What to look for in a search engine optimization specialist
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Search engines are the primary way most people find web sites, but web site designers forget to think of this when they create their sites. Often, site designers will make the mistake of building the web site first and then contacting a search engine optimization (SEO) specialist to make that site search-engine friendly.
What most site owners do not realize is that a search engine optimization specialist should be brought into the design process early, not after the site has been built. It is disconcerting to find out that you are a pound short and a day late.
Most so-called search engine optimization specialists are people who slap keywords and keyword phrases inside of HTML tags without considering an overall online marketing strategy. On the other hand, there are people who can write for the search engines, analyze site statistics, have a thorough knowledge of spider-friendly HTML, have considerable experience with SEO in multiple industries, and stay up-to-date on search engine happenings. These are the true search engine experts.
This article addresses five important points to consider when looking for an SEO specialist to work on your site.
Search Engine vs. Directory. A true search engine optimization specialist knows the difference between a search engine and a directory, and will keep the two types of web sites separate in their promotion strategies. The strategies for being listed well in search engines are completely different from the strategies for being listed well in directories.
Search engine optimization is designing, writing, and coding (in HTML) a web site or some of its pages so that there is a good chance that these web pages will appear at the top of search engine results for selected keywords and key phrases. Factors that affect search engine rankings include keyword concentration, keyword placement, link popularity, and so forth.
Directory enhancement is the process of selecting the most appropriate categories for a web site and writing descriptions that concisely and accurately describe the content of the site or a web page without keyword stacking. Factors that affect directory placement are selecting the right category and writing a good description.
Reconsider hiring an SEO specialist who consistently refers to directories (Yahoo!, LookSmart, Open Directory, etc.) as search engines.
Keyword Research. A majority of an SEO specialist's time should be spent on researching the keywords your target audience is most likely to type in a search query and incorporating these words and phrases into your web pages. You will undoubtedly be surprised to find what your audience is typing in.
The most important tags in an SEO specialist's arsenal are title tags and the main body text. Meta tags, alternative text, and comment tags are supplemental; having extra keywords in these tags alone will not give long-term results.
Guarantees. No one should guarantee a search engine ranking. Search engines regularly change their algorithms. What works one day might not work the next day. Search engines want to differentiate their results from one another. They want "fresh" results from their spidering efforts to appear when ready, and to flush their index of spam whenever possible. It is for these reasons that they tweak algorithms.
Software. Programmers who make software that steals other sites' content to generate gateway pages are not search engine experts. Companies whose sole business is generating gateway pages are not search engine experts. (We have yet to see gateway page get good link popularity.) You can spot these companies by learning whether they host the pages themselves and "redirect" the user to your domain.
To get the best long-term results, a web site should be constructed with quality content and a navigation scheme that search engines can spider. Software cannot generate this type of web site.
Cloaking and Gateway / Doorway Pages. Search engines have made it very clear that the web page delivered to the search engine spider and the web page delivered to the end user should be the same. If not, the search engines consider it spam and will have the site promptly removed from the search engine database.
Many search engine optimization companies use scare tactics to convince people that cloaking is necessary. They will tell you that others can figure out your online marketing strategy just by looking at your web pages. ("Stealing your meta tags" is a common scare tactic used.) This is not an accurate characterization of the situation at all. In fact, we outlined above that meta-tags alone are simply not effective.
If the content of your page is stolen, then it is copyright infringement. Cloaking can hide copyright infringement behind the stealth script. This is one of the many reasons why search engines dislike cloaking and eventually may ban its use. Other reasons might be that search engines lose control over where they direct users. If a stealth marketer swipes code for a top position of "flowers" and then redirects the searcher to a furniture outlet store, it harms both the engine and its users.
Stay safe. If the search engines ever decide to ban cloaking, stealth or IP delivery, you will be safe if you never used it.
In conclusion, to get the best long-term results in both the search engines and the directories, build a good web site. Make your pages easy to read. Give the search engines and your end users a navigation scheme that they can easily follow.
