Getting Realistic About Search Engines
| Category: Search Engines | Date: 2001-06-14 |
When shoppers are looking for goods and services like yours, you want your site to show up at the very top of a search engine’s list. Easier said than done. Here's how to put search engines into perspective.
When shoppers are looking for goods and services like yours, you want your site to show up at the very top of a search engine’s list, not on the tenth (or even the third) page. But the way search engines work is a mystery to most. So let’s debunk a few myths and then put the search engines into perspective.
How Search Engines Work
First of all, not all search engines are alike, and the difference boils down to the various ways that they acquire, store, categorize, and search through data. Some send automated robots (sometimes called spiders or crawlers) out to scour the Web, which take the data back to index. Others wait for you to submit your site to them. And still others do a little bit of both.
So if you want to be included in the search engines you have to do two things:
Design your Web site so that it will be easily found by the search engines that scour the Web
Submit your site to the major search engines and directories.
As soon as your site goes up, companies may email you and say just pay us $99 and we’ll get you top search engine rankings! It would be nice if that were true, but if it were true, then everyone would do it, and everyone can’t get onto the first page of a popular search, right? So you’re better off learning how to make sure your site is ready for search engines, and submitting your site yourself.
Getting Found By the Search Engines
If you want the robots and spiders to find you, here’s what your Web site needs.
A Relevant Title for Your Home Page
The Title of a Web page appears in two very important places: at the top of the browser window when someone visits your site, and as the name of the bookmark when a visitor bookmarks your site. Search engines also often display your Title when your Web site appears in their search results. (GoBizGo members can create their Title in the Promote section of the site.)
Sometimes the Title is the only thing a person will see, and on which they’ll base their decision to click or not to click, so make sure your Title is a phrase or sentence that clearly describes your Web site. For example, if your site was about a sewing service, you might title it, Sewing services, custom design, and production on curtains, pillows, slipcovers, and clothing alternations. That way you’ve not only said what your service is but also included key words which people might search for.
A word that appears in your title is considered more important by most search engines than words that appear in the body of your page. So try to include specific words you think people looking for your products or services would search for.
Most search engines don’t have a limit on how long a title can be. But only 70 or so characters will actually appear in the results.
Your Keywords
These are all the words related to your product or service that your customers will use to search for your site. Your keywords should be included in the computer code of your Web site. (From the Promote section in GoBizGo, members can click on Publicize and add their keywords, which are saved as META-TAGS and made available to spiders and crawlers for indexing in the search engines.) You should also include your keywords in an introduction to visitors on your Home page.
For example, Everyday Gaiters is a small business run by GoBizGo member, Sarah Tyree and her husband. Their site, www.boothuggers.com, sells gaiters and boothuggers, and their first page includes keywords that relate to their product, such as gaiters, boots, gloves, mittens, winter, snow, skiing, snowboard, snowmobiling, ice fishing, children, kids, sliding, clothing, hunting. So when someone performs a search using one of these keywords, www.boothuggers.com should appear in the results.
Links
More and more, the number of links to and from a Web site is being used to rank a site. The idea is that the more links you have, the more popular your site must be, so it deserves a higher ranking. That’s why, in addition to submitting your site to the search engines, it’s essential to spend time trading links with sites of similar topics. And be sure to have a Links page of your own with lots of links to sites of similar interests.
(For more information on how search engines work, read Search Site Basics on eFuse and visit Search Engine Watch.) [NOTE: There’s also an I-search discussion list you might want to check out at www.audettemedia.com/i-search/]
Submitting Your Site to Search Engines
It’s essential to submit your site to the search engines. (GoBizGo members can submit to the major search engines with one click in the Promote section).
Because there are so many search engines, there are search engine submission services, like www.selfpromotion.com and www.submitit.com available to help you some free, others for a fee. Just make sure you submit your site yourself to the major search engines, to make sure it’s done correctly.
The search engines you should register with include:
Yahoo
AltaVista
Excite
Lycos
HotBot
Fast
WebCrawler
Go
Yahoo! is a special case altogether. It’s a directory, rather than a traditional search engine, and you are required to submit your site manually by filling out an application on their site. Then, they send a real person (not a robot) to visit your site, to evaluate it, and place it in the hierarchy of the directory, which can take several months, so be patient.
