Search Engine Optimization - What are Search Engines looking for?

In order to have visitors in your own website is important to have it highly ranked on search engines. As I promised before, here are a few guidelines about what Search Engines are looking for (Google in this case). Be aware that I’m not the author of this exact list but it has the majority of the bullet points to be mentioned.

The List Of Some Things Search Engines Look For:

1. Title tag - You need a relevant title, not just “Home Page” Use it for 5 key words.
2. Headings - The search engines view <> tags as being terms of emphasis - they give weight to the words within them. Put key terms in them.
3. Bold - Of lesser importance than <> tags. the <> tags still emphasize terms of importance.
4. Alt text - Use descriptive short sentences in your alt tags. If it’s a picture of a rose, and you’re a florist try “Red Rose - Available at ‘name’ Flower Shop”
5. Email addresses on page - if you put up an address, make sure the domain name in the address matches the web site domain. The search engines look at it as ‘cheesy’if you don’t.
6. Keyword metatags - Some engines use them directly, some check them as part of a validation process - “do they match the content” If they don’t then is this a spam site?
7. Meta description tag - Most engines look at this tag. Use distinct ones throughout your site, and distinct ones for each page. Make them particular to that page.
8. Key term placement - Terms that are higher up on a page are more heavily weighted.
9. Key term proximity - Terms that are close together are probably related, and thus the site will show up in searches for those terms.
10. Comment tags - Some engines use comment tags for content. Most engines look for them in graphic rich / text poor sites.
11. Page structure validation - proper coding is likely to be of better overall quality, and thus rewarded.
12. Traffic/Visitors - The search engines do keep track of how many people follow their links.
13. Link Popularity (PageRank in Google’s case).
    • How may other web pages around the Internet point to your web site?
    • Do these other pages relate?
    • Are they considered valuable resources?

      

14. Anchor Text of inbound links
    • Does the link to your web site have relevant keywords in it?
    • Do the keywords used match keywords in your content?
15. Rating of pages linking to this page
    • Even if it is not directly relevant, a web page that is important that links to your site will still help your web site.
    • Having relevant links helps more with search engines like Teoma.
16. Presence on marked authority pages. (DMOZ)
17. Url quotation - i.e. when a page mentions the site by url but doesn’t link to it. This commonly occurs in news articles that mention web sites. While it doesn’t count as a link, it does count as a reference.
18. Number of links on pages linking to this page. If the link to your web site is the only one from a page, it’s viewed as being more valuable than being one link among 100.
19. Freshness of links on pages linking to your web site. While the engines will count all links, a link from a web site that has not been updated in a year or two will be less valuable than from one that is updated daily. It indicates activity / interest levels.
20. Page Last Modified (Freshness)- just like the last point a page that is updated frequently is favoured.
21. Reciprocal Links- Search engines like to see a closed loop - that a referring site as also used as a reference. So when you are giving away a link, ask for one back. It will help both websites.
22. Keyword frequency across all pages. Does the content really talk to the subject which the page and the web site is supposed to be about?
23. Keywords in the url
    • Using keywords in the url does have an effect for the search engine algorithms.
    • You can use keywords in the filename. For example if the page is about ford parts, then call it “http://www.sitename.com/ford-auto-parts.html“
    • use dashes “-” and not underscores “_” to separate words in filenames.
24. Response Time - If your site is fast, it’s favored.
25. Server Downtime - If the search engine robot comes by and frequently can’t connect sometimes, they penalize your site.
26. Page Size - The engines tend to weigh content at the start of a document more than content further down. If a page is long, look at breaking it into sections. If a page is over 50k, then it’s too long.

How to be Skillful Leader…

When I finished my diploma in Project Management in Dublin Business School as well as on my current job where I have the oportunity to learn with people, to lead them and to drive ideas in order to achieve the goals of the team, the department or of the company I realised the importance of a good leadership..

Here are a few tips that you should have in mind when leading a team:

Communication: The key to leadership.
Successful partnerships are built on open and ongoing communication. Only this way can partners come to a shared understanding.

Communication is a two-way process. Listening is as important as speaking. Communication is never perfect. Some information is always lost or jumbled in the process. But about Communication I’ll write another topic later…

Continuing with what you should keep in mind…

Do real work - A leader is a member of the partnership and is, therefore, responsible for doing their fair share of the work.

Create opportunities for others - A true leader should not try to do everything alone (Delegate responsibility). A leader must provide opportunities for individuals or the partnership to grow and work effectively. Authority and responsibility keeps people motivated.

Keep the purpose, inspire people’s actions and focus on the goals - Help partners determine, clarify, and commit to the group’s goals. A leader can and should inspire appropriate actions, but should not force the partnership to move in any particular direction.

Build commitment and confidence - Understand and try to balance the needs and interests of both individuals and the overall partnership. Positive and constructive feedback helps make the partnership more successful. How to deliver positive and negative feedback is also something to be discussed later on…

Build a team with different skills - Recognize and build on the strengths and skills of individual members of the partnership. Effective partnerships depend on having an appropriate balance of technical, interpersonal and other skills. As a leader you should ensure that all the necessary skills are available for the partnership.

Manage relationships with outsiders, including removing obstacles - Ensure that external relationships are developed and maintained. This responsibility may be shared with other members of the partnership.

Hope it helps… All the information above can be found on the web and search Google in order to dig your knowledge in this area

http - Hypertext Transfer Protocol. Do you know what is it???

Well it is more than what you write in URL. that is for sure ;). The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application-level protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems (a communication’s protocol). It is a generic, stateless, protocol which can be used for many tasks beyond its use for hypertext, such as name servers and distributed object management systems, through extension of its request methods, error codes and headers. In the end is no more than a request/response protocol between clients and servers.

A feature of HTTP is the typing and negotiation of data representation, allowing systems to be built independently of the data being transferred. The HTTP/1.1 is the version of HTTP in common use today.

An HTTP client initiates a request by establishing a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection to a particular port on a host (port 80 by default).

An HTTP server listening on that port waits for the client to send a request message.Upon receiving the request, the server sends back a status line, such as “HTTP/1.1 200 OK”, and a message of its own, the body of which is perhaps the requested file, an error message, or some other information.

Internet is a funny thing…

My Online Biography

Hi! My name is João Pedro Pinheiro Rufino, I did my studies in Universidade Nova de Lisboa in Portugal where I was awarded a Masters in Computer Engineering.. Apart from this page, I also have a profile in HI5, orkut and LinkedIn and maybe a few more places that I can’t recall.

Since now I live in Ireland, my frequent hobby is to travel! I’m a very social person that loves a good chat and that loves a nice discussion about… every topic to be honest! I see myself as a responsible person, dedicated to my job and that always try to learn more about this world that is constantly changing.

My great passion are animals specially dogs and horses.

Because I love animals, I have at my place in Portugal, 7 dogs (all Sight Hounds), Whippets, Greyhounds and Afghan Hounds. My parents breed this dogs long before I was born. My dogs attend Dog Shows all across the world (but mainly in Portugal) and because of that I was always able to travel a lot. Regarding horses, I ride since I was 6. I have a degree of professor from the Association of the British Riding Schools. Because I left Portugal, I don’t ride often as I did and now it is hard for me to keep improving. I also play football in a regular basis and I’m Sporting Clube de Portugal Fan.

I’ll write more about myself later…