A Primer on Search Engine Submission and Optimization

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A Primer on Search Engine Submission and
Optimization

• Austin Recovery A Case Study

Information for this presentation is abbreviated
from searchenginewatch.com and searchengineguard.c
om.
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Search Engines who are they and what do they do?

• Yahoo
• Human compiled directory listings that also
  include search results from Google
• Google
• Automated crawler that routinely indexes sites
  and mostly ranks them by how many links there are
  and how relevant your pages link to other pages
  and how other pages link to you
• AOL Search/ MSN Search
• Outsourcer that uses multiple crawler and paid
  listing search engines to provide results for
  searches.
• Look Smart
• Paid Listing service which utilizes a
  pay-per-click ranking model to auction the top
  ten result listings for particular keyword
  searches

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SE Submission vs. Optimization

• Submission
• The act of letting search engines know that your
  site is out there and have them add you to their
  index.
• Optimization
• The act of designing (or re-designing) your site
  to be more search engine friendly.

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Is my site already in their index?

• Using simple commands, you can check if your site
  is listed on any major search engine
• For Example Google
• Use allinurl command to find specific pages or
  sections
• allinurlsearchenginewatch.com/webmasters/meta.htm
  l
• Use site command and a search term to find
  whole site
• sitesearchenginewatch.com searchenginewatch
• If you dont use a search term, this command does
  not work.
• This search term works for search engine watch
  because they made sure to include the term
  searchenginewatch in their footer text.

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Preparation Before Submission

• Create a 25 word or less description of your site
• Use 2 to 3 of your key search terms and phrases
• Do not use marketing language be succinct
  without trying to sell something
• For directory sites, research the 5 best
  directories you want to be listed in

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Cost of Submission Budget

• Almost all search engines (SEs) have both free
  and paid submission (Google is an exception).
• To be listed quickly (a week), you need to pay
  the fee
• Free submission takes up to 2 months to be listed
• Most fees are one-time only but pay-per-click
  listings work on a monthly basis.

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Cost of Submission Budget - Crawlers
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Cost of Submission Budget Paid Listings
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Cost of Submission Budget Totals
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Submission Tips

• After you submit your site to the SEs, they
  usually revisit your site every one to two
  months.
• Resubmit your site after any major revision,
  especially if it includes SE optimization
• Submit more than your home page
• Allows the SE a different route to your site if
  there are problems
• Allows you to include more keywords for the other
  major pages of your site.
• After submission, verify your site is listed and
  resubmit if not.
• Check your listing every 2 weeks.

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Page Ranking

• Different SEs rank pages in different ways and
  the ranking algorithms are a well-kept secret
• The known two most important aspects of ranking
  well are the use of keywords in selected meta
  tags and body text, and the amount and relevancy
  of linking to and from your site.
• When searching, the first ten results are the
  most coveted ranking spots
• To maintain top ten results, you would need to
  spend large amounts of time and money
• Companies are built on the service of helping you
  create and maintain a top ten ranking.

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What Do People Search For?

• Live Search Displays
• AltaVista Real searches http//www.altavista.com/s
  ites/search/real_searches
• MetaCrawler MetaSpy http//www.metaspy.com
• AskJeeves Peek through the Keyhole
  http//www.askjeeves.com/docs/peek/
• Search.com Snoop http//savvy.search.com/snoop/

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Optimization Researching Keywords

• Brainstorm for your most common keywords in your
  site
• Use the Live Search Displays to expand your list
• Use Overtures (free) Search Term Suggestion Tool
  for even more keywords
• Use WordTrackers (free trial) to check the
  frequency and competition on AltaVista for your
  most common keywords.
• Also allows you to expand your list of keywords
  and check them.
• If you want to pay for it, allows you to check
  all other major search engines.

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Austin Recovery Original Keyword List
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Austin Recovery Expanded Keyword List
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Meta Tags are not dead(not all of them, anyway)

• Because of abuse by web personnel, all search
  engines no longer use the meta keyword tag for
  any kind of ranking.
• They DO use the meta description tag for relevant
  key words and phrases.
• You could use the meta keyword tag as a reference
  for those key words and phrases that you use for
  the page or site but thats it.

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Where to use Keywords

• Keywords are best utilized within the page title,
  meta description, and first few paragraphs of the
  body text
• Most SEs use keyword usage and frequency in
  ranking your site for results that include your
  keywords.

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Page Title Example Austin Recovery

• Make concise, descriptive and use keywords
• Original admissions page title
• admission Austin Recovery Where the healing
  begins.
• Revised admissions page title
• Austin Recovery Alcohol and Drug Treatment
  Center Admissions

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Meta Description Example Austin Recovery

• Best if 25 words or less with no marketing
  language, most SEs only look at first 200
  characters (without spaces)
• Original home page title
• Austin Recovery is a non-profit, alcohol and drug
  treatment provider serving our community since
  1967. We offer a full continuum of care to help
  clients overcome addiction. Our treatment
  utilizes a proven clinical model balancing the
  re
• Revised page title
• Austin Recovery is a alcohol and drug treatment
  center which utilizes the recovery principles of
  a 12 step program and individually designed
  therapies. We have three drug and alcohol rehab
  facilities that offer a full continuum of care to
  help

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Keywords in Body Text

• SEs look at first 2 paragraph tags of visible
  text
• Spammers have used invisible text in the past
  to include thousands of keywords to up their
  rankings
• Text needs to include the keywords but also make
  sense to users!
• Do not go overboard!
• Once labeled a spammed site, the SEs will
  penalize you in your rankings

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Linking your page to other sites

• One of the best ways to up your ranking is to
  have relevant sites to link to your site and you
  link to theirs.
• For example, list of sites for Austin Recovery
• www.soberdirectory.com - the online directory of
  alcohol and addiction recovery
• www.recoveryzone.org - online resource guide with
  listing of National drug and alcohol abuse
  recovery centers
• www.effectiveoptions.com - includes listing of
  treatment facilities by region.
• As long as the site is not a direct competitor,
  most sites will link back to you it helps their
  rankings too!

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Linking within your site

• Make sure to include html links on your home page
  for each major page within your site
• Most SEs cannot follow image map links
• Include a site map that contains links to all of
  your pages

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Google and Link Farms

• Spammers try to up their rankings and get around
  Googles rules by creating Link Farms
• After buying up several (10) related domains,
  spammers will create links (1000) from each
  domain to one main site to increase their Google
  ranking
• Google has caught on and actively looks at any
  site that contains this high amount of links for
  relevancy and how much content is actually on the
  page
• Dont do it!

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Search Engine Stumbling Blocks

• Frames and Flash can kill!
• Most SEs cannot get around a site built entirely
  of frames or flash
• Make sure you have static pages that mirror your
  site for SEs to enter and index pages
• Dynamic pages via CGI or Databases
• Some SEs wont be able to index dynamic sites
• Create a set of static pages or utilize the
  database to update pages but not generate them on
  the fly.

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Beyond Search Engines

• Search engines are the primary way for people to
  look for websites, but not the only way.
• Traditional advertising and word-of-mouth are
  alternatives that are far more effective draws
  than search engines.
• Dont obsess over your ranking!
• With just a few of the changes mentioned here,
  you can increase your ranking and allow your
  users to find you easier.
• If you want to always have a top ten result,
  hire someone!

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Thank you

• For more information, check out
  searchenginewatch.com and searchengineguard.com