Before going in to how to optimize your site for the various search engines it is important to understand the history of both the internet and the search engines themselves. After all it is easier to both understand and remember the basic rules of S.E.O. and S.E.M. (Search Engine Optimization & Search Engine Marketing) if you understand the various theories and background that went in to their creations.

The internet, as we know it today, did not start off as such. It started at the end of the 1950′s and through the 1960′s as ARPANET, Advanced Research Projects Agencey Network, by the U.S. government. The reason that it was started was to “combat” the growing technical advanves made by the Soviet Union after the launch of their Sputnik in 1957. One of the main ideas behind ARPANET was that if one computer went off line the other in the network should be able to continue to function. I.E.: If one city was bombed, thus taking the computer in that city off line (if not totally distroying it), the rest of the network would still work. Think about the main frame computers that were so popular back then (besides the fact that only large corporations could afford them), if the main compute was damaged and turned off then none of the terminals would work at all. In the present, if the server in your office was shut down you can still do most of the necessary functions on your computer (at least those that do not need “help” from the server). Another example of the is the numerous websites out there: Let’s say that for some reason the servers that host the Google search engine all went off line at the same time. You could still visit all other web sites that are on other servers.

Another reason that the U.S. government took it upon themselves to start this network is that they could not rely on the computer industry to develop this network. Why? This is due to the fact that the coputer industry, similar to just about any other industry, works on profit, or expected profit. They simply did not see the dollar value in this network. A classic example of this came from the movie “Silicon Valley Heist”, based upon the life of Bill Gates. At the beginning of Microsoft they created the DOS system form IBM. In a metting between IBM and Microsoft, Mr. Gates asked that he lease the DOS system for a certain time period to IBM instead of selling it. At the time the IBM executives did not see the potential value of software, instead it was believed that the majority of profits would be made by selling hardware and not software.

Looks like we got off track a bit…Back to ARPANET

At the end of the 1960′s the first “network” was ready to be tested. It was decided that the network would be hosted by UCLA and UCSB. This is a critical fact in understanding the general background of the internet. Both of the hosts are universities and not commercial companies that sell products. If you think about it for a minute you can see why the internet is geared more towards open information and not just profits (although, as stated in the previous article, a large ammount of money can be made through the internet and SEO).

At aproximatlety the same time notes from the networking group meetings were saved in a format called RFC (Request for Comments). These notes were ment to gather responses from members and at the same time notify them of other members opinions and findings. It was hoped that keeping unoffical notes would better encourage people to publish their thoughts as they come, and not polish them for publication with the delays involved in rewriting and edition papers. This is very similarto the way newsgroups & forums now work, where people can openly ask questions and make comments as think of them.

Preface
After talking with a number of my clients and colleagues I started to notice a trend with regard to Internet Marketing in general, specifically related to Search Engine Optimization & Search Engine Marketing. It was therefore decided that I would publish, here on my web site, a series of articles on these topics. I have been in the field of Marketing & Internet Marketing since 1997 so I have acquired a vast amount of experience in these fields. In this period I have seen both great success stories along side with huge failures due to unethical marketers and contractors.

Instead of waiting to finish the entire series and then publish it, I decided to publish the individual articles as they are completed. So please be patient as they come and do not forget to check back every few days for new articles and advice.

It is my hope that beyond general enlightenment, they will be usefull for you, a kind of reference manual. Obviously, if you wish to retain my services that would be more than welcome. However, as I stated earlier, the main purpose of this series is to teach you how to successfully market your web site and to avoid falling victim to fraudulent or unethical SEO companies.

Introduction
If you have your own web site, or are planning on starting one, chances are you want as many people as possible to know about it. Most websites are there for a profit, they can sell you something directly or they can just be a kind of online brochure. Just having a web site without marketing it is similar to opening a store in your back yard…with the exception of your family and friends no one will know it is there.

So, how can you market your web site? You start off by making sure that the URL (website address) is on every single piece of paper that leaves your office.

That in itself is not enough, so most people think that the next stage is buying advertising for your site. This can be something small for example an ad in a local newspaper, or it can be a huge investment in a television commercial during the Superbowl. Another way to go is to buy ad space in different web sites and their newsletters. While all of these can work they all have the same basic flaw:

When the time period is up, you have to pay again to be included in the next available slot. If we go back to the newspaper you would have to pay every week or every month to constantly be there.

