How to Improve Your Search Engine Ranking
Disclaimer: Search engine placement and optimization is a
controversial subject, mainly because search engines make it a
point to keep the exact ranking formulas secret. The opinions
expressed here are mine alone. I've done my homework and watched
as my sites have risen and fallen in the rankings. No doubt,
there are many who may disagree with me as a matter of emphasis, but if you follow these
simple guidelines you will be on your way to better placement. If
your entire business model rests on search engine exposure, you
will want to take every step extremely seriously, even go so far
as to hire a SEO (search engine optimizer). There's a lot of
hard work involved here. So be prepared if you expect to rank in
the top 10. Search engine optimization consists of five
areas
- Good, useful content
- Title, Keywords & Description
- Technical issues to avoid
- Updating content regularly
- Getting people to link to you
Content is King
It goes without saying that the 'Net is about information and
most of the useful information in your site is going to be text. Search
engines are programmed to think like an Internet researcher,
like someone who wants relevant and useful information. While
images and moving images convey information of a sort, most
people are looking for words.
Articles and descriptions should be kept to your site's
theme. Your content cannot be about just anything and
everything for a search engine to accurately index your
site. Stick to a few simple ideas and expand on them,
always coming back to your site' main topic. Alt text on images
can
also be used to add to the content. Primarily, this is used to
display something when the image is not rendered (i.e. in
text-only browsers or if there is a download error) or to
enhance the Web experience for low-vision users, but here,
we want to add to the content of the page in a meaningful
way. Every image on your site
should contain an alternative text. Think descriptively. Meta Tags
Your description and keywords Meta tags are extremely useful.
Meta tags are embedded into your HTML files and are used to
categorize your site. Sometimes, search engines use your
description tag to explain output results. Most often, if a
search engine uses these tags at all, they will be used to help it
categorize your page in it's own database. When someone requests
information from the search engine, the query is matched against
a list of terms (most often your Meta tags) held in the
database. Page title and the first and last few words on your Web
page may be more important than your list of keywords or your
description Meta tags. Most often, the title will become the
link listing in a search results page. Technical issues
to avoid
Many technologies, such as Flash, frames, DHTML, dynamic
pages and other technologies can enhance a user's experience at
your site. They can make your site more entertaining and useful.
They can also mask important information from search engine
spiders. Most search engine spiders see your site as if they
were using an old browser. They ignore quite a lot of what makes
a Web page "fancy". While this is becoming less of an
issue, some of these technical "solutions" should be
avoided. Again, as is often the case with real human 'Net users,
search engine spiders don't want to be impressed or entertained
by your site; they want information they can use to make
decisions. Update Content on a Regular Basis
No one wants to click on a link to the latest news in Web
browsers to find out that the page is devoted to the cutting
edge technology of Mosaic. Neither does a search engine spider.
Search engine spiders will regularly check your page once a
month to once a week if they find that the pages have been
updated. On the other hand, they may leave your site to rot if
they find no changes. Part of most ranking formulas is a
"freshness" component. Some suggestions: Write an
article and post it to your site, start a Web log (blog), have a
monthly specials page, maintain a "What's New"
page. Links
Every major search engine uses link analysis as part of their
ranking formulas. Almost any link to your site is a good
link.
It allows search engine spiders and real people to find your
site in very different ways. Indeed, many search engines will
rank your site better when it sees that other people find enough
value in your site to link to it.
Link out to other "authority" sites. When
done judiciously, this gives search engines even more
information about your topic. Don't be afraid that you
will be sending your users away from your site; they found your
site and, if it's worth visiting again, they'll come back.
Some suggestions: form a network of links based on a
geographical area (i.e. the other merchants in your town, neighborhood
or mall), get listed in professional directories, place a
"link to me" banner on your site. Conclusion
In the end, if you make your site useful to other human
beings, your site should be useful to search engines. Of course,
there are many things you can do, as a site owner, to improve
your ranking. Patience, hard work and a little luck are the main
ingredients to good rankings. Give it some time; search engines
may not even pick your site up for up to 6 weeks. In the mean
time, do what you can but don't make yourself crazy and, if it's
making you crazy, it's time to either put your site away for a
while or hire someone to do the work.
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