Search Engine Optimization - Sit

Search Engine Optimization Submitting Your Site and Using Links to Enhance Your Popularity Angela D’Auria Stanton, Ph.D. "Search engines are for searchers. Not submitters." But…… Knowing how to submit your site properly is important too! Search Engine Audience Reach *Neilson/NetRatings | United States | December 2004 (Percentage of U.S. home and work Internet users estimated to have searched on the site at least once during the month.) Google Yahoo MSN AOL Ask Jeeves 0 10 20 30 40 50 In January 2004 of the estimated 151 million active Internet users in the U.S., 76% used a search engine at least once a month. On average each spent nearly 40 minutes searching. * http://searchenginewatch.com/reports/article.php/2156451 Share of Searches* Source: comScore Media Matrix qSearch (http://www.comscore.com/metrix/search.asp) Search Engine Results Chart (as of July 2004)* Search Engine AllTheWeb Type Of Main Results Crawler Provider Of Main Results Yahoo Paid Results Overture Directory Results none Open Directory Open Directory AltaVista Crawler Yahoo Overture AOL Search Crawler Google Google Ask Jeeves Gigablast Crawler Crawler Teoma Gigablast Google none none none Open Directory none Open Directory none Yahoo Google Crawler Google Google MSN Search Crawler Yahoo Overture Netscape Crawler Google Google Teoma Yahoo Crawler Crawler Teoma Yahoo Google Overture * Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/article.php/2167981 Major Search Engines & Directories  Top Choices    Google http://www.google.com Yahoo http://www.yahoo.com Ask Jeeves http://www.askjeeves.com  Strong Considerations     AllTheWeb http://www.alltheweb.com AOL Search http://search.aol.com HotBot http://www.hotbot.com Teoma http://www.teoma.com For more information, go to: http://searchenginewatch.com/links/article.php/2156221 Other Options  These sites are still considered viable players because they either: (1) still receive significant traffic or (2) they’ve earned a reputation that still causes people to view them as important.        AltaVista http://www.altavista.com Gigablast http://www.gigablast.com LookSmart http://www.looksmart.com Lycos http://www.lycos.com MSN Search http://search.msn.com Netscape Search http://search.netscape.com Open Directory http://dmoz.org/ For more information, go to: http://searchenginewatch.com/links/article.php/2156221 There are many interrelationships in Search Engine Marketing that are important to understand for effective site optimization and positioning http://www.bruceclay.com/searchenginerelationshipchart.htm Free Submissions  Some of the most important crawler based engines allow for free submission here is where to go:   Google http://www.google.com/addurl.html Yahoo! Search https://login.yahoo.com/config/login?.src=srch&.done=http://submit.search.yahoo.com/free/ request   AOL http://search.aol.com/aolcom/add.jsp And although not a crawler site, a critical free submission: The Open Directory http://dmoz.org/add.html Multiple Smaller Search Engines http://ineedhits.com/add-it/free/  Pay for Placement  Paid Inclusion  A site owner pays a fee in order to have web pages included in a search engine's editorial listings. Does this mean that those in paid inclusion get to be ranked tops in editorial results? No. The major search engines offering such programs are usually emphatic that payment does not provide any ranking boost. Paid Placement Listings (Pay per Click)  Most major search engines carry paid placement listings, where advertisers are guaranteed a high ranking, usually in relation to desired words. These paid listings are usually segregated from editorial results and labeled to highlight that they are ads. The exact position of the paid placement listings can vary. Sometimes, they appear above or below editorial links. "Sidebar" style generally runs ads in a column to the right of a search engine's editorial listings. Content Promotion  Many major search engines will promote an advertiser's content or their own content on their search results pages. This is usually done in a separate area from the editorial results. Banner Ads  Many major search engines have for years carried keyword-linked, graphical banner advertising.    Paid Inclusion   AskJeeves http://ask.ineedhits.com MSN Search http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/products/online/si/detail.mspx  AllTheWeb, Yahoo!, AltaVista, LookSmart, InfoSpace, Excite, Inktomi http://ov.ineedhits.com/overview.asp Pay for Inclusion – Software Solutions  If you truly want to be in total control of the submission process from your computer then a software solution is recommended. There are hundreds of programs that do submissions. Web Position Gold is probably the best overall software solution for search engine optimization and submission. WebPosition Gold offers a suite of tools aimed at lifting your Web site into a Top-10 ranking in the major search engines. The program goes beyond simple Web site submission by offering all of the follow modules in one easy-to-use package:         Page Generator, which creates optimized pages for your site that are designed to achieve high rankings in specific search engines Page Critic, which compares your site's HTML code with that of existing top-ranked Web pages and suggest improvements to boost your site's rankings Page Editor to facilitate easy changes Upload Manager to automate the uploading of optimized pages to your Web site Submitter to submit your pages to the top search engines Reporter to measure your site's rankings in the major search engines for each of your selected keywords Scheduler to automated the reporting and submitting process according to a schedule that you define Traffic Analyzer to track unique visitors, where they came from, and which keywords they used to find the site. http://www.webposition.com  Here are some other software