Search Engine Placement and Optimization


Right now, someone in the world is launching their new web site and hoping to be found. The site will join millions of others online, competing for recognition from an audience that has more decision-making power than ever before. In...


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Search Engine Placement and Optimization

Right now, someone in the world is launching their new web site and hoping to be found. The site will join millions of others online, competing for recognition from an audience that has more decision-making power than ever before. In a sea of content, images, multimedia and too many sites to count, how can your online business get noticed?

If you are like most consumers, when you want to find a particular business, topic, product or service on the Internet, you visit a search engine and plug in your search criteria. In the blink of an eye, you have access to a list of links to sites that can potentially meet your needs. It’s a simple process. However, behind the scenes the process is not so simple. Getting placed in the top spots of search engine results is not easy. It is a competitive game to play, often involving unethical maneuvers by businesses to get to the top.

But this competitiveness does not mean you should not consider search engine placement as a way to market your site. No matter how great your site, how informative the content, how good the quality of your products or services; it is essential that all potential customers find your online business - otherwise your efforts would have been for nothing. Search engines are an effective way to get noticed - according to a report published by the NPD Group, 92 percent of online consumers use search engines to shop and/or purchase online. As well, based on a survey of Web marketers by WebCMO, search engine marketing was rated as the most effective means of web site promotion beating banner ads, email, and off-line promotion. With these statistics you can’t afford to not take advantage of search engine marketing. The trick is to identify effective methods to optimize your placement.

How Do Search Engines Work?

There are basically two types of engines people can use to search the Internet – an indexed engine and a directory engine. What makes each engine different is the way they compile and store data.

Search Engine Index vs. Search Engine Directory:

A search engine index is a program that operates continuously to index web site pages and content, using software robots called ‘spiders’. The spider usually starts with popular pages or servers - following links on each page and picking up words to add to its index on the way. While less effort is required by you to get your web site indexed, there is no guarantee that your site will show up in searches, particularly in the top positions.

Unlike a search engine index, a directory will not be able to find your site unless you tell it. Directories are programs that require manual submission of web site listings, which are compiled into searchable categories. AltaVista is a good example of a directory. To get your site and content listed in a directory you need to submit keywords and descriptions. While this method requires much more effort, you have control over the description you submit. On the other hand, when a consumer conducts a search, the search process only looks at the descriptions you provide. Thus, if you do not consider all search criteria, you can miss out on potential customers.

Ranking:

When a web page and content from a site are indexed, it is not only the URL’s and words that are stored. The search engine will compile other data that will be used to rank sites and determine which web pages make the top positions in search queries. When you visit different search engines using the same search criteria, you will notice that there are different search results. This is because search engines use different criteria for ranking. As a result, when you market through search engines, it is important to understand how they rank, not an easy task since most search engine want to keep their criteria from competitors. However, some common ranking systems are as follows.

Word Frequency - Search engines will often place more weight on pages that list a search term a number of times, reasoning that if the word is listed on a page numerous times, it will likely talk about that particular topic.

Word Positioning - Search engines reason that if a keyword is at the beginning of a web page then it is likely the document is on target. Some search engines will get even more specific and consider words in Meta tags, sub-headings and titles of pages.

Link Analysis - Search engines will place high relevancy on sites that have many links connected to it reasoning that if other sites are linked to it then it must have valuable information and be a popular site.

Searching:

As a Web master, unless you provide keywords, search engines will chose which words they index. These are the words that will be browsed in a search that is initiated by a consumer. Consequently, before you submit keywords it is important to understand the limitations and workings of search engines.

Stems - Some search engines have problems distinguishing the stems of words. For example, if the search engine only picks up the singular version of a word and a consumer enters in a search for the plural version, the search results will not bring up your site. As a result, if you provide keywords to a search engine for indexing, ensure you use the various stems that you think consumers will use in their search criteria.

Concept-Based - There are search engines that are able to distinguish between words that mean the same or are about the theme you are exploring. For instance, if a consumer enters in the word ‘lawyer’, the search may bring up results with the word ‘attorney’, ‘court’ or ‘law’. Depending on how the search engine ranks sites, as a Web master you should consider creating these word associations in the top positions of your pages - in the titles and Meta tags - to increase your chances for better search result placement. Excite is an example of a concept-based search engine, which searches for forms of a word entered in a search, its synonyms, and other words highly correlated to it.

Meta Tags - Many times, search engines place high relevancy on Meta tags for searches. In recent years, Web masters have played on this knowledge and focused on developing effective Meta tags to get them to the top of search engine results. There are, however, some search engines that do not even consider Meta tags or use them as a primary ranking criteria.

Index Amount - While there are search engines that index every part of a page, including words such as ‘a’, ‘and’ and ‘the’, there are others that only index the top portions of pages. For instance, Lycos indexes the title, heading and subheadings as well as the first 20 lines of text. As a result, when writing your content, it is important to consider trying to get your most important points in the first few lines of the page.

File Formats - Not all search engines accept different file formats such as PDF. As a result, it is important to consider the programming language you use. HTML is the best one to use.

Search Engine Optimization

Site Considerations:

Meta Tags - In the early days of the Internet, using Meta tags was effective for getting top placement in search engine results. Now that the online environment is more competitive, vying for top search engine listings through Meta tags has become more difficult, leading businesses to engage in unethical methods to get their sites listed - such as repeating keywords and using popular keywords that have nothing to do with their own site. Search engines have caught on to these games and have developed ranking criteria that will minimize the effects of Meta tag abuse. It is important to understand that using Meta tags does not provide any guarantees your site will be ranked high or ranked at all. Nevertheless it is still important to develop them without relying on them.

