Download E-MARKETING (INTERNET MARKETING)

E-MARKETING
(INTERNET MARKETING)
Chapter – 3
Search Engine Optimization
BY: Dr. Showkat Hussain Gani
Search Engines
Overview

A search engine is a service where internet users can go to the search
engine web site and search for web sites that interest them by
inputting keywords. The search engine then displays the results of their
search starting with the web sites that best meet the search criteria
down to the web sites that least fit the search criteria.

Search engines are becoming ever more popular especially when you
consider how many web sites there are on the internet today and most
users have limited time to find what they are looking for. Search engine
optimisation is the process of getting your web site address or URL as
close as possible to the top of the search results when someone using
the search engines is looking for the products you sell.
Search Engines
Search Engine Optimisation
Search Engines
Search Engines and Directories
A directory site is one that contains manually compiled
categories of Web sites, whereas a search engine
uses automated spiders to search the Web for
content and organize it by keywords, with little
regard for the true category under which each site
should fall.
Search Engines
Search Engines and Directories

User's Point of View
Over the years there has been plenty of debate over whether search engines are directories
and vice versa. From the user's point of view, it would appear that all directories could be
considered search engines since they all have an input box to search the content of the site,
regardless of the method of acquiring data.

E-Marketing Point of View
From an E-Marketing point of view, we are more concerned with the method by which data is
added and ranked, as this will determine how we adjust our placement strategy for each. It
is the intent of this lesson to optimize placement in the search results for search engines
and directories.

Blurring the Lines
It is important to note that many search engines get some of their results from other search
engines and directories, many of which are owned by or partnered with each other. The
dynamics of these relationships are ever-changing, but a visit to
www.SearchEngineWatch.com can update you on the current state.
Search Engines
Can the Search Engine War Be Won?

Many people believe that great placement in the search engines is a lottery at best. For
example, the authors of Web Marketing & Project Management said in their book, "I don't
believe this game can be won."

For argument's sake, let's do a quick test to see if, in fact, search engine placement is possible.
By clicking on a link below, the corresponding search engine box will appear. Do a search for
"Webmaster Certification" in any of the search engines listed below. Once there you should find
"Webmaster Certification Online" and/or "WebYoda" listed in the top five, probably both in the
top 5 with one of them listed #1.

Is WebmasterCertification.com the luckiest company alive when it comes to search engine
placement? Not likely. The truth is, we have applied the strategies we are about to discuss in
order to achieve the placement we currently enjoy. Your results will likely vary, however, as you
can clearly see, these strategies are proven effective.

Most people think search engine placement is a lottery at best. Many who do attempt top 10
placement without the appropriate training often fail miserably. This leaves the door open even
wider for those of us who are persistent and trained correctly.
Search Engines
Search Engine Basics

Good placement in search engines results from a
combination of preparation and opportunity (aka
LUCK). Search engines claim you can get results in as
few as 24 hours, yet it can often take 2 months before
most search engines cycle through their backlog of
new entries. With 90% of the sites indexed in search
engines being junk, getting good exposure via search
engines is difficult. Use the tips in this section to
improve your placement odds.
Search Engines
Search Engine Tips
1.
Submit Web site to search engine (http://google.com/addurl).
2.
Use keywords in the content near the top of the document.
3.
Keywords placed inside clickable link text ranks higher.
4.
Use descriptive Web page titles.
5.
Use a descriptive URL, for example:
www.webmastercertification.com/webmaster-courses.cfm.
6.
Encourage other sites to link to yours.
Search Engines
Search Engine Tips

Purchase alternate Web names, point them all to your Web site, then
submit those names.
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Use Meta Tags correctly

Visiting your own link in the results of some search engines can improve
your ranking.

Avoid frames, Web sites using frames can not be picked up by all search
engine spiders.

Avoid keyword spamming, any excessive use of keywords can hurt your
placement in the search engines.

