Part 1: Seo keywords and infrastructure strategies

Keyword optimization policy down from the top left corner

In just two steps, you can succeed in the Keyword strategy battle:

1. Keyword Selection: Determine what content the page provides. Then, determine the words that a potential audience may use to search your page and create keywords based on these words.
2. Keyword optimization: apply these keywords to the appropriate page (the number of recommended keywords is 3 to 5 for each page), and perform optimization from the upper left corner. This usually processes the first 200 words on the page-page title tag, title, summary, and so on.

Basically, the closer the keyword is to the upper left corner, the higher the weight Google gives them. I call this the keyword optimization strategy "top-left-down. Users can view Web sites in the same way as crawlers. Therefore, it is also a good web design practice to emphasize keywords from the top left corner (see line of sight tracking and search behavior ).

Line of sight tracking and search behavior The enquiro eye tracking research project studies how people view search results, further proving that users can view search results and web pages in a way down from the upper left corner, this is also called "golden triangle )". For more information about Google and the Golden Triangle, see references.

To use the keyword policy for success, it is best to place the keyword near the top of the page. Many factors affect the overall search engine ranking, including (but not limited to) outbound and inbound links, redirect usage, and other infrastructure issues. However, the first step in Seo is to select keywords.

Task 1: keyword selection policy

The most important task in keyword optimization is to determine whether the page is optimized for the keywords that people actually want to search, that is, whether the page will get a high ranking in the search results for these keywords. If no one searches for your target keyword, the ranking of the site in the search engine is meaningless. This is actually an important part of any Keyword strategy, but this step is often ignored.

What should I do if the page has been built?

You may have ignored this first step. Now, in the face of the existing web page, you may think, "Is it too late to select a keyword ". It's not too late. Keywords can be determined before and after the page is put into use, but we recommend that you do this in advance, so that you do not have to rewrite the text on the page.

If the web page is already in use, a keyword is available. However, these keywords may not be suitable. Or, the keyword is appropriate, but not fully optimized. In this case, you can still make a thorough selection of keywords to ensure that the correct keywords are optimized.

In addition, you can use keyword analysis tools to test existing pages so that you can better understand what the search engine looks. (For a list of PAGE analysis tools, see references .)

If the page has been built and the appropriate keywords have been selected, you can jump to the ranking check to see if the page has been fully optimized.

Many specialized SEO tools can help you determine the popularity and competition of keywords (for more information, see Seo keyword tools ). When creating a keyword list, remember the following concepts:

• Popularity: do people use your keywords for search?
• Competition: How many other pages are targeting these keywords? Should I add more specific keywords?

Correct Seo Ranking first in serp is not Seo's goal. Seo aims to attract potential users to visit the site with reasonable content, which must be consistent with the keywords used by users for search. Search engines are just tools used to reach the audience. high rankings are not the final goal, but the first step.

Let's take the developerworks web site as an example to illustrate the keyword selection problem. The homepage of this web site (www.ibm.com/?works/) is the first in the search for "developerworks" on Google. This is good news for us, but it is not enough to prove that our Seo efforts are successful. If the user is searching for the word "developerworks", it means that he knows where to go. The target audience on the developerworks homepage is developers looking for references to a wide range of technologies and brands supported by IBM. The keyword we target is IBM resource developers, because we believe that this extensive page matches the potential audience for extensive search.

To reach the target audience who are searching for information through the search engine (see section 1st about Jakob Nielson), you need to determine who is not looking for your page, however, your page is useful to them. The page should be optimized for these "Wandering.

Another focus of keyword selection is to determine whether the keyword is too popular, that is, whether the degree of competition is too high. If too many pages compete for high ranking when searching for these keywords, you may need to select more specific keywords. For keywords with multiple meanings, you also need to consider changing the keywords. You must study how users may search your page. What specific questions will the page content answer? Refine your keywords based on these questions.

If thousands of pages appear in serp for keywords that you think are best suited to describe your own pages, you need to consider how the searcher will handle this situation. The searcher does not click the link in serp page by page. Instead, it is likely to enter the second search term or simply change the search term. You need to determine which features of the page are different and searchable. If a top-level page provides multiple types of content, you can always start with a more general keyword, and then use a more specific keyword on a deeper and more specific second-level page in the directory.

For example, if you search for "Java" in Google, you will get various results from coffee to geographical location (Java also means Java in Indonesia ). However, the search for "Java technology tutorials" will return to the developerworks Java Technology Library (www.ibm.com/#works/views/java/library.jsp), which contains links to a large number of Java tutorials. Therefore, more specific keywords can help you access users looking for specific page types.

