SEO 101: Should I Put My Business Name in the Title Tag

he html title tag of a web page's html header is the single most important "on page" element when it comes to search engine optimization. That being said, is the best use of this valuable real estate served by including your business name in the title? Chances are the answer is a resounding "no!"

The title tag is an html tag which occurs in the header of a web page's code. The first thing I look at when I get a call from a prospective client is their title tag. More often than not, this tag is being used improperly, to the extreme detriment of the client.

Recently SEOMOZ.org released its rankings of the ten most important factors in search engine rankings. The title tag came in at number 1, and this is no surprise to any SEO that has been around for awhile. Google especially pays a lot of attention to title tag content, and uses title tag information heavily to ascertain the relevant keyphrases for which to rank a site. The opinion of search engine experts is unanimous on this one - keyphrase use in the title tag is the number one "on page" factor affecting search engine rankings. This is not disputed, theorized or subject to professional debate. It is a fact.

Given this fact, we must look at how to best use the title tag to optimize our site for search engines. Many sites place the business name in the title tag (or even worse yet leave it blank or with default content such as "untitled document" or "home page"). Any of these variations can be disastrous!

Let's use an example of a company that manufactures widgets. The primary keyphrase for that company would be "widgets", this being the phrase for which the company would like to rank highly for in the search engines. Now let's assume the company name is "ACME Manufacturing Company, Ltd.". Notice that the word "widgets", which is the desired keyphrase, is not extant in the company name.

So the company goes out and builds a wonderful web site to promote their widgets. However, throughout the site the title tag contains the following content: "ACME Manufacturing Company, Ltd." What is the effect of this?

First off, the effect of this is that the site will likely rank highly for the search query "ACME Manufacturing Company, Ltd.". The problem is that nobody is searching for the company name, they are searching for widgets. So all of ACME's competition shows up in the search engines for a widget query, but poor ACME is nowhere to be found. How do we help ACME rank highly for the search query "widgets"? We must optimize the title tag for the search engines by replacing the current title tag content with the desired search query: "widgets".

Generally speaking, the company name should never appear in the title tag unless you actually expect to derive most of your traffic from searches involving your company name. As this is a rare situation, avoid the temptation to put your company name in the title tag - save it for elsewhere on your page. Put your desired search keyphrases in the title tag, and leave it at that.

Following this methodology throughout your site by optimizing title tag content for each page according to the desired search query for that page will be a major step in the right direction for high search engine rankings.

About the Author: Matt Foster is the President of ArteWorks SEO, a top 5 search engine optimization company in the world. For more information on search engine optimization, please visit http://www.arteworks.biz.

The Importance of Web Usability in Search Engine Optimization

Not only are you in competition with the millions of other Web sites owners who sell the same product/service as you, but you are also competing for users' time and attention. While search engine optimization and submission can bring you the traffic you need, only you can ensure that visitors will stay on your site by giving them a reason to want to stay. That is where Web site usability comes in.

What is Web site usability?
The International Standards Organization (ISO) defines Web site usability as the "effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which a specified set of users can achieve a specified set of tasks in a particular environment." In simpler terms, usability is how efficiently and effectively users can accomplish what they are trying to do when they visit your Web site.

Now that you have an understanding of usability, we'll explain the basics of what a Web site should include to make the most of the user experience:

Content is key

Let's face it, people visit Web sites for content -- they want information. Sure, it helps if your site is visibly appealing as well. But, without the right content, the results of the user experience can be fatal to your business. They simply won't come back.

Here are a few tips to remember in regards to content:

Always be concise. Research shows that reading from a computer screen is about 25% slower than reading from paper or other print medium. To that end, you will want to edit your writing to say the exact same thing in half the words it would take if you were writing on paper. Also, think back to the last time you came to one of those really long-winded Web sites where the content may have been great, but you still had to scroll and scroll and scroll to get to the end. It can be a nuisance. So, keep your pages short.

Make your content scannable. When people use the Internet, they are looking at mass amounts of information. Help them get to the core of what they want by using bulleted items, short paragraphs, and subheadings to make it easier for them to find what they are looking for.

