Search Engine Optimization

How Search Engines Work

Search engine optimization used to be very easy - you simply repeated your keywords over and over and back to back, or hid them, or used other silly tricks that all search engines now penalize for or de-list your Site and pages as a result.

Today, your Site has to be slightly more sophisticated and robust - not technically - but in the quality of information you provide and the way the information is presented.

In the following pages, you will find specific techniques to better format your page for search engine optimization.

Do not submit to hundreds of Search Engines

Submitting to hundreds of search engines doesn't work because only a select few even matter. How many search engines do you use? 2 maybe 3?
For the most part, Google, MSN, Intogmi, Director, Yahoo and perhaps a few industry-specific directories are the only search engines you need to be concerned about.

Also, each search engine has its own submission policies and therefore these online services claiming they will submit your Site to every search engine and directory in the world are not recommended.

All search engines use some combination of algorithms and human review to determine search engine ranking in the results. These algorithms and procedures help the search engines deter unethical search engine optimization techniques that would result in pages appearing at the top of the search engine results that are not relevant to the content of the page (and therefore not what the user of the search engine was searching for).

The goal and objective of all major search engines is to deliver relevant and useful results. To achieve this goal, search engines do their very best to weed out results that are not what the searcher was seeking.

Search engine results (and the methodologies behind them) attempt to rank pages near the top of the results based on relevance to the keywords searched along with the page content. This is first done automatically, and later, often but not always, by human review.

Search engine optimization, if done properly, helps the search engines' automated robots and spiders and crawlers to 'read' and 'see' pages, determine how relevant the content is, and index Sites and pages in the search engine's directories and indexes for searchers to easily find.

This sounds easier than it actually is - and search engines are continuously updating their algorithms and methods to improve the quality of search results that appear high or at the top of search result pages.

There are several things, considered "spamming", that you can do to try to get your page listed higher on a search engine results page. Yahoo defines spam as "pages created deliberately to trick the search engine into offering inappropriate, redundant, or poor-quality search results." This is similar to the definitions offered by Google and MSN as well. Basically, you should never try to trick a search engine in any way, or you risk being blacklisted by them. Since the majority of your traffic will come from search engines the risk far outweighs the benefits in the long run. Below is a list of the more common things we recommend that you never do when trying to achieve better listings.

Do not:

• Do anything to trick the search engines into listing your site better. If what you are doing is not listed as one of our search engine tips the search engines will likely view it as spam and penalize you.

• List keywords anywhere except in your keywords meta tag. By "list" we mean something like -keyword 1, keyword 2, keyword 3, keyword 4, etc. There are very few legitimate reasons that a list of keywords would actually appear on a web page or within the page's HTML code and the search engines know this. While you may have a legitimate reason for doing this we would recommend avoiding it so that you do not risk being penalized by the search engines.

• Use the same color text on your page as the page's background color. This has often been used to keyword stuff a web page. Search engines can detect this and view it as spam.

• Use multiple instances of the same tag. For example, using more than one title tag. Search engines can detect this and view it as spam.

• Submit identical pages. For example, do not duplicate a page of your site, give the copies different file names, and submit each one. Search engines can detect this and view it as spam.

• Submit the same page to any engine more than once within 24hrs.

• Use any keywords in your keywords meta tag that do not directly relate to the content of your page.

 

Content

If you are creating a website or working on a site you've already created, the content of the site is one of the most important factors for successful search engine marketing. The pages you create should provide valuable information that references very specific terms and concepts that are unique to your website.

Text is one part of the content that is important for being found in search engines. Search engines usually read and index the first 500 words from each page they successfully crawl. The text within that span of words is one factor that helps to determine your relevance for a particular search term.

For best results it is recommend that each page you submit has at least 200 words of copy on it. There are some cases where this much text can be difficult to put on a page, but the search engines really like it so you should do your best to increase the amount of copy where you can. This text should include your most important keyword phrases, but should remain logical & readable, and don't forget to use those phrases that you have used in your other tags (i.e. metas, alt, headings, title, etc.) during the optimization process.

If you are successful at weaving your keywords into compelling copy (remember humans are your primary reader) you are more likely to be relevant for keyword searches. Once your site has been up and running for three months, run a report on your log files to determine what keywords people are using to find your site. We currently offer a stats report for any company hosting with Whatever Computes that updates regularly to keep you updated on what your customers are searching for.

