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LinkExchange Daily Digest
Moderated Discussion List
"Effective Online Advertising"
List Moderator: Supported by: Adam Audette LinkExchange
aa@le-digest.com http://www.adventive.com
October 22, 1998
Digest #454
"Search Engine Positioning"
~ Rod Aries
>
Subject: Search Engine Positioning
In response to Virginia Dunn, concerning the topic of Search Engine Positioning:
...I hired a professional whose job was to get my site much higher. I sat poised and ready to service the huge flow of new clients that would ultimately come pouring in.
One of the most common e-mails I receive from clients is, "I've paid $xx to submit my web page to 100/200/500 search engines. I really expected to start getting visits, but I didn't."
If you take almost any keyword, and go to Infoseek to test the keyword, it will give you the "body count" as to how many pages you are competing against. I took one of your keywords - structured settlements - and found 4,678,902 pages have structured or settlements on the page. Estimating that Infoseek contains one third of all known pages, you are competing against 15M pages!! I also did a refined search, which many/most ?? surfers won't do, and found only 1,264 for "structured settlements" as a phrase - meaning you are ONLY competing against 3,600 pages net wide. Still quite a few pages...
Please note that just because a site is submitted doesn't mean it is going to be ranked, or even found. We all know the computer adage, "Garbage in, garbage out." If you have a poorly optimized site for search engine relevancy, the only thing you are doing is insuring you will be listed near the bottom of 500+ search engines. There is no magic in the submission to the engines, the magic is in the way your page is structurally designed.
Here are 10 steps you need to do BEFORE you submit your site to the engines:
1. Test your current web ranking before you submit your web page. If you have a good ranking, and if you have changed either the file size or file date AFTER you originally submitted your site and achieved your great ranking, DO NOT resubmit. You, in all likelihood will lose your ranking. Search engine algorithms change, more competitors are now in existence. How do I know this? I have done it to my own site!! Never more. You can go to each engine and check for various keywords and see if you are ranked or you can use a software program to do this for you.
2. Prepare a list of keywords related to your site.
3. Keyword meta tags - Insert your list of at least 30 important keywords, and place them in the meta tag.
4. Alt-tags - make sure all your images are labeled not only with a description, but with a keyword rich description.
5. Meta description - Write 3 or 4 keyword laden sentences for your meta description.
6. Meta titles
7. Visible text - MOST importantly, don't use adjectives and pronouns, use nouns. Yes you have to write for human consumption, but if you don't write for the search engine spiders, humans will never feast upon your site. Also, one of the major engines will not accept your web site unless you have at least 75 visible words, and sprinkle them in your visible text. Skip this step and you will reside in the bowels of the engines.
8. Heading text - make use of headings in the HTML and place keywords in the headings.
9. Don't "Spam" your keywords.
10. Submit to the major engines.
At your service,
Rod Aries
http://www.howtointernet.com
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