Write without error. There is no excuse -- absolutely none -- for poor grammar, typographical errors, and misspellings. If you own a computer, you have access to spell-checker and grammar-checker technologies. Use them. These small details will reflect upon your site. If you don't convey professionalism on your own business, how will you be conveyed to potential clients? Can they trust you with theirs? Before uploading any new content, proofread it. Then, turn it over to someone else for their input.

Write as if you were a Public Relations pro. Granted, many of us aren't PR exec's, but you should know how to market your business. Use the lingo that is most appropriate for your business. While you want to provide information, your main goal is still one thing: to sell. So, write to sell.

Maximize your keywords. As part of the search engine optimization process, you went to great lengths to select keywords and phrases that are most appropriate for your business. Be sure to use them whenever possible (without being overtly redundant) in your content.

Refresh, refresh, refresh. Web sites should be updated on a regular basis -- don't let them go stale. Add new products/services, update users with new information and tools, do what you can to change your content and keep users coming back for more.

Know your audience. Since most audiences vary in terms of experience level with both your product/service and their experience level with the internet, you will want to simplify things more than ever. You don't want to talk to yourself - make sure potential clients understand your product/service. The best way to do this is to create content that is informative, yet simple to understand for even the newest of the newbies.
Web site design

Secondary to content is the actual design of your Web site. While the user comes to your site specifically for information, they also will want to enter an area that is simple to use and visually appealing. Here are some usability tips regarding Web site design:

Avoid long load times. While the latest technology for Web sites is incredibly interesting and fun, lots of graphics, Flash images, and audio can create long load times that make the user wait. And, if customers have to wait too long, they may leave -- and never come back. As a guide, users will generally wait for a site to load for ten seconds before vacating.

Make your pages simple to read. A common error in Web usability is the incessant need to create the prettiest Web site that ever existed. We've all seen them - every color from the Crayola box of 64 has made its mark on these pages. And, with a little bit of color usually comes a lot of cute little images that dance across your screen. In all seriousness, resist the urge to do this. Not only will it hoard a lot of memory, but it will drive your users crazy. Black text on a white background is the easiest to read. If you really want a colored background, stick with a lighter shade, but remember to use black text.

Create a well-organized site. Maintaining a consistent look and feel throughout your site is critical. The navigation you use on the home page should be carried out throughout your Web site. Clear navigation can either make or break your site. You are basically providing your users with a road map to your products and services. Don't let them get lost along the way.

Consider your space. Content should amount to 50-80% of your page design, with navigation takey up approximately 20% of the space.

Stay consistent with design elements. Select one or two (maximum) fonts and stick with them throughout your site.

Have a secure and automated server. Amazingly only 20% of current Web sites are secure.

What can you do different? This is probably the most important thing to remember when designing your site. Think about your business and your competition. What are you doing differently that will make users visit your site? Once you find out what that is -- whether you offer the lowest prices, have a special widget that no one else sells, or have reputable customer service -- capitalize on that one thing by incorporating it in your design elements.

There are good sites on the Internet and there are an equal number of bad sites (if not more!) out there. The good sites provide for a smooth user experience - simple navigation and simple-to-find information. The bad sites are slow to load, difficult to navigate and leave the users frustrated before they can even get to the information they initially needed. If you've already invested the time and effort into developing a Web site, you should take a serious look at the usability of your site. Here's an simple homework assignment: Some day, when you've got a few hours to spare, surf the Internet and make note of sites you think are good and which ones drove you absolutely crazy. Investigate the qualities of those sites and what made them good or bad. Pretty soon, you'll start to see some patterns that you can learn from and implement into your own usability strategy. Remember, usability is all about creating a unique and enlightening user experience. Usability is the name of the game -- isn't it time you started playing?


Terry Detty, 42, enjoys all aspects of internet marketing and getting out for a breath of fresh air occasionally.
Internet marketing software makes search engine life easier.
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Importance of Keywords for SEO

Selecting correct keywords is the best way to reach your site, because the keywords can make or break site future. So selecting correct keywords is an art, so that your visitors can reach on your site directly without any problem. But if your keywords are not according to your potential customer’s desire, or your web site doesn’t have the keyword which they are looking for then they will miss you, which is very bad for the future of your site. You should remember that when you select keyword for your web site, you must use those words which are related to your contents and also popular search words as well. This is called keywords optimization.