You might be surprised if the most popular keywords that do find your site don't match up to keywords you already had in mind and were using. The web is a great educator about how to succeed. Your site might be very popular for search terms that you hadn't thought of when you built it.

When people use search engines, they aren't typing in generic terms that are hard to define and measure like "business" or "software". People use search engines for very specific names and phrases, terms like "Inkjet printer cartridge refills".

You wouldn't have thought to include that specific phrase in your content because it doesn't read very well. But if all those words are located in a web page carefully constructed to highlight keywords that are known to produce traffic, the likelihood that you will appear in a search result for a very specific search improves.

Since the keywords that you decide to target will be used throughout the optimization process choosing the right keywords is essential. If you choose the wrong keywords you will not be found in the search engines. Try to remember the next few tips when thinking about creating keywords:

A)Think "specific keyword phrases" not "keywords". Why? Due to the extreme amount of competition for general terms in the search engines, if your keyword phrases are too general it is very unlikely you will rank well in the search engines. You stand a far better chance to rank well for specific phrases where there is less competition. The resulting traffic, since it is more highly targeted, should also be much higher quality too!

B)Try to think like your target audience. What would they search for when looking for the page you are optimizing? It is very easy to fall in the trap of coming up with a short list of what YOU would search for, but what about everyone else? They will not necessarily use the same keywords as you. You should try to come up with as many keyword phrases as you can think of that relate to the page you are optimizing. Try asking a few friends and family what they would search for when searching for a site like yours.

C)Check out your competition for ideas. Do a search using keywords that you already know you want to target and click through on the top sites that come up. Once on the site view the source HTML code and view the keywords they have in their meta tags - this should give you many more ideas! Make sure to only use keywords that relate to YOUR site or page. To view the HTML code simply click the 'View' at the top of your web browser then select 'Source', or 'Page Source'.

D)You should develop a list of keyword phrases, following the tips on this page, for each page that you optimize for the search engines.

You must be diligent in understanding how people are getting to your site and focus on providing quality content that is geared towards the audience that is trying to find you. Be as specific as you can. You'll improve the quality and quantity of visitors you get from search engines.

It's also important to understand that you cannot trick the search engines. Flooding the engines with multiple versions of the same page, repeating the same term over and over - these tactics will only lead to negative traffic from search engines and the likelihood that your site could be banned from being listed in a search engine.

The old search engine optimization tricks no longer work and not all search engine optimization professionals or experts are aware. The bad news is actually good news because it means the Internet is coming of age, the major search engines like GOOGLE and YAHOO are providing more relevant results which makes the Internet even more useful, and more people are using the Internet than ever before for business, research, and sourcing vendors. As a business development tool with nationwide and worldwide reach, no other media investment can compare.

The better news is that so few Sites are properly search engine optimized that there is tremendous opportunity for those willing to make the investment in search engine optimization. Sites that invest in proper SEO often achieve top search engine ranking and results - and better yet, maintain their top search result positions for long periods of time.

We mentioned earlier that the text on your website was one part of the content that's important for being found at search engines. Another important part of the equation is your link popularity. By focusing on quality content, your website becomes more likely to have someone naturally link to it without having to request it.

In the early days of search engine optimization, marketers focused on meta-tags as the primary way to attract search engine traffic. Meta-tags are HTML tags that help describe the document they are located within. Today we know that search engines not only look at meta-tags, but a sites content, internal link structure and link popularity.

Title Tags and META Keywords

Meta-tags are still an important tool for successful search engine marketing.

Search engines focus on three primary tags to help them determine the relevance of a website for a particular search phrase.

The Title Tag is one of the most important tags for a search engine. This is because most engines & directories place a high level of importance on keywords that are found in your title tag. The Title Tag should describe exactly what the document contains. It should contain keywords, but not repeats, of terms you hope to be found for. It should also be as readable as possible. You must consider that the Title Tag will be the first thing someone sees if you appear in a search result.

Include 1-2 of your most important keyword phrases in the title tag, BUT be careful not to just list keywords, your title tag should include your keyword phrases while remaining as close to a readable sentence as possible to avoid any problems. Also, try to make your title inticing! Don't forget that even if you get that #1 listing in the search engines your listing still needs to say something that makes the surfer want to click through and visit your site. Since the title tag length could be too long for some engines, we suggest placing keywords at the beginning of the tag when possible to avoid having them cut off.

