Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

We have described the search engines, search query, spiders, algorithms, ranking system, spamdexing, penalization, ethical guidelines, and general methodology of search engines in the SEO Basics page. Here we will go into more details on search engine optimization.

Search engines are here to stay. The reason is that they are very convenient to use and very fast compared to alternatives, e.g. Yellow Pages. Imagine going around the house and trying to find the Yellow Pages depending on who was the last person to use it. Then you have to come up with the category that you 'think' applies to the product/service that you are looking for. And after that, you find service providers and retailers but not information regarding your general questions and concerns. What if you wanted information about a nationwide service, or businesses that are not local or listed in the Yellow Pages?

The fact is one cannot compare Yellow Pages to a search engine. Yellow Pages offer commercial listings in your local area. Search engines offer local and global commercial and non-commercial information. It is a library at your finger tips, or more like 100s of libraries.

Businesses and companies realized in middle of 90's that search engine is a powerful tool for advertising and information dissemination. With a small ad in your local Yellow Pages a business owner cannot describe every detail of your product, service, company history, operational style, corporate culture, customer relations, financial status, etc. but with a website on the Internet one can have all this information and more.

However, Internet search engines provide information globally. Google currently indexes about 8 billion pages, MSN indexes about 5 billion, Yahoo indexes about 4 billion pages, and AskJeeves indexes about 2 billion. How do you stand out for your customers?

With nearly 70% of US households searching on the Internet for goods, services, and information online, companies, large and small, are looking to get their website visible to potential customers.

Search Result Page Ranking

To be visible to customers online, you really want to be on the first page of a search result and ideally in the top 5 listings. To do this, there are there main options available to you:

	Paid advertising with the search engine company (pay-per-click)
	Search engine optimize your site for high ranking
	Use a search engine optimization company to provide you with SEO service

However, these three methods do not produce equal results in sales conversions. Many marketing analysis reports based on user surveys have indicated that conversion rate from search engine ranking (non-paid listing) produced at least 5 times more sales conversions than paid advertising listings in the search results page.

This is a very important consideration since about 31% of Fortune 500 companies advertise in search engines but 58% (almost double) use search engine optimization companies to achieve better ranking and listing in the search engine result pages.

Key Pointers

Here we have listed some of the key pointers to get better search engine optimization for your website. There are more don'ts than there are do's, but we are trying to make sure that your search engine optimization attempt is successful and all your efforts do not end up in a BLOCK list because of one or more mistakes:

	Design your site for your online audience, not for search engines. Your users' positive reaction to your website helps your search engine positioning because they will re-visit again and again.
	Content is key. Include useful information that is relevant to your website and provides value for your online viewers. If you win over the users and they re-visit your site for information, you have a better chance of winning higher ranking with the search engines.
	Provide lists, directories, hot topics, latest news, and other convenient organization of information for your online audience. If they can get the information they want quickly, they are more likely to come back and hence over long term improve your ranking.
	"Cloaking" will get you into trouble so avoid it. To deceive online users by presenting different content to search engines than that which you provide to your users, will get you into censorship list and banned. Also avoid re-directs that are specifically aimed at getting you higher ranking by attempting to fool the search engines. It will not work for long.
	Don't use hidden links or hidden text. Be aware, it does not work.
	Don't participate in schemes that offer you an increase in your webpage ranking since these link schemes can work against you and cause your ranking to go down further.
	Review the Google, Yahoo, MSN, and other search engine guidelines. This is key to make sure that you do not end up in a BLOCK list.
	Follow the guidelines mentioned above to design your website correctly and avoid misleading practices.
	Make your META tags relevant and concise and do not over do it. Make sure the search words in your META correctly describes your webpage.
	Don’t use LinkExchange, in our experience it does not work and other programs like this have often caused more problems than benefits.
	Don’t send automatic query to search engines, they don't like it.
	Don’t do spamdexing, it will cost you the indexing of your website. Spamdexing is the spamming of the indexing and attempting to cheat the search engine system. It is unethical and will affect the positioning of your website.
	Don't stuff your web page with terms and phrases for search engines, it will simply suffocate effective search engine optimization.
	"Doorway" pages don't work and will cost you. Don’t break the rules, it is not worth it.

These pointers are compiled to help you plan and execute the search engine optimization of your website so that you website will start to rank higher, although there are no guarantees. Again we recommend your review the Search Engine Guidelines.