Optimized site for SE submission

[web-diva]

I am working with a new client and would like an evaluation from you gurus about the keywords and meta tags I used in the title, descriptions and copy. As well, any other comments to optimize this site further for search engine sumission.

The site is: www.jillbeach.com

Appreciate any feedback. Thanks,

[LauraB]

Hi Jo Ann,

Your title is too long. From your title it looks like Media Training, Video Production are your focus but not in the description (and customer is misspelled).

I don't see any alt tags, they are a good place to put keyword phrases (and commonly missplelled words.

Check your keyword density. And you might want to add Video or Media or what ever your primary service is, to Services Link.

Good luck,

Laura

[softwaresubmit]

That flash intro will hurt SE rankings for sure. This page does not have any content at all, and this is the one that will be indexed first.

That is why I move to next page:

- <script language="JavaScript"> section at the top of HTML code will not help indexing it for sure, your ranking may be hurt.
- 18 words in TITLE. Too long
- 25 keywords, you might want to drop some
- 37 words in META DESCRIPTION. Too long.
- your keywords can be hardly found in the content, as the links or ALT tags

Your site should be optimized a little bit more, but this is a good start.

[achronister]

Hi Jo Ann,

Your title is a little too long, but not much. The 'general' rule of thumb (and this is by no means a fact) is to have your title tag between 6-12 words. You currently have 18 so it's not so bad, but I would consider shortening it.

It's also a good idea if your target keywords are indeed Media Training and Video Production to put them as far left as possible. Maybe not the very first word (spiders sometimes see this as sneaky technique)

As an example for the title, I might use this "Miami Strategic Media Training and Video Production from Jill Beach Productions, Inc." 12 words, keywords are closer to the left.

As far as the META description, I try to stay between 12-24 words, but that's a personal thing and I don't know how much difference it makes. Shortening it would be a personal decision and then see how it goes. (And Laura was right, customer is misspelled) Also, even though Google pays no attention, you might revise it to include your target keyword phrases in there. The more specific search phrase, the better the conversion rate.

Keyword tag is right on target for length in my opinion (7-48 words). One thing to be sure, is any keyword you use in that tag be included in the body. Two things might happen if you don't. One, the keyword will definitely be ignored, and some spiders consider keywords in the meta tag not included in the body and form of spamming and will penalize you for it.

And finally, if that is your primary landing page, my suggestion would be more content and keywords. A good range (again, my opinion) is between 2% and 7%.

And you might do away with the Flash intro if it isn't that important. I know you're a media company so you might keep it. You might submit the actual home page and include a site map.

Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any more questions!

Aaron

[mm99]

I agree with all of the other comments especially the intro page problem. When the ses come to visit, and "SKIP INTRO >> " is all it sees on the entire page, you have a problem. You could frame the page using the noframes area for an alt page with links an content. That is the solution that seems to work best.

One thing that is fairly easy to do, is take the page that the intro links to and use it for your noframes content. Doctor it up a bit, perhaps with some extra kw and/or links content, and place the flash in a full frame. There are other things that can be done, but this seems like the easiest way out that I know of.

The ses will read the noframes content and you will do much better than you will with "skip intro".

peace...Paul

[web-diva]

Thank you all for your replies. I agree that submitting the URL with the homepage, not the flash page is the best thing to do.

I notice when I ran the meta tag analyzer on Scrub the Web, the comment came back that I do not have a /robots.txt file. How do I construct that?

I will look over the other comments again and make appropriate edits again. I'll run it up the flag poll one more time, thanks to all your teriffic support.

Regards,

[mm99]

Just place a robots tag in your head area. It's a better idea and looks like this:
<META name="robots" content="index, follow">

peace...Paul

[web-diva]

Really? That's almost TOO EASY! Thanks for the tip!

[mm99]

I prefer to use the tags instead of the txt file because it gives better control. If you want a page excluded, just place "nofollow" and the robots will ignore it. It's good for protected pages and getting something removed fron the ses that you no longer want listed.

Try the frames on the flash intro. It's also "too easy" and really works.

peace...Paul

[web-diva]

Hello again my cyber friends. I have had my designer make the changes we previously discussed to enhance the SEO placement. Before I send it along to the Search Engines and DMOZ, I would like one final assessment, to see if it's on par.