The Title Tag should be no longer than 80 characters and should contain words and phrases that accurately describe the content of a page. Try to make the Title Tags located throughout your site unique and relevant. Every word in the Title should be contained somewhere in the page they are used for. Research has also shown that a call to action will usually produce more clicks than a basic description.

Example for this page:

<title>Whatever Computes Web Hosting and Domain Name Registration Service</title>

Remember to look at the log files of your website, with a tool like WebTrends, and determine the top keywords that people are finding your site with today. You can then fine tune your Title Tags throughout your website to reflect popular terms that you are highly relevant for. This will only show you the keywords you are performing well for today. There are likely many terms that won't show up in your log files. You'll want to research those using tools from Overture or WordTracker.

The next tag that search engines use to determine relevance is the Description Tag. The description for a website is a 250 character explanation of the page and its contents. It should contain keywords and phrases you hope to be found for, but it should also read like an introductory lead-in for the topic or service you are highlighting. The Description Tag is another call to action.

Example for our main page:

<META NAME="description" CONTENT="We are Canada's premier Internet hosting solution, providing services from conception to the managed delivery of web content and everything in-between. We have in house design, domain Registration and management, Web security service, Internet consulting, search engine placement, E-commerce, spam and virus filtered Email starting at $6.25/month with a free domain. We offer secured Visa, Master Card and American Express access at Canadian prices. We own and manage our servers using industry standard configurations and offer full 99.9% up time. ">

Your Description and Title Tag together should be compelling enough to generate a click through from a search result. You have to put yourself in the search engine visitor's position. They are looking for something very specific. The description you provide for your page has to convince the person that you are providing exactly what they are looking for. If a user comes to your site and the Title and Description Tags don't accurately match the content they actually find, you are less likely to be considered a reputable source of information.

The last meta-tag that is important to search engines is the Keyword Tags. Keyword Tags should contain less than 250 characters including spaces and use important keywords and phrases consistent with the HTML Body Text and Page Title. No single word should be used more than twice.

Keyword Tags should contain realistic keyword terms that you hope to compete for. The more generic the term you include in your keywords, the more likely you are to be swimming in an ocean of 7 million other documents. Being specific and accurate are the ingredients to success with keywords. It's important that any keywords you use in your meta-tags actually exist in the pages they are used for.

Example:

<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="canada, hosting, domain registraion, whatevercomputes, whatever, computes, www, software, perl,mysql, SSL,SSI,server, bandwidth, bandwidth, web, host, design, free, translation, domain, internet ,php5,ftp,Telnet,T3,FrontPage,RealAudio,RealVideo, computer, contact, email, spamfiltering pam, Secure Sockets Layers, conception, WebDesign,script, provider,information blogging,mail, dedicated, IP, net, news, com, ca, photos, photo gallaries, Regina, script, university, school,games, world,web, history,search, international, windows, business, linux, opensrs">

Titles and Description tags are the most important tags that search engines consider to determine relevancy. Search engines also need to be able to successfully crawl your website so that they can include them in their database. That's where your link architecture becomes very important. Read more about link architecture here.

 

Meta keywords tips:

• Aside from what we mention in the other tips below you should only use those keyword phrases that you also used in the copy of your page, title tag, meta description, and other tags. Any keywords phrases that you use that do not appear in your other tags or page copy are likely to not have enough prominence to help your listings for that phrase.

• Don't forget plurals. For example, a travel site might have both "caribbean vacation" and "caribbean vacations" in their keyword meta tag to make sure they show up in both searches.

• If you know of a common misspelling of a popular keyword that could be used to find your site you should enter it in your keywords meta tag. For example, our site might use "Whatever Computers " in our keyword meta since it is a common misspelling for "Whatever Computes".

• Watch out for repeats! You want to include your most important phrases, but when doing so it can be difficult not to repeat one word many times. For example, "caribbean vacation" and "caribbean vacations" are two different phrases, but the word "caribbean" appears twice. This is okay to do in order to make sure you get the phrases you need in there, but becareful not to repeat any one word excessively. There in no actual limit, but we recommend that no one word be repeated in the keyword meta more than 5 times.