Use an entry page through which people can access your Web site, but is
optimized with the rules above, thus more desirable to the search engines.
Search Engines
Search Engine Urban Legends
The list below contains factors that are presumed to improve search engine placement but
typically do not.
1.
Using popular search terms unrelated to your content does yield more traffic but not quality
traffic.
2.
Search engines are not case sensitive. Searching on "webmaster" or "Webmaster" will yield the
same results.
3.
The order that keywords are typed into a search engine does not affect the results.
4.
Placing keyword content on a Web page that is the same color as the background will hide it
from users, but search engines will often interpret it as spam.
5.
Meta Tags are presumed to be the key to high rankings; however with many search engines,
they are primarily used to determine what words to index a site with, and not as much how high
to rank it.
Search Engines
Hidden Content Alternative

It is true that content that is the same color as the
background color can be detected as spam by the
search engines; however, two colors do not have to be
exactly the same to appear exactly the same. For
example, while the color white is "#FFFFFF", the color
"#FEFCFD" is not white, although it visually will appear
so.

Another technique would be to set the background to
the color's text name ("white"), and then color the
content with the color's number ("#FFFFFF"). It is
rumored, however, that this practice is more likely to
be detected as spam.
Search Engines
Keyword Search Terms

Keyword search terms are either single words or multiple words that are
typed into a search engine. Web developers typically put these words in the
title, meta tags, and content of the Web pages to improve the likelihood
that the pages will be found by search engines.

One typical oversight is to put all the single search words in to the meta tag
as single keywords separated by commas. As it turns out, the focus should
be on multiple keyword terms. For example, a user interested in
Webmaster courses is likely to type "Webmaster Certification" or
"Webmaster Training" into a search engine.

First make a list of every keyword search term you feel is relative to your
business. Next go to inventory.overture.com and search on each of the
original terms. Look in the search results for a section called "Refine
Suggstions to narrow you search." This tells you other keyword search
terms on which users have searched. Add all that you feel are truly relative
to the list for your business.
Search Engines
Doorway pages

Doorway pages are Web pages that point to other
pages in a Web site but the Web site pages do not
point to them. These pages can be individually
optimized for each search engine and each search
term.

The main example for doorway pages was deep
linking. Recall that deep linking is the act of making
special pages that advertising can point to so that the
effectiveness of the advertising campaign can be
tracked.
Search Engines
Doorway pages

Keyword Optimized Pages
Keyword optimized pages are pages where each page in a set of pages focuses on one keyword
search term. The keyword meta tag should only include the target keyword and the
description meta tag should include the target keyword in a sentence. Next, the title should
be worded to contain the target keyword term, preferably twice, but never more than
twice. For example, we might use the following title for a doorway page about
"Webmaster Training."
Webmaster Training - Quality Online Webmaster Training 25% Off

Misspelled Keywords Pages
Another interesting and effective strategy is to build gateway pages that are optimized for
misspelled keyword terms. First, choose your most effective keyword terms, then misspell
them using the following patterns.
Examples: ebmaster Training WWebmaster Training eWbmaster Training Wbmaster Training
Weebmaster Training Wbemaster Training Wemaster Training Webbmaster Training
Wembaster Training
Search Engines
Doorway pages
Link the Gateway Pages

Assuming you have hundreds of gateway pages, it would be neither
practical nor advisable to submit all the pages to the search engines
individually. It would be very time consuming and would likely be
detected as spam.

Alternatively, you can make a set of hidden links to your target
keyword pages from one page within your main site, then on each
target page put hidden links to the misspelled pages for that target
keyword. Once complete, the gateway pages become a connected
part of your Web site and when your site is spidered by the search
engines, these pages are likely to be included.
Search Engines
Search Engine Popularity
About the Different Search Engines

You have integrated your keyword terms into your Web pages using
the techniques previously discussed. But this only prepares your
pages for what the search engines like to see. The goal now is to
convince the search engines that the visitors to your site are
satisfied as well.