Most people think that this, having to re-pay again and again, is the only way to advertise….WRONG!!! Among the most cost effective ways to advertise your website is thru the various search engines. Think about it for a minute, most of the search engines do not charge anything to be included in their search results. That is free advertising for you, if you know what you are doing. I personally know of a owner of a web site, who I will not name online, who makes a huge amount of money just thru search engine traffic. This person started his site in April 2002, and by the end of August he was making more than $20,000.00 per month. All while working from his home. How did he do it? He studied the way that search engines work and built his site accordingly.

“Where is the catch?”, you ask. The catch is that you have to optimize your web site and web pages, hence the term Search Engine Optimization a.k.a. S.E.O., so that the search engines can “read” them and include them in their results. While the placement itself, in the search engines, usually does not cost you anything, you have to put the time and effort to make sure that the search engines can index your pages. Search engines can not read the text inside of images and most of the do not read any of the texts in flash files.

O.K., so how do I optimize my site for the search engines? We will start off by going over the history of the internet and the search engines and how they work. This will help you understand later on why some practices work while others do not work. Some practices can get your web site penalized or even banned from the search engines, so you have to be very carefull.

I have said it before and will probably do so again, it is my belief that the only way to truly succeed in Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing is to understand their history. Once you understand how they started out, other bits and pieces will soon fall in place.

Now when I say “truly succeed”, I mean that once your site is up and running, and you have optimized it for the Search Engines, you should be getting literally thousands of hits per day. One of the pitfalls that some website owners fall into is to making doorway pages with redirects. These doorway pages may work at first, but once your redirects are noticed by the search engines then chances are you will be penalized or banned. On the other hand if you truly optimize your site then chances are that no matter what changes the Search Engines make to their algorithms you will still be receiving large amounts of traffic.

Let us take a look at part of the Search Engine History and then we will get back to “discussion”:

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In the year 1990 a University of McGill student creates the first search tool (called Archie), using FTP (File Transfer Protocol) servers to archive Internet Files.

In 1991 Mark McCahill from the University of Minnesota launches Gopher. This was intended as an alternative to the 1990 Archie.

Now starts the fun…in 1992 Veronica was created by the University of Nevada. This is a search tool that scans Gopher servers for text file.

In 1993 Jughead was created, meant to be an enhancement to the Gopher system by adding both Boolean and Keyword searches.

MIT student Matthew Gray creates the World Wide Web Wanderer in 1993. This is the earliest acclaimed Web Robot.

Galaxy, the first Web Directory, was launched in 1994.

Think that Yahoo was their from the beginning? Guess again, although others started in the early 1990′s Yahoo was started in 1994 by two Stanford University Electrical Engineering candidates to keep track of their personal Internet interests.

WebCrawler was created in 1994 University of Washington student.

Now comes the Lycos Search Engine, started in 1994 a Carnegie Melon student. It originally had 54,000 documents in it’s directory. Webmasters and Website owners started to submit their sites for inclusion in Lycos.

February 1995 Infoseek was released to the public. In December of that same year it received a huge break by becoming the default Search Engine for Netscape.

Starting to notice a pattern yet…?

Excite was launched in October of 1995 by six entrepreneurs out of California in order to manage information on the Internet.

AltsVista was introduced to the public in December of 1995 and gain popularity rapidly due to unique features it had.

SearchSavvy, what is believed to be the first Meta Search Engine, was introduced in 1995 by Colorado State University’s Daniel Dreilinger.

They say that laziness is the mother & father of all inventions. Well, in 1995 automatic Search Engine Submission software was released. For those of you who have not been there yet, this allows you to submit a site to a number of Search Engines all at once with a “click of a button”. Many website owners and marketers quickly utilized this software to submit 1000′s of web pages each day to the Search Engines, in an attempt to gain better positions for their sites. Various Search Engines quickly caught on to this and began to penalize and/or sites that were abusing the software.

During 1995-1996 Web Site owners, Webmasters, and Web Marketers discover that the use of Meta Tags in their HTML code can increase their rankings in the Search Engines.

In February of 1996 a grant was given to Eric Brewer and Paul Gauthier in order to study how the use of clustered and inexpensive workstation computers can create the same computing capabilities as supercomputers. This was the start of Inktomi.

In October of 1996 a categorized directory of Website listings, named LookSmart, is introduced.

In 1996 Search Engine Optimizers begin a game of cat and mouse with the Search Engines. As the Search Engine Optimizers find techniques to achieve better positions for their sites, Search Engines begin to change their algorithms in an effort to respond to this.

