SEO: Where to begin???

[jl015]

I have a new site I am planning to launch. Frankly, I am overwhelmed with all of the issues and terms around SEO. I am a web developer with very little exposure to SEO except setting keywords and descriptions in META Tags. Where is one to begin? I have around 10 days to implement what is needed on the site b4 I launch it. I do realize there is much more to implementing SEO than meta tags. So, for this post, here are a couple of my MANY questions.

1. Since I am posting to a Google forum, does anyone have any suggested links to read as a primer for Google SEO?

2. Are meta tags frowned on by Google?

3. Are relative links a "no-no"? Just read an article on www vs. non-www and frankly didn't really get the true jist of the article.

Btw, I am working on link exchanges with other web sites in my industry.

Any suggestions, recommendations, info. etc. would be most appreciated.

Thanks much!

[I, Brian]

It sounds like you're asking for a full SEO run down. :)

In which case, buy the book here: http://www.seobook.com
Then keep up with the industry by reading this regularly: http://searchenginewatch.com/

Hope that helps. :)

[jl015]

Reply to: I, Brian,

Thanks for the book recommendations. Yes, i am just getting my feet wet in SEO.

What I am also looking for are areas of SEO that are key (not every aspect) to implement b4 I launch my site. I certainly won't be able to fully implement SEO b4 site launch in the next 10 days but maybe I can implement some of the heavy hitters.

[JohnScott]

1. http://www.searchengineworld.com/misc/guide.htm

2. Google's ranking of websites has very little to do with meta tags.

3. Relative links are only relative in the code. Once they are on a domain, they are just as good as absolute.

Some more reading:
Link Building 101 (http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=2616)
Do It Yourself SEO (http://www.v7n.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7773)
131 Link Building Strategies (http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/2160301)

[jl015]

Replay to: John Scott,

Thanks much for the suggested readings!

One question... My site is new and as time is of the essence, I will probably have one or 2 external links (1 is in the top 5 of a google search) on my site when I launch my ecommerce site. Is link building the major factor is getting high rankings with google? If my site is not ranked very well on google, will adding more links to highly ranked sites increase the ranking over time?

[I realize there is more to this than link building. I can see why folks can make one heck of a career in this arena! the target is constantly changing and staying on top of it would be a full time job. :) ]

[JohnScott]

Is link building the major factor is getting high rankings with google? If my site is not ranked very well on google, will adding more links to highly ranked sites increase the ranking over time?

I think you're looking at link building in the rear view mirror. Linking should be done by other sites to yours, not so much by yours to others. Outbound links are good, but they aren't going to give you the definitive edge.

When doing SEO, there are several factors to be considered:

Heading Tags
Keyword Density
Page Titles
Internal Anchor Text
KW's in Bold
KW's in Italics
Outbound Links
Inbound Links

ETC, ETC

All of these factors can be optimized to the max in a day, except for one. That one is inbound links. If you can do it in a day, so can your competition, and there is only one #1 position for each search term on Google.

So, be default and by design, links end up being a large part of SEO. But it's not like two years ago where SEO was just Google bombing and you could get #1 by buying a large number of links with your keyword in the anchor text.

These days you need to be smart about your linking. I prefer one link per linker, as opposed to sitewide links. I prefer links built over time, and you should too.

SEO takes time with Google.

[jl015]

Reply to John Scott:

Thanks again for your response and the key factors to address.

I have included in my terms of use a link exchange program so that I can control and review link exchange requests prior to approving. the one thing that I don't want is my ranking to be brought down by another site that has a poor ranking. And yes, I do anticipate building out links over time. I have been so focused on the development aspect of my site (1 man show here) until now and the SEO build out will have to happen over time, excluding those things I can do here in short order.

Again, thanks for your inputs and recommendations!

[glengara]

IMO both of these are pretty good :

http://www.seomoz.org/beginners.php

http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/2010.htm

[jl015]

Reply to glengara:

Thank you for posting the reference links!

[mdsouza]

Is link building the major factor is getting high rankings with google? Link building is only one of many factors that makes a site sucessful, without good keyword rich content it won't matter who or how many links are pointing your way.
the one thing that I don't want is my ranking to be brought down by another site that has a poor ranking This is another comment I see alot on forums new sites launching which probably will have a pr of 0-1 willing to overlook other sites that may offer good related information. Linking to other sites from your site should be determained by what content value the other sites can offer. Keep in mind that your site is new therefore you will also need to justify why another site would link to you.

[jl015]

"Keep in mind that your site is new therefore you will also need to justify why another site would link to you."

Very good point. As a matter of fact, after reading many posts on the subject of linking, I have realized that this may be an issue for my site when I ask for permission to link to other sites. Thanks for the reminder.

[JohnScott]

Link building is only one of many factors that makes a site sucessful, without good keyword rich content it won't matter who or how many links are pointing your way.

Not entirely true.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Click

Most of those pages don't even include the search term. Anchor text still carries a lot of weight - enough weight to put the pages with the search term in high keyword density out of the top.

That should tell you something about the importance of keyword density.

[DianeV]

> when I ask for permission to link to other sites

I'd say that it would be extremely rare to need permission to link to any particular website. I'm not sure what your topic is but, again, it's extremely rare that any company would prohibit linking to its website.

If you want to optimize your website, John Scott's list is a good one. You might read other references for more detailed ideas of how to go about it (for instance, I haven't read the seobook.com e-book, but reviews indicate that it's good). You will likely encounter conflicting information in your studies, and it will likely take time to be able to adjudicate for yourself what works and what doesn't -- but the basics are the place to start.

My advice would be to develop the kind of website that would encourage people to link to it. In my opinion, reciprocal link exchanges cannot be the end-all and be-all for attracting links, first because you're in effect recommending those sites — which recommendations will impact your company and any goodwill you may engender in the public, and thus people's willingness to do business with you — and secondly because it's not as if search engines haven't figured out that reciprocal link exchanges exist and aren't trying to do something about it. Give them some credit. As well, is spending your time monitoring whether those sites are still linking to yours the best use of your time? (Forgive me on that last point; I just find the whole idea boring.)

People first learning about website optimization often get the idea that the way to go is to adopt what I'd call "loophole" methods of gaining rankings -- shortcuts to getting where they want to be. But, in my opinion, cheap shortcuts will only take you so far, and don't result in the kind of site that will bring you the benefit you are likely seeking. My best guess is that search engines are seeking to display the best selection of legitmate sites they can. And companies are looking to put their best foot forward, as it were.

My recommendation to any business is to look at how these concepts dovetail, skip the shortcut-y tricks, build (and optimize) a good, solid website that will benefit the company, and pursue strategies for promoting it and attracting links. Why? Because while this route may benefit you in the short term, time passes and it's the long term that we end up living with.

[JohnScott]

My advice would be to develop the kind of website that would encourage people to link to it.

The best advice any webmaster could get.

[dannysullivan]

Search Engine Marketing 101 (http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=2086) is another thread here in the forums you'll want to check out with lots of references, and Rand just posted his Randfish's Beginners Guide To SEO (http://www.seomoz.org/articles/beginners-1-page.php) which has had good reviews.