Melville, NY (NY Newsday) –

Want to increase your odds of people finding your Web site on the Internet?

Well, then you’d better optimize your site so it ranks high in the listings presented by top search engines like Google and Yahoo, say experts.

This “search engine optimization” is critical, considering more than 150 million people in the United States regularly use search engines to look up information online, according to Tim McAtee of Warren, R.I.-based MarketingSherpa. Of those users, 60 percent to 70 percent look only at the first page of results, he says.

“The goal of search engine optimization is to get your site as high in the search rankings as you can,” explains Julie Gross Gelfand of Harrison Leifer DiMarco, a Rockville Centre-based marketing and public relations firm that assists companies with optimization. “The ones on the first page get the most traffic.”

So how do you propel your Web site toward the top of the heap?

It certainly isn’t easy, but it is doable, say experts.

First you need to understand how search engines work. Search engines use spiders, crawlers and robots to find Web sites, explains Andrew Hazen of Prime Visibility in Melville, which specializes in search engine optimization.

“Using complex algorithms, these spiders, crawlers and robots are able to locate a page on a site and then index its content in their database,” says Hazen, author of “Plain & Simple: Search Engine Optimization” (O-DASH Publications). The indexing process allows search engines to then pull up a site in the results when a query is typed, he explains in his book, adding that the more relevant the content is to the query, the higher the ranking will be.

That’s why picking the right keywords for your content and HTML code is so critical. You need to place keywords in specific areas that attract search engine spiders, such as your URL or page name, title tags, body content and clickable links, says Hazen. This can get confusing, so you may want to enlist the help of an expert.

The trick is to pick keywords that are relevant to your audience.

“You can guess what keywords are important, but some of the keywords that you might think are very important aren’t,” says Peter Kent of Peter Kent Consulting, a Denver-based e-commerce consultant and author of “Search Engine Optimization for Dummies” (Wiley Publishing). He suggests using a keyword analysis tool like Wordtracker or Keyword Discovery.

It also pays to check out the keywords that your competitors are using, notes Allie Herzog, new media director at HJMT Communications Llc in Westbury. Look at the content of their Web sites, she suggests.

The more precise and relevant your keywords, the better, says Frank Dinolfo, director of digital services at Harrison Leifer DiMarco Inc.

Aside from keywords, you should work on building quality inbound links to your site, adds Dinolfo. The more links you have, the more popular the engines assume your site is, says Kent.

“Any well-rounded Web site will link to other relevant Web sites, directories and trade associations,” notes Kevin Carr, search marketing director of IMC Search in Irvine, Calif.

Check out who is linking to your competitors by going to toolbar.google.com, installing the toolbar and then clicking on the backward links feature, says Hazen. Sites linking to your competitor may be willing to provide inbound links to your own site, he notes.

Beyond that, it’s important to be listed in the major online directories such as DMOZ and Yahoo, notes Carr, who suggests only placing your site in directories that make sense for your business.

If you’re looking for more tips, the major search engines lay out specific rules you must follow to garner top positions. Do a search under “Webmaster Guidelines” in each of the major search engines to access this information.

So get cracking. Your ranking isn’t getting any higher just sitting there on its own.

MAKE EVERY WORD COUNT

Other tips to consider:

Spend 2-8 hours doing keyword research, and develop a targeted keyword and key phrase list.

Choose a URL (Web address/ domain name) that contains one of your targeted keywords.

Create a search engine-friendly FAQ page.

Don’t just answer yes or no. Use keyword-enriched Q&A’s.

Include the areas (state, city, town) that you serve in your keyword considerations.

Source: Andrew Hazen; Plain & Simple: Search Engine Optimization

Newsday.com May 26, 2008

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 27th, 2008 at 7:24 am and is filed under Media Coverage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.