If
you have a web site and have done any reading at all about marketing
it, you know that search engine positioning is very important. Sure,
there are lots of other factors as well, but with most consumers using
search engines to find sites, this is one area that deserves special
attention.
There
are probably more theories on how to achieve good search engine placement
than just about any other web commerce topic. Unfortunately, none are
"correct", as the major search engines keep changing their
indexing models, thus altering the rules for achieving top placement.
Why
do the search engines do this? The answer usually given is to continually
improve the relevancy of their searches -- in other words, to increase
the chances that their engine will quickly find pages that really interest
the one doing the search. While there is some truth to this, there is
another reason -- and that is simply to frustrate the webmasters who
have discovered the "tricks" required to get top placement
in their engines!
You
see, as soon as these tricks are discovered, there are lots of webmasters
who will employ them to steal the top positions. Why do I say "steal?"
Simply because they are out to get traffic, even if they have to lie
about the topic of their web site. Among such sites are the many thousands
of spamming sites and of course, the porn sites. When they use positioning
tricks to fool the engines, they spoil everything for the legitimate
sites who have truly relevant content on a given topic.
While
there are hundreds of businesses selling "Search Engine Optimization"
(SEO), we feel that some caution is advised. An initial pass at such
optimization is important, in terms of avoiding common mistakes that
can hurt your search engine placement, and including certain "basics"
of good site design. But due to the constant shifting of search engine
indexing rules, your carefully "placed" site can suddenly
lose ground in the battle for position.
So
what to do? Much as we'd like to give you the "secret", there
simply isn't one. But there are some basics that will always help and
never hurt. Following my personal philosophy of keeping things very
simple, here are a few tips:
-
Put
some real content into your web site! Make certain that there is
some value in what you are presenting to your readers. You may feel
that the products you sell are the value, but think about your shopping
experiences in stores -- aren't you more likely to stay and perhaps
buy something if the store clerks are truly knowledgeable about
the products they sell and are willing to give you advice and information?
The same is true for web sites. Moreover, all of the search engines
are constantly trying to find ways to make ranking based more strongly
on identifiable content.
-
Keep
track of your site's position in the major search engines. I can't
tell you how many people I've seen spending hours searching for
their own sites in Google by various keywords! Luckily there are
better ways! One of the best I've found is a program called IBP
(Internet Business Promoter.) You can set up your list of important
keywords and use it periodically to automatically scan any number
of search engines and report on your actual positions for each keyword.
A terrific time saver!
-
Keep
track of your most important competitors' positions as well. Many
people are so obsessed with tracking where they are, that they ignore
their competitors. Why bother? Well, for one, you can learn a lot
about what you should do by analyzing competitors who seem to be
beating you on position. The IBP
tool allows you to do some very sophisticated analysis of any site,
so once you find a competitor that seems to be consistently beating
you, analyze their site, and find out why!
-
Make
sure that you are using the best set of keywords for the products
you are selling. Again, you can spend thousands of dollars to have
some "expert" analyze your site and suggest a keyword
set. But why bother? Simply identify a very successful competitor
and use IBP
to analyze their site! Right or wrong, whatever they're doing
is working, so why not do the same?
No,
I don't work for the makers of IBP
(Axandra),
but I am a satisfied customer. We use IBP
regularly to analyze our own sites and those of competitors. We run
reports to monitor search engine placement, keyword use, and optimization
suggestions.
In
the never-ending quest for search engine placement, this tool can be
invaluable!
Hershel
Belkin is the managing editor of the Best
Value Guide, a no-ads directory of shopping sites that
have been carefully evaluated to ensure a pleasant shopping experience
as well as good value. © 2003, Belkinder Marketing. Reprint rights
usually granted, send request to reprint@bestvalueguide.com.
