Are you a company looking to branch out into SEO marketing? Then it’s best to read up on all the mistakes other companies are making so you can be prepared. One of the most common mistakes made is that of using non-text programming on a website.

Remember that search engine bots crawl according to text and text links that they find. While there is constant improvement being reported, the fact is that these crawlers can’t index non-text content. This includes everything from Java menus to Ajax menus to Flash animations and GIF/JPG pictures (without alternate text). So if your site has mostly graphic and audio content, you may well be dooming yourself to low page rankings, simply because you have no text. Searchers won’t be able to find you, unless they directly load your site.

Google is primarily a text reader program, and not planning for this will be a bad move…in fact, it will discount an otherwise great website, which no one will ever see. So if you are creating or redoing a website, make sure that it is search engine friendly from the very beginning. You could plan two versions of the site, one text-based, and one featuring graphics and sound. Or, you could combine both, by including various effects on the page, but with plenty of text content as well. You could also provide alternate text navigation to your mail pages. One of the best ways to do this is to create a simple HTML site map.

Last but not least, remember to name your pages descriptively and avoid numbers or mixed text (which is often seen among Java or Flash-heavy sites). Ideally, you want a URL that reflects your products and your company. Search engines, like Google, place high priority in keyword page names.

Example:

For example:

www.Level9Solutions.com/seo/why-is-search-engine-optimization-important/on-page-seo/

is much more attractive to search engines than something like:

www.level9solutions.com/index.php?content=article3&Ptp=1&ID=26

First and foremost, On Page SEO revolves around relevance. The former URL provides that.

Read more about Organic Search Optimization Services

Over the next few months, we will be discussing more SEO mistakes.

For more information contact an SEO Company who can help you through the process.

To this day, many companies have differing opinions of the Google Page Rank. Some believe it is not relevant and some believe it is still relevant. Regardless of which camp you’re in, this article explains what Page Rank is.

If you are new to article marketing and SEO, then you may wonder what the significance is of a site’s page rank. Technically speaking, Page Rank refers to a link analysis algorithm, and one that is commonly used by Google. (Actually, Page Rank is named after Larry Page, the co-founder of Google) Wikipedia states that Page Rank “assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents.”

Online, you will find various page ranking services, including PRChecker.info, that can help you determine where your site is in terms of ranking. Entering a site name into this software can reveal to you that your site is PR0 through PR10.

The significance of the PR ranking is that, ideally, you want to create links that have a high PR ranking. Link exchanges are only valuable if the other site you’re doing business with is evenly matched and has high traffic. In fact, creating a bunch of low quality, low traffic links will probably backfire. Buying links is also a mistake, as search engines like Google and Yahoo consider context and relevancy when determining link popularity.

So, if you are investing in article marketing (which is essentially a form of linkbuilding) ask the SEO firm which directory sites it submits to, and what their PR rankings are. Submitting to a PR0 or PR1 site is not going to do you any favors. Ideally, you want to work with sites that have the highest levels possible, so that these links will be valued by search engines.

Some of the top directory sites in terms of popularity and high PR rankings include EZineArticles, Buzzle, Suite101 and Articles Base. Not only is quality linkbuilding important, but in the end, you want to work with these higher PR sites because that means more traffic for you!

For more information on creating quality links talk to an SEO Company.

Targeting The Most Popular Keywords May Be Draining Your Bank Account

Have you ever felt discouraged after launching an SEO campaign, only to find out that you didn’t crack the top 50? It doesn’t seem fair…especially since your words were so well chosen and the articles you published, so well-written.

Here’s the problem: you may very well be going after search terms that are too popular and too broad. You are being slaughtered by the competition. The only way to seriously compete would be to publish many more articles, and even better quality articles than you currently have. And sadly, even then you have an uphill battle.

Why is this? Because it’s not just the content that matters. Search engines also consider many other factors, such as link popularity, site popularity, the date the site was created (with preference to older sites), and site reputation. The search engines are not playing favorites – they are trying to deliver the results that their users want.

So do they play fair? Not necessarily, because the audience is not really “playing fair.” They want reliable sources; they want sites that have a good reputation, and not just any cheesy site that posts information.

Therefore, if you have a limited budget and are not seeing any success in your SEO campaign, then it’s time to consider an alternative route. Go for the niches!

Spend your money wisely and invest in long-tail keywords and local keyword combinations. This is not only going to separate you from the competition, but it’s also going to help you reached targeted traffic. In essence, you are pre-qualifying your traffic and this will often times lead to greater sales.

As the Internet becomes more and more populated, this is quickly becoming the definitive SEO strategy of today—and all the more so for the small business that can’t afford to publish hundreds of pages of content each month.

Be specific and you will bring in quality traffic, making your SEO campaign a magnificent success!