"Search Engine Positioning" or

Transcription

Welcome to the Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning Download by the Academy of Web Specialists
Essential Foundations
in Search Engine Positioning
A Foundation in Getting to the Top
of the Search Engine Rankings
Welcome!
Table of Contents
Lesson #1 | Lesson #2 | Lesson #3 | Lesson #4 | Lesson #5 | Lesson #6 | Lesson #7 | Lesson #8
First, read this Welcome, then, go to the Table of Contents and get started!
Purchasing this download proves that you're serious about having a successful Web site, and the
Academy of Web Specialists is devoted to helping you reach your goal.
We'll provide you with the tools and knowledge needed to push your Web site down the road to
success. But, depending on your Web site and the keywords you've chosen, you may have to
spend more time tweaking your pages before watching those rankings go slowly up.
The download consists of eight lessons that will challenge you, assignments that apply to your
current or proposed Web site promotion, and feedback questions that you can answer on your
own before moving on to the next lesson. Since you purchased the one-time download, you won't
be turning in the assignments, but they are provided to guide you toward better placement in the
search engines.
Because things change so fast in this industry, you may want to consider purchasing 6 months of
access to this material. In this manner, you'll have access to the most up-to-date information
relative to the search engines for 6 months, and you'll also be able to attend our chat sessions
which are offered several times each week and conducted by experts in the industry. To purchase
6 months of access to the material, contact Robin Nobles.
Where do you Begin?
First, take some time to look over what's available in the Table of Contents. Click on the Engine
Chart, the Engine-by-Engine Recap, and some of the Latest Tips pages. If you're the type that
prefers printable forms, click on the Checklists You can Print.
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In the first lesson, we'll ask you to download a free trial version of WebPosition Gold so that you
can become familiar with its Reporter functions. Using a software program like Gold is the
easiest way to determine your rankings. So, you may want to read through the Guide to Using
WebPosition Gold.
Need to Learn More about HTML?
If you think you need some extra help in HTML before beginning the lessons, click on the
Pre-Lesson in HTML at the top of the Table of Contents. Spend a week or two working through
the tutorials, and then begin the search engine lessons.
The course will not teach you HTML, nor will it teach you how to create a Web site. You
will need a Web site that you can work on in the course. If you don't have one, we can offer you
"dummy" pages to work on that will enable you to complete the assignments and learn the
strategies.
Stroud's Consummate Winsock Applications offers a wide assortment of freeware and shareware
HTML editors and FTP programs.
Rhoda Schueller, an Academy mentor, has created an excellent HTML tutorial.
Download a free HTML and JavaScript book.
Once you've familiarized yourself with the Table of Contents and feel comfortable with HTML,
click on Lesson 1 and get to work! Though you won't be turning in homework, be sure to read
through the homework questions and assignments and answer them to yourself before moving on
to the next lesson. Keep in mind that search engine optimization strategies build on one another.
You need to make sure you have a good foundation before moving to the next strategy.
The Course Won't Teach You how to Use the Software
The goal of this course is to help you achieve a top ranking position in the search engines and to
teach valuable search engine positioning techniques. Though the software programs are
mentioned several times in the lessons, the lessons themselves don't teach you how to use the
software. Instead, contact the technical support departments of the different software programs
for assistance:
WebPosition Gold
Search Engine Optimizer
Keyword Density Analyzer
Top Dog
However, we've provided a short Step-by-Step Guide to using WebPosition Gold, which you can
access through the Table of Contents.
Participate in Online Forums, Chat Rooms, and E-Mail Discussion Lists
There are several excellent online forums where you can enter into discussions with other search
engine optimizers. Be sure to try out:
Search Engine Forums, which is an excellent group of forums that contain some good beginning
information
Webmaster World, which offers more in-depth information
MarketPositionTalk, sponsored by First Place Software
AIM-Pro Forums
Search Engine Discussion
Also, for those who purchase 6 months of additional access to the material, we offer numerous
chat sessions every week:
Chat schedule
Transcripts of past sessions
To aid in discussions among class members, an e-mail discussion list, Search-Engine-Talk,
has been set up. This is an unmoderated list where you can post questions, make comments, and
enter into discussions about any aspect of search engine positioning, search engine tips and tricks,
or Web site marketing in general.
If you would like to join, send an e-mail to:
[email protected]
To post messages to Search-Engine-Talk, send an e-mail to:
[email protected]
If you're a professional search engine optimizer, you may want to join our list designed for
professional SEOs. To join, send an e-mail to:
[email protected]
To post messages to Professional SEOs, send an e-mail to:
[email protected]
Other Suggestions
Subscribe to the Academy of Web Specialists Newsletter, a free newsletter which focuses on
search engine optimization strategies and highlights an international market each month.
Subscribe to MarketPosition, a free newsletter published monthly by First Place Software.
Subscribe to Search Engine Report, a free newsletter published once a month by Danny Sullivan
of Search Engine Watch. You can also pay a subscription fee which enables you to access
password-protected areas of the Web site and gives you a bi-weekly newsletter as well. This site
contains excellent information.
Consider subscribing to Planet Ocean. Their Unfair Advantages manual is excellent and is
updated every month. By subscribing, you'll receive a monthly newsletter with up-to-date
information about the engines and new web positioning strategies.
Download a free trial version of Search Engine Optimizer software. You'll be using the program
throughout the course as you work on your pages.
If you're in a hurry for success and would like a listing of tips to jump start your Web site toward
success, visit E-Business Tips. You'll find 101 search engine tips designed to boost traffic to your
online business; 101 online marketing tips that highlight the differences between marketing a
brick and mortar company versus a Web site; and, 101 e-commerce tips that offer strategies that
are sure to make your e-business a huge success.
Last, get a notebook of some kind to keep track of everything you do in your efforts to boost
search engine rankings. Write everything down as you go along, see what works and what
doesn't, make notes, fine tune your steps, and try it again. You may see your ranking suddenly
move up or down, and you'll need to understand why. If you move down in ranking after
submitting a revision, you can go back and figure out what made the initial submission better.
Now, take a deep breath and get ready to learn! And, remember that the Academy of Web
Specialists is here to help you.
Click here to go to the Table of Contents and begin the course.
Table of Contents
This document maintained by [email protected].
Copyright © 1999-2001 Robin Nobles. All rights reserved.
Welcome to the Academy of Web Specialists
By Robin Nobles
of the
The Academy of Web Specialists
Table of Contents
Lessons
Pre-Lesson in HTML-- For Those
who Need Extra Help in HTML
Before Starting Class
Lesson #1: Web Positioning
Overview
Lesson #2: Preventing Problems
with the Engines
Problem Areas of Lesson #2
Discussed in More Detail
Important Information
Academy Pages
What's New?
Welcome
Latest Tips for AltaVista
Chat Rooms, Chat Schedule,
and Chat Transcripts
Latest Tips for Inktomi
Online Forums
Engines at a Glance--An Engine
Chart
Search Engine Talk E-Mail
Discussion List
Free Trial Versions of
Software
Upgrade to 16 Weeks of
Access with Access to Chat
Rooms?
Certification and Continuing
Education Units (CEUs)
Purchase the Advanced
Search Engine Positioning
Download
Lesson #3: The Importance of
Keywords
Engine by Engine Recap
Lesson #4: Relevancy: Where can
We Put those Keywords?
Doorway Page Templates
Lesson #5: How to Create Effective
Glossary of Terms
Titles and Descriptions
Lesson #6: Doorway or Information
URLs Mentioned in the Course
Pages: Building More Windows
into your Site
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Welcome to the Academy of Web Specialists
Checklists You Can Print:
Search Engine
Lesson #7: Site Maps and Links;
Doorway Domains; and, Important Directory
Log Analysis
Directories
Competitor's
Participate in our Partner
Program and Earn Money!
HTML Test Page: An assignment in Guide to Using WebPosition
Gold Software
lesson #7
How to Keep up with
Changes in the Search
Engines
Lesson #8: Studying your
Competition, and Additional
Winning Strategies
Suggested Steps for Working on a
Contact Information
Site, Once the Course is Over
Table of Contents
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Pre-Lesson in HTML -- Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning, Academy of Web Specialists
By Robin Nobles
Pre-Lesson in HTML
Back to Table of Contents
of Entire Course
Note: This pre-lesson is only for those who need some additional HTML training. If you're
knowledgeable about HTML, you can skip this lesson and go on to lesson #1.
In order to position Web pages in the search engines, you need a good, basic knowledge of
HTML, the "language" of the World Wide Web. You're not going to be designing complete Web
sites yourself, but you will be designing doorway, or information, pages. Also, you need to know
how to make changes to an HTML document, how to use an HTML editor, and how to add tags
that can help boost your rankings. You need to be able to recognize when a page is using tables,
frames, or JavaScript, and you need to be able to recognize hidden text and other spamming
techniques. You need to know how to use an FTP program as well.
The beginning lessons outline various tags that you'll need to become familiar with. But, before
we dive into those lessons, this is the time to make sure that your HTML is up to par. If it is, you
don't need to worry about this pre-lesson. If it isn't, please take a week or two to work on the
HTML tutorials, because this will help you tremendously as you work through the Essential
Foundations lessons.
Before beginning the lessons, we want to show you HTML in action, so to speak. To make it
easier, let's open a new window, so you can read this information in one window and view the
page in another window. If you're using Netscape, click on File, New, then Navigator Window. If
you're using Internet Explorer, click on File, New, then Window. Keep this page open in one of
the copies, and in the other copy, click on the below URL:
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/
You're now looking at the Web site of the Academy of Web Specialists. But, this isn't what the
engine sees when it visits the site. The engine sees the "source code" or HTML.
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If you're using Netscape, click on View in the menu bar at the very top of the page, then Page
Source. If you're using Internet Explorer, click on View, then Source.
What you're seeing now is a "skeleton" of the Web page, which is what the engine sees when it
visits the page. The engine doesn't see the pretty graphics or design--it sees the source code--the
HTML. This is what we'll be learning about in this pre-lesson.
Here's something crucial to keep in mind. The closer to the top of the page that your important
keywords are, the more relevant your Web page will be to the engines. The more relevant the
page is for that keyword search, the better your rankings will be. Therefore, you need to
remember how important it is to bring all keyword-containing text and tags to the top of the page.
For this pre-lesson assignment, complete assignments #1, #2, and #3 below. If
you have time, work on some of the other assignments, but make sure you finish
those three assignments first.
Once the training is over, if you have any questions about HTML, you can always
refer back to these tutorials for more information.
Assignment #1: (important to do)
Take the HTML 4 Rookies Tutorial at this URL:
http://htmlprimer.com
Complete all 8 lessons. Be sure to visit the HTML Test Lab at the end of each lesson and practice
that lesson's HTML. Then, read over the following information as well:
Javascript; Cut N Paste Tutorial; META Tags; and HTML Validators
Find out what HTML editor you have, then practice using it. What is HTML? HTML stands
for HyperText Mark-up Language, and it's the formatting language used to create pages that can
be viewed on the Web. HTML documents are viewed through a browser, such as Netscape or
Internet Explorer.
Begin practicing by clicking on this page:
nine-banded-armadillo.html
Click on File, then Save As. Don't change the name of the file. Remember the directory where
the computer saved the file. Write it down NOW!
Open your HTML editor, and click on File, then Open. Browse until you find the directory where
the above file was saved. Highlight the file, which will be named "nine-banded-armadillo.html."
Click on Open, and the file will open in your HTML editor.
Play with the file. Add words to it, or take words out. Do whatever you want! When you make a
change, click on Preview in Browser (which may be in your File menu, depending on what
HTML editor you're using), and you'll be able to see what your changes would look like online.
Note from Robin: When I work with HTML, I prefer to view it with "Tags On" or "HTML
Source" because I can see the tags. Many people like to work with their editor in a WYSIWYG
format, which stands for "what you see is what you get." This format looks no different than a
word processing document, and you won't see any tags. Another format allows you to view the
source code, and it's called HTML Source (again, depending on your HTML editor, it may be
worded slightly differently). In my HTML editor, I can change how I view the page by clicking
on View, then choosing either HTML Source, Tags On, or WYSIWYG.
You will use the HTML Source view frequently when you need to change the content of various
tags, so get familiar with it.
Continue playing with the editor until you feel comfortable with it. If the editor has a tutorial, if
you have time, please take it. You certainly don't want to feel frustrated at having to learn a
program at the same time that you're learning HTML or search engine optimization techniques.
Find out what FTP program you have. What is FTP? FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol,
which is a method for downloading and uploading files to and from an Internet site. In other
words, an FTP program allows you to transfer files over the Internet. After you work on the pages
in your HTML editor, you'll need to FTP the pages and graphics to your server. Then, you'll be
able to view the pages on the Web.
Try to spend some time playing with your FTP program.
Assignment #4: (do if you have time)
Visit Webmonkey's HTML Basics and click on Intro to HTML:
http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/authoring/html_basics/
As you read each section/lesson in this tutorial, be sure to click on all hyperlinked words to learn
more about that concept. It will take you longer to do so, but you'll have a much stronger
knowledge of HTML when you're finished. Once you read the first page, click on Learn More,
and continue reading from there.
Click on all of the "Learn More" sections at the bottom of the page.
Once you're finished with the Intro to HTML, go to this page and click on Teaching Tool:
When you finish Teaching Tool, continue working through the following sections:
HTML Cheatsheet; Good Forms; What can <META> Do for You?
Click on Client-Side Image Maps, but don't spend a lot of time there. I only want you to be able
to recognize when a site is using an image map, because the search engines have a hard time
following them. When using image maps, it's imperative to include HTML links on the page as
well, to give the engine something to spider when it visits your site.
Next, go to the following page:
http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/authoring/
Study each of these sections in their entirety: Tables, Frames, Browsers, and Tools. There's no
need to go through the remaining sections.
Be sure to study the HTML Cheatsheet:
http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/reference/html_cheatsheet/
Print it out and keep it on your desk!
Assignment #5: (do if you have time)
Visit A Beginner's Guide to to HTML:
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html
Click on Full-Length Version. If it's easier for you to print out a copy and work from there, click
on Printable Version at the top of the page.
Click on Getting Started and begin to work your way through the entire tutorial. I realize that
some of this will be a duplication of what you learned before. But, being presented with
information in different ways can help us learn and understand it more.
Assignment #6 (do if you have time)
Visit the HTML Testbed and practice more HTML.
http://www.ash.udel.edu/ash/tutor/html/testbed.html
Go to Lesson 1
You're now ready to start on lesson #1. Congratulations on learning HTML, and good luck in the
course!
Table of Contents
Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning, Lesson #1
Lesson 1: Search Engine Positioning Overview
for the Entire Course
What We'll Cover in This Lesson:
Explanation of why search engine positioning is important;
A plan of action;
Overview of the lessons;
Explanation of the differences between engines and directories;
Definition of search engine positioning;
Bird's eye view of search engine positioning;
Explanation of the importance of simplicity;
Additional important concepts to remember;
Help in Basic HTML
Information on the engines we'll use in the class;
Discussion about our dummy pages
Information on free trial versions of software;
Specialized Services and Information
Homework.
NOTE: If you need some help in learning HTML before beginning the course, please spend a few
weeks taking our Pre-Lesson in HTML before beginning these lessons.
Picture this:
You’re driving down the freeway, weaving in and out of four lanes of traffic on your way to work. A
radio announcer reads an ad that really interests you, and he gives the Web site address, or URL, over
the radio. You can’t pull out a piece of paper, struggle to find a pen, and jot down the URL with cars
zooming all around you.
So, what do you do? You promise yourself that you’re going to remember the URL and visit the site
when you get home.
Or, you’re sitting in a dentist’s office, waiting for them to call your name. You’re casually flipping
through a magazine, and you spot an interesting ad. The company has a Web site, and you make a
mental note to remember the URL, just as they call your name.
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However, by the end of the day, the URL is long forgotten. Instead, you remember the topic of the Web
site, maybe part of the Web site or company’s name, but that’s it.
Now’s the time to hit the search engines.
Since the vast majority of Web surfers utilize the major search engines, that’s what you do too. You
type in the “topic” (or keyword) of the Web site, and you hope that you’ll be able to find that Web site.
But, let's say that the Web site hasn't been positioned in the search engine's rankings. In actuality, it's
#372 among 55,980 results, but you don't know that. Do you think you'll find it? Do you think you'll sift
through page after page of results to find the one that you're looking for? Most engines display 10
results per page, which means you'd have to go through 38 pages to find that particular Web site.
The reality of it is, you'll probably look at the first page, maybe the second, but no more than the third,
which means if the Web site isn't listed in the top 30 rankings, it's lost a customer: you.
Though traditional forms of advertising are being used more and more to publicize Web sites, the
engines still hold and will always hold a crucial place in determining Web site traffic. In the example
given at the beginning of this lesson, traditional forms of advertising were used to publicize the site, but
you still had to go to the engines to try to find it. In fact, close to 85% of the traffic to most Web sites
comes from the search engines.
But won’t submitting your site to hundreds of search engines through those inexpensive submission
services automatically increase traffic to your site? Nope. If you're not listed in the first three pages of
search results, you won’t be found, and that’s the truth. In other words, it’s not the “submitting” that
brings you the traffic. It’s the ranking in the search engines themselves.
Improving your site's rankings in the search engines is a process that takes time and effort. If you
choose a very competitive keyword phrase for your site, it will take even more time and energy.
So, to get you on the right track, let’s work on developing a plan of action—a strategy that will
explain how you can get your Web pages ranked high in the search engines.
One important note: Be sure to take accurate notes throughout the course. You’ll want to know what
works and what doesn’t as you begin to optimize your Web pages. If your rankings go down, you’ll
want to backtrack and get them back up. Take good notes!
Let’s Develop a Plan!
This plan will give you a brief overview of how this entire course will work and our process toward
getting your pages in the top search engine rankings. You won't do these steps in the first lesson, but
this will give you an idea of the process that we'll go through when optimizing your pages for the
search engines.
What does "optimize" mean? It simply means to create the text and tags of a page centered
around one or two keyword phrases only and to utilize strategies designed to help you boost your
chances at a top ranking in the engines.
1. Determine your rankings in the search engines by utilizing a free trial version of WebPosition Gold
or by searching for your site manually at the engines.
2. Think about your Web site as a whole. What pages are important to be found? What is the focus of
those pages? In other words, what are the pages about?
3. Determine what keywords are important to your individual pages. Each page of your site should be
considered separately. So, you'll need to choose keywords based on each particular page.
4. Complete each lesson's homework, then start on the next lesson. You'll be building a solid search
engine positioning strategy, one step at a time.
5. Submit your pages to AltaVista (or Inktomi) as directed in the lessons and determine your rankings.
6. If your rankings aren't where they need to be, look closely at your pages again and consider what
other changes you can make that might continue to boost your rankings.
7. Work on increasing your Web site popularity, and try to get listed in each engine’s corresponding
directory.
8. Write down everything!
9. Before you make changes to existing pages, copy the source code of the pages. Here's what Jacquie
Ansell, an Academy instructor, suggests:
"One of the things I like to do is, I copy the source code of the page(s) I am working on, before I make
any changes. I make notes on my copy - such as: when and which SE it was submitted to, when it was
indexed and the ranking. This way, I know exactly what I changed and how the SE responded, this
proves extremely helpful if you are working with a number of different pages."
10. Monitor your progress with Gold software or manually at the engines.
11. As search engines change their ranking algorithms, be prepared to change your strategies.
("Algorithm" is simply the search engine's ranking process that indicates what that engine likes to see
on a Web page at that particular point in time. This changes quite frequently, and it's different from
engine to engine.)
12. Don’t be afraid to try new things, as long as they’re not spamming techniques!
13. If you have any questions, let your instructor know!
14. GOOD LUCK!
What we will cover in each lesson
Search engine positioning is a process—and it doesn’t produce immediate results. Each lesson builds on
the one before it, so it’s very important to do the lessons in the correct order. By completing the lessons
in this manner, you’ll have a very good foundation in Web optimization strategies.
Briefly, here’s what we'll cover in each lesson.
Lesson #1: Overview of Optimization
Lesson #2: Preventing Problems with the Engines
Lesson #3: The Importance of Keywords
Lesson #4: Relevancy: Where can We Put those Keywords?
Lesson #5: How to Create Effective Titles and Descriptions, and Submission/Resubmission Guidelines
Lesson #6: Doorway or Information Pages: Building More Windows into your Site
Lesson #7: Site Maps, Hallway Pages, and Links: Helping your Interior and Doorway Pages to be
Found; Doorway Domains; and, Important Directories
Lesson #8: Studying your Competition, and Additional Winning Strategies
What Exactly are Search Engines, and what are Directories?
Search Engines
Search engines use spiders (software programs) to crawl the Web and index sites, which is how they
build the index of Web pages that you utilize when searching. So, after you submit your pages to these
engines, they send their spiders to your pages to index them.
With search engines, each page stands on its own, meaning that you can generally submit each
important page of your site, and it will be ranked individually, instead of submitting just your main or
index page. In other words, if it's important for your page to be found, submit it. You'll also create tags
specifically designed for each individual page.
Examples of search engines are AltaVista, Excite, HotBot, Inktomi, Lycos, Google, and Northern
Light.
Directories
Directories rely on submissions from Web site owners to build their indexes. They don't utilize spiders
to index Web sites. So, after you submit your Web site to a directory, a human editor will visit and
make a determination about whether your site gets in their index. Directories look at your Web site as a
whole, rather than individual pages. Therefore, you'll generally submit only your main page to the
directories.
With the directories, you don't have to worry about tags or Web positioning strategies. Instead, you
submit your site on their online submission form, and an editor will visit.
Most of the major engines have a connected directory.
Examples are Yahoo!, LookSmart, and the Open Directory Project (ODP).
What Exactly is "Search Engine Positioning" or "Web
Optimization"?
Search engine positioning, or Web optimization, is the art or science of getting your Web site ranked, or
positioned, in the search engines' search results.
Search engine positioning, also called Web positioning, is far from an exact science, however. Things
change almost daily in this business. However, the underlying principles remain the same. Once you
learn how to position your site in the rankings, you can adapt the principles to account for the changes
in each individual engine and in the industry as a whole.
The bottom line is this: if you want your Web site to be found, you need to employ search engine
positioning strategies so that you can get the site into the top rankings of the major search engines.
And that's what this course is all about. It lays the search engine positioning foundation. Then, in our
advanced course, students learn how each of the major engines and directories operate, and they learn
what's currently working for those engines and directories. They'll also take many of the concepts
presented here to the "next step" by learning more advanced techniques.
A “Bird’s Eye View” of Search Engine Positioning
There are many different ways to approach the actual positioning of your Web site, and there isn't
necessarily a "best" way. The "best" way is the way that works best for YOU and your unique situation.
Once you’re experienced in search engine positioning, you’ll develop your own way of optimizing a
Web site, which may be totally different than the approach below. However, this approach will offer an
overall view of Web optimization that will be beneficial to newcomers.
So, take a few minutes to analyze your own Web site. What pages do you want to make sure are
indexed high in the search engines?
Plot your site out on paper. By that, we mean, what pages link off the main page? Which of those pages
are important and need to be found? What pages links off of those other pages?
For each important page, write down the focus of that page and what keywords are important. What do
we mean by "keywords"? If someone were going to be searching for one of your pages, for example,
what would they type in the search results in order to find you?
FOCUS! If a page discusses several different topics, you'll probably have a difficult time getting a top
ranking for the page. Instead, focus each page on a particular topic. Point everything on that page to that
one topic. You'll stand a much greater chance at getting top rankings.
By the same token, if everything on entire your Web site points to one central focus, or theme, you'll
have an easier time getting a top ranking than if your site deals with several different topics.
Your index page is the most important page of your site, because the engines assign greater relevancy to
an index page, as a general rule. So, optimize your index page with your most important keyword
phrase.
What is "relevancy"? Relevancy is how important the engine considers your page with regard to your
keyword phrase. If the engine assigns a high relevancy to your page for a particular keyword phrase, it
thinks your page provides the information that a searcher would be looking for when searching for the
keyword phrase.
How far down into your site are your important interior pages? Every important page of your site needs
to be within three mouse clicks from the main page. If not, those pages will need to be submitted to the
engines separately.
Do you have to work on every single page of your site? No! In this course, pick a few of your pages and
work on those. After the course is over, continue working until you've optimized all important pages of
your site.
However, when choosing which pages to work on in the course, don't pick pages that already have a top
search engine ranking. "If it's not broken, don't fix it!" Instead, choose pages that need better rankings.
Also, try to use pages that you have some control over making changes to them. If you're using a
client's page where you have absolutely no control, working on the lessons will be more difficult
for you and not as beneficial.
Is your site easy to navigate? Can visitors find exactly what they're looking for? Do you provide contact
information on the front page of your site? Is the design itself attractive and appealing?
Does the site have broken links or images that don't load? Are there any misspellings or grammar
errors? Does the page load fast, or is it graphic intense?
Though broken links and images that don't load are not "search engine positioning" concerns per se,
once you get visitors to your site, you need to make sure that they're presented with a professionally
designed site that makes them feel comfortable enough to purchase whatever it is you're selling.
Your Web site is your online store front. Help your potential customers find what they're looking for in
the search engines by optimizing your pages for your important keyword phrases. Then, once they get
to your site, let them know that they can trust you.
Very Important!! The Engines like Simplicity!
In most cases, the engines prefer simple Web pages. In lesson #8, we’ll study our competing Web sites
to see if we can learn any strategies that will help us boost our pages in the rankings. The vast majority
of the time, the top Web pages are very simple pages without a lot of fancy design tricks.
You’ll find #1 sites that don’t utilize the tags that are outlined in these lessons. Most of them don’t
utilize techniques such as frames, tables, or java. They’re simple Web pages, and much of the time, they
aren’t very pretty.
But, they’re #1.
So, keep this in mind. The engines like simplicity. A favorite saying among writers/journalists is:
K.I.S.S.
Keep it simple stupid!
This certainly applies to Web positioning as well.
Also, “more” is definitely not better than “less” in this business. The more times you use your keyword
phrase does not mean that your rankings will be higher than a Web page that uses the keyword phrase a
lot less. The more tags you use does not mean that you’ll have a higher ranking either.
So, start out simple and build from there. Or, if you’re already utilizing a lot of “extra” tags, remove
them and start over. You may be very surprised at your rankings.
Let me tell you a true story. Bill Gentry, who is an Academy chat moderator, created a simple page for
his certification project when he took the Advanced course. The page is now #1 at iWon and #17 at
HotBot, and he hasn't touched it since he took the class. (We no longer ask students to submit their
certification pages to the engines, but we did at that time.) The page has no links pointing to it except
for one of the Academy domains. Yet, it's at the top of the rankings. Why? Simplicity, and it's as
"simple as that."
Keep these added concepts in mind
At a recent search engine conference, several important facts were discussed, namely:
Content is crucial to the success of your Web site. Think seriously about the content on your Web
pages, which will benefit you in both the engines and the directories. Again, FOCUS your pages on one
important concept, rather than trying to focus on too many concepts and diluting that page's content.
"Content" means the text on your page, links leaving your page, the text in relation to those links, etc.
When possible, optimize your pages as you're building your Web site, not after it's already been
built. In other words, consider the engines when you design your Web site. Obviously, this probably
isn't possible right now, because you probably already have your Web site if you're taking this course.
But, keep this in mind for future Web sites that you may build.
Use META and other tags on virtually every page of your site, and make those tags specific to that
page.
Don't participate in link exchange programs or link farms, because many of the engines consider
that to be spamming.
Click here for an article based on the March 2001 Search Engine Strategies Conference in Boston.
Helpful Web site:
About.com's Web Search page is an excellent source of information about the search engines:
http://Websearch.about.com/internet/Websearch/
Auxiliary Information about the Course
Need Extra Help with HTML?
We'll be working with Web pages throughout the course, and you'll be creating doorway pages in lesson
#6. So, it's very important that you have a basic knowledge about HTML. Therefore, we've included a
Pre-Lesson in HTML that you can take before ever beginning the rest of the lessons.
Also, one of our instructors, Rhoda Schueller, created an excellent HTML tutorial for our students.
You'll find that tutorial at this location:
http://country-art.com/class/basichtml.htm
We've created an online test that will let you know if you have the HTML background needed to begin
the course. If you feel like your HTML background is a little weak, take this test. You're sent the results
immediately. Simply taking the test will teach you a lot, and if you decide that you need more help after
that, do the Pre-Lesson in HTML. Here's the URL to the online test:
http://school.discovery.com/quizzes3/smslady/html.html
Engines We'll Use in the Course
For the purpose of this class, we’re going to utilize either AltaVista or Inktomi.
AltaVista recently implemented a pay inclusion program, which will guarantee that your site makes it
into the AV index within a week or two. If you use their standard submission service, it could take
around 6 weeks to see your site in the index. Their pay inclusion program is rather expensive, when
compared with Inktomi's, and it doesn't offer the benefits.
So, you may want to work with the Inktomi engine instead.
With Inktomi's pay for inclusion program, we now have a way of working on our pages and having
those changes show up in the engine's results within a day or two. What's the downside? You have to
pay so much per page.
What are the benefits, besides being able to make changes in one lesson, and see how those changes
have affected your rankings before the next lesson? Sites submitted through Inktomi's pay inclusion
program will generally rank higher than if they were submitted through their free AddURL form. Sites
submitted through the free AddURL form will likely be penalized in the rankings, until such a time that
Inktomi determines the link popularity of the site. Plus, Inktomi is such a major player, since it provides
search results to HotBot, iWon, AOL Search, MSN Search, GoTo, Anzwers.com, and the list goes on.
So, we strongly encourage you to consider submitting one page through the pay inclusion program at
Inktomi. The cost is currently $30 for the first page of a domain. Then, work on that one page
throughout the course, if you choose. Here's the URL for submitting the page (and no, we don't get a
kickback for recommending the service!).
See our Latest Tips for AltaVista and Inktomi pages for tips on submitting to those engines.
One important note about AltaVista, though:
Sometimes you'll get different results from AltaVista in searches done within minutes of each other.
Some people believe that this is AV's way of leveling the playing field and giving everyone an equal
chance at top rankings. It can be extremely frustrating, no matter what the reason for doing it is. Just
know that this is a possibility. Study your rankings, but if they're different the next time you search,
keep this information in the back of your mind.
Again, we encourage you to submit a page through Inktomi's pay inclusion program, which will help
you tremendously in learning search engine optimization strategies.
Dummy Pages
We can provide "dummy" Web pages for you to use if you don't have your own Web site. If you need
the dummy pages, click here.
Utilizing Free Trial Versions of the Software
The goal of this course is to teach you search engine positioning strategies to help you get your Web
site ranked high in the search engines. There are many excellent software programs on the market that
can make your life much easier when dealing with the engines, and those are the programs that we're
suggesting to you.
Keep in mind that the course won't teach you how to use the trial versions of the software. If you have
any questions about the programs, be sure to contact the software companies.
Note: These are TRIAL versions of the software programs. Some of them will expire after a certain
period of time (like 30 days), while others will have limited features. SEO's trial version, for example,
only has two major engines and a "generic" engine, whereas the full version has over 15 engines and
directories.
To download trial or full versions of any of the software programs, go to this URL.
Briefly, let's look at some of the programs here and discuss their features and how they can help you.
Search Engine Optimizer is a new software program that was developed by the company that created
Keyword Density Analyzer, in conjunction with the Academy of Web Specialists. The program will
analyze each of your Web pages and offer helpful suggestions for improvement, based on individual
engines and their requirements. The program is easy to use and works quickly and efficiently. The
Generic Engine (Template Page) is GREAT when you want to optimize a page very generally or to
have a starting point when creating engine-specific pages.
Note: This program wasn't designed as a substitute or competition for WebPosition Gold. WebPosition
Gold's Reporter function alone is worth its weight in Gold! The Page Critic feature of Gold analyzes
Web Pages in terms of keyword weight and offers general suggestions for improvement in other areas.
SEO picks up where Gold left off and performs over 60 checks to Web pages. It reminds you of things
you might have forgotten or things you may be doing that could present problems for you in the
rankings. It has very few keyword weight checks. The programs have totally different functions and
features. We recommend using them in conjunction with each other for a top-notch approach to search
engine optimization.
Download a free trial version (that contains 2 engines and a "generic" engine) of Search Engine
Optimizer at this location:
http://www.grsoftware.net/downloads/grseodemo.zip
WebPosition Gold
WebPosition Gold's Reporter function will generate reports that will tell you how your pages are
ranking in 18-20 engines, and it will let you know when those rankings change. The Critic feature will
analyze your Web page and offer suggestions for making the page more relevant, based on that
particular engine's ranking algorithm. As we've said before, Gold is worth its cost JUST for the
Reporter function.
In this lesson, part of your homework is to download a free trial version of Gold, so you can use the
Reporter function to check your rankings throughout the course.
Gold's other features include Submitter, Scheduler, Upload Manager, and Traffic Analyzer.
Provided as part of this course is a Step-by-Step Guide for utilizing WebPosition Gold. However, it's a
very short guide and isn't meant to be all inclusive. It was written to help you learn how to use the
program fast, not to instruct you on strategies for using the program. The Guide can be accessed from
the Table of Contents.
If you have any questions about how to use the trial version of the software, please contact First Place
Software at:
[email protected]
Turn off Page Critic in the Beginning
We want all of our students to learn how to position their pages manually without the benefit of a
software program. Once you learn how to position your pages manually, you can really make Gold's
Page Critic work for you.
Keep in mind that this course is presented in a step-by-step fashion, with each concept building on the
concept before. Critic gives you a lot of information at one time, to where you have to decide what to
do based on the data. If you don't understand the concepts, it can be very confusing, especially when
trying to follow instructions in this course as well.
If you'll forget about Critic *for now*, you'll learn the basics, and you'll be in an excellent position after
the course is over to utilize that portion of the software program. At that point, you'll be able to make
educated decisions based on your own knowledge and on Critic's recommendations.
Keyword Density Analyzer
Search engines measure keyword density, or weight, as a factor in determining relevancy ratings in
engine results. If your keyword density is too low, your page will suffer in the rankings. If your
keyword density is too high, the search engine may think you’re utilizing spamming techniques.
The purpose of Keyword Density Analyzer is to help you determine the correct keyword density for top
scoring pages, so that you can duplicate that density with your own Web pages in order to gain an edge
in the rankings.
Keyword Density Analyzer will be offered as a free trial version only to registered Academy
students. To download a copy, please go to:
http://www.grsoftware.net/downloads/grkdademo.zip
Specialized Services and Information
Planet Ocean
This beginning search engine positioning course gives you the latest information for AltaVista and
Inktomi, but what about the other engines? Planet Ocean offers an excellent newsletter that contains
up-to-date information about the engines and new Web positioning strategies. When you subscribe, you
also get their Unfair Advantages book which is updated every single month.
Once the course is over, Planet Ocean's newsletter is an excellent way of keeping up with what's
happening in the search engine industry, and we highly recommend it.
Use Position Pro to submit your pages
Position Pro is an excellent service for submitting your pages, and it mimics a manual submission. The
service will crawl your site and index all pages, then submit them on a schedule that's designed
specifically for each particular engine. The company has developed relationships with most of the
major engines, so it knows what each engine likes to see. We've had some very good results when using
this service.
The service also provides many analyzer functions that will rate your pages and let you know if they're
"search engine material." Honestly, aside from the submission functions, PositionPro is worth its cost
JUST for the analyzer functions.
NEW: Position Technologies, which owns Position Pro, recently set up a new service that's for
do-it-yourselfers or smaller Web sites. It's called Submit Director, and you can learn more by visiting
http://www.submitdirector.com.
Position Technologies, by the way, is the same organization that is handling Inktomi's paid submission
service.
Advanced Search Engine Positioning Course
After taking the beginning course, consider taking the advanced course to further your search engine
positioning education. The course can be taken with an instructor or as a download, if you'd like to save
a little money. Once the advanced course is over, many of our students purchase continued access to the
advanced course material so they can easily keep up with changes in the industry.
The Advanced course can be taken as a one-time download, as Download Plus with 6 months of access
to the online materials, or as a course with a mentor/instructor who will visit your site and offer
suggestions, answer questions, and review your homework assignments.
Assignment #1:
Complete this assignment before moving on to lesson #2.
1. Download a free trial version of WebPosition Gold and begin to work with its Reporter function.
Throughout the course, you'll need to check your rankings, and Gold's Reporter function offers an
excellent way for you to accomplish this. In lesson #3, you'll be running the Reporter function on your
own site, which will give you a good starting point as you begin to work on your site throughout the
course. For now, your assignment is simply to get comfortable with using the program.
Also, consider trying Search Engine Optimizer, which will check your Web pages and offer helpful
suggestions for better rankings. SEO makes it so easy for you to work on Web pages, since it reminds
you of things that each engine likes to see on a page, so you don't have to keep up with it yourself!
(Note: The trial version of SEO comes with two search engines and a "generic" engine. The full version
covers over 15 search engines and directories.)
Then, visit the Strategies for Using WebPosition Gold section of the course material online. Read
through the Reporter section, which will give you an overview of how to set up that particular feature of
the program.
If you have any questions about the use of any of these programs, be sure to contact the appropriate
software companies.
NOTE: To download a trial version of Search Engine Optimizer, visit:
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/seo_download.html
2. Plot your Web site out on paper. Decide which major pages you want optimized for certain keyword
phrases. You don’t have to optimize every page for this course, but make sure that you optimize every
important page once the course is over.
Keep notes about which pages need to be optimized. As you work on each page and get it optimized,
cross it off your list and move to the next page.
Can all important pages of your site be found within three mouse clicks? If not, those other interior
pages need to be optimized and submitted as well. The engines’ spiders will traditionally go down three
levels when they spider your site. If your pages are further down into your site, then you need to help
the spiders out by optimizing and submitting those important pages.
3. Consider the overall design of your Web site. This doesn’t have as much to do with "search engine
positioning strategies" as it does with getting visitors to buy your goods and services once they visit
your site. After all, this course can boost your traffic considerably, but if your site’s design doesn’t pick
it up from there and make it easy to purchase what you’re selling, you lose.
How “user friendly” is your Web site? Is it complicated to navigate? Do you provide a navigational bar
or buttons on every page? Do you provide contact information? Are your pages too long, to where your
customers lose interest? Do your pages take too long to load?
Get someone who has never been to the site to visit and look around. Give him something to find, and
see if he can find it with no problems. Listen when he tells you of potential problems and work toward
correcting them.
If you sell good or services over the Net, how “user friendly” is your shopping cart? Do you provide
secure ordering? Do you list a phone number and address for folks who don’t have a credit card or who
don’t want to purchase online? Do you list an email address for more information?
Do you answer your email?! Seriously, it’s crucial that you conduct your Web site in a businesslike and
professional manner. If a customer writes you a letter, you’d answer it. If they send you an email, you
need to answer that too—and answer it within a day or two. Wait too long and you’ve lost a customer.
Ask Yourself These Questions for Lesson #1:
1. When you plotted out your Web site on paper, how many pages eventually need to be optimized?
Choose several of those pages and work on them throughout this course.
What are the main topics of some of your pages? In other words, what are your important "keywords"?
Try not to feel overwhelmed if a lot of your pages need to be optimized. Instead, think of the long-term
benefits of having that many optimized pages. And, remember that you don’t have to optimize every
single page in this course. Do what you can, and boost traffic as you go along.
If any of those pages already have top rankings, pick other pages. We want to work on pages that need
help—not on your pages where you’ve already achieved success.
In other words, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it!