Many of today's search engines incorporate methods to track the
popularity of links in the search results returned. The more popular a
link is, the higher in the rankings the site will appear. We will discuss
different techniques next and how to make them work for you.
Search Engines
Link Popularity (off page)

The first method search engines use to grade a Web site is how many Web
sites point to them. Hence if your site has 100 other sites linking to you, but
your competitor has only 10, your site will rank higher in some search
engines. As a byproduct, every site that links to you is a potential entry
point for your customers.

There are many options to getting linked, most of which are byproducts of
other E-Marketing techniques discussed throughout this course. Some
examples include business directory sites, Web awards, Internet top 50
sites, resource sites, banner sites, blind links, affiliate links, free Web sites
and reciprocal links with other non-competing Web sites.

Once you are linked by any of these methods, it is advantageous to submit
the sites that point to you to the search engines as many of them may not
be indexed. This not only tells the search engines that they exist but also
that they link to you.
Search Engines
Link Popularity
Blind Links

Blind links are links in a Web page that are not visible to the visitor, but visible to the search engines. It is
possible to put these links in other pages that you create and point them all back to your main site. This can be
accomplished by making very small 1x1 graphics that display the same color as the background of the page.
Simply name the graphic(s) something meaningful like "webmastertraining.gif" and point the link to the
corresponding Web site.
Affiliate Links

Affiliate links are links to your site where the site containing the link to your site earns money either by people
visiting your site or by producing sales. For example, WebmasterCertification.com has an affiliate program that
pays 5% of all course sales that come from the affiliate site. As a byproduct, the affiliate sites are linked to you
and can be submitted to search engines to improve your popularity.
Free Web Site

Another option is to create free Web sites at places like www.angelfire.com/ and have a link to your site from
them. The problem with this idea is that the page you are submitting is not likely to be a very useful page, thus
you are improving your link popularity at the expense of submitting dead weight to the search engines.
Search Engines
Click Popularity

Click popularity is a measure of how often your link in search results is clicked. In
some search engines, the more often your link is clicked, the higher your site ranks in
the search results. Thus, in popularity-driven search engines, you can search on your
keyword terms, then go through the search results clicking on every link within the
results that links to your site. Over time this will improve your position in these
search engines.

The more savvy search engines keep track of how much time you spent at a given
link, this is referred to as popularity stickiness. If you click on the first link in the
search results, then back up and choose another link immediately, the search engine
assumes you did not like the first result very much.

A good strategy for you is to set your browser's home page to the search engine you
would like to target, and each time you open your browser you search on your
keywords, click on your link, then leave that search engine alone for a while (the
exact delay time is unknown).
Search Engines
Click Popularity
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Focus on multiple search terms
One of the biggest oversights in the search engine placement wars is focusing all
your energy on one really good search term. You need to target multiple
keyword terms, ones that have proven to be good search terms relative to the
people doing the searching. WebYoda made this mistake early on as we did not
focus on the search term "Web Design Training" as much as we should have.
However, with your help in the next exercise, you can help correct this
oversight.

Visiting Competitors Sites
It is often valuable to visit the competition's Web site. Remember that if you click on
their links, you are improving their popularity as well. Instead, manually type the
URL for the competition Web site into your browser location bar. This will get
you to their site without giving them click popularity credit.
Search Engines
Popularity Search Engines
How to Identify Popularity Search Engines

You can assume that all search engines that allow you to submit Web sites are
monitoring link popularity at some level. However, click popularity is not as
common. The most obvious way to know a search engine potentially uses click
popularity is if the links within the results visit their server before heading to the
destination site. Meaning if you put the mouse over a link, the status bar at the
bottom of your browser will show the link pointing back to the search engine.
Identifying The Ones That Don't Want to Be Found

One might assume that if you put your mouse over a link in search results and the
status bar shows the true URL to the destination site, that the search engine does
not use click popularity. However, this may not be the case. Some search engines
will purposely set the onMouseover text to display the destination URL, but have
the link set to visit their server first before going to the destination site. This can be
detected by creating a shortcut to the link then viewing the properties of the
shortcut to see where the link really goes.
Search Engines
Popularity Search Engines
List Of Popularity Search Engines

The following search engines are believed to use click popularity. Some of
these get their results from the same source. For example,
www.directhit.com provides search results for www.askjeeves.com. It is
still assumed to be advantageous to visit all sites, whether they are related
or not, to improve click popularity.

