Search engine marketing optimization.

Chapter 4

Magnify Your Keyword In The HTML

There are just a few areas to address in your HTML to magnify what the search engine has discovered about what keyword phrases represent your page.

• <Title>
  
  Start with your Title in the Head of your source code. Put your keyword phrase first with the first letter in Caps.
  
  Add your Additional Keyword Phrases as well. The Title should be no more than 9 to 11 words in length. The words should make sense, but don’t have to be a complete sentence.
  
  The realtor might have this in his Title:
  
  <title> San Francisco real estate property for sale in Northern California </title>
  
  This would be for the Primary Keyword of “San Francisco real estate” and the Secondary Keywords of “property for sale” and “Northern California”.
  
  

• <META NAME="DESCRIPTION">
  
  Google doesn’t use Meta Description or Meta Keyword Tags, but others do so it’s good to have them.
  
  Be compelling with your sentence, but start with your keyword phrase early. Use no more than 25 words, 150-200 characters. This may be the same text as your description in the observed text on the page.
  
  Based on the example of Keyword Phrases in the Title, the realtor might have this:
  <meta name="description" content=" Glenn Happy is the San Francisco real estate professional that understands the buyer and seller needs regarding property for sale in Northern California.">

• <META NAME="KEYWORD"> Use the most significant words first, repeat any keywords only once, and specialize in one primary keyword combination for each different file.
  
  It is not necessary to put a comma between phrases, but you can. Here is the realtor example: <meta name="keywords" content=" San Francisco real estate property for sale in Northern California "> It’s the same as the title. Don’t load up with keyword phrases, only two or three.
  
  

• ALT tags
  
  
  Every graphic has a place for naming the graphic. Browsers that don’t have graphics will show the Alt tag on the browser page. You can name some of your graphics with the primary keyword phrase. Just be sure that the naming of the graphic is appropriate to the graphic and is not word stuffing.
  
  <img src="images/banner3small.gif" width="200" height="91" align="BOTTOM" border="0" alt="San Francisco real estate">
  
  

• File Name
  
  
  When possible name the page file name the primary keyword phrase.
  
  Here is an example on one approach. http://www.realtorsdomain.com/sanfranciscorealrealestate Some experts believe putting a dash between each word helps, others believe the search engines are savvy enough to make the distinction. I think the latter is true.

• Graphics Name
  
  
  When possible, actually name some of your graphics the primary keyword phrase. Name some of the other graphics by your secondary keyword phrases. Once again, make sure it’s appropriate.
  
  <img src="images/sanfranciscorealestate.gif" width="200" height="91" align="BOTTOM" border="0" alt="San Francisco real estate">
  
  

That’s it for the basics of optimization. In most cases, applying these factors will increase your ranking and improve your potential for traffic and sales.

The next chapter turns to factors not related to text and HTML. Proceed to Chapter 5, Enlarge And Enhance Link Strategy.

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