ACE Site Creator

When writing content for a website, one must not only think of the reader, but also about search engines. Fortunately, by keeping keywords, content and structure in mind, a website can be optimized for both readers and search engines simultaneously.

Start with keywords
Most page content writing needs to start with keywords. With so many pages and so much competition, every webmaster first needs to decide what keywords and phrases they will target. These keywords need to be based on a combination of what your site offers, what keywords people use when they search and what the competition is for those keywords and phrases. There are various keyword tools to assist you in this from free ones offered by Google to paid services. Select a keyword tool will give you information such as how often the keyword or phrase is searched and what the competition is.

Write content for your site in a way that incorporates your chosen keywords and phrases while keeping the content natural and appealing to readers. Overusing keywords will not only turn off readers but could lead to penalties from search engines. Generally, 5% to 20% of the words in your text should be your chosen keywords and phrases with individual keywords making up 2% to 4% of the total words. Vary the forms and combinations of the keywords and phrases.

Structured content
Search engines favor content rich sites. Ideally, pages should be around 250-500 words each. Add as many as many pages of credible, original content on your niche as possible. Try to keep your keywords and phrases spread out in your site so that they appear in the beginning, middle and end of the page.

Content needs to be structured both for search engines and for your readers. Search engines generally look for well-organized, structured pages. Organize your site with your keywords and phrases with header tags, bold text and internal anchors.

Readers are first
More importantly than search engines, your site needs to be written with your readers in mind. Web surfers have access to access to unlimited sites and want quick results. If they do not see what they are looking for quickly, they will simply go on to the next site. Use the structure of your site to show the reader what they are looking for quickly, thus pulling them in for a more detailed look at what you are offering.

Call to action
Focus your content on conversion. Whatever the goal of your site is, make it clear and easy to access. Every page should contain at least one quick link (optimized with keywords) to whatever action you want your readers to perform.

Attention to keywords, structure, along with informative, unique content will make your site attractive to readers while increasing your position in search engines.

Header tags are the H1-H6 tags that give text larger font and prominence. In a well-built site, they are used to give the page structure thus showing both human visitors and search engines what the site is about. By doing so, visitors will better understand the pages and your site will be boosted in search engines.

A good site pulls visitors in with headers that show what the site offers and how to navigate it. This is done by highlighting keywords and topics with header tags. Since most people will quickly move to the next site if they do not see what they page they are on is about quickly, the structure headers add to your site is critical in retaining visitors.

In the same way, search engine algorithms give more weight to words between header tags. While this varies with the search engine and some doubt their effectiveness, if header tags are not abused, they can only help with search engine rankings.

The H1 header tag has the largest font and carries the most weight with search engines. Use it to highlight the most important keywords and themes on each page. Since the font is too large in most situations, you may want to set it to a smaller size using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). To avoid penalties with search engines, do not use it more than once per page. Use H2-H6 (which are progressively lower in importance) tags to introduce other section headings as needed.

While header tags should contain keywords, do not “stuff” them with keywords and make sure they read as naturally as possible. Doing otherwise can penalize your page with both readers and search engines.

Since link anchor text (the link text that is visible to readers on your site) can also help you on SERP (search engine result pages), you may sometimes want to include your header tag as anchor text. Simply put the header tags on either side of the anchor text.

Bolded and underlined text can also sometimes carry more weight with search engines while outlining your site to readers. These can be used independently or with some combination of header tags and link anchor text.

With the advantages they offer in presenting your site to readers and search engines, header tags should be carefully planned out to give your site optimal advantage.

Meta tags are pieces of text placed in the top, header part of the page to describe what the page is about. While they  are not as important as they once were for search engine rankings, well written tags can still help with SEO (search engine optimization) while  providing visitors with valuable information about your site. Being quick  and easy        to make, they are well worth adding to your site.

Title Tag
The title tag is the most important meta tag not only for search  engines, but for visitors to your site. It will usually be displayed to  users on the SERP (search engine result page) as the blue link. It is  also displayed the top of their browser window and in the description if users  favorite your site. Therefore, it should be as crisp, clear, descriptive  and enticing as possible to anyone reading it.
For search engine optimization, the following rules should be  followed:

• The title should contain around 15-65 characters or 5-8  words.
• Use the keywords and phrases selected for the demographic  you are targeting.     This keywords should also be on the page.
• The title should vary with each page’s theme and target  keywords.
• Try not to repeat words in the title since this wastes  description space and may be considered spam by some search engines.
• Avoid words like “A”, “The”, “With” and only use punctuation where absolutely necessary.
• Capitalize the first letter of each word.

Description Tag
While not as important as the title tag, the description tag  certainly has enough relevance with many search engines to warrant the  time and effort to be made properly and included on every page. The  description tag may appear on the SERP depending on the search engine and  factors such as DMOZ registration (Google will often use the DMOZ  description on the SERP) and the ability of the search engine to generate a  description from the page content. Therefore, it needs to be written in  fashion that          is clear, descriptive and enticing to readers.

The description tag should be kept under two sentences with the  first sentence containing the most important keywords. While longer  descriptions of up to 250 characters are ok, most search engines will cut off  descriptions  of over 150 characters so it is best to keep them under that  length.
Some points about the meta description page to keep in mind:

• Putting the most important keywords at the beginning or  middle of the sentence can sometimes help with your rankings.
• Avoid repeating keywords since this may be considered  spamming.
• Vary your description for each page according to the page  content.

Keywords Tag
Due to keyword spamming, most search engines now ignore this  tag. However, it is the easiest tag to make and still has some value with some  search engines. It is most useful in targeting obscure terms and  regions.

For this tag, simply insert words and phrases separated by commas. As  with the title and description tags, use targeted keywords that  appear on the page. Do not repeat words or use to many words to avoid  spamming penalties.

Note that none of the meta tags are case sensitive with search engines so capitalization is a matter of appearance and makes no difference in this tag. Also, all meta tags should appear within the head  section of each page.

While they have declined in importance, meta tags, especially  the title tag, are still certainly important enough to warrant being taken seriously and done correctly both for enticing site visitors as well as  for SEO.importance, meta tags, especially  the title tag, are still certainly important enough to warrant being taken  seriously and done correctly both for enticing site visitors as well as  for SEO.