Search Engines: How to be found
Basics of Search Engine Marketing
In order to be effectively found through the search engines, you need two main factors: a website optimised for search engines and links pointing to it from the rest of the Internet.
When you optimise a website for the search engines, it's important to optimise both the content and the design of the site. The content should be keyword-rich and focused, and the keywords carefully chosen to make sure people actually search for them. But it's just as important to follow some simple web design rules, like:
- using static URLs whenever possible, keeping the number of dynamic parameters low if it's necessary to use dynamic URLs;
- turning the session identifiers off for the search engines spiders;
- avoiding frames;
- remembering that the spiders can't read the text embedded in a graphic image or a Flash movie;
- using plain HTML links for navigation;
- using sitemaps;
- keeping the amount of the HTML code to a minimum.
To start building links to your website, it's recommended to submit it to a few quality directories (like www.dmoz.org and the Yahoo directory). Other methods worth mentioning are:
- submitting articles on your business topics to a few most authoritative niche publishers;
- highly focused link exchange (preferably on content pages) with genuinely related sites;
- social bookmarking (at del.icio.us, digg.com and other similar websites);
- participating in forums and blogs, direct contacts with bloggers in your niche, having a blog of your own (with an RSS feed);
- publishing press releases on PRWEB.com and similar local services.
When optimising websites and building links to them, it's very important to comply with certain ethics and best practices, as well as the search engine quality guidelines. Failure to do so may result in a heavy damage to the website itself and to the reputation of the business.