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You can get the page one search engine results you
want if you follow a few basic fundamentals.
By Jill Whalen
My name is Jill Whalen (aka "The Web Whiz"). I've
been in Web development and search engine
optimization for six years and am looking
forward to sharing some great insights with
you on how to obtain and retain high visibility
for your sites on the leading search engines
and directories.
Top level listings are absolutely critical for the
success of your Web business. Why?
According to most studies, the average user
never goes past the third page of the search
results. But there is some good news — you can get the results you
need if you follow a few basic fundamentals.
Understand the Basic Terminology
There are two basic types of search sites: pure search engines and
directories. Pure search engines add Web site pages to their databases
automatically based on user submissions. However, these search
engines also periodically send their automatic robots or "spiders" out to
"crawl" for new and updated Web sites. Individual search engines use
complex algorithms based on a site's information and html code to rank
sites. Google is an example of a pure search engine site.
Directories are the second type of search site. To get listed on a
directory, you must actually submit your front page on the directory's
submission form. Unlike pure search engines, directories don't
automatically add sites. Human reviewers check every submission to
decide if it's appropriate for the directory. Web sites submitted to
directories are usually ranked according to the information provided on
the submission form, as opposed to actual information on the Web site,
so what goes on the form is critically important. The Open Directory is
an example of an Internet directory.
Most of the major search sites on the Internet today combine search
engine and directory functionality. Major search engines like AltaVista,
Excite, Lycos, HotBot, and Infoseek all have some form of directory
associated with them. The opposite is true of major directories such as
Yahoo! and LookSmart. If no results from their human-edited directories
match your search query, their search engines then search through a
database of spidered sites to give you results. For example, at Yahoo!,
Yahoo! Websites provides directory results, and Yahoo! Web Pages
provides spidered results. Many site owners have mistakenly believed
their sites were added to Yahoo!'s human-edited directory after seeing
their sites appear in the Yahoo! Web Pages results. However, in reality,
they're not in Yahoo!'s directory at all. (You'll always receive e-mail
notification when and if your site gets added to Yahoo!'s actual
directory.) So, on to some listing fundamentals.
Be Realistic About your Keyword Choices
First, be realistic about your keyword choices. Never expect a high
ranking for one-word keywords — there are simply too many sites on
the Internet for a one-word search to be effective. In addition, it's
practically impossible to create a one-word search that is targeted to
your specific Web site. For example, suppose you sell real estate in
Florida. You might assume that using the word "home" as your keyword
would produce a lot of targeted traffic. Wrong. Obviously, just because
people search for the word "home" doesn't mean they're looking to buy
or sell a home in Florida. However, if you choose "moving to Florida" as
your keywords, most of your site visitors will be people actually
interested in moving to Florida, and therefore probably needing real
estate. This is the beauty of choosing the proper keyword phrases: you
get an extremely targeted audience!
Once you do have reasonable and relevant keywords chosen for your
site, you absolutely MUST write good, professional, keyword-rich
marketing copy (or hire someone to do so) on every page of your Web
site. You almost don't have to do anything else and you will rank high.
Meta Tags Aren't a Panacea
Second, don't put all your eggs in the meta tags basket. Most clients
that come to me are under the false impression that they simply need
to put some keywords into their meta tags (a hidden bit of code that is
read by search engines to help properly index Web sites), and high
rankings will be the natural result. The meta keyword tag is helpful, but
also highly overrated. In almost every case the reason a Web site is not
highly ranked is simply a lack of good, professional marketing copy.
Period.
Design Your Site with Search Engines in Mind
And third, watch out for site designs that aren't listing-friendly. I often
encounter poor Web design — incorrect usage of frames, java-enabled
mouse over buttons (as opposed to javascript or simple .gifs), or
dynamically generated pages that cannot be indexed by most engines.
It's no fun telling these site owners they'll never see high search engine
rankings unless they go back to square one with their site designs.
Many of these people just spent a ton of money on some fancy design
and are less than thrilled to hear what I tell them. The smart ones listen
and do what it takes; I'm not sure what happens to the other ones.
Stay Tuned...
We've just touched the tip of the iceberg in this first column. In other articles we'll drill into the specific things that you can do to boost your
rankings such as title tags, meta descriptions, image alt tags, headers,
and submission and reporting tools. We'll also explore more general
issues such as determining the best keywords for your site and
understanding doorway pages.
I welcome your feedback, particularly suggestions for future columns.
Please also send me your questions to answer in the RankWrite Roundtable newsletter. You can e-mail me at
jill@rankwrite.com with your questions or column ideas.
© Jill Whalen. dba Whalen's Web Whiz. All rights reserved. Do not
duplicate or redistribute in any form.
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