• If your site has content of interest to a specific geographic location be sure to include the actual location in your keyword meta.

Here's a quick checklist to consider when writing tags:

Title:

• Provides call to action - YES/NO?

• Contains less than 80 characters - YES/NO?

• Uses important keywords and phrases - YES/NO?

• Describes what the page is about - YES/NO?

• Consistent with other content components - YES/NO?

META Keywords:

• Contains less than 250 characters - YES/NO?

• Uses important keywords and phrases - YES/NO?

• Minimal repetition of individual words - YES/NO?

• Consistent with other content components - YES/NO?

META Description:

• Provides call to action - YES/NO?

• Contains less than 250 characters - YES/NO?

• Uses important keywords and phrases - YES/NO?

• Describes what the page is about - YES/NO?

• Consistent with other content components - YES/NO?

Keyword Market Analysis

What is a Keyword Market?
In short, a Keyword Market is the total number of unique searches on the Internet that are relevant to your website. A Keyword Market is defined by the top-level or root keyword that is generally most relevant to your business. If you own a shoe store, "shoes" might be the top-level keyword for your market. "Shoes" of course is very general since there are many kinds of shoes for men and women. Top-level keywords may contain thousands of vertical keyword markets. Initial analysis on "shoes" will produce hundreds of verticals (running shoes, nike shoes, bridal shoes, golf shoes, etc.)

Understanding Your Keyword Market
Selecting the right keywords and phrases is critical to the success of any search engine marketing campaign. A thorough analysis of your keyword market(s) will ensure proper keyword selection. Analysis involves the following:

A)Comprehensive Vertical and Lateral Keyword Analysis
Vertical and lateral keyword analysis refers to the discovery process you can go through to determine which Keyword Markets are relevant to your website. A vertical analysis looks at all forms of the word (singular, plural) and all the popular variations that are used in combination as a keyword phrase. A lateral analysis queries hundreds of other websites that deal with similar markets and extracts those keywords from the title tags, META tags and body text. The most frequent keywords end up at the top. Example is the best way to explain vertical and lateral keyword analysis. Let's take the keyword search "basketball" as an example:

B)Target audience
Qualifying keywords before making a final decision is where expert subjectivity is applied to catch what the technology cannot. After conducting a comprehensive vertical and lateral keyword analysis, we are left with an exhaustive list of keywords.

Most will be relevant to your site, but many will not be. It is important to remember that these keywords represent actual searches made by actual people. Qualifying for relevant keywords involves a thorough review of your keyword market and making sure all of the keyword searches are reflective of your target audience.

C)Total Keyword Popularity and Competing URLs
It is important to make an evaluation of how popular a keyword is (i.e. how many times is a keyword predicted to be searched in a 24 hour period) and how it's popularity compares with the total number of competing URLs (other sites that are returned by the search engines for the same keyword searches). An analysis of this relationship will tell us where it is smart to optimize and where it is foolish.

The results of this analysis is cross referenced with your website content to determine the right page selections for optimization. Try this tool that we use to determine keyword importance. http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ Simply enter a term that you think might be popular, and this tool will show you related searches that include your term, and how many times that term was searched in the last thirty days.

Link Popularity

The number of websites that link to your website is one of the factors that help search engines determine your relevancy for a search term. Link popularity and gaining new links from outside websites to your website have proven to be a popular concept for people seeking to improve their search engine rankings.

What is link popularity and how exactly does it work? Search engines don't just look at the content of your website to determine if you are a match for a search. They also look at the number of outside websites that can validate, by linking, that you are a good match.

Search engines have also begun to rank the importance of the sites that link to you. This means if the New York Times links to your site, your credibility is higher than if Joe's Online Newspaper provides a link to your website. Search engines also consider the text contained in the link that is pointing to your website. If the text in the links contains keywords you are trying to compete for, the search engines consider your site to have even greater credibility.

Since link popularity has become a factor that people feel like they have some influence over in determining their search engine positioning, many solutions have been proposed for growing your online link popularity. One of the more popular ways is also one of the least effective.

Several software programs have been written that help you create lists of websites in your space that might be willing to link to you. These programs also help you gather the email addresses for these sites and even help you craft an email requesting that the site add a link to yours.

The concept sounds good but the results are often mixed. If you use one of these tools and simply follow the templates they give you, your email will read like a spam message that won't be taken seriously.

