Learn SEO | SEO Tools & Techniques | Search Engine Optimization

Do you optimize for images? There are a lot of people who go to Google and/or Yahoo Images and conduct searches for various topics. By optimizing your images for the search engines you increase the chances of your site being found by searchers. What do I mean by “optimizing images”? By using the “alt” tag and putting a little thought into how you name your actual images, you will greatly increase the chances of showing up on an image search.

The “alt” tag is an HTML attribute that is used to textually describe an image. The “alt” tag or textual description of the image will display if a browser has the image display settings turned off. In Internet Explorer the text in the “alt” tag will display when the user place the mouse pointer over the image. The use of the “alt” tag provides another opportunity for the search engines to pick up your keyword for that image which should correspond to the information being provided on that particular web page.

Naming your image properly will reap many benefits with the search engines. For instance, if your website is about barbecue pork ribs and you have a photo of a rack of cooked ribs you should name your photo “barbecue-pork-ribs.jpg.”   When an image search is conducted for barbecue pork ribs your image has an increased chance of showing up. When the visitor clicks on your image they are then transported to your website. This provides another route to your website from the search engines.

The “alt” tag and proper image naming is a quick way to increase your SEO efforts. If you haven’t used this technique on your site you can simply take a little time and go back through your site and make these changes. Yes, it may take a little work but the payoff will be worth it.

It has been my experience that one of the most important steps in the SEO process happens before you even sit down to your computer. Pre-planning is essential for an effective SEO campaign, whether your website is new or you are taking on an existing website optimization project. I usually start with a large piece of newsprint paper which will eventually become the “map” to my site.

One of the key steps in the SEO process is the flow of traffic throughout your website from the index page. I have mentioned before that I prefer a shallow and wide website which means no single page ever being more than 2 clicks from the home page. By drawing the flow of traffic on paper before you sit down to the computer you become more aware of how traffic can move down into and between pages of the site. Internal linking structure is important to both the human visitor and the search engine bot who is going to index your site.

By mapping out your pathways you can see how your traffic will move from page to page and section to section. Mapping out your traffic flow also provides you with a trail with which you can place “breadcrumb navigation links” on each page. These links will allow both the visitor and bot to move with ease throughout the site. I even go as far as to use several color markers to indicate specific subject related pathways that I want the visitor to follow.  Often times I will discover instances when I may want to establish a pathway from a page that is 2 clicks from my homepage to another page that is also 2 clicks away from the home page. By establishing this link the visitor can move from page to page with one click. While this may seem mundane, it really does add to the ease of use your site for the visitor. It also adds a new pathway (link) for the search engines to follow.

Do you pre plan your website navigation paths before you start coding?  What is your first step designing an optimized web site?

Garry Conn is at it again. The premier make money online guru is once again giving of his talents and time. Gary has “A Surprise Christmas Bonus With Over $1500 In Free Gifts“.  I don’t know if you follow Garry or not, but if you are interested in how to make money online then I highly recommend you make his blog a daily stop. I have made mention of Garry Conn in past postings at x7SEO.com and he never ceases to amaze me. He obviously knows what he doing and is a successful internet marketer with skills to share. When I first started learning how to make money online and the whole SEO process my top sites I visited included such famous bloggers at John Chow and Jeremy Schoemaker but lately they seem to have turned into nothing more than giant advertising billboards, not offering much of substance any more.

Ever try to ask some of the top make money online bloggers a question and get an answer? Not that easy is it. Garry has taken care of that as well with the setup of BloggingQuestions.com where you can submit questions and get an answer. This site covers a wide range of topics important to bloggers and website developers and provides straight up answers. To top it all off it is FREE as well. I am a big believer in the old adage “what goes around comes around”.  I think that is why Garry is seeing so much success in his online endevours. He gives away a lot of information that normally would take weeks if not months to research.

Like I said before, if you haven’t made GarryConn.com or BloggingQuestions.com one of your daily stops then you need to now.