A good web page contains information that people are looking for. Keyword search is an art which we have said earlier, for this you have to choose good keyword which are really good and match with your contents, and you must use appropriate tool to select your keywords then you must succeed to select suitable keywords. For example if your site is related to the “dog care” then your keywords is related to the “bathing of dogs”, “eating habits of dogs” etc, so that when people search for the “bathing of dogs” then your site also show in the result, because when people search on all these types of sites then they use these types of keywords, which is too common and also related to these sites.

How to select keywords: Search engine use the keyword to show the rank pages. If you select the right keywords then it should be good for your site. Keywords search is the building block for the search engine optimization. Search engine use those keywords or phases to display web pages which are relevant to these terms.

If you want to select your keywords then you must spend some time on your company site and concentrate on products and quality then you set your keywords according to your products and your service. The most obvious is the direct description of our product, for example widgets if you are selling blue widget then you must set your keywords like “widgets” or “blue widgets”. If you select your keyword blue widgets then your site must display in the result of the search engine. If you have a product which is stain killer then you set your keywords as “stain remover” or “stain killer”, these types of keywords helps to search your site. If you have web Design Company then you must select any keywords like “web design”, “web designing”, “web page design”, “internet web site design”, “web design and development”, “web site design” and many more, these types of keywords helps a site to make the future of the web site.

Site description statements: one thing keywords are not the only way to promote your website. After the whole analysis you must make a list of 30 keywords, 15 is better. Put them in the order of impotency. Here are five steps to selecting keywords so that you can make the best keyword decision for your SEO strategy.
1. Make a list for selection process: Sit down and think about what your web site is about. What is your product and your preliminary service or what your potential customer thinks about your website? With this process you can make a simple list of keywords for the selection process.
2. Select the alternative of your keywords: Review the list you made in step one and try to come up with alternate keywords that are similar to the ones you listed. For example, if you sell ice cream or cakes bakery products, you could make your list of keywords even more specific by listing the different types of ice cream that you sell. Then your list might be expanded to include chocolate, vanilla, tutti-frutti, dry fruit, mango flavor, banana flavor, and many more. The more specific you can make your keywords, the better your chances of finding keywords that have little competition from other Web sites.
3. Go for some software: Now you just move your side to select the research portion of the keyword selection process. Use some software or web based tool to select more specific keywords for the site.
4. Select Common or popular search word: Review the popularity of each search items on the World Wide Web. This will helps you to select the better keyword and the result of the search engine. Keep one thing in your mind that your keywords are common and which is used by the visitor during any search if your keywords are not searchable then it affect the future of your site.
5. Implement your keywords in your site with the help of the Mata tags, alt-image tags, page title, site maps, and anything else you can use to incorporate the keywords you selected. Keep track of your site statistics so you can see what needs to be changed once you have implemented your keywords.
These are the few tips to research your keywords, because the success of your website may depend on traffic going to your site from search engines.

Keywords Solidity: The true definition of keyword Solidity is the ratio of the word that is being searched for, against the total number of words appearing on a given web page. If your keyword occurs only once or twice in a page of 800 or more words, obviously it has a lower keyword Solidity than a keyword that would occur six or seven times in a page of similar length. For Example: Suppose you have Web Design Company and your web site represents your company world wide, but you have chosen your keyword not according to your contents or nature of your site. You select your keywords regarding PHP, Photoshop, Flash, Animation these words are very rare in the description or a single web page during search your site is stands in the last number of the search engine, because the ratio of the word against the total number of words appearing on the given web page is very less. So these types of ratio destroy the future of your site.

So when you select your keywords you just select those keywords which have solidity on your web page. Solid keywords also help to brighten the future of your site.

So in the end keywords make or break the future of your site. You never select any keyword from anywhere you must be conscious during the selection of the keywords. The future of your site is depending upon the selection of the keywords. If your keywords are solid and also describe your business then it helps to increase the traffic on your site. A big website is not so big if no one finds it. Keep in mind to research your keywords carefully from the Potential consumer's viewpoint and then sit back and watch the traffic roll in!


Alex Roderick

The Author is the owner of a web site design Company, and providing Web Design and Development Solutions to clients across USA and UK for affordable and sensible prices.

