1. ”SEO” Search engine optimization Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

2. Agenda • What is SEO and why do I need it ? • How do I optimize my website ? • Exercises Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

3. What is Search engine optimization? Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic (visitors) to a website from search engines. Usually, the earlier a website is presented in the search results or the higher it "ranks", the more searchers will visit that site. Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

4. Why to optimize your site? Search engine optimization is simply the practice of making your website more accessible to both search engines and search engine users; in other words, you're making it easier for them to find you. Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

5. Do I really need to optimize my website? Well, of course, you have the option of not making your site accessible to search engines... but what's the point of that? If you want your site to be found, then you must optimize it for search engines. That means you must make it visible to search engines. Websites that are not optimized for search engines have very small chance of being found by potential visitors. Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

6. There’s is no excuse There's really no excuse for not doing search engine optimization. If you go through the trouble of making a web site, then your intention probably is for that website to be found. SEO just is the process that helps this happen. Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

7. How do I optimize my website? There are so many ways to work with SEO. Next I will list some of the most important ways to use SEO to get more visitors on your website. Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

8. Do not buy a new domain unless you have to Due to Google's aging delay for all new domains, your best bet is to use your existing domain/website if at all possible. If you're redesigning or starting from scratch and you have to use a brand-new domain for some reason, you can expect up to 3-6 months before your site will show up in Google for any keyword phrases that are important to you.. Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

9. Understand your audience Understanding your audience is a huge part of getting a well-visited website. You need to pinpoint who it is you will be marketing your site to and write your content accordingly. This might seem pretty obvious, but it is actually very very important. Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

10. Keywords What are keywords and why should you learn about them? Keywords are simply targeted words that determine which category your site will be listed under in search engines, as well as words that searchers input to search engines in order to find the most relevant websites. Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

11. How to find your keywords You have to figure out what words and phrases Internet users are potentially going to use to find you. Try to think of what you would look for, and branch out from there. The more specific you can get, the better. A good rule of thumb would be to come up with 40-50 keywords and phrases, and then narrow them down to the top 20 absolute most effective. Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

12. Where to put keywords in your website Title tag The title tag is a great place to use your keyword phrases. The title tag consists of those words you see at the top of your browser window in the blue space, and it is what search engines grab for the title display in their search results; so obviously, it's an important part of your search engine optimization strategy. Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

13. Where to put keywords in your website Headline Most people who read on the Web scan Web pages quickly. This is why headlines are so important - they give your reader a chance to get what they need fast with a minimum of fuss.have So try to have some of the keywords in the headlines. Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

14. Where to put keywords in your website Content Now you need to write your keyword phrases into your site content. Try to get the keyword in so it seems naturally and doesn’t seem forced in. It has to be part of your text and content. Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

15. Write good content Website content is the absolute number one draw for search engines and search engine users. If your content is badly written, is never updated or it is not relevant for what you want to be found for, than your site is neither search engine friendly or user-friendly. Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

16. Write good content Well written content is what search engines feed on and content is the key to high rankings on search engines. Growing amount of content = more visitors Better written content = more visitors Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

17. Use Title Tags Most search engines indexthe contents of the title tag, which actualy make it one of the most important factors in the ranking process. So if you doesn’t have an optimized title tag, you might be missing a lot of visitors. If possible then use Keywords in title tags. Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

18. Meta Tags Description and meta words are two important things to remember. Good description texts can bring more visitors to your website. Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

19. Make your website link worthy Other sites linking to yours is very critical if you want more people visiting your website. All of the major search engines looks on your website’s overall link popularity. If your website is not that good it will be hard to get anyone to link to it. Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

20. Make your website link worthy On the other hand, if your site i full of wonderful information and content, other sites will perhaps link to your site without even asking. It is very nice to trade links, just make sure that you mostly link to other high quality sites When you link to lousy sites, keep in mind what this says to your visitors and search engines. Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

21. Make your website link worthy High link popularity = Higher ranking in search engines Higher ranking = more visitors Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

22. Use alternate text on images If you use alternate text on images you give the search engine an idea of what the page and image is about. And also you make the site more user friendly. Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

23. Wait for the results If you keep working with SEO you WILL see results – but keep in mind that it takes time. A well optimized site doesn’t get that way overnight. It takes a lot of hard work and patience. Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

24. Exercise 1 • Go to www.google.com • Try to make a search with you organizations name • Did you find the website? • If yes, what does the title and description field say? Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

25. Exercise 2 • Go to www.google.com • Try to make a few searches with keywords that you think matches your site and content • Can you find the website? Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008

26. Exercise 3 • Try to add description text and meta words to your frontpage. • When this is done, go through all your other pages and add description text and meta words. (might not be today) Webmanagement training - Dar es Salaam 2008