Meta tags provide an opportunity to describe your site using keywords and descriptions that will be indexed by search engines. Since Meta tags are picked up by search engines and influence the way your site appears in search results, they should be well written and encourage potential customers to visit your site. There are two important components to a Meta tag - the ‘title’ tag and the ‘description’ tag. Your title tag should include key phrases that represent your site, without repeating them too much, but ensuring all various forms including plurals and even misspelled versions of words that may be used by customers, are considered. It is also useful to consider different titles for each page on your site that use as many keywords as possible. When developing your description tag ensure it is one that will entice people to your site, since many times search engines will use it as their short summary of your URL. Put your most important keywords first and accurately describe the content of your page.

Titles - The title tag of your page is an important component to consider when optimizing your web page for search engines. In many cases, the title tag is what will be used in search results to describe your site. It is important to ensure your title tag is unique and represents the content on your page. Often times, you will see titles called ‘About Us’ or ‘About our Products and Services’. Unfortunately, these lines do not say much about your company specifically and give little reason for people to enter your site. Use your most important keywords at the beginning of the title tag, since the title can sometimes be cut off. Also, develop a different title tag for all pages on your site, including framed pages, to optimize keyword use.

Content/Text - Search engines review the content on your site searching for relevant keywords and phrases. Most search engines use relevancy as a way to rank pages in search queries. Therefore, the ‘cleaner’ and more focused your site, the greater the chances that your site will be found. Link your content with keywords and phrases that you use in titles and Meta tags, and create other content space. For example, develop ‘tips’ or ‘news of the day’ boxes that will provide you with an opportunity to use more keywords and encourage links to your site. Also, since many search engines prefer web sites that employ a general ‘theme’, focus on developing a general idea to your site, by using sub-domains or structuring your directories logically.

Site Map - A site map, which lists all the pages on your web site, provides search engine spiders with an easy way to travel around your site. Because the page has no real text and tags it will not be listed in search results – but it will provide an opportunity for spiders to get to all pages of your site.

Keywords - It is important to choose keywords that will optimize your pages. One of the most critical points to consider is to develop words that represent your site. Do not add words that are misleading to gain a higher ranking, otherwise you could risk being completely ignored by search engines. When you develop your keyword list think of specific phrases that will separate your site from others and consider what your audience would submit into a search query.

Links - When a search engine goes through your web pages, it will be looking for links to follow. Therefore, ensure you have a link on every page of your site - and make sure it works - otherwise the search engine will think the page no longer exists and remove it from its index.

Other Considerations:

Educate - To optimize your placement in search engines learn as much about their ranking systems as possible and adjust your submissions as necessary. Find out which engines are most useful for marketing your site.

Review the Competition - Conduct a search query and see which businesses obtain the top positions. Then, view their ‘source’ code in the view document menu and find out what they are using in their Meta tags. It is also useful to search your competitors by name and see how they describe their site.

Analyze Point of Entry - Using server log information, you can identify how spiders search your site. For instance, if a spider does not go to one of your pages, it may be that there is something preventing them from getting there, such as a broken link. You can also identify the search engines your customers are coming from and focus on these search engines in the future. It is also useful, if you have a search engine on your site, to identify what keywords people are selecting for searches and use these keywords in your Meta tags and titles.

Hire a Placement Company - There are search engine placement companies and web site promotion services that will submit your site to search engines. While these types of services can be helpful, they do not guarantee results and can be quite expensive. It is necessary to do your research before working with a company that provides search engine placement assistance. Evaluate the methods they use to submit sites, ensuring they do not use unethical tactics to gain top placement. Check their reviews and contact references if necessary.

Popular Search Engines

Yahoo - As both a search engine directory and index, Yahoo has earned a reputation for helping consumers find information easily. The oldest search engine, launched in 1994, Yahoo lists over 1 million sites, organizing listings into subject and topic categories, providing direction to visitors who have some idea what they are looking for. As a partner with Google, Yahoo will automatically send a query to the Google search engine if it cannot find an appropriate listing in its own directories.

Google - While a relatively new search engine, Google’s fast, thorough and highly relevant search results has quickly made it a favorite amongst web searchers. Google places high importance on link analysis as a way to rank web pages, making general topics easier to find, because it is assumed that if there are many links to the site, it is popular and therefore deserves higher ranking. Google also accepts more file formats than most other search engines and provides an option to search by graphics. As well, it provides visitors with direction on sites they like by including a ‘Similar Pages’ link in search results.

Excite - Excite is a concept-based search engine, meaning it will search beyond your keyword and consider other meanings. For example, if you search ‘dog’ then the results may include types of dogs, general dog sites or dog training information. As a result, Excite is very flexible in its results and is best for web searchers who are not looking for precise listings or are not sure what they would like to search. It also provides an option to search by images.

AltaVista - Launched in 1995, AltaVista is one of the oldest search engines, and a favorite by many web searchers. It is particularly popular amongst dedicated web searchers because of its search refining options and searchable catalogues if you are looking for specific topics. AltaVista can translate results into many different languages. It can also search by images, audio and video.