Search Engines
Some Tips & Hints for Optimisation

WARNING: Do not 'spam' the engines.
It is easy to do so even unwittingly.

• Register with relevant Directories - this is best done manually.
• Keyword Placement - keywords or phrases that users are expected to enter into search engines when seeking the products/services on offer by the target web site, must be appropriately seeded in the relevant pages of the site. Choice of keywords is critical. Optimisation is a black art that requires keywords be used in the right locations (e.g. Titles, Headers, body copy, URLs, anchor text, etc.) with the right frequency (e.g. not more than 7 times per page), and density (relative to the total volume of words on a page).
• Meta Tags - Not all search engines recognise meta tags, but some of the most important do. Less than 50% of commercial organisations use meta tags correctly, so a business that does implement these tags properly might benefit. Title tags and Keyword meta tags may be used to assist in the ranking process by some engines, but they must relate to the page content (i.e. if a meta tag keyword does not appear in the body text of the page, then the meta tag is likely to be ignored). The Description meta tag plays no part in ranking (therefore does not require keyword 'stuffing') but is often used in search results lists, so should be made as explicit and appealing as possible.
• Link Popularity - used by many engines, notably Google, as an important criterion for relevance and authoritativeness. Sites with very few external links pointing to them may find it very difficult to achieve a high ranking. Sites should therefore maximise links to them by swapping links with non-competitive, ideally complementary businesses. Having one page with masses of external links though can result in a loss of rank as some engines may perceive this as a blatant cross-linking strategy. Avoid FFA (Free For All) link schemes like the plague!
• Freshness - web sites that are not updated for long periods of time are considered 'stale' and therefore less important. Ensure you make frequent changes that are noticeable to the engines - even adding lots of spaces can work!
• Structure - avoid frames, and more than two or three levels of directory hierarchy, as some engines just won't follow the links. Also avoid having a sub-domain of someone else's domain (especially popular ISPs), and avoid dynamically generated pages if possible