Search Engine Optimization : by Jeremy Cyr

There are a few things to keep in mind when trying to optimize your

web site's position in search engine results.

First, remember that search engine results aren't everything. A recent

survey showed that even on many popular websites, search engines only

contribute a small percentage of visitors (13%) while direct links

from other sites (21%) and direct navigation (66%) accounted for the

greatest visitor influx. Analyze other ways in which you may be able

to drive traffic to your site.

When it comes to search engines, remember that there are no shortcuts.

Anyone who guarantees "Top Results" or "Submission to 400,000 search

engines" or "Instant top listings" are either scamming you, using

unethical tactics, or both. Getting good results will likely take

work, analysis, and adjustment. Patience is a requirement.

One of the biggest contributing factors to getting better result

positioning is having good content. The content should appeal to the

type of visitor you want to attract to your site, should contain terms

relevant to your industry, and speak about your company's unique

abilities. Make sure that your content is useful to your visitors.

Not only will this help to keep the visitor surfing your site longer,

it will likely foster linkbacks, which are very important.

Linkbacks- Most search engines lend a great deal of credence to what

the rest of the Internet community thinks about your website. This is

measured by linkbacks, or "How many sites have links to yours."

Consider trading links with associated businesses in your field. The

more linkbacks you receive, the better your site will be ranked. If

the site linking to you is popular, the linkback is even more

valuable.

Descriptive page titles- Make sure that the titles to your page (the

text that shows up in the titlebar of the browser) includes your

company name, and a complete description of the current page.

Become listed in an Open Directory- One of the best open directories

is the Open Directory Project (http://www.dmoz.org). Being listed

here will help your page ranking, and will increase the likelihood of

your page being indexed by more search engines. It will take some

time for your listing to show up, be patient.

Don't use unethical tactics- There are many tactics used to 'fool'

search engines. These include fake front pages, loading up a page

with hidden keywords, and many others. These tactics are considered

grounds for blacklisting by most search engines. If you are caught

using these tactics, you may be banned from a search engine's listing.

Avoid these practices, and avoid using firms who use these practices.

Analyze and adjust- Most all web servers have statistics packages

available. These allow you to determine what keywords people have

used to find your site. You can use these statistics to make

adjustments to your content. See what's bringing visitors to your

site, and offer more of it.

Relevance is important- It does no good to get a visitor to your

site, if the visitor has no interest or use for your product or

service. The best way to ensure relevant visitors, is to keep the

content as relevant to your business as possible.

Buy it- Consider a targeted marketing program. These don't guarantee

search results, but do give you great control over how you are listed

amongst advertisements. (For example, Google's "Sponsored Links"

section, which shows up directly to the right of the search results.)

Many of these are reasonable, allow you to budget exactly how much you

want to spend, and give you very accurate statistics on how effective

your marketing program is. The ROI is very easy to track, and you can

adjust your strategy accordingly.

In summary:

Make sure that your content is good, and relevant.

Get links back from other websites.

Don't use unethical tactics.

List with an open directory.

Analyze and adjust.

Be patient.

If you follow these guidelines, you should be well on the way to great

results positioning.