solutions for website submission:   Dynamic Submission http://www.dynamicsubmission.com/ Submitwolf http://www.submitwolf.net/ Pay for Inclusion – ASPs  Application Service Providers (ASP's) are web based services that will submit your site with out the installation of any software on your computer. They are much simpler to use than software solutions. They will also generally maintain reports for you to access from any computer since they are web based. The following providers are widely used:     Net Mechanic Web Submission Tool: http://www.netmechanic.com/powerpack/add-url.htm Add Me http://www.submitter.net/addme/ Search Engine Professionals http://www.seosp.com/ Submit Ongoing http://ineedhits.com/add-it/pro/ongoing.asp Paid Placement Listings (also known as Pay for Click)  Pay for position search engines, also known as pay per click engines first entered the Internet scene a few years ago with a site called GoTo (now Overture) . At the time it was a controversial model. many people believed and still do that the search engines should rank according to their own editorial criteria or algorithms and not according to the highest bidder. Nevertheless, this method levels the playing field allowing almost any site to achieve high rankings within a matter of days. Today pay for position is accepted and extremely popular. The basic premise is simple - you pay to be listed and the higher you pay the higher your listing. The model works the same as an auction, so the more popular search terms usually are the most expensive. Optimization of your site is not necessary to achieve high listings since it is not a consideration in this model. Overture is the "biggest and best of the pay for position models, but their search engine terms are usually more expensive than the lesser known engines. If your budget is small try one of the smaller services like Sprinks. Most of the sites listed here have search engine keyword bidding tools to help you select the right keywords for your listings. Here is a list of the pay for click search engines we recommend. If you only do one form of paid promotion for your web site, pay per click (PPC) search engines would probably be your best bet. You can spend as little as $25.00 or less per month and drive targeted traffic to your site almost immediately. You can adjust your traffic to fit your schedule and you can test and deploy new strategies almost instantly. However, pay per click (PPC) needs to be approached in a somewhat different manner than spidered engines. In spidered engines and standard directories your goal is to get the highest rankings in the most popular terms. In PFC you need to be much more conservative.     Paid Placement (PPC)  Google AdWords – used for Google, AOL, AskJeeves, Netscape, Excite and Earthlink https://adwords.google.com/select Overture – used for Yahoo!, MSN, AltaVista, InfoSpace, and Excite http://www.content.overture.com/d/USm/ays/index.jhtml Lycos InSite AdBuyer – used for the Terra Lycos Network to include Lycos, HotBot, Terra.com, Tripod http://insite.lycos.com/adbuyer/overview.asp   Find Reviews of PPC search engines at: http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com/ Pay for Click Sites  Other Pay For Position SEs             Ah-ha Bay9 Brainfox Instant Postings ePilot FindWhat eMA Recommended GoClick IQSeek Kanoodle A very popular site Search123 SearchBidder Search Hound Super Cyber Search Bidding Sites  There are a number of services available that will monitor your bids and adjust them as needed. These services can manage multiple sites and adjust your bids to get the ranking you wish on a consistent basis; Here is a full service bidding management company: Go Toast http://www.gotoast.com/bidmanager/default.aspx  Generally speaking, you would have to be spending over $500 a month in bids to justify using a bidding optimization service. Although it is time consuming you can log on to the search engines that you have accounts with and manage your own bids. Some marketers do this once a day or once a week or even once a month. Bidding  PPC can provide your site with one of the most cost effective methods of improving your business if used properly. The first step in initiation your PPC campaign is to develop keywords. Keep in mind that general search terms will cost considerably more (and achieve more clicks) than more specific ones. Additionally, the same terms on different PPC engines with have substantially different bids.  Example - Search Term Bids Search term CPC Bid for Number 1 position  From Overture 10/04       marketing $0.96 internet marketing $4.04 event marketing $3.50 marketing process $0.30 marketing course $1.81 marketing news $0.05  From GoClick 10/04       marketing $0.31 internet marketing $0.50 event marketing $0.11 marketing process $0.01 marketing course $0.25 marketing online courses $0.02 Bidding….  Unlike your selection of keywords for site optimization, there is no limit to the number of keywords you can use in your PPC program. CompareYourClicks.com "levels" the playing field by letting advertisers instantly compare keyword prices at multiple pay-per-click search engines! Go To: http://www.compareyourclicks.com/   To see bids at Overture, go to: http://www.overture.com/d/USm/adcenter/tools/index.jhtml Use the Bid Cap Calculator to help determine what your maximum bid amount should be, based on the variables you enter into the calculator that relate to your own web site and business realities. http://www.captainquest.com/bidcal.shtml  PPC – How Much to Pay  What constitutes a successful conversion?  Example: a sale is made Example: Example: $19.37 = profit per sale 2.39% = conversion ratio  What is the net profit for a successful conversion?   What percentage of referrals for a key phrase convert?   (profit per sale) x (conversion ratio) = break even point ($19.37) x 0.0239 = $0.462943 Other factors:    repeat customers brand recognition For more information please see http://www.directresponsegroup.com/ppc-overview.cfm Improving Your Search Engine Positioning by Optimizing Your Links What every search engine marketer should do! Improving Link Popularity  Link popularity, which refers to the number of links pointing to and from related sites, is considered by many search engine experts as the most important element of a site's relevance in search engines. Do not confuse link popularity with site popularity, which refers to click through popularity, and how long visitors remain at the site when they get there. There are three types of links that will increase the link popularity of your site      Internal Incoming Outgoing links Types of Links: Internal Links  Internal link popularity refers to the number of links to and from pages within a site. Make sure you cross link your important related pages back and forth. This will help build up your site's theme (used by search engines to categorize the theme of a site). By doing so, you are telling search engine spiders that those are the most important pages of your site. Cross linking your pages also helps the search engine spiders find and index your most important pages quicker, especially if some pages are buried deep within your site.   Types of Links: Incoming Links  Incoming link popularity refers to links pointing to a site from other related sites. In addition, there are two types of incoming links:  Links From Sites You Control You can control your site's theme by setting up several small related sites. Then cross link them all together, including links back to the main site. Select keywords that describe the theme of the main site and use those same keywords to link to the main site from the other sites. The reason for doing this is because some of the major search engines, such as Google, place a great importance on the text used within links.  Links From Sites You Do Not Control There are two ways of finding sites to link to yours. The best way to get other sites to link to yours is to ask them politely. And the best way to find likely candidates is to ask those sites that link to your competition! Tools for Measuring Link Popularity  LinkPopularity.com http://www.linkpopularity.com/ MarketLeap Link Popularity Check http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop/ Link Popularity Check http://www.linkpopularitycheck.com/   Finding Sites That Link To Your Competition  Did you know that search engines can tell you which sites link to your competition? To find out, visit your favorite search engine and enter, "link:" followed by the competitors domain name (with and without "www").  For example, "link:theirdomain.com" and "link:www.theirdomain.com." (Quotation marks not required) To check the link popularity of your own sites, simply replace "theirdomain.com" with your own domain names.  Finding Link Partners in Directories  Do not forget that all the sites listed in the same category as yours in the major Web site directories, such as Yahoo, LookSmart and the Open Directory Project, are ideal link candidates too.  Once you have compiled a list of related sites, add a link to them in your site. Then send an e-mail to each site owner informing them that you have linked to their site and politely ask them for a link back to your site. Don't forget to tell them about the benefits of exchanging links in this manner. Finding Sites That Accept Site Submissions  Another way of finding sites to link to yours is to find sites that accept site submissions. To find such sites, visit a search engine, such as Google, and search for: "add url" "your keywords“ Replace "your keywords" with those related to your site. Include the quotation marks to ensure the search engine only return pages with the exact search phrases you enter. Also try replacing, "add url" with one of the following sets of search phrases:    add site, add link, add a url, add a site, add a link, submit url, submit site, submit link, submit a url, submit a site, submit a link. Types of Links: Outgoing Links  Outgoing links refers to links pointing to other related sites from your site. Search engine spiders will crawl your site's outgoing links and determine that the content of the sites you link to are related to the content of your own site. This will improve the theme rating of your site.   Some search engines now place a huge importance on a site's theme in determining its relevancy. Link Keywords  It is important to name your internal and outgoing links carefully. Since keywords are important in determining the relevancy of a page, it is essential that they are used throughout a page. Suggest that you always name a page using the keywords relevant to the page. In turn, the visible link text used on other pages to link to the page should use the same keyword phrase as the page name.      For example, if the title of a page is "Link Popularity." Then the page name should be "link-popularity.html," or "link_popularity.html." Make sure you include a hypen or underscore between each word. This will ensure that search engines index each word as a separate keyword. Do not pack all the words together. For example, "linkpopularity.html." You should also make sure that all links to that page use the link text, "Link Popularity." You notice how everything fits together? Link Quality  The quality of the links is just as important, if not more, than the number of links to your site. The types of sites you should concentrate on getting links from include major search engines (Google), popular search portals (MSN), Web site directories (Yahoo and Open Directory Project), high trafficked sites (eBay and Amazon), news sites (CNN), weblogs, and sites related to your site's theme.   Search engines consider links from major search engines and portals as a big thumbs up for your site.