The Top 6 Points To Remember When You're Doing Keyword Optimization

Keywords are words that influence search engines to find your site. This is called search engine optimization. Your keywords have to be placed in your site's HTML source as META tags. Search engine 'robots' will come and search for the keywords your customer types in. If it tallies with your kewords, your site can be found.

However, getting good keywords that give the site more exposure is pretty hard to find. With the right tools, research and application, keywords can save you a lot of time so that you can do other Internet marketing strategies.

These are the Top 6 points you need to remember when you're doing keyword optimization:

- Find your keywords

Get a keyword research tool such as GoodKeywords or WordTracker. These softwares can generate you certain keywords that people type in to search for products similar to yours.

- Single Keywords

Single Keywords do not have that much luck with the search engines, because people want to narrow their research by putting in two or more keywords to go along with it. For example, instead of just setting your site for the word 'health', you can set your site for the words 'health cure osteoporosis'.

- Summarise Your Site

Find keywords that summarise your site. If your site is about Middle Eastern cooking, you can use keywords like 'meditteranean cuisine' and so on.

- Heading

Make sure that the keywords are located at the heading of your website. This is to let your customers know what you're offering to them and giving it to them straight. The heading is also featured in search engines when they're looking for your site, so these keywords in your heading play a small part in helping your site to be found.

- Similarities and Spelling

Search for similarities or double meanings in your keywords that people also type in to search for your product. For example if people are looking for the Portable Playstation, you can also include in the abbreviation PSP.

A lot of people have spelling errors when they type certain keywords online. What you should do is doing some trial and error on certain keywords you feel people normally mis-spell and add it on to your site.

- Placement of Your Keywords

Place your keywords at least 3-4 times in your website. Preferably, one in the introduction, two in the body copy and the last one is in the conclusion of the site. The reason on why you do is is because search engines love it when your site has repetitive keywords, confirming the relevancy of your site with that keyword phrase. Do not repeat them too much, though because it can make your content seem unprofessional.

Overall, these search engine optimization strategies are very easy to implement due to logical sense with a couple of research factors involved. Keyword optimization is one strategy, once implemented cannot take place immediately. Be patient and give it some time for the search engines to find your site.


By: Jo Han Mok

Improved Search Engine Rank: Google Page Rank Misconceptions

Improved search engine rank is attainable through good search engine optimization, part of which is the maximizing of your Google Page Rank through intelligent linking with other web pages. In this first part of 2 on the subject of Google Page Rank, we will look at the argument for attaining high listings through a linking strategy.

Google Page Rank is a buzz term at the moment since many believe it to be more important to your search engine listing than search engine optimization. If we ignore for the moment the fact that Page Rank is, in itself, a form of SEO, then there are arguments for and against that belief.

Before we investigate these arguments, let’s understand some fundamentals of search engine listings. First, most search engines list web pages, not domains (websites). What that means is that every web page in a domain has to be relevant to a specific search term if it is to be listed.

Secondly, a search engine customer is the person who is using that engine to seek information. It is not an advertiser or the owner of a website. It is the user seeking information. The form of words that is used by that customer is called a ‘search term’. This becomes a ‘keyword’ when applied to a webmaster trying to anticipate the form of words that a user will employ to search for their information.

A search engine works by analyzing the semantic content of a web page and determining the relative importance of the vocabulary used, taking into account the title tags, the heading tags and the first text it detects. It will also check out text related contextually to what it considers to be the main ‘keywords’ and then rank that page according to how relevant it calculates it to be for the main theme of the page.

It will then examine the number of other web pages that are linked to it, and regard that as a measure of how important, or relevant to the ‘keyword’, that the page is. The value of the links is regarded as peer approval of the content. All of these factors determine how high that page is listed for search terms that are similar contextually to the content of the page.

Without doubt, there are web pages that are listed high in the search engine indices that contain very little in the way of useful content on the keywords for which they are listed, and have virtually no contextual relevance to any search term. However, a careful investigation of these sites will reveal two things.

The first is that many such web pages are frequently listed highly only for relatively obscure search terms. If a search engine customer uses a common search term to find the information they are seeking, they will very rarely be led to a site that has little content other than links, but it is possible. The second is that they contains large numbers of links out to other web pages, and it can be assumed that they have at least an equal number of web pages linking back.

