 |
Why Starting a Relationship With the Search Engines Can be Hard
Author: Erin Ferree  | Posted: 06-04-2008 | Comments: 0 | Views: 3 | Rating: (50)  (?) 
In a singles bar, patrons typically have the same sorts of insecurities running through their heads:
"I've been hurt before." "Should I trust her?" "Can I let my walls down and let him in?"
These insecurities really get in the way of finding a happy, lasting relationship.
Search Engines have a lot in common with singles. They've been hurt, and they aren't so quick to trust any more.
What You Need To Know About The Search Engines' Pasts
Search engines have had a difficult relationship history. They've tried to be open-hearted and trusting. But unethical website owners, spammers, and other cheaters have used their trusting ways against them and worked their way into the top of the rankings with lies.
And search engines get hurt by that. Their job, above all else, is to help the people using them to search for information. When spammers rather than valid websites get to the top, the search engines can't do their jobs well. That frustrates searchers, and the search engines don't help them find what they need.
So how can you get the search engines to trust your website enough to list it? The answer is to know what they are looking for when you start a relationship with them.
Don't just give them another line (of code)
The search engines no longer use the META Keyword tag when ranking your site. This tag is hidden at the top of your website's HTML. It used to be one of the major areas the search engines looked at when determining what your site was all about.
The intent of this tag was for site owners to list words and phrases explaining what their sites were about. But it was rarely used in ethical ways. People would list terms they thought would help their sites come up in popular searches?"free," "money," and "sex" were all popular back in the early days of the Internet.
After a while, this practice was so widespread that the search engines decided to do something about it. They stopped looking at this tag at all.
These days, the most common use of the META Keyword tag is your competitors researching your optimization strategy. If you already use a META Keyword tag, consider having it removed. If you're coding or optimizing your website, leave it off and concentrate on putting your keywords in the body text of your website instead?where they belong.
They want you to put all your cards on the table.
A while ago, some website owners decided they wanted to have very little copy on their sites. They still wanted to come up strong on the search engines. The search engines were no longer really looking at the META tags. The problem was how to have a site that looked as though it had very little text but still had enough information for the search engines to give it a good ranking.
Some of these website owners came up with what they thought was a brilliant solution. They'd add more text to the site at the bottom of the page below the copyright. And they'd make this text the same color as the background?which basically meant that it was invisible to human website visitors. But the search engines would still see it in the code, read it, and count it toward their ranking.
The search engines caught on to this little trick pretty quickly. If they catch you at it, they'll blacklist your site, which means that they'll kick it out of their results listing. And it will be really difficult to get back in! So make sure our site isn't using any invisible text?and that all the text on the site is visible to humans and the search engines.
They hate doors and mirrors.
Have you ever searched for something online and clicked on what you thought was the perfect match, only to come to what was little more than a full-page advertisement or a bunch of links? Disappointing, isn't it? And then there's a link at the bottom of the page pointing to the site you originally thought you were originally going to? By this point, you already have a sour taste in your mouth.
Or you're looking for a piece of information and you click a couple of links that look like exactly the same site with slightly different words. You get a sense of d? vu and start to feel a bit like you're losing your mind, right?
This tactic is called doorway and mirror sites. The search engines feel exactly the same way that you do about them?because, again, the search engines want searchers to be happy with the results they get from their queries, not disgruntled or confused.
When you start your relationship with the search engines, make sure that your site optimization strategy focuses on ethical ways of getting their attention?like being content-rich, having links with other high-quality sites (not link farms!), and updating your site on a regular basis. Those tactics will ensure that you start a love affair with the search engines instead of just heading for a bad breakup.
Rate this Article:
Current: 0 / 5 stars - 0 vote(s).
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/why-starting-a-relationship-with-the-search-engines-can-be-hard-380077.html
 About the Author:Erin Ferree is a brand identity designer who creates big visibility for small businesses. As the owner of elf design, Erin is passionate about helping her clients stand out in front of their competition and attract more clients. One of the best ways to do that is with Search Engine Optimization, which you can learn about in her eLearning product, Raise Your Ranking, which is available at http://www.howtoraiseyourranking.com .
|
Submitting articles has become one of the most popular means of generating quality backlinks and targeted traffic to your website. Join us today - It's Free! |
|
Latest Internet Articles
Understanding the Ultimate Power of Pay Per Click Campaign to Create Expired-domain Fortunes
By: John Khu | 10/10/2008
The ultimate power of a Pay per Click program to enhance the power and potential of an expired domain is undisputed and unquestioned. A PPC campaign is a well conceived program that helps you earn small income, apart from guiding a constant stream of expired domain traffic to your expired domain
Best Image Formats for the Web
By: Alex Don | 10/10/2008
It builds in an incredible task for web designers and internet site masters to preserve pictures on their internet site like custom banner ads , logos , graphics and several screen-shots . One needs to continuously preserve sizing new pictures and images so that to best display them on your...
