Search Engine Optimization Features, Part I

More so because of popular demand than anything else, the next few marketing tips will focus on search engine optimization features - those attributes that can help your site get indexed and better-ranked by search engines than others.

First, a little background. The Web is now estimated to exceed more than 800 million web pages, and most major search engines are only indexing less than 10 percent each (1999: NEC Research Institute). Indexing is what a search engine “spider” or “bot” does when you submit your site to that search engine - the spider/bot goes out, scans your site for the critical features we will be telling you about, and adds it to its database.

Do you know the difference between a “search engine” and a “directory”? Search Engines (AltaVista and HotBot, for example) use programs to search the Web and create their databases, while Directories (like Yahoo) use human beings to decide what and where to list web sites. That is why sites have a better chance of being listed in search engines than in directories.

Before you pursue having your site added to search engine and directory databases, consider checking it and updating it for optimal elements. For example, you’ll want to be sure that you have complete META TAGS, especially on your home page, which are important for search engine bots. You can view your site’s meta tags by clicking “View” on your browser’s menu and then clicking on “Source” or “View Source.” This will show you the source code for your web page. At the top of this page you want to see code like meta name=”description” and meta name=”keywords” with text following.

To optimize these meta tags, be sure they are as complete as possible. Building keywords into your description is important - bear in mind that descriptions are also what the search engine query result shows as the description of your site, so make it as interesting/sales-worthy as you can within the first dozen words. The meta tag for your keywords should list your most important keywords first, since some search engine spiders only index a finite number of words.

Another important source code to have is a complete & descriptive TITLE tag (which generate the words that appear at the very top of your browser window). Use your critical keywords in this tag, and don’t worry so much about “Welcome to” or the generic name of your company.

Next week we will talk more about coding tips to help with search engine optimization.

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