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To optimize a web site is to prepare it or make it search engine and directory friendly. Optimizing your site is more than ensuring that it positions well in the search engines. A web site must comply with keywords search requirements, content copy writing with keywords density compliance, W3C HTML and link validation, quality and effective links, and finally Meta-tags well implemented. When customers click through from the search engine results page they want to see a well-written, well-designed site that answers their questions and makes them want to learn more; failing doing that you may get traffic "hits" but no sale "conversions".
In general terms the places where keywords and key phrases must be use and optimize are: • In Page Titles (50 to 60 characters max) • In Headlines (H1 to H5 ) • In Body copy (where keywords and key phrases are used) • In Incoming Links (using same keywords and key phrases in the content linked somewhere in your site). Any incoming links coming from reputable web sites are a good thing, as they are votes of confidence for you web site). • In Meta-tags - Title tag: Title should highlight the page's main key phrases, and be written like a headline; keywords found in this Title tag are considered of high relevancy in engine calculations. - Description tag: (150-200 characters max) Using keywords and key phrases provides the opportunity to create a powerful marketing statement for each page. - Keyword tag: Insert the 3 to 5 most important keywords for each given web page in the META-keywords tag - no more! Ad keywords that are 100% directly related to each web page. In fact, use only keywords that are found in the visual text on your web pages; never copy the same set of keywords for all your web pages. • In Alt-tag (alternative text used to describe images) Other criteria to keep in mind in order to optimize a web site is: • Web Design that take in consideration professional design concepts like proportion, color, graphics, motion, sounds, etc... • Easy navigation that is simple easy to follow and intuitive. • Content that is easy to read, text that just flows with easy understanding • Well written "benefit driven" content that answers customers needs and expectations (target market or "niche"). • Easy information about your company (e-mail, phone, fax, address, etc...), contacts easily available (it builds trust knowing that they can reach you and that you are a legitimate business). • Make it a positive experience for customers and they will come back for more. Once all these steps are implemented, the next phase is to cleverly submit your site, get indexed, and promote your site within the top search engines and directories. Indexing means that the engines have recorded your pages and this is different than "positioning" which is based on ranking determinations. Usually they will only include a sample of your pages and the ones they determine to be most valuable. Most search engines check for link structures and click streams on the Internet to determine which web pages are most important for them to keep in their databases. Some of your web pages will be more important to have indexed than others. For instance, it's more important to see your home page and product pages indexed over your "contact us" page. |
| When preparing your site for submission consider this: • Choose which search engines are likely the most appropriate to have you site indexed; it's better to focus your efforts on the most important top engines with the best syndication. • Choose which pages will be driving more hits and hopefully conversions and which pages are not; service and product pages are the most common ones but information pages like articles, newsletters, etc... may work as important lead generation tools; these pages are the ones you want and need to index; these are the pages that will help you determine your ROI (return over investment). • Do not use any automatic submission service and or software: hand-submitting your pages to targeted engines is a smarter strategy that completely avoids a spam penalty. • When submitting pages to search engines and directories follow carefully all guidelines; choose wisely your main category and sub-categories in order to help define the relevancy of your site to the search engines and directories. • The use of a "site-map" page helps spider engines to determine your web site structure and internal links. • Before submitting a page , check if a page is already indexed; resubmitting will not help your positions or search engine ranking, and it may hamper your submissions efforts. If a page is not listed, or if the engines "drop" a page from their index (which you would notice by checking indexing on a monthly or quarterly basis) you can resubmit that page again. • The easiest way to get your web site into the search engines is by having it included in the major directories first, such as Yahoo and ODP(D-moz). Most search engines will consider a web site that is included in the major directories to be of higher value than a web site that is not and therefore put a lot more focus on getting such web sites included. • If you choose for a "positioning" strategy (ranking higher on engine results pages) you can have it included through pay-for-inclusion (PFI) programs. Keep in mind that even if you pay for inclusion, it is not "guaranteed to be indexed". |
 Top Search Engines & Directories |