AskJeeves is launched in April of 1997 with the intent of emphasizing ease of use and the ability to learn.

Bill Gross Launches GoTo in 1997, the new twist here is that they were auctioning off search results. This is the first Pay Per Click (PPC) Search Engine.

In 1997 a new software is introduced to the industry. This software would automatically check Web Site ranking in the major Search Engines.

In 1998 the Open Directory Project was launched. It’s goal was becoming the world’s most comprehensive directory.

Wondering where and when the Google Search Engine started?

Well in 1998 two Stanford Computer Science graduate students introduce Google, aiming for it to take a unique approach to search results and relevancy.

In September of 1998 Microsoft launched MSN Search. It was originally developed for users of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and the Microsoft Network.

Another big step that the Search Engines took with their algorithms was in 1998 when they started to consider off page considerations for their results. One of the most widely know of these is Link Popularity which is still used both by the Search Engines and subsequently by the Search Engine Optimizers.

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This list is not complete, but it can give you an idea as to how and why they started. There are two important themes to consider when Optimizing your site of the Search Engines. The first is that most of the Search Engines started off as University (research) projects, and thus their algorithms are meant to work for the users and not site owners or marketers. The second is that once the various Search Engine noticed that Web Site Owners / Marketers “cracked” their algorithms, the Search Engines updated them accordingly to continue returning relevant search results.

“For $1,000.00 a year I will guarantee that your site will be in one of the top 30 spots in the search engines(…)for the word or phrase of your choice”. This is part of a marketing phone call I received from a Search Engine Optimization consultant, not named here per his request, based near Boston, during the first half of January 2003. At first it sounds almost too good to be true, until you start to think about it. In which search engine will I be? How many people actually look for that particular word or phrase? How many targeted visitors will it bring me? This is just one of the many examples of why the Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.) industry has been given “a black eye through their (…) attempts to unfairly manipulate search engine results” as stated by Google. There are quite a few very good and reputable S.E.O. consultants and companies. However, there are also a number of “unethical SEOs” (Google) that have hurt the general reputation of the industry. In this article we will introduce you to some of the things that you should consider when choosing a Search Engine Optimization consultant or company.

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Please Note: This article only touches the surface on some of the things that you should check. Should you require a consultation on choosing a Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.) or Search Engine Marketing (S.E.M.) company/consultant feel free to contact us.

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Before going go out to get 50 different price quotes from different S.E.O.s decide what exactly are your needs. Will you just need key word research and reports? Will you require the consultant to update your web site? Will you need the consultant or company to submit your site to the search engines? Will you need the consultant or company to create the new text copy for your pages? Different companies offer different services, so you are better off having one company that does everything that you will not be doing yourself.

Now that you know your needs, you have do decide on a list of key words and phrases that you want to target. This can be either a small or large list. The list can contain only words that you think are worth targeting, or it can also contain current key word referrals to your site from the search engines.

Now that you have done your homework you have to start shopping around for the right consultant or company that will fit your needs. According to the number of sites reviewed by www.seoconsultants.com there are over 500 S.E.O. consultants and companies, so do not worry if you start declining some of the proposals you receive, there are certainly enough around in order to allow you to find the right one. While shopping for the right S.E.O. there are a few basic questions that you can ask to help determine if they are a reputable company. The following is a basic list of questions you can ask, as suggested in the seoconsultants.com web site:

• If ethics are important to you can start off by asking “What types of websites will you not promote?”.

• In addition you can ask: “Do you participate (…) ” in “any of the S.E.O. / S.E.M. – Search Engine Marketing Forums? (…)If so, what is your username and can you provide links to your most recent or notable discussions?

• Can you describe and/or produce recent successful campaign results?

• If so, can I use those clients for references?”

You may also ask them if they advise you to use any kind of cloaking, door-way pages or redirects to help with the optimization of your web site; these tactics are also known as search engine spamming. If they do advise you to use any of these tactics you are probably better off crossing them off of your list.

What is search engine spamming and why is it a bad thing? Let us start off by understanding that it is the search engine’s job to find the most relevant results of a search word or phrase. If the results were not relevant then no one would be using them. Search engine spamming is a term that has been used for a while to define unethical practices, done by site owners and search engine optimizers, such as key word stuffing, doorway or gateway pages, and redirects in an effort to overcome the natural results of the search engine algorithm and increase the web site’s position in the results. The different algorithms are there in order to get the end user the most relevant results. In the past, one form of spamming was to put multiple words with a white font on a white background, in effect hiding them. Most search engines know how to recognize this and penalize the web site by not showing it in the results at all. Every now and then a new form of search engine spamming will come up that the search engines have not caught. They usually catch this quickly. As tempting as it may be, what is the use of being in a high position in the search engines only to be completely banned by them a few weeks later?