The best way to build long-term link popularity is to offer good content and features that provide real value to your audience. As people discover your website and realize its benefits, the likelihood of them linking to your website naturally increases.

There are several critical targets if you want to build up your link popularity without appearing to be a spammer. The first is good links from Yahoo and the Open Directory Project. Both of these sites are human based directories that have a lot of influence over search results. If your site is listed in the correct category and has a good description, links from these two websites are seen as validating you are the real thing.

The second place it's important to have a link from is topic specific or niche directories. These are websites that are dedicated to news and information that is an exact match for what you provide online. If you have a website that deals with tractor parts, being listed on sites that focus on tractors is very important. In the case where a niche website doesn't know about your website, it's okay to ask them to link to your website. But your message should be personalized to them and also tell them the benefit or feature their users will get from linking to you.

Another part of the web that helps build your link popularity is resource sites. Resource sites are lists of links that people put up on their own. These pages are often spread amongst friends and readers who find good information available from the resource. In order to reach this audience, a good PR campaign and press releases can ensure that these individuals know you exist and have a link to your website that they can easily include.

One of the most overlooked spots for building link popularity is links from partners and vendors for your business. Because you already have a business relationship with these companies or individuals, you are more likely to be able to request and receive a link from their website. These websites help validate your place online and also establish you within a community of websites online. If you are visible to the community, you are more visible to the search engines.

Link popularity also starts at home. You must make sure your link architecture is solid and easily followed by search engines. That's the first way that search engines see you. It's also the way that visitors find information within your website. The easier you make it on your audience to find good information, the more likely they are to link to it.

The final way you can work to increase your link popularity is to participate in newsletters and online forums that relate to your website. You don't want to just jump in and give a plug for your URL. You must participate in the discussion as an expert or authority who gives good advice. When you sign your name at the bottom of your posting, be sure to include a signature that includes a link to your website. If these forums and newsletters are archived and remain online, search engines continue to see them and the links they contain.

If your website doesn't have a lot of content and you are wondering how you can build your link popularity you should think about building a tool or feature on your website that will be valuable to your online audience.

Link popularity will continue to be an essential factor in successful search engine marketing initiatives for the foreseeable future. Links are a helpful tool for search engines trying to wade through billions of documents and find ones that are relevant to their users.

Did you know that any images on your page can help your listings too? Each image on your page can include a keyword phrase or two that relates to the image. This text will also show up & help those that may have their images turned off when visiting your site. This does not work for all engines, but it certainly does not hurt so we recommend you give it a try where you can.

What it looks like

<IMG src="SubmitItLogo.gif" width="10" height="10" alt="Submit It! Web Site Submission Service">

You can add the "alt" attribute to any image on your page. We do not recommend using more than a brief sentence or two to describe an image.

• Be sure to use the keyword phrases that you also used in the copy of your page, title tag, meta description, and other tags.

• Do not try to cram a bunch of keywords into the "alt" attribute. We recommend using no more than 2-3 per image.

• Describe the image - do not just list keywords.

• The "alt" attribute is also a good place for misspellings and plural keyword phrases that you may not have used elsewhere

Optimizing Text Hyperlinks

Did you know that text based hyperlinks can help improve your listing in the search engines? The search engines basically figure that if you are linking to something from your page whatever it is you are linking to is likely to be closely related to the content of your page. For that reason some of the engines actually look for keywords in the hyperlinks and any text immediately surrounding the hyperlinks. What this means to you is that if you can you should include your most important keyword phrases in the link itself and possibly the surrounding text.

Try to include your most important keyword phrases within the hyperlink itself.

• Try to include your most important keyword phrases in the text that immediately preceeds, or follows the the hyperlink.

• Becareful not to keyword stuff! Make sure your links and surrounding text are still readable and make sense after you include a keyword phrase or two.

Dynamic Sites and URL's

As websites have grown larger and more complex, companies have begun using dynamic publishing systems to help them manage sites that contain hundreds or thousands of web pages. Popular programs by companies like Vignette, Microsoft, and Broadvision turn a website into a database driven application capable of publishing and managing large amounts of content. When websites use dynamic publishing, a web page isn't built until it is requested from a user, guaranteeing that the content is up to date.

