Help me get my site more Google friendly!

[ISellRiverview]

I know my site is not an REW site...someday...I swear.

But for now, I am maintaining it on Point2 and trying to make it as Google-friendly as possible. Any tips you guys can give me to better search engine optimize my site? Bear in mind I am not a techie - but I know some HTML. What other simple things can I do to get higher in the rankings? I have tried to customize my content so its not all Point2 content and I keep it fresh. What else can I do? Suggestions? Thanks gang.

[gibex]

Links, good links

[ericbadgley]

Other than inbound links there is nothing you can do. The code on the site is so thick, its 90% java script, html code, mumbo jumbo, ect. I don't think there is much more you can do.

Do a view soure code on your site, versus a REW site. See how cleen the code is, most of the Rew sites are content. Google needs to be able to read your code. Thats why rew does so well in the rankings, its easy for the search enginge read the code.

[REW Tyler]

I would start blogging a lot, you can sign up yourself for a REW blog and start reading into proper blogging techniques. Webmaster has plenty of good information on blogging, so you might want to read some of his posts on it Plus the blogs/writing section you can always post general questions and what not and get some feedback or advice on topics.

That and links with varying anchor text (of course quality ones..). For example I doubt that someone is going to type in "search tampa bay homes", especially when they are using a search engine already. A little keyword research into what your potential clients may be searching for will go a long way in letting you know which anchor terms you should be targeting for your area.

[ericbramlett]

Don't worry about the junked up code. Matt Cutts has stated very explicitly, many times that the algos can wade through the clunkiest of coding. You need to look at your SEO in 2 aspects - on-site & off-site. On-site optimization includes metatags, title tags, crawlability, & content. For any specific page to rank, it must be unique.

Your off-site optimization is like the gas you put in the engine. It's what drives rankings. The bottom line is links - quantity & quality. The better a link is, the harder it is to get.

IMHO, off-site optimization is MUCH harder than on-site because it requires much more creative thought. On-site is fairly cut & dry. I would focus first on on-site optimization and make sure your site is set up correctly - and then on off-site...put some gas in the engine. Just plop down in front of the computer, start using the search feature here, and ask very specific questions.

Good luck!

[ericbramlett]

I was looking for this & I found it. Here's a great place to start...

[ericbramlett]

I was trying to find a quote from Cutts about Google not penalizing clunky coding (i.e. not rewarding good, clean coding - which you should want due to load time & user experience.) I couldn't find one, but found this from his blog today:

At a search engine, you have to write your code to process all that randomness and return the best documents. By the way, that’s why we don’t penalize sites if they have syntax errors or don’t validate — sometimes the best document isn’t well-formed or has a syntax error.

If they're not penalizing for errors, it's pretty safe to assume they're not penalizing for overuse of tables, lack of consolidated stylesheets, etc...

[Bigtoe]

On your home page get rid of all the me, we, us and I. Put your service descriptions on other pages. The home page content should be about Tampa real estate sales and links to different Tampa neighborhoods. The search engines are looking for pages relevant to Tampa and real estate so give it to them. Tampa is a big city with lots to write about. Once you have potential clients on your site they will find your services.

This won't help with the SEO but get rid of your picture. A lot of women start the searching process for the family and they don't want to compete with a pretty face.

[ISellRiverview]

When you guys are talking about links...are you talking about neighborhood links to other pages within my site or links to other websites? I don't want to drive people off my site but I wondered if that's what you meant by offsite links. Thanks for the tips thus far!

[Agnafl]

When you guys are talking about links...are you talking about neighborhood links to other pages within my site or links to other websites? I don't want to drive people off my site but I wondered if that's what you meant by offsite links. Thanks for the tips thus far!

The links that they refer to are external links to YOUR site from other sites. In order to build up your popularity you need to aquire links to your site from other places. Blogs, blog comments from dofollow supporters as long as it is realted and your comments are not spammy, other industry related websites, forum sigs, directories, ect. Focus on your main search string/s as your text for your links. As you build these links from other sources with text that matches what people are searching, you will begin to gain popularity and authority, thus higher SERPS.

The neighborhood links you speak of are essential as well. You have to have good internal linking within all the pages of your site to increase the crawlability. It compliments the sitemap. You are basically handing the G bot directions on how to crawl through your site by linking all your pages. Make sure that every page links back to the homepage.

That should be a good start.

Matt