Another crucial factor to check with them is if they will research the value of your chosen words and phrases and if they will suggest alternatives, either instead of your current words and phrases, or in addition to them. The logic behind this last question is that some consultants will not check the value of the words they receive from the client. Instead they will use them as is. What usually happens is that the client is very pleased at first, as they are getting to the top positions of their chosen words. This is usually followed by great disappointment, and sometimes anger, some time down the road when they realize that there is no value to the words or phrases that they chose. How many people actually type in “purple cheese with non plastic wrapper” in the search engines? Although the company that makes this purple cheese will be happy to be in the top spots in the search engines for this phrase it will not bring them too much traffic.

In the end you really have to ask around and do your homework before deciding which company to go with, it is your money and you want to make sure that you get a good return on your investment. Check with their references, forums and news groups, among other things, to see what information you can find about them. It is my personal opinion that most of these “unethical SEOs” (Google) have come up due to the dot com boom at the end of the 90′s. At the time all you had to do was go to an investor with an idea and use the words “internet” and “computer” a few times during your presentation to get a hefty check to start with. Although this is an exaggeration, it was the general mood, so the gold diggers were quick to follow.

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References
Google.com, (n.d.). Google Information for Webmasters: Search Engine Optimizers.
Retrieved on February 17, 2003, from http://www.google.com/webmasters/seo.html

Search Engine Optimization Consultant not named here per his request. Phone call. First half of January 2003.

SEO Consultants, (n.d.). Choosing a Search Engine Optimization Company. Retrieved on
February 17, 2003, from http://www.seoconsultants.com,

http://www.seoconsultants.com/which-seo-to-choose.htm

General:
Web pages, also known as HTML documents or files, are the individual files stored on the server that are viewed by the site visitors. HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. To put it simply it is a computer language (although most programmers do not consider it to be a proper computer language) that is then read by the web browser (a computer program), like Microsoft’s Internet Explorer or Netscape’s Navigator, which then preforms the different commands in the code. Most of the commands just influence how and what you see on the page, just keep in mind that there are also commands that you do not see in the output.

Unlike most computer languages, which are first written and then compiled into a binary form, HTML is ASCII or Text based. What this means is that you can create and edit them with just about any word processor, like Notepad. Most of the time you can see the HTML in it’s raw format for web pages by simply clicking “View Source” on the web page you are currently viewing in your browser.

The different Parts of an HTML document:
HTML documents have two main parts, the first is the HEAD and the second is the BODY. Each of these in turn has various elements in them.

The HEAD tag:
The web site visitor does not see most of the HTML tags inside the head section of the document. Instead, these are mainly different commands that the author of the web page inserts to set the properties of the page. Among the different properties are:

• The Character Set for various languages
  
• Base Target and HREF
  
• Refresh or Redirect
  
• And much more…
  

The most common tag that is in the HEAD and that is, at least partially, visible to the visitor is the TITLE tag. The text inside of the TITLE is what you see at the very top of your browser. The TITLE is also very important to the search engines, and hence Search Engine Optimization. We will go into this later on.

Other “invisible” tags inside of the HEAD which are important to S.E.O. are Meta Tags which include:

• Description
  
• Keywords
  
• Robots
  

Examples:
<meta name=”description” content=”A short description here”>
This lets the spiders know what you think should be the description of your page. Some spiders use it as is, some ignore it entirley and some use parts of it along with the content of your page. In general you can put up to 250 characters in the description, but is is suggested to keep is at 150 or less. This helps avoid having your description cut off by the search engines.

<meta name=”keywords” content=”your keywords,here”>
Your Keywords and phrases here, comma seperated. This lets the spiders know what you think should be the description of your page. Some spiders use it as is, some ignore it entirley and some use parts of it along with the content of your page This can be up to 1024 characters, but it is suggested to keep under 800.

Both of these MUST reflect the content of your page, other wise you are taking a chance of being either penalized or baned from the search engines

Robot Meta Tag Options

The meta tag robots lets spiders know if to crawl your page and if to follow the links in it. If you have a page that you DO NOT want indexed by a search engine you can add the following tag.

