In addition to having a good keyword in your domain name, you need to have good keywords in your filenames.

Filenames are the names you use to save your webpages. Here's an example of a filename...

http://www.realestatehow.com/2007/10/buying-foreclosure-home.htm

Most search engines, Google and Yahoo included, use the filename as a factor towards determining relevancy.

The advantage of using filenames as an SEO strategy is that you can make a filename as long as you want, up to 256 characters long.

So, think of all the most popular search terms relating to one of your webpages. If your webpage is about "Home Selling Tips", why not use "home-selling-tips.htm"?

The fact of the matter is, there's a lot of people searching Google for exactly that phrase.

If you're an agent based in San Diego, then try using, "san-diego-home-selling-tips.htm".

Dashes or Underscores?

When creating your filenames, use the dash "-" to separate words. Don't use underscores "_".

There's a lot of discussion on this very topic all over the Internet, and the majority seems to agree that Google sees the dash as a space, and sees the underscore as a hard character. Meaning, a file of "home-selling-tips" is seen as a phrase of three words, whereas "home_selling_tips" is seen as one word.

What this means is that if someone searched for the phrase "tips for selling a home", the dashed-filename will have a greater chance of showing up, than the underscored-filename.

Labels: Search-Engine-Optimization

There are generally two trains of thought on how to compete with other websites on getting more search engine referrals...

1. Compete on search engine ranking


2. Compete on keyword variations

I typically put more emphasis into the latter than the former. If I could present my efforts into a ratio, it would be something like 75% of my effort goes into the latter, and 25% into the former.

Getting your pages to rank higher on the listings requires some effort that's beyond your control. You need other websites to link to you. That's not always a guarantee. But covering a wider spread of keyword variation is definitely within your control.

Keyword variation is simply all the different search term possibilities that might exist for the same subject. So, if you specialize in the San Diego real estate market, what are all of the words and phrases that people type into Google to find you or your competitors?

san diego homes
homes in san diego
san diego real estate
san diego realtors
san diego california homes
foreclosure homes in san diego
san diego foreclosed homes
san diego ca properties

It could go on and on.

The only way to make sure that your website shows up for any of these searches, is to publish lots of webpages, and or websites. If you create several websites, each on a different domain name, or subdomain, make sure to publish different content on each one. Don't republish the same content.

If you published an article on your site about buying a foreclosure home, it's ok to publish several more on the same subject. Just make sure they're different articles. That'll help cover the spread of keyword variation.

In terms of increasing your position on Google, there are some easy things you can do to help...

• Put your target keyword into the TITLE tag


• Repeat your target keywords several times throughout the page


• Use file names that contain your target keywords


• Use alt-text containing your target keywords on all images


• Make sure every page has navigational links that go to the homepage and other key pages

These five easy tips won't increase your PageRank, rather, they'll just give your pages a little bit higher sorting value on the search results.

Increasing your PageRank is a tougher matter, that largely rests on getting more websites to link to your site.

Here are some other things you can do to increase your search engine referrals...

• Write compelling titles - The contents of your TITLE tag is what people see when they review the results on Google. Treat titles as if they were lingerie. You want people to see just enough of what they want, but leave the rest to the imagination. That's what will compel them to click. If your TITLE tag gives away enough information to make a presumption, you've lost out on a click.



• Publish new pages frequently - Google's spiders will return to your website more often, if you publish new pages more often. Google likes new content, and gives preference to it. If Google had two pages that had nearly identical keywords, keyword volume, and PageRank, it'll rank the newer page higher.



• Always change your pages - If you can't seem to create new pages, you can also change your pages. By changing the text, adding more text, rearranging the images, etc, will also keep the Google spiders coming back. This is another reason why blogs work well, their homepages constantly feature new content.

I'll go more in depth on these tips as future articles. So, keep coming back!

