10 Costly Search Engine Mistakes to Avoid

If you have a website then you already know the importance of traffic. Traffic is to Internet marketing as location is to real estate. It's the only thing that really matters. If you cannot generate targeted visitors to your site, you will not make any sales.

Usually the owner or designer of the website is the person designated to drive traffic to the site. The chief ingredient in generating traffic is the search engine. Of coarse, you can use advertising, but it's going to cost you. Using the search engines to generate targeted (interested in your product) traffic is the least expensive method known.

Unfortunately, many website owners do not understand the importance of search engine visibility, which leads to traffic. They place more importance on producing a "pretty" website. Not that this is bad, but it is really secondary to search engine placement. Hopefully, the following list of common mistakes, made by many website owners, will help you generate more targeted traffic to your site...after all, isn't that what you want.

1. Not using keywords effectively.

This is probably one of the most critical area of site design. Choose the right keywords and potential customers will find your site. Use the wrong ones and your site will see little, if any, traffic.

2. Repeating the same keywords.

When you use the same keywords over and over again (called keyword stacking) the search engines may downgrade (or skip) the page or site.

3. Robbing pages from other websites.

How many times have you heard or read that "this is the Internet and it's ok" to steal icons and text from websites to use on your site. Don't do it. Its one thing to learn from others who have been there and another to outright copy their work. The search engines are very smart and usually detect page duplication. They may even prevent you from ever being listed by them.

4. Using keywords that are not related to your website.

Many unethical website owners try to gain search engine visibility by using keywords that have nothing at all to do with their website. They place unrelated keywords in a page (such as "sex", the name of a known celebrity, the hot search topic of the day, etc.) inside a meta tag for a page. The keyword doesn't have anything to do with the page topic. However, since the keyword is popular, they think this will boost their visibility. This technique is considered spam by the search engines and may cause the page (or sometimes the whole site) to be removed from the search engine listing.

5. Keyword stuffing.

Somewhat like keyword stacking listed above, this means to assign multiple keywords to the description of a graphic or layer that appears on your website by using the "alt=" HTML parameter. If the search engines find that this text does not really describe the graphic or layer it will be considered spam.

6. Relying on hidden text.

You might be inclined to think that if you cannot see it, it doesn't hurt. Wrong.... Do not try to hide your keywords or keyword phrases by making them invisible. For example, some unethical designers my set the keywords to the same color as the background of the web page; thereby, making it invisible.

7. Relying on tiny text.

This is another version of the item above (relying on hidden text). Do not try to hide your keywords or keyword phrases by making them tiny. Setting the text size of the keywords so small that it can barely be seen does this.

8. Assuming all search engines are the same.

Many people assume that each search engine plays by the same rules. This is not so. Each has their own rule base and is subject to change anytime they so desire. Make it a point to learn what each major search engine requires for high visibility.

9. Using free web hosting.

Do not use free web hosting if you are really serious about increasing site traffic via search engine visibility. Many times the search engines will eliminate content from these free hosts.

10. Forgetting to check for missing web page elements.

Make sure to check every page in your website for completeness, like missing links, graphics, etc. There are sites on the web that will do this for free.

This is just a few of the methods and techniques that you should avoid. Do not give in to the temptation that these methods will work for you. They will do more harm than good for your website.

Not only will you spend weeks of wasted effort, you may have your site banned from the search engines forever. Invest a little time to learn the proper techniques for increasing search engine visibility and your net traffic will increase.

Jeff Casmer will help you setup your very own money making website today that's 100% ready to take orders and pull in MASSIVE PROFITS for you right now...GUARANTEED! Plus, you'll get your own pre-written ezine-in-a-box customized and setup for you absolutely free WITHIN 24 HOURS!! Get started immediately at: http://www.24hourwealth.com

Brand Media Goes Green; SEO Brand Media Works on New Sta. Elena ...
PR-CANADA.net (press release), Montenegro - 2 hours ago
SEO Brand Media has officially signed the contract with the developer of Sta. Elena Golf and Country Club, Mr. Gippy Tantoco for the website development of ...

Learn How to Create Quality SEO Content with Google Snatch
Corsavoo.com, France - 6 hours ago
Throughout the pages of furniture cleaning service book he demystifies the process behind selecting keywords to build a site and writing SEO articles that ...
Linking up: Search engine rankings still come down to links. Corsavoo.com
Google Doesn't Care About Website Design Corsavoo.com
all 3 news articles

There's No Secret Recipe to SEO
Search Engine Watch - 21 hours ago
But SEO isn't an omelet. While a general framework is necessary to be effective, the optimization process must be adaptable to each unique client. ...

Professional SEO services healthcare
Business Feet, UK - Aug 29, 2008
Professional services for SEO should be treated like doctors because "websites are like patients" and won't get better if they don't reveal symptoms. ...

Disclose information for SEO
BCS, UK - 23 hours ago
Businesses which employ search engine optimisation (SEO) companies have been advised to treat them like doctors and give them all the information they ask ...

SEO Elite really worth your money?
Corsavoo.com, France - Aug 29, 2008
One of the greatest misconceptions about SEO Elite and other SEO software is that they’re a ‘get-traffic-quick’ source. Whereby, simply inserting your ...
Search Engine Optimization(On Page) Corsavoo.com
all 2 news articles

Last Second Media Unveils Web Video (SEO) Program -- Boosts Search ...
PR Web (press release), WA - Aug 29, 2008
Web video launch, advertisers can acquire higher search rankings by augmenting traditional SEO and paid search with web video. Advertisers can also push ...

Marketing Assistant/SEO/Web Analyst
Bizcommunity.com, South Africa - Aug 29, 2008
Do you have a degree in marketing and would like to make the transition to e-marketing? We are looking for a talented individual with a marketing brain to ...

Internet Marketing News
Unique web content 'best for SEO'
Epiphany Search News, UK - Aug 28, 2008
Such content can both give search engine optimisation (SEO) efforts a boost and attract more relevant visitors and potential sales leads to a company's ...
Expert: Enhance SEO with unique web pages Digital Response Media
Exclusivity vital for better search engine placement Business Feet
Exclusive website content "crucial" DirectNews
Internet Marketing News - BCSall 8 news articles

Div ID=”Header” Different SEO Tactics
Search Engine Journal - Aug 29, 2008
it is the most prominent part of the site - it is usually located at the top of the page source code (and hence is a good place for your keywords). an ...

10 Minutes to Your Google Sitemap

Google's calling your name...Hi, Google here. We want to index your website...Is anyone there?This article... Read More

A Naive Mistake Cost Me My Google Rankings

Little do you know but you too could be making mistakes with your website that... Read More

Adding Content To Your Site Every Day

If you have been a webmaster for more than a week, you've surely heard the... Read More

Search Engine Marketing 101 For Corporate Sites

When most people want to find something on the web, they use a search engine.... Read More

Commonly SEO terms and Jargon used by Search Engine Gurus

What does all this SEO jargon mean.Have you ever been left scratching your head, wondering... Read More

Search Engine Robots - How They Work, What They Do (Part I)

Automated search engine robots, sometimes called "spiders" or "crawlers", are the seekers of web pages.... Read More

Finding The Best Search Engine

With Billions of pages on the internet how do you find exactly what is that... Read More

Boost Your Website Rankings with Expert Content

The chase for a high web ranking is constantly on and is in fact very... Read More

Would You Let A Dog Or A Butler Market Your Website?

The latest news to hit the Internet's 'water cooler' is that Lycos and Ask Jeeves... Read More

Most Overlooked Search Engine Optimization Technique

Some of the basics when it comes to SEO and getting high ranking in search... Read More