Google Listings

I posted this earlier but it somehow disappeared !

Hi,

does anyone have any useful advice for optimization for Google ? I have
a really limited number of searches I want to optimize for and thought
I was getting along ok when I started to top the listings for one. Of
course a few days later I've fallen right off there and don't
understand why.

My site's www.cornfielddesigns.com . I've followed the guidelines I've
found quite assiduously, but as I said, it all seems to be going wrong
- or am I just being impatient ?

thanks

Simon

On 07 Dec 2005 in macromedia.dreamweaver, roonaldo_efc wrote:

does anyone have any useful advice for optimization for Google ? I
have a really limited number of searches I want to optimize for and
thought I was getting along ok when I started to top the listings
for one. Of course a few days later I've fallen right off there and
don't understand why.

My site's www.cornfielddesigns.com . I've followed the guidelines
I've found quite assiduously, but as I said, it all seems to be
going wrong - or am I just being impatient ?

Caveat: nobody knows the mind of SEs (other than SE programmers, and
they in general aren't talking).

'keyword' meta is generally useless due to abuse in the early days of
the (commercial) web.

Your description is a bit wordy. Remember, that's what is going to
show up in a search engine listing. Polish it and get it into better,
more readable English rather than using it to push your keywords. Your
title is /way/ too long - think brief but descriptive there.

There's very little text on your page, and what is there is extremely
repetitive, to the point where a SE might think you're spamming it.
Spamming will get you banned. Visit your page in a text-mode browser
like Lynx[1] to see what I'm talking about.

Get incoming links - chamber of commerce, professional society...
Avoid link farms; they, too will get you banned.

Get good text in good semantic markup (ie the markup has meaning),
particularly on your front page. SEs like headline tags - <h1>, <h2>
and on down:
<h1>Cornfield Designs</h1>
<h2>Web design</h2>
<p>We do web design. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet...</p>
<h2>Photography</h1>
<p>We do photography. Lorem ipsum...</p>
....

You get the idea. And being patient is a good idea - Google's cycle
can run 1-3 months.

[1] http://lynx.isc.org/lynx2.8.5/
--
Joe Makowiec
http://makowiec.net/
Email: http://makowiec.net/email.php

Thanks, Joe, I found your comments very helpful. I used a Lynx browser and
immediately saw what you were talking about. I also used this tool
http://www.widexl.com/remote/search-engines/metatag-analyzer.html that Murray
had recommended from someone else and I think I've sorted out that particular
problem.

Am I correct in thinking that I ought to use the same process for the rest of
my pages and optimize them in their particular area ?

many thanks for your help

Simon