April 21, 2000
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Understanding Search Engines
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Understanding Search Engines
Archive
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Understanding Search Engines
by Carl Hruza
Marketing products and/or services on the Internet seems to be
the direction taken by many of today's businesses. However, are
we really prepared for what the Internet has to offer? And, are
we equipped with the tools and knowledge to exploit the web and
make our web-based businesses successful? In most cases the
answer is NO. Why? - some simple statistics offer the answer:
1) Only 16% of all the web pages submitted for registration
to the Internet search engines are actually registered or
'indexed'.
2) 95% of the business web sites that are indexed by the
search engines are listed outside of the top two pages of
searches returned against keywords that describe the products
or services offered by the particular business.
What does all this mean? Simple. Your site is invisible to
potential customers searching for your products and you may as
well not be there! Without visibility through the leading search
engines you must turn to other forms of marketing your presence.
These are often expensive and very unpredictable. So what
options do you have? The most sensible is to employ a specialist
organization to improve your search engine listing or position.
This can be expensive depending on the competition for your
particular 'keywords', but in most cases a radical improvement
in search positions can be attained. What follows is a brief
summary of what search engines are and how they work. This
is an essential starting point for anyone serious about Internet
trading or 'E-Commerce'.
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SEARCH ENGINES AND HOW THEY WORK
What is a 'search engine'?
A search engine is a software utility or program that is used to
find information on the Internet, related to a specific subject
that is being sought by the user.
How do I use it?
You visit a particular search engine web site, such as
Alta-Vista or Excite, where you are presented with an 'input'
box, allowing text relating to the subject for which you are
searching to be entered. The text may be inputted as a single
word or a string of text. It may be with or without
capitalization, abbreviation, punctuation or parenthesis. The
inputted text is termed a 'keyword' or 'keyword phrase'. These
keywords are used by the search engines to retrieve web pages
with the required subject matter, which are then presented to
you for selection and viewing.
How do I get my site listed on the search engines?
In order for a web page or site to be found by the search
engine it must first be indexed, that is a record of it's
existence made by the search engine in it's extensive library
or database of pages.
If your site is not indexed by a search engine, then it can
only be found in one of two ways:
Through direct input of the URL or site address into the
location bar of a user's web browser, (user must have prior
knowledge of the site address), or;
By clicking a 'Hyperlink' or advertising banner that connects
directly to the site.
For a site to be 'visible', it must therefore be indexed by
the search engines.
To have a site indexed by a search engine, the site URL or
address must be individually submitted to each search engine.
The search engines are programmed to examine the pages of a
site (sometimes called spidering) and record specific
information about the site, in a manner that permits easy
retrieval of the relevant pages, when called to do so during a
user search.
What is search engine 'ranking' or 'positioning', and how is
it important?
Most people or businesses that have Internet presence do so
because they want to be visible. They want to inform others of
their products and services. The Internet, if utilized correctly,
is the perfect medium for attracting prospective customers to
your business. The most effective method of generating traffic
to your site is through the search engines, i.e. someone is
searching the Internet for a product that you happen to offer,
and your web site is presented, along with others, to be viewed
by the searcher. The problem is one of volume. For example, if
the user enters the keywords 'surfing in California', and a
list of 20,000 web sites is returned, then 19,950 are probably
going to be ignored. The user will generally find what he needs
in the first 50 or so.
In other words, if your site is all about surfing in
California, and you are not positioned or ranked in the top 50
sites that are presented to the user, then you may as well
not be there.
What specific information should I include on my site to
attract favorable ranking or positioning?
The type of information that a search engine spider records
from a specific site varies with each search engine. A working
knowledge of what the specific search engines look for when
compiling their indexes can considerably boost a site's
position in the rankings. Much of the content important to the
search engine for indexing is not visible to the user and is
entered in the background by the site programmer. A difficulty
arises when the site has a theme or subject that is extremely
popular, and is contending with a large number of other web
sites for top position. In this case it can take some time to
achieve a favorable position, and only after employing
extensive techniques in attracting favorable indexing by the
search engines. There are many techniques that can be applied
to gain favorable search positions.
My business is in a popular category, and I can't achieve
favorable positioning, what can I do?.
Contact an expert.
What is 'Spamming' and could it help get my position higher?
Yes it could, but the risk is too great. Spamming techniques
are various, but generally it is a deliberate attempt to
manipulate search engine indexing, to gain an unfair advantage
over your competitors. An example could be the repetitive use
of keywords in your body text, masked from the viewer by
setting the text color to the same color as the background, or
repetitive submission of the same pages to the same search
engine. Search engine programmers are fast becoming wise to
the techniques of spammers, and will drop your site from their
listing if you are caught. There are legitimate ways to
reach a good result, but they sometimes take a little longer!
The benefits gained through successful ranking in the search
engines can be tremendous - a tenfold increase in traffic is
not uncommon, and, if proper attention is paid to targetting
the appropriate keywords, most of the traffic will be relevant
to your site.
For more information on this subject, or if you have any information
you may like to offer, or require any assistance with your business
promotion, please contact carl@connectgreenbay.com or visit us at:
www.search-engine-positioning-ranking.com
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