A client recently asked us to do some SEO on their Web site. (SEO, or search engine optimization, is about designing your Web site so it achieves a high ranking on search engines such as Yahoo and Google.) We were alarmed to see what the previous company had done – lots of repetition of the same term on the site and in the metatags, the descriptive code that tells search engines what is on your site. Most search engines regard both of these methods as spamming and count them against you.

What to do:

Consider a “Link to Us” page on your site
Include your logos and HTML text people can use on their sites.

Syndicate your articles to other Web sites and e-mail newsletters. By putting your articles up for grabs in this way, other sites will link to them. Every article should include your site name near the top. Work a link to your site into the article a couple times, but don’t overdo it.

What not to do:

Don’t waste time getting links in guest pages
This early link-building technique no longer carries any weight with search engines.

Likewise Free-For-All pages
These automated directories bring virtually zero traffic to your site, but are a great way to generate a lot of spam and don’t help with search engines.

Especially avoid link farms
These highly automated link-exchange systems designed to generate many links quickly won’t help and might get you penalized by search engines.

Remember, it’s not all about search engines; it’s about getting the word out about your site. Syndication gives you relevant links – and search engines like relevant.

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