2. Do you see any specific problems with your Web site that need to be addressed? These can be
problems that you feel might get in the way of your Web optimization efforts, such as pages that try to
cover too many separate topics. Or, they can be design problems, such as the need for better navigation
or a more extensive "help" file.
Important Helpful Tip: If you subscribe to the Academy's Newsletter, MarketPosition Newsletter, and
Search Engine Watch's monthly newsletter, you'll be receiving very useful and up-to-date information
about the individual engines and search engine strategies--FREE. To better utilize that information for
future retrieval, set up separate files for each search engine, and cut/paste tips for that engine in its own
file. You can do this in your email filing system or in your word processor's filing system. My point is,
you can receive valuable information free from those three sources, so be sure to set up a system that
will allow you to easily find and utilize that information in the future.
Academy's Newsletter
http://www.acws.com/newsletter.html
MarketPosition Newsletter:
http://www.webposition.com/newsletter.htm
Search Engine Watch:
http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/index.html
Planet Ocean:
http://www.searchenginehelp.com/acws
Additional Resources
Lesson #2: Preventing Problems with the Engines
Guidelines for staying out of trouble with the engines;
Spamming;
Factors that won't affect ranking;
Factors that may affect ranking, including JavaScript, dynamic pages, frames, and tables;
Referrer logs;
Homework.
In this lesson, we’re going to tackle some problem areas with regard to search engines. Some of
these problems could affect your rankings, and other problems could get you tossed out of the
engine’s index altogether.
We're covering them now, because we don't want you completing the entire course, only to
realize that you're utilizing concepts that could be detrimental to search engine rankings.
Keep this in mind. We're only going to be presenting the problem areas here. We're not going to
tell you how to solve the problem, and it's not important that you understand all of the in's and
out's of these problems. We're simply going to present them to you, so if you're utilizing any of
the mentioned strategies, you'll be aware that your rankings could be affected. If you're utilizing
frames, for example, and you want to learn more, we'll provide additional information in a
"Problems" file, which you can access through the Table of Contents or at the bottom of this
lesson.
Let's get back to the problem areas.
If you’re working with a very competitive keyword phrase, you need every edge that you can get
over your competition. You need to know what can affect your rankings so you can do something
about it.
Also, you need to learn of any “red flags” that might get you labeled as a spammer by the
engines. Some of these red flags used to be common practices in the past, so it’s important to
cover them in detail here. You certainly don’t want to get in trouble with the engines and get
banned from their indexes.
About six months ago, the Academy had a domain banned from Google for using hidden links
and participating in link exchange programs. Believe me when I say that it takes a lot of email,
groveling, and anxious moments before getting a banned domain back in the index.
How to Stay out of Trouble with the Search Engines
In many cases, you’ll feel like you’re walking a very fine line with the search engines on what
you can get away with (that could benefit your site’s rankings) and what they consider to be
spamming.
You must be extremely careful.
More and more search engines are cracking down on what they consider spamming techniques
used to gain top rankings. Legitimate Webmasters must be careful not to get put in the same
category as the small minority of spammers who submit dozens of pages and present off-topic
material in irrelevant categories.
Also, techniques that weren’t considered spamming several months or a year ago are now “red
flag” areas that the engines monitor closely.
Folks, it’s just not worth it. Don’t spam. It’s as simple as that!
Guidelines that will help you avoid trouble with the search engines:
1. Never use keywords in your META or other tags that do not pertain to your site's content. This
is a definite red flag area for the engines. Some unsavory Webmasters utilize porn keywords in an
effort to boost traffic to their non-porn site. Just remember that if the engine(s) catch you, you’re
in trouble.
2. Do not create too many doorway pages, and make sure your doorway pages are content-rich
information pages. "Doorway pages" are finely tuned pages that are optimized for one keyword
phrase only and generally for one engine only. (Doorway pages will be discussed in detail in
lesson #6.) While it's good to create multiple doorway pages that target different sets of keywords
or phrases, don't be excessive. And, remember that the important word in the previous sentence is
“different.”
An easy way to get in trouble with an engine is to have three or more of your pages appear
together in the top 10 matches for a keyword search. The engines don’t like Web sites that try to
dominate the rankings.
3. Don’t submit too many pages at one time. Follow each engine's submission guidelines.
4. Don’t submit the same page twice on the same day.
5. Manually submit your pages, if at all possible. Or, use a submission service or program that
mimics a manual submission, like Gold's Submitter, PositionPro, Submit Director, or Search
Engine Commando.
6. Check your rankings for your keywords in all of the search engines regularly. If you see any
potential problems, handle them immediately.
7. Don't use "machine-generated pages." This is one of AltaVista's anti-spam guidelines. In other
words, don't use software that creates dozens of almost identical pages, then simply switches out
keywords.
To read AV's anti-spamming guidelines, see our Latest Tips for AltaVista page, or visit:
http://add-url.altavista.com/cgi-bin/newurl?
8. If you use pages of links, like a site map or hallway page (which we'll discuss in lesson #7),
make sure to use TEXT to describe the links as well. Offer a sentence or two that describes each
link, and you'll be in good shape. Using link text that contains your keyword phrase can also
boost your relevancy with most engines, so keep that in mind as well.
9. Stay away from hidden links, which is now considered spamming by Google. Also, don't
participate in link exchange programs, at least not with your Google pages.
10. If you use cloaking, be VERY careful about following all of the other rules explicitly. Google
now considers all cloaking to be spam, and we've heard of domains being banned from Google
for using cloaking.
11. Don't participate in link exchange programs or link farms. We'll offer some alternate linking
ideas later in this course.
“Spam” is a Dirty Four-Letter Word
Regretfully, each engine has its own criteria for what it considers to be spamming. However, if
you’ll stay away from these techniques, you'll stay out of trouble with the engines. Remember to
check each engine's submission guidelines to determine what it considers spamming.
1. Avoid repeating the same keyword dozens of times in a row on your page or in your META or
other tags. A good rule of thumb is not to repeat your keywords more than three times in any tag.
In most cases, utilizing the keyword only once is the best way to go.
Keyword stuffing is the repeated use of a keyword to increase the page's relevancy. Here's an
example:
software software software software software software software software software software
software software software software software software software software software software
software software software software software software software software
Keep in mind that less is usually better. Overuse your keyword phrase and you’ll lose relevancy
and your ranking.
2. Don't use "tiny text." Tiny text is repeating your keywords over and over again in a very small
font size usually at the bottom of your page;
3. Avoid invisible text, which is stuffing keywords in a font color that is the same or similar color
as the background of the page. To view the invisible text, you can highlight the entire Web page
while viewing it in your browser. For a good example of a site that's using hidden text, visit:
http://www.beins.nl/groepsindex.htm
4. Don't use META refresh tags. A META refresh tag is a tag that immediately takes the viewer
to another Web page. This tag has some legitimate uses, but regretfully, it’s gotten a bad name.
For an example of this tag, visit:
http://www2.netdoor.com/~smslady
To view the source code of the page, type "view-source" before the URL, like this:
view-source:http://www2.netdoor.com/~smslady
5. Don't optimize several pages for the same keyword phrase, which causes those pages to
dominate the search engine results;
6. Don't use multiple title tags, though some engines still allow this practice. You can try using
two title tags with AltaVista and the Inktomi engines. However, always start out with one title
tag. If nothing else works and you need a new strategy to try, add another title tag then, but don't
ever use more than two title tags.
For an excellent article on the Top Nine Illegal Search Engine Tactics, visit:
http://www.webseed.com/article1006.html
Avoid Ranking Problems!
While we’re on the subject of preventing problems, let’s look at some factors that won’t affect
your rankings, as well as some factors that may.
Factors that will *not* affect your ranking:
1. Size or type of graphics
However, if your page consists solely of a graphic, you'll have a difficult (or impossible) time
getting a top ranking. Also, if you use single pixel images and hidden links, you may get in
trouble with some of the engines for spamming.
2. Choice of colors
Keep in mind that many engines will penalize you for hiding keywords on a page by using the
same color of text on top of the same or similar color background. But, the color of your site
doesn't matter to the search engines.
3. Your Web site's overall layout or design
Your site’s overall design won’t affect your rankings, unless you're using design tactics that are
detrimental to search engine rankings. Also, keyword prominence may be affected if a graphic
appears before the body text on your site. So, use text before graphics.
4. Words that are graphics
Engines can’t “read” gif or jpeg files that spell out a word or words. In other words, if your
company name is spelled out in a graphic on your home page, the engine won’t be able to “read”
that graphic. Many engines can, however, read the content of ALT tags, so be sure to utilize ALT
tags containing your keyword phrase for all of your graphics.
5. Music on your site
As annoying as music is on a site, it won't cause ranking problems! However, if you insist on
using it, make sure you provide a way for your visitors to turn it off.
6. Broken links
Broken links won't cause ranking problems with search engines, but they can certainly keep your
site from getting indexed by human-edited directories. ("Broken links" are links that no longer go
to a "real" Web page. When you click on them, you'll get a 404 error message-File Not Found.)
While broken links won't cause ranking problems per se, they could keep you out of an index if
the problem is too severe.
NetMechanic is a helpful Web site that will find the broken links at your site for free. Their robot
will search your site and report all broken links to you. Or, you can subscribe to their services for
a fee, and they'll monitor your Web site 24 hours a day.
http://www.netmechanic.com/toolbox/html-code.htm
Factors that may affect your ranking or getting indexed:
Think of it this way: ANYTHING that pushes your important keyword-containing text toward
the bottom of the page can be detrimental to your search engine ranking.
1. The use of JavaScript
Here's an excellent example of a lengthy JavaScript from a student's site:
http://www.gbitech.com/indexjs.html
View the source code (Click on View, then Source), and see how far down you have to scroll to
get past the JavaScript. Now, here's the solution:
http://www.gbitech.com
The student moved the JavaScript to a separate .js file, making all the difference in the world.
View the source code of this page as well.
For more information about JavaScript, visit our "Problem Areas in More Detail" page.
2. Dynamically Generated Pages or Using Symbols in your URL
Dynamic pages are generated on the spot ("on the fly"), which means that they're generated based
on input from the user. Therefore, there's nothing for the engine to index.
For more information about working with dynamic pages, visit our "Problem Areas in More
Detail" page, or access our chat transcripts for past chat sessions dedicated to strategies for
working with dynamic pages:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/chat/chatindex.htm
3. Tables
Tables can "push" your text further down the page, making keywords less relevant because they
appear lower on the page. Tables break apart when search engines read them. However, if you
use tables, be sure to include your keyword phrase in those tables.
Note: Visit Travelocity for an example of a site that uses Java, tables, and dynamic pages.
http://www.travelocity.com/
4. Frames
Utilizing frames presents problems with rankings. In fact, very few top 10 sites use frames.
Remember that!
Visit this URL for an example of a framed site: http://www.maremmatoscana.com
5. Irrelevant META tags
Some META tag generator programs or HTML editors stick in irrelevant META tags like META
Generator, etc.
Remember what we said about keeping it simple? Because META tags are found between the
opening <HEAD> and the closing </HEAD> tags, if you include too many irrelevant META
tags, you run the risk of confusing the engines, making it harder for your Web site to be found.
Use description and keyword META tags and the <noindex> tag. Some people have had good
luck using a META revisit tag, such as:
<meta name="revisit-after" content="30 days">
They've found that when using the tag, the spiders seem to stay longer on the page.
However, eliminate irrelevant META tags, since they serve no purpose in search engine
placement and could confuse the engine.
While we're on the subject of HTML editors . . .
FrontPage and other HTML editors sometimes insert the <title> tag after other tags, which can
hurt your rankings. Be sure to check your source code, and if your HTML editor is inserting its
own tags, simply delete them. Or, you can move them below your other more important tags, like
the title tag and the META description and keyword.
Other HTML editors (like HotMetal Pro) add a comment tag before the <head> section. We
prefer to delete that tag too. However, your editor may add the tag back every time you work on
the page. So, make it a practice to complete work on the page, then view the source code and
delete the tag. Immediately close the page and upload it to your server.
6. Slow loading pages or pages that take too long to access
If an engine’s spider tries to visit your site, it may “time out” if it takes longer than 60 seconds to
access the page. Certain engines (like Excite) don’t appear to like slow-loading pages, since most
of the top-ranked pages are not over 60-70K maximum.
7. Utilizing graphics before text on your page
As mentioned earlier, keyword prominence may be affected if a graphic appears before the body
text on your site. So, you should use text before graphics. Some search engines assign weight to
the first 25 words on a page, and the more prominent (higher on the page) those words are, the
better for rankings, in most cases.
8. Image maps
Visit this URL for an example of an image map:
http://www.concierge.com/cgi-bin/maps.cgi?link=intro
Clicking anywhere on the map will bring up another page.
9. Flash
If your main page uses Flash, you will more than likely experience ranking problems with your
page. You can try adding content at the bottom of the page, which may help, especially if your
keyword phrase isn't overly competitive. But, try not to use Flash on the main page of your site.
Think of it this way: does the Flash help your rankings? NO. Does the Flash make your site any
money? NO. Then, get rid of it!
For more detailed information about any of the problem areas presented here, click here.
Try to keep things simple! You’ll find that most of the top-ranking pages are simple pages
without a lot of tags or fancy HTML. Remember that!
Want to see how your Web pages look to a search engine?
Visit: http://www.delorie.com/Web/ses.cgi
Access your Common "C" or Referrer Logs and Study Your
Traffic!
If you haven’t ever accessed your common ("C") logs or referrer logs to study traffic to your site,
do it now! Referrer logs provide valuable information about the visitors to your Web site. You’ll
learn which engines have sent the traffic, and the keyword phrase used to find your site, among
many other things.
Most Web servers can provide referrer or "C" logs, but you may have to ask your Web hosting
provider to set this up for you.
To learn more about the importance of referrer log, read this article:
http://www.onlineWebtraining.com/information/traffic.html
For More Information:
Chat transcript on referrer log programs:
http://www.onlineWebtraining.com/chat/chatindex.htm
Search Engine Watch's SpiderSpotting page:
http://searchenginewatch.internet.com/webmasters/spiders.html
Search Engine Watch's SpiderSpotting Chart:
http://searchenginewatch.internet.com/webmasters/spiderchart.html
How about a free referrer log program?
eXTReMe Tracking offers a *free* referrer log that will provide the information you need about
the visitors to your Web site. It features percentages, statistics, totals, and averages, from the
simple counting of your visitors to tracking the keywords they used to find you.
http://www.extreme-dm.com/tracking/?home
What about a Web-based log analysis service?
WebTrends Live is a fee-based log analysis service where you simply put a small code on your
pages, and the service tracks your traffic.
http://www.webtrendslive.com
Added Note
As you know, many factors come into play with a successful Web site. This course deals with
search engine positioning skills, but time won't allow us to cover effective online marketing
strategies. However, please remember to update your site on a regular basis. Check for broken
links and add new material. Keep it alive and vital. Make your visitors want to come back again
and again. Offer sales or promotions, make sure your user interface is simple, and keep your
graphics to a minimum so your pages will load fast. Put contact information on the main page,
and make sure that your shopping cart is simple to use and problem free.
To access additional information about the problems listed here, visit our Problem Areas in More
Detail page.
Assignment #2:
Complete this assignment before progressing to lesson #3.
1. Study the use of keywords on your pages carefully. Make sure you’re not using keywords in
your META tags that don’t apply to your Web site. If you are, make a note of them in your
notebook. Then, as you work on the pages, be sure to correct them.
2. Have you repeated your keywords over and over again in a row?
Are you using hidden text, tiny text, or meta refresh tags?
Are you using frames, tables, or JavaScript on your site?
Do you have any irrelevant META tags on your pages, such as the generator tag or the author
tag? Or, does your HTML editor place the important title tag underneath any META tags?
Make notes in your notebook about all problem areas.
3. Study your referrer logs carefully. Which engine is sending you the most traffic at this point in
time? What keyword phrases are visitors using to find your site?
Of course, if your Web site is new, you won’t be able to learn much by studying your referrer
logs. But, keep this strategy in mind once your Web site is established.
1. What problem areas did you find on your own pages?
Are you using frames?
Does your HTML editor stick in irrelevant META tags, place the title tag under META tags, or
insert comment tags at the top of the page? I'm not talking about the META keyword or
description tags, but tags that aren't necessary, like the META generator tag.
Are you spamming the engines in any manner? Is your site full of JavaScript? Using an image
map?
2. When you studied your referrer logs, what did you learn? What engine is sending you the most
business at this time? What keywords is your site being found under?
If you don't have a referrer log for your site yet, you don't have to answer this question. Once the
course is over, however, be sure to add a referrer log to your site.
Keep in mind that if a particular engine is sending you the most business, you’ll want to
capitalize on that by creating additional pages into your site optimized for that engine. Make a
note of it in your notebook. We’ll discuss this in detail later in the lesson on doorway pages (#6).
Table of Contents
Additional Information about Problem Areas in Lesson #2 -- Essentia...undations in Search Engine Positioning, Academy of Web Specialists
By Robin Nobles
Problem Areas in More Detail
from Lesson #2
of Entire Course
META Refresh Tags
JavaScript
Dynamically Generated Pages
Pages that use Symbols in the URL
Frames
Image Maps
Flash
META Refresh Tags
Dishonest webmasters sometimes optimize a page for the engines in order to get a top ranking,
then use a lightning fast meta refresh that immediately takes the viewer to the "real" and
attractive page of the site. In many cases, the viewer doesn't even realize that he's been
transported to another page. If you're going to use a meta refresh, make sure that it's set at 30 at
least. Don't use META refresh tags at all with AltaVista.
For an example of a legitimately used meta refresh tag, visit this page:
Here's the meta refresh tag itself:
<META HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" CONTENT="30; URL=http://www.robinsnest.com"
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/courses/basic/basic-download/problems.htm (1 of 5) [8/4/2001 1:17:51 PM]
TARGET="_top">
As a general rule, try to stay away from redirects altogether.
JavaScript
JavaScript can push your important keyword-containing text further down on your page. Some
JavaScript is very short and probably won't affect your ranking. But, some JavaScript is
extremely long, and you have scroll through several pages of script in the source code to get to
the "meat" of the site. Remember that if YOU have to scroll through several pages of script, so
does the engine. Your goal is to put all keyword-containing tags and text at the top of your page
in a place of prominence.
When possible, put JavaScript toward the bottom of the page if it's particularly long. Or, you'll
need to create content-rich doorway or information pages for your keyword phrases and bring in
traffic through those pages.
Another solution for JavaScript is to remove the majority of the JavaScript code completely off
your pages and into a separate file. By doing so, you will reduce the amount of code in your web
pages, which means that the engine won't have to sort through that code to find the
keyword-containing body text, and it will also allow you to reuse the code on other pages without
duplicating it over and over again. You can then minimize your work if you need to change the
JavaScript at some point in the future.
How can you do this? By placing the code in an external .js file.
By doing so, you will be able to reduce the page size for the search engines which will help your
rankings, and you will be able to modify the JavaScript without changing the date of the web
page, which is an important consideration for engines like AltaVista that give older pages boosts
in relevancy.
To do this, any JavaScript code that you would normally place in the <head> section of your web
page can be placed into a separate .js file by using a text editor. This file should only contain your
JavaScript code, with no other HTML codes. You can reference it like this in the <head> section
of your page:
<Script language="JavaScript" src="namethisfile.js">
</Script>
When the browser loads the page, it will follow the link to get to the JavaScript code. Keep in
mind that some servers may not recognize the .js file type, so experiment on your server to see if
it works for you.
For an example of a JavaScript file created by Academy instructor Jacquie Ansell, visit:
http://www.apuldramroses.co.uk/about.html
Read this chat session about using Java:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/chat/problems5-12-00.htm
Dynamically Generated Pages, or Pages that use Symbols in
the URL
Dynamically generated pages use symbols in the URL and are created "on the fly," which means
that they are database driven pages that are created right on the spot, depending on what each
particular user puts into the search query. Because these pages are created on the fly and aren't
pages that are actually placed in the website, it's difficult to get them indexed.
Therefore, avoid symbols in your URLs, especially the "?" symbol. Search engines don't interpret
symbols well. Lycos now will index a URL with the "?" in it, but it's the only major engine that
does.
Also, some search engines may not index URLs that reference the CGI bin directory, to keep
from getting caught in a spider trap or loop and being fed countless URLs.
Therefore, the way to work around this problem is to create static pages that the engines can
index, and get those pages ranked high in the engines.
For an excellent article on working with dynamic pages, visit:
http://www.clickz.com/cgi-bin/gt/article.html?article=2444
Frames
Most search engines, older browsers, and web surfers don't like frames. Many of the search
engines can't even read the content contained in frames, and the same thing goes with some of the
older browsers. Also, because frames increase the file size and the total number of words that
make up a website, they also decrease keyword weight, which can put you at a disadvantage to
your competition.
Most web surfers don't like frames, because it's extremely annoying to get "stuck" in someone
else's frames. You can always open the page in a new window and solve the problem, but unless
you know that little trick, it does you no good.
Spiders can't read frames.
As mentioned above, many of the search engines' spiders can't read frames. They can only read
the contents of the <noframes> tag. The text in the <noframes> tag is often instructions to the
reader that they need a frames capable browser to view the site properly. Obviously, this type of
information on your page does nothing to help you get a better ranking in the search engines.
Is there a way to solve the problem, besides not using frames at all? Yes, but remember that as a
general rule, only very large, complex sites truly need frames.
However, if your client or boss has made up his or her mind to use frames, you need to take
measures to make sure that the major search engines' spiders can index your page. You can
accomplish this by using a <noframes> tag.
So, for the benefit of the search engines, you'll need to create an alternate web page within the
<noframes> tag so that the search engines have something to index, and so your page can
compete in the rankings.
When you build information or doorway pages, which we'll cover in Lesson #6, try to create
those pages without frames. Work on getting those pages ranked high in the engines, and you
won't have to rely as heavily on the framed pages to achieve top rankings.
Are there any advantages to frames?
Very large websites sometimes utilize frames to make it easier for visitors to navigate through the
pages. Again, only very large, complicated websites truly need to use frames.
Other than that, there are a few hidden advantages to frames, believe it or not.
Some of the engines, like Excite and HotBot, give boosts in relevancy to sites that contain a lot of
links with the keyword in the link text and URLs. However, you may not want to clutter your
main page with dozens of links to all of the pages. One solution is to hide the links in an area that
is normally not viewable, but where the engine will still index it.
Both the body area and the <noframes> area of a page that contains the <frameset> tag are
hidden to anybody using a frames-capable browser, which includes almost all recent browsers.
So, the way to use frames to your advantage is to create a web page to look exactly like you want
it to look, then make it a "framed" page. The framed area could be zero columns wide, effectively
becoming invisible.
Of course, another way of adding a listing of links to other areas of your site is to use hidden
links off your main page.
NOTE:If you use frames, be sure to check out Master Frames Reunion. With this FREE tool,
visitors arriving at unframed pages through a search engine still see the page within your frame
context.
http://willmaster.com/master/framereunion/
For more information on frames:
Search Engine Watch has an excellent tutorial on how to work around the problems with frames:
http://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/frames.html
For a good example of an effective use of a <noframes> tag, visit:
http://www.gdrectifiers.co.uk/index2.html
Image Maps
Image maps are great, but not with the engines! The best way to describe an image map is to
picture a map of the world. Have you ever been to a site that has a map, to where you click on
portions of the map and are taken to pages pertaining to that area? That's an image map.
Here's an example:
There are a couple of problems with image maps. For one thing, they can push important
keyword-containing text toward the bottom of the page, as seen when visiting the example above.
(Of course, in that example, a LOT of things push the text down on the page!)
Another problem with image maps is that the engines can't follow the links. Therefore, if you use
image maps, make sure that you put HTML links elsewhere on your page for the engines to
spider.
Flash
Again, any technique that pushes important keyword-containing text further down on the page
has the potential of creating ranking problems. Check your source code carefully if you use flash
on your site. How far down it push your keywords?
Another problem with flash sites is that there is generally very little text on the page. You're
going to have problems getting top rankings for a page that contains very little text.
What can you do? Create content-rich information (doorway) pages that are simple and
flash-free. Give the engines what they want to see, and they'll generally reward you with top
rankings.
Table of Contents
Lesson #6: Doorways or Information Pages -Creating Additional Windows or Doors into your Site
Explanation of what doorway pages are;
Tips for creating effective doorway pages;
Comments about whether doorway pages are a viable option;
Warnings regarding doorway pages;
Personal experience with doorway pages;
Doorway page examples;
Doorway templates;
Homework.
We’ve discussed how it’s difficult, almost impossible, to get your Web page ranked high under
more than one or two keyword phrases. So what about all of the other 50 keyword phrases that
are important to you? What about the search engines that don’t rank your pages high because
those pages aren’t optimized for that specific engine?
And, what if your main site utilizes tactics that will make it very difficult for you to get top
rankings? Or, what if you're working with a client's site, and the client won't allow you to make
any changes to the main page itself.
One solution is to create doorway or information pages. Before you scream that "doorway" pages
are spam, let me explain a little further.
Doorway pages are simply informational pages about a certain concept or product in your
business. The days of creating doorway pages with one word in the body text are over. Doorway
pages are content rich information pages.
Note: For an example of an "old" doorway page that is no longer effective, visit:
http://www.todtri.com.
So, what *is* a doorway page? It's a page that has been created for the sole purpose of ranking
high in the search engines for a particular keyword phrase, the name of your company, or a
specific engine. These pages act as "doorways" or "bridges" to the real content of your site,
without having to redesign or remove content from your home page. They link TO your main
page or to an interior page of your site, rather than linking FROM your main page.
So, they’re additional content-rich windows or doors into your site.
● Doorway or information pages can look like any other page of your site. These days, with
some of the engines having minimum word requirements, it’s hard to tell a doorway page
from another page in looks alone.
● Doorway pages are simply very fine-tuned pages that enable you to bring in traffic through
other “doors” (keyword phrases), thus increasing the traffic to your site.
● Doorway pages are also called information, hook, bridge, splash, gateway, or entry pages.
● Doorway pages “open the door” to more traffic!
● Doorway pages are content rich. If you want your pages to be successful, you need to be
prepared to spend some time in developing them so that they *are* content rich.
You know you can optimize each page of your Web site for only one or two keyword phrases
only and still arrive at the needed keyword weight. Simply sticking in a bunch of keywords in the
keyword META tag won’t give you a top ranking for those keywords. You have to use the
keywords elsewhere on your page as well and in your tags. Plus, regretfully, you can’t optimize
one page for all of the engines.
You can solve the problem by creating doorway or information pages for your other important
keyword phrases.
Think about it this way
Your main page may be ranked very high in AltaVista under two of your top keyword phrases.
But, you can’t seem to get it ranked above 30 with any of the other engines. And, you can’t seem
to arrive at the appropriate keyword weight to get top rankings with any of your other keyword
phrases.
What can you do? How can you get visitors to your site from the other engines and through the
other keywords that are important to you?
The solution is to create additional doorways, or bridges, into your site. These doorways or
windows pull visitors in through other engines and other keyword phrases that your main or
auxiliary pages aren’t able to do by themselves. If you effectively utilize doorway or information
pages, you should notice a dramatic increase in traffic.
Is there anything “magical” about doorway pages?
Nope! With doorway pages, you'll use the same META tag concepts that we've been discussing
in the past five lessons. All of the same principles apply. The only real difference is that the pages
are extremely finetuned.
Keep in mind that pages having between 200 and 600 words in the body text do better in the
rankings these days.
Also, keep in mind that you want to make sure that the search engines "find" all interior or
doorway pages on your site. So, you'll want to create links on your main page to all other
important pages of your site (see lesson #4 for how to hyperlink punctuation). Or, you can create
a site map that includes links to all pages of your site and link from the home page to the site
map. We'll talk about site maps in lesson #7.
Tips for Creating Effective Doorway Pages
Include all of your META and other tags on your doorway or information page!
With doorway pages, you’ll employ all of the basic META tags that have been discussed in
the previous lessons. Doorway pages need title, description, and keyword tags. You can also
utilize ALT tags, style tags, link text, headline tags, etc., for those engines that consider them for
relevancy.
Remember to optimize each doorway page for one particular keyword phrase for one
specific engine only. If your keyword phrase is "educational children’s software," you'll write
your title, keywords, description and other tags for THAT keyword phrase, utilizing the keyword
phrase in the very beginning of every tag.
No other tag should come before your <title> tag. As we’ve mentioned before, some HTML
editors stick in tags before the important META tags. Here's an example of such a tag:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
Be sure to check your source code, and if your HTML editor sticks in tags such as the above,
delete them immediately, or cut and paste them below your important META tags. Again,
WYSIWYG editors sometimes place several different META tags before the <title> tag. Move
that title tag to the top!
Capitalize on graphics by adding an ALT tag with your keyword phrase in it. Place your
keyword phrase in style tags.
Use your keyword phrase as many times as you can, watching your keyword weight
carefully. Don’t use huge graphics on your doorway page to where it takes too long to load. And,
BEGIN your page with text, not an image. Make your doorway pages content rich, like all other
pages of your site.
Emphasize a single keyword phrase on the page, keeping the primary emphasis of the page
on that one topic. Remember the theme engines by focusing on one central topic for each of
your pages.
Provide a link to another page on your site from your doorway page. This can be your main
page, or it can be an interior page. Try not to point all of your doorway pages to your main page.
Name the page after your keyword phrase. Try to visibly link from the main page of your site
to the doorway page. If that's not an option, use hyperlinked punctuation, as we covered in lesson
#4. Or, create a site map.
If you're creating several similar pages for each of the engines, consider using a robot.txt file to
keep each engine out of the other engines' pages. We'll cover robots.txt files in lesson #8.
Take the concepts we've discussed in lessons #1-5, and create a highly finetuned doorway or
information page using those same concepts, optimizing the page for one particular keyword
phrase for one specific engine.
NOTE: If you're working with a client's pages and can't make changes to them, doorway pages
can be the answer. If you want to use one of our dummy pages and our test server to work on a
page, that fine. Or, create a doorway page that uses the same format as existing pages on the site.
Again, remember to study the latest tips
Each engine has a different ranking algorithm. They each consider different factors when
determining relevancy.
The ranking algorithms change quite frequently!
So, when submitting pages to a particular engine, it's important that you understand the workings
of that search engine.
Read the "Latest Tips" pages in the "Must See Information!" section of this course. Faithfully
read the MarketPosition Newsletter and Search Engine Watch newsletter each month, taking note
of any changes that will affect how you work with a particular engine. Keep up with the latest
tips and strategies, and modify your pages accordingly.
Having a top-notch Web site requires some work. Search engine positioning can be very time
consuming, especially in the beginning. Plus, once you get your Web site up and running and
ranked high with the engines, your work certainly isn't done. You'll still have to monitor your
rankings carefully and be ready to act immediately if your rankings slip.
As you get further into search engine positioning, and especially if you're in the business, you'll
want to create templates for each of the major engines. As you work on a client's page, modify
the templates until you get a top ranking. Duplicate the effort with all of the client's pages for
each engine. It will make your job much easier and less time consuming. In fact, we've created
doorway templates you can try, which we mention at the end of this lesson.
Think of it like this: If you had an offline business, would your work be over once you officially
opened the doors? No! You'd still need to be aware of what your competition is doing and make
changes accordingly. You'd constantly have to consider additional advertising methods, and
you'd have to make sure that the business itself is running smoothly.
It's the same with an online business.
Are doorway pages really a viable, professional option?
A past student of mine considered doorway pages to be “dreadful” Web design. He refused to use
them for his own site or that of his clients, so he had a problem creating one for this lesson.
Basically, he believed that doorway pages were there for the sole purpose of spamming the
engines with tons of pages.
He’s wrong.
Many people believe that the engines dislike doorway pages and consider them spamming. Like
anything else in this business, if you overdo it, the engines won’t like it. But, if you use doorway
pages in moderation and follow all of the guidelines for each particular engine, the engines don’t
object to your using them.
As mentioned before, doorway pages don’t have to look like “cardboard” pages. They can and
should look exactly like any other page of your site—the only difference being that the doorway
page is optimized specifically for one keyword phrase ONLY and usually for one engine only.
We're including a portion of the original email to the above student, since he said it was very
helpful to him in understanding what a “true” doorway page is. Here’s the email:
“Doorway pages have a definite function. It's impossible to optimize a single page (your home
page, for example) for more than 1-2 keywords and be successful at it, unless they're not
competitive keywords. So, if you want your site to be found under additional keywords, doorway
pages are the answer.
“Also, you can't optimize a single page for more than one or two engines and get it ranked high in
them. A page created for Excite may not do worth a flip in AV, for example. So, doorway pages
allow you to create separate ‘doorways’ into your site to take into account the preferences of
individual engines *and* additional important keyword phrases that you want your site to be
found under.
“Now, doorway pages don't have to look any different from any other page at your site. It used to
be that you tried to keep the word count down to a bare minimum, but now, longer pages do
better in most engines. The days of creating a page with the keyword stuck in the middle of it are
over. So, your pages for those engines won't look any different than any other pages of your site.
In fact, your doorway pages in general don’t have to look any different than any other pages at
your site. Like all pages of your site, they need to be content rich.
“The MAIN thing with a doorway is that **everything** on the page points to ONE keyword
phrase and generally to ONE engine. It doesn't have to look like a cardboard page, and it can be
aesthetically a masterpiece. But, everything on the page needs to point to the keyword phrase
you're targeting.
“Let's say you have your home page, and it's optimized for ‘English bulldogs’ and ‘dog training,’
and it's basically geared for AltaVista. You've managed to get the page ranked high for both of
those keywords in AV. But, the rest of the engines won't touch it, because the page doesn't take
into account what THOSE engines want to see.
“So, what are your choices? You can forget about the other engines, which for a search engine
positioner isn't a choice! You can take other pages of your site and optimize them for those two
keyword phrases for a different engine, but that isn't always a possibility. You have to have an
appropriate page in order to do that, and it doesn't always work out.
"Or, you can create doorway pages. You can create a robots.txt page, to where the pages you
created for AV won't be ‘found’ by other crawlers, and they won't consider you to be spamming
by having too many ‘identical’ pages optimized for the same keyword phrases. You can use the
robots.txt page to keep AV out of the other pages. So, you now have totally separate ‘doorways’
into your Web site. They don't have to link to the main page, but they can link to an interior page
that is relevant to that topic.
“Anyway, they're very useful IF they're used correctly.
“Oh -- you can use frames, tables, etc., on a doorway page. It's best not to from a search engine
positioning standpoint, just like it's best not to use frames on a main site, but people do it all the
time, depending on their preferences.
(Note: We discuss robots.txt files in lesson #8.)”
Warnings!
Though we’ve discussed some of these concepts earlier in this lesson, let’s go over a few
warnings related to the use of doorway pages.
Link doorway pages to different pages of your site, and don’t create more than a
couple of pages for each keyword.
Make sure that your doorway pages link to different pages, information, or products. Don’t point
all of your doorway pages back to your main page. Also, make sure you don't create more than a
couple of pages for each keyword.
Be sure to vary the content of each doorway page.
Don’t create fifty doorway pages with the same content with only the keywords swapped out. It
just won’t work. You may get away with it for a while, but chances are, the pages will drop from
the rankings.
Most search engines consider the act of creating dozens of nearly identical pages as "spamming,"
and your pages could get permanently removed from the engine altogether.
If you do have quite a few doorway pages with nearly identical content, be sure not to let all of
those pages dominate the rankings under a particular keyword phrase.
Don’t create copies of your index page and use them as doorway pages!
In the past, it was a common practice to create numerous copies of your index page, make
changes to the page to emphasize different keywords, and name the pages index1.htm,
index2.htm, and so forth. In fact, software submission programs actually created those duplicate
pages for you and submitted them to the engines.
This practice is long out of date and can only get you in trouble. Remember that anyone seeing
index5.htm knows that you have five other copies of your home page floating around out there.
On the down side . . .
Sometimes doorway pages are more difficult to get indexed and to get top rankings for than your
index page, or even interior pages of your site. Why? Jacquie of the Academy explains it very
well:
"With my own sites, I have found the index.html page almost always ranks the best...except when
the keyword isn't addressed at all on the index.html. Then, if the keyword is addressed on an
interior page, that seems to take precedent over doorways.
"My thinking is this: interior pages are linked and visited often by visitors, whereas doorway
pages are only accessed through the search engine. Therefore, they have less visitor popularity."
Think of it this way. Your interior pages are visibly linked off the main page of your site. So,
visitors to the main page of your site will see those links and hopefully visit. The interior pages
are also indexed separately in the search engines, so the engines are sending visitors to the
interior pages that way too. Because visitors are able to find the index or interior pages in more
ways than doorway pages, chances are good that more people will link to those pages, versus
doorway pages.
But, your doorway pages are only found by visitors through the search engines. You may not be
visibly linking to the doorway pages on your main page, though it's certainly best if you do.
So, in all likelihood, your doorway pages won't have the page popularity that your index page and
interior pages do.
And, we all know how important site popularity is these days.
What can you do about it? Consider providing visible links to your doorway pages from the
main page of your site, such as hyperlinking punctuation marks, which we've mentioned in
earlier chapters.
If that's not an option, simply be prepared to work a little harder and longer to get your doorway
pages indexed and ranked high. You may have no problems whatsoever, which we hope is the
case. But if you do, we wanted to provide you with a reason why.
Need additional information on doorway pages?
Read this article on doorway pages that was published in Planet Ocean:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/information/doorway_strategies.html
For additional information about doorway pages, see "What is a Bridge Page or Entry Page" at
Search Engine Watch:
http://searchenginewatch.internet.com/webmasters/bridge.html
For an excellent discussion about doorway pages, visit:
http://searchengineforums.com/Forum14/HTML/000105.html
Personal Experiences:
When one of our instructors first created doorway pages for her own site, she was able to break
into a top ten slot with one keyword combination and into top twenty slots for two other keyword
combinations. Things seemed to be going pretty well.
However, the next day when she ran Gold’s Reporter, her site had vanished. She ran the program
again, telling it to search through the top 300 results for each of her keyword combinations. Her
pages could not be found.
Her pages had gone from being in the top 10 or 20 in several categories to being in the over 300
rankings in less than one day.
She decided to analyze her competition to see what they were doing to boot her down so fast.
When she ran a search, she found her own site in the results again. (At times like these, you
question your sanity in working with the engines.)
She ran Gold’s Reporter, and her site was back in the top rankings where it had been before.
She contacted a technical support representative from First Place Software, and this is how he
responded to the experience:
"Unfortunately, it is what you can expect from the engines periodically. Occasionally, they hand
back bizarre or nonsensical results, or they just do not seem to follow any known rule or law.
Take AltaVista, where for a few days recently, it began returning different results for searches
conducted within seconds of each other for the same keyword. After a few days, it stopped
returning these differing results and went back to normal.
"That is just par for the course. However, you can't be too surprised by anything the search
engines do when you consider how much information they work with--literally millions of pages
every day--it is a wonder they even function."
If this happens to you, simply wait a while, run the program again, and see where you stand. If
you find different results when running Reporter versus searching manually at the engine, report
the discrepancies to First Place Software’s technical support department
([email protected]). It could be that the engine was changing its ranking algorithm at that
time.
Other times, you may find that your pages are there one day and gone the next, never to return.
Be sure to resubmit your pages and get them back in the index.
But why does this happen in the first place? Almost every one of the major engines are bad about
losing submissions. It’s a fact of life, and it will happen to you. Be ready for it by monitoring
your results carefully and resubmitting your pages when it happens.
Some people believe that when certain engines index a page, the page is put through an initial
ranking algorithm and placed in the index. Later, however, the page is put through another
ranking algorithm, and its “true” ranking appears.
