HI....
Dumbed Down Wordpress Manual for 14 bucks
KInd regards
Loopy Ron
No need to apologise! Easy mistake to make. Do check out the rates for advertising your business here, though.
Oops. Sorry for that!
Hi Tavleen. Thanks for that. Can you please remove the link to your business? This is a very friendly, supportive network, but there are one or two things you should be aware of. Here's the link: http://www.survivefrance.com/profiles/blogs/rules-regulations-on-sfn
Phew! Thanks for that Tony, am exhausted just reading through it, but thanks for taking the time to reply. Lots of work for me then, should keep me out of mischief and off the streets!
If you are targeting Google then Meta tags are not important - the "Title" is very important, this is not meta data. Do a simple and accurate "description" for a mouse over, but Google ignores this anyway.
Wordpress is beautiful for site design and you can have a huge amount of control using plugins to shape and control aspects of the way the site renders. The Wordpress forum gives all the help and advice you could wish for and it is far and away the strongest most used system worldwide.
You can get Wordpress in French if you prefer.
To design for French language, if this is your target market, then you need to use the same tools to find the keywords in use, but in French of course - chambre dhote instead of bnb appartement instead of apartment.
Apart from the title, the content of the pages is vital , it is this you optimise and keep fresh - a good site should have fresh content every day - integrate your blog and your YouTube videos constantly - use all social media, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter especially to feed and deliver to your site.
Many folk are no longer using the phrase "Search Engine Optimisation" - but say "Search Optimisation" - this is to remind us that probably in reality HALF our viable traffic originates now from mobile devices, phones and tablet. So make absolutely sure your site and contents render properly on an iPhone - remember the French are still in the age of phone calls with human voices at the end, so make sure you are available on a steam driven land-line telephone apparatus for your French clients and that they can find your phone numbers easily.
Searches through Twitter, Pinterest and mobile apps are growing quickly now and old browser searching on the top line of desktops and laptops is shrinking, so it is vital to make sure you design and work towards this. Make sure your videos are optimised for search just in the same way as you website znd link them all together.
Then there are links - you need many one way inward links to your new site - not link exchanges, try to get really good links from an "authority" website, ten good ones is better than 100 weak ones - Dmoz.org is still king and vital to get listed in. Yahoo costs money, if you've got lots, then spend a couple of hundred dollars on Yahoo.
I could go on all day, but I don't have time, too many Wordpress sites to keep up-to-date :)
Bonne Chance
Tony
Thanks Tony. My problem is French language - I'm targeting the French market, so not sure what a native French speaker would use in terms of the search terms he or she would put into Google.fr, so have asked a couple of French friends to help. Awaiting response, and then I can better target the meta descriptions, although I'm using Wordpress, and it's harder, imho, to insert stuff, as using a pre-designed template.
Page 8 would be a fantastic start if your keyword search is something like - villa in France - but crap if you are searching for - green spruggle clips for sandwiches -
Also be careful with Google as it will deliver what it thinks you would like t see- you can only get a fair idea of your "true" position if you use a proxy server which is "uncontaminated " with prior preferences - I get some idea by searching through http://yabigo.com - this searches Bing and Google at the same time without biasing the result from your Google profile (oh yes, they have got one on you) - Yahoo is scrapped from yabigo now.
All that matters is "content" - but this is easy to say and hard to do as the algorithm changes - my best guess is now for three keywords with a density of under 3% on a 350 word page - plus masses of other stuff relating to positions, div and headline tags, hypertext links and things like have you paid for 1 year or 10 years for your domain name. The are masses of sites for Search optimisation advice
Hi Vanessa, and thanks for that. You're right in what you say about Google and others changing the goalposts. I knew what I was doing a few years ago, but meta tags are no longer used by Google, so there must be other techniques. Google of course does not make known the algorithm it currently uses, so webmasters have a new headache! I will be doing some experimentation today, and will post results if any. Just a cautionary note: Do not put your email address as a link on your website - you will be spammed for ever. I am thinking of using a "contact" form for this.
I haven't looked at the link you provided Sheila as I have limited time today but I've put some notes below which may (or may not) be useful. I don't guarantee anything. I'm sure there are more experienced people on here than me.
I have created a few websites but it was over 5 years ago now (it was actually around 2005). I have done a couple of 2/3 page sites for friends over here wanting to sell their houses.
When I was really into it, I just used html code and I went to all the possible free Business lInk etc seminars I could, to learn more about SEO. The problem with SEO and Google and other search engines is that they change the goalposts so frequently and don't necessarily tell anyone!
I was quite successful in getting my sites to the first page of Google though (in those days). Metatags were my keys. I also made sure I was listed on different relevant directories as well because those links got picked up by Search Engines. These were the key notes from one of the seminars I went to...
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Contact details of company on every page / bottom of navigation links is a good place
KEYWORDS
10 – 12 separated by commas
Most words should be in the body text, especially on the home page
Check Overture for what people have typed in in the previous month
DESCRIPTION
Good keyword description
Up to 250 characters including spaces
TITLE
Should reflect what you do and about you
40 – 50 characters
Use Image Tag and Alt tags
LINKS
Put the links so that the entire website can be reached
Check Keyword density – ratio (try Googling for sites for this)
Keep website up to date – fresh material
PROMOTION
Don't forget to Promote the site everywhere.
Submit to major search engines
Tell people your website address – tell them if there is anything new
Have website address printed on all stationery
Website address on company van – people will remember that rather than a telephone number
Consider launch campaign of your website – mouse mat, coasters etc
Direct enquires to website
Features in newspapers and magazines. Make sure website address is there
Clubs / associations – is member of
Create an email list
Include address in email signature
Search engine directories
Pay per click – Google etc. ad-word campaign
Address on envelopes
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Way back, when the earth was cooling, we used meta tags, inserted before the body of the page, and so, in an effort to update my (questionable) skills, I started my research with Wikipedia. I was only 5 minutes on the page when I was losing the will to live. There must be an easier and more user-friendly way of understanding SEO than this:
I’m looking for a good SEO strategy. What are the trends in theis spehere? What tools can I use? Did anyone try AI for SEO?
Any help is appreciated.
Ditto @IslaMujeres - a lot of SEO “advice” is snake oil - write interesting (and well-structured) content and then get people talking about it on social media seems to be the best way.
If you use WordPress to build your site there are various plugins that can help “score” your content for SEO-worthiness, so you can see how you are doing - RankMath is quite a good one. But such plugins are just guidance - write in your natural style and resist the urge to devolve into keyword-crammed “SEO-speak” - e.g. “As an internationally famous widget designer who has designed widgets for people from all over the globe, I can offer expert widget-designing skills, suited to the needs of all those who are looking for superb widget design…” etc. etc.