Get Found: Search Engines, Niche Terms, and Website Optimization

Updated June 20, 2008

Back in the wilder, more decentralized days of the Internet, information was gathered and retrieved a little differently than it is today. Back then, search engines were all free - and "getting found" on the Internet wasn't as complex, didn't involve so much meticulous detail work. At the same time, there wasn't nearly the number of websites thrashing for attention on search queries.

Today, "pay-per-click" search engines are moving in on the information game, Google has made high search ranking a "popularity contest", and portals like Yahoo have become Internet-age Ministries of Information (with all the attendant bureaucratic costs). Meanwhile, Goto has formed an unholy alliance with AOL, AltaVista and Lycos to turn a search return into a pay-for-rank commodity.

Yes, things have changed - and that means it's time to adapt and re-tool your search engine tactics. Here, a balanced, all-inclusive strategy is a good idea. Your options are many, and most should be exercised.

Whether you choose to buy directory listing with Yahoo or not, this is a decision that you can best make for your business depending on what stage you are at in your marketing strategy and implementation.

But despite buying placements and directory listings, the foundation of any solid search engine strategy is still going to be traditional webpage optimization - based on a "free registration" model.

Page Optimization

The secret is no secret: search engine optimization means making it easy for search engines to properly index and favorably rank your pages so your site can be found by the right people. Creating websites that conform to search engine protocols is essential if you want to maximize your site's visibility and effectively promote your online business to a defined target audience. I say defined target audience, because the point is not a high search ranking - but a high ranking on relevant search terms.

To this end, the first goal is to familiarize yourself with the different ways search engines operate. Some search engines determine page ranking by the number of links pointing to your site. Others sites (directories like Yahoo!) compile, appraise, and categorize URLs using human editors. These editors will often facilitate this process by taking your money. On several engines, you can purchase visibility - and the number of Goto clones is spiraling (Bay9, Kanoodle, etc). It's wise to do research on the engines you plan to submit your URLs to - and then modify your registration schedule and page content to increase your ranking position.

Spiders, Meta-Tags, and Content Relevancy

Now, let's look at the strategies for optimizing your site for maximum exposure. Here, it's important to remember that most search engines dispatch robot spiders to 'crawl' your page and seek out pieces of code and information. This information is evaluated - or 'scored' on relevancy - and then used to index, register, and rank your site in the engine database. The solution is to streamline the design of your page to optimize the results of these spider crawls; this will enhance database placement and ultimately improve the chances of your page being found by the right customers.

In technical terms, what spiders glean off your site is the information you place in your page titles, your META-tags, (your title, description, and keyword tags), and your overall document content. Different search engine spiders are sensitive to different tags and features. Keywords in URLs get higher points. And frequent placement of relevant key words and phrases in your document body is essential.

The point is, take advantage of all of these techniques to generate the optimum score for your page - and this means meticulously integrating central keywords and key-phrases into everything from your page titles and URLs to your image and graphics names. Load your title and META-tags with highly relevant terms so your page gets indexed properly and ranked highly. For description and title tags, write a concise, keyword-rich summary of what you want the engine to present to customers during a search query.

For keyword tags, assemble a collection of precise terms or key phrases - the distilled essence of what your online business/product is all about - and make sure you stick to unique/niche nouns, proper nouns, or general nouns/concepts modified by very distinctive adjectives. Avoid conjunctions or free-floating adjectives disconnected from nouns.

When coming up with keywords and phrases for your page, you need to crawl the psyche of your target audience with the same alacrity and precision of a search engine spider. That should get your business found - by the right folks.

Here's where you can get some more information on Search Engine Optimization:

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Guidelines (Ethics Standards)