I need some help understanding SEO and how best (best practices) to get our site ranking raised.

Do any of you have any suggestions as to what we MUST do to best get the attention of the search engines?

For example, how critical is a META Description? Keywords?

What about related products (configured during the product add)? Does the addition or lack of related products on each product page help or hurt or neither?

Any help, with perhaps an opinion of the most important to-do for SEO would be much appreciated.

I would definitely utilize the META fields and keywords. That's exactly why they are there.

I did find this article on Network Solutions' new small business community site, MySolutionsSpot.com:

http://www.mysolutionspot.com/online-marke...1017/1083/#1083

There is a great deal of depth to this topic and I am not an expert in it, but it is easy to find primers and such.

Hope that is helpful.
Rj

The most basic steps are making sure you have good Meta keywords and Meta descriptions -- especially the description. We also find that giving the page titles a little more detail (i.e. getting a few more keywords in there) have been helping since the move to V7. We also use keyword-dense long product descriptions for all products.

Todd

There's many items that fall into the SEO realm, on page factors, backlinks, etc..

I use the following example with my customers perhaps it will help you to understand an "overview" of best practices when dealing with SEO issues.

Image that you have a piece of paper, now write the word "cars" on it...

at this point that piece of paper is about CARS....it can't be mistaken for boats, cucumbers, or dogs....

now if you write the word "Red" on that same piece of paper, the paper is now only 50% about cars, and 50% about Red, and 100% about "Red cars"...

This is the same view that the search engine takes when looking at your page, you can't expect to be found for a term that doesn't appear on your page. (not entirely true, inbound link terms can have an effect on SEO but you can't really control how people link to you normally.)

Use your keywords within every aspect of the site, on a page by page basis. Keep in mind that Search Engines Dont rank sites....they rank individual "pages"....

Each page should be optimized for it's own particular product individually, don't use boilerplate content for each page....write something original for each product or service using your choice of terms within the page content.

This process goes on and on, and I could write for hours about it....but this should get you at least pointed in the correct direction basically.

there are a ton of great resources on SEO, however like anything, everyone has an opinion on what works and what doesn't, there is no fast track to long lasting top placement, it boils down to age of the page/site, on page content, backlinks, etc.

It's not magic, and no rocket science involved, it's all common sense. Don't expect to be found for something you don't talk about on your site.

Now if you're in a competitive market, and you're trying to place well, you have a tough road ahead of you. All those other sites were there before you, so they already have a leg up on you. It's takes some really hard work to get your site up in the listings in a highly competitive area. But...all the on page factors, backlinks, etc still apply....

Let me know if I wasn't clear enough about this...

Thanks!
aks

Meta Tags are pretty much obsolete. They have no effect on search engine ranks. To my knowledge Inktomi is the only search engine that still supports them.

- Title tags are really important (using proper keywords)
- Using Heading Tags properly (H1, H2, H3 etc etc.)
- Usage of short and long descriptions (Keyword Rich...not spammy)
- Building Links, (Quality links to your site. Not link farms.)

The best thing you can do is be descriptive as possible on your products. Include as much information as you can but don't go overboard. Don't go crazy with keywords to the point where your sentences or paragraphs don't make any sense. Write your descriptions so they make sense for the user. If they don't...who cares what rankings you are getting. In my opinion Usability and SEO go hand and hand.

Lastly...The best thing you can do is read, read, then read some more. The SEO world is constantly evolving. Keep up with the latest tricks and trends... implement them. Don't be afraid to try something new...as long as you monitor the results. (IMG:http://forums.networksolutions.com/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Good Luck (IMG:http://forums.networksolutions.com/style_emoticons/default/thumbsup.gif)
Justyn

Clearly there is much to learn.

A follow-up, if I may. How does one know if their site is getting better or worse with respect to SEO optimization? Is it as simple as a search on Google to see which / where you rank? Is there a more quantitative way to measure the effects of changes made to the site?

Google Analytics is great for tracking conversions and seeing how people got to your site. You can see if traffic has increased for specific keywords month to month. You can also see if your overall traffic has increased. OR... if your phones start ringing off the hook!!! (IMG:http://forums.networksolutions.com/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Great Question!

Read, Read, Read and then when you thought you read everything and you know it all, READ some more. Of course, you can't just read and not do. So you need to implement what you read. Now, more importantly, don't believe everything you read, and don't implement everything you read. You want to stay away from Black Hat SEO stuff.

These forums and merchants, can be a great resource. If you aren't sure about something, don't hesitate to post.

Can't tell you how many times I have Read and heard "Content is King" Now of course, we still struggle to implement this on our own site. But good unique content that is laced with keywords naturally is going to take you further than anything else, IMO.

Once you get it all figured out, you have to come back in here and help us all figure it out. Because it changes, moves, adapts over time.