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Search Engine Placement, pt.1
Choosing the Right Words
In the quest to develop and publish the world's
number one business related web site I knew we had cracked it when
we entered NorthernLight at No 7 out of 4,876,060 sites on the key
phrase 'business start up'.
Coming from a Sales and marketing background, with a background
in IT, but no knowledge of the Internet, I had to approach everything
from the ground up, with an open mind.
This proved to be of significant advantage,
since I was prepared to listen to everyone, try anything, reject
the bad and improve on the good.
We also appear on Lycos, Google, AltaVista, Excite and a myriad
of other search engines and know that with 12 months work ahead
we will be the No.1 Business site by 2002.
So here are my ten top tips for successful
web placement
- Most web surfers assume that the customer is the
reader when writing their copy - WRONG. It's a bit like
assuming the customer for an old people's home is the resident
- it isn't, it's the residents' 45 year old daughter. Therefore,
sell to her and the place is full.
The main customer for a web site is 'webster' or 'arachnia' or
whatever the search engine spider is called. Observe it, profile
it, get to know it intimately; what does it like and loathe. How
can you get its attention?
- The <TITLE> of the page
is one of the most important tags to Google, Excite and a host
of other search engines. The <TITLE> of your site should
be what you do, not who you are.
The second, but not to be diminished by the <TITLE>
tag, is link popularity.
Without it, your ranking is lower. Most of the popular search
engines are seriously taking into consideration the number of
links pointing to your site. It goes to say, the more links, the
more popular you are. However, they are also looking for targeted,
themed links. So don't get conned into FFA link programs that
promise thousands of links. Find a qualified supplier of themed,
qualified links and stick with them. You'll be better off in the
long run.
- Many of the search engines pick
up the first paragraph of the <BODY> content (in other words
what's written on the page). Use keywords throughout - but monitor
the number. You don't want to be dropped due to spamming.
Also, watch your HTML code and Scripting. If too much script appears
BEFORE your <BODY> the spider may never reach your content.
Use .js files whenever possible to keep your scripting short.
The cleaner your HTML, the better chance your site has for quality
spidering.
- Each search engine spider prefer
different things, so give them exactly what they want in the form
of 'portal' pages which are dedicated to one keyword or phrase
and aimed to satisfy each search engine spider.
For example, a page with the title 'business start up' and the
KEYWORDS 'business start up' where the BODY says 'business start
up' will put you higher when someone searches for 'business start
up'. Make sure that you have a link from your index.html page
to this portal and from this portal, that way you don't have to
submit each page (it will be found on the next spider).
- Make the <DESCRIPTION> of the page tie in
with the <TITLE> and <KEYWORDS> - obvious but some
of us get a bit carried away.
- Tell the spider what to do: <ROBOTS> index,
follow and <REVISIT-AFTER> 10 days. then you get a regular
visit.
- Content is king - that means when the spider visits
you, and you appear on the engines, if your content is negligible
or static (never changes) the spiders will know this and your
rankings will drop. Plus, fresh content keeps visitors coming
back.
- Subscribe to, and read, quality newsletters on
web marketing. If you only pick up one tip per month you can improve
your web site placement.
- The KING of all tips. Most Search Engine spiders
have difficulty following graphically embedded links! In other
words if you have a 5000 page web site and have created links
through gifs or buttons then, as far as the spider is concerned,
you have stuck the pages together and it sees only page one. If,
however, you place text links or <A HREF> links within those
pages then you have 5000 pages that can have a <TITLE>,
<KEYWORDS>, <DESCRIPTION>, etc to sell to 'gulliver'
and his little friends.
Search Engine Placement is not as difficult as you
may think. However, it does take time - and lots of it. constant
maintenance and updating is key to higher rankins and - ultimately
- sales. It is important to remember that "traffic" is
not as important as "targed
traffic"! Quality
vs. Quantity!
Please remember: Submission to search engines is only
a piece of the puzzle. A complete interent and offline marketing
strategy is key to a successful business.
Part II -
The Importance of Link Popularity in Search Engine Placement
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