Though we have seen evidence of this to some extent, it doesn't always add up. We've had pages
that were ranked high at first, then slipped in the rankings. We resubmitted them without making
any changes to the page, and the rankings went up and stayed up.
The engines do make mistakes! They lose submissions, have totally irrelevant results at times,
and give us ulcers. But, if we can remember that they deal with millions of pages every day, we
can expect a few mistakes here and there. Of course, that doesn’t mean that we have to like it!
Examples of Doorway Pages
Here's an example of a doorway page posted for the purpose of this class:
Nine Banded Armadillo
One of our past class members created this page for a class project. It’s been optimized for AV,
though we won’t be submitting it to the engine.
We did not run the page through Search Engine Optimizer, Keyword Density Analyzer, or
WebPosition Gold’s Page Critic.
Let's analyze the page.
As mentioned above, the page was optimized for AV, and the keyword phrase is "nine-banded
armadillos."
The page contains approximately 112 words, which is too low. If we were serious about getting
top rankings, we would raise the word count in the body text to at least 200 words. We used the
keyword phrase four times, making the keyword weight approximately 3 1/2% for the visible
body text. Since AV prefers a keyword weight of between 2-5%, we're okay there. Again, if we
submitted the page but didn't get the rankings we wanted, we could increase the keyword weight.
Our title and description begin with our keyword phrase, which should boost relevancy.
The title tag is 48 characters long (including spaces), which is within the 78 limit for AV.
We didn't use any META tags, based on AltaVista's Advanced Search Tutorial (See the Latest
Tips for AltaVista for more information.) The first two instances of the keyword phrase is in the
title tag and a headline tag at the very top of the page.
We used the keyword phrase in all three ALT tags--just that ONE keyword phrase. We used it in
a headline tag.
Notice that in all of the tags, our keyword phrase is first. By doing so, we're increasing the
prominence of the keyword phrase.
Sometimes AV is case sensitive, and other times it isn't. In this case, searches for "nine-banded
armadillo," "Nine-Banded Armadillo," and "NINE-BANDED ARMADILLO" produced different
results. If we wanted to make sure to get the traffic from the capitalized and all caps versions, we
would need to use those variations in the tags and text on the page.
When working on your own pages, be sure to run some searches to see if the engine is case
sensitive for your keyword phrases.
AV doesn't utilize word stemming, which means it will NOT search for variations of the keyword
(like armadillo vs. armadillos). However, it's always a good idea to use the longest variation of a
keyword to make sure all of your bases are covered.
You’ll notice that we named the page after the keyword phrase, separating each word with a dash.
It's best not to run your keywords together like this: ninebandedarmadillos, because some of the
engines won't recognize it as a keyword phrase.
In the body of the page itself, we began with the keyword phrase fairly soon, and the phrase is
evenly distributed throughout the document, even at the end of the page. The keyword phrase is
naturally integrated into the body text of the page.
We didn't use a comment tag, because AV doesn't consider the contents of the comment tag for
relevancy. You can utilize the tag for its true purpose—to add comments or reminders to the page
itself. But, AV won’t index the comments.
Notice that we didn't spam the engine in any way, nor did we include a lot of irrelevant META
tags that could possibly confuse the engine, such as the generator tag..
We didn't use frames, tables, or JavaScript. Our HTML editor is bad about putting in a comment
tag at the top of the page, but we deleted it.
The first thing we want the engine to see is the <title> tag with the keyword phrase listed first.
We want the keyword phrase to appear prominently wherever we can.
Please notice that the page doesn't "look" like a traditional doorway page. This comment has
nothing to do with Web positioning per se, but you really don't want your doorway pages to be so
obvious. You want your doorway pages designed like any other page of your site, with the
overall look being similar. You want people to know that they’re on your site.
Okay, we’ve analyzed the example, but what if this page doesn't do well in the
rankings? What could we do to boost its relevancy?
Possible changes that could help boost the page’s ranking
Note: You wouldn’t want to make all of these changes at one time. Instead, make a few changes,
submit the page, and check your rankings. Then, make a few more changes, submit the page, and
check your rankings and so forth until your rankings are where you want them to be (in the top
10!).
Consider adding a META description tag (or a META keyword tag) to see if it helps your
rankings;
Rename all image files to utilize the keyword phrase (nine-banded-armadillo1.gif, for example);
Increase the body text to at least 200 words.
Run a search for top ranking pages for the keyword phrase and determine their keyword weight,
then adjust ours accordingly;
Study those top ranking sites to see if there’s anything we can learn that might help us with the
page;
Add more links with keywords in the link text;
Use single pixel images with keywords;
Use a <noframes> tag on the non-framed page, and create a “mini Web site” in it that utilizes the
keyword phrase, thereby adding valuable content to the page;
Submit the page to LookSmart to get into AltaVista's directory
Consider finetuning the keyword phrase if it is too broad with too much competition in order to
get better rankings, but continue to work on the initial phrase as well; and,
Work on gaining Web site popularity by requesting reciprocal links.
Also, we could visit the Latest Tips for AV page in the "Must See Information!" section of this
course to see what else we might try.
Run the page through Search Engine Optimizer (SEO) and Page Critic of WebPosition Gold.
What do the programs suggest that we do differently?
Here are a few highly successful doorway pages from previous class members:
http://www.bindersbailbonds.com/orange-county-bail/as/index.htm
http://www.placesforfun.com/hotel_reservations.htm
http://www.wickhomes.com/wisconsin.htm
Added Note: For your benefit, we've provided doorway/informational page templates to use
when creating doorway pages. These pages were created with cloaking in mind (which we'll
cover in lesson #8), which is why we suggested using your keyword phrase in all lower-case
letters in the headline tags. However, you can use this same template if you don't use cloaking by
making it more presentable to the visitor. Simply substitute your information for the information
provided. Be sure to view the source code, and read the comment tags which contain additional
notes and reminders. As you find a technique that works for you, be sure to add it to that engine's
template. NOTE: Using these pages will not guarantee a top ranking -- they are simply a
guide for you to follow when working with the engines included here.
(Note: Since this is a PDF file, you won't be able to view the source code of the pages that are
provided in the PDF. So, to view the source code, visit:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/doorway-templates.html)
Doorway/Informational Page Templates:
AltaVista
Excite
HotBot
Lycos
NorthernLight
Assignment #6:
Complete this assignment before moving to lesson #7.
Create doorway or information pages for two or three of your keywords, optimizing the pages for
AltaVista or Inktomi. Submit the page to the engine of your choice.
Consider these questions and answer them to yourself:
Remember: You don’t have to utilize every single one of these techniques. But, be sure to read
over them as a reminder of what you can do to try to boost your rankings.
Is your keyword phrase prominently placed in all of your tags and in the body of the page itself?
Did you use the keyword phrase in all of your tags?
If you don’t use the keyword phrase itself, you won’t get a top ranking with it! We’ve had
students who used the keyword phrase once in the body of the page and once in a title tag, then
wondered why they haven’t gotten better rankings. You have to use your keyword phrase in order
to obtain good rankings with it. There are exceptions to this rule, but don’t worry about the
exceptions. Instead, use your keyword phrase!
Did you list lower-case, capitalized, and all caps versions of your keyword phrase in the keyword
META tag if the engine is case sensitive to your keyword phrase?
Is your title tag the first tag on your page?
Did you make the doorway page content rich?
Did you use your keyword phrase as many times as you could in the text of the doorway page,
checking your keyword weight carefully?
Did you check the source code of your page to make sure that your HTML editor isn't sticking in
a code that you don't want, especially before your important META tags?
Did you utilize ALT tags, headline tags, style tags, etc.?
Finetune, finetune, finetune! Did you point everything on the page to your one keyword
phrase?
Whatever you do, don’t overuse your keyword phrase though. Don’t repeat it over and over again
in the same tag.
Visit the Doorway Page forum at SearchEngineForums.com, and read through some of the posts.
1. What are the URLs and keyword phrases for two or three of the doorway or information pages
that you created, as well as the name of the engine you're targeting?
2. What are your rankings for the pages? Run WebPosition Gold's Reporter to find out.
If your pages haven’t been indexed yet, wait at least 21 days and resubmit them (or resubmit your
main page that contains links to the doorway pages on it).
3. What could you do differently to ensure placement in the top ten or twenty listings? What
other techniques could you try?
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t have a top 10 or 20 ranking. You may need to finetune the
pages even more, especially if you’ve targeted very competitive keyword phrases.
If you have targeted a very competitive keyword phrase, consider choosing a more specific
phrase at this point in time. Get ranked high under less competitive phrases and bring in more
traffic, then continue to work on the more general phrases until you get top rankings with them as
well.
Table of Contents
Lesson 3: It All Begins with a Simple Keyword
Considerations for choosing keywords;
Step-by-step approach to determining the best keywords for your site;
How to determine how many people are searching for your keywords;
Stop words;
Trademarked terms;
More information on choosing keywords;
Homework.
Let’s Discuss the Importance of Keywords
What words best describe a particular page of your Web site? Under what words is it important for your
page to be found?
Put a lot of thought into choosing the right keywords for your pages. If you choose the right keywords,
you’ll be on your way to success. Choose the wrong keywords, and your efforts will be in vain.
In fact, many experts in the field will agree that the most important thing you can do for your Web site
is to choose the most effective keywords.
You’ll want to optimize each page separately, making sure that the keywords for that particular page
are spread throughout the page and your tags. With search engine positioning strategies, you’ll be
optimizing individual pages based on the content of those specific pages.
Important Considerations:
Use two- or three-word phrases—not single keywords
Keep in mind that most people search for two- or three-word phrases versus single keywords, because
they don't want to receive thousands of unrelated matches. Don't make the mistake of targeting very
general keywords and getting frustrated when those keywords don't make it into the top 10.
If you pick a keyword phrase that produces two million search results, consider fine tuning that phrase
considerably. It’s much more difficult to get into top ranking positions if you target generic keywords.
However, once you've achieved top-ranking positions for several of your keyword phrases, have
increased your Web site popularity, and have become more experienced in search engine positioning,
THEN go after those general keywords, if you choose. It's much harder to accomplish, which is why it's
best to start out slowly and work your way up, achieving success and building traffic as you go. Also,
getting ranked high for a very general keyword might increase traffic to your site, but it more than
likely won't increase your "conversion to sales" ratio. So remember that you're ultimately after traffic
that converts to sales, not a bunch of #1's that produce no traffic, or #1's that produce traffic that
doesn't convert to sales.
In an effort to get found under the more general keywords, be sure to utilize individual keywords from
your keyword phrase throughout the page and in the tags as well.
People search in lower-case letters
Most people use all lower-case letters when searching. So, most people would type in "new orleans"
when running a search, as opposed to "New Orleans." Since some of the engines are case sensitive,
you'll need to include your keywords in lower-case letters, in capitalized versions, and in all caps in the
tags and body text, when possible, especially for case sensitive engines. How can you tell if an engine is
case sensitive? Search for your keyword phrase in all variations at the search engine you're targeting.
Pair a general keyword with a more specific one
Instead of using a general keyword like "travel," which would spit out literally thousands of possible
matches, target your customers by pairing a general keyword with a more specific one, like, "budget
travel." Or, instead of using a generic keyword like "dogs," choose a keyword phrase like, "English
bulldogs."
Be creative and specific—finetune your keyword phrase!
Think like your customers!
Think about what your customers would be searching for if they were looking for your site. Don’t think
about what YOU would be searching for—try to think like your customers. Ask several customers or
those familiar with your products or services how they would search for your Web site. You’ll be
amazed at some of the responses.
Use distantly related keywords
For example, if you're in the farm equipment business, consider keywords such as “rice crops” or
“irrigation.”
Or, if you have a restaurant in a certain area, you may want to use keywords related to area hotels,
entertainment, or the name of the town itself, since people searching in those areas will want to know
about restaurants.
Use misspelled keywords
Are any of your keywords frequently misspelled? If you’re in the mortgage business, you may want to
use “forclosure” as well as “foreclosure” as your keywords.
Think of how many people misspell words on a daily basis, and capitalize on those errors. Include the
misspelled version too, and you can capture those bad spellers.
WordTracker, which is mentioned later in this chapter, will even give you ideas for misspelled
keywords.
Regional services
Do you offer regional services or products? Many people fine-tune their searches by inserting regional
terms, such as "New Orleans restaurants" or even "Cajun restaurants" versus simply using the general
keyword, "restaurants."
Use the longest variation of your keywords
Many search engines use "stemming" or "word stems," which means that searches for root words will
also include variations of that word. So, be sure to use longer forms of your keywords whenever
possible. For example, use "writer" or “writing” instead of "write." By utilizing this technique, you can
reduce the number of words in your META tags and on your page because the search engines that
practice stemming will return your web page for searches on those word variations. Another idea is
simply to add an "s" to each of your keywords.
Try to use powerful keyword combinations
“Powerful keyword combinations" are very specific keyword combinations that return a limited set of
web pages when searched, thus giving you a better chance of attaining a top ranking. Of course, you
don't want to key in on such an obscure phrase that no one will ever search for it. Instead, pick the most
generic yet somewhat specific keyword phrase for a subject. For example, use "foreign language
software" instead of just "educational software."
Think TARGETED TRAFFIC!
Do people in other areas use different terminology when referring to
your keyword phrase?
People in other areas of the country or world may express themselves differently than people in your
own geographic area.
For example, a past student from Australia failed to consider that Americans would search for "scuba
rental" rather than "scuba gear hire" as he had used.
In the South, we call the shopping carts that we use in grocery stores "buggies."
Be sure to consider how people in other areas express themselves, and capitalize on it.
Never go with the first keyword that comes to your mind!
John Alexander, SE Optimization Professional and Internet Consultant with WorldSites
(http://www.worldsites.net), suggests narrowing down your keyword choice even further and giving it
some thought. "For example, the fact that the client manufactures children's furniture could be married
with the expression that denotes savings, such as 'wholesale childrens furniture.' Wholesale can be a
great attention getter as well."
John offers these additional hints:
1. Try experimenting with industry specific short forms. For example, in Ontario, the phrase that most
people might use for a search on a Health & Safety Web Site, might be "WSIB."
Although you may not know what this means, anyone working in Ontario Health & Safety knows that
this relates to "Compensation." In a case like this, the phrase might pull in more traffic than you think.
2. Ask yourself....what might the user type into an engine? Think about a less popular term but one that
many people will still use. For example:
For a Weightloss Clinic...try using "weight reduction" instead of "weight loss." "Weight loss" is the
more natural expression, but more people will try to optimize for it. By using "weight reduction" you
can literally eliminate thousands of competitors.
3. Remember that we are not just after increasing traffic...our true objective is to increase TARGETED
TRAFFIC.
4. Remember that superlatives will seldom help your relevancy. By that, I mean that there are millions
of competing pages all claiming that their products are..."best," "amazing," "fantastic," "awesome," and
a whole list of others! Always look for alternatives to superlatives.
5. Don't forget to try using regionalization in a search phrase to eliminate millions of competing pages.
Example: Ontario mortgage rates.
6. I always like to ask a client "What do you LIKE to sell? The client knows their business and will
often have a feel for hot trends. Pay attention, because if you can bring them success....they'll bring you
more referral business!
7. Consider using newsworthy items in your search phrase. Depending on the client's site...put on your
thinking cap! For example:
This may sound a little crazy but... in a site that sells or rents movies or cinema related products, be
mindful of recent events. Perhaps you suggest the client offer a special movie package of films starring
"Steve Reeves."
Who is Steve Reeves? The original Hercules. Why work his name into a search phrase you ask? He
recently passed away on May 1st of this year. You will find that there is always a sudden surge of
search interest on the Internet whenever a celebrity dies. June would have been the perfect time to
introduce a tribute to Steve Reeves, promoting a movie or film site.
Another example:
Are you promoting a toy store? If your client sells the "Thomas the Tank Engine" product line, it would
a great time to introduce some gateway pages. Hollywood just released a "Thomas the Tank Engine"
Movie and guess what else....? Anytime a new movie is released...it's only usually a few months before
the same flurry of search activity starts all over again for the release of the SAME film on home video!
Be very mindful of the local news and how you can use newsworthy items to bring traffic to your client
Getting keyword ideas
Utilize a thesaurus to discover keywords and phrases you've never thought of. Many word processing
programs include a thesaurus, or you can find them at local libraries or bookstores. You can even access
them on the Web:
**The Alternative Dictionaries
http://www.notam.uio.no/~hcholm/altlang/
**Phrase Finder
http://www.shu.ac.uk/web-admin/phrases/
**WordNet
http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/~wn/
**Roget's Internet Thesaurus:
http://www.thesaurus.com/
**Plumb Design Visual Thesaurus:
http://www.plumbdesign.com/thesaurus/
Use HotBot's Related Searches Information
When you run a search at HotBot, the engine will give you a listing of related searches at
the top of the page in a green box above the search results. So, search for your keyword
phrase, then see what "People who did this search also searched for." Consider using those
keyword phrases, if appropriate.
A step-by-step approach to getting your mind working in the
keyword department:
1. Write out a focused description of your business or your individual Web page.
2. Do you sell a product or service? Product names can be excellent keywords for some of your pages.
Do you provide information? What type of information? Do you provide free services to your web
visitors?
3. Does your business have any quirks or unique aspects? What are your objectives?
4. Think of as many ways as you can to describe what you do in your business. Brainstorm! Write
anything and everything down!
5. Start with a main word, then add other words to that main word. Add regional keywords. TARGET
your audience! Compile a list and consider other descriptive words based on your business.
6. Keep a listing of your keyword ideas, because you’ll want to add to that list as you consider new
keyword phrases. As you continue working on your site, you can consider creating new pages that will
utilize some of the keyword ideas on your list.
7. Visit some of your competitors’ Web sites. What keywords do they use? Don’t use your competitor’s
name as a keyword, however. Using trademarked terms can get you in trouble, which we’ll discuss later
in this lesson.
8. Are there any newsworthy items in your industry that you can capitalize on?
How many people are searching for your keyword phrase?
If you purchase keywords through GoTo, you can use GoTo's Search Term Suggestion Tool which is
available through the advertisers' area. Simply type in your keyword phrase, and you'll learn how many
people actually searched for that term at GoTo for the previous month.
Though this won’t tell you how many people are searching for your keyword phrase at other engines, it
does give you an idea of how popular the keyword phrase is.
Though the Search Term Suggestion Tool has recently been designated just for advertisers, here's a
"back door" into the area, but we don't know how long this URL will work.
http://inventory.goto.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
Here's a service that's invaluable to anyone who wants top search
engine rankings:
WordTracker!
WordTracker is second to none for helping you determine what keywords people are really searching
for. WordTracker has a database of over 30 million results that is updated every two hours, so the
information is always current with practically up-to-the-minute search results.
Test drive the service free for yourself. Click on the "Trial" link at the top of the page, then enter a
phrase that describes your business or service. They'll give you a listing of related keywords, then tell
you how many people are actually searching for those keywords in each of the engines. The service will
even suggest misspelled words!
It's rather amazing, and it's an invaluable service to anyone who's working hard to place their site in the
search engine rankings.
http://www.wordtracker.com
Note: Be sure to check out WordTracker's KEI, Keyword Effectiveness Index, which is an index factor
built into WordTracker that was developed by Sumantra Roy. The KEI compares the 24-hour results
(the number of times a keyword has appeared) with the number of competing Web pages to help
identify which keywords are most effective. The higher the KEI factor, the more effectiveness the
phrase will have, based on the phrase being both popular but having low competition. (Be sure to check
out John Alexander's chat on using WordTracker's KEI. It should be posted online in the next several
days: http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/chat/chatindex.htm)
Another subscription keyword service is WordSpot.
http://www.wordspot.com
While we’re on the subject of keywords, don’t use stop words!
"Stop" words are common words that are usually ignored by search engines. Stop words may be:
a, an, and, for, the, of, that, it, to
Many engines ignore the "stop words" as a way to save storage space or to speed searches. So, the
search engine excludes searching for a select number of small words, which means it won't "stop" to
look for them.
If your site contains stop words in areas where the search engine spider looks for information to index
(such as your title tag), it will ignore the stop words, possibly affecting how you're indexed. Or, if the
prominence of a keyword in your title is crucial for a particular engine's ranking scheme, having the
first word in your title be "the" could damage your ranking.
How can you tell if a word is a stop word? Search for it in one of the engines. If you get a message that
says that "no document matches your query," or something similar, you'll know that the word is a stop
word for that particular engine. A stop word in one engine may not be a stop word in another, so it's a
good idea to search and see.
Special Note:
If a stop word is part of your site name or title, put it in quotes, or come up with another name or title
that doesn't include the stop word.
Warning!
If your keyword phrase contains stop words and if you put the phrase in quotes, take time to find your
page in the search results to see what your description looks like. A past student used quotation marks
around his keyword phrase, and the engine ignored *everything* in that keyword phrase. Therefore, his
description looked like a bunch of nonsense words. We never could figure out why this happened. So,
make sure to check this out if you have stop words and use quotes.
Keywords are the “key” to success!
The key to successful Web optimization begins with a simple keyword phrase. Everything
depends on that keyword phrase.
You'll be including those keyword phrases in your META tags, your title and other important tags, as
well as in the body of the page itself. You'll also be creating doorway pages for each of your keyword
phrases. These are all tools that will be used to boost your placement, so you can see how important
these keyword phrases really are.
Also keep in mind that it's a good idea to individually submit *each* important page of your Web
site, not just the home page. If you want a page to be indexed, submit it.
Be Careful when Using Trademarked Terms
Let’s say that you have an online bookstore. You’re trying your best to compete with the “big boys”
like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Could you tip the scales in your favor by utilizing their names in
your META and other tags?
No! Be careful with using other companies' trademarked terms!
If you have a legitimate reason for using trademarked terms, then it’s fine to use them. For example, if
you’re selling Sony digital cameras, you certainly have a legitimate reason for using “Sony” in your
META tags. But, if you sell a competitor’s digital camera, you have no reason to use “Sony,” and using
it could get you in the middle of a lawsuit.
Using the same example, if you provide a comparison between your product and Sony’s at your Web
site, you can probably legitimately get away with using their company name in your tags.
If you did use “Sony” in your tags, how would Sony even find out?
Believe it or not, some companies spend a lot of time and money searching the Net, looking for
illegitimate uses of their trademarked terms. Then they pounce with the threat of a lawsuit.
A past class member created a web page advertising her Web positioning skills. She used the term,
“WebPromote” and spelled and typed it just like that. She used the term in several of her META tags,
other tags, and in the body of the page itself. She thought nothing of it. She was simply advertising her
“Web promotion” skills.
The WebPromote company disagreed. They wrote and told her to immediately remove all instances of
“WebPromote” from her site and from all tags. Of course, she did!
Now, if this student had used the term “Web promote,” she wouldn’t have gotten into trouble at all. She
got into trouble by spelling it and spacing it just like the WebPromote company.
Lately, the illegitimate use of trademarked terms has gotten a lot of coverage in the news. Unsavory
web designers learned that if they optimize their pages for a very popular trademarked name, they could
get visitors who were searching for that name.
As far as the engines are concerned, if you include a particular keyword phrase in your META tags, you
had better utilize that keyword phrase throughout your page. If you don’t and the engines find out, you
can find yourself banned from the engines altogether. This goes for using trademarked terms or any
other popular keyword phrase in an effort to illegitimately boost traffic to your site.
Don't Purchase Domains with another Company's Name in them
Let's say that you have a travel site, and you sell thousands of dollars worth of cruises every month
from South Seas Cruises. South Sea Cruises owns the domain http://www.southseascruises.com. But,
they don't own http://www.south-seas-cruises-and-more.com. So, you rush off to buy it. Can you get in
trouble for using their company name in your URL, even though you're selling their products and
making them money?
YES.
Here's a real example from a past student who is being forced to give up the domain they worked so
hard to position and bring in traffic.
"We have been going back and forth with the attorneys - but ultimately it all comes down to trademark
issues - and they win hands down. They are going to take the address away from us, but we are trying to
delay that so that we can make some more money.
"It is not fair that they can just take the address and all the marketing that goes along with it. If you own
a .com address with a companies' name in it, then that company has every right to the address. That is
so unfair and more and more cases are now going to court and companies like ours are losing. No where
have I ever read that you cannot own a .com address with a companies' name in it and use it
legitimately. We are an unusual case because we were actually selling the product and not "cyber
squatting."
"Again, our lawyer sent their lawyer a letter to make a deal as to when we turn the address over, but
ultimately we lose. They want us to pay them damages for selling their product and owning the address
for the last year. They are crazy - all we have done for the last year is make them money and establish a
strong internet presence. It's just not fair - we only bought the address so that we could market their
product better.
"Unless you have a letter in writing from the actual company allowing you to own that address, you will
get sued. The problem is that we own quite a few other addresses with company names in it, and we
have informed those companies. Some are ok with it but other companies want the address. So we are
just going to save ourselves a lot of time and not market sites that have company names in the .com.
Oh well, just new areas of the Internet that are being dealt with, but in this case, the trademarked
company will always win."
More information on choosing keywords:
Search Engine Watch, one of the best Web sites for search engine information, offers a page titled,
"What People Search For." You'll find a listing of Yahoo's top 200 search words as well as the top
search words from Dogpile, WebCrawler, Magellan, and more. You may find this information
interesting. Here's the URL:
http://searchenginewatch.internet.com/facts/searches.html
Search Engine Watch also offers a page that discusses the potential problems with using trademarked
terms:
http://searchenginewatch.internet.com/sereport/9805-metatags.html
Assignment #3:
1. Describe your business in detail, or describe what you're trying to do with your Web site.
2. Compile a listing of around 50 keywords/phrases for your site, including misspelled keywords.
Combine your keywords into phrases. If you list your keywords in order of importance, it may help you
see possible keyword combinations.
Visit WordTracker.com (http://www.wordtracker.com) and try out their service. Were you able to get
some good ideas for keywords through the service?
Be sure to look back over your notes from the previous lessons. What pages did you determine needed
to be optimized? For which keywords?
3. Visit AltaVista (http://www.altavista.com/) and search for at least 10-15 of your keywords and
keyword phrases. Look for specific keyword combinations that return a limited set of Web sites when
searched. Write down the results--how many results you received for each of the
keywords/combinations. Visit HotBot and search, then look under "PEOPLE WHO DID THIS
SEARCH ALSO SEARCHED FOR," which appears at the top of the page in a green box above the
actual search results.
4. Pick 5 of the top keywords from your list above. Determine the current placement of your Web site
under those keyword phrases by running WebPosition Gold’s Reporter function. If you need help in
using Gold, visit the Strategies for Using WebPosition Gold page in this course material.
5. Check the source code of your Web pages carefully. Are you using trademarked terms that could
present problems for you in the future? If so, remove them from your tags and from the body text.
6. This week, we want you to visit at least one of the online forums and read some of the discussions.
Post questions or enter into discussions if you'd like. But mainly we want you to see what a wonderful
resource the online forums are, and we want you to try to find some forums that appeal to you. Once the
course is over, the forums will prove invaluable to you as you work toward keeping up with what's
happening in the industry.
Search Engine Forums is an excellent group of forums that contain some good beginning information:
http://searchengineforums.com
Webmaster World offers more in-depth information and is generally for more advanced folks:
http://www.webmasterworld.com/
MarketPositionTalk is sponsored by First Place Software and is an excellent forum:
http://www.marketpositiontalk.com
Important Note:
When searching for your keyword phrases, remember to put the keyword combinations in quotation
marks. By putting the keyword phrases in quotes, you're instructing the search engine to look for that
exact phrase, *not* each individual word in the phrase. However, if you don't put the phrase in quotes,
you're telling the engine to look for each individual word. The results between the two different
searches are generally significant. You’ll also want to include individual words from that keyword
phrase on your page too, with the ultimate goal of being found in that manner as well.
1. When you ran WebPosition Gold, was your site/page listed in the top 30 rankings for any of
your current keywords? If so, for which keywords?
Don't be concerned if your Web site doesn't show up at all under any of your keyword phrases. This
exercise simply gives you a starting point and something to build from. Keep in mind that Web
positioning is a *process* that we'll continue to develop through the remaining lessons of this course.
2. When you brainstormed for keywords or phrases, how many were you able to come up with for
your Web site? Remember to hang on to that list and continue to add to it.
Were you able to find some new keyword phrases by using WordTracker.com? Were you surprised at
what you found? So many times, what *we* think people are searching for is very different than what
they really are searching for!
Throughout these lessons, you'll be working with your top keyword phrases and placing them into your
META tags and the text of your web pages. But always remember to be on the lookout for new
keyword phrases.
When you think of new keyword phrases, incorporate them into your Web site by optimizing a page for
each phrase or building a new doorway page (which will be discussed in lesson #6). By optimizing your
site for additional keywords as you go along, you'll constantly boost traffic to your Web site.
3. When you searched AltaVista for your keywords, how many Web pages did you find for your
five most important keywords? Try not to pick a competitive keyword or keyword combination that
has several hundred thousand or a million web pages competing for the top ten positions. Instead, pick
keyword phrases where you'll have a chance of achieving a top ranking. Remember to start slowly and
work your way up—then you’ll really see results!
In the beginning, consider picking keyword phrases that produce results of around 10,000 or less. Get
ranked high there, and then move up to a phrase that produces 25,000 or so results and so forth,
building traffic as you go along.
As you continue to boost your Web site’s popularity and become more knowledgeable in Web
optimizing strategies, then try for some of the more general keywords, those that produce several
hundred thousand or so results. It's harder to get ranked high with the general keywords, but it's
certainly worth the effort.
Periodically, we have students who want to optimize their pages for keyword phrases that produce 100
or 200 results. It certainly won’t be a problem at all to get top rankings under those keywords, because
there’s no competition at all! But, how much traffic do you think you’d get with an obscure keyword
phrase? Not much. So, try to reach a happy medium by choosing a keyword phrase that produces a few
thousand results, then work your way up.
4. Write down a paragraph or two that describes your company. This may help you come up with
additional keyword phrases.
Table of Contents
Lesson #4: Relevancy -Where to put those Important Keywords
Tips on how you can improve your relevancy;
Link popularity;
Links4Trade;
LinkageXpress
Keyword weight;
Themes;
Locations where you can place your keywords;
Tips from the pros;
Homework.
We studied the importance of keywords in lesson #3, and we brainstormed to come up with ideas
for our own pages. So let’s talk about what we can do with those keywords.
Remember that each engine has a different ranking algorithm, which means that they each
consider certain things to be important, where another engine may not consider those things
important at all.
So, what we’ll discuss here is a general listing of where you can place your keywords. Not all of
the engines will consider keywords in these areas when determining relevancy, so you’ll need to
double check engine specific information to learn the preferences of that engine.
We’ve provided the information for AltaVista and Inktomi in the "Must See Information!"
section of this course material.
You can find information on the other engines by subscribing to Search Engine Watch or Planet
Ocean.
Keep this in mind:
Search engine positioning is not an exact science, and that’s an enormous understatement. As
long as you’re not trying blatant spamming techniques, don’t be afraid to try new things. You
never know when you might strike gold and discover something that can make a huge difference
in your rankings.
Try not to test a handful of new things at once, however. If you try one or two new things at a
time, you’ll be able to tell what’s really working and what isn’t.
Remember that if you test something that doesn’t work and your rankings go down, back track
and take out the changes. This proves the importance of keeping good notes. We’ve had several
students who didn’t take good notes, and then couldn’t remember how to get back a previous
better ranking. Very frustrating, as you can imagine.
How do the engines determine relevancy?
Search engines sort Web pages in their databases by the keywords contained in the tags and
body text of each Web page, among other factors. Therefore, you need to make sure that the
keywords you've chosen are implemented throughout your page.
In other words, you can’t stick in a keyword in your keyword META tag and expect the page to
rank well under that keyword. You have to use the keyword throughout the page.
There are certainly exceptions to this rule, but we can’t look at those exceptions. Instead, we
have to look at the overall picture and determine what seems to be working in that engine at that
particular time, then adjust our pages accordingly. The exceptions are just that: exceptions.
Let’s take it one step further
People visit search engines looking for information or Web sites. They enter keywords or
keyword phrases, and they expect the engine to return a listing of relevant Web sites based on
the keyword they entered. Search engines then sort the Web pages in their index by the
keywords contained in a Web page to produce the search results.
So, which keywords each individual search engine determines your Web page is relevant to and
how often that keyword is searched for will determine your Web page's ranking in that particular
search engine. As we said before, the ranking criteria differ from search engine to search engine.
This is very important, so always keep it in mind:
If you organize your keywords consistent with a search engine's ranking criteria, your ranking
with that particular engine will go up. That’s the reason it’s so important to study what each
particular engine considers relevant.
Also keep in mind that the concepts presented in this and other lessons build on one another and
apply to each page of your Web site, including your main page, doorway pages, interior pages,
site maps, etc.
How Can You Improve Your Relevancy, or Ranking, with
Search Engines?
1. Increase your keyword’s “prominence”
How “prominent” is the keyword phrase on your page? In other words, how *early* in a Web
page's title, description, body text, etc., does a searched for keyword appear? Make sure your
title or description begins with your most important keyword phrase! Start your body text with
your keyword phrase!
A couple of exceptions to this rule:
If you’re working with very competitive keyword phrases, try inserting competitive keywords in
the middle of the description tag. It sometimes helps boost your ranking a little.
Also, periodically, many of the engines offer boosts in relevancy to keywords that appear as the
3rd or 4th keywords in a title or description, versus the first. Or it may be the 2nd or 3rd
keywords. Don’t be afraid to test the waters here. Try your keywords as the first words in the
tags. If you don’t get the rankings you want, put them as the 3rd or 4th keywords and see if that
makes a difference, and so forth.
Better yet, analyze the top ranking sites for your keyword phrase. Where did they use the
keyword phrase?
2. Increase your keyword’s “frequency”
How frequently does a keyword appear in a page's title, description, tags, or body text? Include
your keyword once in the title and description tags and other important tags as well.
Most engines don’t like to see the keyword phrase used twice in a title tag, but they might accept
the phrase used twice in a description tag.
With some engines, if you repeat a word too many times, you'll be penalized for "keyword
stuffing." So, don’t use your keyword phrase more than three times in your keyword META and
other tags, but again, be very careful.
In many cases, “less” is better than “more.” Do not overdo it in the keyword department!
3. Boost your site’s popularity
These days, having a very popular Web site can make a huge difference in the rankings with
many engines. One measure of a site's "value" is the number of other related Web sites that have
agreed to link to it. Therefore, do whatever you can to try to get other sites to link to yours.
Having sites with related content to yours is what's important, as well as having quality sites, or
highly popular sites, link to yours.
For example, if you have a site for writers, if you can get other writing sites to link to your site,
that’s better as far as link popularity is concerned than just a bunch of unrelated links in areas
such as cooking, auto repair, and hair design.
Having links to related sites will not only give you a boost in link popularity, but it will also give
you a boost in relevancy as well, since the engines will spider the links and determine that the
content of the links are related to the content of your own site.
So, related links going to and from your site are now important.
In order to gain links to your site, consider asking for reciprocal linking, where if you link to
another Web site, they'll agree to link to yours.
Should you be concerned about the link popularity of individual pages of your site, or of the site
as a whole? Generally, the site as a whole, though having a high link popularity of some of your
individual pages can certainly benefit your entire site.
Quote from AltaVista regarding link popularity, as written by Chris Sherman of
About.com's WebSearch site, taken from the search engine conference in NYC in
March 2000.
Andre Broder, Chief Technology Officer of AltaVista, talked about the importance of link
popularity, or the number of sites that link to yours, for achieving high rankings. He stressed
quality over quantity, however. "Random links from random places not on your topic are not
likely to have any influence on your link popularity," he said. "Links must have relevance to
count, so they should come from respected sources that feature similar content to your own."
How can you determine your link popularity?
Visit AltaVista and type your URL into the search screen without the "www" as follows:
link:yourwebsite.com
http://altavista.com/
NOTE: Checking for link popularity is far from being an exact science. If you check this
morning, chances are your numbers will be different than if you check this afternoon. If some of
the sites that are linked to you haven’t submitted their page to that particular engine, your
numbers may be different than you think they should be. You may even want to submit those
sites that have linked to you to make sure that the pages get indexed, if you have the time to do
so.
Keep in mind that increasing your site's popularity is a gradual thing. You won't be able to send
out ten emails about reciprocal linking, then rush over to AltaVista to find a greater number of
sites linked to yours. Those pages first have to be indexed by the engine.
CAUTION: Don't participate in link exchange programs!
In the past, it's been an effective strategy to join link exchange programs as a means of boosting
your link popularity. Those programs started out with the goal being to get as many links as you
possibly could to point back to your site. When the engines went with "related" and "important"
links rather than sheer numbers, our philosophy changed, to where "related" link exchange
programs became the thing to join.
Now, many of the engines have banned whole sites that participate in link exchange
programs. So, they are OUT as a means of boosting your link popularity.
Again, our philosophy has been forced to change!
The bottom line is, link popularity is one of the most important aspects of boosting rankings to
your site. Yet, it's also one of the most difficult to achieve for a number of reasons. It's very time
consuming, plus many sites don't want to add links to related sites on their own pages. And, it
takes a long time to build, as a general rule.
Continue reading, though, for some ways of boosting your link popularity, as well as linking
services that will make it easy for you, yet still enable you to stay on the GOOD side of the
search engines.
Need some ideas on how to find sites to link to yours?
Visit AltaVista and type one of your competitor's URLs into the search screen without the
"www" as follows:
link:yourcompetitor.com
http://altavista.com/
The results will tell you which sites have posted links to your competitor's Web site. Visit each
site and look for an email address. Write to them and tell them that you’ve added a link to their
site from yours. Ask them to consider posting a link back to your Web site. Your competitors
probably won't consider adding a link to your Web site, but the other Web sites that are linked to
your competitor's Web site just might. It’s certainly worth a try.
Here are other ideas:
Contact the About.com guide for your related area. Ask the guide to consider adding a link to
your site. If your site is full of good content, you stand a chance at getting in. About.com is a
very popular site, and a link from them could go a long way toward boosting your link
popularity. If you can't get into About.com in this manner, you can purchase a paid link through
sprinks.about.com.
Also, make sure your site is listed in the popular directories such as Yahoo!, Open
Directory Project, and LookSmart.
A past class member offers a discount off selected goods and services on her
Web site in exchange for a link back to her site. She provides a little graphic
button the size of the "Get Microsoft IE" button, which no one has objected to
using.
The student said that this accounts for about 15 percent of the orders they get. She says, "It has
worked very well from the aspect of traffic also. I check the logs for referring sites everyday, and
the very high traffic sites we have submitted seem to give us a fairly nice bit of traffic. Some tips
on this: we had much better results when using more professional looking graphics and a nice
selection of them than when we only had one rather 'amateur looking' button available."
You can also create a testimonial's page and write a brief testimony about the products, services,
or Web site of a Web site that you'd like to link to yours. Then, write to that Web site and give
them the URL of the testimonial's page. In all likelihood, they'll link back to it. After all, you
were bragging about their company!
Sign guestbooks of related sites and list your URL!
Provide content on your Web site in the way of articles or free items, and encourage people to
link to that content. Write articles about your industry, and try to get those articles posted in
related sites, with links pointing back to your site.
Or, set up an affiliate program to promote your goods and services, which will effectively boost
your link popularity considerably as your affiliate program grows and prospers.
Zeus is a software program that is a reciprocal link generator. The program is available in a free
trial version. Though we haven't tried this program ourselves, we've heard good things about it.
http://www.cyber-robotics.com
To get additional reciprocal linking ideas, visit Webmaster World Forums and click on the
Reciprocal Linking forum. Debra Paynter is the moderator, and she is excellent. Plus, she's a
very nice person who is always willing to help anyone and everyone.
