Efficient search engine optimization (SEO) is the main reason every time you do a query on Google search engine the first site that pops up on its top-ten listings is the Wikipedia. The result has been increased traffic on Wikipedia, not necessarily because people find it highly relevant but simply because the site is search friendly.

A mastery of a few SEO tips is what you need if your website is to join this special rank that appears to be exclusively Wikipedia’s. 

Search engine Optimization (SEO), according to Searchengine watch.com, is the process of ensuring that your web pages are accessible to search engines and are focused in a way that will improve their chances of being found.

Search engines are the primary ways internet frequenters find websites with. They cover mainly “crawler-based” and “”human powered directories” search engines though there is a third category that incorporates aspects of the two-the “Hybrid search engines.”

So, how do you make your site as search friendly as Wikipedia? Simply adhere to some simple golden rules that have guided Wikipedia to their current glory. These include:

(1)   Expertly Picking Your Key Words: If your website is on human rights for example, you should imagine someone typing words such as “human rights” “rape” “police brutality” into the search engines box and consequently including them on each and every of your web page. These are your keywords, the words that potential users to your website shall search with on the Google box.

Each page should have different search words that reflect the page’s content. For instance in our case, a different page may be on “Crimes against Humanity” and as such key words should be found that align with that page.

(2)   Positioning Your Keywords in some crucial positions:  Crawler-based search engines such as Google follow a certain set of rules known as “algorithm.” And most SEO gurus agree that all major search engines use, apart from frequency,  location to determine the relevancy of a given site.

Therefore, target words should appear in the crucial locations of your web pages. HTML title tag is really important as a starting point. Also build titles around the top two or three paragraphs that you would like the page to be found on. And just as a newspaper headline, the page should be brief and captivating.

It is also important to note that tables can “push” your text further down the page and thus making the keywords less relevant as they appear down the page.



(3)   Creating Relevant Content: It looks really nice and colorful when your site is filled with graphics but unfortunately the search engines can not read graphics. It is therefore advisable that you use HTML text even as you spice up your site with graphics. The text should also be clearly “visible.”

Do not forget to expand your references, for example use “human rights abuses” as opposed to only “abuses” to reinforce your strategic keywords in a legitimate and natural way, that is without spamming.



(4)   Avoid Search Engine Stumbling Blocks Just as some old web browsers, some search engines may not read image maps, and frames. Take a point of anticipating these problems or else search engines won’t index them.



(5)   Create HTML links: Add some HTML hyperlinks to the home page that lead to major inside pages or sections of your website. This is helpful not only to search engines but also to human visitors.



These hyperlinks should appear down at the bottom of the page where the search engine will find and follow them.



It helps to also create a map page with text link to every page within your site. Also link internally between your pages as well.



Some details of this article have been extracted from the Website: Searchengine Watch.com.



More hints on search engine optimization shall be given in the next article and under the same title.



The writer is a content developer currently working with Webmasters Kenya and also a freelance journalist

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