PDF documents provide information to your audience and if used properly they can improve your search engine ranking too. The search engines view the PDF document just like another page of the website. That thirty page website is now thirty-one pages with more content for the search engines to index.

When creating and saving a PDF, make the document name descriptive. If the PDF is about cleaning spilled wine off the rug, name the document cleaning-spilled-wine-off-the-rug.pdf. This will allow the search engines to pick-up all the unique words in the document name. Documents named doc1.pdf or an unusual cryptic name will not help your search engine ranking.

Whenever possible use your keywords in the document name too. That same document could be called cleaning-spilled-wine-off-the-rug-with-ABC-cleaner.pdf. Be creative and if the document has a poorly structured name, rename it!

Sometimes people are searching online for information in a particular state. Do they enter the state abbreviation or the complete state name along with their search words?

Include the state abbreviation and the complete state name with the address on your website. Use the abbreviation in the address on some pages and the complete state name on other pages. This covers two versions and provides more information for the search engines to index.

Along with the two letter postal abbreviation, most states have a standard abbreviation too. The state of California can also be listed as CA or Calif. Sprinkle all three versions on to various pages of your website to feed the search engines.

Go to your favorite search engine and do a search on your business phone number with the area code. Did the search engine results find your website? If the answer is no, your website design requires some changes.

The search should display your website as the number one listing in the search engine results. In addition, there should be a listing of other websites where your business phone number is also displayed.

Your business phone number should be on every page of your website. Sprinkle the phone number in to the content on a few pages too, but don’t go overboard. Also, the phone number should be in real text and not an image. Search engines are looking for text not images to index for their databases.

Do the hyperlinked words on your web page help your search engine ranking?

Try this experiment, go to your favorite search engine and search for the words click here. The search results will show Adobe Reader at the top of the search engine results page. Why does Adobe Reader have the number one ranking when the words click here never appear on the page?

There are numerous websites linking to the Adobe Reader with the hyperlink words click here. The search engines relate those words and the hyperlink to the Adobe Reader page giving it a high ranking and it should be at the top of the list.

The words hyperlinked on your web page do help to influence your search engine ranking. Select you’re hyperlinked words carefully using your unique keywords. If you are targeting a specific area or city use that word as one of the hyperlinked word.

We have all seen websites with the hyperlinked words Click Here. You want to encourage someone to click there, but are those words your best choice?

Use words that will describe the hyperlinked web page. See our customer testimonials would be a better selection of words than click here to see our customer testimonials. If you were linking to a PDF use the actual name of the PDF document as the hyperlinked words.

Also, use carefully researched keywords as the hyperlinked words to improve the search engine ranking. View our plumbing products is a better selection of words than view our products page.

The main navigation of a website usually provides the best way to view the various pages within a site. Hyperlinked clickable text known as anchor text is another form of navigation. Using anchor text within the content of a page allows you to lead someone to specific areas of the website.

Web pages should be a well-organized presentation of words and appealing graphics, but don’t go overboard. When your anchor text only has an underline when the mouse hovers over it could be hidden from the eye of the viewer. If the anchor text blends in with the words around it, someone may not find the link you want them to see.

The average person online is familiar with those blue underlined words and they know it will take them to another webpage. Don’t make your anchor text hard to find, let it stand out on the page.

Does your website have a high ranking with the search engines? If not, one reason could be as simple as the text on the page.

The text should be written well, relevant to the subject matter and sprinkled with carefully researched keywords. Don’t write for the search engines, know your audience and write to them.

Search engines love when the text on a website changes. It encourages them to come back more often to see what is new. If you can’t remember the last time your website was updated or changed, now is the time to change it.

The next time you are searching online take a look at the total number of web pages found. The total number of pages found will be some where in the millions!

Everyone wants to be at the top of the list to tell the world about their product or service. How can you increase the chances of how your website ranks with the search engines?

Search engines are designed to index the text on a web page not images. The more text for the search engine to index, the more chances of your website to ranking better.

Also consider:

• The text must be relevant
• People don’t read web pages, they skim them
• Scrolling down is fine, but not for very long
• Spread the text over multiple pages

Assuming your web pages are optimized and structured properly, websites with eighty pages have more chances to rank better than a five-page site. Another way to add more pages to a website is with a self-hosted blog. Every new blog posting is a new web page and provides more text to be indexed by the search engines.

People searching online want to find what they are looking for quickly and easily. If they have trouble navigating your website they’re just are one click away from searching somewhere else.

No matter how they arrived on the website there was an investment of your time and or money. Don’t lose them quickly; make it easy for someone to find out about your products or services.

Place the navigation at the top or left hand side of the page and keep it consistent on every page throughout the website. Website navigation should be simple to follow allowing someone to find where they are going and how to get back.

All business owners ask the question how can my website have a high ranking with the search engines. Prior to asking that question, you need to know if your products or services relate to the local, national or global marketplace.

If your business relates to the local marketplace, someone searching for an Italian restaurant in Concord, California is not very interested in a restaurant located in Concord, New Hampshire. Your website must appear on the first page of the local search engine results in your marketplace to draw customers to your business.

One-way to improve your local website ranking would be to use the Google Local Business Center. Create a free business listing with your address, phone number, hours of operation, and more. In addition, you can use the power of Google’s data to learn where your customers come from and what they search for to find you.