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In this article, we will examine a number of factors that affect website promotion. Correct handling of all of these factors will improve the position of a website in the search engine results. It is important to emphasize that these are only a few of the factors that affect website positioning. There are many other factors, which will be discussed in other articles. In addition, it is important to understand that the position of a website is not just dependent on the site itself, but also on other sites that compete for a high position in the search engine results, for the same keyword. Before we delve into the details, there is another thing that we have to understand: when we discuss "website promotion" we mean a number of activities and changes that are related to the organization of a website and its pages, the content of the site, and other activities that take place outside the website. Some of these activities are related to the format and content of the sites pages. The more we improve each page of the site, (an activity known as "webpage optimization"), the better our chances of promoting the whole site to a higher position in the search engine results.
Below are a few of the factors that will improve our site position, if handled correctly:
The Title of the page The title appears in the blue line at the top of web browser window, a title that most surfers don't even notice, but which is important for promoting the website. This title is important for the search engines. Most sites will display "Site name – Home page", but this type of title is only correct for large brand-name companies who are interested in being found on the web only by searching their brand name. On the other hand, all other website owners, who are not brand names, should make sure that their title tag includes the most important keywords for the area of business that the site deals with. For example, if our website deals with website promotion and marketing on the internet, and a particular page focuses on website promotion, we will include "website promotion" in the title tag of the page. Beware of title tags with a number of keywords separated as follows: "website promotion | webpage promotion | internet marketing".
Take note that each page of the site should have a unique title tag, closely related to the content of the page.
The URL of the page The URL is the address of a specific webpage. It starts from the beginning of the domain name, (which is found immediately after the http://), until the last character of the address. The search engines are inclined to reward webpages that include keywords in the address. There are websites that include keywords with non-latin characters in their addresses. This is only possible if the site is hosted by a system that supports the relevant character set. In any case, I do not recommend changing the URL of existing pages, since this could be disastrous for websites, if it is not done professionally. My advice is to include keywords in URLs only for completely new sites, or for brand new pages of an existing site.
Header Tag The use of the header tag H1 is also something for consideration. The header tag is used to emphasize the headline of the page, as it is seen by the surfers. Generally, the headline will be bold, and in a larger font than the rest of the page, and will describe exactly the content of the page. In our example, the header H1 of our page could be "Website Promotion".
Content The spiders, the search engines' loyal messengers, scour the web for new and high quality content. My advise is to build each webpage with about 350 words, and if your page contains much more than that, to divide it into a number of pages. Make sure that you use the same keywords in the content as you used in the title and the headline, in our example "website promotion". I strongly recommend that you do not write garbage – only write if you have something valuable to write about. Always remember that your site targets human beings, and not search engines.
Text Links The reason that the search engines put so much emphasis in their algorithms on the text of links, is that this text actually defines the content of the site or the page that the link points to. In general, you will find that your site is ranked higher for the pages that are linked to via a text link, as opposed to those that are not linked in this way. If you intend to link from an internal page in your site, to a page in your site that deals with website promotion, make sure you use the text "website promotion" in your link.
When it comes to external links, here you need added care. If you find a site with content that is relevant to your page, that is a legitimate link. Don't link to that page more than once. Use keywords in the external links to your pages, and try to use meaningful keywords in the outgoing links from your pages (e.g. "website promotion expert").
As I've explained above, meticulousness in connecting the details is what will determine the quality of the promotion of your website. There has to be a connection that creates a synergy between the title, headline, content and URL – they will comprise the correct basis for your promotion. Of course, there is much more to know in order to promote websites in the search engines. There are literally hundreds of parameters that the search engines take into account when ranking a site for a particular keyword.
If you are unsure about a particular change that you are about to make on your site, it is worthwhile to consult with a website promotion expert.
Impulsive changes to your site can result in drastic consequences for your sites ranking. Translated by Debi Zylbermann
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