Links4Trade,
An Effective and Approved Alternative to
Link Exchange Programs
Links4Trade is a members-only site where you pick and choose who you want to link to. Then,
you submit a request to that member, who can approve or disapprove of your request. If he
approves, he must also link to your site, so there is no "one-way linking."
The listing of member sites is divided into related categories, so you can easily decide which
sites are appropriate to link to yours. Once you request a link and it is approved by the other
member, Links4Trade does the rest -- it adds his link on your link page, and it adds your link on
his link page.
Links4Trade sets up the link pages for you and houses them on their server, but the pages are
formatted exactly like the rest of your site. You'll add a link on your site to "Related Links" (or
whatever you want to call it), but that links page will reside on their server.
Go to Links4Trade and look around.
How do the engines feel about Links4Trade? The company is in the process of contacting the
major engines and showing them the service, in order to get their approval. The Google rep said
that he doesn't see any problems with the service.
We encourage you to register for the free trial of Links4Trade while taking this course. If you
do, you'll have 10 sites linking to you from the program FREE. That's a start, until you have time
to work on building your link popularity yourself, either by becoming a member of Links4Trade,
finding your own links, or by hiring LinkageXpress to do it for you.
Try LinkageXpress,
A Linking Program where Someone ELSE
Does All the Work!
LinkageXpress seeks out sites that are relevant to your target market and have excellent link
potential, then requests links from them to your site. They determine market relevance by the
site's content, search engine positioning and volume of traffic the site generates. Their
experience has been 60% - 80% of carefully targeted sites in a linkage campaign will link to you
if you offer content of value. In terms of a traffic increase, a majority of sites they've worked
with experience a 300% increase in traffic directly through these links, as well as through
significantly better search engine rankings.
http://www.linkagexpress.com/
Is there an easy way to determine link popularity for several engines? Yes!
Go to LinkPopularity.com.
At LinkPopularity.com, you can simultaneously check your link popularity at AltaVista, Google,
and HotBot. You can request that the site send you a free email each month with a report of
who's linking to your site. Very helpful!
http://www.linkpopularity.com/
Chat transcript about boosting link popularity?
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/chat/linking2-10-00.htm
4. Achieve an appropriate “keyword "weight"
Keyword "weight" refers to the number of keywords appearing on your webpage in relation to
the total number of words on the page.
There are many ways to check keyword weight. Some people check the visible body text—just
what visitors to the site would see. Other people check the entire source code and determine
keyword weight in that manner. Some people check the individual keywords in a keyword
phrase, then add those numbers together.
You can check keyword weight manually, or you can use a software program like WebPosition
Gold's Page Critic to check the keyword weight.
How you determine keyword weight really isn't important. What's important is for you to check
top ranking competing pages under your keyword phrase and see what their keyword weight is.
Check your pages' keyword weight in the same manner. Be consistent, and make adjustments
accordingly.
We'll discuss analyzing our competition in lesson #8.
Added note:
A few of the engines won’t index a page that has less than a certain number of words in the body
text. At this time, the average page length across the engines is 450 words. Aim your word count
at between 200 and 600 words in the body text.
Important consideration
Don't provide detailed product or service information on your home page. Instead, design a page
for each product and provide a brief description about the product or service and a link to that
page from the home page. This will allow you to be more specific with your keywords for each
product or service page and increase the "weight" of the keywords.
In other words, if you sell fruit boxes, don’t provide a lot of information about the different types
of boxes on your main page. Instead, provide a brief description of each with links to interior
pages. Each interior page can be optimized for a particular keyword phrase, like “Florida
oranges,” or “Washington apples.
This is particularly important, with all of the major engines gravitating toward being 'theme'
engines, which we'll discuss later in this lesson.
What if you have very little content on your main page?
Many Web pages, particularly the home page, contain very little content. Their purpose is to
introduce other areas of the site, and the Web site owners don't want lengthy pages, even if those
pages seem to do better in the rankings these days.
An option is to use a <noframes> tag and add content through that tag. The engines will see that
tag and index the content, which could help your page in the rankings if it's very short.
You'll find an example of a <noframes> tag later in this lesson.
You may not want to use a <noframes> tag to add content to your Google pages. Google has
been watching this tag closely, and using it could send up a red flag to the engine.
Here’s how to determine your page's keyword weight manually:
Cut and paste the source code of your Web page into a word processor. Have the program count
the total number of words. Then, run a find and replace, putting your keyword phrase in both
areas. The program will search for your keyword phrase and “replace” it with the same keyword
phrase, and it will tell you the number of times it replaced the phrase.
Take the number of times you used your keyword phrase and divide it by the total number of
words on your page to determine your page's keyword weight. For example, if you used your
keyword phrase 5 times on the page, and if there are 100 words on the page, your keyword
weight is 5 percent.
Another way to determine the keyword weight of a page is to visit:
http://keywordcount.com
The Importance of WebPosition Gold's Page Critic
Another very effective route to take for determining your keyword weight is to use Gold's Page
Critic. Page Critic will analyze your page's keyword weight. Many professional web positioners
won't work on positioning their pages without this valuable program.
For more information, visit our Important Resources page, or download a free trial version at:
http://www.webposition.com
Search Engine Optimizer (SEO) will also check the keyword weight of your body text. And,
Keyword Density Analyzer is another program for checking keyword weight.
What should your keyword weight be?
It depends on which engine you’re using. As a general rule, try to keep your keyword weight
between 3 and 5 percent, though different engines have different preferences regarding keyword
weight. Again, the best way to figure out what an engine wants to see in the way of keyword
weight is to analyze top ranking pages for your keyword phrase.
5. Keep your keywords in close proximity to each other
Keyword proximity is the placement of keywords on a Web page in relation to each other. For
example, the connected phrase "children’s programs" will outrank the phrase "children’s
software programs" when the searched for phrase is "children’s programs."
In other words, keep your keywords together!
However, it’s also beneficial to use the individual keywords from your keyword phrase
throughout the page. This will increase your chances at getting a good ranking for your keyword
phrase without using quotes when searching for it, because you’re also working toward
optimizing the page for those individual keywords.
6. Strategically place your keywords
Where your keywords are placed on a page is very important. If you place your keywords in the
title and heading tags, and if that particular engine places more relevancy to keywords in those
tags, your page will get a boost in the rankings. In some engines, placing keywords in the link
text can add more relevancy to those words, or placing keywords in the URL.
Remember that your keywords need to be placed toward the TOP of the page and toward the
BEGINNING of all of your keyword-containing tags.
7. Place your pages closer to the root domain
What we mean here is, try not to create so many directories, one after the other, and put your
pages in a directory that's two or three directories away from the root domain. We've found that
the closer to the root domain your pages are, the easier it'll be for you to get ranked, if everything
else about the pages are equal.
Here's an example:
http://www.mywebsite.com/directory/directory/mynewpage.htm
The above page (which isn't a "real" URL) generally and probably won't get ranked as high as:
http://www.mywebsite.com/mynewpage.htm
if both pages are identical in every other way.
So, give your page an automatic edge over the competition by placing it as close to the root
domain as you possibly can.
If you have to place your pages in a directory, try naming the directory after your keyword
phrase. That could help your relevancy. For example:
http://www.mywebsite.com/keyword-phrase/mynewpage.htm
8. Make sure that each page is devoted to one particular "theme," and make sure
that your entire site is focused on one central theme as well.
You may have heard about "theme" search engines. While this concept can get immeasurably
complicated, here's what you need to know.
Search engines like AltaVista and Google are beginning to look at your entire Web site when
determining relevancy. If each of your pages are all focused on one central theme, and if each
individual page is focused on a theme that is an offshoot of the central theme, you'll have an
easier time getting your page ranked high in the engines.
So, if your site has too many different topics, consider splitting it up into separate domains, with
each domain being focused on one central topic.
Click here for an excellent article about themes written by Michael Campbell.
Here's an interesting URL for checking your link popularity and themes:
http://www.searchengineworld.com/cgi-bin/theme.cgi
Important Note:
You can choose where to place your keywords, and you can determine their prominence,
frequency, proximity to one another, and weight as a percentage of the total words. Just
remember that how often and how early the keywords are placed will affect your ranking.
Options of where you can include keywords:
Search Engine Optimizer (SEO) software is an excellent tool for helping you remember where to
place keywords. You can download a free trial version at the Academy. The trial version
includes AltaVista, Excite, and a generic engine
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/courses/basic/software.html
Get in the habit of running each of your pages through SEO, and let the program remind you of
things you might have forgotten when optimizing your pages.
Keywords in the <TITLE> tag
Example:
<TITLE>Educational children’s software</TITLE>
Sometimes you can achieve good results by including multiple title tags with AltaVista, Excite,
and the Inktomi engines. If you need a boost, try two, but monitor this technique closely.
Keywords in the <meta name="description"> tag
Example:
<meta name="description" content="Educational children’s software makes
learning just plain fun!">
Note: All META tags should go in the <head> </head> section of your page. META tags are
certainly not as important as they used to be. Many of the engines don't consider the content of
META tags at all, whereas other engines use the META description tag in the search results, but
they don't consider the content when determining relevancy. Other engines, like AltaVista,
consider the content of META tags, but you may find that your results are higher if you don't use
META tags at all.
Keywords in the <meta name="keyword"> tag
Example:
<meta name="keywords" content="educational children’s software,
educational software, childrens software, EDUCATIONAL CHILDREN’S
SOFTWARE">
When using the keyword META tag, try adding a break tag <BR> in your list of keywords, like
this:
<meta name="keywords" content="<br> educational children’s software,
educational software, childrens software”>
If you use this technique, you’ll notice that the tag “flashes” on your screen when you’re viewing
the source code. Sometimes utilizing this technique causes the engine to “pause,” thereby
increasing your relevancy.
Another idea that may help boost relevancy is to leave off the ending “>” from the keyword
META tag. In other words, don’t close the tag properly.
Remember that sticking in a bunch of keywords in the keyword META tag won’t get your page
ranked high for all of those keywords. In order to get a top ranking with a keyword phrase, you
have to use that phrase throughout your page, in your title tag, and in other tags as well.
It's important to note that very few of the major engines consider the content of META tags
anymore, and particularly the META keyword tag.
Note: All META tags should go in the <head> </head> section of your page.
Keywords in the <meta http-equiv=”keywords”> tag
Example:
<meta http-equiv="keywords" name="keywords" CONTENT="educational
childrens software">
A few of the engines, including AltaVista, consider the content of http-equiv keyword tags for
relevancy.
Note: All META tags should go in the <head> </head> section of your page.
Keywords in the headline tags (h2, h3, etc.) tag
Example:
<h3 ALIGN="CENTER">Educational Children’s Software is Fun!</h3>
Many of the engines place considerable relevancy on headline tags, so use them frequently,
especially toward the top of your page. You may also want to try putting your entire body text in
a small headline tag.
Try using headline tags in a graduated manner. For example, start out the page with an <H1>
tag, then a paragraph or two of text, then an <H2> tag. Later, use another <H2> tag, add more
text, and then use an <H3> tag. End the page with an <H4> tag.
Keywords in the link text
Example:
<A HREF=http://yourwebsite.com/keyword-phrase.htm></A>Click here for
more educational children’s software programs.
Note: When you put your keyword phrases in your URLs, be sure to separate those phrases with
a "-" or a "_" instead of running the keywords together. By breaking the words up in some way,
the engines will see them as individual words in a phrase. If the words are not broken up, the
spiders will see the words as a single term.
Example:
http://www.robinsnest.com/web-optimizing-techniques.htm
(This isn’t a working URL—we're just showing how you would use hyphens in the URL.
Here's something else to try. Rather than using hidden links to point the engines to other pages
on your site (which we'll discuss in lesson #7), try hyperlinking your punctuation marks such as
periods or commas. Choose a punctuation mark that is near your important keyword phrase. In
this manner, you're also using that valuable link text.
Bill Gentry, Professional Search Engine Optimizer with The Selling Source
(http://www.rookiesnstars.com/position/) and Chat Moderator for the Academy, suggests this
"fix" for getting rid of the underscore from hyperlinked punctuation:
If you want to get rid of the link underlines, then use the following code:
<STYLE TYPE="TEXT/CSS">
a { text-decoration: none}
</STYLE>
Of course, this needs to go in the <HEAD>, and it will eliminate all link underlining on the page.
If you want to remove underlining from selected links and not others, then use this code:
<A HREF="http://www.somesite.com" STYLE="text-decoration: none">...</A>
Keywords in the body text
Remember the importance of keyword prominence and place your keyword phrase early in the
body text of the page.
Also, since some search engines retrieve the first few lines of your Web page and utilize them as
the description of your site in the search results, be sure to put a number of important keywords
in the first few lines of your introductory text. Try to craft the beginning text so that it is
appropriate to be used as a description of your site.
Make the first 25 words in the body of your page keyword rich. Begin your page with text, not
an image. The engines can’t “read” images, though many of the engines can read ALT tags of
those images.
Spread your keyword phrases throughout the body of the page in natural sounding paragraphs,
keeping some of them fairly close together for proximity sake. Put a keyword at the end of your
body text as well.
Added tip!
Try putting your keyword phrases in bold in your body text. Sometimes this boosts relevancy.
Keywords in the ALT tags
Example:
<IMG SRC="images/box.gif" ALT="educational children’s software"
WIDTH="415" HEIGHT="100">
The purpose of an ALT tag is to describe the contents of a picture that hasn't loaded yet for the
benefit of Web surfers who surf with the images turned off. Many surfers with older
computers/browsers search with the images turned off.
However, if you’ll insert your keyword phrase in your ALT tag rather than describing the
graphic, or do both, you’ll have a boost in relevancy with many of the engines.
Another idea that works quite well, especially with AltaVista, is to create a bulleted list on your
page. Use tiny bullet graphics with ALT tags, and insert your keyword phrase in each of those
ALT tags.
To download a tiny bullet graphic, visit this Web site:
http://www.robinsnest.com/circle1.gif
Click on File, then Save As.
Use single pixel images with ALT tags
If your page doesn’t contain graphics, or if you’d like an extra boost in relevancy, consider using
the clear single pixel image trick.
Download this small clear gif from this Web site:
http://www.robinsnest.com/clr.gif
When you go to the above page, it will be totally blank. That’s because the graphic is CLEAR!
To download the gif, click on File on the top toolbar, then choose Save As (since you can’t see it
on the page).
Then, insert that tiny, transparent graphic preferably near the top of the web page for the best
effect:
<IMG SRC=”clr.gif” BORDER=”0” ALT="educational children’s software”>
Notice that the height and width tags are left off. Without those tags, the engine can’t easily
determine the size of the graphic, so nothing about this strategy will send up a “red flag.”
You can use the single pixel gif trick even if you utilize other graphics on your page.
Keywords in comment tags
Example:
<!—-educational children’s software>
The only major engines that may still consider the content of comment tags when determining
relevancy are the Inktomi engines.
Keywords in the hidden value tag
Using keywords in the hidden value tag is now considered "spamming" by all of the major
engines. So, this technique has been removed from this lesson.
Keywords in hidden links
Example:
<A HREF=”educational-childrens-software.htm”><IMG SRC=”clr.gif”
BORDER=”0” ALT=”educational children’s software”></A>
Use hidden links with extreme caution and begin moving away from using them. Instead,
hyperlink punctuation marks, which we've discussed earlier. This gives you two definite
advantages over hidden links.
First, the engines won't mind, so your doorway pages stand a better chance of getting indexed.
Second, you're also using your valuable link text, which will give you a boost in relevancy. Your
visitors won't see those links, because they're certainly not expecting your punctuation marks to
be hyperlinked (!!), so you won't lose traffic back to your doorway pages. You can even link to
important related sites by hyperlinking punctuation marks, which will give you a boost in link
popularity.
Here's an example of a comma:
If you're interested in educational children's software, you'll find our vast assortment hard to
beat.
Remember that you'll want to make sure that the font color of the hyperlinked punctuation mark
is the same as the font color of your page.
Another alternative to hidden links is to create a site map, and link to the site map from your
main page. We'll discuss site maps in lesson #7.
Keywords contained in the URL or site address
Example:
http://www.robinsnest.com/educational_childrens_software.htm
In this example, you name your HTML page after your keyword phrase.
Keywords contained in the names of images
Example:
“childrens-educational-software.gif”
Sometimes renaming your images after your keywords can give you a boost in relevancy.
Keywords in the domain name
Example:
EducationalChildrensSoftware.com
Or
Educational-Childrens-Software.com
If you’re in the market for additional domains, be sure to purchase domain names that have your
keywords in them. You’ll get a boost in relevancy, plus an index page for each domain. Most of
the engines give a boost in relevancy to an index page of a domain.
You could have one main domain, and the other domains could serve as “doorway domains” by
linking to the main one. Don’t utilize a technique known as “pointing,” because you want to be
able to get each of those domains indexed separately. Optimize the index page of each domain
for one of your important keyword phrases.
Keywords in directory or subdomain names
Example:
Directory:
http://www.mywebsite.com/keyword-phrase/keyword-phrase.html
or
Subdomain:
http://keyword-phrase.mywebsite.com
We've had a lot of success with subdomains recently.
Keywords in a <noframes> tag, even though you’re not using
frames
Example:
<noframes>
<body>
<add META tags here>
<h2> <Educational Children’s Software offers Learning under the Guise of Fun!> </h2>
<p> <Can’t get your child to play educational games on your computer? No problem! Our
educational children’s software is designed to be just plain fun, so that your kids don’t even
realize they’re learning.></p>
<p><Purchase educational children’s software in subjects such as foreign languages, math, and
English.></p>
<a href="educational-childrens-software.htm”></a>
<a href=“sitemap.htm”></a>
</body>
</noframes>
You can use the <noframes> tag on a non-framed page to place text, and the engine will "find"
and index it. It will index the page, plus any content within the <noframes> tag. You can place
links to other pages of your site, text, tags, etc. Text within this area does count toward your total
keyword weight.
You can place the tag anywhere on the page that you want, but you may want to try placing it
toward the bottom of the page.
You may have to use brackets around the body text to keep the text from showing on your page.
NOTE: Be careful when using <noframes> tags with Google -- the engine may be watching for
those tags as a possible spam ploy.
Keywords in a <style> tag
Example:
<style>educational children’s software</style>
All of the major engines except FAST consider the content of <style> tags when determining
relevancy, so use these tags!
Keywords in the font tag
Example:
<FONT COLOR="educational children’s software"></FONT>
Keywords in <HEAD> Tags
Example:
<head keywords="keyword phrase, keyword phrase, keywords">
Keywords in background images
Example:
<body background="images/background2.gif" text="#222222" ALT="Put keyword
phrase here" bgcolor="white" link="#0033ff" vlink="#555555" alink="red">
Keywords in META Author Tag
Example:
<META name="author" content="insert keyword phrase here">
This works with HotBot at the present time.
Keywords in Paragraph Tags
Example:
<P TITLE="Keyword1 and Keyword2">
How many keyword phrases should you use per web page?
In most cases, you won’t be able to optimize each page for more than one or two keywords.
However, you may find that the page is actually found under other keyword phrases too.
Do you have to make changes in *all* of these categories?
No! Remember what we said about the engines preferring simplicity. Start with simple and build
from there.
It’s also a good idea to test the waters by making changes in a few areas, then see how those
changes affect your ranking before making additional changes. Then, you can easily see what
works and what doesn't.
Again, take good notes about everything you do!
Impossible to remember everything?
Yes, it is! That's why Search Engine Optimizer was created. SEO can make suggestions of where
you can include keywords, and it can point you in the right direction if you're getting off track.
To download a free trial version, visit:
Also, Page Critic of Gold is another good program to run all of your pages through.
For more information:
For detailed instructions on META tags, see:
"How to Use META Tags" at Search Engine Watch Web site:
http://searchenginewatch.internet.com/webmasters/meta.html
“Search Engine Placement Tips” at Search Engine Watch Web site:
http://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/tips.html
Tips from the Pros:
If you have 350 pages in your site, should you include META tags on every single page? A
technical representative from First Place Software answered it this way:
"If you have the time, I recommend adding some META tags to any pages you consider
important. Also, don't rely on a search engine spider to find all of your web pages. Take the time
to submit your important pages. This will ensure that they are indexed in a timely fashion."
Additional note on relevancy from a Web positioning expert
Some experts believe that the degree of difficulty in getting your Web site ranked in the top 10 is
determined by the spread of %-relevancy between the top 10 sites rather than the total number of
pages. If there is more than a 10 percent difference between the #1 site and the #10 site, your
keyword will get placed fairly easily. As the gap narrows, the difficulty increases.
Assignment #4:
Complete this assignment before moving on to lesson #5.
1. How popular is your Web site at this point? Let’s find out.
Visit AltaVista and type your URL into the search screen without the "www" as follows:
link:yourcompany.com
http://www.altavista.com/
Or, you can visit LinkPopularity.com to check your link popularity:
The goal of this exercise is to point out the importance of site popularity, not to try to arrive at an
exact figure, which is impossible. We simply want you to remember the importance of Web site
popularity so you can do whatever you can to boost it.
2. Read the Latest Tips page for AltaVista or Inktomi in the "Must See Information!" section of
this course. In order to submit to any search engine, you must know and understand that engine's
quirks and preferences.
3. This week, you’ll analyze the HTML coding of your own site, determine what changes need
to be made based on the keywords you've chosen and the relevancy factors from this lesson, then
make those changes.
Keep in mind that don't have to make these changes to all of your pages. And, you don’t have to
change every single area.
Keep it simple and start out slowly, building from there.
Consider adding keywords in these sections:
Title;
Description;
Keywords;
Headlines;
Link text;
Body text (try using them in bold);
ALT tags (including using the single pixel gif);
Style tags;
URL/site address.
Consider the following points:
Place the keywords early in the title, description, keyword, and all other tags.
For AltaVista, make your title short and don’t repeat the keyword phrase.
Try to include keywords and synonyms of your keywords throughout the text of the page.
Use various spellings of your keywords, particularly in your keyword META tag. Check to see if
the engine is case sensitive for your keyword phrase by searching for it in all caps, all lower-case
letters, and capitalized. Are the results the same? If so, the engine isn’t case sensitive for your
phrase. If the results differ, be sure to use all variations in your keyword META tag.
Remember the importance of keyword proximity and try to keep your keyword phrases together.
However, try to utilize the individual keywords from your keyword page sprinkled throughout
the page and tags as well.
4. Submit your page to AltaVista and/or Inktomi.
5. Wait a week or so, then run WebPosition Gold’s Reporter to see how your changes have
affected your ranking in AltaVista or Inktomi. If you have used either engine's free submission
service, it may take you several weeks to see how your changes have affected the rankings.
6. Consider participating in Links4Trade's free trial, which will give you 10 free links to sites
that are related in content to your own site. That's a START in building link popularity!
7. Or, try to work on increasing the popularity of your Web site by contacting 10 to so sites to
see if they'll provide reciprocal linking back to your site if you link to theirs. Keep a list of the
sites you've contacted in your notebook. Contacting Web sites for reciprocal linking would be an
excellent task to do on a weekly basis.
8. Visit the forums again and see what you can learn.
1. What is your Web site’s popularity? In other words, how many sites were linked to yours
when you checked at AltaVista?
This exercise simply reminds us of the importance of Web site popularity, so please understand
that the numbers you get won’t be exact or even totally accurate. If you had very few sites linked
to yours, or none at all, don't be concerned. Building your site popularity is a process, just like
web positioning is a process. So whenever the opportunity arises to request reciprocal linking,
jump at the chance!
2. In how many pages of your Web site did you make keyword and relevancy changes? In which
areas did you make changes?
Title;
Description;
Keywords;
Headlines;
Link tags;
Body of page itself;
ALT tags;
URL/site address.
It’s okay to start out slowly and work your way up, checking your ranking as you go. You don’t
have to make changes in all of those areas in every one of your pages.
Most of the engines place a lot of relevancy on headline tags, so be sure to add your keywords to
your headline tags. We've even had students who have written the entire body of their web page
in small headline tags! Link text is also very important these days with almost all of the engines.
3. After submitting your pages to AltaVista, what changes did you see in your site's placement?
What is your ranking now for your pages?
If your page isn't indexed by AVor Inktomi within several weeks, look closely at the page. Make
sure that the page contains valuable content, isn't "machine generated," is more than just a splash
page that links to your main site, and isn't using any spamming techniques. What do we mean by
machine generated? There are software programs on the market that do nothing more than create
doorway pages and swap out keywords from page to page. AV considers these pages to be
spamming. AV doesn't want to see pages that are there for the sole purpose of getting the visitor
to click to another page, which is a splash page.
So, if your page doesn't get into the index within two weeks, make sure that you're following all
of AV's guidelines. See the Tips for AltaVista page for more information. Then, resubmit your
page. In lesson #5, we cover more submission/resubmission guidelines.
4. How many Web sites did you contact about reciprocal linking? Did you join Links4Trade to
make it easy to get those first 10 related links?
Again, try to do this on a regular basis. Reciprocal linking sometimes has a snowball effect. If
you can start working on it and get it going, it tends to increase on its own as you get more
traffic.
Table of Contents
Lesson #5: Advertise Your Company Through
Effective Titles and Descriptions
and Submission/Resubmission Guidelines
Explanation of why titles and descriptions are so important;
Reason for not using the name of your business as the title;
"Advertising campaigns" for your site;
Tips for writing titles and descriptions;
The all important title tag;
Examples;
Transferring knowledge to your own site;
Submission/Resubmission Guidelines
Homework.
When you go to a search engine and perform a search, you’re presented with a listing of results.
You’re given a title of the Web site, a description of it, generally the relevancy of the Web site
based on the keyword searched, and more, depending on the engine.
Those performing a search will look at the title and description presented to them in the results,
and that’s what will determine whether they visit your site or not.
If your title and description are captivating and professional, you may actually get
more traffic than the #1 site.
So, you can see how important it is that your Web page’s title and description are appealing and
eye-catching. Yes, the prominence and frequency of keywords are crucial too, because those
items help you get ranked to begin with. But if you don't have an effective title and description,
you could still lose customers.
You want your title to exhibit professionalism. When potential customers perform a search and
are reviewing the results, they will glance at your title and description. If your title and
description are not professional and don’t give the customer a sense of security, they won’t visit.
After all, your Web site is your business, or an extension of your business. It must be set up and
conducted with as much professionalism as an offline business.
We’re not talking about the name of your Web site or your company
When we refer to the “title,” we’re not talking about the actual name of your Web site or your
company’s name. We’re talking about your <title> tag. The <title> tag is what a customer sees in
a search engine's results.
Also, when you visit a Web site, the <title> tag is what you see at the very top of your browser
window.
You need to spend as much time developing an outstanding title and description as you did in
determining your keywords in lesson #3.
Don’t use the name of your business in the <title> tag
Many businesses make the possible mistake of using the actual name of their business in the
<TITLE> tag. Here’s an example:
<title><Phillips Software Extravaganza></title>
How many people are going to be searching for your actual business? Instead of using the name
of your company in your title tag, create a title tag that uses keyword phrases that your customers
will use when searching for your site, like this:
<Educational software programs at rock bottom prices!>
If you want your site to be found, you must use your most important keyword phrase in the
<title> tag. By using keyword phrases rather than the name of your business, you’ll get more
traffic, unless the name of your business provides instant name recognition (like Microsoft or
Sony).
Most businesses feel that it’s also important to create a page that is optimized for the name of
their business, which is an excellent idea. So, they create a "doorway page" (which will be
discussed in lesson #6) and use their company name as the keyword phrase.
Another alternative is to use both your keyword phrase and your company name, like this:
<Bulldog puppies – Best of the breed at King’s Bulldog Kennels>
Remember . . .
If you don’t immediately captivate the Web surfer with an effective title, you probably won’t get
another chance. Your site title has to get their attention, create curiosity about what you’re
offering, and evoke emotions to the extent that they’re willing to visit your site.
Sell your company through an effective title and description!
Write your title and description as carefully as if you were conducting an important advertising
campaign. “Sell” the idea of visiting your Web site by creating an effective title and description.
If your title and description are impressive, visitors may skip over sites that actually rank higher
than yours to get to your site! On the other hand, if your title and description are dull and boring
or difficult to read, you can be in the #1 ranked position, but you’ll still lose business.
Your title and description should solve a problem quickly for
the potential visitor for what seems to be a reasonable cost and
make the reader curious to learn more.
Tips for Writing Effective Titles and Descriptions
Don’t use dull and boring titles or descriptions <yawn>
Your title and description may be the only things that determine if a potential customer will visit
your site, so they *must* be compelling!
Use compelling words in your title and description
Some time ago, InternetDay Newsletter published a listing of compelling words you can use in
an advertising campaign. Click here for the listing of words.
By the way, InternetDay is an excellent source of information about online marketing and
promotion. Visit this URL to subscribe (it’s free!):
http://internetday.com/
Don't forget the "power" of a question!
Consider using questions in your title or description tags. Questions can be very powerful, and
they always make us stop and think (probably because we're subconsciously trying to answer the
question!).
Example:
Has income tax season gotten you down?
Visit the income tax specialists at TaxesRUs, and let us take the dirty work out of preparing your
tax forms.
Try to *begin* your title (and description) with your keyword phrase!
Look at these actual titles from a search engine's results for the keyword phrase, "high risk
automobile insurance" (in quotes). If you wanted to purchase high-risk automobile insurance,
would titles like these appeal to you and make you want to visit those sites? In most cases, no!
10-K405 1 1994 EMC INSURANCE GROUP INC 10-K405 UNITED STATES SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE ...
where can i find insurance online?, TERM LIFE QUOTES, APARTMENT INSURANCE, free
quote CAR INSURANCE, nebraska automobile insurance policies, nebraska homeowners
insurance quotes,
high risk life insurance, insurance nebraska, LOW LIFE ...
Arctic Systems, Inc.- File Pro Page
ARCTIC SYSTEMS & FILEPRO DATABASES
Not very impressive, are they?
Please notice how difficult it is to read the words that are written in all caps. It stops many people
cold, and they have to force themselves to read it.
The second example is so totally unprofessional! Would you purchase insurance through a
company like that? Would you spend your time visiting the site?
Let's Concentrate on
The All-Important Title Tag
Your page’s <TITLE> tag is the most important HTML tag on your Web site, so it must be the
first tag on your page.
Why? Because all search engines consider the keywords in the <title> tag and give those
keywords a relevancy boost. Most engines use this tag as the title of your site in their search
results, which means it must be effective.
The <title> tag is even more important than the description because it's used by so many of the
engines exactly as it appears on your page. Some search engines will use the site description but
not others. Some of the search engines will actually use the first words in your body text as the
description of your site, so keep that in mind when developing your pages.
You can use the Summary Description Report of Gold’s Reporter to see the description text for
your page that's displayed in the search results. Or, search for your site manually and view the
description in the search results that way.
View your source code
Take time to view your source code on the Web. Click on View, then Source. If your <title> tag
isn't listed first, you need to move it first, followed by the description and keyword META tags.
If you use FrontPage or any of the WYSIWYG HTML editors, check this carefully, because
those editors are bad about listing unimportant META tags first (such as the generator tag),
followed by the description and keyword tags, and finally the title tag.
Other editors will place a comment tag above the <head> section (like HotMetal Pro).
Our research has shown that the comment tag probably doesn’t hurt your rankings, but try to
remove it anyway. You want the engine to see your <title> tag first!
When you remove the tag, the editor may automatically put it back in every time you open the
page. So, try to get in the habit of viewing the source code right before you close the HTML
editor and removing the tag.
Begin your title tags with your keyword phrase!
It's so important to utilize your keyword phrase in the beginning of your title. But, how can you
create an effective title/description if you have to begin with your keyword phrase? It isn't always
easy!
However, here's an alternative that works quite well. Begin with your keyword phrase, add a few
dashes, and then continue with the "real" title or description, something like this:
Play Station game tips--Discover the latest tips and tricks at the Sony Information
Web site!
Exceptions to beginning with your keyword phrase
Sometimes, you'll find that certain engines will place more relevancy on keywords that are in the
2nd and 3rd positions in the title tag, versus the 1st. Or, maybe the 3rd and 4th positions seem to
work better at a certain point in time.
Therefore, it's always an excellent idea to see what your top-ranking competitors are doing, so
search for your keyword phrase and see who's on top. Where are they using their keyword
phrase? Is the phrase first in the title tag? Third? Adjust your title accordingly.
Another exception is if you’re working with a very competitive keyword phrase. Then, try
inserting it toward the middle of your description tag and see if it helps your rankings.
Remember: Be sure to keep up with changes in the industry by utilizing these lessons and
subscribing to Search Engine Watch and Planet Ocean. After taking the Advanced course, you
can subscribe for continued access to the course material, which is another excellent way of
keeping up with changes in the industry..
Can you list your keyword more than once in your title?
Since listing your keyword in the title tag is so important, what about listing it two or three
times? Be careful, because some engines will penalize you for doing so.
If you've repeated a keyword in your title and have had trouble getting good rankings, try
deleting the repeated word so it only appears once in the title.
Remember: With many of the search engines, "less" is sometimes better.
For some engines, you may even find that a title that includes just the keyword phrase:
<TITLE>Educational Software</TITLE>
will give a better score. In any event, always keep your most important keyword or phrase near
the beginning of all of your tags.
Some top ranking pages seem to put a string of keywords at the end of the title. The title tags are
long, with those keywords at the end. This is something you might want to try with very
competitive keyword phrases, though it's certainly not very professional.
Don't use "yellow page" tactics when creating titles!
Many people believe that starting a title with a number or symbol will help in search engine
placement because of the way that computers sort the alphabet. The letter "A" doesn't come first.
Instead, a space comes first, then the top row of symbols on your keyboard, followed by
numbers, and finally the letters.
However, a title high in the alphabet or the ASCII character set really offers no advantage with
the major search engines, because their results aren't capitalized. If you see a site doing well that
is using this technique, it is usually because they have employed other effective Web optimizing
techniques.
Some of the directories, like Yahoo! and the ODP, do alphabetize Web sites under the category
listings. So, having a title that begins with a beginning letter of the alphabet could help you there.
But, don't use "yellow page" tactics. Yahoo! will quickly reject your submission if you do.
The only time you can get away with using a symbol at the beginning of your title is if the actual
name of your business or Web site begins with a symbol, like:
@Job Hunters
Important tips for writing titles
1. Make your titles eye catching and snappy, using enough words to convey the focus of your site
without being overly wordy.
Important: Check each engine’s limits on the length of titles and descriptions. For example,
AltaVista’s limit on the length of titles is 78 characters, including spaces. Its limit on the
description tag is 150 characters. View the Engine Chart in the course material for
title/description limits for the other engines.
2. Start your sentences with one capital letter and follow with all lowercase letters. The words in
your title will be easier to recognize and will get read first.
Why is that? Because people don't "read" text--they simply "recognize" words. In fact, people
recognize words by looking at the tops of the words.
Here’s an example:
Play Station game tips--Discover the latest tips and tricks for mastering those tricky
Play Station games at the Sony Information Web site!
Play Station Game Tips--Discover the Latest Tips and Tricks for Mastering those
Tricky Play Station Games at the Sony Information Web site!
The first example is easier to read than the second.
3. Don't write in all caps. On the Internet, it's considered SHOUTING and very poor form. Plus,
words in all caps aren't easy to read, and they’re truly annoying! Look at the examples below:
HOME PAGES SEEM TO CARRY SLIGHTLY MORE WEIGHT WITH
ALTAVISTA.
Home pages seem to carry slightly more weight with AltaVista.
The bottom example is much easier to read and is not annoying at all. Plus, it’s true!
4. Place your most important keyword or phrase near the beginning of your title, description, and
all other tags.
5. Don't overdo your use of keywords! You don’t want to get in trouble with the engines and be
considered a spammer.
6. Place your <title> tag as the FIRST tag on your page.
7. Don't use a listing of your keywords as your <title> or description, such as:
fresh garden vegetables, hand-grown vegetables, hand-picked vegetables
It’s not easy to read, and it’s not very professional.
Make your <title> a selling point to lure viewers to your Web site, such as:
Fresh garden vegetables, hand-grown and hand-picked right from the garden and
delivered straight to your door!
Let’s study some examples
If you were presented with these two Web sites in the search results, which one would you visit
first?
!!Web site Promotion, the Web site promotion specialists
Web site promotion, graphics, design, graphics design, Web site promoter, web page designer,
design experts, Web site promotion specialists.
Web site promotion by Web optimization experts
Web site promotion designed to boost traffic to your Web site within record time. What will you
do when your traffic doubles or triples due to our Web site promotion tactics?
Both would score high on a search engine based on the keyword phrase, "Web site promotion."
But choice #2 has, by far, the most effective title and description.
Also, notice that the first example is rather difficult to read, since it just lists keyword after
keyword.
Let’s analyze the examples
In the second example above, "Web site promotion" is listed as the first word of the title, the first
word of the description, and repeats the phrase one more time. This description is captivating,
solves a problem (fast Web site promotion), and asks a question that will cause any Web site
owner to stop and think.
The actual name of the business was not used as the title. However, the business could write a
doorway page and optimize it for the name of their business, which is always an excellent idea.
Also, notice that a synonym of our important keyword phrase could have been used: Web site
optimization. Instead of using the keyword phrase twice in the description, we could have
substituted it with the synonym with the hope of getting the page found for both.
Though example #1 lists "Web site promotion" twice in the title, twice in the description, and
once as a variation of the keyword phrase, it's not very businesslike or appealing, and it’s more
difficult to read. It’s also pushing the limits of the engines by utilizing the keyword phrase that
many times in those two tags.
More Examples
Here are two more examples that emphasize the importance of effective titles and descriptions.
Decide for yourself which is the most effective.
Web Experts
web-experts.com innovative design content development internet marketing solutions hosting
services shopping carts maintenance clients
Custom Web site design tailored to your specific needs
WebDesign 2 is the complete solution for starting a Web site, from custom Web site design to
Web site marketing, hosting, maintenance, and programming. Let us work for you!
Which of those Web sites would you visit?
Example #2 solves a problem, does it quickly, and shows several advantages. It's much more
effective than the first choice. Note that the keyword phrase is the 2nd and 3rd words in the title
instead of the first.
Also note that the description doesn’t begin with the keyword phrase. In order to gain an edge,
the keyword phrase needs to be placed closer to the beginning of the tag. It should be placed at
the beginning of all tags, actually.
Let’s transfer what we’ve learned to your own Web pages
Now, we want to analyze your own page’s description and title. Consider these questions:
Is your title/description captivating?
Would it make someone curious enough to want to visit the site?
Is it easy to read?
Is it professional?
Does it include time and money, if appropriate and if beneficial?
Does it solve a problem quickly and efficiently?
Get the opinion of others!
When analyzing your page’s title and description, ask others for their opinion. Choose people
who you know will be totally honest.
In this lesson’s homework, we ask you to post your title and description at the forum. Hopefully
you’ll get some feedback there.
One Final Reminder
Your listing in the search engine results must be captivating
If the title and description of the site right below yours are more compelling, you lose--simple as
that.
Submission and Resubmission Guidelines
Now that we've started working on our actual Web pages in the course, we need to take some
time to learn some basic submission/resubmission tips. Submitting too often can get us in trouble
with the engines. Plus, submission guidelines have changed from what they used to be. So, let's
take some time this week to go over these guidelines.
Let's say that you submit your Web page today, but one week from now, it still hasn't gotten
indexed. Should you resubmit the page?
