Search Engine Optimization

Why It's Important

If you want your site to be at the top of the list in the search results and don't really care how it is done, then don't bother reading this. We'll take care of it for you. If you want some background on how the search engines rank sites, then continue reading.

Importance of search engine optimization::

Getting customers to your website relies on them knowing your website address or being able to find it by using search engines like Google or Yahoo!. Research has shown that customers prefer to find information using search tools even if they know your website address. Knowing this, it is important to optimize your website so it shows up in search results.

Over the past decade the web has grown to over 13 million websites. Your website must compete with these other sites. Search engine optimization encompasses several areas but basically is an attempt to make your website show up at the top of the list in search results. Lets face it, most people don't bother going to the other pages in the search results. So if you aren't on the first page, most likely people aren't going to visit your site.

How Search Engines Work::

Search Engines use algorithms to rank pages based on a number of variables such as page titles, keywords, number of times the keywords show up in the document, image text, metadata (information coded on the site that only search engines see) and so on. No one really knows the exact method of ranking which makes fooling the search engines quite hard. However, since people can't full the search engines like long ago, this means we usually end up getting good results and not pages that have nothing to do with what we searched on.

Metadata is contained within the coding of the website when it is developed and provides search engines with information such as what the site is about, the title of the pages, what pages the search engine visit among other things. This data is not seen to the visitor of the website, only the search engine (or robot as they are called).
Using Keywords on Your Website::

Keywords can be single words or phrases that describe your site's content. These keywords are used in the metadata as well as throughout the page and as text describing images. Picking the right keywords is crucial to the success of search engine optimization. Using a mix between a broad term and a specialized term will yield better results than using one or the other. For example searching on "doors" may yield 50,000 competing websites all about doors, but narrowing that keyword to "garage doors" will yield a lesser number of competing websites and help get better page ranking.

There are tools available that will tell you the how many times certain words show up on the internet which give a good indication of how many competing sites are out there. Finding the right niche of keywords is what is important and the most difficult task.

Helpful tips to finding the right keywords

• Ask people what words or phrases they would use to find your type of business. This is often a great source of information because other people may describe your business differently.
• Use Google to search on keywords or phrases and see what other sites come up.
• Using your website log files to see what visitors are typing in to find your site. (Hosting from Power Mark Solutions provides detailed reporting about keywords)
• Purchase keyword optimization solutions
• Visit competing websites and look at their keywords viewing the source of the page.

What to do with the keywords::

Page Title

Once you have decided on 20 or so keywords that represent your site’s content, you can start using them. One of the best places for keyword placement is in the page title. This is the title that is displayed at the top of the browser (example: "Power Mark Solutions – Search Engine Optimization" ) and in the search engine results. Using a page title that is less than 45 characters tends to have better results than longer ones. It is also easier for visitors to read and understand what your website is about. This page title will also be shown in the tab at the bottom of Windows.

Page Description

Have you ever noticed the short blurb about a website when the search results are shown? Some search engines will pull this information from the description contained in the metadata (remember Metadata is in the source code of the website and only the search engines can see it).

An example of a description that could be in the metadata is "Squiggly Wiggly Animal Hospital provides veterinary care for dogs and cats in the Hampton Roads area." This description is a good time to use some of the keywords you worked hard finding. Note that some search engines don’t always use this description in the search results. Instead they will pick something else it deemed more relevant within the page and display that instead.

Site Content

Spreading the keywords and phrases throughout the page will help the search engines rank the page higher. Using keywords in heading titles, closer to the top of the page, and at the beginning of sentences will also help. Using the same keywords over and over will NOT result in higher page rankings. Search engines are smart enough to recognize this as abuse and it will actually have a negative impact on the ranking. Updating the site regularly is not only a good business practice, but will also get better page rankings than a site that remains stagnate.

Getting your site listed in search engines::

Now that your site is optimized how do you get it listed with search engines? They will come when they are ready for the most part. You can use various tools to submit your site but there is no guarantee they will come any quicker. Most of the time it can take several weeks and even months to start showing up in search engines.

Once you are in a search engine, there isn't a guarantee that your site will remain there. Remember, there are new competing sites everyday, so the more you stay up with your site, the better off you will be.

We hoped this tutorial about search engines helped provide some background information. Power Mark Solutions does every thing we can to make sure you site is listed in search engines, and is optimized to be search engine friendly.

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