ENGINES
Images on your website help to break up your content, and make it more interesting to
your visitors. Images can also be used to help search engines understand your page, and
with titles you can include keywords along with the images.

Today, many people are searching using the "Image" search feature, and then going to
websites that match their search. Using the alt attribute tag gives you the opportunity
to insert alternative text, in case your content management program does not allow for
image titles.
When you go to a website, and for some reason the pictures do not load, you'll often
see the alternative text that's behind the picture. This is valuable for people who have
turned images off, or are using a page reader instead of reading the page themselves.
Many older people are using these technologies because they find it harder to read
websites with small text.
Search engines view the alternative text just as they do anchor text, and it can help in
your search engine rankings. On the other hand, don't over-do it with too many images.
It's not only overwhelming to your visitors, but search engines don't like it either.
Using alternative text for your images, allows search engines to better classify your
website for image searches, and if you're linking an image to another page, it helps
search engines and visitors to understand what that page will be about.
When uploading your images, make sure they are all in one file folder, usually named
"Images." This makes it easier for search engines to list all your images. These files are
normally named with .gif, .jpg, .bmp, and .png. You should name the files in such a way,
as to be informative to search engines. Remember to keep descriptions and file names
short, and not stuffed with keywords.
Last but not least, create a sitemap for images in an XML, file so that search engines can
index all images that are on your website. It makes it easier for them to index you, and it
will help in your search engine rankings. Putting all the pieces together helps to give you
a better overall search engine ranking score.
HEADING TAGS
Heading tags are used in HTML code, to help with the structure of a webpage. In your
background code they'll look like:
<H1>Important New</H1>
You can use up to six different sizes of <H> tags, with each one being ranked in
importance from 1-6, with 1 being the highest. These tags make your text different
sizes, with H1 being the largest. This helps visitors to navigate your page, and helps to
break the page into different topics and sub-headings. It's also used as a way to attract
their attention to different parts of the webpage, and keep them interested in your

content. The overall effect is to help visitors navigate and that helps your search engine
rankings.
Outlining the Page
Map out what you'd like to have on the webpage, into different salient points, and you'll
find the different headlines you need to use. Take your time considering what your
points will be about, and then order them in importance. This will help you to identify
what heading tags you want to use to keep your visitors on your page, while providing
them with clues as to the information you'll be presenting.
Keep in mind that the text should be helpful to the reader, and ensure they go from
large text to smaller text. Never use a mixture of them on the page. Make sure that the
heading tag makes sense in the place where you are putting it, and don't overdo it. If
you have too many on your webpage, it can be confusing for visitors who often will scan
contents to see if they're interested. If it's overwhelming, they're very likely to leave
your page for something less confusing. You want your webpage to look structured and
easy to navigate.
WHAT IS A ROBOTS.TXT FILE?
In basic terms, a robots.txt file, gives directions to search engines, as to what they're
allowed to access on your website, and what should be ignored. This file is an important
part of any SEO strategy. The file must be named exactly as shown, and should then be
put in your root directory when uploading files.
The reasons to restrict access to certain pages can be numerous. Often, you may not
want a search engine visiting a certain webpage, as it offers no value to anyone other
than yourself, and does not need to be listed in search engine results. You'll find a
number of different free tools on the internet to help you create this file, and most
often people will choose to use the one in Google's Webmaster Tools.
It's important to note, that if you are using sub-domains, and there are pages in the sub-
domain that you don't want users or search engines seeing, then you'll need to create a
separate robots.txt file.
There are a number of other ways to prevent search engines from crawling your
content. Adding a "NOINDEX" in your robots Meta tag is one way. This is not something
for beginners to attempt, as you'll be accessing the .htaccess area in order to insert
passwords that will protect different directories.

This file should only be accessed by someone who understands what they are doing. If
you do attempt to work with this file, make sure you back up the current one in case
something goes wrong. That way you'll have a working file as a backup.
Spam Comments
Today, spam comments are at epic proportions, as people hire others to create
backlinks to their website, and do it using the comments section. If your website is
linking to websites deemed to be "bad," in the eyes of a search engine such as Bing or
Google, these search engines can end up penalizing your website.
It's important for your rankings to prevent people from trying to use your website, to
link back to another. This is where the "nofollow" tag is very helpful. It's this tag that
tells search engines, that certain links on your webpage should not followed, and that
you don't want it as part of your ranking reputation.
People with blogs find this tag to be particularly helpful, especially when they have
public comments allowed. If you don't have a nofollow tag attached to your
commenting section, then search engines will believe that you are vouching for that
particular website. Blogs in particular, are subjected to a lot of spam comments, and the
nofollow tag allows you a way to tell search engines not to link it to your website, so
that you don't lose your reputation.
All pages on your website, where a user can create content, should be protected from
spammy links. This includes not only comment sections, but also forums, shoutboards,
guestbooks, and referrer listings, to name a few. You may also want to use it if you're
providing a link to a page for your readers, but don't want your website to be associated
with that page. This is the perfect time to use a nofollow command. The nofollow
attribute is a great way to protect your website's reputation.
MOBILE WEBSITES
Today, more than ever before, the internet is exploding with mobile websites. These
sites need to be indexded differently by search engines. The formatting for these sites is
very different than a normal website, and they require a different skill set to design
them. These sites are not designed in such a way, as to be search engine friendly. Below
are some helpful tips to make sure that search engines crawl your mobile site correctly,
and properly index the site.
First, you'll need to check search engine results to see if your mobile website is
recognized and listed. In order to be listed the search engine crawler must visit the
mobile site. If you've just created your mobile site, most search engines will not be