Or, let's say that you've made changes to your Web page. Should you resubmit the page then?
What are some "safe" guidelines for submissions and resubmissions?
First off, remember that the engines differ from each other in how long they take to index a page
after submission. So, if you're working with an engine that generally takes three weeks to index a
page, don't resubmit your page until you wait for three weeks to give the engine time to index it.
Then, keep these safe guidelines in mind:
Note: Some of the engines, like AltaVista and Inktomi, now have pay inclusion programs.
Obviously, some of the submission/resubmission guidelines are different if you use those
services.
1. Submit new pages to the engines, and then wait to see if the pages make it into the engines'
indexes. Remember that it can literally take weeks (months?) for pages to get into an index.
If the pages don't make it into the index, don't automatically resubmit them, but look them over
carefully to see if you need to employ additional optimization strategies before resubmitting.
2. Submit all of your important pages to the search engines that allow you to submit more than
just the main page of your site.
Jim Stob from PositionPro (http://www.positionpro.com) explains, "None of the spiders crawl as
well as they say they do. Sometimes they do an excellent job, but in most cases, they don't."
3. After a page has made it into the index, unless you make significant changes to the page or the
page has dropped from the index, don't resubmit it.
4. If a page is dropped from the index, wait for two weeks to see if the page is picked back up,
and then resubmit it.
5. If you've made significant changes to a page, resubmit it, but no sooner than 21 days since
your last submission. It might benefit you to play it safe!
6. Consider adding visible links to all of your important pages on the main page of your site.
Give the engines something to spider!
What about using hidden links, which is a popular strategy these days? Stob says to begin to
approach this practice with caution. "I believe AV is beginning to look for hidden links, so try to
stay away from them. I'm not saying that you will have trouble based upon their spider. However,
they do have people reviewing, and I believe they are looking at this closer."
7. Submit your pages manually, or use a submission service or software that mimics a manual
submission. By that, we mean that the software or service waits for verification before submitting
another URL. If you use a submission software program, make sure that you're able to choose the
schedule for your submissions. If you can't, you may find yourself in trouble with the engines for
over-submitting.
8. Keep in mind that if it takes too long for an engine to access your site, it probably won't get
indexed.
For a more detailed article on submissions and resubmissions, click here.
Want a suggested order for submissions? Click here for suggestions on submission order and
which engines you need to be submitting to.
Submission service suggestions
WebPosition Gold (Gold has a submitter function that mimics a manual submission.)
PositionPro (This is the same organization that handles Inktomi's paid submission service, and
we've had excellent results when using them).
http://www.positionpro.com
Submit Director (This is a do-it-yourself service offered by Position Technologies, owner of
PositionPro, which is designed for small companies.)
http://www.submitdirector.com
Assignment #5:
1. Work on creating an effective title <TITLE> for your Web site.
Ask yourself these questions:
Is your title captivating?
Is it easy to read?
Is it professional?
Write at least five different titles for your site, analyze them, and decide which one you think is
the most effective. If possible, get someone’s opinion of the titles.
2. Work on creating an effective description for your Web site.
Ask yourself these questions:
Is your description captivating?
Is it easy to read?
Is it professional?
Write at least five different descriptions for your site, analyze them, and decide which you think
is the most effective. If possible, get someone’s opinion of the titles.
3. Change one or more of your pages to reflect your new titles and descriptions.
Then, run your pages through Search Engine Optimizer (SEO) software to see if there's anything
you might have missed and want to change before submitting the page to the engines.
Resubmit your pages to AltaVista if it's been at least 21 days since you last submitted the
page to the engine. Or, let the engine find the changes itself during its next spider run, which is
certainly a good idea if you can stand to wait. If you're using Inktomi's pay inclusion program,
you don't have to resubmit your pages, since the program will automatically re-crawl your pages
every 48 hours. If you use AV's free submission program, expect it to take several weeks for the
changes to make it into the index.
4. How are you coming on boosting your Web site popularity?
5. Consider contacting another 10 or so Web sites to see if they'll provide reciprocal linking back
to your site if you link to theirs. Keep a list of the sites you've contacted in your notebook.
6. Again, remember to visit the forums and learn from others in the industry.
Write down two of your most effective titles and descriptions for your Web pages. Remember to
use your keyword phrase early in both tags.
If you saw your listing in a search engine’s results, would it make you want to visit the site? Is it
professional and captivating? Could your title and description be used in an effective advertising
campaign?
Search for your keyword phrase at one of the engines. Look at your competitors’ listings. Are
your title and description more effective? What can you do to improve them?
Table of Contents
Lesson 7: Site Maps, Hallway Pages, and Links —
Helping Your Doorway and Interior Pages to be Found--- Doorway Domains -and Important Directories
Importance of site maps;
Tips for site maps;
Links;
Will the engines index links in drop-down menus?
Doorway domains;
Open Directory Project;
Direct Hit;
LookSmart
Homework;
HTML test.
Site Maps
Let’s say your keyword phrase is very competitive. You’ve utilized other more finetuned phrases and
have been quite successful, but now you’re ready to tackle the “big boy” keyword phrase and win.
You want every edge you can get over your competition, so you’ve worked hard and optimized the
page until it shines. You’ve created separate informational doorway pages for each of the major engines
for that keyword phrase, carefully taking into account each engine’s particular ranking algorithm.
However, you know that submitting pages doesn't guarantee that those pages will make it into the
index or be ranked high. Some pages will make it, and others might not. Also, you know that the
engines often place more relevancy on web pages they "find" themselves versus submissions.
So, how can you help the engine find the pages without submitting them yourself?
Site maps are one solution
Many Web sites utilize site maps or indexes in order to make it easier for their visitors to find what
they’re looking for on their site. This is especially true of the larger Web sites with hundreds (or
thousands) of pages.
Now, however, we have another reason for using a site map-to place links to all important interior or
doorway pages of your site, so the spiders can crawl those links and index your other pages. You simply
place a link on your main page to the site map, and submit the main page. Your interior pages should
then be found.
Important Note: Because some search engine spiders limit the number of links that they index on a
page, try to list your links on your site map in order of importance. Also, you may want to limit the
number of links per page to 50. This may not be possible, but give it a try.
Also, be sure to include text on your site map page, rather than just a list of links. AltaVista considers a
site map that contains just links to be spam.
Tips for Site Maps
Do you have to optimize your site map page?
No, it's not necessary. You aren't interested in getting a top ranking for the site map. You simply want
to get it indexed so that the engines' spiders will visit the page and spider through it, thereby indexing
the rest of your doorway and interior pages without your having to submit them yourself.
Actually, you don’t want a top ranking—because you don’t want the page in competition with your
other pages!
Is there any special format to a site map?
Nope. You simply want to list your doorway and interior pages. You should certainly include
descriptive text for each link (hopefully containing your important keywords) or a paragraph or two of
information at the top of the page, but there's no need to go into more detail than that. If you do, again,
you may run the risk of the page competing with your doorway pages for some of your keyword
phrases (as strange as that sounds).
So, keep it simple and to the point—just a no-nonsense list of links with descriptive link text pointing to
other important pages on your site. However, to keep from getting in trouble with AltaVista for having
a page of just links, add a paragraph or two of text on your page.
If you want to use the site map as an added navigation tool for your visitors, be sure to make the site
map presentable and in the same general format of the rest of your site. Add a visible link to the site
map from your main page.
But, if the site map is just for the engines, then you may want to add a link from the main page to the
site map through hyperlinked punctuation, so that the engines can find it but your visitors can't.
However, keep in mind that depending on the eventual ranking of the site map, you could get some
traffic to the page. In this regard, be sure to make the page presentable, so that you won’t be
embarrassed if you get visitors through that page.
Do you have to include links to your doorway pages on your site map? After all, you
don't want to send traffic back to the doorway pages from your site!
You don't have to include links to doorway pages, but keep in mind that one of the main uses of a site
map is to put your doorway pages in front of the engines when they spider your site map page.
So, why don't you put visible links on the site map to all interior pages of your site, and hyperlinked
punctuation marks to your doorway pages?
The engines will see all of those links, but your visitors will only see the links to your interior pages.
How do you keep one engine from finding the doorway pages you've created for
another engine?
If you add links to your doorway pages on your site map, how do you keep AltaVista from finding the
doorway pages you created for Excite?
You have a couple of options here. You can create a robots.txt file and place it on your server. That file
will keep certain engines out of certain pages while letting other engines in. We'll discuss the robots.txt
file in lesson #8.
Or, you can create separate site maps just for your doorway pages. These types of pages are known as
"hallway pages." However, you may still want to utilize a robots.txt file, because the engines will find
each of your hallway pages when it spiders your main page, if you've added links to the hallway pages
there.
Example of a site map
Many large sites utilize site maps very effectively. Almost all of the major engines have a site map.
Ebay Auction has a good site map, which you can see at this location:
http://www.ebay.com
Look for the "site map" link toward the top of the page.
A hallway page looks JUST like a site map, except that it only contains links to doorway pages.
Links
Besides utilizing a site map, another popular strategy for getting your doorway pages found is to add
hidden links on the main page of your site to all of your doorway pages. However, as we mentioned
earlier, begin moving away from using hidden links and hyperlink punctuation or even a small graphic
instead.
How to create hyperlinked punctuation
We discussed how to create hyperlinked punctuation in lesson #4, but we'll give you a quick example
here.
If you're interested in educational children's software, you'll find our vast assortment hard
to beat.
Notice that we took advantage of link text by hyperlinking the comma that appeared near our keyword
phrase, "educational children's software."
Drop-Down Menus
If you use drop-down menus on your page, be sure to include actual HTML links to your interior pages
as well. If you rely on your drop-down menus to direct the spiders to other pages on your site, you may
be very disappointed when the pages aren't indexed.
Here's what Academy instructor Jacquie said, "In my dive directory, I use drop-down menus for all of
the destinations (500 pages give or take), and none of the destination pages have ever been indexed,
until I finally created a site map. Now the destination pages are getting indexed - slowly but surely. I
haven't submitted but just a couple of the destination pages individually."
So, if you use drop-down menus, be sure to include a site map or visible links to your interior pages as
well. Also, since drop-down menus generally appear at the top of the page before any text, and since we
don't know if the engines index anything in drop-down menus, using them could be pushing important
keyword-containing text toward the bottom of the page.
Doorway Domains
Let’s look at some facts:
●
●
Home pages rank higher than other pages in almost all of the major engines.
Each Web site has only one index or home page, unless you create subdomains with the keyword
as the subdomain, like this:
http://keyword-phrase.robinsnest.com/index.html
Subdomains are very effective, by the way. Talk to your host server for details on setting up
subdomains. (That is NOT an active URL but is only used as an example.)
● Utilizing your keyword phrase in your domain name gives an added boost in relevancy.
● Creating additional domains for separate areas of your company can help you gain more than one
presence in Yahoo!. This can also help you with theme search engines like AltaVista.
If you sell computer software and also conduct classes in how to use that software, for example, you
could set up two domains, utilizing your keyword phrase in your domain names, like this:
computer-software.com
computer-software-classes.com
Don’t link the two domains together in the beginning, because you want Yahoo! to think that they are
totally separate domains. After they each get indexed in Yahoo!, then you can do whatever you want to
link the two together.
● Purchasing additional domain names really isn’t that expensive.
It’ll cost you $70 for two years to purchase the domain name, plus the cost of getting the domain
hosted. For a listing of places who can register a domain for you, visit:
http://rs.internic.net/alpha.html
That’s a very small expense if it helps you double or triple your traffic and business.
So, we’ve learned some facts, but what does this really tell us?
Set up “doorway domains” into your main site, instead of just using doorway pages!
Utilizing the same overall concepts that we learned in lesson #6 for setting up doorway pages, set up
separate domains—“doorway domains”—into your site.
You’ll optimize the main page of each domain for an important keyword phrase. This will
automatically give you a boost in relevancy for that keyword phrase, and even more so if you’ve
utilized your keyword phrase in the domain name itself.
These domains will all link back to your main Web site. It’s just like having doorway pages that lead
into your site, except that these are actually doorway domains.
Again, this can benefit your company greatly with theme search engines like AltaVista and can boost
your link popularity.
What you DO want to do with doorway domains:
●
Utilize your keyword phrase in your domain name.
You’ll hear some controversy about whether it’s best to put hyphens between keywords in a domain
name, like this:
computer-software-classes.com
Or, run all of the keywords together, like this:
● computersoftwareclasses.com
Certainly, there are definite advantages to separating the keywords with hyphens, particularly in the
URL/page name.
However, it’s important to note that this is just ONE area that can affect relevancy, out of many, many
other ones.
Many of our instructors prefer not using hyphens in the domain names. If you tell someone that your
domain is
“computersoftwareclasses.com”
that’s very easy to say and to remember. But, if you have to tell them this:
computer<hyphen>software<hyphen>classes.com
it’s just not quite as clear or as easy to remember.
Plus, if someone sits down at the computer and types that keyword phrase in the browser window, all
run together like that, the browser will default to your site (if you don’t use hyphens). If you use
hyphens, however, the site that does NOT use hyphens will get the customer.
It’s certainly something to think about.
However, if you want the added boost in relevancy offered by purchasing a domain name containing
your keyword phrase, and especially if you’re purchasing the domain name as a “doorway domain,”
you may want to utilize hyphens.
If you don’t utilize hyphens in your main domain, you’re able to easily tell customers where to find
you. If they come in through the doorway domain, that’s fine, because they can then link to your main
site.
● Post relevant information on particular keyword phrases at each individual domain.
For example, if you are selling computer software, everything having to do with selling computer
software should go in that domain:
ComputerSoftware.com
If you are teaching classes, everything having to do with those classes should go in that domain, like
this:
ComputerSoftwareClasses.com
On your main domain, you can mention all major areas of your business, then link to those separate
domains. Again, you may not want to link to the separate domains until you get your main domain
indexed by Yahoo!.
● Create effective home pages for each domain, not “cardboard-looking” doorway pages. Make
those home pages look like the “real” thing!
Optimize each home page for one or two keyword phrases only.
● Include a page of links (hallway pages or site map) on each of your domains, thus helping to
build Web site popularity. Be sure to include links to every page on every one of your domains
●
on your site map. Also, add text to the page, to keep out of trouble with AltaVista who consider
pages containing JUST links to be spam.
Utilize a referrer log program at every domain to help you analyze your traffic.
What you DON’T want to do with doorway domains:
●
●
Don’t hook all of your domains together in the very beginning. As mentioned earlier, it would be
to your benefit to wait until each domain is indexed in Yahoo! before linking them together.
Don’t “point” your doorway domains to your main site. Instead, keep those domains separate.
While there are advantages to pointing the domains back to the main site, the engines’ spiders will go
through the pointing site to the main one, and not index the pointing site.
The directories may index both, but again, it would be to your benefit to keep them separate there as
well.
So, link to and from your doorway domains, but don’t “point” your doorway domains to your main site
● Don’t list the same contact information at interNIC when you register the doorway domains. Try
to list a different contact person/address/email address with each doorway domain. Yahoo! has
been known to check interNIC records, and you don’t want it make the connection between your
Web sites, then refuse to index the doorway domains.
Domain Notes covers the latest domain developments, including domain news, registration, legal
precedents, domain searches, buying and selling, searching and dealing with Internic.
http://www.domainnotes.com/
Important Directories and Strategies
More and more of the major engines are utilizing various directories to provide their directory listings.
So, while it's important to optimize pages for the major engines, it's gotten extremely important to
submit your page to several directories. In some situations, you may find that you'll actually get more
traffic from directory listings than you do from the engine/database itself. Or, if you're having a difficult
time getting a page ranked well in the major engine, you'll have visibility through the directory listing.
Also, during times when the major engines are experiencing problems, an excellent strategy is to
concentrate on the directories during that time as well as other online marketing tactics.
In the Essential Foundations (Beginning) course, we don’t have time to cover each of the major engines
and the directories that are connected to them, which is why we’ve created the Advanced Search Engine
Positioning Tutorial that covers over 36 engines and directories.
However, let's point out a couple of very important directories here, beginning with the Open Directory
Project (ODP). Needless to say, Yahoo! is the most important directory out there, so when submitting to
Yahoo!, read their submission guidelines posted at their site carefully.
Open Directory Project
http://dmoz.org
The ODP is a directory that’s composed of literally thousands of volunteer editors (including many of
us at the Academy). These editors accept or reject submissions in their categories.
The most important aspect of the ODP, other than the fact that it’s a human developed directory like
Yahoo!, is that it provides directory results at Lycos, HotBot, Google, Netscape, AOL Search, and
more.
For a listing of sites that utilize directory results from the ODP, visit this URL at Netscape.
So, if you’re listed in the ODP, you will also be listed in directory results at Lycos, HotBot, Netscape,
AOL Search, and all of the sites mentioned above.
How can you submit your site to the ODP? Visit this URL and follow the directions:
http://www.dmoz.org/add.html
Like Yahoo!, you’ll complete an AddURL form under whatever category your site belongs. So, spend
some time surfing the ODP before making a decision on the category. Don't pick an upper-level
category. Go deep into the category and find the most appropriate subcategory for your site.
Can you submit to more than one categories? Yes, but don’t submit the same page to more than two
categories. If you have another page that would be appropriate in a different category, you can certainly
submit that. However, the ODP editors are quite wise to Web sites that try to submit the same page to
numerous categories, and they simply reject their submissions. Also, the ODP has a page where editors
can report spammers.
When submitting to the ODP, keep these guidelines in mind:
1. Choose your category wisely. If you submit to a category where your site doesn’t belong, that editor
has to figure out where the site belongs and transfer it to that area. If you’re dealing with an overworked
editor, which you can bet you are, that editor doesn’t have time to do your work for you, and your page
may get rejected simply because it was submitted in the wrong category.
2. Offer a down-to-earth title and description, and don’t keyword spam! Don’t list keyword after
keyword. List an appropriate title, and then give a good description of your site. Don’t make it too long,
and don’t sound like a snake oil salesman. Make it honest and clean.
3. Don’t use all caps, and check your grammar and spelling carefully. Remember that if you submit
something in a form that isn’t presentable, the editor is going to have to change it before accepting it.
This could cause a considerable delay in your site being accepted, or it could cause it to be rejected.
4. Make sure that your site is ready for the ODP and traffic. Don’t have a page with a graphic that says,
“Site Under Construction, Come back next month!” and that’s it. Make sure that your site is ready for
traffic, and that visitors will be able to find what they’re looking for on your site. Make sure that the
links work, and that all of the graphics load. The editors spend a lot of time on their categories, and they
want quality sites. Give them a quality site and you’ll easily get in.
5. You can try submitting to a second category, but make sure that you submit to the best category for
your site first.
6. If you have questions for an editor of a particular category, you can write to that editor. So, if you’re
trying to get your site listed under a second category and not having any luck, try writing to the editor
and explaining why it’s important that your site be listed in the second category.
7. The ODP won't allow pages that are simply affiliate sites in their index.
For an article about the ODP that was published in Planet Ocean, visit:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/information/odp.html
Direct Hit
http://www.directhit.com
Direct Hit is a popularity engine that provides results at other engines, such as HotBot and Lycos.
Direct Hit is now owned by Ask Jeeves.
As it says at their site, Direct Hit "provides highly relevant results for any Internet search. Our
Popularity Engine tracks the sites that people actually select from the search results list. By analyzing
the activity of millions of previous Internet searchers, Direct Hit determines the most popular and
relevant sites for your search request."
So, sites that get clicked on more than others are higher in Direct Hit's rankings.
Direct Hit works in the background, watching what visitors search for and recording the pages they visit
from those searches. Web sites that are visited will move to the top, and Web sites that aren't visited
will move to the bottom. It eventually is able to compile enough data to determine which sites are truly
popular.
HotBot's top results are being refined by Direct Hit now by default, rather than this being an option
available to web users.
If enough results haven't been gathered for that search term, the Direct Hit option won't be available.
So, you can see where this service is better suited to more general keyword(s) of just one or two words,
rather than a string like, "children's humorous book authors," or whatever.
Can you click your way to the top of a popularity engine? DirectHit says no, because of the amount of
data that Direct Hit analyzes, and because visitors need to spend some time there for the visit to count.
Also, attempts to spam the engine will likely be spotted. However, we've known of instances where this
has been effective.
To submit your site to Direct Hit, go to this URL:
http://www.directhit.com/util/addurl.html
Guidelines for submitting to Direct Hit:
1. Go to the above URL and enter your Web site address.
2. Enter up to 20 different keywords, phrases or categories people might use to search or browse for
your site. Each can be up to four words in length and must be separated by hitting the "enter" or
"return" key.
3. Direct Hit will automatically gather additional information about your site. To have the best
information listed, please make sure your site has the following HTML tags:
4. Site Title: Please make sure your site has an "HTML title tag" such as: <title> English Bulldog
Puppies</title>
5. Site Description: Please make sure your site has an "HTML meta tag" such as: <meta
name="description" content="English bulldogs--Guide to raising perfect puppies, from the
leading breeder of English bulldogs in the U.S.">
Important Note from Direct Hit: "The Direct Hit rankings are based on user-popularity. To make sure
all sites are considered for ranking, we anticipate incorporating these site submissions at some point in
the future. As a result, Direct Hit cannot guarantee that submitted sites will get listed in Direct Hit."
If you have any submission questions, send them to [email protected].
LookSmart
http://www.looksmart.com
With LookSmart now providing directory results to both AltaVista, MSN Search, and Excite, it has
certainly increased in "importance." Regretfully, unless your site is for nonprofit, the only way to get
into LookSmart is by paying.
LookSmart claims to have a wider reach than Yahoo!. And lately, we've talked to numerous
Webmasters who claim that LookSmart is sending them a great deal of business.
To submit to LookSmart, visit:
http://submit.looksmart.com/info.jhtml?synd=US&chan=lshomeft
LookSmart just had a price increase:
LookSmart offers two "Express" submission services. For $299, they'll notify you within 48 hours if
your site has been accepted into the index. Notice that this doesn't say that the site will actually get put
in the index within 48 hours.
Or for $149, they'll review the site in 8 weeks. Neither submission service guarantees placement in the
directory.
LookSmart now offers a means of changing your description or category . . . by paying them. You can
change your description for $199, and you can change your category for $149.
Assignment #7:
1. Create a site map or hallway page for your site. Include all interior and doorway pages on the site
map.
2. Or, hyperlink punctuation on your main page to all of your doorway pages.
3. Submit your page to AltaVista or Inktomi.
4. Once it’s been indexed, watch to see when the engine “finds” your doorway pages that haven’t been
submitted.
5. Consider whether it would be beneficial to your company to purchase additional domains. Pick out a
few names, preferably containing your keyword phrases, then visit the below URL to see if those
domains are still available:
http://www.networksolutions.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois
6. Submit your site to the Open Directory Project, being careful to follow all submission guidelines as
posted in this lesson.
7. Submit your site to Direct Hit, again following all submission guidelines.
8. Check into submitting to LookSmart.
1. Did you create a hallway page, a site map, or add a list of links on your main page to your
doorway page(s)?
2. What is the URL of your hallway page or site map, if you created a separate one?
3. Has the engine found and indexed your doorway pages yet? Be patient—it may take a while.
If the engine has indexed your doorway page, what is your ranking? Use WebPosition Gold to find out.
4. Did you decide to purchase additional domain names for your business?
Did you utilize your keyword phrase in them? Did you use hyphens?
5. Did you submit your site to the ODP? To Direct Hit? Did you submit to LookSmart?
6. Let's have some fun and see what all you've learned! Check here to go to an HTML Test Page.
Let's say that you're looking at the source code for a page that has been optimized for AltaVista for the
keyword phrases "nine-banded armadillos" and "southern country roads." What's wrong with this page?
What's right with it? What would you suggest changing in order to boost its relevancy and ranking in
AltaVista?
Want to see how we would have changed the page? Click here.
Table of Contents
Lesson 8: Analyzing Your Competition
-- and Winning Strategies
Analyzing your competition;
Submitting competing sites for reindexing;
Reporting spammers;
Understanding why certain sites rank higher than yours;
Cloaking Information
Tips for achieving top ranking pages;
Learn how to keep robots from indexing your pages;
Helpful URLs;
Homework.
Learn from your competition!
The truth is, one of the best ways to learn how to get your Web site boosted in the rankings is to analyze
other Web pages. This is why we encourage you to get involved in the forum and visit other class
members’ Web sites, then offer your suggestions. You’ll be amazed at what you can see that’s right or
wrong with their Web sites, then transfer those strategies to your own site.
An even better way to learn what works and what doesn’t is to visit competing Web sites for your
important keyword phrase. Like you, those Web sites have focused on your keyword phrases, and
they’ve obviously managed to succeed.
Why did they succeed? What’s so special about their Web pages? Are the pages brilliantly optimized for
the keyword phrase; are they using underhanded tricks; is it pure luck; or, do they have a high link
popularity? Why are they in the top 10 rankings and you’re not?
Also, by visiting an engine and searching for your keyword phrase, then analyzing the top 10 Web sites
for that keyword phrase for that engine, you’re getting a very specialized picture of what that particular
engine likes to see in the top rankings.
In this lesson, we're going to concentrate on what your competitors are doing and why they're ranked so
high in the search engines.
Sometimes we’ll know why the pages are ranked so high, but other times, we won’t have a clue. Still
other times, it seems that they’re going against every rule known in the Web optimization business, yet
they’re still managing to get a top ten ranking.
Remember what we’ve told you in prior lessons. We’re looking for trends here—what appears to be
working across the board. We’re not looking for isolated instances where a Web site managed to get
away with something when the rest of us can’t.
Our goal is to dissect our competitors' Web pages to see if we can learn why they have a top ranking and
to see if there are any strategies we can use at our own site to improve our rankings.
And, remember this important fact of life:
Search results are not always relevant!
Sometimes you’ll find a Web page that’s ranked above yours that isn’t using your keyword phrase at all
and isn’t relevant to the search term in any manner. This is one of the most frustrating situations of all,
because how can we compete when the other Web page isn’t even using our keyword phrase?
The bottom line is, the engines aren’t perfect. Totally irrelevant search results are impossible to compete
against because there’s no rhyme or reason for the ranking.
Let’s look at an example:
A year or so ago, a friend of one of our instructors wrote to her, so impressed because he found one of
her Web pages in a search for "recipe rum balls." The page had a top ranking in Yahoo! (probably from
the supplemental results supplied by Inktomi at that time). He knew she was teaching this course, so he
wrote to tell her that the strategies really worked and how impressed he was.
Now, the interesting thing is that the page he found had no mention of "recipe rum balls" on the entire
page or in any of the tags. The page hadn't been optimized at all. The page itself was a newspaper column
that she'd posted on her site. The topic was on Mardi Gras resources. She hadn't tried to get it ranked high
in the engines. If she had, she certainly wouldn't have chosen the keyword phrase "recipe rum balls"!
Now, if you visited each of the links that she provided in that article, you might find mention of rum
balls, but we won't guarantee it.
Another interesting thing is that there's no mention of "recipe rum balls" on her entire site, and there are
no recipes on her site either. The focus of her site is on writers' resources and online workshops, though
she does post past newspaper columns and has an extensive listing of links.
So how did her page get a top ranking in Yahoo! (no less!) under a word that isn't used anywhere on her
entire Web site? There's no answer to that question. Just understand that something similar could be
happening to some of the totally irrelevant top 10 rankings under your keyword phrase. Accept that it can
happen, and don't let it drive you crazy.
The engines aren’t perfect.
One of the best ways to learn what you can do to boost your page in the rankings is to
study competing Web pages and learn from them!
Before you can expect your Web page to move up in the rankings, you need to learn what things affect
your rankings in that particular engine, and analyze competing pages that rank higher than yours. Look
for strategies you can use that will allow you to achieve a top ranking too.
With this class, we’re learning what can affect our rankings in AltaVista, so now it’s time to analyze
competing Web pages to see what else we can learn.
Before you begin to analyze competing Web pages, submit those
pages for reindexing.
Before spending a lot of time reviewing what your competitors are doing in an effort to attain a similar or
higher ranking, submit their URL to AltaVista for re-indexing. If they've swapped pages or codes to gain
their high placement, they will quickly fall in the rankings to what their true ranking should be.
Also, when you look at the top 10 ranking sites, you may find some 404 File Not Found pages. By
submitting them to the engine for reindexing, those pages will be removed from the index, and your page
will have the opportunity to move up in the rankings by taking their place.
After you've submitted the top five to ten Web pages that are beating you out of the top 10 ranking, wait
a week or two, and then search for the keyword phrase again. Are the same Web pages still in the top 10
rankings? Generally not.
The Web pages that are still in the top 10 rankings are the pages you need to analyze. Those are the pages
that deserve their ranking, and you can learn a lot from studying their techniques. When you find a
particularly successful Web page, consider saving the source code to your hard drive and begin creating
“templates” for each of the engines that have been proven to work well.
We're not telling you to copy their pages or their tags—we're telling you to create templates based on
their winning strategies and apply those strategies to your own pages.
Don’t ever “study” an old Web page. You want the most recent ranking algorithm for that particular
engine, not pages that have been given a boost in relevancy simply because they’ve been in the index for
a while or because they have a huge link popularity. In AltaVista, the “Last Modified Date” is the date
that the page was actually added to the database.
Don't copy competing Web pages!
Again, when you analyze competing Web pages, please understand that we are in no way asking you to
copy those pages.
Instead, we're asking you to simply look at their techniques. Go to their Web pages and view their source
code. How did *they* write their META tags and title tag? What keywords did they use? Did they use
ALT tags containing their keywords? Did they have a lot of links off that main page? Did they name the
page after their keyword phrase?
To view the source code on the Web, if you're using Netscape, click on View, then on Page Source.
You'll see the HTML coding for the page.
In Internet Explorer, click on View, then Source.
Is it legal to submit competing Web pages for reindexing?
Many of the engines ask you to "suggest" a "favorite" page from any site, not just your own. If the page
has not changed since it was last indexed, their ranking should not change or be affected by the
re-submission. So, you’re not doing anything devious to try to boot them out of the rankings if they’re
legitimately in a top ranking position.
There are three occasions when re-indexing a site that shouldn't be at the top of the list won't work. If a
Web site manager uses a cloaking script to automatically detect a particular search engine's spider and
then dynamically "serves" a Web page that is different than the one that the viewer sees, there’s almost
no way of knowing that this technique is being used.
Also, if the page contains a <noindex> META tag, resubmitting the page won’t work.
This META tag prevents all engines from indexing the page. Like all META tags, it’s placed in the
<head> </head> section.
<meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”>
Last, if the engine only indexes main pages of a site, resubmitting an interior or doorway page for
re-indexing won't work. (In the past, many of the major engines have gone through periods where they
only accepted the main page of a site through their submission process. That isn't the case now, but it
could change at any time -- and probably will!)
Are you still hesitant about resubmitting competing pages?
Some people are hesitant about submitting competing Web sites, so let's discuss it for a few minutes.
Will you get in trouble for resubmitting a competing page? Will the engine breathe fire down your back,
boot you out of the index, or report you to the competition?
If you resubmit pages at either AltaVista, you don’t have to list your email address. You simply enter the
URL of the page you want to resubmit. So, you’re not advertising to the engine that YOU’RE the one
who submitted the page for reindexing. But, do you really think an engine would try to figure out who
submitted all of the millions of pages submitted to them on a daily basis? Do you think they would care?!
Also, remember that there’s nothing illegal or unethical about submitting competing Web sites for
re-indexing. You're not trying to steal their codes or even boot their Web sites out of the rankings
altogether. You're simply trying to come up with an even playing field, so that when you look at who is
*really* on top in your keywords, you can learn from those who have actually achieved a high ranking
legitimately. You want to learn from the pros.
Most of the time, students do see a decrease in some of their competitors' rankings when they resubmit
their sites. Not only that, but all of the 404 File Not Found pages will be removed from the index. Some
students see an increase in their own rankings, even moving them into the top 30 slots. Those are the
definite "benefits" of submitting competing sites, though it's not the only reason for doing so.
The "real" reason is to make sure we study the Web sites of those who aren't using underhanded
strategies to achieve their top rankings. But if they ARE using underhanded methods, it's certainly fun to
watch their rankings go down while ours go up!
Here's one past student's response to re-indexing his competing Web sites. We hear similar comments all
the time:
When you re-indexed your competitors' Web sites, did any of their rankings slip afterward? "Yes, I’ve
had sites that dropped almost 30 points and others that simply remained there. My site also moved up a
few notches after doing this."
However, if it presents problems for you to resubmit competing pages, don't do it.
Report spammers to AltaVista!
When you're studying competing Web sites, you may see some obvious spamming techniques. Are any
of your competitors dominating the rankings under particular keyword phrases? Are any of them utilizing
same color font on same color background? (To determine if this is being done, you can highlight the
entire Web page and see if "hidden” text is now visible.) Are they repeating their keyword phrase over
and over and over again in all tags or in tiny text at the bottom of the page?
If you see any obvious spamming techniques, report them to the engine.
For AltaVista, fill out a form at this URL:
http://doc.altavista.com/help/search/report_off.html
Or, send an email to: [email protected]
AltaVista says this about spamming:
"AltaVista uses a ranking algorithm to determine the order in which matching documents are returned on
the results' page. Each document gets a grade based on how many of the search terms it contains, where
the words are in the document, and how close to each other they are. Repeating a word over and over in a
Web page, known as "spamming," has a negative effect on a site's ranking. As soon as it is discovered by
software programmed specifically to detect spamming, the offending site is prevented from appearing in
the AltaVista index."
Before you begin to study competing Web pages, consider this:
Before you try to learn from those who have achieved top rankings for one of your keyword phrases,
make sure that the site you're looking at is the actual Web site that gained the top ranking.
How can you tell? If the site title and description displayed in the search engine results are not found
anywhere on the actual Web site, this is a clue that you may be viewing a different page than the engines
see. If the file size is different, or if the file extension isn't .html or .htm, those are additional clues.
Keep in mind, however, that engines like Google and Lycos don't use the contents of the description
META tag in the search results.
Reasons why a competitor's page may rank higher than yours
By studying your competitors' Web pages, you can learn valuable strategies to try at your own site. So,
let's look at some specific techniques that could explain why your competitors have top rankings.
Here are several possibilities:
1. Out of date pages, such as when a Webmaster changes those pages but the engines haven't picked up
those changes yet. In most cases, resubmitting the pages will put the pages at the ranking they should be,
based on today’s ranking algorithm.
AltaVista seems to place more relevancy on pages that have been in their index for a while. If you’re
re-submitting competing Web pages to see if their rankings change, could YOUR competitors be doing
the same thing to your pages? Yes, they could.
With AV, you don’t want that to happen, because you want your pages to “age” to give you an added
boost in relevancy.
So how can you prevent this from happening?
You may want to add a META robots tag to your page, like this:
<meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”>
This META tag will prevent the engines that honor it from reindexing your page. Like all META tags,
it’s placed in the <head> </head> section of your page. Remember, though, that when YOU need to
resubmit the page, you’ll have to remove the tag.
2. One strategy that is virtually impossible to detect is dynamic page substitution, which is when
Webmasters create scripts on their Web site's server that can detect the IP addresses of a search engine's
re-indexing spider visiting their site. When the script detects a search engine's spider, it "serves" a
different Web page than the one you would see after clicking on the link from the search engine's results.
This is called "cloaking" or "food script."
So, the search engines see this generic and unattractive Web page that is designed with Web optimization
strategies in mind. Yet, the viewers would see a top-notch impressive Web page that probably wouldn't
rank high in the engines.
Why would cloaking be used?
Many times, professional Web positioners are presented with a Web site that utilizes techniques that put
them at an automatic disadvantage in the rankings, such as frames or dynamic pages. If the keyword
phrase is extremely competitive, it can be a major problem achieving top rankings.
Other times, clients hand a Web positioner their site with the stipulation that they can't make any changes
to the pages--they just want top rankings! If you can't optimize a page, there's not much you can do to get
a top ranking.
In these cases, a work-around solution is to utilize cloaking software, also known as "food script." With
cloaking, you don't have to optimize the main page of your site. You simply create a simple yet
content-rich information page, or doorway page. You get the simple engine-friendly page ranked high in
the engines. When an engine visits your site, it is "served" the simple engine-friendly page and gets a top
ranking. But, when visitors visit the page, they're "served" the beautifully crafted Web page that is
utilizing techniques that cause ranking problems.
So, in essense, you'd have separate doorway pages created for each major engine, and when that engine's
spider visits your site, it sees the page created just for it.
Another use for cloaking software is to protect your valuable code from people who might steal it in an
effort to take over your top rankings. If you've worked hard on your site and achieved top rankings, the
last thing you want to happen is for someone to come along, steal your code, and boot you out of the
rankings. Cloaking will prevent that from happening.
Is it legitimate? In the past, cloaking was considered a "no no" with the engines, but that has changed.
Now, basic cloaking is generally considered okay by the engines. However, Google has recently gone
public with their opinion of cloaking: they consider it spamming. Do NOT cloak with Google. We know
of sites that have been banned from the engine because of cloaking.
How can you tell if cloaking is being used? Try these steps:
Look to see if the title, description, and page size that show in the search results are the same as on the
actual page itself. If they are different, then you're probably looking at a cloaked page.
Keep in mind that the top search results aren't always coming from the engine's own index. In HotBot,
for example, the top 10 results come from Direct Hit. So, when analyzing results, make sure you're
looking at results from that particular engine.
Use CloakCheck (http://se.make-it-online.com/)
(you have to be a "member" to utilize the utility)
If you have an old version of Mosaic, try to load the page.
Use Intermark's WebSnake
http://www.pcworld.com/fileworld/file_description/frameset/0%2C1458%2C3782%2C00.html)(formerly
known as Anawave's WebSnake)
(I've not used the above program, so I don't know how it works, other than I've been told that you can
utilize the program to determine whether a page is cloaked.)
But as Ginette, a professional search engine optimizer with Search Engine Services, says, rather than
spending time trying to figure out if cloaking is being used, develop a better page!
Also, remember that before cloaking can "do its stuff," you have to get the page ranked high in the
engines. Cloaking won't get you the rankings.
(Special thanks to Ginette for providing the above information.)
IP Delivery (http://www.ip-delivery.com/foodscript)is an example of cloaking software.
Fantomaster has conducted chat sessions for us, and his cloaking software covers international engines as
well. (http://www.fantomaster.com) Price wise, it's an EXCELLENT deal, and since it's backed by
Fantomaster, you can't get much more reliable than that. Fantomaster publishes an excellent monthly
newsletter on cloaking, and his site is LOADED with information, free services, free software, and
services/software for sale.
Traffic Titan is the cloaking software that Bill Gentry, one of our popular chat moderators,
uses.(http://www.traffictitan.com/)
Visit this URL for past chat sessions on cloaking.
For a cloaking tutorial created by Bill Gentry, a professional search engine optimizer with the Selling
Source and an Academy chat moderator, visit:
http://www.rookiesnstars.com/position/
Read an article on cloaking published in Planet Ocean:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/information/cloaking.html
3. Swapping out Web pages
Because the engines like simplicity, it’s difficult to have an eye-catching overall design that lends itself
to search engine positioning strategies for top rankings. Also, professional search engine positioners are
often presented with a Web site and told to get it ranked high, but they're not allowed to change anything
on the site. It's impossible to achieve top rankings without being allowed to optimize the page.
So, some Webmasters try to kill two birds with one stone. They create totally optimized Web pages,
usually all text with carefully constructed META tags, title tag, body copy, etc., and submit the pages to a
search engine. They’ll work with those simple (and not very attractive) pages until they get top rankings
under their keyword phrases.
