SEO Strategies
The 10 Commandments of a Successful SEO Program
Part II - Commandments 6-10 by Serge Thibodeau
Mar 02, 2004
Editor's note: Click here to read Part I of this article.
SEO Commandment Number Six
Thou shalt not use Doorway or Gateway pages
You should never even think of using doorway or gateway pages, since they are frowned upon by most search engines. If you implement any kind of software or program that needs to know the IP address of a search engine robot, you are using spam tactics that will have your site penalized or banned. Gateway pages serve different pages to search engines than they do to real human visitors, which is a big no-no in the SEO industry!
Some people suggest “trusted feeds” or XML feeds or similar variations. Depending on the exact nature of such implementations, such techniques could be accepted, if certain basic conditions are met. But in almost all the cases I have seen, doorway (or gateway) pages are a bad idea and you should always stay away from them. To give you an example of how doorway pages are hated by the search engines, on Jan. 25 Google changed most of their IP addresses in many of its data centers - ammunition against this sort of practice.
SEO Commandment Number Seven
Thou shalt build the best site you can
Last week, I wrote an article about the importance of usability in any website. If new visitors visit your site in good numbers but then leave just as fast, there is something very wrong with your site! High rankings won’t compensate for a site that has little usability features. Does your site take too long to download? Did you know that even today, about 80\% of people are connected to the Internet using slow dialup modem phone lines? This is especially true in rural areas and in many parts of Europe.
Did you know that if your menu system isn’t clear or if your homepage fails to give the slightest clue as to what your website has to offer, they will leave faster than you can say goodbye!
SEO Commandment Number Eight
Thou shalt write compelling sales copy and body text
Writing for the web is a bit different than writing for print. If you want visibility in the search engines, you will have to include your important keywords a few times at strategic locations in your pages, writing text that flows well, but at the same time that is rich in keywords and key phrases. Without sounding repetitive, a normal page with about 750 words on it needs to contain from two to three times your keywords for that page. Also, as stated in the following commandment, make certain you write a proper title tag that is descriptive of that page, and be sure to include your keywords in the title tag.
SEO Commandment Number Nine
Thou shalt always write good title tags
This is one of the most neglected activities of SEO, and yet it is still one of the most critical because it can make such a big difference! A well-written title tag has two functions: it helps your users know what the page is all about before they click on your link in the search results pages (SERPs) and it also helps the search engines better index your page.
To get a better idea of what I mean, type in any meaningful keyword or key phrase in Google or Yahoo! and look at the first 10 results that you see. Note that most (if not all) of these sites have a good description of what the page offers, all in the title tag. The title tag is the underlined snippet of text that you actually see written for each result. It is also what you see in your browser at the top.
SEO Commandment Number Ten
Thou shalt always keep up to date in SEO news
More than ever today, the search engine optimization (SEO) industry is advancing at a breathtaking pace. Just witness what has happened over the past year and you get the feeling that it will continue to accelerate.
Whether or not Google goes public, the search industry today is one of the fastest growing industries and it is revolutionizing the way companies advertise their products and the way consumers buy them.
Subscribing to good SEO newsletters, reading search engine industry portal sites such as this one and staying current of the news in this rapidly growing industry and you will be certain to remain one step ahead of your competition.