<META NAME=”ROBOTS” CONTENT=”NOINDEX”>

INDEX – tells the robot it is ok to index the page.
FOLLOW – tells the robot it is ok to follow the links found on this page

<META NAME=”ROBOTS” CONTENT=”INDEX,FOLLOW”>
<META NAME=”ROBOTS” CONTENT=”NOINDEX,FOLLOW”>
<META NAME=”ROBOTS” CONTENT=”INDEX,NOFOLLOW”>
<META NAME=”ROBOTS” CONTENT=”NOINDEX,NOFOLLOW”>

The BODY tag:
The BODY tag is where all the visible elements of your web page are located. This is what the visitor actually sees.

Headings (H1-H6) tags should be as close to the top of your visible page as possible. Search engines look at the contents of this tag for relavent Keywords, and they are usually given more weight in the algorythims than normal text in your page.

The Images (IMG tag) is often forgotten when optimizing your site. The first thing you need to do is make sure to include the height and width of the image. This has to do with the validation of the HTML document, some search engines will not be able to process your page unless its syntax is correct. The second this is the ALT attribute of the IMG tag, This is the alternative text that is shown until the imgae is loaded and when the mouse is over the image. It is a great place to increase the Keyword density in your document as well as to place the common misspellings.
<img src=”your_image.gif” height=”10px” width=”50px” alt=”more Keywords and misspellings” >

Links (A HREF) tag – as in the IMG tag the alternative text (shown when the mouse is over the link) is often forgotten when optimizing your site. Instead of using the ALT links use the TITLE attribute.
<a href=”your_link.html” title=” more Keywords and misspellings” > more Keywords </a>

Frames, quite simply avoid them when ever possible. While search engines can follow the links to the various pages they do not give the content of any of these pages to the main page. The only thing that they see is the HEAD and the NOFRAMES tag. You have to treat the search engines like an old browser that is not capable of displaying frames.

Validation:
As we have stated earlier correct HTML syntax can be very important to the optimization of your page. To check that your page’s HTML syntax is correct you can use the HTML validator located at: http://validator.w3.org.

Originally posted by Jenifer Underwood, C.P.S.M.
Market29, Inc. http://www.market29.com jen@market29.com at www.alon-cohen.com

The topic of top placement for web store links in search engines has come up with every single ecommerce project I have been involved in as a programmer and as a marketer. What some people rarely consider is how to increase the number of links to that very same web store. If your goal is to increase search engine exposure and you are willing to pay placement fees, then you should consider adding multiple domain names pointing to the same or duplicate web store. The annual cost for domain registration is immaterial when compared to the potential profits of exposure on the search engine list!

How it Works
There are a couple ways this can be done. You can point to the exact same store using a redirect page or doorway page. This involves minimal effort. It is noting to use the doorway approach with caution. The search engines are not fond of this tactic. On the other hand, you can create a different look and name for the store but maintain the same product database to display products and manage purchases. You can host the same store on multiple servers. There is a little more work involved but the returns may justify the added tasks.

How to Implement
To point to the exact same store using a redirect or doorway page, all you need to do is purchase the domain names and set up the domain IP address mapping through your hosting service or internal server. Domain IP address mapping is much like a street address mapping. It maps the domain name to the location of your web server. When that is established, add the redirect page to the new domain name web site automatically directing users to the desired online store server location. Register the new domain name with the search engines and you are on you way! That is really all there is to getting started using multiple domains!

Another interesting approach I’ve seen used is to create different we store names, brands and looks while using the exact same product database on the backend. I’ve seen a few configurations of this approach displaying catalog data by store name but most maintain the exact same database table configuration and connect to it from the different web store sites. This approach can be useful when trying to appeal to different audiences with the same product line. Under this approach the web sites would still need to be registered with the search engines but no redirect is used.

According to Gartner research, more than 80% of web sessions begin through a web search engine. If you have an online web store increasing your exposure in the searches is going to increase your online profits!

Originally posted by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg mcintirj@lincolnu.edu at www.alon-cohen.com

One means of making sure your site receives maximum visibility is search engine optimization (S.E.O.). You must think in terms of search engine optimization from the earliest stages of planning and design if you want to receive heavy traffic from the major search engines. In order to optimize your site, you need to understand how search engines work, how web surfers search, and what elements of your site contribute to successful search placement. While much information (and misinformation) exists about search engine optimization, experts agree that the elements you must focus on are keywords, meta tags and links from other sites.

