Eleven ways to boost your Google rank

Web expert Gerry McGovern offers tips to improve your company’s search engine ranking

The goal of any Web content manager is to increase their company’s search engine ranking. This guide to search engine optimization will ensure you’re doing all you can.

1. The title tag is critical

The title tag is the single most important piece of content for people who search.

2. The description tag is recommended

The description tag is not nearly as important as the title. However, it does have some value. Write it as a summary and keep it under thirty words. It should be written in a compelling, clear manner.

3. Light pages, and lean, quality HTML

The less HTML code you have, the better, as it makes it easier and faster for the search engine to index your page. Aim for a total page weight of 50 KB for any page (that’s including graphics). Certainly, anything over 100 KB is going to be slow, and some search engines don’t like pages that are over 100 KB.

4. Have a site map/index

People like site maps/indexes, and so do search engines. Make sure that the site map is available from the homepage, that it is presented in a text-based format, and that it is kept up to date.

5. Avoid Flash