For those in a hurry, Yahoo! offers a service where, for approximately $100, your site gets a priority viewing, but that doesn’t guarantee that you get listed any faster. Although Yahoo! requires a lot of extra effort, it is one of the most popular directories on the Web, so listing your site here is well worth the extra effort.
There are also search engines, like Goto.com, where you can buy your way into the results. They offer an inexpensive pay-for-placement arrangement that can provide a fast jump-start. You select the search terms or keywords that you think people will use to find a site like yours, then you decide how much you are willing to pay on a per-click basis for each of those search terms. The higher your bid, the higher in the search results your site appears.
Creative Webmasters are using Web sites like eBay.com as a search engine. An eBay listing costs as little as $2, and can generate lots of leads from people who are in the market for your product, so it’s a fast, effective way to reach a targeted group (This works best for people with products, rather than services.
Search engines aren’t the be all end all
Search engines are important when it comes to online marketing, but there’s still no guarantee that if you follow these steps, your site will be listed in the top rankings. So don’t make the mistake of depending on search engines to drive traffic to your Web site.
Be proactive, and use other forms of marketing to spread the word. First and foremost, put your Web address everywhere you can think of. Spend time networking online and offline. Go to the Web sites where people are already researching and discussing your topic. Participate in the discussion forums on those sites. Get a link to and from those sites. Do whatever you can to get your name out there in cyberspace, because it’s the accumulation of references and links to your site that will turn surfers into visitors, and visitors into buyers.
More resources:
eFuse.com’s Search Site Basics
Danny Sullivan’s Search Engine Watch
MarketPostion, an email newsletter from the makers of WebPosition Gold. To subscribe to MarketPosition, send a message to: subscribe@webposition.com.
About the Author
Ilise Benun is the publisher of the Web site for The Art of Self Promotion, a quarterly (print) newsletter of manageable marketing ideas, and the author of Self Promotion Online, an invaluable resource for anyone interested in learning effective strategies to promote oneself via the internet.
(201) 653-0783
:To contact see details below.
http://www.artofselfpromotion.com
http://www.selfpromotiononline.com
When shoppers are looking for goods and services like yours, you want your site to show up at the very top of a search engine’s list, not on the tenth (or even the third) page. But the way search engines work is a mystery to most. So let’s debunk a few myths and then put the search engines into perspective.
How Search Engines Work
First of all, not all search engines are alike, and the difference boils down to the various ways that they acquire, store, categorize, and search through data. Some send automated robots (sometimes called spiders or crawlers) out to scour the Web, which take the data back to index. Others wait for you to submit your site to them. And still others do a little bit of both.
So if you want to be included in the search engines you have to do two things:
Design your Web site so that it will be easily found by the search engines that scour the Web
Submit your site to the major search engines and directories.
As soon as your site goes up, companies may email you and say just pay us $99 and we’ll get you top search engine rankings! It would be nice if that were true, but if it were true, then everyone would do it, and everyone can’t get onto the first page of a popular search, right? So you’re better off learning how to make sure your site is ready for search engines, and submitting your site yourself.
Getting Found By the Search Engines
If you want the robots and spiders to find you, here’s what your Web site needs.
A Relevant Title for Your Home Page
The Title of a Web page appears in two very important places: at the top of the browser window when someone visits your site, and as the name of the bookmark when a visitor bookmarks your site. Search engines also often display your Title when your Web site appears in their search results. (GoBizGo members can create their Title in the Promote section of the site.)
Sometimes the Title is the only thing a person will see, and on which they’ll base their decision to click or not to click, so make sure your Title is a phrase or sentence that clearly describes your Web site. For example, if your site was about a sewing service, you might title it, Sewing services, custom design, and production on curtains, pillows, slipcovers, and clothing alternations. That way you’ve not only said what your service is but also included key words which people might search for.
A word that appears in your title is considered more important by most search engines than words that appear in the body of your page. So try to include specific words you think people looking for your products or services would search for.
Most search engines don’t have a limit on how long a title can be. But only 70 or so characters will actually appear in the results.
