RESOURCES

Search Engine Optimization

Introduction

Many of our clients rely on their company Websites as an important source of leads. As a result, we are often asked what can be done to make a site more accessible to Internet search engines and directories. The process of "Search Engine Optimization" is part common sense, part craft, and part abiding by the rules. The first thing to understand is that the goal of the search engines is almost certainly different from the goal of the organizations and individuals who submit their sites. The search engines want to achieve impartiality and accuracy-that is, they want to produce the most useful, well-targeted list of relevant results for a user's search. The ability to do so is what makes a user prefer one engine over another. Web developers, on the other hand, care little about impartiality and accuracy in the search list as a whole; what they want is an unfair competitive advantage for their client-that is, for searchers to see their client's site as high on the list as possible. So there is a natural tug-of-war between the developers and the search engines.

Another thing to realize is that the search engines change the way that they categorize and rank web pages on a regular basis as they try to improve their ability to provide useful results to users. This means that search engine optimization is not a onetime occurrence but a continual process. Below is a list of things you should consider, when building a Web site, in order to achieve optimal results with the search engines.

In addition to the technical optimization techniques described below, if budget allows, consider using Pay-Per-Click search engines to "buy" more favorable search engine positioning. Search engines such as Google and Overture sell advertising by allowing a company to buy keywords and pay for them based on the number of users who click on the ad-in other words, you "pay per click." The charge for a click may be as low as a nickel or as high as several dollars, depending upon how keen the competition is for a particular keyword.

Again, if budget permits, consider submitting your web site to one of the many level word contests. The receipt of an award can increase the number of people come into your site as well as enhance the attractiveness of a web site to the search engines. The term used to describe this attractiveness is called "relevancy" and is a key component to achieving good placement in search results.

Overall Considerations

• Focus on the home page. The home page is the single most important page for search engine optimization. Your home page will need at least 250 words of carefully worded text for maximum search engine effectiveness. In that text, make sure you tell visitors very clearly what you do and what is your web site's objective. This will not only result in a more pleasing experience for your visitors, but will also make it easier for the search engines to evaluate your site.
  
• Be sure to include the top keywords at least once in the home page text.
  
• Avoid splash pages and frames. Using a splash page with no text virtually assures the web site owner of poor search engine positioning, so avoid them at all costs. Equally bad is the use of frames, which confuse search engines and make indexing of the web site significantly more difficult. Today's browser technologies and the careful use of tables have completely eliminated the need for the use of frames on most Web sites, so avoid this unnecessary complication.
  
• Update frequently. Some search engines ranks sites higher if they make frequent changes, so update some of the pages on your site at least every 30 days.
  
• Use catchy techniques sparingly. For example, use only one animation on any given page-and be sure to give a good description of the animation in the alt tag.
  
• If you use applets or mouse-over scripts, be sure they all work properly.
  
• Place banners wisely. Search engines do not favor banners. If you use one, put it at the bottom of the page, where it will have the least impact on search engines checking your site.
  
• Limit the number of clicks. Search engines typically index two levels in a web site at the most. If you offer sections, catalogs, or detailed information of any kind, it should be no more than two clicks away (one click is even better). This represents good design as well as good search engine optimization. User studies have found that Web site visitors get lost by the time they have clicked for a third time, and are likely to get frustrated if they haven't found information they want.

Technical Considerations

• Choose a good domain name. In ranking sites, the most weight is given to the domain name itself-so try to include keywords in your domain name. For example, "www.voice-recognition-software.com" is more desirable than a company name because it includes relevant keywords. Use a domain name that is closer to the top of the alphabet for those sites that list companies in alphabetical order.
  
• Use keywords in naming your files. As search engines become more sophisticated, they are able to index more aspects of web site. For example, many search engines now examine the file folder names used on a web site in their hunt for keywords. They also examine the names of image files and give greater weight to those that contain keywords. Keep this in mind when naming all files. For example Model 9530A.gif will be given a higher value than image01.jpg.
  
• Craft descriptive title tags. The title tag is typically located near the top of the HTML document and is probably the most important tag with regard to the engines. The title tag is opened with'<title>" tag and closed by'</title>" tag. The text between these two tags is the title text. The title tag determines what will be displayed in the top blue bar of the browser. Create a descriptive header for each page; do not just copy and paste the header information throughout the web site.
  
• Write effective meta tags. Meta tags are instructions to the browser showing the page and are invisible to web site visitors. They are, however, used extensively by the Search Engines to evaluate the contents of a web page and web site. These tags are typically located near the top of the HTML document. For search engine optimization, there are two meta tags that should be considered. The first is called the "description" and will be identified by the following tag: "<meta name="description" content=" followed by a description of the page in quotes. This description may be used when the engine displays results similar to the title. An effective description will include the most important keywords and will avoid the use of general phrases or superlatives, such "the best design company".
  
