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Search Engine & Directory Optimization
Back in the 'net's early days, all you needed was a couple
of META tags to get a decent search engine ranking. These
days it takes a combination of strategies to get noticed:
- Search engine & directory listings
- Issue a press release
- Announce in news groups and e-mail lists
- Link to and from other sites
- Run a banner campaign
- Run site events (contests, sweepstakes, etc.)
- Publish a newsletter
- Integrate traditional marketing programs
- Win awards
- Review site data logs to measure marketing efforts
Most of these are self-explanatory or covered in detail by
marketing pros elsewhere. Some good ad and PR how-to's are
listed in the "E-Commerce & Marketing" section
of the Resources page.
In this article I'll focus on search engines and directories,
and show you how to optimize your webpages for higher rankings.
"Ranking" means where your site will appear in search
engine results — near the top, buried at the end or somewhere
in-between.
Search engines are a valuable resource for small businesses
when people know your name. If you have a unique name that
no one else has and someone does a search for your name, you
should be first in the search results. This means that traditional
advertising is the key to your website promotion. You
must get your name out there so people will search on your
NAME and be able to find you. (This is another important reason
why your business name and your domain name should be the
same.)
The problem with search engines is, if someone does a search
for the type of business you're in or the products/services
that you offer, you will probably not be ranked in the top
ten, or even the top 100 if your pages aren't optimized. Search
engines tend to list the largest, most popular sites first
but with optimized pages you can move yourself closer to the
top of the list.
Don't rely on search engines and directories alone. A combination
of the strategies listed at the top of the page is the only
way for small businesses to compete with the big guys &
gals, and the thousands of other small businesses on the web
that are competing with you.
Before a site is submitted to search engines and directories,
your webpages might need an overhaul to optimize them for
ranking.
Search Engine & Directory Optimization
META Tags
META tags should be coded into the <HEAD> of your webpages.
Use the "keywords" and "description" attributes
of the META tag to optimize each page of your site.
Use the "keywords" attribute to list words
that users are likely to do a search on to find a page in
your site. For instance, if you sell shoes online, you might
use the following tag on your Men's Shoes page:
<meta name="keywords" content="men's imported dress shoes, men's leather
dress shoes, cheap athletic shoes">
Pick out keywords from the page content. Keywords should
be specific. For instance, "men's imported dress shoes"
would be more effective than simply, "men's shoes".
Specific keywords will draw the customers that know exactly
what they're shopping for, and those that are more likely
to purchase once they arrive. The keywords, "men's shoes",
on the other hand, is common among your competition and you
will be unlikely to show up in the top results.
What you're trying to do is make the keywords for a page
repeat in various places throughout the page. The most important
keywords in your "keywords" list should also appear
in:
- The page "title" tag
- The META "description"
- Page content, including headers and hyperlinks
- img "alt" tags
List as many keywords as you need, but those that don't appear
in the title, description, content and img "alt"
tags won't be given much prominence in rankings.
Remember plurals too. For instance, you should include both,
"red holiday candle" and "red holiday candles".
A search on one won't produce results for the other.
Don't put your company name or site title in the keywords
list. Engines will use the "title" tag to gather
that.
Use the "description" attribute to describe
what your page has to offer. This will be the description
that will be displayed in the search engine results, below
your title, so take some extra time to make sure it grabs
attention. But don't use all capital letters or special characters
such as asterisks to highlight it. Many search engines blacklist
sites who try to use this tactic. Write your description as
if you were a potential customer, and use words like, "inexpensive",
"fast", or whatever is true and appropriate for
your business, and positions you ahead of your competition.
And to increase ranking, use three or four "keywords"
in the description.
The description can be as long as you want it to be, but
search engines limit what they will display in the results
to 75 or 250 characters (including spaces and punctuation).
I use 75, just to make sure the description isn't cut off.
Title Tag
The "title" tag appears in the HTML <HEAD>
of your web pages. This is the title that the search engine
will display when it returns you in search results. It should
be your company name and the page title. Most engines look
for "keywords" that appear in the title and rank
them higher, so use one or two of your most important keywords
within the "title" tag. Don't list only keywords
though, or you may be blacklisted. Your "title"
tag can be 50-80 characters, including spaces and punctuation.
Content
The page content is also important to search engine ranking.
Search engines rank best when the META tag "keywords"
are found in the content. Again, don't just list keywords
in the content or you may be blacklisted. The keywords should
be used naturally, in logical sentences. Use your keywords
in page headings and subheadings as well.
Include pages that are of service, rather than commercial
value. Search engines like it, and other sites will be more
likely to link to your site (further increasing your ranking).
For instance, a candle store might include a page on how to
decorate a room with candles, and safety tips on how NOT to
use candles.
Img "alt" Tags
You should use descriptive "alt" tags for accessibility
software, so the image is described for visually handicapped
users who can't see it. Try to include one or two keywords
in the description, as long as the keywords enhance the description
rather than hinder.
Hyperlinks
Search engines also use keywords in your hyperlinks and the
words immediately surrounding it to rank results. Try to use
some keywords in and around the hyperlinks within your content
too.
DO
For each page in your site, select keywords from the page
content. Use them in:
- The page title
- META "keywords"
- META "description"
- Page headers
- img "alt" attributes
- Hyperlinks
DON'T (or you may be blacklisted)
- Don't list keywords as they appear in the META "keywords"
in the title, content, headers and "alt"s. They
should be used naturally, in sentences, rather than as a
list.
- Don't try to use "invisible" keywords that are
the same color as the page background color. Search engines
are wise to this.
- Don't repeat tags. Use only one "title" tag,
one META keyword tag and only one META description tag.
- Don't use META keywords that don't relate to the page
content. For instance, if you know that "fuzzy white
kittens" is a commonly searched term, and your page
sells shoes, don't list "fuzzy white kittens"
in your keyword list for that page. Unless you stock those
popular kitten loafers ;>
Submitting Your Site
Submissions are tedious. Personally, I just list with the
most popular engines and directories and let the small fries
pick up the site from them. Crawlers will do the rest, and
pick up the site from the title and META tags on their own.
First, make a text document of the following info so you
can cut & paste, rather than having to retype for each
submission form:
- URL
- Site name
- Short description: 75 characters or less, including spaces
and punctuation. Use the META "description" from
the site.
- Long description (250 characters or less, including spaces
and punctuation).
Next, Make a list of search engines you'd like to list with.
Here are a few to get you started:
Directories are lists of sites categorized by site type.
A mall site is an example of a directory. Select directories
that are related to your business or profession.
Directory Guide
There should be a link marked something like, "list
with us", or "submit your site". Navigate to
their submission form and use the copy & paste page you
made to fill out the online forms.
If you have avoided all the "Don't"s, and the search
engines and directories accept your site, it may take up to
two months before you are listed.
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