How Search Engines Work

Before delving into specific elements, it’s necessary to understand how search engines work. True search engines (as opposed to directories like Yahoo!) use a program called a “robot” or “spider” to “crawl” the web while gathering and indexing the information they find. A searcher receives the results of these crawls when s/he conducts a search. Sounds simple, right? Unfortunately, every search engine (and literally thousands of engines exist) has its own criteria for indexing sites, and further criteria for determining the ranking of sites. It’s easy to see why S.E.O. consultants can make a handsome living – it’s virtually impossible for a single webmaster to know all of the various rules that will optimize his/her site for every engine.

Feeling Overwhelmed Yet?

While a search engine optimization consultant can provide a greater amount of detailed knowledge for an individual web master, experts tend to agree that there are a few rules that almost anyone can apply to optimize his/her site.

First, while thousands of search engines exist, most surfers do their searching on a handful of sites. Yahoo! generally accounts for half of all web searches. While they charge a fee for simply considering a business listing in their directory (currently $299), many business people may find that a reasonable investment, considering the popularity of this portal. Among true search engines, the most popular by far are Google and Overture. It’s important to know that many search engines actually get there results from these giants, so applying the rules that work for these two can help get your site listed in many engines.

Optimizing You Site

In order to make sure your site is listed in searches that directly apply to your type of business, it’s essential to use the best keywords and phrases. Keywords are the words that searchers use to find web sites that will give them the information they want. In order to take advantage of the power of keywords, you must find out what keywords and key phrases are most popular among the searchers you want to attract to your site, so you may want to consider using a service like Wordtracker (http://www.wordtracker.com) to find out the words and phrases that searchers are using. Once you’ve determined this, you want to place those words and phrases at the points in your page most likely to be noticed by search engines. Experts tend to agree that the best places to use keywords are in your page title, your page’s copy, and in the site’s meta tags.

The page title is likely the most important place to use the proper keywords, as all search engine spiders tend to look at it. Precision is key – use the keywords that are most likely to bring the right visitors to that particular page. While some consultants suggest using many key words, or many slight variations of key words, or repeated key words, search engines have caught on to these strategies and may actually penalize your site for using such tactics. According to Webmonkey.com’s Paul Boutin, it’s best not to include extra words, such as a company name; using only the keywords as site title will generally bring the best results.

It’s also important to use those keywords and phrases in the copy of the page, as spiders do look at this also. Note, for instance, how often I use phrases like “search engine opitimization” and “search engine” in this article. That’s deliberate. Keep in mind, though, that search engines have caught on to the practice of loading down copy with keywords to achieve higher rankings, and certain high ratios of keywords to overall copy may actually hurt your placement.

The third place to use keywords is in the site’s meta tags, which are part of the coding for the page. Again, it’s best to use only the words that will bring the best results – repetition or overuse of variations can hurt your optimization.

Finally, some consultants will suggest that regardless of your site’s content, you always include the most popular overall keywords in your title and meta tags. While this may bring more initial traffic to your site, you have to consider whether attracting searches on “Eminem” or “Spiderman” will benefit you in any way. Generally, it’s best to optimize your site so that you attract those searchers that would actually be interested in what you have to offer.

Link popularity

Another criteria that many search engines use for ranking is link popularity. Essentially, is your site linked from other sites, and are those sites ranked well in their engines? This can be a time consuming process for a webmaster, as getting links on other pages generally involves contacting the owner of that page and asking for a listing or agreeing to a “link swap”: you put a link on your page to their site, and they do the same for you. Again, don’t believe that you can fool the search engines through short-cut methods such as FFA pages, as the engine administrators have caught on to these, also. Also keep in mind that links on other reputable pages account for a high percentage of traffic – you really can’t lose by having your site listed on other site’s “Links” pages.

Some Final Thoughts

When optimizing your site for the search engines, it’s also important to remember that a high ranking in a search doesn’t necessarily mean more qualified traffic. As in many aspects of life, presentation is everything. If the listing on the search engine appears clear and professional, you’re more likely to receive more of the traffic that will benefit you. Boutin notes that the meta name field in the coding is important in this regard, as some engines use the information in this field for their site description. While you want to use keywords and phrases in this field, do so in a manner that still will make sense to a surfer looking for a site like yours.

Ultimately, search engine optimization involves using tried and true methods of design and writing to make your site user-friendly. If you’d like assistance in making your site more search engine friendly, please contact us.

More information:

Boutin, Paul. “Search Engine Optimization FREE” http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/01/23/index1a.html