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OPTIMIZING WEB SITE FOR SEARCH ENGINES
85% of all Internet traffic is generated by search engines. This means that in order to build a successful, prosperous online presence for your business, you must ensure that users of Internet search engine can find your Web site. A 2004 survey performed by the Pew Internet & American Life Project revealed that 84% of online Americans have used search engines. In fact, comScore Networks estimates that American Internet users performed about 40 billion Internet searches in 2004.
For an e-business, the importance of search engines cannot be overestimated – if search engine users won’t find your Web site, then, likely, no one will. This problem could become very real for business owners who fail to understand the importance of Internet search engines and search engine optimization. As the Internet boasts several billions of Web pages – and counting – unless your reseller Web site is optimized for and indexed by such search engines as Google, Yahoo! and MSN, Internet users simply won’t know that it exists.
Note that search engine optimization primarily is an option if you build your own reseller storefront and link it to a pre-built reseller site. The pre-built sites themselves do not allow you to perform search engine optimization as most site elements cannot be edited. You may use the WebSite Tonight one-page Web site account that is part of your reseller package to build a one-page custom storefront.
In order to use search engines as a business tool, you must first understand how they work. The Internet is dominated by four search engines – Google, Yahoo!, MSN Search and Ask Jeeves, which combine to account for more than 90% of all Internet searches. The first step into the e-business world, therefore, should be to get your Web site listed with these engines. To do so, you can either wait for the search engines to find the site, or you can submit it directly. Because search engines rely on spiders – robots that “crawl” the Internet by following the hyperlinks that connect Web pages – most Web pages will in fact be found – assuming that they are being pointed to by other Web sites. However, submitting a page directly might save you valuable time as it will ensure that the search engine’s spiders will visit and review that page the next time they crawl the Web. Most search engines allow submission of Web pages at no cost, but some charge a fee for direct submission
Having a site listed in a search engine’s index, however, does not guarantee success. The critical part is to ensure that the site is ranked high enough in the search engine(s) to actually be found. Research has shown that the majority of Internet users rarely venture beyond the first one or two pages of search results. This means that very few – if any – users will actually find a page that shows up several pages into the search Reseller Handbook – Initial Release Version 25 results. Thus, obtaining a top 10 or 20 search engine ranking for the applicable keyword(s) is the only way to gain Web visibility. This is where search engine optimization comes in
.THE IMPORTANCE OF SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
The term search engine optimization encompasses a number of methods to improve a Web site’s search engine ranking.
When optimizing a Web site, you must first define the Web site “keywords”; then weave those keywords into the page content. The keywords are the words and phrases Internet users will type into a search engine when looking for Web content. Search engines look for those keywords in such site elements as page copy, Title tags, and – to a lesser degree – Meta tags and anchor text on internal links.
Another important element in the search engine optimization process is link building, which is the process of making sure that other – preferably topically similar – Web sites link to a given site. Though the exact methods vary, currently, all of the major search engines focus heavily on link analysis when determining the importance of a given Web page. This means that the search engines look at the number and, particularly, the relevance of a Web page’s back links (i.e., the links that point to the reviewed site) when calculating Web page rankings. If an originating site offers similar or related content to the one it is pointing to, the link will be rated higher than if the originating site’s content was entirely unrelated.
Securing a top ranking with the Internet’s search engines can be a daunting proposition. However, if you dedicate the necessary time and effort to meticulously optimize your Web site, you will eventually reap the fruit of your labor in the form of visitors to your site.
SEARCH ENGINE SUBMISSION
Although the Internet’s most important search engines all rely on advanced spiders that crawl the Web to review and index content, most of those engines also allow Web site owners to submit their sites directly – a concept that sometimes, but not always, speeds up the indexation process. Most search engines, including Google, Yahoo! and MSN allow submission of Web pages at no cost. Ask Jeeves and certain other engines charge a fee for direct submission.