SEO tools for keyword Refining You can use a dedicated Seo tool to refine the keyword selection (some tools are listed in references), or you can use one of Google's Advanced Search modifiers. For example, if you search for "allintitle: developer resources" in Google, you will get the number of pages on which the indexed title contains the two words. This shows how many other pages are competing for these words. Keyword popularity is hard to determine. Overture is a tool used to list the number of times that certain keywords are searched each month, and the number of similar keywords and the corresponding monthly queries. The best strategy to use SEO tools is to use them only as additional information, but use your understanding of the page and audience as the basis for Seo efforts.

More key word refining principles

When refining keywords, remember that most searches only search for three or two words. When searching for answers, people often use questions to organize search words. The searcher does not search for words that describe the solution. When optimizing the page, you must think about the problem as the searcher does.

Remember that the page should not be optimized in the same way. If you find that each page has the same keyword, you may need to modify the web pages to make them more targeted. Every page needs to adapt to the way users collect information: Usually from general information to more specific information. In the navigation structure, more specific pages should have more specific keywords.

If you cannot decide the page keywords, you can talk to the person who wrote the page content to learn more about these pages and help you decide the appropriate keywords. Think about the questions your website has answered. If you do not know how to discuss the problems solved on your web pages in non-marketing fields, you can visit forums or blogs discussing the same topics.

Task 2: optimize keywords

After selecting keywords, you should apply them to the web page. For search engines, page text is the most important part of a page. The search engine gives a higher weight to the page title, text title, or highlighted text. This is why the first 200 words are so important. This is also the basis of the keyword optimization strategy from the top left corner to the bottom. In addition to the first 200 words and emphasized texts on the page, ensure that the subject text contains keywords.

The following are the reasons for optimization:

1. Title Tag (<title>): All SEO experts consider the title tag as the most important tag on the page. It is the first word that crawlers encounter, and is also the title displayed when the page is listed in serp. Use this tag to describe the characteristics of the page. That is, make sure that the keywords are listed here.
2. Page text title and title: The page text title and title are the second important content on the page. The text title and subtitle of a page should be described in an appropriate way, which is important for users and search engines. Some sites use images for these important tags-But crawlers cannot read images, so these key tags are wasted if they replace text.
3. Abstract: In addition to the page title and text title, the page should also contain text that describes the page topic. These texts will be added to the instructions on the page on serp. Therefore, keywords should be included to facilitate crawlers and users to understand the theme of the page. Use this area to describe the topic of the page as accurately as possible using the first 200 words on the page.
4. Main titles and words in bold and italic: words marked in the main title and words in bold and italic also affect the ranking. These tags tell the user that the words highlighted are important to the page and the crawler will see them in the same way. Make sure that the words highlighted contain keywords.
5. Text subject: do not forget to include keywords in the text. If you encounter difficulties in this aspect, it may indicate that you have chosen the wrong keyword.
6. Hyperlink: to link to your own page, you need to use words in the clickable part of the link and describe the link with keywords. Do not use the URL as the clickable part of the link.

The first 200 words on the page and most emphasized words should be keywords. Second, make sure that the subject text contains keywords.

Keyword refining and optimization practices

I will take the developerworks windows to Linux roadmap overview page (www.ibm.com/?works/linux/library/l-roadmap.html) as an example. This roadmap is used to help developers who want to migrate from windows to Linux. The overview page provides extensive optimizations for words that developers may search. I highlighted the keywords that appear in the top tag and the first 200 words.

Figure 1. Linux roadmap highlighting keywords

In the followingCodeIn this example, I extract all the relevant code in HTML, including the first 200 words after the page title, text title, and title:

<Title> Windows-to-Linux roadmap: Overview </title>

Note: In the previous code example, we divided the code into multiple lines for ease of viewing.

As the Linux roadmap becomes more detailed, the keywords become more and more specific. This overview page will be further optimized as it covers the entire series.

Rank check

Search engine ranking optimization and statistics If you do not want to nominate and count your search engine, you can ask the person on the site who is responsible for counting page visits and optimizing the search engine ranking. You should check the current statistics to determine the direction of Seo efforts and establish a benchmark to determine whether the optimization is successful. SEO experts believe that about 30% of site traffic should come from search engines. This number varies depending on the type of the Web site being optimized.

After refining the keywords and optimizing the page, you should focus on the goal of all Seo work: To check the ranking. After studying the page, check whether the page can obtain a good ranking for Its keywords.