• The other meta tag is the "keyword", which is identified by the following tag: "<meta name="keywords" content=" followed by a string of keywords, possibly separated by commas or spaces. These keywords are typically the search terms that Web users might use at a search engine to find a topic related to your site. Use text phrases of two or more words for your keywords, and you'll have a better chance of being at the top of the search engine results page.
  
• Avoid using the same word in your meta tags more than three times. Search engines may regard the excessive use of a single word as keywords stuffing and penalize sites that use this technique. Also, do not use a competitor's trademark terms or company name is in your web site or in the meta tags. It is considered a dilution of the trademark and an unfair competitive practice.
  
• If your site is a larger or deals with several topics, create sub-directories. Use different meta tags and title tags for each section, and submit each sub-directory to the major search engines.
  
• Use Alt, Comment, and Font and Heading tags. The Alt tag is used to describe an image found on a web page. It is useful for several reasons. First, many browsers display the alt tag when a mouse rolls over the image, which gives you the opportunity to reinforce the message conveyed by the image. Second, the alt tag is "read" by equipment used to assist visitors with disabilities, so they can understand the content of a web page. Use of the Alt tag is now required by the Federal Government by the so-called Section 508 ruling. Lastly, some engines index the alt tag, and therefore may consider them when calculating relevancy for search terms. Be sure to use any relevant keywords in the image description both to enhance the site and to improve your search engine results.
  
• The heading tag may play a role in boosting rankings as heading tags are assumed to be more important that regular text. The heading tags <hl> or <h2> all the way to <h6> display text in a bold, larger format. Some engines give a boost in ranking if keywords are placed within a heading tag.
  
• More recently the search engines have given more favorable ranking to sites that have a sitemap and sites that forward the visitor to a special page if the files page they requested is no longer on the site. In that situation, the visitor doesn't get a 404 Error "Page Not Found" but instead sees a page that helps them find what they are looking for.

Site Text Considerations

• Link content tightly to site purpose. It is important for the text on the web site to complement the keywords and descriptions used in the meta tags. Try to use as many of the keywords as is practical in the text that is seen by site visitors. The site should be content-driven and provide useful information to the visitor. Also, be sure the text of your web site is well-written, grammatically correct, on white or light-colored background, and presented in easy-to-read paragraphs. All these things will help in your search engine rankings.
  
• Use directional prompts. Include text links at the bottom of each page to help visitors, as well as search engines, to navigate through the interior pages of your web site.

Market Analysis

Don't forget that your site does not exist in a vacuum, but in a dynamic market full of competitors who are, just like you, jockeying for the best search engine positions. Visit the Web sites of your biggest competitors and check for any dramatic changes they may have made to their content during the course of a month. A change in the content of their meta tags is a good indicator that your competition is trying to optimize their positioning on the search engines. If you use a Web design firm such as ours, be sure to let your analyst know who your competitors are, so he or she can check the competition as part of the monthly evaluation of your site's performance.

Links and Link Popularity

Many search engines today look at link popularity as a sign of the site's relevance. So there's no escaping that the more popular sites will be ranked higher in the search engines. Do what you can to have other sites linked to you. If you find that the sites linking to you are linking to obsolete pages on your site, be sure to contact those sites and let them know they need to update their records to reflect the new names of the pages. This way, your search engine rankings will not be adversely affected by broken "backward links." In addition, bear in mind that the links need to be related to your site in some relevant way and not just a link exchange. For example a bar code printer manufacturer's site will welcome links from bar code printer resellers.

Another valuable technique is to go to the major search engines and search for your target keywords-then contact the sites on the first page and offer reciprocal links, as long as they are not competitors. This will increase your link popularity and boost your rankings.

Track and Measure

Once your Web site has been reviewed and as many of these suggestions as possible have been implemented, be sure to track and measure the results. If you are using a design firms such as ours, ask to see the positioning reports on a regular basis. We publish a Web PositionGold (See Example B) report for our clients monthly. We also publish a WebTrends report (See Example B), which shows overall activity on the site and also reports on the use of keywords that were used to find the site. By looking at the referring keywords, you can get a sense of what the search engine visitors are using to find your web site and, therefore, which keywords are more important to optimize. Whatever your situation, it is important that you check results regularly and consult with your analyst to see what changes can be made to give you that unfair competitive advantage.

Example A

Example B

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