Common Sense
Advice for Search Engine Optimization
Most web
surfers start their sessions at a search engine or a
web directory. There are a number of different methods
you can use to capture their traffic and drive it to
your site:
1.
Stick to the big
names: The two largest directories: Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com)
and the Open Project Directory (http://www.dmoz.org),
and the two largest search engines: Google (http://www.google.com
) and Inktomi (used by MSN search (http://www.msn.com)
and AOL (http://www.aol.com))
are likely to deliver 80% of your traffic, so
concentrate on those and don�t spend too much time on
anybody else.
2.
Yahoo and the
Open Project Directory are administered by humans, so
an editor will inspect your site before it's added.
They receive so many submissions that it can literally
take months before your site is reviewed, and nothing
(not even paid subscriptions) guarantees that it will
be listed. It�s worth to keep trying, though, so
check back every month or so and, if your site isn�t
listed, submit it again.
3.
Google and
Inktomi are robots (software programs) that �crawl�
(find and read) millions of sites on the web, and add
them to their index. That's why it is not absolutely
necessary to manually submit your site to a search
engine, since they may find your site and add it
automatically when they find a link to your site on
another page.
4.
You don�t need to
submit all the pages on your site. Once the search
engine finds your main page (homepage), it will find
the other ones by following links. To improve the
chances of your secondary pages being found, create a
link called �site map� in your homepage, and have it
point to a page that is nothing but a collection of
links to all the pages on your site. This way, the
search engine will follow the link and �suck in� all
your pages. Try putting this link as close to the top
of your homepage as possible, since it will have a
better chance of being picked up by the search engine.
5.
Your site will
stand a much better chance of showing up at the top of
the search results list if you choose keywords that
are as specific as possible. In general, niche sites
that use very specific keywords have a better chance
of being at the top of the list than generic sites
that use more common keywords. For example, a
restaurant that specializes in brick oven pizza (keywords:
brick oven pizza) has a better chance of showing
up in a prime position than an all-encompassing
Italian restaurant (keywords:
Italian restaurant).
6.
A good search
engine ranking is also conditioned by the amount of
inbound links to your site that the search engine
finds in other websites. A significant amount of
links to your page from high ranked, quality sites
with content related to yours, will significantly
boost your rankings. Try contacting the webmasters of
the leading websites for the keywords of your choice
and try to get them to link to your site. You can
offer a link exchange or place a paid link
(advertising) on their pages, if that�s an available
option.
7.
Creating a
good page title tag is also key, since it�s
usually the first thing the search engines display in
the search results page. Also, you must create a well
written, easy to understand �Description� meta tag,
since some search engines will use it to describe your
site. The more your title and description match your
preferred search keywords, the more likely web users
will click into your site. Don't pay too much
attention to the 'Keywords' meta tag, since most
search engines ignore them nowadays, due to the
potential for abuse.
Finally, one last
word of advice: don�t obsess with search engines,
since they are not the only way to generate traffic to
your site. Try different approaches, like writing
articles and posting them in discussion groups and
newsgroups. Also, don�t overlook bricks-and-mortar
techniques like passing around business cards embedded
with your website address, or advertising in
traditional media. It is a combination of all these
things, and high quality, original content, what will
make your site popular
.
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Mario Sanchez publishes The Internet Digest (
http://www.theinternetdigest.net ) a website and
newsletter that gives you free advice on web design
and Internet marketing. |