aware that it's there, and in this case you need to create a sitemap for your mobile site,
and submit it to different search engines. Each search engine will have different ways
for you to submit your sitemap file.
Sometimes you may not be listed because a search engine crawler is not allowed on
mobile sites, as they're designed strictly for mobile phones. You may have to individually
configure your "User-agent" line for each search engine, or submit you site manually.
INTERNET WEBSITES & MOBILE WEBSITES
Websites designed for mobile application and internet websites, often can be difficult
for inexperienced webmasters. It's not unusual for a mobile version to show up, when a
desktop user is accessing a website, and vice versa. If this is happening with your design,
there are two possible solutions for this scenario.
People who are using mobile devices, or search engine crawlers that end up on the
desktop version of your site, can be redirected automatically to the correct type of page.
Most search engines have the ability to differentiate between the two types of URL's,
and will display a website version for people using a desktop computer, and a mobile
version for other applications.
It's important to remember, if you redirect your users, that you ensure the URL's you're
using for each type of page, matche as closely as possible. If you run a website where
you are selling products, and you have made access to a desktop URL, it's important to
ensure that your visitor is redirected to your mobile version that contains the same
products, and does not redirect them to the "home" page of your website.
This means if the user is on your home page and goes to your mobile page, they'll be
taken to that home page. Don't try to fool search engine crawlers by sending them to
another page, with the hope of boosting your rankings. Not only will your visitor not be
please, the search engines may penalize you for doing this. It's important to make it as
easy as possible for your users to navigate between desktop and mobile versions of your
website. Having a mobile websites is important, as many sites cannot be viewed very
well on a mobile phone, if it's not designed for that device. Remember, it's all about
giving your visitors the best user experience possible.
It is possible to have the identical URL for both a mobile site and a desktop site, by
simply changing the format in the "User-agent." This allows both desktop and mobile
users to use the same URL, but the formatting of the content will change, according to
what action you've put in the User-agent. This allows your visitor to use one URL on
both devices, and receive a site that's geared toward the device they are using.

You do need to be careful in the configuration of your site, or a search engine may view
it as "cloning" your site to increase your rankings. If this is suspected, your website may
be completely removed from any search results.
Cloaking is where you give search engine crawlers, one version of your website, while
your visitors receive a slightly different version. It's usually done to boost rankings, but it
can also result in search engines delivering search results to customers who, when they
arrive at the website, see something completely different. This gives customers a bad
user experience, which is why search engines take it very seriously, and will ban sites
that do this.
PROMOTING YOUR WEBSITE USING "WHITE HAT" TECHNIQUES
There are right ways and wrong ways to promote your website. Wrong ways are
referred to as "Black Hat" techniques, which can lower your rankings, if not getting you
banned from search results on different search engines. Basically there are no shortcuts.
It's also not worth getting caught using Black Hat techniques, when White Hat
techniques work just as well, and will give you the rankings you want. There is no such
thing as getting to #1 in a few days. People who try to sell you SEO packages that make
this guarantee, cannot possible deliver a #1 spot to everyone.
Using Backlinks to Promote Your Website
This simply means getting your website listed on other high value sites, so that search
engines will recognize that your site offers value, and will rank you higher. This is usually
done over time, and with proper promotion, your website content can be discovered
faster.
Today, there are many ways to let people know about your websites. Facebook,
Google+ and Twitter have changed the promotional landscape in a good way. You'll use
these tools to connect with others, gain new followers, and have your site become more
recognized.
Local businesses have a wider range of tools for promotion, by using things such as
Google Maps, Google Places, and by connecting with people in Google+.
Newsletters are another way to stay in touch with your visitors and followers, and keep
them up-to-date with any changes in your business or website. Some people will follow
you on RSS feeds as an easy way of staying in touch with what's news.
Learn about how to use social media correctly, and you'll quickly have more people
following you and visiting your website, as well as recommending it to others.

For more advanced techniques for SEO, visit our blog at http://www.localleadgenie.com

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