No one can find
my site, what do I do?
Search Engines 101 - Part #1
by Alli Denning
>
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Sorry, there is no quick fix to this
problem. And, with over 90% of all Internet traffic guided by the
search engines, the problem is one that requires the attention of any
web site owner. While there are no guarantees (unless you want to pay
per click for them) and no short cuts, there
are tactics you can use to optimize your site's chances in the organic
search results in the major search
engines. What comes as a surprise to most people is that the single
most important factor in a site's search engine rankings is the site
itself. Let me put that another way: the way a site is constructed and
the contents of a site are more important to a site's placement in the
search engines than anything else.
However, before making changes to the site to target specific keyword
phrases, it is critical to know which phrases deserve the attention.
By researching the way in which people search for products or services
like those of the site, you are able to maximize your search engine
optimization efforts. A useful (and free) tool for researching
keywords is the Search Term Suggestion Tool on the Overture.com site.
It allows you to type in one word and returns the top phrases used by
actual searchers that include that word. Once you know what phrases
are used by searchers, you can set about incorporating those phrases
into your site in the ways described below.
What makes a site attractive to the search engines? Well, they use
unbelievably complex software programs that weigh a long list of
factors in coming up with which sites rank above and below others.
But, if you could only address two components of your site,
tackle
content and page titles.
Content is King
Content is king when it comes to search engines. The search engine
spiders that crawl the web gathering information on sites cannot see
the neat images you just paid a designer so much to come up with -
they mean nothing. And, if they are there at the expense of good,
quality content, so much the worse. Let me give you an example,
Google, the most important of the search engines for you the site
owner, likes sites with between 410 and 572 words in the body text of
a site's pages. How many words are on your home page? Does that text
include targeted keyword phrases - the sorts of phrases that searchers
for a business or service like yours would be likely to use? If not,
that is the best place to start. Don't stop of your home page either;
go page by page through your site and ask yourself: what other
information would be helpful to my users? what else can I say about
our products, services, industry that would be important to potential
customers? All that content will boost your rankings while having the
added benefit of increasing your site's usefulness to visitors.
Make Those Page Titles Work for You
As important as content are your site's page titles, not just for your
home page, but for each and every page within your web site. The title
tag or page title of a given page is what you see across the top
left-hand of your browser window when you visit the site. You want to
start the title tag with your most important keyword phrase, following
it up with your business name. Keep in mind also that your page title
is often used to list your site in search results - having no page
title or one that is uninformative will not drive the searcher to
click on your link when other, more descriptive options are available.
Not addressing this aspect of site development is leaving a lot of
unrealized opportunity on the table.
This article cannot possibly cover all the aspects of optimizing a
site for the search engines, but knowing what matters and beginning to
address those components of your site is a good place to start. Having
your site in good, search engine-friendly condition prior to
submission is the best thing you can do. Any time spent developing
meaningful content for your site will come back to you many-fold in
better rankings (and more satisfied users).
Coming Next: Part #2 will address the
spiderability of your web site, why it is so important and what you
can do to improve it.
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