Seo questions

[Burf.com]

Right trying to work out if I acturally kno anything about SEO.

Questions
what should you cater for with the header text. I know <h1> and <h2> is important but how far down the line does it go?

How important is Meta tags now as alot of site are not having them. Also what would you limit them to
Currently I limit the desc to 200 char and the keyword to 250 char.

I heard something about anchor text not being so important now to google? Is this true?

Last question
How important would we say to name our pages like search-engine-optimisation.htm? What weight would we put on this?

I think I really need to improve Burf from an SEO front.

[Burf.com]

Anyone?

[JuniorOnline]

There was a few articles around saying that Google is changing their algo and making it tougher - but there is no testing done to what these changes might be. Your questions are hard;)

Maybe the forum moderators are looking up answers for your queries:)


do you see any negative change in your current position in the engines though?

[Burf.com]

Well that makes me feel better, I was feeling like a newbie.

Something has happened to my traffic lately (since xmas) It has dropped by about 20%-30%

[brian.mark]

Originally Posted by Burf.com

Right trying to work out if I acturally kno anything about SEO.

The first step is admitting that you have a problem. When we get to step 7, you'll be fully cured of your SERP obsession. ;-)

Originally Posted by Burf.com

Questions
what should you cater for with the header text. I know <h1> and <h2> is important but how far down the line does it go?

Depends on the length of the content. At 50 words, H1 is plenty. The recommendation is that every 2 - 3 paragraphs you'd add in another header (incrementing each time) as it makes sense. Remember, you're writing for users and not for bots.

Originally Posted by Burf.com

How important is Meta tags now as alot of site are not having them. Also what would you limit them to
Currently I limit the desc to 200 char and the keyword to 250 char.

For Google, MSN, Yahoo - you're talking a minimal importance. The description, if well written, can have a positive effect on clickthrough to your listing, but little to no effect on the SERPs. A few smaller (shall remain nameless to protect the not so innocent) engines still use them heavily, and sites that don't have them suffer on these small engines. What's that worth? Probably very little, unless you're on a hugely competitive phrase that you won't ever rank for on the major engines.

Originally Posted by Burf.com

I heard something about anchor text not being so important now to google? Is this true?

I heard something about Google not using links at all now. I heard that on page doesn't matter either. I guess that means the only thing that makes you rank is voodoo.

Anchor text still has weight, although variations in anchor text is more "Natural" and makes for a bit better ranking experience. In that sense, anchor text isn't weighed as heavily. You need more variety now to get rankings in heavy competition terms.

Originally Posted by Burf.com

Last question
How important would we say to name our pages like search-engine-optimisation.htm? What weight would we put on this?

The weight is minimal. Sure, if all other things are equal it'll give you that "little extra". But at the same time, since so much of the weight is off-page, there isn't much to the URL. At the same time, it's still going to help people know they're hitting the right page on your site when they scan the SERPs, so from that point of view it's very useful.

Originally Posted by Burf.com

I think I really need to improve Burf from an SEO front.

If you ever feel you're finished, then you're in trouble. SEO is a continual process, not set-and-forget.

Brian.

[Burf.com]

A brilliant repsonse! Thanks alot!