A Yahoo! search on “seo best practices” delivers 17,700,000 results. It seems everyone has an opinion about search engine optimization these days, and it’s difficult to pick out the nuggets of good, solid information that will lead to increased web traffic and higher search engine rank. In my experience, bad SEO stems from the following three schools of thought:

1. I will submit my site to every directory available on the Web.

Search engines have come a long way since the time that every link to your site equated to an upward push in page rank. There are so many algorithms and calculations in existence now that simply having a link to your site out there somewhere won’t help you much. The key here is getting notable, credible, and related links back to your site. Make sure your site is linked from your-industry-specific repositories; for example, working for an enterprise software company, I have made sure that we are linked to from some of the most popular software- and development-related sites. Insist that your partners link to you from their sites, as their content likely compliments yours. And, above all, the best links back to your site do not simply use your company name as the link text; instead of using the words ABC Widgets to link back to your site, for example, linking to your site via text that says “enterprise-ready widgets” is much more valuable.

2. I will cram my <META> tags with every keyword I believe relates to my business.

SEO best practices suggest that eight to ten keywords is the ideal number to fit into your <META> tags, but don’t be exceptionally broad with these. While formerly <META> keywords were a valuable SEO tool, again, search engines have become much more sophisticated in their examination of web pages. It is imperative that your <META> keywords tie directly into the content of your web pages. The ideal situation here is for your keyword to match with a header, which is referenced in the content paragraphs. This sort of continuity helps search engines to realize that your site really is about what you say in the header, which is a boost in your ranking. But don’t overuse the keywords: mentioning widgets 24 times in the main paragraph of your copy can actually harm your ranking.

And, please, do not put a line of keywords on your site that is the same color as the background. This can immediately warrant removal from a search engine’s system; Google’s Webmaster Guidelines alludes to this.

If you’re having problems coming up with appropriate keywords for your site, there are a number of tools that you can use. WordTracker has been mentioned before; Keyword Discovery is another. But read your content first. In all likelihood, the acceptable keywords will pop out at you.

3. I’m going to develop my whole site in Flash, because it looks good.

It does look good. Unfortunately, search engines aren’t human and can’t see things the way we do. Too much content included in your Flash can actually be detrimental to your site rankings, because the search engines can’t see the content. Minimize the use of Flash on your site, and minimize the use of images to deliver key content. If you must use the latter, do make sure that you fill in the <ALT> tag with keyword-rich content; while it does not equate to having keyword-rich textual content, this is absolutely an improvement over simply having an image with no tags.

With regard to Flash, though, there may be a silver lining yet to come.  Google’s Webmaster Central Blog reported on Monday that the behemoth has come up with an algorithm for its software to actually “read” the text contained within Flash files.  Of course, this has yet to be seen, but it could spell the end for this final SEO problem.

Conclusion

The key to good SEO is keeping it simple.  If you have keyword-rich, informative content that is useful to your visitors, you will rise in search engine rankings over time.

I miss designing web sites. Back in the summer of 1996, I found a book on HTML in the discount bin at my local bookstore and took it upon myself to learn the ins and outs of the art of web design. My first site, Pure Fun (can you tell I started this one at thirteen?), was a mess of everything from wallpapers to animated icons to random commentary to advice columns. Let’s face it: it wasn’t the prettiest thing in the world. Luckily I moved on quickly, learning some Java and CGI along the way, and came up with a prototype for what would be one of my biggest web accomplishments. HoMM3 Unleashed, dedicated to the 1999 3DO PC game Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia, was a side hobby of mine that I started at the beginning of my junior year of high school. I took it upon myself to outclass and outperform the already established web sites dedicated to the game, and found myself rapidly amassing an international fan base. Once all the kinks had been worked out, the 100+ page site received multiple awards, including one from the game company itself, and was even featured in the now-defunct PC Games magazine, which, in its heyday, rivalled ubermag PC Gamer. Ultimately, though, with over three hundred thousand visitors, and needing to update the site multiple times daily, it proved too time-consuming for a high school student to handle, and I handed it over to one of the most frequent visitors, who merged with a fellow gamer to create the Might and Magic haven known as Celestial Heavens.

My other site, developed from my love for European pop music, was a fan site dedicated to Swedish pop sensations the A*Teens, formerly Abba*Teens. In the summer of 1999, my sister and I traveled to Sweden to visit relatives, and I was introduced to the Abba tribute band, whose singles “Mamma Mia,” “Gimme Gimme Gimme,” and “Super Trouper” were catchy and upbeat. I figured there would be a small market for such music, as I really enjoyed it. My site, Somewhere in the Crowd, quickly grew to be one of the most popular A*Teens sites on the web, so much so that even the maintainers of the official site noticed and would periodically send me autographed CDs and pictures to use as prizes in site contests. Once again, though, updating became a nuisance, and I dropped it in senior year due to a load of AP courses and tae kwon do training. The A*Teens have since split to allow its members to pursue individual projects – both Dhani Lennevald and Marie Serneholt (who was voted the sexiest woman in Sweden a year or so ago – quite a change from when A*Teens first began in 1998!) have released albums in Sweden since then – but on occasion I do listen to their songs and remember the days when they were my main musical focus.

I never received any compensation for my sites, though in hindsight, HoMM3 Unleashed could have done well with some advertising. I was never in it for the money, however. I made sites because I enjoyed a) the product I was marketing, and b) creating the sites themselves. And I miss it! I miss the enjoyment of putting together a professional-looking site just from typing a bit of text into Notepad, I miss scouring the ‘net for means of attracting visitors, and most of all I miss creating a product that was both useful and enjoyable for people I might never meet, from all around the globe.

I’d like to get back into web design. This would entail, however, re-teaching myself the tricks of HTML as well as learning the languages and technologies that have emerged since my departure from the web scene, including DHTML, Flash, PHP, and so forth. That, and I require a good idea for a site. Obviously this is a long way off, but it’s fun to think about.