It is possible to find such web pages for many keywords. An example is on the first page on Google for the keyword ‘Data VOIP Solutions’. There is a website there that is comprised only of links. The site itself has little content, but every link leads to either another website that provides useful content, or another internal page full of more links and no content. That is how links can be used to lift a web page high in the SE listings.

Such sites frequently contain only the bare minimum of conventional search engine optimization, but the competition is so low that they gain high listings. You will also find them to contain large numbers of internal pages, every one of which contain the same internal and external links.

It is true, therefore, that it is possible to get a high listing without much content, but with a large number of links. However, is that a legitimate argument for those promoting links against content? Could you reasonably apply that strategy to your website? Could a genuine website really contain thousands of links to other internal pages and external pages on other websites, and still maintain its intended purpose?

In the second part of this article, titled ‘Search Engine Rank: Google Page Rank Misconceptions’ wI will explode some myths about Page Rank, and explain how many people are wasting their time with reciprocal links, and perhaps even losing through them. It may be that a linking strategy is not so much an option, as a choice between the type of website that you want: to provide genuine information or to make money regardless of content.

Improved search engine rank might be synonymous with Google Page Rank, but perhaps only if you want to sacrifice the integrity of your website.

Peter normally has his new websites listed on Google, Yahoo and MSN within two days, and consistently gets high search engine listings. His website Improved Search Engine Rank offers to show you how exactly how he does it, including how Page Rank and SEO can be used together to achieve the highest listings for your keyword.

Has Google Page Rank killed off SEO

Has Google Page Rank killed of traditional SEO? Search engine optimization has traditionally been the classical way of making your website attractive to search engine spiders, and without good SEO, there was a time when your site had no chance of being highly listed in Google indices, or the index databases of any search engine for that matter.

However, I keep reading on forums and discussion boards that Page Rank is now more important, or at least the number of links back to your website from others. I personally believe this to be only partially true. That is my opinion after results I have received from my own websites, and tests I have carried out.

What Is Page Rank

First, a short résumé on what page rank is. Google has a formula based upon links to and from other web pages, both internally between page sin your own website, and externally, between your web pages and those of other websites. The more links back from other web pages to a page on your own website, the higher page you get. The more links away from pages on your website to other web pages, the lower page rank that page gets. It is therefore a balancing act.

The reason for this is that Google decided that the more web pages linking to yours, then the more relevant your page must be to the search term (keyword) concerned. Your page must be important for other pages to be linked to it. This is fine as far as that definition goes, but once webmasters understood this, they began to link with each other until, we have a situation today whereby these links are automatically created by means of software, and the content of the linked pages is irrelevant.

However, until Google tackles this problem, right now the Google formula applies irrespective of the relevance of each linking web page. More detailed information is available on the internet, including the links I provide at the end of this article if you need more information on what Page Rank really is.

Is SEO Important?

Some web pages can get listed on Google and other search engines with very little content, and only a large number of links. I have seen examples, and many forum postings on this, but whenever I investigate these sites they appear to be listed only for fairly obscure keywords that are not popularly used.

My opinion is that on-site SEO is very important, but when sites are equally optimized, then the links from other sites become relevant. There is probably a part of the search engine algorithm that includes an element of back-link density in the primary calculation, but I do not believe that onsite SEO is less important than link density.

My reasons for this belief are the results that I can get with my websites/pages with maximum onsite search engine optimization as far as I know how to do it, in relation to those web pages that I have not optimized, but added lots of links to. The optimized pages always do better that the sites with only back-links.

Page Rank Refers to Pages not Websites

Keep in mind that it is only web PAGES that Page Rank and ‘link density’ applies to, and not the whole website. Hence, if you are linked to a page on a website, the home page of which has a PR of 8, this figure ‘8’ is irrelevant to your share of the PR of the page to which you are linked. Most pages have a PR of ZERO, and that is the benefit you get. Zero!

Therefore, when linking to other websites, check out the Page Rank of the page on which your link appears. That is the ranking of you receive a share. Not the home page of the site. Some webmasters will try to con you and state that “because you are linking to high PR website, the link you provide should be on your Home Page”. That is because a Home Page is normally ranked higher because it is the page that most people optimize as much as they can. It is normally the Home Page that is first listed in Google and Yahoo, and is listed the highest.