In most cases, there is nothing attractive about the engine-friendly pages, and certainly nothing that
would entice a customer to purchase their goods or services. But, they would have top rankings in the
search engine.
After the Web masters achieve the ranking they're after, they simply switch out the dull and boring Web
pages with their "real" pages, complete with graphics, fancy HTML, javascript, tables, etc. Now, they’re
got top-notch rankings to go along with their top-notch pages.
Before your mind begins to whirl in this direction, remember . . .
Keep in mind that the engines send their spiders out to reindex Web sites periodically and without notice.
You won't know ahead of time when the spider is going to visit. So, when this happens, you’ll
immediately lose your top rankings. Don't use this strategy--cloak instead, if you don't want your "real"
page to be viewed by the engines.
4. Swapping out the code of an optimized Web site after a top-ranking position has been attained, to
prevent others from imitating the success of the page.
A slight variation to swapping out complete Web pages is to swap out just the tags. Once the Web master
achieves a top ranking, he simply removes the winning tags and substitutes them with other tags.
If you were to study his source code, you would never understand how he got a top ranking by using
those tags.
Again, this isn’t something you want to try. Your page will plummet in the rankings as soon as the spider
reindexes your page in one of its regular spider runs.
5. New ranking algorithm, which means that search engines change their ranking algorithm from time
to time. Therefore, techniques that worked well last month may not be as effective today. This goes along
with pages that have been in the index for a while.
6. Page popularity, which means that your competitor's Web site ranks well because thousands of other
Web sites have considered it important enough to establish links to it. Another twist on Web popularity is
to provide links “TO” important Web pages as well.
7. Search engine bugs or problems. Let’s face it—the engines periodically are a total mess!
8. A well-optimized page for that particular search engine. Maybe the Web designer has done a
superb job of optimizing his page!
9. Maybe the Web page was reviewed by a human who slipped it into the top rankings. More and
more of the engines are using editors to review Web pages, which is an excellent reason why you need to
make sure that yours is the best it can be.
10. Maybe the Web site is also listed in the directory for that particular engine, which may boost
their ranking in the search engine results themselves.
11. Irrelevant search results are a fact of life. Like the example at our instructor's own Web site, you
may find a page that ranks high for a certain keyword phrase, yet there’s no mention of that keyword
phrase on the entire page or in the tags. For all practical purposes, the ranking appears to be a gift from
the heavens!
12. Is the Web page content rich? Search engines are beginning to judge the content of the page, rather
than just the keywords that appear in your tags or in the body of the page itself.
13. Is the Web site focused on one central theme, with Web pages focused on variations of that theme?
Remember that engines like AltaVista are theme engines.
Pages that appear to naturally integrate keywords into the content of the page often rank better on some
of the search engines. So, repeat the keyword, but keep it spaced apart, and do so naturally in the course
of a sentence/paragraph, and make the page content rich.
Utilize a keyword phrase early in the body text, repeat it several times (always considering your keyword
weight), and use the phrase toward the end of the body text.
Use synonyms of the keyword, and write the page as if you're writing an article. Answer the typical who,
what, where, when, and why questions of an effective article. Ask questions, then supply the answers.
Remember the Importance of Building
Link Popularity
We've discussed Web site popularity and how some search engines will judge your Web site by the
number of sites that consider it important enough to link to it. Try to contact other Web sites on a regular
basis every week to see if they’ll consider reciprocal linking to your site. Make it a habit!
Ever so often, check to see how many Web sites have linked to yours, and keep up with the progress.
Web site popularity almost has a snowball effect. You'll work hard at it for a while. Then, other sites will
begin to write to you to see if you're willing to link to them.
Check your link popularity by visiting this Web site:
LinkPopularity.com allows you to simultaneously check your link popularity at AltaVista and HotBot.
This site will also send you an email each month with a report of who's linking to your site--free!
What can you do to increase your ranking
if you’re not in the top 10-30 yet?
Have you made changes in all the suggested areas:
title; description; keywords; headlines; link tags; body of page; ALT tags; URL/site address?
Is your title tag the FIRST thing you see when you view the source code at your site? Is your keyword
phrase too general? Have you followed specific guidelines for each engine?
Consider these areas, as well as other areas named in the lessons, and see if you can make it into the top
30 ranked slots.
TIP: If you're having problems getting your pages ranked, try submitting them manually.
Remember that if you’ve chosen a very competitive keyword phrase, you may have to spend more time
working on your page before seeing results.
Important Steps to Creating Top Ranking Pages
Read this article by Michael Campbell on Eight Tips for Top 20 Search Engine Positioning.
1. Create content-rich doorway pages about a particular topic that emphasizes a keyword or keyword
phrase. Also, keep in mind that the average word count across the board is 450 words. So, keep your
word count between 200 and 600 words in the body text. Optimize each page for 1 or 2 keywords only.
2. Make sure your <TITLE> tag is the first tag on your page.
This tag must immediately follow the <HEAD> tag and not be placed after any META tags.
3. Add META tags: the META description and META keyword tags only. There’s no need to add other
META tags. They will only serve to confuse the engines. You do NOT want to confuse the engines! You
may find that not using META tags at all with AltaVista will give you a better ranking.
4. Register your own domain, utilizing your important keywords in the domain name. Stay away from
cheaper domains such as .nu, since in the past, at least one major engine refused to index any pages from
a particular domain (.nu).
5. Add keywords to a headline tag. If your page is short, you may even want to include all of the body
text in a small headline tag for added relevancy.
6. If your pages use frames, use the <NOFRAMES> tag to include links to your other pages and a
paragraph or two describing your site. You can also add content to your Web page through a <noframes>
tag.
7. Make the first 25 words on the page keyword rich. Begin your body text with your keyword phrase,
sprinkle the phrase throughout the body, and end the body text with your keyword phrase.
8. Add keywords to your hyperlinks text going to your other pages.
9. Add keywords to your ALT tags, including using the single pixel gif trick. Add keywords to style
tags.
10. Make sure your keyword weight is where it needs to be for that particular engine.
11. Add links on your main page to all interior or doorway pages, or create a site map (or hallway
page) and add links to all of your pages there. Link from the main page to the site map or hallway page.
Make sure that you put your links in front of those engines!
12. Look into submitting your site to the directories or other search facilities that provide results on
the main page of the major search engine. For example, submitting to Open Directory Project will get
you some business from HotBot, Lycos, AOL Search, and the Netscape engine.
13. Besides using your keyword phrase frequently in your tags and in the body of the page itself, be sure
to use the individual words in that keyword phrase on your page and in your tags. In this manner,
you’re also helping to optimize the page for the individual keywords, which can help your chances at
getting a top ranking with or without the use of quotation marks when searching for your keyword
phrase.
14. Optimize your pages for particular engines. When you optimize your pages for a particular search
engine, you're actually optimizing your pages based on that search engine's ranking criteria. This means
that what you do for one engine, you may be penalized for doing on another.
15. Work on increasing your link popularity! Make it a priority, because it's so important these days.
16. Run each of your pages through Search Engine Optimizer software and WebPosition Gold's
Page Critic.
For more information, read "Search Engine Success -- Ten Steps" by Chris Sherman at Web Search at
about.com.
http://websearch.about.com/internet/websearch/library/weekly/aa040400a.htm
Do you need to block spiders from your pages?
Robots META Tag:
Do you have reasons to want to block search spiders from indexing a page at your site? Maybe the page
is an internal page just for your employees to use, and you don’t want it ranked in the engines and
accessed by others.
Briefly, the robots META tag lets you specify that a particular page not be indexed by a search engine.
The tag looks like this:
<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX">
and is added in the <head></head> section of your page. The problem is, not all search engines support
this tag. Also, when you use the robots META tag, you're keeping out all spiders from your page.
As an alternative, all the major search engines support the robots.txt convention of blocking indexing, but
all of the engines do not recognize a META robots tag.
Robots.txt File:
By utilizing the robots.txt file, you can allow one engine to index the page but keep all other engines out,
or any number of other strategies that you may want to try.
Here's how to set up the robots.txt file:
Create a text file with Window's NotePad or any other editor that can save ASCII .txt files.
Use the following syntax:
User-agent: {SpiderNameHere}
Disallow:/{FilenameHere}
The "user-agent" portion lets you specify which engines you want to keep out, and the "disallow" portion
lets you specify directories or file names.
The wild card "*" means to specify everything.
To tell Excite's spider, named ArchitextSpider, not to index files called inventory.html and junk.html, for
example, create a robots.txt file as follows:
User-agent: ArchitextSpider
Disallow:/inventory.html
Disallow:/junk.html
Upload this robots.txt file to the root directory of your Web site.
You can add more lines to exclude pages from other engines by specifying the User-Agent parameter
again in the same file, followed by more Disallow lines. Each disallow statement will be applied to the
last User-Agent that was specified.
If you want to exclude an entire directory, use this syntax:
User-agent: ArchitextSpider
Disallow: /mydirectory/*
Other options are to exclude the page from all spiders with:
User-agent: *
Or, to disallow all pages on your Web site for the specified spider use:
Disallow: /*
Make sure you use the proper syntax. If you misspell something, it's not going to work. And, don't put
anything else on the page.
Here are the User-Agent names of some of the more popular search engine spiders:
Search Engine
AltaVista
Excite
Lycos
Northern Light
HotBot
Robot User-Agent
Scooter
ArchitextSpider
Lycos_Spider_(T-Rex)
Gulliver
Slurp
Visit Search Engine Watch's Spider Spotting Chart: Robot Agent and Host Names
(http://searchenginewatch.internet.com/webmasters/spiderchart.html)for more information.
This site (http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~sxw/robots/check/)will analyze your robots.txt file and will report
any syntax errors -- free!
For more information, read Robots Exclusion
(http://info.webcrawler.com/mak/projects/robots/exclusion.html).
For a software program that will create your robots.txt file for you, visit:http://www.rietta.com/robogen/
For a Rhoda's tutorial on using robots.txt files, visit:
http://country-art.com/class/robotstxt.htm
Helpful Web sites
The Search Engine Tutorial for Web Designers contains some good information that you might find
helpful.
http://www.northernwebs.com/set/index.html
Search Engine Showdown
http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/
Spider-Food.net is an excellent site loaded with great tutorials and up-to-date information on the
engines. You'll be amazed at the valuable content. Be sure to check it out.
http://www.spider-food.net
Assignment #8:
1. Run a search through AltaVista for each of your keywords.
Who are the top ten Web sites for each keyword? What are your rankings?
2. Submit five of those URL's to AltaVista for re-indexing. Wait a few weeks, then run another search for
your keywords.
If any of the pages are 404 File Not Found, resubmitting them will remove the pages from the index and
give your page a chance at a top ranking.
Note: An easy way to submit the sites to AltaVista is to open a new browser window. In one browser
window, show AltaVista's search results for your keywords. In the other window, show the engine’s page
for submitting URL's:
http://www.altavista.com/cgi-bin/query?pg=addurl
Then, cut and paste the URL's between the two windows.
3. Visit the top 5-10 Web sites for each of your keywords.
Analyze their source code. Look for keyword placement in the title, description, keywords, headlines,
link tags, body of the page, and ALT tags. Look at the layout of their site. What do you like about it, and
what don't you like?
Did they use frames? Did they use tables? Javascript?
Is a particular keyword more prominent in their title tag than yours? Is a particular keyword more
prominent and repeated more often in their description? Are they using a keyword META tag? What is
their keyword weight? How long are their pages? What is their link popularity?
4. How do those Web sites compare with yours? Compile a list of comparisons so that you can easily see
the differences.
5. What changes could you make to your META tags, other tags, or to the body text that could boost your
placement in AltaVista? Make those changes and submit your pages again, but only if you haven't
submitted the pages in the last 21 days.
6. Let's see how much you've learned by taking a online exam. Go to the following URL and follow the
directions. Your test will be "graded" on the spot, and you'll immediately learn the results. You can take
the test as many times as you choose..
http://school.discovery.com/quizzes3/smslady/DownloadBeginFinal.html
Make sure that you cut and paste the above URL into your browser window. If the *entire* URL isn't
pasted into the browser, you will get an error message when trying to access the site. If you have any
problems accessing the exam, let your instructor know and she'll send it to you by email.
7. Monitor your rankings closely using WebPosition Gold's Reporter feature! Tweak your Web site as
you see your rankings slip, and rejoice when you see them soar!
8. Continue to request reciprocal links from related Web sites.
9. Get started on the next search engine! Why not get to work on Yahoo!, since it's by far the most
important search facility on the Web.
Ready to take your search engine training to the next level? Consider taking the Advanced Search
Engine Positioning Tutorial, which will guide you through over 36 engines and directories as well as
more advanced strategies. To register for the Advanced course, visit this URL:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/advanced-web-positioning.html
To view the Table of Contents of the Advanced course, visit:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/advanced_contents.html
You can purchase the Advanced course with an instructor who can answer your questions, visit your site,
and offer suggestions. You can turn in homework assignments to the instructor and earn Certification in
Advanced Search Engine Positioning Strategies. Or, you can purchase the Advanced course as a
one-time download and save money.
Be sure to keep up with changes in the industry! Remember how fast things, and be prepared to do
what you can to keep up. Visit this URL for the names of newsletters that can help you keep up with the
industry.
1. Run WebPosition Gold's Reporter. Is your Web site listed in the top 10 positions for any of your
keyword searches? How do your rankings compare to when you started the course? For each of your
important keyword phrases, write down your beginning and present rankings.
If you don't have top rankings yet, don't give up! Continue to work at it.
Did you choose keywords that are too general or too competitive? Could you make those keywords more
specific? Your job would be a little easier if you worked with more specific keywords in the beginning,
then worked your way up to the more general and more competitive keywords.
Remember that search engine positioning is a process, and a good ranking doesn't happen overnight. In
most cases, you have to try something to see if it works, then try something else. What works with one
engine doesn't work with another, and what doesn't work today may work tomorrow, because of how
rapidly the engines change their ranking algorithm.
2. When you re-indexed your competitors' Web sites, did any of their rankings slip afterward? Did your
Web page move up in the rankings?
3. After viewing your competitors' Web sites, what changes did you make to boost your own placement?
Remember that you can't always explain why a site ranks high, and why a seemingly better site ranks
lower. Accept it and don't get frustrated with it. It could be related to factors out of your control, such as
human intervention or site popularity.
4. How many Web sites agreed to provide a reciprocal link back to your site?
5. How did you do on the online exam?
Consider furthering your knowledge about the search engines by taking our Advanced Search Engine
Positioning Tutorial. The course covers over 36 search engines and directories as well as more advanced
techniques. It's offered as a 16-week tutorial with a mentor or a one-time download, with or without
access to the online course material/chat rooms.
To see the Table of Contents of the advanced course, visit:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/advanced_contents.html
To learn more about the course or to register, visit:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com
Click on this link for Suggested Steps for Working on a Site, which may help you with your first few
optimization jobs, now that the class is over.
Table of Contents
Nine-Banded Armadillo
...a cultural anomaly...
En Espanol
No one knows why the lowly nine-banded armadillo, often
called Texas Roadkill chose to make its way from the southern
regions of Mexico all the way to the United States regions of
Mississippi, Tennessee, and even Kentucky. Something drove
the poor defenseless beast from its familiar surroundings,
across political and geographical borders, in search of a new
beginning.
Perhaps the climate change is responsible. Perhaps the
population count of armadillos became overbearing. Or, maybe
the little creature got tired of the jokes.
"Why did the Armadillo cross the road?" had been asked one
too many times!
Perhaps the food got really bad in Mexico, and the starving
9-banded, four-footed, mammal had had enough of tacos, rice,
and refried beans. Perhaps it decided it needed grits, and knew
where he could get them: Mississippi & Tennessee, or any truly
Southern state.
Let's look at the individual story of
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Juan Armadillo, pictured here.
(mexicanus armadillus)
(Click picture for Enlargement)
Actually Juan is nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus
novemcinctus), the most numerous one and the only one found
in the US.
You'll find more (and more scientifically correct!) information
here:
Armadillo History by Joshua P. Nixon
And a personal favorite: Armadillo Music!
Jacquie's armadillo page:
http://www.jnconline.com/armadillo.html
Designed and Created by Jim Hawkins at JHAWK Web Design
Creating and Maintaining Web Sites for Professionals across the USA. Donated to the Academy of Web Specialists.
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Latest Tips for AltaVista -- Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning, Academy of Web Specialists
By Robin Nobles
Latest Tips for AltaVista
Table of Contents
Use this handy index to skip to pertinent areas of the lesson:
What's New?
Brief Insight
Size and Popularity
Who is Related to this Engine?
URLs and Submission URLs
Engine at a Glance
Too Many URLs Have Been Submitted/
Cookie Control with AltaVista
Submission Tips
Relevancy Tips
Additional Comments
Differing Results?
What Can't AV Index?
Title Tag
Description Tag
Keyword Weight
Site Popularity
Can't Get Indexed?
Spamming
How to Remove a Page
Tips from the Engine Itself
AltaVista's Advanced Search Tutorial - How AltaVista Works
User Tips
What's New in AltaVista?
Tips from Ginette Degner: "Page Construction Tips: Use synonyms and concept words frequently to name all media in
your site as well as page names and links. armadillo = roadkill. Keyword Frequency: Use your key phrase once per
section. Once in the title, once in the description, keywords, body etc. Use synonymous phrases throughout the site IE:
Dog crates - dog beds, cuddlers, kennel, crate, travel containers. Tracking: Alta Vista tracks your use of their search
pages. It will even show up next to the listing that you have visited this result before. Remember to use a cookie
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crusher program when submitting or doing searches."
Here's a good article about AV, "AltaVista: In search of a turning point," published by CNET.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6731587.html
July 2001: AltaVista has rolled out their pay inclusion program, which is considerably different (and more expensive)
than Inktomi's. See the Submission Tips area on this page for more information.
Tips on AV's new algorithm:
The most important elements are:
1. Keyword phrase in the domain name.
2. KWP in the page name.
3. KWP in the page title.
4. KWP in the body text with a prominence of at least 90%.
Other factors like link popularity, exit links, link text, URL's, and ALT text affect the page score only marginally.
June 2001: AV appears to be punishing sites that are less than 60 days old. Once they're in the index for a few months,
they begin moving toward the top. Not only that, AV seems to be deliberately delaying the processing of pages
submitted through their free submission program for up to 6 weeks. Although that makes the Submission to Index
Period 6 weeks, the Submission to Placement Period would effectively be 14-15 weeks.
June 2001: AltaVista has againchanged how it presents search results. Here's the latest:
Under "Sponsored Listings": Double click paid results
Also under Sponsored Listings: GoTo paid results
Results from AltaVista's index of sites
One Double Click and one GoTo result are shown on the first page of results. If there isn't a Double Click result, two
or three GoTo results are shown.
Now here's where it gets interesting.
Let's say that the top three Sponsored Listings are from GoTo. Those results appear on the first page of AV results. On
the 2nd page of AV results, the #2, #3, and #4 ranked sites from GoTo appear as Sponsored Listings. On the 3rd page
of AV results, the #3, #4, and #5 ranked sites from GoTo appear as Sponsored Listings, and so forth. So, you may want
to keep this in the back of your mind when purchasing keywords from GoTo. After all, the #1 ranked site will only
appear on the first page of results. The #2 ranked site will appear on the 1st and 2nd pages of results. The #3 ranked
site will appear on the first three pages of results. However,since search results are being rotated, this whole scenario
could be nullified. So, you may want to run some searches at AV before deciding what to bid for keywords at GoTo.
At the present time, there isn't a link to LookSmart directory results from the search results pages on AV. To see LS
results, you have to view the directory listing on the main page of AV. There is also no link to other GoTo results.
A lot of people are experiencing problems with AV's new algorithm. Also, many people are noticing that the META
description tag seems to be gaining in importance in AV. So, try using your keyword phrase in your META
description tag with AV. If it doesn't seem to help your rankings, remove the tag and see if that makes a difference.
News from the Search Engine Strategies Conference in Boston in March of 2001:
Want to rank well with your pages in AltaVista? Follow these guidelines:
* Provide good content.
* Place the content toward the top of the page.
* Keep the search engines in mind when designing pages.
* Choose relevant keywords.
* Create your pages "newspaper" style.
With AltaVista:
* Link popularity is very important.
* Unusual words count more toward ranking.
* Get very specific with your pages.
* Avoid artificial links. (link exchange programs; link farms)
* Their definition of spam: anything that deceives the customer, such as pages with no content.
* With the new submission program, you can submit as many URLs as you want.
* If you have problems reading the new submission "key," reload your page until you get a page that you can read.
However, AV is working toward making the page easier to read.
* Dynamic pages are invisible to AltaVista.
* Avoid tables and frames.
* AV doesn't crawl pages with a "?" in the URL, but you can submit them individually.
Here's an AltaVista quiz that you can take for your own benefit, to help you remember certain important areas of the
AltaVista lesson. If you miss any of the questions, be sure to go back through the course material and re-read the parts
you missed. The quiz is graded on the spot, and we don't get a copy of the score. This is for your benefit only.
http://school.discovery.com/quizzes3/smslady/altavista.html
If you haven't read AltaVista's Advanced Search Tutorial - How AltaVista Works, take some time to do so. This
information is crucial in helping you understand how AltaVista works and how they rank web pages. Some of
the text is quoted at the bottom of this page, or it can be read at this URL in its entirety:
http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_haw_index.shtml
Note: For Search Engine Headline News, visit:
http://searchenginewatch.com/news.html
Brief Insight into AltaVista
AltaVista is by far one of the largest engines, and it's also extremely popular with users.
The main thing to keep in mind with AltaVista, however, is that it pulls results from several different sources.
Therefore, if you can also submit your pages to those sources, you'll have a stronger presence in AltaVista.
Besides its main index of sites that are obtained by crawling the Web, AltaVista also pulls results from Double Click,
GoTo and and LookSmart. LookSmart is now powering AltaVista's directory and not the ODP and LookSmart
combined.
AltaVista is now using paid results from GoTo. However, only one or two GoTo results are shown, rather than 3 as
in the past. And, there is no longer a "More" link for more search results from GoTo.
Size and Popularity
Web Pages Indexed
Percentage of Web Indexed
Popularity in terms of Search Engine Referrals
Top Ten Search Sites
550 million*
31 percent*
5th among top 10; refers 4.3% of search engine
traffic**
1.1%; 12th among top 20***
*From SearchEngineWatch Update
http://searchenginewatch.com/reports/sizes.html
**From StatMarket, 12/21/99
http://statmarket.com/SM?c=stat1221999
***From Web SnapShot
Who is "Related" to AltaVista?
●
●
●
●
AltaVista's spider, Scooter, crawls the Web and index pages which go into the main search results.
GoTo provides the top one or two listings in AltaVista's results.
AltaVista takes results from LookSmart for its directory listings.
AltaVista's mirror sites are operated in other parts of the world. They are supposed to be identical copies of the
main search engine, but results can vary. If you submit to AltaVista, you don't need to resubmit to the mirror
sites to be listed in the world index. However, if you're having a difficult time getting into AV, try submitting
your page through one of the international mirror sites. You may have an easier time getting in.
URLs
AltaVista:
LookSmart
http://www.looksmart.com/
Submission URLs
Submit to AltaVista:
http://www.altavista.com/sites/search/addurl
Submit to LookSmart:
http://www.looksmart.com/h/info/submitfaq.html
AltaVista at a Glance
Indexes pages in?
Crawls web every?
Submit main page/all important pages?
Daily submission limits?
Word count minimum?
Considers META tags for relevancy?
Utilizes META description?
Title length?
Description length?
Site popularity important?
Case sensitive searches?
Utilizes word stemming?
Has stop words?
6 weeks for the free submission; 1-2 weeks for pay
inclusion
4-6 weeks
Main page only (can try submitting others)
No limit with no submission service; up to 500 through
pay inclusion
None
Yes
Yes - but don't use your keyword phrase.
78 characters including spaces
Very important
Yes
No
Yes
Techniques considered to be spamming?
Tiny text, invisible text, META refresh, identical
pages, keyword stuffing
Submission Notes about AltaVista
NOTE: AltaVista may not index your interior/doorway pages if your main page isn't in the index. So, submit your
main page first.
Are your pages missing from AV's index, and you can't seem to submit or resubmit anything?
Look very closely at your pages. Are you spamming in any way? AltaVista has gotten very aggressive about dealing
with spammers, and they're more actively looking at site submissions. If you aren't spamming, contact AV and explain
your situation. And, be sure to read the Spam section of this lesson.
mailto:[email protected]
Are you using free Web sites like GeoCities or AOL? The engines have been burned so many times with spammers
from free Web site domains or domains like AOL. AV may block submissions from the entire domain altogether. If
you get a message saying that too many URLs have been submitted from that domain for the day, wait a few days and
try again. If you continue getting the error message, contact AltaVista.
mailto:[email protected]
AltaVista appears to be putting cookies on your system when you submit a page to them. This isn't as much of an issue
now with their new submission procedure, but it was in the past. If you submit too many URLs in a day, they may be
ignored, or you'll get a message that "Too Many URLs Have Been Submitted Today."
The cookie expires after 24 hours, and you can start over.
Cookie Pal is a software program that can be found at this URL: http://www.kburra.com/cpal.html
Another cookie program that a student said is easier to use is:http://www.thelimitsoft.com/products.html
For more information on cookies in general, visit:http://www.cookiecentral.com/
Now Let's Get Down to Business
Submission Tips for AltaVista
NOTE: AltaVista may not index your interior/doorway pages if your main page isn't in the index. So, submit your
main page first.
AltaVista has implemented a new submission process aimed at keeping out submission software. AV has always
claimed that over 90% of submissions to the index are spam, and this is a way that they think will solve the problem.
When you go to the URL below, you'll see a green box with submission instructions in it. You're asked to write down
the letters and numbers in the box in the exact order, which is your "submission code." You'll enter that code on the
submission form with the URL you're submitting. You can enter up to 5 URLs without having to enter the code again.
June 2001: AltaVista has joined the ranks of Inktomi by establishing a pay inclusion program. They've partnered
with infoSpider to provide this service. However, AV's service is different in many ways from Inktomi's, and definitely
more expensive.
According to AV: Express Inclusion lets you quickly add up to 500 pages to the global database that powers
AltaVista's search results. Weekly updates keep your listings fresh.
Here's how the program works:
Can submit up to 500 individual URLs to AltaVista for "rapid URL entry";
Will be informed when your URLs have been added to the index;
Includes automatic weekly refreshes of your pages;
URLs in AltaVista's global database for a period of 6 months;
Can track submissions and transactions online through your personal Account Management Center;
New submissions take approximately a week to make it into AV's index and be displayed;
Express Inclusion submissions will be given priority review and processing by AltaVista. Basic Submit URLs (their
free service) will be reviewed within 4-6 weeks of submission. Basic submissions won't receive any feedback or
communication about submissions, and you will need to resubmit your pages whenever they are modified.
Six Month Subscription Pricing
AltaVista's Express Inclusion service is priced for a 6-month subscription period.
Unit
1st URL
URLs #2-10
URLs #11-100
URLs #101-500
Price (USD)
$39
$24 each
$19 each
$12 each
Pricing Example: 3 URLs would cost $87 = (1 x $39) + (2 x $24)
To submit using their pay inclusion, visit:
http://www.altavista.com/sites/search/express_incl
Remember to submit your site to the other engines/directories associated with AltaVista. Those URLs appear at the top
of this page.
● How can you tell if your site has been indexed in AltaVista?
Enter your URL in the keyword box in one of these ways:
url:yourdomain.com (reveals every page under the root domain)
url:members.aol.com/yourwebsite/ (narrows the search to pages within your area, if you're under
someone else's domain)
url:members.aol.com/yourwebsite/yourwebpage.htm (finds a specific page at your site)
●
NOTE: Don't use either the "www" prefix or "http://".
Does AltaVista have a limit to the number of pages it will index in a given site?
AltaVista answers, "In reality, the whole site could be indexed with no restriction on depth, except that we have
size limitations and stop the spider once the index of the site has a certain size."
It is unknown what those size limitations are.
●
Submitting to AltaVista's main index will also get your site indexed with the non-US versions of the engine
and with the mirror sites. The exception to this rule is with the Canadian AV service, which maintains two
indexes. The worldwide index is from AltaVista itself, and the Canadian index is created from a separate
crawler.
How can you submit to the Canadian crawler?
You can't. The service usually finds Canadian webpages, even if they're hosted in non-Canadian domains. If
your site is missed, contact AltaVista Canada and register a .ca domain through the Canadian government.
●
AV is *not* root domain wise, which means you must use "index.html" when submitting to this engine.
●
After submitting to AltaVista by using their Add URL form, you'll receive a warning message if there were
any problems when trying to index your page.
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Submit 1-5 pages to AV a day. With AV's new submission procedure, you can't submit any more than 5 URLs
a day without entering the code in again. When resubmitting a page to AV, don't resubmit if the page hasn't been
changed. In fact, it's best to let the spider find the changes during the next spider run.
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AltaVista won't index a site submitted as an IP address--you must submit the domain name. Here's what a
representative from AltaVista said, "The spider is doing reverse DNS loopups when an IP site is submitted. You
must be registered with Internic and have DNS running to be indexed by the spider. Sorry for the
inconvenience."
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If it takes AV's spider longer than 60 seconds to access your page when indexing it, your page won't get
indexed.
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Submit your pages using "www" and not using "www" in the URL.
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Be careful about the overall length of your URL with AltaVista and keep it under 63 characters. Lengthy
subdomain names utilizing numerous keywords may be too long to be indexed, and you'll get an error message
when you try to submit them.
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Keep your Web pages under 600-700 words. According to Position Pro, anything over that word count isn't
getting ranked.
Relevancy Tips
For more information about AltaVista's algorithm, visit:
http://www.ping.be/~ping0658/avrank.html
Use keywords in:
Beginning of title, but not first words -- Very Important
Early in body of page (first line of page), sprinkled
throughout, and ending body text with keyword phrase
ALT tags (LOTS of ALT tags!)
http-equiv ="keywords" tag, like: <META
HTTP-EQUIV="keywords" NAME="keywords"
CONTENT="nine-banded armadillo">
URL -- Very Important
Names of images
Only first two uses of keyword phrase count,
according to AV
Link text
Domain names
Use minimal repetition of keyword phrase in META
tags. Try not using META tags at all with AltaVista.
<style> tags
Beginning of headline tags.
In AV, relevancy is measured by how close the keywords
are placed to the top of the page, the link popularity of the
site, and theme analysis. Use keywords in the domain
name, file name, first few lines of text on the page, and in
the HTML title tag.
When you search at AltaVista, you may find that the title
and description on your page isn't what appears in the
search results, but rather the title/description from your
LookSmart listing, if you're in the directory's index. So,
do your BEST to get your important keyword phrase
in your LookSmart title. If you don't get the keyword
in your title, you may want to purchase another domain
just for this purpose.
META description tag
Other relevancy tips:
Include links to other pages on main page or links on the
main page to all important pages
Use synonyms of your keywords, especially in the
Main page often ranks higher than other pages, so
keyword META tag.
purchase additional domains
Favors pages that have been in the index for a while -- Don't target too many different keywords on a single page
Very Important
or you will dilute their effectiveness
Average number of words per page: 600. However, very Utilize bulleted lists with tiny bullet gifs, and insert your
short pages do well with this engine sometimes too.
keyword phrase in each ALT tag.
AltaVista may be placing greater weight on pages they
Use short, focused titles
found or spidered themselves rather than those that are
submitted to their directory.
Concentrate each page on one or two keywords only, and
concentrate keywords near the top of the document.
Put keywords in bold in the body text.
Create CONTENT!
AltaVista is a theme search engine. Therefore, you need
to make sure that EVERYTHING on the page points to
AV doesn't index punctuation. For example, "writer's
one central theme. Move other unrelated information to
resources" becomes "writer s resources" to AV.
other pages or domains. Keep each domain focused on
one central theme as well.
Site popularity is very important.
Additional Comments about AltaVista
You may find different results when
searching the main index and a mirror site,
because the mirror sites may be one or two
days behind in indexing sites. Also, mirror
sites may not list all of the pages in the
main index.
Only the first 100K of text is indexed.
After that, only links are indexed up to a
maximum of 4MB.
Be sure to use the keywords next to each
other as a phrase.
AltaVista's spider goes down about three pages into your site. If you
have important pages that won't be found within three mouse clicks of
the main page, be sure to add them to a site map or as links on your main
page.
AltaVista indexes all of the HTML information on a page: All text, ALT
text for images, links (HREFs and images), anchors, title, description,
and keyword META tags, applet and ActiveX object names, the page's
URL, its host name (www.acws.com) and its domain name (com).
AV doesn't index punctuation. Accent marks only matter if they are
entered by the user.
AltaVista supports frames and image maps.
If you submit an HTML page that uses
frameset tags, AltaVista will index the title
and any text on the page. It will use the
META description from the page for the
search results but it will not index it, nor
will it index comment tags. AV's spider
will index the contents within the
<noframes> tags just like it would on a
non-frames page. You can move the title
and meta description from the top of the
page down to the <noframes> section and
the engine will use them. AltaVista
probably won't follow the links that are
within the framesource.
Searches within AV are generally case
sensitive, so use your keywords three
times--once in lower case, once in
capitalized form, and once in all caps if
you want your site to be found in that
manner. To see if AV is case sensitive to
the keyword phrase that you're using, be
sure to search for the phrase in all
variations and check the results.
AltaVista appears to be using "exact
matching" for popular keyword phrases
only. This means that searching for a
popular keyword phrase using quotation
marks and *not* using quotation marks
will give you the same results. So, if you
want to found under popular keyword
phrases, make sure that the phrase appears
on the page in the exact order as the search
term.
You can even use the <noframes> tag on a non-framed page to place
text, and the engine will "find" and index it. It will index the page, plus
any content within the <noframes> tag. You can place links to other
pages of your site, text, tags, etc.
AV won't search for variations of a word based on its stem. For example,
a search for "marketable" won't include results for "marketing" or
"marketability." Plurals are not recognized as being synonymous with
singular words, so use the plural form of your keyword phrase as well as
the singular form when possible.
The "Last Modified Date" is the date that the page was spidered--not the
file date or the submission date. The "Last Modified Date" is the date
that the site was added to the database. Since AV seems to place more
relevancy on sites that have been in its index for a while, the older the
page's date, the better. Since it's important for your site to appear "old,"
make sure you don't use dynamic content on your pages designed for
AV. By keeping the pages static, the spider won't attempt to reindex the
pages the next time it crawls your site.
For keyword phrases that aren't popular,
the searches are still non-exact matching,
which means that if your page is optimized
well for one particular keyword that is part
of a keyword phrase, you can possibly
achieve a top ranking with that phrase and
variations of that phrase if the phrase
contains the keyword in it.
AV doesn't display relevancy scores in its main index. However, the
Human reviewed pages at AV? Yep.
Under Related searches toward the top of Belgium index does.
the page, you'll see "See reviewed sites in,"
which are from the LookSmart Directory. http://altavista.advalvas.be
AV is now tracking exit traffic. According
to Planet Ocean: "On another front,
AltaVista has changed their click-through
tracking recently. "clk_sm" and "ref"
variables have been added to their redirect
URL. As a point of interest, it appears that
both of these variables appear are related to
the URL and not the visitor. Incidentally, it
doesn't appear they are using click tracking
for most country specific versions of the
engine -- example: altavista.co.uk."
Be sure to submit to LookSmart
Apparently AltaVista considers a robots
noarchive tag to be the same as a robots
noindex tag, and they won't spider the page
with that tag in the head.
Because of AV's spell checker, you
probably don't need to include misspelled
keywords in your tags.
Doesn't index content of comment tags
AV clusters results
Create a series of pages with varying keyword weights.
Set meta refresh tags to 30 or greater with AV. Better yet, don't use
redirect tags at all with this engine.
AltaVista may not reindex your page if you haven't made many changes
to it, or they may even consider it spam. Changing one or two keywords
AltaVista won't index a page that is
or correcting a misspelling is probably not enough to get the page
password-protected; text in images; text in reindexed by the spider during a regular spider crawl. Therefore, don't
non-HTML like Acrobat; multimedia sites; resubmit your page unless you've made several changes to it. Also, with
and, sites over 4 MB, including sites with AV, if your page is in the index, it's best to let the engine "find" the
changes to the page by itself, versus resubmitting your pages. If your
large video clips.
page isn't in the index, again, put a link to the page on your main page
and let the engine find the page itself.
Richard Seltzer's AltaVista Search Tutorial Our test sites using tables and minimal javascript still ranked fairly high
http://www.samizdat.com/script/title.htm with AltaVista.
If you have a site that could benefit from being multilingual, visit this
URL.
Does support the META robot tag
http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_haw_multilingual.shtml
For a listing of things that AV can't index,
Is a deep crawling engine.
click here.
According to Frédéric d'Alayer, our French instructor, when a search is
made with "any language," Altavista lists pages written in English first,
Will accept a URL with a "?" in it if
followed by pages written in other languages. So it is important to put
submitted manually.
something for Altavista to read in English, but that the page still remains
in French, particularly the description. Frédéric adds a <noframes> tag to
his pages and puts the information in that tag in English.
When you run a search at AltaVista, the
According to Chris Sherman of About.com's Web Search area,
engine will often give you a listing of
"AltaVista is now checking domain ownership records for Web sites, and
related searches at the top of the page in a cross-correlating ownership information as a part of relevance ranking.
yellow box above the search results. So,
It's not exactly clear what they're doing with this (other than providing
search for your keyword phrase, then see useful information about the domain owner in the search results), but the
what "related searches" AltaVista will give implication is that multiple domains used primarily as doorway sites will
you. Consider using those keyword
now be detected, if they are all owned by the same person/company. Bad
phrases, if appropriate.
news if you rely heavily on this technique to drive traffic to your sites. "
AltaVista may not index your
interior/doorway pages if your main page
isn't in the index. So, submit your main
page first.
Make SURE to add some text on your site
map or link pages in AltaVista. If you
don't, you may find your pages booted out
of the index.
For information about Altavista's ranking
algorithm, visit:
http://www.ping.be/~ping0658/avrank.html
AV rotates their results, so that if you
refresh the page, you'll probably have
different results.
Keep your Web pages under 600-700 words. According to Position
Pro, anything over that word count isn't getting ranked.
According to Michael Campbell, AltaVista has the ability to change
search results depending on the time of day. During business hours,
corporate sites rank higher. In peak surfing times in the evening, the
corporate sites are given less of a boost.
Dynamic pages are invisible to AltaVista. Avoid tables and frames. AV
doesn't crawl pages with a "?" in the URL, but you can submit them
individually.
For information on Mercator, one of AV's useragents, visit:
http://www.research.compaq.com/SRC/mercator/papers/www/paper.html
When asked to briefly outline her thoughts on AltaVista, professional search engine optimizer Ginette Degner with
Search Engine Services (http://www.searchengineservices.com) said:
"Alta Vista is a content-driven engine. Keyword density has little if any relevance to placement. Sites that can express
and expound on a single concept (use of synonyms, related topics) while linking out to relevant sites consistently stay
in their index. Statistically, sites that achieve a high concept rating have excellent link popularity. Combine this with
the trend of indexing different types of media on a site and we find a kind of cross-referencing which reinforces the
"content is king" approach to building a search engine that is useful to everyone.
