A person could go myopic sifting through pages of search results from Google and Yahoo! I keep a bottle of eyedrops on my desk just for that reason. Unfortunately, nothing can restore the time I lose by a poorly structured search. In a perfect world, I could immediately guess the most effective keywords that might also be the exact keywords selected by a web developer to tell the search engines how to index a specific page. But, there is very little precision in language and, although choosing the right keywords might help lessen the strain on our eyes and our time, learning the capabilities of our favorite search engines will give us the best results.
For example, did you know that certain keywords, or rather “meta terms” trigger more optimized and immediate search results? Let’s say you want to know the current weather in El Paso, Texas. Enter the following as your search terms:
weather el paso
and immediately, you’ll see the temperature and forecast for that day. Here’s what Google showed me for June 20, 2006, as the top search result. With this information, I had no need to browse any of the other search results.
Weather for El Paso, TX, 93
Tags: features, Google, internet, keywords, search, Search engines, shortcuts, tips, yahoofeatures, Google, internet, keywords, search, Search engines, shortcuts, tips, yahooShare This
When your website visitors arrive, they are looking
for, and need to find, very specific things. They
enter your “front door” thinking:
1. “Make it quick, I don’t have time to waste.”
2. “Make it easy for me to understand the benefit.”
3. “Make it easy for me to reply.”
4. “Don’t let me down.”
Funny enough, or not so really, the MAJOR search
engines are looking for, and need to find, these same
“features” in order to give your website the thumbs up
and allow your webpage to be listed.
However, a search engine is much more specific in the
sense that the overall flow through of your website
must meet a particular set of criteria. To ensure
you’re on the right track with your current or soon to
be in existence website, let’s take a look at Google’s
Quality Guidelines.
Basic Google Search Engine Website Principles:
Make pages for users, not for search engines.
Don’t deceive your users, or present different content
to search engines than you display to users.
Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine
rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you’d feel
comfortable explaining what you’ve done to a website
that competes with you. Another useful test is to ask,
“Does this help my users? Would I do this if search
engines didn’t exist?”
Don’t participate in link schemes designed to increase
your site’s ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid
links to web spammers or “bad neighborhoods” on the
web as your own ranking may be affected adversely by
those links.
Don’t use unauthorized computer programs to submit
pages, check rankings, etc. Such programs consume
computing resources and violate our terms of service.
Google does not recommend the use of products such as
WebPosition Gold
Tags: Google, Internet marketing, msn search, search engine, Search Engine Marketing, seo, yahooGoogle, Internet marketing, msn search, search engine, Search Engine Marketing, seo, yahooShare This
Business owners and managers often ask “How can I make sure people find my site when they search on the web?” The best answer depends on the particular business and marketing strategies of an organization, but a quick overview can be a great start to helping understand the business of marketing your website.
It should not be the primary strategy of every website owner to be stumbled upon by web surfers of all persuasions. Factors such as intended audience, and intended interaction with that audience, weigh heavily when planning a good strategy. Selling products, building a database, and providing a support service all require different marketing strategies. Having said that, let’s look at some variables to consider when integrating website marketing into your overall internet and business strategies.
1. Search engines are only one of several key pathways to your website. Including your site address (URL) on business cards, stationary, advertisements, telephone messages, vehicles, signs, other websites, and word of mouth can be more effective than being on the first page of a particular search by keyword or phrase.
2. Search Engines such as Google and MSN as well as directories like Yahoo are registration based. If you do not register your URL with a particular search engine it will generally not show up at all. Site registration is a conscious and specific activity that must be executed, whether by site developer or site owner. The registration process is similar to announcing your presence, and invites review by human and/or electronic “judges” that accept or reject each request for registration. Listing can take up to 90 days unless fees are paid for expediting. Mere registration does not guarantee rank, but in many cases this listing in conjunction with the methods described above makes up the critical mass of a good internet strategy and costs little to nothing.
3. For those businesses marketing products or services across geographic boundaries, or when the internet is your primary or exclusive channel to market, it may be cost effective to tweak the design of your site and/or pay search engines for positioning by way of a technique much like advertising. Known collectively as Pay Per Click (PPC), major search engines allow you to buy position on the top pages of search results for specific search words and/or phrases paying a fee only when each surfer clicks through to your site from the listing. This can be cost effective when your success highly depends on exposure and volume and can be an excellent jump start to a new business but can be dangerously expensive without a carefully thought out plan.
John Geiger owns and operates the local affiliate of WSI Internet Consulting and Education, a Toronto based global network of consultants, developers and production centers providing turn-key internet business solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises to include web-site design, development and hosting; site maintenance and upgrades, full e-commerce solutions, on-line training and education, and other cutting-edge internet technology and solutions. For questions, comments, free consultation, or ideas for future articles contact John at (828) 328-5929 or http://www.webmasters-wsi.com
Tags: business, Google, internet, marketing, search, Search engines, URL, web, websitesbusiness, Google, internet, marketing, search, Search engines, URL, web, websitesShare This
