Staying Ahead of the Search Engine Game

Nov 2001

With research showing that 85% of all Internet user sessions involve someone browsing at a search engine, it is evident that the role of search engines in the online promotion strategy of any business, organisation or individual with a website is critical. However, with research also revealing that only 16% of all the web pages submitted for registration to the Internet search engines are successfully registered or indexed, it is also evident that search engine registration is no easy task.

With the sheer volume of pages on the Internet and the diversity of search engines and directories, ensuring that your site is not only registered, but more importantly achieving high rankings, can become a major challenge. So how can you make certain that your website stays one step ahead of the competition in the search engine game?

Before we look at the factors which affect search engine registration it is worth taking a quick look at how search engines work. Search engines are either automated e.g. Altavista or human managed e.g. Yahoo. Automated based search engines use a computer programme to automatically analyse your content for indexing. These programmes, known as crawlers, robots or spiders follow a set of predefined rules to determine how a site they encounter should be indexed. Understanding how these "spiders" work is important. For example, most engines cannot effectively index site content within framed pages and the use of Flash, excessive use of JavaScript and large image files can hinder performance at these type of engines.

In the case of a human managed directory, an editor or reviewer will visit your site following registration and make a judgement on how it should be categorised and described. Submission to the latter type of search engine requires extra care and preparation as being rejected from one of the most powerful traffic generating sources, such as Yahoo, could have a serious impact on your website traffic and business.

Metatags can help play an important role in your efforts to secure top rankings for your website. Put simply, Metatags or titles and description tags are simple pieces of unseen text you insert into your web pages to make them more search engine friendly. Although some search engines ignore the description tag e.g. Google and Lycos, the majority of search engines automatically index web pages according to the description. They use this information to find out what your page is about and if this feature is not used you have wasted an opportunity to be found. Therefore it is imperative that your page has a carefully crafted title and description tag. Meta tags can also help you provide Key-words and descriptions on pages that for various reasons lack text; for example splash pages.

Due to the sheer volume of Key-words indexed by crawlers, it is also often more advantageous to use Key-phrases rather than Key-words. For example, there are hundreds of thousands of computer companies world-wide and many of their websites use Key-words such as "computers" or "information technology" thus it becomes very difficult to get high rankings on the search engines. Sometimes it is more beneficial to use Key-phrases such as "computer shops on the Isle of Man" or "buying computers on the Isle of Man". The trick is to ask yourself "what would someone type in the search box if they were looking for me or the services/products I offer".

However, simply including a Meta tag is not a guarantee that your page will suddenly appear at the top of every search engine listing. Meta tags are a useful tool but it is also just as important to ensure that your Key-words appear in the crucial locations within the text (content) displayed on your web pages. You need to identify the words or terms that will be important to your potential customers when they are searching for products or services on the web. The page title is most important, as is ensuring that Key-words appear "high" on the pages; for example placing Key-words in the headline or the first paragraphs of your page. In addition to the location of Key-words, frequency is also of significance. A search engine will analyse how often Key-words appear in relation to other words in a web page and those with a higher frequency are often deemed to be more relevant than other web pages. However, a word of warning, search engines may exclude pages from their index if they detect search engine "spamming". An example of this is when a word is repeated hundreds of times on a page, to increase the frequency and propel the page higher in the listings.

Another method for improving your rankings among some search engines is to add links to your website but the key here is quality not quantity. Search engines often undertake a link analysis and determine the popularity of a page by analysing how many links there are to it from other pages. If your site has links to good web pages that are related to the topics you want to be found for, it will not only help you improve your listing but also hopefully generate additional traffic for your site.

With search engine registration it really is an issue of quality rather than quantity. It is estimated that combined the top 10 search engines receive up to 90% of all search engine traffic, so concentrate your resources on registering your site with the major engines. But be patient; registering your site with a search engine is not a speedy process and it may take anything from two weeks up to 12 months in the case of some human indexed directories. However, it is possible to jump the queue but only if you are prepared to pay for it. In order to generate further revenue some sites will charge a premium for prompt "crawling" and/or rapid directory listings. Some search engines have directories where you pay for listings and many offer "pay per position" or "pay per click" packages. You should also be aware that some of the most important search engines such as Yahoo charge for submissions to their commercial directories as a matter of course.

The key to staying ahead in the search engine game is to start with a well designed and coded site combined with quality focused content, not to mention a good deal of patience and perseverance. Unfortunately there is no quick fix to search engine optimisation and as in integral part of your online marketing strategy, it needs reviewing on an ongoing basis. If all this sounds a bit daunting don't despair, any professional web design agency will be able to give advice and practical assistance to help your web site appear higher in the search engine rankings.