During the ranking check, you need to record the keywords that have been searched, the pages listed, and the ranking in serp. If no page of your site is found in the first three pages of search engine results (that is, the first 30 results, in this case, we should focus on the measures to improve the ranking of these keywords.

If the page ranking is not as good as you think, you may need to refine keywords, or study other factors that can affect the ranking in search engines.

Back to Top

Beyond keywords: other factors that affect rankings

I admit that the keyword optimization strategy that makes good use of the "from the top left corner down" method does not fully represent organic Seo. However, keyword optimization is a very effective white hat SEO technology, because determining and following the content theme on the page will improve the user experience. In addition, after page optimization, you do not need to dealAlgorithmModify and modify the page again-just like when using black hat SEO technology.

Below are several other SEO problems. Seo improvements to infrastructure will be discussed in detail in part 1 and part 2 of this series.

Links and infrastructure

Other Seo improvements include:

PageRank ranking Google PageRank displayed in Google Toolbar can only be partially trusted, because the unruly black hat SEO Experts initially used it as the basis for buying and selling links. To deal with this situation, Google no longer frequently updates PageRank. Now it can only be used as an inaccurate indicator. The main problem that may be encountered in PageRank is the links to pages with gray bars-these pages are not indexed by Google. You can refer to any Seo Forum mentioned in the reference documents to learn Seo experts' views on PageRank.

• Apply the link policy.

  The ranking in serp is affected by links from other sites, and this improvement should be implemented on a page-by-page basis. However, a link may not be helpful to your page unless Google considers it a "good link ". To increase Google's ranking for a specific page and its ranking in serp, You need to link your page from other high-ranking pages. You can determine which pages Google gives a high ranking based on the position of the page in the serp of the target keyword. Some SEO Experts use the PageRank ranking in the Google toolbar to determine the "Google value" of the page (for more information, see PageRank ).

  In fact, you can only control your own outbound links, so make sure they are good links, but the value of the links is determined by you. We do not recommend that you use a Spam Site (such as an obvious link field) to link your page.

  When linking to your own page, make sure that the clickable part of the link is the word targeted for page optimization. For example, "find tons more developer resources from developerworks ."

• Check invalid links and correct HTML.

  If Google crawlers roam to your site and follow the link, but encounter invalid links, it will stop moving forward. Make sure that the HTML structure is good and all links work as expected. Site users will also appreciate this practice.

• User redirection with caution.

  Google crawlers like to access content directly. Google will interpret redirection as garbage technology, or it may be misunderstood as garbage technology such as doorway page or cloaking. If the search engine crawler is in trouble when roaming your site due to improper or excessive redirection, your ranking in the search engine will be impaired-So avoid redirection, unless absolutely required.

  If you cannot avoid using redirection, try to use 301 server redirection. Server redirection indicates that the page is permanently transferred to the Google crawler. The page at the other end of 301 should be treated as a new URL. Google crawlers will be blocked due to meta-Refresh redirection, and 302 redirection will cause repeated content penalties. Redirection will be further discussed in Part 2 and Part 2.

• Avoid URL parameters.

  For large sites that use the content management system, a large number of parameters are a very common problem. The parameter problem is that crawlers may be blocked by URL characters, such as and characters (&).

  Google believes that you should only use one or two parameters at most. Basically, the longer the URL, the more complicated it is, the more unfavorable it will be for the search. It can also be seen as a usability problem: the best URL is a URL that is easy to remember.

• Set up a navigation bar.

  Navigation is useful for crawlers and users who enter the site by searching (rather than by using the old-fashioned intra-site navigation mode. This is also called "bottom-up search ". After people enter the site, they need to use links and good navigation to direct them to the depth of the site. If a page is search-friendly, but it does not have a link to other parts of the web site, it is not easy for users entering this page to go further in the site.

• Use as few flash and other images as possible.

  If you use flash or graphics to replace text in important aspects of the site, it will have a bad impact on search engines or potential users. The page reader cannot read flash or graphics, and the search engine cannot.

• Avoid anything that hinders the crawler from roaming the site.

  If frame, JavaScript, and other techniques that page readers cannot read, crawlers cannot read (or block crawlers.

• Do not go too far.

  Now that you know how to attract the attention of search engines, you may try to fill the first 200 words with keywords, ignoring other aspects. However, this is not a white hat SEO method. Do not over-optimize the site just to get the first place. Your goal is to attract users from search engines. However, after the audience enters the site, you want them to stay. You should create a page with a good user experience. The user will thank you and the search engine will reward you accordingly.