This tutorial outlines some methods regarding Search Engine Optimization and how
these different methods can be put into practice through Article Manager.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is related to your ranking in search engines and how this ranking
can be improved. There isn't a definitive way to get top results in any search engine but there are ways that you can help this ranking and we've mentioned some of these in this tutorial.
| We also offer a Priority Consulting service if you would prefer to have us set these
up for you. To inquire, send us an email
or call 1-800-752-0455. |
Oveview:
1. Static Content
2. Frequently Updated Content
3. Unique File Names
4. Meta Tags
5. RSS (Really Simple Syndication)
6. Google Site Map
1. Static Content
Search engine spiders will generally look at your content and how accessible it is.
The great thing about Article Manager is that it publishes static files on your server
(with the SHTML extension by default). This means that search engines are easily able
to browse through your files and get access to your content. You'll notice that while
Article Manager dynamically creates these SHTML files for you, based on your article
content and your template design, the files are static and easily searched.
2. Frequently Updated Content
Using Article Manager makes it very easy for you to have frequently updated content on your site.
With Article Manager, it's as simple as logging in and
adding a new article. Managing articles and content is what Article Manager is designed for
so this is sure to work great for having up to date content on your site.
3. Unique File Names
By enabling a feature in Article Manager's Setup Options you're actually able to specify a filename for
each new article that you create. To make this change you can login to Article Manager,
click "Setup Options" and look for the "Editor Settings" subheading. You'll want to click the
checkbox beside "Allow users to specify filenames for individual articles" and then click "Save".
This will enable a new field you'll see when you create a new article. Along with specifying the
title, author, summary, content, etc. for an article, you'll also be able to specify the filename
that this article will use. For example, rather than Article Manager creating "article_123.shtml"
the article can be created as "name_of_article.shtml".
Also, by default with Article Manager's template files the <title> tag of your page will be set
to the name of the article so this will be unique for each article page as well.
4. Meta Tags
While some search engines don't look at meta tags for indexing purposes,
if you want a few keywords and a description that are relevant to your site you can
use Article Manager to have unique keywords for each article. One thing to note is that in some cases search engines may
actually lower your ranking if it appears you're "keyword stuffing" by repeating keywords excessively.
Also, some search engines use a piece of your meta description as the text that is output on a search results page, as
long as the description has the relevant keyword that was searched for. You can read more
about how to set up unique meta tags for each article in
this forum post.
5. RSS (Really Simple Syndication)
RSS is a very popular way for visitors to subscribe to the content on your site. Whenever you modify
or add new content, these subscribers will see your headlines in their RSS "reader" without having to
actively come to your website, clicking any headlines that grab their interest, driving traffic back
to your site.
If you're getting a lot of traffic to your site and there are lots of links back to
your site you may find that your search engine ranking will improve.
Lots of Article Manager sites are using the steps in
this tutorial
which outlines how you can set up an RSS feed on your site.
6. Google Site Map
This is a relatively recent SEO method compared to the other things we've mentioned.
Basically this is something that Google can use to more easily crawl through all of the content
that you have on your site. There's a great
forum post on our site that outlines how you can set this up using Article Manager.
While there aren't any guaranteed ways to improve search engine rankings,
most of the commonly used methods are things that you can set up with Article Manager.
And one of the best methods for getting good search engine traffic is the simplest: to just have good,
relevant content that people will want to read and link to. :)
We also offer a Priority Consulting service if you would prefer for us to set up any of
these search engine friendly features in Article Manager for you. To inquire, send us
an email or call 1-800-752-0455.
