How Google Search works – in Google’s own words
Submissions Submitting your web site to any search engine or directory is NOT A GUARANTEE that your submission will be included. Even, If your submission is included, your site may not rank or position as well as you would expect. This is why optimizing your web site for inclusion into search engines and directories is essential. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) increases your site’s capacity to be listed, ranked and found. In addition, understanding your audience and which words they might use to find you are significant. These key-words will help form the basis of search engine optimization. Our clients who complete our Project Profiler are requested to consider their key-words from the beginning of the web site process.
Like modern-day alchemists, marketers, statisticians and sales people have donned their own “pointy-hats” to ensure their role in your Internet. Some search engines (at the time of this writing) are no longer accepting ANY new submissions. Others, which once allowed free listings, have moved to a fee-based model. A rudimentary understanding how this “dark-art” functions is critical to the ongoing promotion and success of your web site.
- Search engine optimization techniques can be categorized into:
- those which you can control directly – “On- Page”
those which you can influence indirectly – “Off-Page“
- On-Page techniques
- include an appropriately written “Title Tag” (making sure that the title matches the content that actually appears on the page) and that content or “copy” of the web page is accurate and communicates your intend message. Once that is accomplished, you should develop a list of keywords that describe what appears on the page and how it relates to your company. When your list of keywords have been developed, you should then assemble them into a brief 12 – 20 word sentence that describes the content of the page and how it relates to your company. After both the keyword list and sentence description (for each page) have been completed, they should then be rendered into “meta tags” to be embed into the top of each web page document. A more thorough explanation of key words, Meta Tags and directories can be found on the page linked below. It is written by guest author, Jim Rhodes.
Key Words
Off-page strategies- are where the “alchemy gets bubbly”. Search engines like Google or that use google based technologies to compile and rank their listings are coupled to the Google “PageRank algorithm”. The algorithm itself is a closely guarded secret (like Colonel Saunders 11 herbs and spices) the order of results are automatically determined by more than 100 factors (http://www.google.com/webmasters/4.html). PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important.” (http://www.google.com/technology/index.html). In short, Google RANKINGS are determined in large part by how many other sites link back to your web site. Get listed and linked.
Additional Off-Page strategies should entail registering with Industry specific ‘portals”, directories search engines and associations.
- Off-line plan
- should include the obvious making sure your web site address is on company letterhead, business cards and EVERY piece of printed material that is view by your existing or possible customers. In addition – industry specific listings in Trade Journals, Association, Magazines, Newsletters and Newspapers are often available on a low cost or no cost basis. Don’t underestimate the value of traditional advertising and marketing for your business and web site. Experienced advertisers and marketers can help you develop and implement an appropriate offline marketing plan.
- Contact us if you wish to use or excerpt content from this article. In addition we can create custom content for your website in the form of “how to” articles, FAQs or other relevant subject matter.