<<return
to support
Search
Engines and Marketing
What
is a search engine?
What is a web spider?
Why do they
matter to my site?
Google and Yahoo both search but
they're so different. Why?
How can I optimize my web
site to take advantage of search engines?
How can I use search engines to
market my site?
I have frames in my site.
Is there anything I have to do special when setting up my
metatags?
How often do I have to resubmit to
search engines?
What
are the big search engines?
There are many companies
out there that charge for search engine placement. Is it
worth it to go with one of them?
Are there any good sites where I
can learn more about this?
What
is a search engine?
A search engine takes the key words typed into the 'search
box' and search (or crawl) the web for sites that match
those key words. There are several methods these
search engines use to search but their primary function is
to find sites that you want to visit. When you
consider that there are literally millions of sites out
there and maybe - just maybe - there are a couple dozen that
suit your needs, search engines are an absolute necessity.
Why do they
matter to my site?
If your site is registered with search engines then
potential visitors can actually find your site. Unless
you are lucky enough to have a precise domain name, then you
will need a variety of methods to attract visitors.
Advertising and marketing costs money. Search engine
submissions just take a bit of time. Back
How
can I optimize my web site to take advantage of search
engines?
Buried in the very beginning of the html code for many web
sites you will find meta tags that provide search engines
the information they need to know what your site is all
about. If you go to View > Source in your browser for
this page you will see meta tags that explain the purpose of
our site. What
is a web spider?
A spider is another name for a search engine that actually
goes out to the sites that are listed and gather
information. When your site is 'crawled' the links are
followed, the words are tabulated and your site is ranked by
relevance. If your site is all about writing but the
word 'writing' only appears once on the home page risks
being ranked lower than a site about bagels than mentions
the word writing twice. Google
and Yahoo both search but they're so different. Why?
Google
ranks sites by how many other sites are linked to it
figuring highly relevant sites are linked to often by other
sites. Yahoo is
actually a directory with a staff that organizes sites based
on categories. Other search engines, like AskJeeves
and DogPile
actually search the search engines and provide the visitor
with the tops of the other engines. Back How
can I use search engines to market my site?
When you make sure that the search engines know of your site
and you have spent the time creating meta tags and getting
as many people to link to your site as possible, then
visitors who type in your key words, ie., web hosting,
affordable, then you have a better chance of them coming to
your site. I
have frames in my site. Is there anything I have to do
special when setting up my metatags?
Make sure that you put the meta tags on the
frameset, not just your main page. Most often the
spider will start with www.yourdomain.com/default.htm
- the logical starting point unless you sent it somewhere
else. Make sure that you have your meta tags on your
"No Frames" page, too. Many spiders can't
read frames and will jump directly to the "No
Frames" page. Also, make sure that there is
always a link directly to your main frameset from any page
in the folder. If a spider gives out a hyperlink to a
page and it suddenly appears outside of the frameset, your
visitor will not be able to navigate (and will then leave.) How
often do I have to resubmit to search engines?
You should resubmit to the big sites at least once a month. What
are the big search engines?
Altavista,
Yahoo, Lycos,
Excite, Google,
CNET (for
technology), Mamma,
AskJeeves,
DogPile.
Be careful, though. Some search engines are charging
for traffic that they drive to your site (none of these
do). Read the fine print. Back There
are many companies out there that charge for search engine
placement. Is it worth it to go with one of them?
It depends on how strapped you are for time or how related
your URL is to your product. There are some free
services that could take you a couple of hours each month to
do or you could pick the biggest sites and submit them
yourself (which is good because you know best what your site
is about). If you don't have the time or your domain name is
difficult to remember or you sell a product in a highly
competitive field, then a good placement company is worth
their bandwidth in gold. Are
there any good sites where I can learn more about search
engines?
One
good site with lots of useful information is Spider-Food
and WebMonkey
under E-Commerce > Marketing. Another site that is
good is Hits-To-Sales.
(They're also masters of providing enough free content to
whet your visitor's appetite to buy the stuff for sale!)
Also, Search
Engine Watch is a good source of information. Some
of their information is in their "members only"
section but they still have some good 'free' stuff.
|