"When designing sites for Alta Vista, we try to fit all who, what, where, how and why topics around the central
concept of a site. It is necessary to build intelligent and informative pages which not only act as a "lead in to your main
concept" but are viable as stand alone examples of the kind of content on your site. It is also very important to express
your concept using a variety of media such as MPS, AVI ,and graphics. A site map is a "must have" to assist Alta
Vista's bots for the best possible indexing results. Meta Tags have yet to be a consistent factor for placement in Alta
Vista. I strongly advise the use of meta tags as well as the robots.txt file. While it is not a "ranking factor," it does
directly reflect on how you appear in the index."
Differing Results at AltaVista
Recently, many people have noticed that searches done within minutes of each other at AV yield different results.
Here's what a representative of First Place Software had to say about:
"Yes, Altavista has been very jumpy for some time. Searches done within a few minutes of each other
often yield different results. Our sources indicate that AltaVista is shuffling the results around a bit on
order to insure that no single site completely dominates the results. However, the results are still out on
that one. But, yes, AltaVista has been all over the board lately."
A representative from AltaVista said this:
"Subject: Re: various results
The search engine returns an approximation of results, which may change when you go from page to
page. The time of day you perform the search can affect these results, as doing a search when the engine is
in heavy use will cause it to hit a brief timeout period due to the number of queries and workload. This
prevents the machine from overloading and also produces inconsistent results.
The best time to get results is between about 3am and 1pm GMT. When you search for broad topic areas
using one or two keywords, many pages contain relatively equal amounts of the content you requested.
The ranking of these pages may change over time. You can narrow your search by making your >search
terms more specific or rare. You can also use quotation mark around a phrase or try include (+)or exclude
(-) values in front of your search terms to achieve more precise results.
AV Support"
Another student offered this information:
"Over at the seachengineforums at VirtualPromote, they have discovered in their testing that there are at
least four databases AV uses. This is why the varied results and helps in their so-called "freshness"
guarantee. I for one am not a believer that they have widely differing algos for each database, but it is a
fact that they must have slightly differing algos, thus the different results."
What Can't AltaVista Index?
Note: See this URL for the full text of this information:
http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_haw_wellindexed.shtml
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Password-protected sites;
Content from a database (dynamic pages);
Active server pages (asp) with "?" in their URLs; (Note: The engine can index URLs with "?" in them if
submitted manually.)
Has problems with frames;
Text embedded in graphics;
Text in multimedia files;
Information that is generated by Java applets or in XML coding;
Acrobat files;
Comment tags;
Information that's deeper than three directory levels down;
Your Title Tag and AltaVista
When you search at AltaVista, you may find that the title and description on your page isn't what appears in the search
results, but rather the title/description from your LookSmart listing, if you're in the directory's index. So, do your
BEST to get your important keyword phrase in your LookSmart title. If you don't get the keyword in your title,
you may want to purchase another domain just for this purpose.
The title tag is the most important tag on your page. Use your keyword phrase in this tag.
AltaVista prefers short (3-5 words), focused title tags containing the keyword phrase as the 2nd or 3rd words in
the tag itself. If you don't include a title tag, AV will list "No Title" in the search results.
If you need a boost in rankings, you can try two title tags with AltaVista. Instead of just repeating the same tag twice
(which means it will appear to be "run together" across the top of your page), consider writing each tag as if it were
connected to the other tag for a more professional look. However, use this strategy with caution and only if you can't
seem to get a better ranking otherwise.
Also, try using a regular title tag and a META name=content tag like this:
<title>Put your title here></title>
<META NAME="title" CONTENT="Put your title here">
AV rewards keywords in the <title> tag. If a keyword isn't in that tag, your site will likely not appear near the top of
the search results for that keyword phrase.
Don't repeat your keyword phrase in the title tag. AV seems to penalize sites that repeat a keyword in the title tag.
Maximum length of title accepted: 78 characters, or 12 words
Your Description Tag and AltaVista
In search results, AltaVista will display about 150 characters for the description (or 22 words)of your site. If you
use a META description tag, AV will list that information. If no META description tag exists, AV will use the first
text it finds on the page, not including ALT text.
Try using your important keyword phrase in your META description tag. If you need a boost in ranking, try removing
the tag and see if that helps.
AltaVista will index the description and keywords up to a limit of 1,024 characters.
AltaVista and Keyword Weight
AltaVista considers keyword weight as a factor in relevancy. Aim for a 5% keyword density with this engine for
your body text. Consider creating pages with varying keyword weight for AV.
However, the best way to handle keyword weight is to determine the keyword weight for top-ranking pages for
your keyword phrase and compare it to your page, then make adjustments accordingly. Study each section of
your page and compare it to the top-ranking pages, using Keyword Density Analyzer or a service like
keywordcount.com.
For a quick way to determine your keyword weight, visit:
http://www.keywordcount.com
Link Popularity
According to Stephen Mahaney of Planet Ocean in an interview in January 2000, AltaVista appears to be factoring in
just the gross number of links when it comes to link popularity, whereas most other engines are considering relevant
links.
AV considers link popularity to be very important. Use link text containing your keyword phrase. Both outgoing and
incoming links are important. Click here for more information.
For tips on boosting your site popularity, see lesson #4.
What if You Can't get Your Site Indexed by AltaVista?
If AltaVista doesn't index your site within a few weeks, look closely at your site to see if anything you're doing could
possibly be construed as spamming.
If you're sure you're not spamming the engine, write to AltaVista (mailto:[email protected]) and ask why
your site isn't being accepted into the index. Regretfully, you may or may not hear back from them, and you may need
to call them. (650-617-3496)
Spamming
As you know, AltaVista has launched an aggressive campaign against spamming, and many legitimate website owners
have found themselves booted out of the index, often for no reason. If AV sees anything that sends up a red flag, your
site will be gone, even if you're actually not doing anything "wrong."
AltaVista has posted their spamming rules on their Add URL page.
However, let's discuss each of those rules here:
Pages with text that is not easily read, either because it is too small or is obscured by the background of the page
Don't use tiny text or text that is the same or a similar color to the background. Keep your text at size 3 font or above.
In other words, don't hide text!
Pages with off-topic or excessive keywords
Don't keyword stuff, and don't use keywords in your tags that don't pertain to your page in an effort to direct traffic to
your site.
Duplication of content, either by excessive submission of the same page, submitting the same pages from
multiple domains, or submitting the same content from multiple hosts
Don't create pages that are duplicates of other pages, and don't create hundreds of pages, then simply swap out
keywords, still utilizing the same text that's on other pages.
How does AV determine if a page is a duplicate? Submit Express offers this information:
AltaVista starts by first looking at pages that link to each other. Often, Web sites will have links to pages similar in
content. The page titles, Meta tags and keywords used on the content of the page will be compared to see if they have
similar content. All similar pages will be recorded. Links to popular sites such as Yahoo will be dropped from
comparisons. Once a set of similar pages are found, AV will then compare every single page to each other. AltaVista
will look and compare the outgoing links on both pages that may be duplicates. If both contain links to the same exact
places and the number of links on both pages is the same, then they will be considered duplicates. This will only be
done with sites using more than certain number of links. AltaVista will choose a threshold such as 99%. If the number
of links in common is above this threshold, then the page may be considered a duplicate page. This "duplicate page
detecting" algorithm can detect exact pages or very similar pages, and once detected, all of the pages will be dropped.
See this URL for more information: http://www.submitexpress.com/newsletters/nov_15_00.html
Machine-generated pages with minimal or no content, whose sole purpose is to get a user to click to another
page
Don't use programs such as Page Generator of WebPosition Gold, to where the pages are obviously doorway pages
into your site. Instead, personalize your pages, making sure they conform to the format of your site. If you use Page
Generator, put content before the links into your site and incorporate the format of your site into the pages, which will
make the pages look less like "doorway" pages.
A representative from Altavista said:
"You'll need to look for the pages on your site and check out which ones have little to no 'content' on them, ones which
make the users click on a link to get to the real content. We're trying to give users the best search experience we can, so
we'd rather index a page with content instead of one which says 'click here to find out more!'."
Pages that contain only links to other pages
If you use site maps or hallway pages, be sure to add content to those pages to where the pages look like more than just
link pages.
Sites that Participate in Link Exchange Programs or "Link Farms"
Pages whose primary intent is to redirect users to another page
Don't use redirections with AV. If you must use a redirection, use a java redirect rather than a META refresh tag.
If your pages have been booted out of the index, and if you get the "too many URLs" message when you try to
resubmit, contact AV by completing the feedback form at this URL:
If that doesn't work, send them an email:
[email protected]
Or, try calling them at:
650-617-3515
Also at AltaVista's website, you'll find the following information:
"Sometimes sites submit a large number of pages to AltaVista hoping to have them show up often on our
result pages. They submit pages with numerous keywords, or with keywords that are unrelated to the
content of the pages. Some other people submit pages that present our spider with content that differs
from what users will see. We strongly discourage these practices. Attempts to fill AltaVista's index with
misleading or promotional pages lower the value of the index for everyone and render Web indices and
your search experience worthless. We do not allow URL submissions from customers who spam the index
and will exclude all such pages from the index."
For more information on how AV feels about spam, click here.
http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_haw_spam.shtml
AltaVista considers these practices to be spamming:
1.
Submitting the same URL repeatedly on any one day;
2.
Submitting a large number of URLs on any one day. Instead, limit your submissions
to AV to under 5 a day. (With their new submission procedure, AV says that there's no
longer a limit to the number of URLs you can submit in a day. However, moderation is
always a good idea.)
3.
Repeating keywords over and over again in your tags or in the body of the page itself;
4.
Stuffing tags or pages with keywords that aren't related to the content of the page;
5.
Using invisible text or tiny text;
6.
Using the META refresh tag under 30 seconds. A representative from AV said this:
"You need to change the refresh tag to 30."
With AV, be safe and not use a redirect tag at all.
7.
Submitting identical or nearly identical pages from the same site (keep this in mind
regarding doorway pages). Be careful using machine-generated doorway pages (such as
Page Generator of WebPosition Gold).
8.
Submitting a page whose content hasn't changed much.
Need to report a spammer at AltaVista? Use this form:
http://www.altavista.com/av/content/help_block.html
It was originally designed to report offensive sites that have slipped through the Family Filter system, but it can also be
used to report spammers. Pages are not immediately removed, but they're placed on a list to be reviewed.
What Might Happen to You if You Spam AltaVista?
With AltaVista, spam penalties may include:
1. Exclusion from the index if you use identical or nearly identical pages, META refresh tags, or excessive keyword
repetition.
2. Placement of your website on a report that is reviewed by a human editor. If it is considered spam after being
reviewed, it will be removed from the index.
3. The removal of all pages from your site and all future submission blocked if AV thinks you're spamming the
index.
To Remove a Page or URL from AltaVista
There may come a time when you'll need to remove a page from AltaVista's index. The following tips are straight from
AltaVista itself:
To remove an inactive or expired link from the index, submit the URL to us. All URLs showing a status code of 404
("Not Found") are removed within 48 hours.
To exclude all pages of a site from the index, it is necessary to write a robots.txt file or to use META tags.
Excluding Pages with META tags
For more information from AV about how to "Avoid the Index," click here.
http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_haw_avoiding.shtml
Web pages can also be controlled on a per page basis through the use of META tags as specified by the Robots
Exclusion Standard.
http://info.webcrawler.com/mak/projects/robots/robots.html
For example, adding the line below will prevent a crawler from adding a page to its index and links on the page will
not be followed.
<META name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">
AltaVista's crawler currently recognizes four (4) META tag exclusion options:
NOINDEX prevents anything on the page from being indexed.
NOFOLLOW prevents the crawler from following the links on the page and indexing the linked pages.
NOIMAGEINDEX prevents the images on the page from being indexed but the text on the page can still be indexed.
NOIMAGECLICK prevents the use of links directly to the images, instead there will only be a link to the page.
Currently, AltaVista will only link to the page.
Excluding pages with robots.txt
Our crawler will find any URL connected to the main body of the Web through even one link. If you don't want your
entire site to be indexed, we strongly advise that you take advantage of the Robots Exclusion Standard
(http://info.webcrawler.com/mak/projects/robots/robots.html) by setting up a robots.txt file. It only takes a minute, and
gives you complete control over what fraction of your site is indexed. The file looks like:
To exclude your site from all web crawlers use:
User-agent: * # directed to all robots
Disallow: /cgi-bin/sources
To exclude your site AltaVista's web page index:
User-agent: scooter # AltaVista web page search
Disallow: /cafeteria/lunch_menus/
To exclude your site AltaVista's image, video and audio clip index:
User-agent: vscooter # AltaVista Image Search
Disallow: /personal/images/
Any URL matching one of these patterns will be ignored by robots visiting your site.
Tips from AltaVista Itself
The following tips came from the AltaVista website at this URL:
Once the URL is verified, it is added to our index. Normally, the page is available for queries in a day or so, but can
take up to two to three weeks to be indexed on our mirror sites.
Do not submit a description or keywords when you submit the URL. To provide a summary that appears when
someone searches for and finds your pages, use META tags instead.
Remember the URLs are case-sensitive. Be sure to double-check your spelling.
In AltaVista's words, How Can You Make Your Site Appear Higher in the
Rankings?
"There is no way to cheat. Simply make your page a better match for likely queries. Use common words
that describe the content of your site early in your page. You can use the META tags to add a few
invisible keywords. With the increasing growth of the Web, it will be ever more difficult to obtain a high
ranking based on imprecise queries, such as 'computer.' Using AltaVista Search tools, however, allows
users to construct much more precise queries, so you will get more value by making your page a good
match for AltaVista Search queries."
Controlling how your Web page is indexed by AltaVista
In the absence of any other information, AltaVista will index all words in your document (except for comments), and
will use the first few words of the document as a short abstract. See also, Excluding Pages with META Tags. It is
however possible for you to control how your page is indexed by using META tags to specify both additional
keywords to index, and a short description. Let's suppose your page contains:
<META name="description" content="We specialize in grooming pink poodles.">
<META name="keywords" content="pet grooming, Palo Alto, dog">
AltaVista will then do two things:
It will index both fields as words, so a search on either poodles or dog will match.
It will return the description with the URL.
In other words, instead of showing the first couple of lines of the page, a match will look like the following:
Pink Poodles Inc
We specialize in grooming pink poodles.
http://pink.poodle.org/ - size 3k - 29 Feb 96
AltaVista's Advanced Search Tutorial - How AltaVista Works
The most relevant information is cut and pasted here. For the full text of the tutorial, visit:
The AltaVista index is built by sending out crawlers (robot programs) that capture text and bring it back. No human
filtering or judgement is involved. What they see is what you'll get.
The main crawler, named "Scooter," sends out thousands of HTTP requests simultaneously like thousands of blind
users grabbing text, pulling it back, and throwing it into the indexing machines so that text can be in the index.
Scooter also has "cousins," other crawlers that do specialized jobs to help keep the index current, such as
checking for "dead" links -- pages that have been moved or deleted and should not be in the index.
How does Scooter know where to go? It follows the links it finds in the pages it retrieves. When a page is
captured, the links from that page go into a list of where to go to next. In theory, there is no need to tell AltaVista about
your site -- it should be found automatically.
(NOTE: Make sure you put links to all important pages on the main page of your site. Also, since the engines
can come through the door into your site through other avenues other than the main page, put links on all of
your other pages as well.
In a typical day Scooter and its cousins visit over 10 million pages. But this is a random game with hundreds of
millions of Web pages. Pages with many links to them may be found frequently by the crawler. Pages with few
links might be found in a week, a month, six months, or even longer. Pages with no links at all to them will never be
found.
(NOTE: This is an excellent reason to work toward building links coming into your site!)
However, you can add a URL manually, by going to the Add/Remove URL help page.
Adding and Removing URLs
http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_haw_addurl.shtml
Let's take a closer look at Add a URL, one of AltaVista's most important features, from the perspective of a Web site
owner or webmaster.
To add a Web site, click on Add a URL (http://www.altavista.com/cgi-bin/query?pg=addurl). Then type in the URLs
of your pages. A crawler will immediately fetch that page and hand it off to the index machines to be added to
the index. So instead of waiting for this random, many-months process, you can control when your page is indexed.
<snip>
Use this same process to remove URLs for nonexistent pages. If the URL you enter is for a page that is no longer
available, you will see "Error 404," which means there is no such page -- not that that the crawler couldn't get there due
to some transient problem, but that a page with that address does not exist on that server. If that page was in the index,
AltaVista will remove it from the index.
If you changed the directory structure at your Web site, you could enter the URLs for all the old addresses to
remove the old information from the index. Then you could add URLs for all the new addresses.
If you made a typo or posted a document that you shouldn't have and have removed that page from the Web, you can
enter that page's URL to make sure that page's information is not perpetuated in the index.
After changing a URL, you can use the keyword link: followed by the old Web address to find out what Web pages
have hyperlinks to that address. Then you can send email to the webmasters of those sites and ask them to update their
links.
If your AltaVista queries turn up the occasional nonexistent page, remember that there are hundreds of millions of Web
pages, and the crawlers find them and return to them randomly. When this happens, click on Add a URL and enter that
URL. Then that page will be removed from the index. The more people who do that, the more current the index will
be.
Properties of Full-Text Index
http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_haw_fulltext.shtml
Large companies often misunderstand how AltaVista works. Some webmasters think that AltaVista and other
search engines search only for information in META tags
(http://www.altavista.com/cgi-bin/query?pg=addurl#meta) (-- special keywords embedded in the headers of
Web pages. They think that only these "keywords" count.
That is not the case. Databases use "keywords." With databases you need to organize information in order to
retrieve it later. But AltaVista uses a full-text index. Every word on every page matters, and not just individual
words, but the order of the words as well -- words combined as phrases
(http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_as_phrases.shtml). Creative use of this full-text search capability can produce
very interesting and unexpected results.
(NOTE: EVERY word on the page matters -- and the order of the words as well -- words combined as
PHRASES.)
<snip>
The AltaVista search index has no categories. Text is stored, not just information about text. A search makes a direct
one-to-one match with text that appears on Web pages, not with marketing descriptions of Web pages. <snip>
Web Site Design
http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_haw_design.shtml
In the early days of the Web, many sites were designed like branching adventure stories. The user was expected to
enter at the home page and follow the path of links laid out by the designer, with limited choices and moving forward
in a predetermined way.
Today, if the content of your site is well represented in search engine indexes, many people don't come in
through your home page. Any page at your site is a potential entry point.
There is nothing special about a home page. All pages are created equal, as far as search engines are concerned.
Because of the volume of traffic that could come to your site by way of search engines, you should pay attention
to every page. Make sure that whatever page a visitor sees first, the focus and purpose of the site and the context
of that particular page are clear. You also should be sure to provide navigation buttons on every page.
But you do need a home page, or the equivalent of one. You need a page that serves as a navigation hub for the
static pages at your site, to which other pages can point. As a rule of thumb, it shouldn't take more than three
clicks to go from anywhere at a Web site to any other page at that same site.
(NOTE: Pay attention to EVERY page. Make sure that the focus and context of each particular page are clear.
Provide navigation buttons on every page. Make sure that everything is accessible within three clicks from the
main page.)
Diagnostics with AltaVista
http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_haw_diagnostics.shtml
If your pages are well indexed at AltaVista, you can use AltaVista as a tool to check them and to fix problems that you
uncover.
A search for host: followed by your domain name will provide a list of all the pages from your site that are in
the AltaVista index. If the list is relatively small, you can easily see which pages lack titles and instances where the
same title and/or description has been used multiple times. You can also check the dates, to see which pages might be
obsolete.
If the list includes more than 200 pages, go to Advanced Search to be able to keep clicking on "Next" to see
them all. (http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_as_results.shtml)Also, use the ability to search by a range of
dates to determine which pages are a year old or two years or three years or even more.
If you have changed domain names or file names or directory names at any time, do searches for link:
(http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_ma_wholinks.shtml) followed by the old address to find out if there are
pages (either at your site or elsewhere) that still link to the old addresses. You can immediately fix the old links
inside your site and contact the webmasters of other sites, asking them to fix their old links.
If you work for a large company, you might want to do a search for host:
(http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_ma_keywords.shtml) followed by your domain name and the corporate
security terms, such as "company confidential."
The odds are good that somebody sometime accidentally posted an internal document that shouldn't have been made
public.
Similarly, you can check for SSN, "home address," and "home phone number" on the pages at your site, in case that
kind of personal information was inadvertently posted publicly.
HTML Titles
http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_haw_titles.shtml
If you list all the pages of your site with AltaVista, the mistake you are most likely to find is pages with no title,
or many pages with the same title. Many webmasters still don't realize that HTML titles are the most important
part of their pages. This isn't the name of the file. This isn't the name in big bold letters across the top. This is the
HTML title -- part of the header of the document, which appears in the title bar of the browser window.
(NOTE: Nice to hear AV admit that title tags are the most important tags on our pages!)
Many people use page-creation software that downplays the importance of the HTML title, burying in unlikely
places the ability to assign a title, or, as a default, assigning titles automatically or not at all. And if you design
Web pages by cutting and pasting material from one page to another, using existing pages as templates for new ones,
you save time, but also increase the likelihood that you'll forget to assign a new HTML title for each new page. But if
you regularly add a URL at AltaVista for each new page you create, and check back to see how your new pages appear
in the index (with url: followed by the exact address of the page), you'll quickly see when that has happened; so you
can immediately fix it and add the URL again.
Before AltaVista came along, the HTML title was a throw-away. Nobody paid much attention to it.
The HTML title is the link name of the page as it appears on lists of results. "No Title" doesn't really attract people to
click to go to your page. And having multiple pages with the same title is confusing and looks unprofessional.
In the ranking rules that determine which pages will appear near the top of a list of matches, the HTML title is the most
important element of the page.
When people search for your kind of information, they are most likely to use those words that belong in your
HTML title. When you leave the title blank, use unimportant words, or use the same title on many different
pages, you've just thrown away the best way to attract traffic to your site.
(NOTE: Here it is again -- the importance of the title tag. You need to make SURE that your important
keywords are in your title tag.)
Improving Your Site with Links
http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_haw_link.shtml
<snip> (This area is discussing the importance of having related links pointing TO your website.)
Every one of those pages is likely to be important to you. You should take a good look to see if the content there is
relevant to and compatible with your own. If so, you may well want to thank the webmaster and put a link back
to them somewhere at your site. Those might be potential partners or customers.
(NOTE: Look how important RELATED links are to this engine.)
You also should check the context in which links to your pages appear. Is the reference to your site and business
accurate and appropriate? Those links could reflect on the image of your company. In some cases, you might want to
ask a webmaster to remove a link to your site. You also should look at the "anchor" words -- the text that is
highlighted in links to your pages. The more clear and specific the anchor words are, the more likely that people
will in fact click on them, and also the more value search engines like AltaVista are likely to give to them.
(NOTE: What else is important regarding links? Link TEXT! They say to be "clear and specific" with your
keywords.)
Embedded Search Links
http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_haw_embedded.shtml
<snip> Every search at AltaVista has a unique URL. That means that you can bookmark a results page. When you
click on that bookmark later, you connect immediately to AltaVista and launch that same search, generating fresh
results. You can also embed the URLs for specific AltaVista searches on pages at your site.
<snip> You could put a whole set up of search links on your pages, saying, "if you are interested in X, click here." You
could have carefully constructed all these great queries to get people exactly the kinds of things they want out of
newsgroups and Web pages. Then visitors to your site don't have to learn all the keywords to take advantage of the
power of AltaVista. You've done the work for them. At no cost to you, you are providing a valuable service for your
visitors, making it easy for them to find information that is important to them.
(NOTE: Interesting idea here that could help when it comes to link popularity for outgoing links. Rather than
have a supply of links on your pages that you have to constantly update, link to AV's search engine for your
outgoing related links.)
Query Relevance
http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_haw_query.shtml
There are hundreds of millions of Web pages, so almost any query is likely to have a huge number of matches. For
search results to be useful, search engines must rank more highly pages that are most likely to have relevant
information. AltaVista's formula for doing that is a closely kept secret (like the formula for Coca-Cola), and is subject
to continuous fine-tuning. But an understanding of the main ingredients can help you build pages that will be valued by
search engines and hence found by people who use them.
Content counts; content near the top of a page counts more than content at the end. In particular, the HTML
title (http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_haw_titles.shtml) and the first few lines of text are the most
important part of your pages. If the words and phrases
(http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_as_phrases.shtml) that match a query happen to appear in the HTML
title or first lines of text of one of your pages, chances are very good that that page will appear high in the list of
search results.
(NOTE: Read that paragraph above carefully. What counts with AltaVista? Content, especially content near
the top of the page; the HTML title; and, the first few lines of text.)
Say you want to put your resume on the Web. Keep this rule in mind: Don't put your name first. You aren't trying to be
found by people who already know you. You want to be found by people who have never heard of you. So don't waste
any letter in the HTML title on your own name. The first word should be "resume." After that, list your main
qualifications and the kinds of jobs that you are looking for. Put the same kinds of things in the first lines of text.
That's what will come up as the default as the description in match list, and it's also an important position for
ranking. (http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_haw_wellindexed.shtml)
(NOTE: Apply this to your own business. Don't use your company name in your title. Use KEYWORDS that
describe your goods and services. Also, put the same kind of information in the first lines of text.)
Above all, remember that AltaVista does not reward web pages that practice useless repetition; AltaVista only
counts each unique word twice.
What have we learned so far?
(According to the above paragraph, AV only counts each unique word twice. It doesn't reward web pages that
practice useless repetition. We've already learned that the title tag is the most important tag on our page. We
have to use our keyword phrase there. META tags don't count any more than text on our page. So, we wouldn't
want to use our keyword phrase in our META tags. In the META Tags section below, we learn how important
the first few lines of text are.
So, with AV, try putting your keyword phrase in your title tag but NOT in your META tags. Place the keyword
phrase at the very beginning of the body text. )
META Tags
http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_haw_metatags.shtml
Many webmasters focus on the "METAtags" (http://www.altavista.com/cgi-bin/query?pg=addurl#meta) and lose sight
of the importance of the HTML title and the plain-text content of the page. METAtags are brief instructions that you
can include in the header of your Web pages.
For instance, the "description" METAtag lets you to enter a few lines that describe the current page. Those words then
appear as the description for your page in results lists at AltaVista, instead of the default of the first few lines of text.
But what people don't realize is that for ranking purposes, the HTML title and first lines of text are still very
important. METAtags do not take precedence. They are text also. So if your page is poorly designed, with
random words associated with graphics, and with a meaningless HTML title, your description METAtags are
not going to help your ranking. You would be better off with a page that clearly stated what it was about in the title
and the visible content.
You can also have "keyword" METAtags. "Keyword" is a misnomer. Many webmasters misunderstand the purpose of
such METAtags and presume that AltaVista acts like a database and that these are the only words on a page that are
important for search. On the contrary, AltaVista indexes every word on every page, and every word (and the order in
which they appear) is important. The purpose of the "keyword" METAtag is simply to allow you to add synonyms
-- words that are appropriate for what's on your page -- that describe what's there but that do not actually
appear on that page. One of the best uses for "keyword" METAtags is for foreign translations of the main
words on your page, so, for instance, somebody searching in French will find that page.
(NOTE: In your META keyword tag with AV, use SYNONYMS of your keyword phrase, but not the keyword
phrase itself.)
Many webmasters think that by using "keyword" METAtags, they are getting some advantage in the ranking or making
up for the fact that their pages have very little text content, just flashy effects. But, those words are worth little more
than any other word in the main text of the page. There is nothing "key" about it. You have simply added a few
more words to the page in a place that is not visible.
Why aren't METAtags given precedence? Consider the opportunity for abuse and spamming. What matters most to
users of AltaVista is the actual content that is visible on Web pages, not the marketing-oriented notes that have
been added in METAtags. And text that appears in the title and the first few lines is likely to be closely related
to the main point of the page.
(NOTE: Again, they tell you EXACTLY where to place your keywords -- in the title tag, and in the first few
lines of your body text.)
Basically, METAtags are a band aid to help you deal with pages that don't state what they are about in clear text, right
up front. Do it right to begin with, and you don't need METAtags at all. You'll get far better results in terms of
search engine traffic that way.
What does AltaVista Value on a Webpage?
http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_haw_popularity.shtml
Read the section below carefully. It tells you exactly what AltaVista values on a web page.
AltaVista bases its ranking on both static factors (a computation of the value of a page independent of any particular
query) and query-dependent factors. It values:
Long pages rich in meaningful text (not randomly generated letters and words).
Pages that serve as good hubs, with lots of links to pages that that have related content (topic similarity, rather
than random meaningless links such as those generated by link exchange programs intended to generate a false
impression of "popularity").
The connectivity of pages, including not just how many links there are to a page but where the links come from:
the number of distinct domains and the "quality" ranking of those particular sites. This is calculated for the site
and also for individual pages. A site or a page is "good" if many pages at many different sites point to it and especially
if many "good" sites point to it.
The level of the directory in which the page is found. Higher is considered more important. If a page is buried too
deep, the crawler simply won't go that far and will never find it.
These static factors are recomputed about once a week, and new good pages slowly percolate upward in the rankings.
Note that there are advantages to having a simple address and sticking to it so others can build links to it, and so
you know that it's in the index.
Query-dependent factors include:
1.The HTML title.
2.The first lines of text.
3.Query words and phrases that appear early in a page rather than late.
4.METAtags, which are treated as ordinary words in the text that appear early in the page (unless the
METAtags are patently unrelated to the content on the page itself, in which case the page will be penalized).
5.Words mentioned in the "anchor" text associated with hyperlinks to your pages. (e.g., if lots of good sites link
to your site with anchor text "breast cancer" and the query is "breast cancer," chances are good that you will appear
high in the list of matches). (This is link text.)
Keep in mind that in any query, rare words count more than common words. If someone searches for fruit and
pomegranates, pages with the word pomegranates will appear at the top of the list (a technique known as "inverse
document frequency"). Hence you should use specific terms on your pages, in your anchors, and in your
METAtags, not general ones that won't give you any advantage. Be specific whenever you can.
Again, the full text of this tutorial can be found here:
User Tips
Tipu from an international student on using the non-US versions of AV:
"If you do a search in AltaVista in 'any language,' AV prefers websites in English above others. This has
several implications. First, it's rather easy to get a high position in AltaVista (any language) with a
non-English word. You can use this word in your title, etc. and be sure that the rest of the site is in
English. So if (in our case) Dutch people do a search in AltaVista with a Dutch word (they often will use
any language in AltaVista because they will not change this presetting), we can get a high position by
using only that Dutch word and use other words in English. Your foreign students can get frustrated in
trying to get high positions on words that are also used on English websites. "
*****
"Here's a good one! After I ran WebPosition this morning to see what the competition was doing, I visited
several sites in my top keyword on Alta Vista. Seven of the ten were 404's! I, of course being the good
netcitizen I am, immediately resubmitted those URL's to Alta Vista, they are being removed . . . just in
time for my site to show up in their place <semi-wicked grin>."
*****
Recently, one of my basic students succeeded in getting a page ranked #1 out of over 2 MILLION web pages in
AltaVista. The page was created using Gold's Page Generator. A couple of images were missing. He used two
keyword META tags (http-equiv tags); keywords in the <head> tag; and, a <noframes> tag on a non-framed page that
contained another title, description, and keyword tag. Very interesting.
*****
A class member recently wrote a letter to AltaVista about his website disappearing from the index. Here's what
a representative from AltaVista said:
"Our apologies, we have added a new index recently to the search engine and your site may have
inadvertently dropped from the index. We have resubmitted the site. Sorry for any inconvenience."
If this happens to you with AV, simply resubmit your site.
Table of Contents
AltaVista Template -- Put title here, using keyword phrase as 3rd or 4th words. Limit: 78 characters including spaces.
Template for AltaVista --
use keyword phrase here
in all lower-case letters
Think "theme"!! Make sure that EVERYTHING on your page points to
one focus. If it doesn't, move it to another page.
Begin body text with your keyword phrase. Sprinkle the keyword phrase throughout the body text.
Create two or three paragraphs of text based on your keyword phrase, using your keyword phrase as you
go along.
AltaVista tends to like longer pages, so if you have a difficult time getting a good ranking, consider
adding more body text.
Create your pages "newspaper style" using mini headings and beginning each paragraph with your
keyword phrase.
put keyword phrase here
Base your keyword weight on the keyword weight of top ranking sites for this keyword phrase at this
point in time.
Use your keyword phrase toward the end of the body text.
Use a lot of link text, sometimes just your keyword phrase.
Need a boost in ranking? Consider adding style tags, http-equiv keyword tags, more body text, naming
images after keyword phrase, adding visible links with keyword phrase in link text, keywords in font
tags, removing keyword META tag.
Don't use redirect tags AT ALL with AV. Don't participate in link exchange programs or link farms.
For non-porn sites, also submit to LookSmart.
Add a link to this and other pages on a page and submit it, then let the engine spider the links itself.
Don't resubmit over and over again with AV, because it gives boosts in relevancy to sites that have been
in its index for a while. Don't resubmit pages if they haven't been changed at all. Older pages do better in
AV.
As you learn other tricks for AV, insert them here.
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/courses/basic/basic-download/AltaVista.htm (1 of 2) [8/4/2001 1:18:29 PM]
AltaVista Template -- Put title here, using keyword phrase as 3rd or 4th words. Limit: 78 characters including spaces.
If your URL has a ? in it, you can submit it individually to AV. Dynamic pages are invisible to AV.
Avoid tables and frames.
For more visibility in AV, consider purchasing keywords through GoTo. However, only the first 1 or 2
sites in GoTo will appear under "Featured Sites" in AV.
AV now offers a pay inclusion program. Read more about it on AV's page in the course material.
(Last updated on 8/3/01 to reflect changes.)
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/courses/basic/basic-download/AltaVista.htm (2 of 2) [8/4/2001 1:18:29 PM]
Excite Template -- Put title here, using keyword phrase in the first words. Limit: 70 characters including spaces.
Excite's template --
Begin body text with your keyword phrase. Sprinkle the keyword phrase throughout the body text. Link
from each instance of the keyword to another page of your site.
go along.
Excite sometimes likes longer pages, so if you have a difficult time getting a good ranking, consider
adding more body text.
Base the keyword weight on the keyword weight of top ranking sites for this keyword phrase at this point
in time.
Need a boost in ranking? Consider adding keywords in font tags, name images after keywords, more
body text, less body text, adding visible links with keyword phrase in link text, style tags.
As you learn other tricks for Excite, insert them here.
Need more visibility with Excite? Purchase keywords through FindWhat. Top FindWhat results appear
on every page of results in Excite.
Excite is going to be watching carefully for spamming techniques in the future.
Make sure that you use your keyword phrase as a phrase on your page -- with keywords in close
proximity to each other.
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/courses/basic/basic-download/Excite.htm (1 of 2) [8/4/2001 1:18:30 PM]
Excite Template -- Put title here, using keyword phrase in the first words. Limit: 70 characters including spaces.
(Last updated on 8/3/01)
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/courses/basic/basic-download/Excite.htm (2 of 2) [8/4/2001 1:18:30 PM]
HotBot Template -- Put title here, using keyword phrase in the first words. Limit: 115 characters including spaces.
HotBot's template --
go along.
Base your keyword weight on the keyword weight of top ranking sites for this keyword phrase at this
point in time.
body text, less body text, adding visible links with keyword phrase in link text.
Submit to the ODP.
Pages submitted through the free Add URL page aren't "trusted" as much as pages added through the pay
inclusion program.
Don't participate in link exchange programs. If you do, you may find your domain banned from Inktomi.
Avoid cloaking. If you cloak, follow ALL of the rules!
As you learn other tricks for HotBot, insert them here.
Need more visibility in HB? Purchase keywords through GoTo.
(last updated on 8/3/01)
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/courses/basic/basic-download/HotBot.htm [8/4/2001 1:18:30 PM]
Lycos Template -- Put title here, using keyword phrase in the beginnin...tag but NOT as the first word. Limit: 60 characters including spaces.
Lycos/FAST template --
Is the first text on your page appropriate to be used as a description of your site in the search results?
go along.
Base the keyword weight on the keyword weight of top ranking sites for this keyword phrase at this point
in time.
use tiered approach with Lycos with lots of headings
using your keyword phrases in those headings in lower-case letters
Submit to the ODP.
Run your site through an HTML validator with Lycos. Incorrect HTML can hurt your rankings.
As you learn other tricks for Lycos, insert them here.
Need more visibility in Lycos? Purchase keywords from GoTo.
Fast will be implementing a pay inclusion program in the near future, mainly aimed toward medium to
large Web sites.
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/courses/basic/basic-download/Lycos.htm (1 of 2) [8/4/2001 1:18:31 PM]
Lycos Template -- Put title here, using keyword phrase in the beginnin...tag but NOT as the first word. Limit: 60 characters including spaces.
(updated on 8/3/01)
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/courses/basic/basic-download/Lycos.htm (2 of 2) [8/4/2001 1:18:31 PM]
Northern Light Template -- Put title here, using keyword phrase in the first words. Limit: 80 characters including spaces.
Northern Light template --
go along.
Aim for a keyword weight based on top ranking sites for this keyword phrase at this point in time.
As you learn other tricks for Northern Light, insert them here.
(updated 8/3/01)
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/courses/basic/basic-download/NorthernLight.htm [8/4/2001 1:18:31 PM]
Step-by-Step Guide to Using WebPosition Gold Software
By Robin Nobles
Step-by-Step Guide to
Using WebPosition Gold Software
Table of Contents
As part of this course, we'll ask you to download a free trial version of WebPosition Gold, so you can
use the Reporting function to check your rankings. Once you download the software, follow the
instructions listed here under Reporter to set up the software to check your rankings.
Note: Be sure to read the transcript of Brent Winter's chat session at
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/chat/brent5-29-01.html
Special Note:
These instructions are written in order to help you get up and running with WebPosition
Gold in the fastest and easiest possible way. My ultimate goal is to help you get your Web
site ranked high in the engines. But I don't want you to feel frustrated with trying to learn a
new software program at the same time. Hopefully these instructions will benefit you as
you learn how to use the program.
However, please understand that *any* problems with the software program, or *any*
questions about how to use it, should be directed to Technical Support. If you send them to
me, I'll simply refer you to Technical Support.
Detailed explanations of any of the concepts presented here can be obtained through Gold's
Help file, through FirstPlace's FAQ at their Web site, or through "tip" files spread
throughout Gold itself.
Thank you.
Robin Nobles, Director of Training
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/courses/basic/basic-download/gold.htm (1 of 16) [8/4/2001 1:18:35 PM]
Academy of Web Specialists, LLC
Let's begin with some helpful tips:
Run Gold during non-business areas for Pacific Standard Time. This is a suggestion that came from
the Search Engine Strategies Conference in Boston in March 2001.
Here's a way to conserve some hard drive space when using Gold:
Bill Gentry, chat moderator for the Academy and Professional SEO with the Selling Source, suggests:
"WPG generates a lot of htm pages when it creates the positioning reports (when you are running the
Reporter), as well as 4 .dat (data) files. The history.dat file in particular can get very big. Anyway, if you
run the Reporter for a large number of sites like I do, you end up with a buttload of htm files for each
Reporter mission. I have 67 reporter missions that I run. Those htm files took up more than 5 GB of
hard disk space! I found out because the hard disk was full on my work computer.
"Transferring all of those htm file would have taken forever so I deleted them. They aren't necessary to
keep track of anything (just don't delete the .dat files!). Those are the various reports that WPG
generates each time it runs. So if you upload them for a client to view on the web, you don't need them
anymore. It also generates htm files when running the Submitter, but not as many. However, watch
those .dat file sizes too. The largest .dat file I have so far is almost 8 Mb."
Now, let's outline the various tools of WebPosition Gold, so you'll be aware of the program's
overall features.
