June 2005

Search Engines

This month's topic is on search engines, or rather, how you get your site listed on them.

• Search engines like Google, Yahoo, etc, are used by people to find what they are looking for on the Internet. If your web site is not on the first couple of pages that come up in a search, most people will never find you.
  
  
• There are a lot of myths out there as to how to get better placement on the search engines. But, as soon as these schemes are published, the search engine people find ways of intervening.
  
  
• Getting a good position on the search engines is not hard, just follow the few steps outlined here, and you should see results, though they may take some time.
  

What do you need to do?

• First, think about the design of you site. If you use Flash or other multimedia technologies, the search engines may not be able to read your site properly. Most search engines use bots, little programs that frequently hit your site and check for content. If your pages consist of nothing but graphics, then the search engine bots will not be able to read your content. Best practice is to keep descriptive text in text format. While graphics may be pretty, only text can be read by the search engine bots.
  
  
• Make sure your Meta tags are set up correctly. Meta Words are descriptive words people might use to search for your site. A Meta Description is a short paragraph describing your site. Many search engines use these Meta words and descriptions for indexing your site. They need to be appropriate for your site content and purposes. While many years ago Meta Words were the only way to get placed on search engines, their importance has dwindled in recent years, however, they are still worth the time to set up.
  
  
• Submit your website's URL to the major search engines. We recommend submitting to Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL. These are the 4 largest search engines, and account for over 90% of all searches in the US. Some of the search engines will take several weeks to get to your submission, so you want to do this very early in your process. Also, Google's engine is used by many other search sites like AOL and Yahoo, so make sure you submit to Google first.
  
  
• The best way to improve your location on the search engines is to have your site linked to from other sites already on the search engines. The search engines use links from other sites to determine how popular your site is. If you are a member of an association, see if the association will add your site's link to their site. Or, find Internet directories that are appropriate for you site. One we use and have a stake in is http://www.iowaandbeyond.com/ . This is a primarily Iowa business directory that we host. This site gets hit by the Google bots every couple of days, and is a great place to have your site listed. To get listed, hit the site and hit the link Get Your FREE Business Listing and Website link.
  
  
• If you need instant listings try Google Adwords. This program allows you to get instant ads on the top search engines, primarily Google and AOL. You know, those little ads that are on the right side of Googles search pages. With Google Adwords, you pay for click throughs, sometimes as little as 5 cents or up to many dollars per click. You can set the maximum pay out per day or month, and control what search words you want to target. While it may take a couple of weeks playing with your setup to get it fine tuned, this is the fastest way to get in front of your audience. To try Adwords, go to http://adwords.google.com.
  
  

Does it work?

• A resounding YES. If you follow the above recommendations, you should see good results. We would NEVER guarantee you will get number 1 listings for all your search words, however, you should be able to crack the first page and raise your listing status as you fine tune your setup.
  
  
• As an example, we started hosting a new site 2 months ago. By following the above guide lines, we have the site placing number one on Google, Yahoo and AOL, for many of our search words, and hitting 2-6 positions on most of our search criteria. We are getting number 1 positions with Adwords on Google, Yahoo and AOL. Be aware that MSN is a tough nut to crack, and will take more work to get good standings.
  
  
• Another place that can help you get good placement on the search engines, especially on Yahoo and MSN, is Overture. They work sort of like Adwords, but they take more control over the process, and they cost more. To check out Overture, go to http://www.overture.com.
  

Don't Do

• Many books and websites promote some pretty aggressive practices. From registering multiple domain names to point to one site, to having thousands of pages on your site and submitting individual pages to the search engines, or, hiding white text on white pages to try and influence the search bots. Most search engines today are aware of these practices and many will black list sites for trying these tactics. You don't want to make the search engine mad, you'll never get listed that way. Be aware that most get rich quick schemes are just that, schemes, and won't pay off in the long run. Play fair and the search engines will treat you fair.
  
  
• In the past it was very important to submit your site to the ODP, the Open Document Project. This is a search engine that has humans verifying and accepting every submission. The idea was to have a clean search directory that could not be corrupted by fooling bots. Well, the ODP has become so corrupt due to the human interface showing favoritism towards their own clients that is has become moot. The ODP is still kicking because it does not know it is dead. Don't worry about this one.
  
  
• Many companies offer to list your site on hundreds or thousands of search engines for a fee. Be careful, many of the sites they submit to were created just for that, to sell submissions to the site. As stated above, 90% of Internet users use either Google, Yahoo, MSN or AOL. What good is it to be listed on 'Billy Bob's Own Search Engine' if only Billy Bob uses it?
  

In Conclusion

• You can get very good placement on search engines, and up your page hits, by being diligent in submitting your URLs and making sure your web site design has appropriate and concise content. Stay away from text in graphics and Flash. Set up your Meta Tags, and if needed, check out Google Adwords.
  

Note: JTM MultiMedia, Inc. has no stake in Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, Google Adwords or Overture. They are just mentioned here as a guide to search engines in general, and we make no claims, either good or bad, for any of these or other search engines on the Internet.