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It pays to study the Search EnginesWritten by John Saxon
Vive la differenceHere we were, very complacent at significant progress our site was making in search engine placement stakes. Number 3 on Excite, with a number of hits coming in, number 7 on Northern Light, no hits from there, and so on. We were starting to get a number of hits from Google and Fast and then ... we appeared on Lycos, out of blue at Number 1, but only on one key phrase 'barnsley accountants' and when I tried 'barnsley accountant' we fell out of site (no pun intended). What was wrong, why couldn't Lycos recognise that accountant is in word accountants? Why was 'Business Start Up' getting nowhere on Lycos? In order to solve problem it was back to basics. What was it reading, what were words highlighted in listing? How did Lycos work. After all it is one of major Search Engines and if they are investing all that money advertising on TV (by way only 1% of web site hits come from 'off-line' promotion) I should piggy back this campaign and make sure we are well up on Lycos listing. I know, from bitter experience, that Google works on and<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128427"> first paragraph or so of<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128428"> <BODY> , AltaVista looks at <KEYWORD>s and little else, but Lycos is a different beast. The secret lies in becoming a student of search engines - looking at them for hour after hour and trying to 'optimise' your site to reach them all without alienating any of<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128429"> major ones.<p>Lycos seems to work on<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128430"> title, however<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128431"> rest of it is driven by<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128432"> description that is contained in<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128433"> <DESCRIPTION>s that we write for every page (don't we?).<p>I had omitted to write descriptions for most of<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128434"> 603 pages on<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128435"> site because I assumed that they were only for human reviewers and I wasn't too interested in them at this stage of development of our web site.<p>So I wrote descriptions for each page, making sure that I wrote singular 'accountant' solicitor' and plural 'accountants' and solicitors' in all<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128436"> <DESCRIPTION> meta tags, in a particular section of<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128437"> web site and submitted them to Lycos - long wait - then, there we were Barnsley Accountants, Sheffield Accountants, Doncaster Solicitors, Rotherham Marketing Services, South Yorkshire Premises ... every time our site was number one. <br><br></font></td><!-- google_ad_section_end --><!-- google_ad_section_start(weight=ignore) --><td align="top" width="10%"></td><td align="top" width="45%"><h2>The art of "Page Positioning"</h2><font size="2">Written by Janette Moran </font><br><br><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<br> <font size="2">Page positioning is an art and a job all-its' own. It is a tedious and boring, yet equally justifiable. Page positioning is a necessity for any web site that needs to be noticed. And vital for search engine ranking. <p>Search Engines Ranking high / scoring high / getting a good placement, all mean<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar "> same thing. All search engines judge<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128417"> pages submitted to them based on their own criteria. Even with all of<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128418"> variation, many principles seem to hold true. Most search engines use software to quickly scan<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128419"> pages it receives. With<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128420"> information gathered it tries to categorize your site according to <IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128421"> search engines data bank. When a person searches for specific words,<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128422"> system "pulls-up" from its' data bank<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128423"> most relevant sites that corresponds to these words. It does this by matching<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128424"> same words used in <IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128425"> search to<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128426"> words on a page. The sites that contain these words with most frequency, and in<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128427"> correct places, are favored over other pages. <p>But What is<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128428"> "right frequency" & "correct places" By frequency we do not intend for you to go and make your site read every other word<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128429"> same. What we meant in<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128430"> previous paragraph, was that you should include<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128431"> words you think most frequently will be used to search out your page, AND that of your competitors. Use these words as "Key Words" to insert into<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128432"> image text, body, Meta Tags, Title and various places of your web-site.<p>"Key Words" Key words may well be<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128433"> most important factor behind any determined web site. They get<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128434"> attention of<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128435"> viewer, keep them reading, help place your site in search engine searches, and bring you<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128436"> added traffic you desire. It is important that you choose your Key Words with care. They are not to be treated lightly. It is better that you not use them at all, than to underestimate them. Key words can be chosen in many ways. However I strongly recommend using <IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128437"> method that follows. 1) First, take some time to carefully compile a list a words you feel strongly represent your business / web site. They should reflect what you believe are words most likely searched by your current / future clients, prospective clients,<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128438"> general public, and even skeptics or bashers of your trade. Include all of<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128439"> words and phrases you think these same people would use to seek out your competitors, and likely employed tradesmen or trades women. 2) Narrow this list down to approximately 20 entries of 2 - 3 word phrases that use as many of<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128440"> words you chose as possible. For instance a cookie baker with a list containing words such as chocolate chip, raisin oatmeal, batter, dough, experts, cookie, gourmet, dozens, etc., etc., can maximize<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128441"> potency of his "Key Words" by using them together to make catchy and reusable phrases. Like "Gourmet cookie dough" or "Cookies buy<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128442"> dozen." If kept even shorter between 2-3 words you can use them all<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128443"> time when submitting your page manually to<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128444"> engines. They will usually ask for additional descriptive words, or key words. 3) Check them "Key Words" out with a key word generator that counts search frequency / popularity of "Key Words." They can help you determine just how often people actually search these words. Keep only<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128445"> most popular or highly searched words. 4) Search <IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128446"> "Key Words" yourself. There is no point in trying to tweak your page out to one word only to find that soooooo many other people have too there is no way for you to compete with 1 billion other sites generated in that search. Look for<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128447"> miracle phrase. The break in<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128448"> clouds. The one no body has thought of ... but everyone is searching. How? Well, every time you search and it is truly a good and popular key word, or phrase, but<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128449"> results returned contained mostly unrelated sites ... this is<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128450"> perfect "key Word" choice. Use this and any like it to place into your Title, Header, Meta Tags and<IMG height=12 src="/the2.jpg" alt="repparttar 128451"> like. They should however be tailored to each individual pages needs. <br><br></font></td><!-- google_ad_section_end --></tr><tr><td>Cont'd on page 2 ==<a class="mlink" href="2-It_pays_to_study_the_Search_Engines-28418.htm">></a></td></tr></table><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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