Home Page, Links, and AdSense

Hi Jill,

Thank you for your newsletter and the invitation to ask a few questions. You would be surprised to see how many "experts" there are, but very few with published accessible email addresses for "dumb" questions.

We have a salon that provides a number of services. Each category of service has its own html page; for example, manicures and pedicures on one and massages on another.

I have three questions:

1. I have added a title and the meta tags to the index page, and there seem to be a lot of keywords on the main page. Can I break them up and optimize each individual page with keywords, titles, and meta tags? Or do the search engines only look at the main page of our site?

2. Links. I have read how off-page optimization through links is very valuable to search engines. Does it matter on my site which page the links are located? For example, should I have wedding-specific links on my weddings page, have yoga-specific links on my yoga page, etc.? Or do all the links have to be on the main page for the search engines to notice them? What if I had a "my links" page and put them all in there categorized, so as to not mess up the look and feel of the site?

3. Google AdSense. Do Google AdSense links carry more weight with the search engines than the other links, and if so can I have filtered AdSense on each page or does it only work on the home page?

Thanks so much for your time and your willingness to help.

Dave

Jill's Response

Hi Dave,

1. You not only *can* optimize every page of your site for its relevant keyword phrases, but it's a *must*! It would be a complete waste to optimize only the home page of your site, as that could never fully encompass all that you have to offer. Ideally, each page of your site is unique and focuses on different things, and each should be optimized accordingly.

Please note, however, that it's not the Meta tags you need to worry about, it's the Title tag and the *content* on the page that are important. Plus, the site architecture, the way you describe your links, and the overall popularity of your site on the Internet as a whole.

2. Regarding links, your rankings will not be in any way impacted by the links you place on *your* site. It's the people who like your site enough to link to yours that will help your site in the rankings, not your links to their sites. Those outbound links certainly don't hurt and have many other benefits, but they won't raise your rankings.

If you feel like linking out to others on your site, simply do it in the way that is most helpful to your site visitors. If you have a page about yoga, for instance, you might want to link out to a site that offers yoga mats. So yes, it would make perfect sense to place that link on that specific yoga page of your site. Whatever you do, never link to any site that you don't truly recommend to your visitors. Be sure that it makes sense for them to visit and possibly purchase or learn from. You can never, ever go wrong when you think of things that way.

3. Regarding using Google AdSense on your site's pages, it has absolutely nothing to do with your rankings in Google for your relevant keyword phrases, nor do those ad links count in any sort of link-popularity equation. If you feel you can make a little extra money with your site by having ads on it, and don't mind their being there, then AdSense is a nice and easy way to make it happen.

Hope this helps!

Jill

Discuss this article in the Small Business Ideas forum.