Website Search Engine Optimisation
Internal and External Links
 A Hyperlink (more commonly called a Link)
is a connection between a web page to another web page on the same web site, or
to an external Web site. Hyperlinks are the basic building blocks used in a Website.
The Hyperlinks is activated by clicking on a highlighted word or image.
There are two types of hyperlinked text to consider – Internal and External.
Both are important to the Search Engine
PageRank.
Internal Linking
The links between WebPages within the Website are important. The internal hyperlinks
must be simple and straight forward. This will allow the Search Engine easy navigation
throughout the Website.
- Link Web Pages together with hyperlinks that use targeted Keyword Phrases. This
will improve the Keyword Density, and help the Search Engines relate to the Web
Page.
- To separate the Keywords, the URL should contain hyphens, not underscores.
- Always use the Title attribute with anchor <a> tags.
- Do not use hyperlink text such as "Click Here!" or "Home". This will not improve
the Keyword Density.
- Internal Linking may improve the PageRank.
- Make sure that all Links exist.
- If there are more than 100 links on a page, break it up into multiple pages.
Internal Linking and Sitemaps
A Sitemap helps visitors see all the pages of a Website, or Search Engines to crawl
all the pages. A Sitemap is needed if:
- Dynamic Web pages or Javascript is used for menu navigation.
- Archived pages are not available through the menu.
- Ajax, Silverlight, or Flash usage prevents crawling by the Search Engines.
Google, Bing and Yahoo now use the same XML protocol for Sitemaps. A Sitemap is
declared in the robots.txt file, or by informing the Search Engine. It has no bearing
on Rankings.
External Linking
Inward Bound or Backlinks is text that is placed on external sites and is linked
to your website. These may be:
- Directory listings. The most important are DMOZ and Yahoo.
- Listing on subsidiary and partner sites.
- In by-lines to articles that are published.
- Forum posts, blogs or a commentary on another website. Make sure that site is relevant.
Offsite SEO is all about Backlinks.
To help in building quality Backlinks, try the
Backlink Builder Tool. Enter a keyword phrase that sums up the content of
your Website. The Backlink Builder Tool will provide a list of related Websites.
You then need to visit each of the Websites and verify that the site is well-matched.
Then post an article, message, or a Backlink to your own Website.
External links help Search Engine Rankings, if they are well chosen and:
- They must be added gradually over time
- Relevant to the page subject
- Well targeted
- In high quality sites
- Well placed on the page
- Keyword rich in anchor text
- Link to different pages
To see how many external Websites are linked to your Website, enter the URL (without
the 'http://'):
Total
This routine can also be used to check how many external Links your competitors
have.
Reciprocal Linking
Exchanging links with other webmasters is a good way of attaining additional incoming
links to your site. Link only to sites that are relevant and related. The link must
be monitored, as the content and purpose of the reciprocal link may change. If there
are too many Reciprocal Links, the Website will be penalised.
Paid Linking
- Link only to good, quality sites.
- Do not link to link farms.
- Validate all links periodically. Links can change for the worse.
- The fewer the number of outgoing links on the referrer page the better.
- The best position of the link on referrer page is at the top. Placed last in a long
list is meaningless.
- Old links are valued more than new links.
NoFollow Links
The NoFollow HTML attribute of the anchor tag was designed to discourage spammers
on blogs. It can also be used on external links. Google will follow the link, but
does not index the linked page. It is possible that well placed NoFollow links will
improve search results.
The NoFollow Meta tag of a Web page can be used to exclude a Web page. Examples
of pages that could be excluded are: Privacy, Term of Service, Legal notices and
Login/Registration pages.
Indented Listings
Where multiple pages for a Website are found in the index for a Keyword Phrase,
Google will indent the subsequent results. An Indented Listing can generate more
traffic than a better ranked Website.
- The pages shown will all be on the same root domain.
- The Indented Listing can cause a decrease in traffic to the main indexed page.
- All the landing pages should be optimised to ensure good conversion rates.
- The Indented Listings can be derived from both External and Internal links.
Here is an example:
Neville Silverman: References
"Neville Silverman has been working using Microsoft Visual
Basic and Microsoft Visual Basic
for Applications to develop and enhance custom systems for our ...
www.nevsseo.com/Home-References.aspx - Cached
Neville Silverman: Experience
and Skills
Expert advice on Search Engine Optimisation: Target the
desired audience, increase Website
traffic and improve the conversion rate from visitor to customer.
www.nevsseo.com/Home-Skillset.aspx - Cached
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