Although a limited number of search engines account for more than 9 out of 10 Internet searches, the Web is home to a large number of smaller search engines, many of which have devoted followings. Those search engines and directories should not dismissed, but as a business owner, you should primarily concern yourself with the top search engines. It is important to understand that search engine inclusion does not ensure a high ranking. However, submitting your site can be a convenient way of getting started with your business, ensuring that the search engines are at least aware of the existence of your Web site.
DIRECTORIESNext to algorithmic, spider-based search engines, Web directories are the Web surfer’s primary tools when searching for information on the Internet. Directories, therefore, should not be ignored by Web site owners who wish to promote their sites. Indeed, you should make securing a listing with a handful of relevant directories a high priority once you have established your Internet business.
Because featured Web sites are arranged topically, Web directories enable Internet users to search for content simply by browsing the applicable directory categories. When submitting a Web page to a directory, selecting a proper category for the page, therefore, is paramount. As a reseller, you should therefore try to find directory categories that reflect the type of products you are selling from your store.
Web directories generally rely on human-compiled material. This means that a human editor will review your Web site and make the ultimate decision as to its inclusion and placement in the directory. Securing a listing in the top Internet directories – the Yahoo! Directory and The Open Directory Project – can be difficult, as the editors can be picky. It is therefore imperative that no parts of your site are under construction when you submit the site to a directory. Many directory editors will refuse to index sites that appear to be unfinished. However, some of the major search engines, notably Google, may reward Web sites whose links are included in the top directories as such links will be considered “quality” back links for the sites in question.
BUILDING LINKSSince Google reinvented Internet search with the introduction of its PageRank concept, link analysis and link building have become increasingly important elements in the search engine optimization process. Link building is the process of making sure that other – preferably topically similar – Web sites link to your site. Though the exact methods vary, all of the major search engines currently focus heavily on link analysis when determining the importance of a given Web page. This means that the search engines look at the number and, particularly, the relevance of a Web page’s back links (i.e., the links that point to the page) when calculating rankings. If an originating site offers similar or related content to the one it is pointing to, the link will often be rated higher than if the originating site’s content was entirely unrelated. Similarly, if the Web page from which a link originates is rated highly by the search engines, then the link itself will be considered more important than one that originates from a lower-rated page. In other words: not all links are created equal. Generally, Web sites that contain unique, informative or otherwise eye-catching content will eventually be linked to by other sites. However, because you, as a reseller, are one of a very large number of providers of Internet domain registrations, Web hosting, etc. your Web site likely will not contain much unique content. It is therefore strongly recommended that you take a proactive approach to your link building efforts. Using the Internet’s search engines is a good starting point for zooming on the Web site owners you should consider approaching for your link building efforts. By visiting a search engine and typing in a keyword that ideally would lead to Web sites that are similar to yours the search engine will return a list of matching sites. Generally, the best-ranked matches are the ones most likely to generate the most effective links. Having perused the results, the next step is to visit the sites and attempt to convince their administrators to provide the desired links. There is, of course, no guarantee that a particular Web site owner will add a requested link. There can be many reasons that a Webmaster might decline to do so. For example, he/she might refuse to link to an obviously competing site. Or, the site’s owner may not be interested in being affiliated with other sites. Another reason could be that the site is already providing several outbound links and is not interested in adding to the count. Thus, sometimes you will have to look for links someplace else. DIRECTORY LINKSSome search engines, including Google, incorporate links from Web directories into their ranking calculations. This means that having your reseller site listed in such directories as the Open Directory Project (aka DMOZ) and Yahoo!’s directory may boost your ranking in algorithmic search engines. To obtain a directory listing, you must build a site whose design and content are enticing or informative enough to convince the directory editors that they should add your site to the respective directory indices. Note that because you cannot apply proprietary content to our pre-built reseller storefronts, you may want to consider building a customized reseller Web site that you can populate with optimized content before submitting it to the Web’s directories. |