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. |