Your Keywords
These are all the words related to your product or service that your customers will use to search for your site. Your keywords should be included in the computer code of your Web site. (From the Promote section in GoBizGo, members can click on Publicize and add their keywords, which are saved as META-TAGS and made available to spiders and crawlers for indexing in the search engines.) You should also include your keywords in an introduction to visitors on your Home page.
For example, Everyday Gaiters is a small business run by GoBizGo member, Sarah Tyree and her husband. Their site, www.boothuggers.com, sells gaiters and boothuggers, and their first page includes keywords that relate to their product, such as gaiters, boots, gloves, mittens, winter, snow, skiing, snowboard, snowmobiling, ice fishing, children, kids, sliding, clothing, hunting. So when someone performs a search using one of these keywords, www.boothuggers.com should appear in the results.
Links
More and more, the number of links to and from a Web site is being used to rank a site. The idea is that the more links you have, the more popular your site must be, so it deserves a higher ranking. That’s why, in addition to submitting your site to the search engines, it’s essential to spend time trading links with sites of similar topics. And be sure to have a Links page of your own with lots of links to sites of similar interests.
(For more information on how search engines work, read Search Site Basics on eFuse and visit Search Engine Watch.) [NOTE: There’s also an I-search discussion list you might want to check out at www.audettemedia.com/i-search/]
Submitting Your Site to Search Engines
It’s essential to submit your site to the search engines. (GoBizGo members can submit to the major search engines with one click in the Promote section).
Because there are so many search engines, there are search engine submission services, like www.selfpromotion.com and www.submitit.com available to help you some free, others for a fee. Just make sure you submit your site yourself to the major search engines, to make sure it’s done correctly.
The search engines you should register with include:
Yahoo
AltaVista
Excite
Lycos
HotBot
Fast
WebCrawler
Go
Yahoo! is a special case altogether. It’s a directory, rather than a traditional search engine, and you are required to submit your site manually by filling out an application on their site. Then, they send a real person (not a robot) to visit your site, to evaluate it, and place it in the hierarchy of the directory, which can take several months, so be patient.
For those in a hurry, Yahoo! offers a service where, for approximately $100, your site gets a priority viewing, but that doesn’t guarantee that you get listed any faster. Although Yahoo! requires a lot of extra effort, it is one of the most popular directories on the Web, so listing your site here is well worth the extra effort.
There are also search engines, like Goto.com, where you can buy your way into the results. They offer an inexpensive pay-for-placement arrangement that can provide a fast jump-start. You select the search terms or keywords that you think people will use to find a site like yours, then you decide how much you are willing to pay on a per-click basis for each of those search terms. The higher your bid, the higher in the search results your site appears.
Creative Webmasters are using Web sites like eBay.com as a search engine. An eBay listing costs as little as $2, and can generate lots of leads from people who are in the market for your product, so it’s a fast, effective way to reach a targeted group (This works best for people with products, rather than services.
Search engines aren’t the be all end all
Search engines are important when it comes to online marketing, but there’s still no guarantee that if you follow these steps, your site will be listed in the top rankings. So don’t make the mistake of depending on search engines to drive traffic to your Web site.
Be proactive, and use other forms of marketing to spread the word. First and foremost, put your Web address everywhere you can think of. Spend time networking online and offline. Go to the Web sites where people are already researching and discussing your topic. Participate in the discussion forums on those sites. Get a link to and from those sites. Do whatever you can to get your name out there in cyberspace, because it’s the accumulation of references and links to your site that will turn surfers into visitors, and visitors into buyers.
More resources:
eFuse.com’s Search Site Basics
Danny Sullivan’s Search Engine Watch
MarketPostion, an email newsletter from the makers of WebPosition Gold. To subscribe to MarketPosition, send a message to: subscribe@webposition.com.
About the Author
Ilise Benun is the publisher of the Web site for The Art of Self Promotion, a quarterly (print) newsletter of manageable marketing ideas, and the author of Self Promotion Online, an invaluable resource for anyone interested in learning effective strategies to promote oneself via the internet.
(201) 653-0783
:To contact see details below.
http://www.artofselfpromotion.com
http://www.selfpromotiononline.com
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