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Web Studio - Basic SEO

Further Reading & Website Links

Google Website Verification

A Tip: If you can remember, select the H1 text as the last thing you do on a page and in page layout
use "bring to" back that will place the H1 at the top of the pages generated HTML code.

What is SEO?

This is a SEO checklist here on next you can print out if you want to go SEO nuts like I did for a while. I finally come to the conclusion you just write the best site you can and cover the basics though after a few years of studying all this stuff.

Search Engine Optimization

About this tutorial

Website SEO is constantly changing this is my opinion on the basics just to get you started. You may want to follow this up by looking into SEM (marketing), Social SEO, keyword ranking, search targeting and if you have a small biz site Local SEO... 
it can get silly though too.

Google's search engine optimization starter guide     This is a 4.12 MB PDF file

BASIC SEO
setting up web studio

Google Site Map

Most important, it's the real page name. Keep it short 6 or 7 words 69 Characters (Including Spaces - googles shortest ) put the important keywords first. Name branding isn't too important, I'd use the your brand name more on the contact & about us pages, the rest of the pages it's about the keywords. If it's local biz and there is room put the city or service area. Don't put best site on the planet stuff in these.

Optimizing your website to receive higher positioning in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and increase your website keywords (focus of your site) for organic search. Basically you just want your site to be found.

The web studio Page Name

You should hand
code these see below

Fairly important, it's the page url (link). Keep it simple and short one (or two) keywords for what is the main focus of the page. In Web Studio a space in the page name becomes an underscore. Google doesn't see underscores so use hyphens to seperate words.

Page TAB > Page >
Rename

The Page Title

1. Get a nice design you like and have fun, get a basic idea of how you want your website to flow write out on the pages what you want to say in your own words and try to keep it an unique as you can, tough to do in some markets.
2. Get the pictures together you want to use and optimize them as they can make your site heavy (large download) you have to make some tough decisions on their size and quality vs what they do to the weight of the page. Make use of the alt tags on your images. right click on the image > properties > graphic > alt text box
3. Do a bit of research on your competitors see what they have that are pushing their sites to the top and glom a few ideas without direct copying.
4. Try to make use of the top part of the page you see when you open the site. It's prime property more importance is put on that space. That's why it best to try to avoid flash there if you can it won't be seen by the search engines.

HTML TAB > Page Meta Tags >
Page Title

The Page Description

I think it's important, but some don't. It doesn't count for ranking but it could bring in searchers as it's the snippet that is seen in the SERP's below the page title. Make sure it's different for every page and an enticing precise description of what's on that page. 20 words or so, 150 Characters (Including Spaces - Bings shortest)

HTML TAB > Page Meta Tags >
Description

The meta keywords

Not important at all anymore but Bing still uses them a bit, I just pick out a few 10 or so words and put them in for the entire site. Don't get these mixed up with the page content keywords, those are important and is what really drive the new search engines.

HTML TAB > Site-Wide Meta Tags > Keywords

Second Draft

Important and it's now built into web studio so make use of it. Search engines love these so they seem to spider the entire site more readily and I think they also take the site more seriously.

Page TAB > Include Page In... >
Google Site Map

Once you have completed your site try to get it registered at DMOZ the Open Directory Project, it's data powers the core directories for most of the Web's search engines and portals. Make sure you look up how to submit your site correctly!

BASIC SEO
page content

Important in web studio if start with an H1 it will be at the top in your page content. Try to get as many of the pages title keywords into the H1 tag you can and only use one if possible. Only use H2 etc. headings if you know how it's best to just use larger bold text in web studio for those.

If you are just starting out I wouldn't bother getting too involved in the nuances of SEO for your site content, basically it's all just educated guessing anyway the only ones who really know are the techs like Matt Cutts at google who write the engines.
So here are my opinion on some simple rules to follow.

H1 headings tags

First Draft

Pare it all down one final time.
Check the page title's one more time, are they the best you can do.
Go over the main H1 tags and see if you can improve your keyword headings
See how you did with this tool but use your own judgement

Final Draft

1. Do a little research into your target market see what keywords are used in the top pages that show up. Look at the common phrases as well. Look up the top keywords with a keyword tool and select the ones that have search volume, relevance and user intent that works into what you've written for your site, get creative incorporate what you can but stay natural you don't want to "keyword stuff" your pages either.
2. Organize your page into easy to follow sections so you you'll have the  H1 tag up top, then bold larger text for quick headings, with brief as possible text be clear and concise, try to pare down what you've written for how users read on the web.
3. Try to make use of the internal links to your own pages by using interesting text rather than just "click here" instead, try writing it this way: Click here for great deals on Plasma TV. In here, you can hyperlink the key words “Plasma TV” or even “Great Deals on Plasma TV.”
4. Get the final site flow organized so you have only the pages you need with content on each that is unique then your menu so it's easy to follow for users and search engines.

This is the Character Counter I use for my page TITLE & DESCRIPTION length

3:40 Video From Google Engineer Matt Cutts:
Hyphen vs Underscore

Only change to a hyphen on new sites, leave it for well ranked existing sites

Every little bit helps to keep this site up and running, thank-you.

Web Studio - Basic search engine optimization for web studio - Web Studio Next

Thank-you!

These effects are not officially part of Web Studio
If you have questions see the custom coding page

Verifying your site gives you access to Google Webmaster Tools
to do that look here: how to verify your site tutorial

1:26 Video From Google Engineer Matt Cutts:
Should I tweak my titles and descriptions?

2:19 Video From Google Engineer Matt Cutts:
How much time should I spend on meta tags, and which ones?

1:53 - 1:34 Videos From Google Engineer Matt Cutts:
Which is more important: content or links?

3:31 Video From Google Engineer Matt Cutts:
Is Google putting more weight on brands in rankings?

1:13 - 0:47 - 1:27 Videos From Google Engineer Matt Cutts:
Can product descriptions be considered duplicate content?
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