Tips for Getting Found - the Black Art of Search Engine Optimisation

Search engine optimisation is about making sure that web site content is found and ranked highly by search engines such as Google. AIMS 4 based websites are designed to ensure maximum search engine optimisation. This is done through the best use of technology such as cascading style sheets and the use of metadata and keywords in the site templates and publishing engine. However there are a number of other important considerations that are more in the hands of content publishers.

Some useful tips for AIMS users:

• Titles and Headings - Select title, heading and sub-heading keywords carefully. Because titles & headings carry more weight with search engines, its important to think very carefully about the words and phrases used. The level of importance goes down from title, headings, sub-headings etc. Note that AIMS automatically creates metatags from many input fields including Title and Description.
• Description Fields - Write content in AIMS Description fields to describe the content of the rest of the page. Search engines focus on the opening paragraph of a page.
• Page Length - Pages should be at least 200 words long. Search engines are better able to work out the meaning of a longer page. But then again don't make the pages too large!
• Links - Cross-linking is very important both from within the site and even more so from other sites. It's advisable to proactively encourage other related sites to link to your site and vice versa. Also when creating links, remember to use meaningful link text that concisely describes the page being linked to. Search engines give a high relevance to links as with titles and headings.
• Quality Content - Needless to say, useful, valuable content will attract more visitors and more links.
• Syndicating Content Using RSS - All AIMS 4 sites have the ability to automatically provide syndicated content using RSS (Really Simple Syndication). This will encourage links to your site both from individuals and other sites, thus building the sites search engine visibility.
• Search Directories - Always register your site with search directories such as Yahoo and DMOZ Open Directory (used by Google). Also look for local and industry specific directories.

Feel free to contact Social Change for further guidance.

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