This document provides 7 tips for improving search engine rankings: 1) Monitor keywords and measure performance, 2) Avoid duplicate content, 3) Include keywords in content, 4) Use keywords in titles and links, 5) Get links from other sites, 6) Create an XML sitemap, and 7) Submit the site to search engines. It also defines search engine optimization and discusses the importance of visitors, ongoing optimization efforts, and differences between search engines.

1. Seven quick and easy tips to improve search engine RankingsGreg Bray, President, Blue Tangerine Solutionswww.BlueTangerineSolutions.comNovember 10, 2009

2. What is Search Engine Optimization?Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. -Wikipedia

3. Important RemindersSite Visitors come first.Search Engine Optimization is an ongoing process, not a one time event.Each Search Engine is slightly different. What works for one will not necessarily work for another.Search Engines are always changing. A successful ranking today can disappear in the future.A given page on your site (such as the home page) cannot be successfully optimized for every possible keyword of interest.

4. How Visitors See the Page

5. How Search Engines See the Page

6. What Site Owners Want to See

7. Thinking like a Search EngineGoal: To return valid and relevant search results.Challenge: How do we figure out the message and purpose of a particular page?Keywords on the page.Keywords in the titles and headings.Keywords in links that point to the page.Number and quality of other sites that link to the page.

8. 7 Quick and Easy SEO TipsMonitor and measure top keywordsAvoid duplicate page content penaltiesInclude keywords in contentInclude keywords in the html title tag and in the link tagsSeek out links from other Web sitesCreate an HTML and XML SitemapSubmit your site to the top engines and directories

9. Tip 1: Monitor and MeasureGoogle Analytics - google.com/analyticsGoogle Webmaster Tools - google.com/webmasters/toolsGoogle Alerts – google.com/alertsYahoo Site Explorer Tools - siteexplorer.search.yahoo.comYahoo Alerts - alerts.yahoo.com

10. Tip 2: Avoid Duplicate PagesSearch Engines will penalize pages that appear to be exact duplicates of each other.Pages should be at least 20%-30% different.Biggest risk for duplication comes when using multiple domain names for the same site.www.mydomain.com and mydomain.com can be seen as different sites.Pick a primary domain and have all other domains redirect to that one.

11. Tip 3: Include Keywords in ContentIf the keyword isn’t on the page, then you can’t expect to rank for it.Search engines can not see keywords that are part of images, generated by javascript functions, or part of Flash elements.Need to focus on top keywords for a given page. Too many different keywords becomes the same as no keywords.

12. Tip 4: Keywords in title and link tagsMost important keyword location is the html <title> tag.Shows up in browser title barShows up in favoritesMay show up in search resultsMake unique across pagesKeywords in links describe help indicate what the linked to page is about.

13. Tip 5: Seek out links from other sitesThink of a link from another site as a recommendation.You want to be recommended by sites that are considered important.Google PageRank

14. Tip 6: Create HTML and XML SitemapsSitemaps help search engines find all of the pages on your siteEspecially important if your site is large or has more than 3 levelswww.sitemaps.org

15. Tip 7: Submit your SiteObvious! But often overlooked.Main Search Engines: Google, Yahoo, Microsoft BingTop Directories: www.dmoz.orgYahoo Directory ($299 per year)Products: www.google.com/baseReal Estate:Zillow.comTrulia.com

16. New SEO Services

17. Special Offer20% discount on setup fee to first three new SEO clients.Contact: info@BlueTangerineSolutions.com Offer expires November 30, 2009.