Email Faxing
By: Ed Terran | 10/10/2008
With the technological advances that are being made on a regular basis, the concept of email faxing has become a standard. Many people are opting for email faxing over the standard way of sending information from one fax machine to another. There are different methods of sending an email fax...
Affiliate Marketing - An Easy Way to Success
By: Bobby Winchell | 10/10/2008
Affiliate marketing is when you sign up to promote other people's products (or services) for a share of the sale in the form of commissions. As an affiliate marketer, you usually don't need any special training or start-up funding.
Your tasks as an affiliate marketer will be to drum up traffic...
Affiliate Marketing: What to Look For to Get Started?
By: Claude Pelanne | 10/10/2008
Affiliate Marketing for Beginners
Avoid 3 Main Pot Holes in Setting Up Your Internet Marketing Program.
As you begin to look at where to begin when starting out on the Web, there are some key points to cover before you spend a cent on anything. Affiliate marketing is a business after all,...
Cyberdust, Ruined, or Busted? Web Site Traffic is the Engine Necessary to Make Money Online
By: Daniel Stouffer | 09/10/2008
Web site traffic is the life blood of any web site and is critical to the success of any online business. Without it you can't make money online or generate leads. Without it, your online business is just collecting cyber dust.
Top 10 Most Popular Websites in the States
By: Brett Barrington | 09/10/2008
Have you ever wondered what the biggest and most popular sites on the web are? Well you shouldn't wonder because you probably already know what they are. Here is a list taken from Alexa's ranking system that is 100% correct. Alexa is a website monitoring/ranking site that is extremely accurate...
Article Marketing Repurposing Strategy - Creating Information Products
By: Sandra P. Martini | 09/10/2008
We all know the importance of keeping in touch with our ideal clients and prospects via frequent AND informative content. But that doesn't mean your articles, a.k.a. "informative content", should be relegated to your hard drive forevermore.
More from Erin Ferree
The 4 Jobs of Your Logo Font
By: Erin Ferree | 18/09/2008 | Business
Many entrepreneurs think that the font for their business name is like a trophy wife
The 6 Jobs of Your Logo's Icon
By: Erin Ferree | 16/09/2008 | Business
This is a case of the icon's job description not being well written. In a perfect world, entrepreneurs love their logo icons
Designing Temporary Materials to Get You Through a Branding Emergency
By: Erin Ferree | 15/09/2008 | Business
What if your urgent problem is that you have no marketing materials for your business? Having something to market your business with is better than nothing. In some cases, it might even help you get to the next step in your brand.
Branding is Like a Fairy Tale..
By: Erin Ferree | 14/09/2008 | Business
It may not seem like the story of Little Red Riding Hood has much of a parallel to your business's brand. But, a good brand can be a lot like a story. Instead of being a story of a little girl going on a journey, and overcoming different challenges, the brand is the story of how you take your customer from just learning about your business to becoming a customer.
How to Avoid Having Two Separate Businesses to Market Even if You Offer Two Services
By: Erin Ferree | 14/09/2008 | Business
I get a lot of questions from small business owners who have two major problems they solve or two services they offer in one business. I'm not really sure why this is so prevalent
The Three-part Harmony in Your Logo
By: Erin Ferree | 13/09/2008 | Business
Just as a harmonized song is made up of a set of three notes, every small business's logo should be made up of three pieces of art: the icon, the font, and the color palette. These three pieces all work together, singing the same basic song, to tell your business's story. In your logo, each of them gives you an opportunity to build in meaning and symbolism.
The Four Red Light Factors for Your Business Brand
By: Erin Ferree | 12/09/2008 | Business
Making decisions about the 4 following Brand Definition factors does make you stop and wait a bit but ensures that you proceed through the branding process safely and create a brand that will help your business to reach its goals safely and comfortably.
Where to Put Your Contact Info on a Trifold Brochure
By: Erin Ferree | 06/05/2008 | Business
When you're designing a trifold brochure, you have to put your contact information someplace on the brochure. The only question is, where?
|
|
Internet 
