anyone have advice on website optimization?

I have added hidden key words to my sight. If you enter any city we service with words like auto detail, detailing, car wash, etc.... I come up in the top 5.
 
I don't think is is spamming. I hide them so my site looks better.



If you have a white back ground on your site, type in all the key words people would look for and then change the color of the words to white so it blends into the back ground.



I have done this for over 6 years and it works great.
 
I do online advertising and search engine optimization for a living, and hidden keywords (tons of keywords at bottom of page, keywords/text same color as background, etc) is a very easy way to get your ENTIRE site banned from Google and other popular search engines.



I do NOT SUGGEST you use hidden keywords.
 
Maybe the word hidden is wrong. When someone does a search the search engines seem to look for web sites that have the words you type into the search engine. If those words are plane as day or "hidden" what difference does it make?



Lets say we have two web sites, one says "JOES MOBILE AUTO DETAILING AND CAR WASH SERVING GREEN VALLEY" the other says the exct same thing but you can only see "JOES DETAILING". If "mobile, car wash and serving green valley are blended in with the back ground so your page looks nice, what is the difference?



Thanks
 
ToddW said:
I do online advertising and search engine optimization for a living, and hidden keywords (tons of keywords at bottom of page, keywords/text same color as background, etc) is a very easy way to get your ENTIRE site banned from Google and other popular search engines.



I do NOT SUGGEST you use hidden keywords.
Click to expand...



As an SEO hobbiest, I must agree with this.



The truth is, thousands of people use hidden keywords, and most of the time nothing bad happens. If it works for you, then great - but Google (the only search engine that really matters) is constantly updating their algorithms and methods, and if their spiders somehow detect that you're using hidden keyword spamming - poof. Say goodbye to your listing.



Anyway, the best ways to get traffic to your site:



I'd start a google adwords campaign. It won't cost much, and you can target your local area and keywords such as "mobile detailing" and the like.



https://adwords.google.com/select/





If your site was just created and listed with Google, you probably won't rank REALLY well for 3 or 4 months or so, because Google has a "sandbox" that it places brand new sites in - basically just to make sure your site is going to stick around and isn't spam before it starts to index it high.



Other than that, put the keywords you want to target once in the title of the page (the part at the very top of the web browser), once in the headline of the page (google seems to be favoring <H2> tags lately), and at LEAST once in the body of the web page (though don't spam it, google doesn't like that).



If you want to take it beyond that, SEO Chat and Digital Point forums are a good place to start.
 
Other good ways to increase your site's ranking is to have links to and from your web site. This will accomplish 2 things - crawlers will find your site more frequently thus increasing your sites ranking or creditability, and, if the sites you link to/from have high rankings it will increase your ranking also. See if you can't create a link share program (preferably not others with similar key words).



Another idea is to have your main keyword appear in the domain or subdomain name. This helps a ton! Search engines really feel your site is credible if, for instance, your keyword is 'detailing' and your address is www.detailing.fineautocare.com . In this example, 'detailing' is the subdomain name.



Along the same lines, if your URL/URI contains your keyword, bingo!, it increases your credibility/ranking. For example, wwwfineautocare.com/carcare.asp will help a bunch if your keyword is 'car care'.



Place keywords in prime positions such as titles, paragraph headings and with pictures will increase your sites creditability more than spamming your site with the keyword. All the major search engines say they give negative ranking for spamming, however, many think it helps, so you'll just need to decide that one on your own.
 
Regarding the color of text when you spam your site with keywords... it doesn't matter because search engines look at the html source of the page and can see all the words, regardless of the color that shows in the browser. So if you believe the search engine crawlers that they do not like keyword spamming, you're not gonna fool em by hiding the keywords.
 
I have to wonder though how much search engine optimization is going to help. It is not like your customer base is nationwide, your customers are going to come from a very small region. There is no guarantee that even if your website ranks #1 that you are gonna be seen by any of your potential customers. Personally I would think conventional methods like flyers, business cards and plain old person to person networking would be much more effective.



Just my 2 cents :D
 
I have to agree that standard methods, such as flyers, business cards and person to person networking will have a greater impact than being #1 on any search engine.



However, since it doesn't cost anything, why not use all your resources when it comes to getting the most out of your website. For example, did you know that when you go to a website and 'right click' on the title page and then click 'View Page Source' you will be able to see a complete meta tag listing of every key word for that site.



Below is a sample of the key words listed for my own site:



<meta name="description" content="Auto Detailing, Boat Detailing, Frank Canna, Williamstown NJ, South Jersey, Detailing, Car Care, Car, SUV, Antique, Classic, Showcar, Boat Cleaning, Automobile Detailing, Car Detailing">



<meta name="keywords" content="Auto Detailing, Boat Detailing, Frank Canna, Williamstown NJ, South Jersey, Detailing, Car Care, Car, SUV, Antique, Classic, Showcar, Boat Cleaning, Automobile Detailing, Car Detailing">



What's interesting is that when I ask new customers how they found out about my detailing business and they say they did a search online, I always ask what key words they used. Usually those same words show up in my meta tag listing. The majority of the time they search for either 'auto detailing', 'car detailing' or 'boat detailing' in 'south jersey' or 'williamstown nj'. As you can see, all of those words are also found in my meta tag key word listing.
 
I guess my point is that I would spend most of my time on traditional methods. I definitely think a website is a valuable tool but, would not rely on it as a primary source of advertising. I think of a website for a professional detailer as an expanded and much more detailed brochure than what you would want to do in print. Sure, some customers may come to you directly from the website but, I would hope that most people would see the link to my website from my flyers or business cards and go to the website to find more information.



Search engine optimization is a time consuming and never ending task if you are trying to achieve top rankings on the search engines. I would just make sure your web site has appropriate key words in your page and be done with it.



Thats just me, as always your mileage may vary :D
 
it is a website for Automotive detailing supplies and products however i am not a sponsor of autopia as of yet and already inquired about becoming one.. my website will be offering discounts to autopians and will be open to all suggestions.. for further info you can PM me but i do not want to disregard any autopian rules and would like to become a sponsor first so its not considered spamming or anything like that!

thanks i learned a lot from all suggestions and am happy to have joined this site..

Best regards

-Nick Zabbatino
 
As a SEO professional, titles and content are key! For each page, make sure your keywords are present as is information about the page they're viewing.



Tons of good quality content is a must. Add some detailing articles, how-to's, etc to make your site a viable contender.



Don't forget image alt tags. Don't overdo it, but a few well place alt tags can do wonders.
 
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