Marilyn Perry's Search Engine Optimization Strategies

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Marilyn Perry's Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Approaches And Techniques

(SEO) Searching Engine Optimization

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Andrew Neel

Search Engine Optimization may not seem important to the average person. However, Search Engine Optimization can in fact be quite important even for people who aren't operating a website for business purposes. For websites that are not business related, for websites that simply want to make themselves visible, available, and easy to find using web search engines, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become essential.

Without good Search Engine Optimization, websites are often lost of the search engine result noise and fog created by junk websites trying to generate advertising revenue from people clicking on their junk and spam websites. As a simple personal example, consider the following context. While in conversation with someone and it seems relevant to reference the existence of this very website, it's essential when people enter the phrase (Marilyn Perry) into a web search engine, that this website is the first entry that google, and other web search engines, present in response to that search query.

After years of working with multiple websites to try to get them to the top of each search engine's results for a given query, some basic requirements have become readily apparent. Some Search Engine Optimization are reasonably well documented in official reference documents published by the search engine giants such as Google and Bing. Other Search Engine Optimization enhancement requirements remain a secret sauce.

More significantly, search engines like Google frequently change some aspects of their secret criteria. Historically, when the Google search engine has changed its search engine criteria significantly, some business owners have even reported having been sent to the brink of bankruptcy. They've reported that they're businesses began to fail because their business website was penalized by the Google search engine, and relegated downward in related web search query results list. Presently, the importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has increased so much that people have created SEO consulting companies. Some SEO consultation and advice companies charge exorbitant fees, for their Search Engine Optimization (SEO) advice. Other SEO enhancement service companies provide hourly rate, hands on direct , services to enhance a website's appearance in search engine results. Such SEO consultancies are viable businesses because the difference for some clients can be a make it or break it business success proposition.

Trying to achieve what ought to be the relatively straightforward goal of getting this very website, my own name, to the top of search engine result lists, has been a daunting task at times over the years. However, the information that follows more detailed information about the criteria and techniques that have made achieving this goal possible, at least with the Google search engine. In contrast, with the Bing search engine, which appears to lack some of the basic search query prioritization preference criteria which establish the Google search engine's dominance has demonstrated less sophistication than the Google search engine.

Known Core Website Requirements For Optimized Search Engine Results

Most internet search engines seem to have established some baseline criteria for allowing and enabling websites to place well in search results. At the core of their basic criteria are some essential website structural features that search engines currently insist upon. Just below is a list of some of these basic requirements.

https - a website must be served via Transport Layer Security (TLS), Secure Socket Layer (SSL), HTTPs, secured digital communications.
social media - a website must include basic social media links, such as twitter (aka X), facebook, youtube, and optionally other social media platforms as well.
responsive design - a website's design and implementation must support so called responsiveness, which enables a website to change the appearance of its visual components and layout to display optimally on a variety of screen sizes, including mobile, tablet, and desktop. Search engines such as Google and Bing currently appear to prioritize good mobile device appearance.
xml sitemap - a website must include an XML sitemap. A sitemap is essential because it is the sitemap that search engines use to understand a website's overall structure, even before its website crawling text analysis software navigates its way through the website's contents.
robots.txt - a website's robots.txt file tells the search engines what part of a website, if any, the search engine crawler has permission to crawl and index.
backlinks - Backlinks are simply other websites that link to one's own website. Legitimate Backlinks can be difficult to procure. However, just like fake amazon reviews, there is surely an underground market for buying backlinks. Conversely, websites such as Wikipedia, despite extensive backlinks to it, including abundant links to Wikipedia on this very website, often does not achieve top listing, while truly junk websites often do. It's a conundrum.
structured data - So called structured data is information in a website page html header element that implements a set of HTML tags that are understood by various social media platforms, and by some of the search engines themselves, so that they can present thumbnail versions of website page content, typically including a thumbnail image if the website provides one. One such protocol is called Open Graph created by facebook. Another prevalent version of such structured data is the Twitter Card protocol. This website includes Twitter Card metadata on every one of its pages in the Summary Card With Large Image style.
status codes - Although nearly all web server engines fully support a complete set of http status codes, a website, especially Drupal websites can optimize http site status responses. For example, this website uses a Drupal extension module that responds internally to the HTTP 404 page not found error by automatically creating a search query based on the keywords in the requested URL. As a result, the search engine doesn't see HTTP 404 errors for pages that don't exist, only the search page with a pre-filled search query. The creators of that Drupal module have built a tool that enables a website created with the Drupal DXP website development engine to give a search engine the impression that every possible page exists.
metatags - A website's header element must include metatag information that describes the page. A website's metatags can also provide tags that implement a thumbnail preview presentation for links. The existence of metatag thumbnail previews is apparent from advanced technology websites with links on social media platforms such as twitter, facebook, slack, and so on.