When these content management programs deliver information back to a web browser the links they create often contain many of the snippets of code they are using to assemble a page on the fly. This might include characters such as "?, $, @, %, &".

When a search engine tries to read a dynamic link, it often stops when it encounters the characters that dynamic publishing systems use to deliver a page. This means that a search engine cannot easily crawl and index the website. This means that fewer pages of your website will be indexed by a search engine. This in turn means you will show up in fewer search results.

One thing that many people fail to realize is that search engines create multiple entry points into your website. While your home page may be the one that people find most often, websites that have lots of pages indexed will begin driving traffic to pages located deeper within the website.

These interior pages often draw much more qualified users because they are looking for information specific to a certain topic. Because they are looking for very specific information, they are also more likely to convert on a sale or action that you have prepared for them.

If dynamic publishing is keeping your content from showing up in the search engine database, these more qualified visitors often won't find your website. It's very important that as much of your website is visible to the search engines as possible if you hope to drive traffic from search engine marketing. Good link architecture can solve this problem in many cases.

Paid inclusion programs like Inktomi Search Submit or Index Connect guarantee that the pages you want search engines to index are included in their database. This means they don't have to crawl your site and guess at what information is beneath the surface.

Instead, you are telling them the pages you want them to include and re-crawl on a regular basis. This even includes dynamic pages because you provide Inktomi with a list dynamically generated URL's which it then knows will contain content and information specific to your website.

Dynamic publishing systems should never hinder the ability of your users to find you. If your website uses dynamic publishing, you need to understand if search engines are able to see deep within your website. Once you see how much of your website is being indexed today, you'll know how much of an issue dynamic pages are for your website.

Potential Design/ Set up Problems

1.Optimizing Frames

If your site uses frames, you've got problems - as far as the search engines are concerned anyway!

The problem is that search engines do not index framed sites very well. In fact, the search engines do such a poor job of indexing frames that we recommend redesigning your site without them if you want to get good listings in the search engines.

Now, if your site must use frames there are some tips we recommend you implement to make sure that you get the best listings you can even with frames.

A frame is exactly what the name conveys - they are an HTML page that "frames" other HTML pages. Now, the problem arises when you go to submit to search engines. In most cases a framed site will only have one page you can submit, the home page. Since your site uses frames the home page actually has nothing that the search engine can use to determine how to list your site. Why? Because your home page is actually a frameset which does not have any real content. Here's an example that should help you see what we mean. Keep in mind this code is what the search engines see:

The Solution

Not really a "solution" (the solution would be to get rid of the frames!), but the best thing you can do to improve your results is to use the <noframes> tag within your frameset. This tag was originally used for displaying content to people using older web browsers that did not support viewing frames. While just about all web browsers now support frames the <noframes> tag can still be used for content that will help your framed site get listed. In addition, you should also implement the best title tag, and meta tags that you can. The <noframes> tag belongs just before the </frameset> tag for your frameset.

Tag tips:

• Place optimized content within the <body> tags that you see within the <noframes> tag. An easy way to do this is to create a new regular (not framed) home page for your site that describes your site, products & services. Often the content can be taken directly from one of your existing framed pages. Once you have the page created view the HTML of the page and copy everything from within the <body> and </body> tags. Then paste the new content within the <body> and </body> tags found within the <noframes> tags of your frameset. A complete page (including all the HTML) can be placed within the body tags.

• Search engines like simple HTML pages, so since it is very unlikely anyone will ever see this <noframes> content we recommend keeping it very simple and text based for best results.

• Make sure all your <noframes> content is optimized. If it is not optimized, it is not going to help you very much.

• Include links in the <noframes> content to all of the other important pages on your site so that the search engine will crawl and index them too.

• Implement the best title tag, and meta tags that you can on the frameset page.

2.Sites That Use Dynamic URLs

Most search engines cannot or will not list any dynamic URLs. Dynamic URLs are most commonly used on database driven sites, or sites that are running scripts. They commonly look something like this one from MSN Search:

http://search.msn.com/results.asp?q=dynamic+url

If your URL contains any of the following elements it is considered a Dynamic URL as far as the search engines are concerned:

?, &, %, +, =, $, cgi-bin, .cgi
(commas above are just used as a separator)

If your URL contains any of the above elements it is very unlikely that it will get listed at any of the major search engines. We recommend that you submitting a different URL that is not dynamic if possible. If all of your URLs are dynamic you should probably consider making static pages (i.e. not dynamic) with URLs that do not contain any of the elements noted above so that you can get listed in the search engines.

