|
Before
you can position your site to do well in the search engines, you
need to understand search engine fundamentals. A search engine
is a giant database that lists sites on the Internet. You access
the database when you enter keyword searches and receive a list
of relevant sites.
Search
sites are the Internet's Yellow Pages. Think
of a search engine as a giant, automated version of the yellow
pages. If you need information on "party planning" from
the yellow pages, there are several steps to retrieving it.
Go to the yellow pages and look under the alphabetized subject
list for "party." Note the subcategories: "party
planning" "party - children's", "party - rental
equipment", and so on. Examine the companies listed under
"party - planning" and decide which company best meets
your needs. You can repeat this process online using a search engine.
Search Engines Versus Search Directories. People use both search
engines and directories without ever realizing there is a difference
between the two. Directories (Yahoo, LookSmart) have human editors
who review web pages, rank them, and then organize them into categorized
lists with brief descriptions.
The categories and descriptions are based on submissions, but
are edited by professional editors (real people in the loop reviewing
the sites being submitted). Search Engines (AltaVista, Excite,
Google) have automated programs called spiders that index sites
and score pages based on proprietary guidelines.
There is no human judgment involved. Search engines index all
the information on all the Web pages they find. The indexes are
generated automatically, based on the words and phrases that are
found on Web pages.
What
is a Search Engine?
Search engines send automated computer programs (called robots
or spiders) to crawl the Internet in search of Web pages. Basically
these spiders follow links to travel from URL to URL. When they
visit your Web site, the robot indexes (or records) the text of
your page or pages (if it is a deep crawling spider) and stores
it in the search engine's index. Later, when a user enters a search
query at the search engine's Web site, the search engine scans
Web pages in its index for pages that provide the best match.
In theory, the search engine spider is supposed to be able to
find all the sites on the Internet. However, since new sites are
being added daily, it's risky to assume that the spider will find
you. Expedite the process by submitting your URL to the search
engines.
Not
knowing the difference between a directory and a search engine
can burn you!
What is a Directory?
Unlike the automated search engine process, each entry in a directory
is first reviewed by a human being. You submit a short description
to the directory for your entire site, or editors write one for
sites they review. A keyword search will only look for matches
in these descriptions, so be careful how you describe your site.
Techniques to receive a high search engine rating will not work
with a directory. While good content is necessary for search engines,
both good content AND visual appeal are
mandatory in human-edited directories. Remember, manual review
takes time!
The typical time lag between submission of a site and its actual
listing in Yahoo is five months. You can speed up the process
at some directories, but expect to pay for that service. This
trend will probably continue.
Yahoo's Business Express Program, offers express guaranteed consideration
of your commercial Web site within seven (7) business days. Looksmart
moved to an exclusive pay for listing scheme - all new
submissions must pay to have their site reviewed.Open Directory
Project is a free directory. (Hint: If you get your site listed
here, it will help you later in Google.)When you submit to a directory,
do it by hand and take your time. You need to impress human reviewers
with your site so high-quality content and
design are critical to your success. For an in depth article on
submitting to Yahoo, click here.
Search Engine and Directory Hierarchy.
There are literally thousands of search engines on the Internet,
but naturally you're most concerned about your ranking on the
high-traffic sites. Some of the smaller search engines may not
bring you a lot of traffic, but your listing gives you another
source of links (which can help in your overall link popularity
building).If
you can do well on the sites listed below, you will probably do
well on others too.
Top Search Engines
Google
AltaVista
Iwon
Lycos
HotBot
Teoma
Ask Jeeves
WiseNut
Overture
Top
Search Directories
Yahoo - The biggest search site of all. Do well here.
LookSmart
Open Directory
Zeal
AOL |
