Here is another artical I wrote on the subject of Search Engine Optimization awhile back:
Search Engine Optimization
by Paul Kinsella:
For some reason I'm now ranked high on most search engines, but GOOGLE simply LOVES my butt. Under "murder mystery" I'm #2, under "murder mysteries" I'm #1, under "murder mystery games" I'm #2 and #3, under "cartoon games" I'm #3 and #4 What is my secret? Hell if I know. I used all the tips I found while researching the subject (these can be found in an search engine optimization article I wrote last year.)
Here is a
webmaster help
tip (not in my old search engine optimization article) that might help you: When picking your keywords (to put in your meta tags, site description, page tittle, domain name, alt tags, main text, text links, html notes, link descriptions, link names, etc....) you should concentrate on "Level-2 and level-3" keywords. What are "level- 2 and level-3" keywords? I made up that term to describe how I choose my key words:
"Level-1" keywords and phrases would be words that have a ridiculously huge amount of competition. "Web Design", "plumbers", "sex", "free games" and "mysteries" are all examples of level-1 keywords. Typically any ONE-WORD keyword will fall into this category. Forget about these. You won't get ranked ditily squat without help from the devil. If you search for these words you will most likely get crappy, gaudy, flashy splash pages asking for money. Type "sex" into a search engine and see what I mean.
"Level-2" keywords and phrases would be words that have a lot of competition but are not impossible. "web design graphics", "Illinois plumbers", "customized sex art", "free adventure games" and "murder mysteries" are examples of level-2 keywords. Your site will need to be well designed for search engine optimization AND have good relevant content to be ranked high.
"Level-3" keywords and phrases are words that have little competition. When you search for these words, you will find a lot of "mom and pop" sites. Key phrases like "Flordia web design company", "Belleville Illinois plumbers", "customized foot fetish art", "free role playing adventure games" and "online murder mystery games" are examples of Level-3 keywords. These keywords are specific and are relatively easy to get ranked high with just a little search engine optimization.
"Level-4" keywords and phrases are words that have almost no competition because they are too specific, esoteric or irrelevant. "SpoonFrog Design Company", "people who work with pipes and stuff", "very tasteful renderings of big sexy black men's feet", "HamsterBoy's cool game site" "webmaster help for webmasters in Spain" and "mystery games by Paul Kinsella" are examples of phrases that will almost never be typed into a search engine.
Here is what I have (currently) as my keywords: "murder mystery games, cartoon games, stick death, interactive games, murder mysteries, police humor, be a detective, mysteries, interactive mysteries, interactive fiction, free online, fun for kids, cartoons, rpg" I'll admit that "free online", "cartoons" and "rpg" are level-1 keywords, but these will help if some one searches for "free online interactive fiction", "stick death cartoons" or "rpg that is fun for kids" Here is a cool site to go to test what "level" a "search engine optimization" search term is: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
Dear "Spoonfrog",..... I took the liberty of looking up how many people looked up some of your keywords and phrases in "overture" in August:
243773 searches for "web design"... A quarter of a million! Level-1. Forget about trying to make this your top keyword.
9768 searches for "web design graphics"... 10,000 is a reasonable ammount of competition. Level-2.
7300 searches "cheap web design"... 7,000 people who know what they want. Level-3. Very good keyword!
0000 searches for "SpoonFrog Design Company"... Sorry, Spoonfrog. Unless you are "Wal mart" or "touch stone pictures" your company name will just be dead space to a search engine spider and won't help your search engine optimization. I recommend you play with this tool: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ use relevant keywords that are between 15,000 and 3,000.
Here are some other good places to visit for webmaster help for webmasters:
http://searchenginewatch.com/facts/searches.html
http://www.searchengines.com/optimization_checklist.html
http://spider-food.net/
http://www.linkpopularitycheck.com/ This last one will help you find sites that are linked to your site. Type in your competition's URL and then ask the webmasters who are linked to him to link to you as well. I did just that. Now I get as many hits from other websites as I do from GOOGLE!
Paul Kinsella :) http://www.normandcompany.com/STICKMAN/
Hope this webmaster help for webmasters helps you with your search engine optimization!,
- Paul Kinsella