Learn to write your content using the words and phrases your target audience will type into a search query. By giving your target audience exactly what they are searching for via a search engine query, you are not only giving your target audience what they are searching for. You are also adding value to the search engines
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Web Site Promotion Scam site submission and search engine lead times
Web Site Promotion Scam site submission and search engine lead times
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Has your inbox been flooded with emails from online promotion companies shortly after you submit your web site to the search engines and Yahoo? Be very careful how you proceed, because these companies could be online scam artists. Here is why.
First, all search engine and directory submissions have lead times. What this means is that your web site or web page is submitted to the search engine, the site has been recorded by the search engine spider, but it will take some time before your web page is added to the search engine catalogue.
For a directory, your site must be reviewed first, accepted into the directory, and then added to the catalogue. The time between submission and addition to the catalogue is called the lead time. Lead times vary from a few days to a few months. In fact, most web pages are not added to a search engine catalogue for at least 2 weeks following submission, barring any technical difficulties.
Now, we've noticed that the spam mail usually comes after a Yahoo submission, but we're sure other promotion companies have found similar trends. If you have a new web site and if your site was recently submitted into the search engines and Yahoo, when you get an email stating that your site is nowhere to be found in the search engines, delete that email.
Your site has not had enough time to be added to the catalogues, and these scam artists are trying to take advantage of peoples' ignorance about lead times. If you hired a good search engine optimization specialist, your site will show up eventually, just not immediately.
Also, these scam companies assume that they can figure out your keywords and key phrases just by looking at your meta-tags on one page. Good online marketing specialists know how to strategically place keywords throughout your site, not just in the meta-tags, for optimum search engine indexing. They know how to use singulars and plurals, synonyms, and well-written headings throughout your entire site. Just because one keyword does not get you in a Top 10 position does not mean that your site cannot be found on search engines.
Only you can determine which keywords and key phrases people are using on the search engines and directories to find you (on your site reports). You might find that people are finding your site using a certain phrase or your service and a location name, such as "web site designer Illinois." Once you determine how people are finding your site, then you can adjust the HTML coding accordingly.
So please don't be in such a rush to hire these scam artists. They are relying on your ignorance of search engine and directory lead times to scam you out of your hard-earned money. They will continue to spam you even when your site is listed well in the search engines and directories.
Free Articles bY: www.swiftmediauk.co.uk
Has your inbox been flooded with emails from online promotion companies shortly after you submit your web site to the search engines and Yahoo? Be very careful how you proceed, because these companies could be online scam artists. Here is why.
First, all search engine and directory submissions have lead times. What this means is that your web site or web page is submitted to the search engine, the site has been recorded by the search engine spider, but it will take some time before your web page is added to the search engine catalogue.
For a directory, your site must be reviewed first, accepted into the directory, and then added to the catalogue. The time between submission and addition to the catalogue is called the lead time. Lead times vary from a few days to a few months. In fact, most web pages are not added to a search engine catalogue for at least 2 weeks following submission, barring any technical difficulties.
Now, we've noticed that the spam mail usually comes after a Yahoo submission, but we're sure other promotion companies have found similar trends. If you have a new web site and if your site was recently submitted into the search engines and Yahoo, when you get an email stating that your site is nowhere to be found in the search engines, delete that email.
Your site has not had enough time to be added to the catalogues, and these scam artists are trying to take advantage of peoples' ignorance about lead times. If you hired a good search engine optimization specialist, your site will show up eventually, just not immediately.
Also, these scam companies assume that they can figure out your keywords and key phrases just by looking at your meta-tags on one page. Good online marketing specialists know how to strategically place keywords throughout your site, not just in the meta-tags, for optimum search engine indexing. They know how to use singulars and plurals, synonyms, and well-written headings throughout your entire site. Just because one keyword does not get you in a Top 10 position does not mean that your site cannot be found on search engines.
Only you can determine which keywords and key phrases people are using on the search engines and directories to find you (on your site reports). You might find that people are finding your site using a certain phrase or your service and a location name, such as "web site designer Illinois." Once you determine how people are finding your site, then you can adjust the HTML coding accordingly.
So please don't be in such a rush to hire these scam artists. They are relying on your ignorance of search engine and directory lead times to scam you out of your hard-earned money. They will continue to spam you even when your site is listed well in the search engines and directories.
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