Thank you all for your attention, and most specifically your great guidance. This is a valuable forum on which to be a member!

Cheers~

[rlrouse]

Hi Jo Ann. You should shorten your title to:

Miami Strategic Media Training and Video Production

Having your business name in the title does more harm than good as it dilutes the keyword density in the title.

[web-diva]

Hi Jo Ann. You should shorten your title to:

Miami Strategic Media Training and Video Production

Having your business name in the title does more harm than good as it dilutes the keyword density in the title.

But~ Doesn't the ability to find the name of the company in the Title bar allow the search engines to find something that someone knows the name of, and has a bit of a clue what the company is called?

Or is it now strictly reserved for keywords?

Thanks for your comment.

[rlrouse]

Anyone who already knows your website name probably won't be searching for you in Google Jo Ann. They'll be searching for keywords. You really need to optimize your site for what the searchers are searching for.

If you're Amazon, Google, or Yahoo, sure you can just use your Website name in the title tag because they have hundreds of thousands of links into their sites. Smaller sites don't have that luxury. They need to make every keyword count in order to rank well and be found.

Of course this is just my opinion but it is based upon quite a bit of SEO experience, seeing what works best and what doesn't.

[rlrouse]

Forgot to answer this one:


Or is it now strictly reserved for keywords?

No, you can put virtually anything in the title tag that you want as long as it's some variation of text. But as in real eastate, we have to take into consideration the "highest and best use" of all aspects of our websites, of which the title tag is one of the most important.

[grease]

There seems to be quite the debate on whether or not to use a blank robots.txt or nothing at all or

User-agent: *
Disallow:

Can anyone finally put this to rest?
Thanks,

Grease

[rlrouse]

There seems to be quite the debate on whether or not to use a blank robots.txt or nothing at all or

User-agent: *
Disallow:

Can anyone finally put this to rest?

If you want to allow all robots, don't have a robots.txt at all. It's impossible to mess up something that doesn't exist. Bad robot.txt files cause lots of search engine woes.

[grease]

I read somewhere that a search engine...lycos possibly, had a problem with no robots.txt file. Also, the meta tag analyzer on Scrub the Web gives an error when the there is no robots.txt file...what does this mean? I have great search engine rankings in google WItHOut the file...but I seem to have a lot of missing pages (not file not founds). I wonder if that has something to do with this file? Any thoughts?

Grease

[matauri]

But~ Doesn't the ability to find the name of the company in the Title bar allow the search engines to find something that someone knows the name of, and has a bit of a clue what the company is called?

Or is it now strictly reserved for keywords?

While the title is a great place to put heavy duty keywords, you also have to be careful about some directories that are indexed by community members. Many of them prefer the company name first & will reject you for not structuring it right. Nearly all of them have thier own rules for submissions, so best bet is to read them.

I found the most common format for them being :
<title>Jill Beach Productions Inc : Miami Strategic Media Training and Video Productions</title>



Cindy

[web-diva]

Thanks, everyone, for your valued input. You're a Godsend to the industry!
Happy Holidays!
Jo Ann

[mm99]

1) re robots: your question about if you should include robots.txt. Don't bother with the txt file. Instead, place them in the head of the html in the meta tags. I usually place them in the index file only. Looks like this:

<META name="robots" contents="index, follow">

Your mention of lycos...It's the Inkatomi se that will not index you without them. There are 2 ways to get listed with them...it will find you if you are listed elaswhere and you have the tag, or you pay to be listed. You should avoid the txt file.

2) It was mentioned that you should not put the conpany in the title. Unless you are very well known, it is much better to load the title with kws. This is prime real estate and should not be wasted on the name of your company (ego deflates). You probably have the name of your company somewhere high in the html text anyway, and if someone searches for you by company name, your co name is prob unique enough that it will come to the top of any search for it anyway. You should place it in the desc first, so dirs will show it when you are listed.
Something like this:

Joe Blos Penut Factory - manufacturing penuts...

There are exceptions like redirects. You should place your url in the title of all of the root pages, so if a visitor finds you in the ses by the root pages, they will know what the url is of the redirect that will get them to your site in the future. It also seems to help the ses identify the pages as belonging to the site. Your pages may also rank better (content vs. pr) than the redir, so they may very well come up on top in any search.

peace...Paul