3.Sites That Use Flash

Flash itself is not the problem. The problem is how it is used. The 2 largest problems with how Flash is used are

A. Flash is often used on home pages as a "splash" page. The problem with these splash pages is that many times they are made entirely from Flash, which the search engines can't index. That means your splash page will not get listed. Your best bet search engine wise is to avoid submitting any page that is made mostly of Flash. If you must submit a page that is mostly Flash you can improve your chances of getting listed by to adding as much page copy to the page that you can. You should also make sure you have good meta tags and title tag.

B. Hyperlinks made with Flash can't be spidered by the search engines. Normally, when you submit a page to a search engine you can expect the search engine to follow the links on the page you submitted and spider the rest of your site, which is a good thing. Unfortunately, unless you have (or add) standard HTML hyperlinks to the other pages of your site none of your other pages will be able to get spidered by the search engines, which is a bad thing. An easy way fix this problem is to create a site map page uses standard HTML links to link to every page on your site. Then add a standard HTML link on each page of your site that links to the site map.

4. Sites That Use Image Maps for Navigation

Due to the code that makes up an image map search engines often get trapped in them and can't spider your site.

If you use image maps for your main site navigation you should consider switching to standard HTML hyperlinks or your site will most likely not get spidered. If you want to keep the image maps you can, but you should add another navigation scheme to your site that uses only standard HTML hyperlinks so that your site will get spidered. An easy way to do this is to create a site map page uses standard HTML links to link to every page on your site. Then add a standard HTML link on each page of your site that links to the site map.

5.Sites That Use Javascript for Navigation

Search engines can't follow links that are within Javascript, so your site will not get spidered unless you also have some form standard HTML hyperlinks that they can follow. You should add some form standard HTML hyperlinks to all of your pages on each of your pages so that your site will be spidered properly. An easy way to do this is to create a site map page uses standard HTML links to link to every page on your site. Then add a standard HTML link on each page of your site that links to the site map.

Terms Defined

Title Tag: The tag that defines the title of the web page. It is probably the most important page element that influences the ranking of a page.

Meta Tags: Meta Tags are HTML tags that help describe the document they are located within.

Description Tag: An HTML tag that gives a general description of the contents of the page. This description is not displayed on the page itself, but is largely intended to help the search engines index the page correctly.

Keyword Tag: In the early days of search engines, this was a very important tag. But it was then abused and now most search engines ignore this tag. It is still worth using for the few search engines that do make use of it. It is best to place the most important keywords at the start of the list.

Algorithms: Formulas of instructions and directions as to how the information gathered by the spider is to be used to rank a web page on that particular search engine. Each search engine has it’s own unique algorithms which is why a page may rank high on one search engine while ranking low on another.

Spamming: Using any search engine ranking technique which causes a degradation in the quality of the results produced by the search engines. Examples of spamming include excessive repetition of a keyword in a page, optimizing a page for a keyword which is unrelated to the contents of the site, using invisible text, etc. Most search engines will penalize a page which uses spamming. Also called spamdexing. In a different context, spamming is also used to mean the practice of sending unsolicited bulk email.

Vertical Analysis: A vertical analysis looks at all forms of the word (singular, plural) and all the popular variations that are used in combination as a keyword phrase.

Lateral Analysis: A lateral analysis queries hundreds of other web sites that deal with similar markets and extracts those keywords from the Title tags, Meta Tags and Body text.

Link Popularity: The number of sites which link to a particular site. Many search engines use link popularity as a factor in determining the search engine ranking of a web site.

Image Map: An image containing one or more invisible regions which are linked to other pages. If the image map is defined as a separate file, the search engines may not be able to index the pages to which that image map links. The way out is to have text hyperlinks to those pages in addition to the links from the image map. However, image maps defined within the same web page will generally not prevent search engines from indexing the other pages.

Robot: In the context of search engine ranking, it implies the same thing as Spider. In a different context, it is also used to indicate a software which visits web sites and collects email addresses to be used for sending unsolicited bulk email.

Spider: A software that visits web sites and indexes the pages present in those sites. Search engines use spiders to build up their databases. Example: The spider for AltaVista is called Scooter.