|
Essential
Tools
Free
Link Popularity Software
SEO Newsletters
SEO Books and Reports
SEO Software
Link
Building Software
Search
Ranking Study
Free
Trial WordTracker
Web
Position Gold
|
Get
Your Business
SEO from Mike Banks Valentine
Search
Engine Marketing 101
What Search Engines See When They Visit Your
Web Site
by Robin Nobles
If you have a Web site, have you ever wondered
what a search engines sees when it visits your
site to add the site to its index? Do you know
that it doesn't see the beautiful graphics or
the fancy Web design? Do you know that it only
sees the source code, or the "skeleton"
of your Web site?
Do you realize that knowing this little tidbit
of information and doing something about it
can make a huge difference in your search engine
rankings and, ultimately, the success of your
online business?
One very important thing that you need to remember
is: the search engines like simplicity. The
simpler your Web site is, the easier it is for
the engine to determine what your Web site is
about. And, if the search engine can determine
exactly what your Web site is about, you have
a better chance at top rankings under the keyword
phrases that are important for your online business.
Let's look at this concept in action with a
page I recently created for one of my online
businesses:
Search Engine Workshops.
http://www.searchengineworkshops.com/articles/search-engine-
seminars.html
As you can see, it's a very plain, simple page
that was not created to be the "main"
or "home" page of a Web site. Rather,
it was created to pull in traffic through the
keyword phrase, "search engine seminars."
What I really want you to see is the source
code of the page. So, when viewing the page,
click on View on the top menu bar, then Source
or Source Code.
The most important part of a Web page is what
appears at the very top of the page. Why? Because
a search engine starts at the top of the page
and begins moving down as it indexes.
So, what appears in the <head>
section of your Web page is very important,
because the <head>
section is at the top of the page.
Let's look at the <head>
section of the source code:
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Search
Engine Seminars--your path to success on the
Web!</TITLE>
<META NAME="keywords"
CONTENT="search engine seminars,
conferences, workshops, CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS,
Conferences, Workshops">
<META NAME="description"
CONTENT="Have you considered
attending a search engine seminar to learn how
to take a struggling Web site and bring it to
the top of the rankings?">
</HEAD>
There are only three tags in the <head>
section of this Web page:
the title tag, the keyword META tag, and the
description META tag. Because the title tag
is in the <head>
section, and because of the importance that
most engines place on the tag, it is considered
one of the most important tags on your page,
so it should always be the first tag in the
<head>
section.
Notice that in the title and keyword META tag,
the important keyword phrase (search engine
seminars) appears as the first words in the
tag. In the description META tag, the keyword
phrase is still toward the beginning of the
tag, as opposed to the end. In other words,
where you place your keyword phrase in the tags
and content of your page is important. If you
place your keyword phrase toward the beginning
of all of your important tags and toward the
beginning of the contents, you're "proving"
to the engines that the page is really about
that particular topic.
I've mentioned one reason why the title tag
is important, but there's another reason too.
The title tag is important because it almost
always appears as the title of the site in the
search engine results. Your description META
tag may appear in the search engine results
as well and is considered important by the some
of the engines. So, when you create your title
and description tags, remember two things: put
your keyword phrase toward the beginning of
the tags, and make the tags captivating and
designed to pull in traffic.
Think of it this way. If your site is #10 in
the search engine rankings, but if the sites
above yours haven't gone to the trouble to create
appealing titles and descriptions, a search
engine user may skip over those sites to visit
yours. Now, let's go back to the source code.
Look for this tag, which isn't far from the
<body> tag:
<IMG SRC="images/banner3.jpg"
ALT="search engine seminars,
search engine conferences, search engine workshops"
WIDTH="220" HEIGHT="100">
This is the image, or graphics, tag for the
Search Engine Workshops banner that appears
at the very top of the page. Notice that the
engine doesn't "see" the graphic itself.
It sees the name of the graphic (banner3.jpg),
and it sees the ALT text that describes the
image. It sees the width and height of the graphic.
But, it doesn't see the graphic itself. So,
the engine doesn't know that the graphic says,
"Search Engine Workshops." Next, look
for this tag, which directly follows the image
tag:
<H1 ALIGN="center"><FONT
FACE="Arial">Search
Engine Seminars</FONT></H1>
An <H1>
tag is a heading tag, and heading tags are very
important to a Web page. Try to put a heading
tag at the very top of your page, if at all
possible, and use your important keyword phrase
in that heading tag. When you look back at my
actual Web page, do you see the words "Search
Engine Seminars" right under the graphic?
That's the heading tag.
Now, look for this tag in the source code:
<P><FONT FACE="Arial">Is
your Web site achieving the success that . .
.
This is where the contents of the Web page begin.
Look on the actual Web page and find the text:
"Is your Web site achieving the success
that . . ." Notice that the keyword phrase
(search engine seminars) appears in the first
paragraph.
In other words, with all of these tags and the
placement of our keyword phrase in the page's
contents, we're proving to the engines that
the page is really about "search engine
seminars."
So, let's visit your site on the Web. View the
source code. What's in the <head>
section? Are your title and description tags
using the keyword phrase that's important for
that particular page? Are your title and description
tags captivating and designed to pull in traffic?
Each page of your site should have different
title and description tags, and those tags should
be based on the focus of that page - what that
page is really about: in other words, its keyword
phrase.
How many graphics do you have before the actual
contents of your site? If you have a lot of
graphics, navigation bars, or buttons before
the contents of your page, the engine has to
sort through all of that source code before
it gets to the actual keyword- containing content.
Does your page contain lengthy JavaScript or
other code that pushes the important contents
toward the bottom of the page? If so, it could
be hindering your chances at top rankings.
Are you using a heading tag that contains your
important keyword phrase toward the very top
of your page? Is your keyword phrase used in
the first paragraph of the page? Is it used
in several places throughout the page?
Look back at my page. Notice that the keyword
phrase, search engine seminars, is used as link
text to describe several links. Are you using
your keyword phrase to describe links that are
leaving the page? If not, try to do so.
Study your own site carefully, and apply these
guidelines to your pages.
Doing whatever you can to push your important
keyword phrase toward the top of the page and
toward the beginning of your tags is the first
step toward having a successful Web site that's
ranked in the top of the search engine rankings.
If you would like to learn more about how to
achieve top search engine rankings, visit:
http://www.searchengineworkshops.com/articles.html
Or, sign up for online training at:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/courses.html
or 3-day search engine marketing workshops at:
http://www.searchengineworkshops.com.
 Robin
Nobles is the Director of Training for the Academy
of Web Specialists, where she has taught several
thousand students in her online search engine
marketing courses during the past several years.
She is also the content provider for GRSeo (Search
Engine Optimizer) software. Her latest books,
Web Site Analysis and Reporting and Streetwise
Maximize Web Site Traffic, can be ordered through
Amazon. For onsite training by Robin Nobles
and John Alexander, visit Search Engine Workshops.
Return to
FREE articles index |
Search
Engine Marketing: Special
Reports from Page Zero Unleash Amazing
Profits with Google AdWords Select! You advertise
your product, service, or cause online. You've
decided to pay for targeted traffic on a "pay
per click" basis. And now you're considering
Google
AdWords Select. Great decision. But if
you don't use the techniques taught in this
special report, you could cost yourself
a fortune. Use it right, and you'll clean
up.
|
|