Labels: Search-Engine-Optimization

A "subdomain" is kinda like a domain name under a domain name. Here's an example of what a sub-domain looks like...

http://homes.chicago.com

"homes" is the subdomain. Here's another example...

http://www.chicago.com

"www" is the subdomain. Yes, all those "www" you see on website addresses are subdomains. But for all intents and purposes, Google doesn't really treat "www" as a true subdomain.

There are three advantages to using subdomains...

1. Google treats a subdomain as a totally different website from its main domain


2. You can use any keyword(s) as a subdomain


3. It doesn't cost you any extra money to set up a subdomain.

If you already have an agent website, you can set up a subdomain to create a totally new website. The company hosting your agent website has tools to let you set up subdomains.

So, if your agent website is hosted on a domain name like, "lasvegas-homes.com", you can set up an unlimited number of subdomains, such as...

• new.lasvegas-homes.com


• rental.lasvegas-homes.com


• nevada.lasvegas-homes.com


• henderson.lasvegas-homes.com


• realestate.lasvegas-homes.com

And so on. The good news is that the keywords in the subdomain name carry SEO importance, just like the keywords in the domain name. Combine that with the fact that Google sees each subdomain as a separate website, you've got a great way to create lots of backlinks.

Here's another Google advantage. As it is now, each search results page on Google will show a maximum of two listings from the same website. But if you set up subdomains, it's possible to dominate all 10 listings on the first results page of Google!

Labels: Domain-Names, Search-Engine-Optimization

You've probably heard enough times that your top keywords in a domain name makes a big difference towards a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.

It's certainly true.

In the field of real estate, there are two primary keywords that you can use:

• real estate


• homes

While many real estate professionals often look for something like, "phoenixrealestate" or "phoenix-real-estate", don't count out the word "homes". Statistics show that homebuyers are more likely to search Google using the "homes" keyword than the "real estate" keyword.

The reason why is because "homes" has more variants than "real estate".

For example, here is a list of actual phrases that were searched on Google for my hometown of Menifee, CA...

menifee real estate (average)
menifee ca real estate (low)

menifee homes (average)
homes in menifee (low)
menifee ca homes (low)
menifee homes for sale (low)
homes for sale in menifee (low)
homes for rent in menifee (low)
homes for sale in menifee ca (low)
homes in menifee ca (low)
homes in menifee california (low)
new homes in menifee (low)
new homes in menifee ca (low)
new homes menifee (low)
new homes menifee ca (low)

This information comes from Google's keyword frequency tool.

Notice that "real estate" has only two variants for Menifee, CA, but "homes" has thirteen variants.

What this means is that if you choose a domain name containing the words "menifee" and "homes", your pages are more likely to appear when someone runs a search for homes in your locality. Conversely, with the "menifee real estate" phrase, there are far fewer variants, and therefore, greater search competition.

As the list above shows, people don't all search for the same exact phrase. They use different words, including plural forms, passive forms. If you choose to optimize on the keyword with the most variants, your pages will have a greater chance of appearing on Google's search results pages.

You can increase that chance simply by publishing lots of pages. Each page you publish is like another chance that your site will appear on a search result.

It's not necessary that your site appear #1 on Google for the most hottest keyphrase, but that at least one of your pages appear on the first page of Google, for any variation of that keyphrase. The more variation available to that keyphrase, the greater the chance that one of your pages will show up.

Imagine if you work the Menifee, CA real estate market, and at least one of your pages appeared on the first page of Google, for ANY phrase that included the words "menifee homes"? That's domination!

It starts with a good domain name, and I think a good domain name for real estate professionals is one that uses the word "homes" plus the name of your area (menifee, tahoe, dallas, etc.).

Here are some examples...

• dallashomesonline.net


• oaklandhomeslive.com


• homesinclevelandohio.org


• menifee-homes-realty.com

I don't know if these domain names are available, I didn't check. But it's just to illustrate what I'm talking about.

While keyword volume is always a good consideraton, I contend that "keyword variation" is a better consideration. Look for keywords that carry lots of variation. You'll do better.

Labels: Domain-Names, Search-Engine-Optimization