Hello Everyone,

Have you created a cool website but can't seem to get Google to notice
it? Are you on page two or 200? Most of you would probably love to be
on page two...but page one is where the big bucks are! So why aren't
you on page one?

Here are six reasons you may not be at the top of Google's list:

1. One of the most common mistakes I see is duplicate title tags. (The
title tag is what appears at the top of the browser when the page is
displayed and is what the search engines display for the first line of
the site link in their results.) In other words most, if not all of
the site’s pages have the same title tag. Usually it is the name of
the business. Search engines place a lot of emphasis on title tags.
When multiple pages have the same title tag, the search engines
discount those pages’ importance.
It is extremely important to title the page with the keyword phrase
the page is optimized for. It is best if the keyword only is listed in
the title. If that is not possible, at least the keyword should be
first. For example: “Small Dog Collars” or “Small Dog Collars �"
YourSite.com”

2. Although meta tags are given little importance now days by the
larger search engines, it is possible to misuse them and actually hurt
the site. The biggest mistake I see with meta tags is for the meta
description to be the same for every page. Pages with duplicate meta
descriptions will suffer greatly in the rankings. The same goes for
the meta keywords tag. The keyword tag must contain ONLY those
keywords found on that page. Also, it is important not to put the same
word in the meta tag descriptions more than 3 times. Don’t make a list
of meta keywords like this: large collars, red collars, small collars,
leather collars, nylon collars. Search engines could see this as
stuffing keywords. Search engines consider this spamming. It is much
better to omit meta tags altogether than to misuse them.
3. Internal linking is often a real problem. Too many links can cause
the search engine spider to quit indexing the site before it is
actually finished. Google states that a site should have no more than
100 links on a page. I suggest no more than 50. And that is still a
LOT of links!
For SEO purposes, the links should always be made with text. Many
designers create images for their linking. This is very counter
productive for optimization purposes. And along these lines, the
navigation system should never be in any form of java script, Flash,
or image map. A link with anchor text “leather dog collars” which
points to a page optimized for “leather dog collars” is the best
method of linking for SEO purposes.
However, do not end up stuffing keywords by having too many links on
the same page with the same word or words. For example, don’t have
half of a page’s links like this: large collars, leather collars,
small collars, etc. Instead, have “collars” for the heading of the
group and then have the links “large”, “leather”, “small”, etc.
below.
This is not perfectly optimized, but it is better to be cautious than
to risk being seen as stuffing keywords by the search engines.
And lastly, it is important that every page on your site has multiple
links to it. Pages which have only one incoming link will not be
ranked well. They may even be placed into Google’s supplemental index.
It can be difficult to work a page out of the supplemental index once
it is in there.

4. Links to other sites are often a problem too. The days of linking
to your friend’s hobby site are over. Spamming has become such a
problem that the search engines have really changed their algorithms
with respect to linking. A dog site simply cannot have links to a
totally unrelated site such as a pottery site. I am not saying one
single link to a non-related page will get your site banned, but just
be aware this can be a problem.
To make it a little easier to tell your friend you can’t link to his
site, inform your friend that a link from your dog site to their
pottery site will do their pottery sight no good whatsoever. Although
incoming links are extremely important to a site, the incoming links
MUST come from sites with a similar theme. It is great for your dog
page to get a link from dog training, dog breeding, dog nutrition, and
dog house sites. A link on a computer website to your dog site won’t
benefit your site at all.
Many new site owners may also fall prey to scams which promise
“thousands” of incoming links for $29.99. There is a good chance these
scammers will use what are called link farms. The search engines
consider link farms to be spam. Always remember, there is no free lunch!

5. Another scam which new site owners often waste money on is paying
money for submissions to “hundreds” of search engines. There is simply
no purpose in submitting to even dozens of search engines. When I
create a new site, I simply submit the site to the group of
directories I have listed on my site. Within weeks, sometimes days, my
new site will be indexed by the top search engines. I never even
bother submitting directly to any search engines…not even Google or
Yahoo. It doesn’t hurt to submit to them, but it works just as well to
get links with the directories and by posting some articles with your
site’s link to article directories.
Additionally, offers of “Guaranteed Inclusion” in search engines are
complete scams. Anyone can get a site included in all the top search
engines. But getting listed on their first or second pages is going to
cost you a whole lot more than $29.99! It is going to require work!
There are two ways to get great listings in the search engines. One
way is to learn basic SEO skills, do the work yourself, keep learning
about SEO, and keep tweaking your site as it works its way higher and
higher in the search engines. The other way is to spend enough money
to hire a professional Search Engine Marketer. For a small site, be
prepared to spend $500 dollars or more.
There really is no in between. Do the work yourself or pay a
professional. Any money spend in between will generally be wasted.

6. Lastly, one of the biggest mistakes I see occurs when people pay
someone else to design their site. The majority of site designers
simply don’t understand SEO. The designer may have created an awesome
looking site, but the fancy scripts and Flash they used will keep the
site on page 100 of the search engine results! Before you start the
site, or pay someone else to start it, make sure SEO is considered
before the first line of code is written.

For more free Internet marketing informtation visit my site:

Weber Internet Marketing
http://www.WeberInternetMarketing.com

Best Regards,

Steve Weber