For this part of the project, we will focus on and search engine optimization. Search engine optimization is more than just registering your website with search engines or putting Meta tags in your head region. A crucial part of search engine recognition is your connectivity to other websites on the internet. This may sound trivial consider this: if your website does not link to other websites and other websites to know when to you, how trustworthy you think that information is? On the other hand, if your website links to several dozen well respected websites, and conversely, several dozen websites went back to your website, then the likelihood is high and your information is reputable.

So rather than discussing adding metdata or validating the code, and we will use this part of the project to think about ways in which the need to link to other websites. It is my assumption that your website is not an incredibly unique idea. Therefore, it should be easy to determine the list of websites in which for you to link.

What I am explaining here is not necessarily a separate page just full of links to other websites. Be creative! Read through some news articles or wikipedia entries. You will see all sorts of creative ways to integrate links to relevant information. A most useful method is to link questionable words or phrases within your text. If you need ideas, consider the following:

• Is it a word/phrase which is very specific to your industry or concept that might need explaining?
• Is it a made-up word/phrase that might require clarification?
• Is there a reference made to a recent event or figure that might have been covered by a reputable news outlet?
• Did you write some information elsewhere on your site that expands on a word/phrases purpose or meaning?

The last item is a really important point. Not only should your site be well-connected to other websites, but the content of your website should be well-connected to other parts of your own site! This is actually more of a usability metric rather than SEO, but it is important nonetheless.

So for this part, review all of the content on your site. Focus especially on pages where there are groupings of text (more than 25 words). Read your text and think about ways to increase the connectedness, both to your own websites, as well as the internet at large.

• You need to link to at least 6 external sites and 3 internal pages to receive full credit for this part.
• Lists of links will not count, the external links must be naturally incorporated into your website content. The internal links should be the same, your menu doesn’t count.
• Please list where your links are located in your Blackboard submission. Failure to do so will result in a penalty.