There may be additional, threshold, Search Engine Optimization technology components that websites must contain. However, the website components listed above appear to be essential, before the rest of Search Engine Optimization can be achieved.

The Current State of the Search Engine Optimization Secret Sauce

Given the current ability of search engines, and many other types of software tools, to be linguistically aware, the Google search engine currently appears to look for an enhanced set of criteria before elevating a website, or a page within a website, to the top of its search engine results. In addition to the other base criteria, it appears that the Google search engine elevates websites with content that contains a combination of several additional key attributes.

Google Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide Thumbnail Image — *Figure 1. Google SEO Starter guide.*

Among those attributes, not only must a website contain keywords that match the desired search criteria, the website must utilize those keywords in a natural language manner and context that is topically relevant. On the one hand, human intelligence can create that kind of keyword rich, topically relevant, text. On the other hand, it has also become apparent that the much hyped, current fad, heuristically generative text production software is sometimes able to enhance the natural language keyword inclusion that people are also able to produce intuitively with some effort.

The location of the required, keyword rich, natural language, topically relevant, text within a website also seems exceptionally important to achieving search engine results. In response to the foregoing criteria, there is a blaring hack on the front / home page of this website. This website's Search Engine Optimization hack is a section of text that includes my name over and over again, as the text presents a descriptive personal overview. This basic hack alone has proven to be dramatically differential to this website's appearance in Google search engine results. Unfortunately though, the Bing search engine remains thoroughly confused and rarely lists this website's home page near the top of its results. The Bing search engine even seems to have gotten worse recently.

In order to maximize SEO ranking from the search engine giants, the writing style, language style, and vocabulary usage, of the text within the main body of a website page should score high on the Flesch reading ease score scale. Text that scores from 60 to 100 on the Flesch Reading Ease scale is considered easy to read. Tools available to Drupal website developers can provide Flesch Reading Ease score information directly within a website page's content editing view. For Drupal website builders, an SEO module that provides this information is the Real-Time SEO module. Ironically, the writing style, and the complexities within the text, of this website often scores below 40 on the Flesch Reading Ease scale.

For business websites, solving the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) conundrum can be even more difficult. However, one criteria that has become apparent recently, is that the Google Search Engine currently seems to prioritize search results in which the search engine query phrase begins the natural language sentence in which it appears.

Twitter Card Validators To Further Ensure Search Engine Optimization

Among several quality assurance checks that website builders, and content editors, should perform on all of a website's content before publication is testing of all of a website's pages with one or more Twitter Card validators and Open Graph (facebook) validators. The list just below includes several helpful Twitter Card validators and Open Graph (facebook) validators.

Drupal Website Specific SEO Tools and Search Optimization Functionality

This website, constructed using the Drupal 10 digital experience platform (DXP) website development engine, utilizes multiple software tools to improve and enhance its ability to achieve adequate Search Engine Optimization (SEO) results. In addition to the Drupal DXP core, community contributed modules (add-on plugins) implement nearly endless feature and functionality additions that Drupal website builders can deploy to improve their websites. Multiple community contributed Drupal DXP modules implement Search Engine Optimization functionality. Two of the most important Drupal DXP Search Engine Optimization functionality modules are the: metatag and simple xml sitemap modules. Many additional Drupal DXP community contributed modules further enhance a Drupal website's ability to achieve quality Search Engine Optimization results, such as the: Real-Time SEO, SEO Checklist, Quicklink, PathAuto, modules and more.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Reference Websites And Resource Information

Below is a list of Search Engine Optimization related websites that provide tools and reference level information about Search Engine Optimization. The following Search Engine Optimization tool and information websites have been helpful while writing the information above about Search Engine Optimization.

The website links above is not an exhaustive list of the reference quality SEO information available on the World Wide Web. However, the website links above may provide a starting point for additional website Search Engine Optimization (SEO) enhancements.

Thank you for visiting this website, my personal website, and hopefully your enjoyment the information and content shared here publicly at www.marilynperry.com. Marilyn Perry | Thursday, February 1, 2024