Click Popularity Search Engines
1) http://www.yahoo.com
2) http://www.google.com
3) http://www.altavista.com
4) http://www.excite.com
5) http://www.lycos.com 6) http://www.msn.com
7) http://www.aol.com
8) http://www.askjeeves.com
9) http://www.nbci.com
10) http://www.iwon.com
Search Engines
Hand-Reviewed Directories

Hand-reviewed directories are ones where a real person looks at each site before it is added.
This means it is not a good idea to submit the same site over and over again as it may be
detected as spam. In addition, submitting any or all sub-pages of a Web site is discouraged.

Open-Source Directories
Open-source directories like dmoz.com and NBCI.com, are ones where anyone who gets approved can
become an editor for the directory. Dmoz.com for example, has over 30,000 editors. Once you are an
editor you can submit Web sites for approval at will and they are typically approved within 48 hours.

Proprietary Directories
Proprietary directories are ones in which the editors are hired by the directory company. This means it is very
hard to influence the inclusion of your site within these directories, the time delay for inclusion can be
months, and you are not notified if the site is rejected.

Pay-Per-Review Directories
Pay-per-review directories are also proprietary directories. Basically, for a fee of typically $199 you are
guaranteed your submission will be reviewed within 48 hours. If your submission is approved, you will be
immediately added to the directory and you should start appearing within the directory within a week. If
you receive an email of approval, but do not find your site in the directory within two weeks, you are
encouraged to call to confirm placement.
Search Engines
Pay-Per-Click Directories

Pay-per-click search engines are search engines where the listings are ordered by the
highest bidder per keyword term. The minimum bid is $0.05 US, and you only pay if
someone clicks on your link. The two major pay-per-click sites are
www.findwhat.com and www.overture.com.

www.findwhat.com is the second largest pay-per-click site. They have a review
policy, so your submissions do not appear until they have been reviewed (about 24
hours). One of the neatest features findwhat.com has is the ability to get groups of
keyword term statistics. Meaning that if you query on "Webmaster," it will return
the top 50 most frequently typed search terms. This is very valuable for determining
what keywords on which to bid.

www.overture.com is by far the largest pay-per-click site. They are a review site as
well, meaning, once you submit your sites, they must be reviewed by their editors
before they are added. This takes about 48 hours, but ensures the quality of the
listings.
Search Engines
Metacrawlers Search Engine

Metacrawlers are search engines that return the best
results of the other search engines. In theory, the
Metacrawler results should collectively be better,
however, at closer inspection you find that a lot of the
listings are also pay-per clicks. Meaning, most
metacrawlers are used to capture affiliate dollars from
the pay-per-click networks they list.

This does strengthen the argument to use the pay-perclick sites since if you are #1 in the pay-per-click sites,
you are likely to enjoy top placement in the
metacrawlers as well.
Search Engines
Standard Search Engines
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www.yahoo.com
www.google.com
www.msn.com
www.lycos.com
www.hotbot.com
www.dmoz.com
www.alltheweb.com
www.aol.com
www.netscape.com
www.allthesites.com
www.webcrawler.com
www.northernlight.com
www.altavista.com
www.excite.com
Search Engines
Pay Per Click Search Engines

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www.overture.com
www.findwhat.com
www.kanoodle.com
Search Engines
Mirror Search Engines
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www.askjeeves.com
www.supercybersearch.com
www.att.net
www.earthlink.com
www.compuserve.com
www.go.com
www.Infoseek.com
www.opendirectory.net
Search Engines
Meta Search Engines
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www.metacrawler.com
www.dogpile.com
www.gohip.com
www.thebighub.com
www.mamma.com
www.whatuseek.com
www.monstercrawler.com
www.go2net.com
www.canada.com
www.search.com
www.searchalot.com
www.iwon.com