This is proof to me that SEO is not dead, and that Page Rank and links to and from other web pages is a ploy used by many who have poor content on their website. I know that good search engine optimization wins every time and that links can make the difference between sites with similar SEO and relevance to the search term used by the search engine user.

So, has Google Page Rank killed off SEO: absolutely not, and good search engine optimization on your web pages will provide you with a higher listing that if you relied purely on links. My reason for this belief is my own experience in getting rapid high listings in the major search engines when my website is correctly designed and optimized.

Don’t listen to the theorists offering Page One listings to everybody: logic tells you that it is impossible for all customers using the same keyword to have a Page One listing, let alone Number One, as many advertise.

Don’t even try to learn the theory – it is too complex and the search engines keep changing the rules. Learn from others’ successes. Do what they do exactly and you will be OK. SEO will always win – Page Rank is a fad that will last only until Google cottons on to how it is being abused. True search engine optimization will never fail to succeed. Google Page Rank will never kill off good SEO. Write naturally and provide good information on your web pages. That will always work. Period!


Peter normally has his new websites listed on Google, Yahoo and MSN within two days, and consistently gets high search engine listings. His website Improved Search Engine Rank offers to show you how exactly how he does it, including how Page Rank and SEO can be used together to achieve the highest listings for your keyword.

Article Marketing 101: don’t create your own competition

Article marketing has grown exponentially over the last couple of years due to the now mainstream knowledge of the impact that it can have for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes and even for the author’s name branding. Arguably the most common purpose for the article marketing method is for search engine optimization, which is ironic because the majority of people who employ article marketing tactics for SEO purposes are actually hurting themselves by creating more competition for their own websites.

Article marketing – what it is

Article marketing is just what the name implies; it’s a marketing tactic that relies on the use of articles. To explain it in a simple manner, an article is written and submitted to article directories where hopefully that article will be picked up by other website owners and published on their websites as well. The benefit for article marketing is derived from the “about the author” blurb where the article author can either build credibility for themselves as a writer or they can improve the search engine rankings for their website with the use of keyword focused anchor text on the link back to their website.

Article marketing is considered a viral marketing method because from a single article one can obtain dozens or even hundreds of references to their name and website, which is why article marketing is regarded as a highly effective marketing tactic.

Of course, success with article marketing depends on a number of factors. One’s success with article marketing will depend on how well the article is written, the locations where the article is initially published as well as the overall demand for the topic that the article is written on. An article written about search engine optimization will likely garner more attention and be picked up by more website owners than an article about the mating habits of African bumblebees because information about search engine optimization is in greater demand than the mating habits of bees.

Article marketing for SEO – the biggest mistake

The biggest mistake that is regularly made by novice article marketers is that they are actually creating more competition for their websites. Unfortunately, this mistake is not limited only those who are new to article marketing; this mistake is being made every day by well meaning, but severely misguided search engine optimization firms, which can negatively affect their clients’ websites.

Effective SEO article marketing relies on creation of an article that is topically related to the submitter’s website, but not in direct competition for the keywords being targeted on that website. As an example, if you have a website that is about web hosting and your website’s target keyword phrase is ‘Best web hosting services’, you absolutely do not want to write an article for use with article marketing that focuses on the phrase ‘Best web hosting services’. You can write about any number of web hosting topics such as reseller hosting, shared hosting, dedicated web hosting, but you do not want to submit an article that will compete with your website for the keyword phrase you are targeting.

The reasoning for this is simple; prominent article directories likely have a higher value to search engines than your website. If you submit an article to a website that has a higher value to search engines than your website does, the article submitted to article directories will likely outrank your website for your intended keywords or phrases; i.e. you’ve created competition for your website. This is not even taking into consideration other website owners that may pick up your article for placement on their website; you may inadvertently create hundreds of competitors for your keywords or keyword phrases from a single article submission.

Don’t create your own competition

The best advice for those who are using article marketing for SEO purposes is to not create competition for your website. By writing a topically related article that is not competing for the keywords you are optimizing your website for, you will avoid creating new competition for your website and likely enjoy a bigger benefit from your article marketing endeavors.

James Drakner offers a freelance ghost writing service; professional ghost writing at affordable rates. http://freelanceghostwriter.com