SEO Tips and Tactics
Yesterday we talked about SEO tips including domain extensions, file sizes, frequency of updates, and URL length. Just a quick recap.
Domain extensions using .gov, .edu, and .org tend to receive preferencial treatment from Google.
Limit your file sizes to 100k per page.
Update your site frequently. Use a blog if that makes updates easier.
Limit your URL length. Google hates long URLs.
Today, we’re going to hit on a couple more SEO tips, including freshness of pages, site size, age of the page vs. the age of the site, and CSS layouts.
Let’s get right to it. Freshness of your pages is important to Google. Yesterday we talked a little about the frequency of your updates and how Google will spider your site more frequently if they see that you’re adding content to your site on a regular basis. But the benefit of adding content to your site is two-fold. If you add a new page here and there, Google will enjoy finding the new content and will likely give those pages preferencial treatment in their rankings. But if you add new content everyday, you’ll see that Google also comes to your site every couple minutes and picks up the new content right away. That’s why you can search for breaking news and find it listed in Google’s rankings on sites like ABC.com or CNN.com. those sites add content all the time so Google reads through it every couple minutes. Within a couple minutes of posting an article, Google has picked it up and knows that it’s there. If your site never posts new content, Google may not bother to visit your site but once every couple months. You could post some breaking news on your site and it’s will never be seen by the public.
The age of the page is important in relation to the age of the site. Sure Google likes your site to have a reputation. They love old sites that have proven themselves. They like to see people who have been around for a long time. After all, they’re more reliable. But old pages tend to lose their relevance. If you want your pages to remain ranked well, they need to be constantly modified and changed so Google sees new content.
CSS is the cleanest way to code a site these days. Sure things are always changing but right now, Google loves CSS. It used to be that tables were the best way to lay out a site. However, the code required to define each and every little cell in a table tends to bloat the code and Google likes clean code. If you don’t know how to code in CSS yet. Learn it. It’s vital to your site’s success. If you’ve just developed a site using tables, re-do it. It’s that important. A site using tables will never have the visibility needed to survive as more and more of your competitors’ sites come online using CSS. And I’m not just talking about using CSS for your font definitions. The whole site needs to be defined using CSS.
That’s it for today. More to come later.
Chadd Bryant
Internet Building Codes
