Google and SEO

One of the on-line sessions during PDN last week had to do with SEO and it talked about tools that the search engines make available to advise webmasters as to how friendly (or not) their website is and how it affects their search ranking. I enjoy excellent search resuts with Yahoo but I'm almost non-existent on Google and want to understand and correct anything that might be holding me back with them.

But does anyone know about this "tool" and how to access the data?

Thanks.

https://www.google.com​/webmasters/tools/

Peacefield wrote in post #10282242
One of the on-line sessions during PDN last week had to do with SEO and it talked about tools that the search engines make available to advise webmasters as to how friendly (or not) their website is and how it affects their search ranking. I enjoy excellent search resuts with Yahoo but I'm almost non-existent on Google and want to understand and correct anything that might be holding me back with them.

But does anyone know about this "tool" and how to access the data?

Thanks.

Google keeps their formulas top secret and constantly changes them to keep people from "gaming the system". They do however post a page where they tell you general tips on how to improve your rankings based on a certian search key.

The best thing you can do to improve your rankigs is have a good site that lots of people love to visit. Don rely on goggle to bring you traffic...offer a good site that people want to come to and Google will reward in turn.

There are plenty of things you can do to improve your site. The first thing I would recommend is to validate your site with the W3C to make sure your code is up to par. Then I would find other people with similar links and interestes to link to your site. One way links tend to be very helpful in my experience..That just scratches the surface..oh and I would tell you to never pay any SEO company that claims they do anythig with your Google rankings, they are lying and you will just be wasting money.

HEre are some links that may help.
http://validator.w3.or​g/
http://www.google.com …wer.py?hl=en&an​swer=35291

Excellent resources; thanks guys.

Your site is a nightmare for Google. A couple issues leap out:

- Firstly, most of the content (text) on your pages is rendered as images. No search engine will index text out of the images - you've got to turn those images back into text.
- Google doesn't use the "meta keywords" tag, where you've stuffed all your keywords. Yahoo does use it, so there's the main difference between the search engines.
- Your "meta description" tag is supposed to be a short description of your site, and you've got garbage in there. Fix that.
- Even your <title> text is fairly useless. Include something that says what you shoot and where you are.

Dave

tracknut wrote in post #10282578
Your site is a nightmare for Google. A couple issues leap out:

- Firstly, most of the content (text) on your pages is rendered as images. No search engine will index text out of the images - you've got to turn those images back into text.
- Google doesn't use the "meta keywords" tag, where you've stuffed all your keywords. Yahoo does use it, so there's the main difference between the search engines.
- Your "meta description" tag is supposed to be a short description of your site, and you've got garbage in there. Fix that.
- Even your <title> text is fairly useless. Include something that says what you shoot and where you are.

Dave

+1.

Yeah, I'm decidedly not webmaster savvy. I couldn't get the look I was trying to achieve with traditional HTML (at least not with my skills) so I created my pages as jpgs in PhotoShop with text boxes behind them. I'm finding out now that those hidden text boxes are another no-no. And I'll have to be more deliberate about my meta description.

Thanks.

tracknut wrote in post #10282578
- Even your <title> text is fairly useless. Include something that says what you shoot and where you are.

... using headline (H1, H2, etc.) tags.

Im still working on making a site my self but a few friends recomend this site as a helpfull tool.

http://www.woorank.com

http://www.woorank.com …obertwaynephoto​graphy.com

May or may not help you in your search results.

Rob

the_madmax wrote in post #10293735
Im still working on making a site my self but a few friends recomend this site as a helpfull tool.

http://www.woorank.com

http://www.woorank.com …obertwaynephoto​graphy.com

May or may not help you in your search results.

Rob

I'm still trying to grow my understanding of this stuff. I think once I get what that site's telling me, it will be very useful. Thanks!