Reporter: The Reporter creates detailed reports on how your Web site is ranking with
18-20 of the major engines. The Reporter function alone is worth the cost of purchasing
Gold and is an excellent way of keeping up with your search engine rankings.
Page Critic: The Page Critic will analyze your existing web pages, new pages you've
created, or even competing web pages, and it will provide detailed reports *and* offer
specific advice on how you can optimize your page's content to rank high in that individual
engine. You can even use the program to compare one of your Web pages with a Web page
of a competitor to determine why the competitor's page ranks higher than yours.
Page Generator: The Page Generator will create doorway (or entry or bridge) pages that
are optimized for your particular keyword phrases. The program uses an extensive
knowledge base that makes creating those pages a breeze, since it takes into account the
preferences of each particular engine and creates fine-tuned pages accordingly.
Upload Manager: The Upload Manager assists you in uploading your Web pages to your
site. It will remind you of files that you want to upload, including graphic files, so that
you'll never forget to upload a file again.
Submitter: Gold now makes it simple for you to submit your pages to the major engines
by submitting them for you with its Submitter program.
Traffic Analyzer: Once you achieve top rankings, you'll want to know where your traffic
is coming from and which keywords were used to find your site. Here comes the Traffic
Analyzer, which generates reports in an easy-to-understand format that will analyze all of
the traffic to your Web site.
Scheduler: The Scheduler allows you to automate certain tasks such as submitting your
pages to the engines and running your ranking reports at a time that is convenient for you.
Set the Scheduler to run at 3:00 every morning, for example, and the reports will be ready
for your review when you get to work that day.
Help Files: Always keep in mind that you can refer to the Help Files at any time from any
of the major sections of the program or from the program's main screen. Additional FAQ's
can be found at FirstPlace Software's Website.
Note: Don't create new missions unless you require a different set of settings. Instead,
re-run an existing mission that has been saved to your hard drive.
Step-by-Step Walk Through
This is a step-by-step walk through of the entire Web Position Gold program. You can also open any of
the program's tools from the main program screen.
These instructions are written in order to get you up and running fast, not to try to include every single
aspect of how you can use this program. For ways to expand the program, please see the program's Help
file.
Page Generator:
1.
Launch WebPosition Gold, click on File, then New Mission. Click on the first tab, Page
Generator.
2.
Complete the Page Generator Screen as follows:
Under Web Site Domain, enter your URL (without "http://"). Include your subdirectory
name, if you don't have your own domain.
Under Directory to Output to, enter the location on your hard drive where the file will
be saved. In most cases, you'll choose to use the default directory that is already named
for you.
Under Page Name to Generate, use a descriptive file name for your page. Don't use
symbols in your file name, since some characters make the file unreadable by the search
engines. Because many of the engines consider the use of keywords in an URL when
considering relevancy, an effective way to name your page is like this:
keyword-engine.htm
The "engine" is your way of remembering which engine you've optimized the page for,
such as "keyword-av.htm." You may want to use "av" for AltaVista, for example, and
"i" for InfoSeek.
Under Optimize this Page to Target which Search Engine, choose the particular
engine that the page will be optimized for. Regretfully, a page optimized for Excite
probably won't rank well in InfoSeek, so it's best to optimize a page for each particular
engine, taking into account that engine's unique likes and dislikes. If the engine you
want is not on the list, then select "Generic Search Engine."
You can choose to use the default settings and let the Page Generator create the tags
based on information in its database. Or, you can choose Custom Settings to choose
properties based on your own experiences with that engine. I recommend that you
choose Custom Settings (then click on Options) and at least look over the preferences
for that particular engine. Another reason for using Custom Settings is to test the waters
a bit--to see if an engine might actually like a page that utilizes ALT tags, for example,
even though popular opinion has it that it doesn't.
Under Add to Upload Manager Queue, click on the box if you want the program to
upload the page to your website at a later time.
3.
Once you've completed the form, click on Next to go to the next screen. Insert at least
two keyword phrases that you want the page to be optimized for. If you want to learn
some tips on how to choose keywords, click on Keyword Tips. Enter your company
name or the name of the website on this page. Click Next.
The program defaults to utilizing your main keyword phrase as the <title> tag on the
page as well as in the headline tag. You can add more words to the <title> tag if you
choose, but remember to BEGIN the tag with your main keyword phrase. Insert your
body text in the designated area, remembering to use your keyword phrase as soon in the
body text as possible. Also, use your keyword phrase toward the bottom of the body text
as well. Keep in mind that certain engines have minimum word count requirements, so
make sure you add the appropriate number of words for that particular engine, or the
page won't be indexed at all. If you need additional information, click on any of the Tips
files.
4.
Since this is a doorway page that needs to link to your main page or another interior
page of your site, enter the URL of the page that it will be linked to in the Enter URL
to Link This Page to area. Under Linking Text, use the default sentence, or add your
own words to encourage your viewers to click on the link to take them into your site.
Click on Next.
The next section simply gives you various options on how to proceed from there.
"Prompt for Action" is the default choice.
To begin with, consider using these choices:
After Page Generation is complete, perform the following: View Page
If any keywords are left blank, perform the following: Continue
(The reason to choose "Continue" is because the program wants you to choose 4
keyword phrases for each page, and if you don't, it will prompt you to choose them.
Since doorway pages are sometimes optimized for just one keyword phrase, you may
want to choose one or two keyword phrases and no more.)
The rest of the categories can remain "Prompt for Action."
Click on Generate to create your new doorway page. If there are any problems with
your page, the program will prompt you with questions on how to proceed. Then, you
can choose to view the page or analyze it in Page Critic.
If you chose to View the Page as suggested earlier, your browser will open to let you
see how the page would look on the Web. Then, go back to WebPosition and click on
Analyze in Page Critic.
5.
Note: Be very careful when using Page Generator, considering AltaVista's recent ban of
machine-generated pages. If you use Page Generator, add text before the links, and
create the page using the same general formatting of your other pages.
Page Critic:
6.
You're now in the Page Critic section of Gold, and the program has analyzed the new
doorway page you've created.
Look over the report carefully.
At the top of Page Critic, you'll notice specific guidelines for that engine which Page
Critic has considered when making its recommendations. In the above example, you'll
note that the report was based on these criteria: "partial matching enabled," "non-exact
search," and "non-case sensitive."
You can click on any of the major sections of Page Critic to begin analyzing the report.
The Page Critic sections offers concrete suggestions based on the ranking algorithm for
that engine, general suggestions for that engine, and suggestions on what you can do to
get your rankings improved.
Read over the Page Critic section with the blue background. "Suggestions for making
your page conform closer to the statistical averages for top ranking pages" is
particularly helpful, because it tells you the keyword frequencies and word counts for
different sections of your webpage and compares it to top-rankings pages in that engine.
NOTE: A student suggested running a Top 10 analysis rather than relying on Gold's
averages. He found significant differences in Top 10 averages versus Gold averages. He
said that keyword totals are usually 2-3 times more on Top 10 versus gold averages.
If you don't understand a concept or what the program is trying to tell you, click on the
highlighted word in the area where you need further information. Consider which areas
you need to make changes in order to gain an edge in the rankings.
Look over the Page Analysis Chart. You'll find summaries for your page on one line,
and directly under it, top averages for that area in that particular engine. Compare your
summary information to the averages for the top ranking sites.
An important section found toward the bottom of the chart is the Main Page Body Text
Summary. Under Weight, you will see the keyword weight for your page, and under
Words, you'll see the total number of words in the body text of the page.
Compare it to the next row of figures below, which are that particular engine's Top
Averages for Body Text, including the top average keyword weight for that engine, and
the top average number of words in the body of the page. Try to adjust your keyword
weight as close to the top averages as possible.
Do any of the figures in the chart seem out of line? Here's what a representative from
FirstPlace Software said:
"Some of the figures seem a little unusual. However, the figures have been
obtained from a huge number of searches that have been mathematically
analyzed. And, I have seen some pretty good results from pages that have
been created using the recommended tips. Try implementing a few and see
what happens."
Do you have to do *everything* that Gold suggests? No. You may want to consider
making a few changes at a time, then submit your webpage and learn your rankings. If
your rankings are in the top 10, you may not want to do anything else. After all, don't fix
what isn't broken! But, if you find that you need more of a boost in the rankings, go
back to Page Critic and see what else you can do to increase your changes at a top
ranking.
Remember--only you can be the judge of what needs to be done with your website.
Listen carefully to Critic, then make your own decisions, one step at a time.
7.
After you've studied the suggested changes (in your browser window), go back to Web
Position Gold itself. Under the Page Editor tab, you can make changes as directed by
Page Critic in its report. If you would rather make the changes with your favorite HTML
editor, make sure your HTML editor is listed in the Edit Page in my Favorite HTML
Editor box, then click on Edit Now.
Your HTML editor will be launched, and you can edit the changes based on Page
Critic's recommendations. When you're finished, click on Save.
Go back to Gold's Page Critic section. Click on Page Setup, and choose the HTML file
for your newly created doorway page again (under "Enter a page name found at the
above domain OR select a local file to analyze). Click on Next. If you would like to
compare your new page to a competing webpage, enter that URL in the Comparison
File Name or URL box. You can also choose to compare your page to the top pages for
that keyword search by entering a number in the designated box.
Please note that Page Critic can compare your page to any page on the Web, to an
HTML file on your hard drive, to any top ranking page for a keyword search in any
major search engine, or to the statistical averages of a group of top ranking pages for a
keyword search. You'll simply enter this information on the Settings page of Page Critic.
Click on Next, then Start, and Page Critic will analyze your webpage once again, so
you can see how effective your changes were. Go through the process again until you're
satisfied with the results. Also consider changing the page up by adding graphics,
changing the layout to some degree, etc.
Special Note: If you are analyzing an existing website, and if you get a message saying
that the page is not found, be sure the URL does not end with a "/" if the page name is
given. Page Critic occasionally places a "/" at the end of the name, which makes the
URL invalid.
A class member had the following experience when using Gold's Page Critic:
"I've been optimizing a few doorway pages (for my own business) using
the PageCritic and have discovered a few interesting oddities. Afer running
the PageCritic the message I received from Gold (for Infoseek) was that 9
keywords was too much and to reduce it to a max of 8. To be sure, I re-ran
the PageCritic and told it to compare to the top 10 pages for my search
phrase. The top 10 average for overall keyword frequency came back as
38.3! The Top 10 keyword frequency for Body Text came back as 28.4, but
Gold said the average was 6.0. It's better to check real world results by
comparing to the top 10 pages for your search phrase."
One student questioned First Place as to why Critic recommends a different total
word count when optimizing for a single keyword than it does when optimizing for
a 3-word phrase. Here's what a technical rep said:
"The Page Critic offers different statistics for 1 word keywords versus
multi-word phrases simply because many of the search engines employ a
different ranking scheme for single words vs. multi-words. Therefore, to
optimize your page PROPERLY, you need to use the statistical averages
that apply to the type of keyword search you're optimizing for. We also do
a different set of stats for exact match searching for the same reason."
When using Critic, concentrate on attaining a certain keyword weight for the
keyword phrase as a whole, not for individual keywords in that keyword phrase. A
tech support rep from First Place said this:
"Normally, you will never want to break down a phrase and do it word by
word. You will always want to analyze for the phrase in its entirety. The
only variation will be that sometimes the phrase is treated as "exact" (i.e. a
quoted phrase) and some times it will be inexact. This depends upon the
engine in question and the Critic will let you know. In either case, the
analysis needs to be done on the phrase as the user would enter it into a
search engine. If you attempt to analyze each separate word, you will not be
working under the same conditions."
Why is the average word count different for a single keyword than for a keyword
phrase in the same engine?
A student of mine sent this question to First Place:
With Infoseek, why is the average word count 257 to 338 for a single
keyword, yet it is recommended that the word count be over 600 for a 2- or
4-word phrase? Seems like the average word count would be the same
regardless of the length of the keyword.
First Place replied:
"WebPosition Gold bases the word counts on statistical averages of dozens
of top ranking pages. When you entered a different keyword, it changed the
averages for that keyword."
Upload Manager:
8.
Once you've fine tuned the page and are pleased with the results, click on Upload
Manager from the program's main screen.
Under Enter File(s) or Directory to Add to the Upload Manager, click on Select File.
If you've previously told the program to "remind" you to upload particular files, it will
add those files to your queue at this time, including any graphics files. Click on Next,
and then Next again. The program will ask you to choose to either copy or move the
HTML files to an upload directory for easier uploading. The program then lets you use
your favorite FTP program to upload the files to your website.
Make sure your FTP program is listed in the appropriate box, then click on Load FTP
Program Now and upload your files.
Then, click on Add Pages to Submitter.
Submitter:
9.
Submitter will submit your new doorway page to the major search engines
automatically. You simply verify the answers to basic questions when prompted, such
as your email address and your name.
Under the URLs tab, you'll choose the page names that you want to submit. Click on
Select to find the pages on your hard drive. Click on Add, and you're prompted to
choose the engine. All of the engines are highlighted, and you'll need to choose Deselect
All, then pick the engine(s) that you want to submit the page to. Once you've chosen all
of your pages and have designated which engines to submit those pages to, click on
Next, then Next again.
On the Options page, notice the Output Path of where Submitter will file a copy of its
submission report. Click on Next.
Click on Start, and Submitter will submit your pages to the engines. After submitting
your pages, you'll have to wait a while for your pages to be indexed and for your
rankings to change, depending on how long it takes those engines to index sites.
Is Submitter as effective as submitting by hand? Here's what Brent Winters had to
say about it:
"We feel that WebPosition Gold's submission process is as effective as submitting by
hand, and in some ways, more effective. I know several major submitters had trouble
last year because most major search engines would detect submissions coming from
automated agents and then put those submissions into a lower priority queue. I'm not
sure how many submission products and services still have this problem. The engines
wouldn't generally ban them, but they would take their sweet time in indexing those
pages.
Because of this, we use a "cloaking" technology that makes WebPosition Gold look like
just another browser. Therefore, we've had no reported problems of search engines
putting WP Gold customers into a lower priority queue versus those manually
submitting. In addition, we look for a specific success response string from the engine
whenever it submits. If we don't find that success code, we assume the submission
failed. This avoids nearly all scenarios where a submission is thought to be successful
when it was not.
Assuming submissions were successful I believe has been a problem of some
submission products. What makes WP Gold superior to submitting by hand are the
features that prevent common errors. For example, it will verify a page exists online
before allowing you to submit it. This avoids accidental typos when you enter your
URLs for submission. This can be a costly mistake on engines that take a long time to
index. In addition, we check and warn you about exceeding known daily limits for each
engine. These limits are often difficult for the average user to track and to be aware of
when submitting by hand. Therefore, in this regard, WebPosition Gold helps you do a
better job while complying with various search engine rules. WebPosition will let you
override our recommendations on what we feel are the search engine's current limits if
you feel it's necessary. There's many other features I could go into such as the
submission reporting, and the URL verification features, that make WebPosition Gold's
submitter a better solution than trying to do it all manually."
A class member said this about cutting/pasting URLs into the search engine
windows yourself, versus using Submitter:
"I recently ran a "submit mission" with WebPosition Gold. For whatever reason, all of
the Infoseek submissions failed. I then decided to do an e-mail submission to Infoseek.
Because I am lazy, I brought up the e-mail window from Infoseek and then did a line by
line cut and paste from my "mission results" WP Gold window. I soon received an
e-mail back from Infoseek with the URLs that I had submitted. Much to my surprise, I
discovered that they were pretty badly botched. In almost every case, the line was either
truncated, or else contained strange characters. This tells me that it is not safe to do a cut
and paste into a search engine submission window. I have done this in the past on
numerous occasions. Indeed, that is what I do most of the time. This result might explain
why I haven't seen any results from many of my manual submissions."
Reporter:
10.
Reporter will generate reports that will let you know your rankings in the various
engines, and it will inform you when those rankings change.
Note: Please run your Reporter feature during non-business hours for PST, if at all
possible.
Enter your domain name (including subdirectory, if appropriate) without "http://".
Give your report a title in the designated box. Click Next.
Under the Keywords tab, enter your keyword phrases, each on a separate line. If you
want to search for the exact phrase, put it in quotes. If you need tips on choosing
keywords, click on Keyword Tips. Click Next.
If you want to verify that a particular page has gotten indexed, enter that URL on the
URL Verification page. You can also choose to load URLs from the Submitter portion
of Gold to automatically verify all of your recently submitted pages.
If you want the program to search for specific pages, you'll mark "Search for these
URLs" at the bottom of the page. If you want the program to search for any pages at
your domain, mark "Report whether ANY page from my site is indexed." Click Next.
Choose which engines you want to search. Remember that if you select "all," have
selected several different keyword phrases, and changed the "matches to scan" to a
higher number, your mission will take a while to complete. A good choice is "Select
Most Important." Choose Next.
Read over the Options on the Options page and make your choices. If you're just
beginning to work on positioning your web page, you may want to change the default
"Number of search matches to scan" from 30 to 200, so that the program will search
through the top 200 ranked positions for your keywords. Click Next. Click Next again.
On the Results page, you can choose which reports you want the program to generator,
then select Start.
The program will generate reports that you can view in your browser that will let you
know your rankings for your keyword phrases as they stand now. Detailed explanations
of each of the reports are included as well.
Reports Include:
Concise Summary Report: Provides an overview of your search positions
by keyword and search engine. It even shows your last reported positions.
Summary Description Report: Displays what your description looks like
on each engine. Some engines don't utilize META description tags, so this
will show you what description is being used in the search results for your
website.
Detail Report: Shows exactly what websites are positioned above and
below you. You can see your competitors with this report.
Alert! Report: Alerts you to places where you've declined in rank or have
been dropped entirely.
Trend Report: Shows a summary of your rank statistics over time by
engine and keyword.
Competitive Analysis Mission: Compares your keyword position against
one or more competing web sites.
Page & Keyword Report: View the effectiveness of each page on your
web site where a ranking was found. With this report, you will know which
pages you should leave alone and which pages you should improve.
Log Report: Records the last Mission statistics and includes the complete
unmodified results from the search engines.
URL Submission Verification Report: Lets you know if your Web pages
have gotten submitted and indexed.
What about opening an existing mission, so that you can compare your results?
As mentioned earlier, you don't need to create new missions unless you require a
different set of settings. Instead, re-run an existing mission that has been saved to your
hard drive.
Choose "Open Mission" from the file menu, and set the "Files of Type" to Reporter
Mission Files (.mis) in the navigation window. If the "Files of Type" is set to .smis files,
or any of the other file choices, your Reporter mission files (.mis) will not be seen. From
there, simply choose the .mis file that you want to work with.
A technical support person from FirstPlace Software said this:
"If you run the same mission repeatedly, each time it will merge the new
results with the older results already in the output directory. This will take
into account any changes in position (noted on the Concise report and the
Trend report) and will archive the previous results in case you want to see
them at a later date. The links to the archived results can be seen at the
bottom of the menu page that is loaded into your browser at the end of a
successful mission. This should allow you to compare new results with
older results.
However, if you run a different mission and try to save the results in a
directory that was used by another mission, the program will prompt you to
choose a new directory or delete the existing files. This should not happen
if you run the same mission to the same output directory each time."
Do you get different results when you search manually, versus when you run
Reporter? Here's what a technical support rep from First Place had to say about it, and
what you should do if this happens to you.
"In the great majority of cases, the discrepancies come down to user error. I
will include a section from our FAQ at the end of the message addressing
the issue.
Now, that does not mean that the program never reports inaccurately. In
reality, we are constantly working to keep pace with the changing search
engines, because whenever an engine makes a change (sometimes even the
most minute alteration) it can cause WebPosition to report inaccurately.
However, when such an event occurs, we do our best to correct the
situation (through the autoupdate feature). Normally, we receive a deluge
of emails from our many customers notifying us when this happens.
If you or any of your students encounter such a discrepancy, please notify
me right away. Send me a copy of the mission file (.mis) and specific
examples of the problem. I will then run the mission here and examine the
results. If I can verify the situation, normally we can have a fix posted
within a few hours."
(From First Place Software's FAQ:)
WHY DOESN'T WEBPOSITION FIND MY SITE:
It's possible you may have the mission setup wrong somewhere so
WebPosition is just not "seeing" your pages. Easy way to test this is to find
a short sentence or phrase on your page that's not likely to be found on the
net elsewhere. Do a search for it and WebPosition should find it and rank it
#1 for that search. When in doubt, simply go to the search engine in your
browser and do the search there and make sure you are in fact not listed. Be
careful to type the keyword/phrase EXACTLY the same though or you'll
get different results.
If you can find your page listed on the detail report but WebPosition is not
reporting any positions on the Concise Summary or Summary reports,
you've most likely made an error in entering the domain name.
Common mistakes are:
1) You misspelled the domain name on the Mission tab.
2) You included the page name in the domain on the Mission tab.
3) You included a subdirectory name in the domain when the subdirectory
is NOT indexed in the search engine. Make sure its just
www.mydomain.com. It should include a subdirectory name ONLY if you
share the domain from your Host service rather than having your own
domain name.
The string in the domain name field must be an exact match to the domain
showing on the Detail report from the search engine. However, if Detail
report shows http://www.mydomain.com, then when WebPosition searches
for www.mydomain.com that you inputted into domain name box, it WILL
find it. However, if you enter www.mydomain.com and the search engine
only indexed it as http://mydomain.com, it's NOT going to find it since the
"www" part isn't there to find. Solution in this scenario is to not enter the
"www" or other prefix causing the problem when that portion was not
indexed by the search engine. It's always best to try and submit domains in
a consistent manner whenever possible.
If the problem is that you don't show up on the detail report either, but
when you do a search manually on the engine, you do find matches, there
may be something else wrong. Make sure that WebPosition searches for the
EXACT same string as what you entered in the search engine yourself.
Example: Cigar, cigar, and cigars will ALL produce different results. If you
enter the exact same keyword in the search engine and still get different
results than what WebPosition reported AND the searches were done
within a few minutes of each other, please e-mail me a copy of the Mission
(MIS) file and an explanation of where the problem is. I'll check it out
ASAP.
If you are doing a search and WebPosition reports that your site was not
found in the top 30, then that means you are not ranked in the top 30
positions. This is quite common and is exactly what WebPosition helps you
correct. Follow the tips link on the reports on how to improve your
rankings. You can also do a broader search to see if you might be in the top
100 or top 200 if you like by changing "Matches to Scan" on the Options
tab of the Mission screen. This will lengthen the time to search though.
Also bear in mind that even if you do show up in the top 100, few people
will look for you past the first 30 or so matches.
Domains with Aliases: In rare cases some pages do not get counted in the
URL count portion of the summary/detail reports. This issue only comes up
if you managed to get your site http://myalias.mysite.com indexed and in
other cases to just have "http://mysite.com" indexed on the same search
engine. In these rare cases the domain name is slightly different because of
the way aliases are interpreted by the search engine. This causes difficulties
as you'd expect in getting accurate URL/page counts. Keyword/Phrase
positions will be accurate since we are able to ignore the first segment of
the domain. In this case, try dropping the "www" or other prefix from
www.mydomainname.com when you create the mission. Basically, the
domain you enter in WebPosition must match the domain name in the
search results.
Traffic Analyzer:
11.
The Traffic Analyzer tracks traffic on your website by adding an invisible image tag to
the bottom of your web pages. When the page loads, it will track that visitor and where
the person came from. (See update information at the bottom of this page.)
Enter your domain name without "http://" but include the subdirectory if you don't have
your own domain.
Enter your name and email address.
You may choose to track the number of visitors to some or all of your web pages. For
WebPosition to automatically add the correct script, the HTML pages must exist on one
of your local or network drives. You may either select pages one at a time (under List
One or More Pages Separated by Commas), or select an entire directory of HTML
pages (under Update all Pages Found in this Directory).
Click on the Add Tracking button to add tracking script to each of the pages you've
chosen above. Click on Add Updated Pages to the Upload Manager. Upload the
pages to your site, then click Next.
On the View Traffic page, you can query your log files to optionally display traffic
based on your criteria. By default, all visitors or hits will be displayed. If you wish to
filter out certain types of visitors, or zero in on a certain date range or domain, simply
select those options on this screen. When you're done, press the View button. Your
default browser will be loaded and the statistics will be computed on the fly.
Scheduler:
12.
Scheduler will run Reporter on a regular basis, determined by how you set up the
program, to monitor your current rankings in the search engines.
Click on Schedule New Event, then choose the mission(s) you want to run. Highlight it,
then click on the arrow to transfer that mission to the Missions to Run field.
Click on Schedule Time, and enter how often you want the mission to be run, and when
it should start.
Click on Finished, and the program will run for you based on your choices.
To Open an Existing Mission:
Remember that you don't need to create a new mission every time you use the program. If you require a
different set of settings, create a new mission. Otherwise, open an existing mission.
We've discussed how you can open an existing Reporter Mission file, but you can open other existing
files from your hard drive as well.
From the main screen, click on Open an Existing Mission.
Look toward the bottom of the Open Mission screen for the Files of Type box. If you want to open an
existing Page Generator mission, for example, you'll choose Generator Mission Files (*.gmis). Or, you
can choose to open existing mission files for Page Critic, Upload, Submitter, or Reporter.
If you want to open a Page Generator mission file, you'll be presented with all of the files you've
previously saved when working with Page Generator, which all have the .gmis file extension.
Simply choose the file you want to open, and that previous mission will open, where you can make
changes, request reports, or whatever you need to do.
*****
Important Update Service Information:
When you purchase WebPosition Gold, you are entitled to receive three months of updates to the
Knowledge Base portion of the program. This includes the latest updates to Page Generator and Page
Critic. As ranking algorithms change in the individual engines, your knowledge base will reflect those
changes. Also, for the first three months, you can also receive a Positioning Science Newsletter free of
charge.
After three months, you'll need to decide if you want to continue receiving updates to the Knowledge
Base. Prices are as follows:
$49 for additional 3 months of updates
Additional information can be found at this website:
https://www.webposition.com/goldupgrade.htm
Also, when you purchase WebPosition Gold, you are entitled to utilize the Traffic Counting and
Analysis Service for 90 days (up to 20,000 hits) free of charge.
Before the end of your free service, you'll be given the option to continue your traffic analyzer service
based on your volume. Currently pricing is just $10 per month for up to 20,000 hits. ($10 for each
additional 20,000 hits, with volume discounts available).
In Closing:
For more information on any of these concepts presented here, click on the Help file in WebPosition
Gold, click on "tips" on any of Gold's program pages, or access the FAQ's at FirstPlace Software's
website:
http://www.webposition.com/faq/faq.htm
Remember: Send any questions regarding software issues or how to use the software program to
FirstPlace Software's Technical Support department.
Robin Nobles
Table of Contents
Latest Tips for Inktomi Engines -- Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning, Academy of Web Specialists
Latest Tips for the
Inktomi Engines
Use this handy index to skip to pertinent areas of the lesson:
What's New?
Brief Insight
Size and Popularity
Who is Related to this Engine?
More on Inktomi
Engine at a Glance
Submission Tips
Pay to Submit to Inktomi?
Relevancy Tips
Additional Comments
Title Tag
Description Tag
Keyword Weight
Site Popularity
Spamming
How to Remove a Page
Tips from the Engine Itself
How to Use the "Robots.txt" File with HotBot
What's New in Inktomi?
From Ginette Degner: "HotBot is using Zeal.com directory results for your site description." She also
said, "Page Construction Tips: Write an accurate description and title and repeat the title and
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/courses/basic/basic-download/inktomi.htm (1 of 14) [8/4/2001 1:18:38 PM]
description in the first half of your page. Use exact phrases and where possible use phrases that are
popular queries. Use Word Tracker and Word Spot to discover these phrases or "real world" queries as I
call them. Give each page its own unique meta tags and they must reflect the content to a T. Do not
include keywords in the tags that are not on that particular page. I also advise the use of
"realnames.com"; the result from real names appears at the top of the MSN results so it is one more way
to glean traffic. In general, I concentrate on focused text in the first half of the pages; in the second half,
I work on link strategies. Outbound and inbound links are on every page with text linking."
See Inktomi's Spam Guidelines at:
http://www.inktomi.com/products/search/content_policy.html
For pure Inktomi results, see http://www.hotbot.co.uk.
News from the Search Engine Strategies Conference in Boston in March 2001:
* Regarding their pay inclusion program, they're developing a program for non-profits.
* They do crawl framesets but won't crawl all pages in CSS. Flash and PDF are not indexed; you need
to provide text content. Regarding streaming media, they're looking at alternatives for this in the future.
* If your pages drop in the rankings, it could be because as the index refreshes, sites that are on the
"border line" will drop in and out.
* Sites submitted through the free Add URL are less trusted than sites that the crawler finds.
* Using a few doorway pages with Inktomi is fine.
Inktomi has begun offering Index Connect, a program that offers a pay-for-performance, or
cost-per-click, pricing to sites with over 1,000 pages.
Here's an Inktomi quiz that you can take for your own benefit, to help you remember certain important
areas of the Inktomi lesson. If you miss any of the questions, be sure to go back through the course
material and re-read the parts you missed. The quiz is graded on the spot, and we don't get a copy of the
score. This is for your benefit only.http://school.discovery.com/quizzes3/smslady/inktomi.html
Note: For Search Engine Headline News, visit:
http://searchenginewatch.com/news.html
Brief Insight into HotBot
What on earth is "Inktomi," and how is it related to HotBot?
Inktomi Corporation is a technology company, and one of its main components is the Inktomi search
engine. Inktomi licenses its search engine out to other companies such as HotBot that want their own
search engine without having to build one from scratch.
Besides paying to submit your site (which is preferred), one way to get listed in an Inktomi-powered
engine that doesn't have its own "Add URL" form is to submit to HotBot. For example, submitting to
HotBot will get you listed in the results that are supplemented by the Inktomi search engine for GoTo.
However, research has shown lately that sites submitted to HotBot don't necessarily make it into the
Inktomi index.
So, your best bet (besides paying!) in getting listed in an Inktomi engine is to submit individually to all
the Inktomi-related engines that have their own Add URL form. Inktomi said that they may be phasing
out their free Add URL page in the future.
To get in the Inktomi index faster, submit to Anzwers.
AOL: Pulls results from a combination of the ODP and Inktomi, with Sponsored Links from GoTo.
MSN: Pulls results from Direct Hit, Inktomi, LookSmart, and Encarta (beta version).
Size and Popularity
Web Pages Indexed
Percentage of Web Indexed
Popularity in terms of Search Engine Referrals
Top Ten Search Sites
500 million (Inktomi)*
14 percent*
#11 with 1.7% of SE referrals**
5,667,000 unique visitors; 9th among top
10***
*From SearchEngineWatch
**From Web Snapshot, 2/1/01
***From Media Metrix, 12/99
http://mediametrix.com/TopRankings/TopRankings.html
Who is "Related" to HotBot?
●
●
●
●
●
Lycos actually owns Inktomi, but Inktomi operates as a separate service from the Lycos search
engine.
Inktomi provides results to HotBot, MSN Search, LookSmart, AOL Search, Kanoodle, Anzwers,
and GoTo.
HotBot receives results from Inktomi, the Open Directory Project, and Direct Hit. The top GoTo
paid results are now showing up in Hotbot as well.
Both U.S. and non-U.S. sites should submit to the main Inktomi services as outlined here, since
sites listed in the U.S. version are also included in the world-wide indexes. However, non-U.S.
sites should also submit to their local Inktomi-powered service.
For a listing of other Inktomi partners, click here.
On HotBot's AddURL page, it states this:
Please note: This form will add sites only to the Inktomi Web-page database, HotBot's search partner.
To add your site to the HotBot Directory, please go to HotBot's homepage, choose a subject area that
appropriately categorizes your site, and click on the Submit a Site link at the bottom of the Site
Recommendations section. You may have to drill down to a specific subcategory to submit your site.
For more information about how to add sites to the HotBot Directory, please see these instructions.
(which links to instructions for submitting to the ODP)
URLs
HotBot
http://www.hotbot.com
MSN Search
http://search.msn.com/
AOL Search
http://search.aol.com/
GoTo
http://www.goto.com/
Kanoodle
http://www.kanoodle.com/
Direct Hit
http://www.directhit.com
Open Directory Project (ODP)
http://dmoz.org
Anzwers.com
http://www.anzwers.com.au
Submission URLs
Submit to HotBot
http://www.hotbot.com/addurl.asp
Submit to MSN Search
http://search.msn.com/addurl.asp
Submit to the ODP
http://search.aol.com/add.adp
Submit to GoTo for its paid listings and HotBot for the
supplemental results:
http://www.goto.com/d/about/advertisers/;$sessionid
$BDO43RAABFLGBQFIEEXAPUQ
Submit to Kanoodle for its paid listings and HotBot for the
supplemental results:
https://safe.kanoodle.com/client_services/listings/
Submit to Direct Hit
Submit Under Your Category to the ODP
http://dmoz.org
Submit to Anzwers.com
http://www.anzwers.com.au/cgi-bin/print_addurl.pl?
More on Inktomi
Inktomi is one of the largest search engines, but not all of the search engines powered by Inktomi
tap into all the information it makes available. Inktomi currently maintains several separate indexes
to serve its various partners.
Just because a search engine is Inktomi-powered does not mean that it will have the same results as
another Inktomi-powered service.
Occasionally, people find that a number of their pages disappear for no apparent reason from
Inktomi results. This may be due to a refresh of the Inktomi index. Missing pages should automatically
reappear during the next refresh when the system tries to find them again. You can also resubmit them
to speed up the process or in case they fail to reappear automatically. Keep in mind that this isn't an
issue if you pay to submit your pages to Inktomi.
To learn more about paying to submit to Inktomi, which will insure that your site will be added to the
index and will be reindexed every 48 hours, visit:
http://www.positiontech.com/index2.htm
When you submit a page to Inktomi, be sure to click through to that page through an Inktomi
engine. If you don't, you may find that the page disappears from the index in about a month. This
is because Inktomi has two databases.
Pages submitted through their pay submission service will get in the short-term database (IFD) within
48 hours. After Inktomi has fully indexed the page and determined its click-through and link popularity,
it will move up to the long-term database (LTD).
Some of Inktomi's partners, like HotBot, will only show results from the LTD if results are found in
both databases. Other partners, like MSN, will show both. It often takes a week or so to appear in a
partner's database.
Don't resubmit your pages to Inktomi if they're already in the index. If you do, you may find the pages
are penalized in the rankings until Inktomi determines the page's link popularity. For new pages that
aren't submitted through the pay submission service, add a link to those pages from other already
indexed pages and let the engine find/spider the pages on its own.
HotBot at a Glance
Indexes pages in?
Crawls web every?
Submit main page/all important pages?
Daily submission limits?
Word count minimum?
Considers META tags for relevancy?
Utilizes META description?
Title length?
Description length?
Keyword weight preferred?
Site popularity important?
Case sensitive searches?
Utilizes word stemming?
Has stop words?
Techniques considered to be spamming?
2 weeks/ 48 hours if pay
Twice a month
All important pages -- Seriously consider using
their pay submission service.
50 pages*
None
Yes
Yes
Research top ranking sites.
Yes
Partial
No
Yes
Tiny test, invisible text, identical pages,
keyword stuffing
*Don't submit more than 50 URLs to Anzwers a day.
Let's talk more about HotBot
Like Lycos, HotBot is now utilizing directory results from the Open Directory Project. With this
alliance, being listed in the Open Directory is even more important.
At HotBot, the results are in this order:
3 results Search Partners (such as eBay and CareerBuilder);
3 results from Lycos
3 results from GoTo (under Products and Services);
10 Web Results from Direct Hit;
1 result from GoTo under Featured Listings;
Inktomi Results.
Now Let's Get Down to Business
Submission Tips for HotBot
NOTE: You may find that your URLs submitted through Inktomi's AddURL form may not get indexed
for several weeks and may not stay in the index long, whereas sites submitted through their pay service
will get in the index within 48 hours and will get respidered every 48 hours. Also, you may find that
your rankings will be lower if submitted through their free Add URL page.
If you have a good ranking in any of the Inktomi engines, do NOT submit your page, because
resubmitting might create ranking problems.
Remember to submit your site to the other engines/directories associated with HotBot. Those URLs
appear at the top of this page.
● How can you tell if your site has been indexed in HotBot?
HotBot makes it easy by providing a page where you can check to see if a particular URL has
made it into the index.
http://hotbot.lycos.com/help/checkurl.asp
Notice that if you're looking for a page in a particular subdirectory, the check URL page has a
place for you to enter the subdirectory information.
You can also search for listed pages by choosing Advanced Search on left side of HotBot's main
page. Then, choose Choose the Location/Domain box toward the middle of the page, and enter
your domain without the "http://www" prefix in the domain box. Click on Search.
●
Pages submitted to HotBot are supposed to take two weeks to index, but it can take much
longer, even three to four weeks, or much shorter--even just a few days. Pages submitted through
their pay service will get in the index within 48 hours.
●
With HotBot, submitting the same page twice using a different URL may give you two spots
in the rankings. For example:
http://www.robinsnest.com
http://robinsnest.com
http://www.robinsnest.com/index.html
A student said that his sites using the "www" are one position higher than his one without the
"www."
Pay to Submit to Inktomi?
You can now pay to submit your site to Inktomi, which means that your site is guaranteed to appear in
the Inktomi index and that it will be reindexed every 48 hours.
The cost through Position Technologies?
Yearly costs are $30 for the first page, $15 for pages 2-20, then $12 each for pages 21 through 1000.
For more information, visit:
http://www.positiontech.com/index2.htm
The benefits?
● Guaranteed to be added to the index within 48 hours.
● Guaranteed to be respidered every 48 hours, which means that the site will remain in the Inktomi
index, versus being "lost" (which is a common problem).
● Dynamic URLs (database-delivered sites) can be indexed.
● Pages are reindexed once a day, which means that changes to those pages will appear in the
Inktomi index (of over 120 search partners) within about a day.
● Position Technologies provides a report that informs you of when the pages have been spidered.
It also analyzes your pages to give you an ide of how well the pages will do in the Inktomi index.
● Cloaked pages do well with this service.
● You may see an increase in ranking by using this service.
The downside?
● If your pages are already in LookSmart, your LookSmart title/description may be what appears in
the search results rather than your HTML title/description. This goes for both your HotBot and
your MSN listings.
● Inktomi will only spider the page submitted, not all of the links on the page.
●
Other benefits for the program? Jim Stob with Position Technologies said, "There is lot of benefits that
could be discussed. I think one of the most interesting is how many are submitting URLs which are
excluded by either a robots.txt or meta noindex. These people would be pulling their hair out if they had
used the free submission."
Network Solutions is now providing a pay-per-inclusion program as well.
The cost is $30 for the first URL, then $15 for each URL after that, for up to 100 URLs per order. Like
with Position Technologies, URLs will be respidered every 48 hours for a year. You can change any of
the URLs on your list at any time.
Network Solutions: Inktomi Search/Submit
http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/catalog/searchsubmit/
Are pages penalized if they're submitted through Inktomi's free AddURL page? Yes, but not
necessarily permanently. Here's an excerpt from a Search Engine Watch newsletter, written by Danny
Sullivan:
"As it turns out, if a page submitted via free Add URL is later found by Inktomi's link crawler, then the
penalty is automatically removed. This is because Inktomi has more faith that the page is less likely to
be spam, so feels it doesn't need to penalize it from the start.
"'If someone submits a page into the free Add URL, and if the main crawler also finds that page, then
the normal scoring mechanism takes precedence,' said Palmer.
"So, if you submit a brand new page, that page starts out at a disadvantage. However, if Inktomi's link
crawler discovers it, the disadvantage is removed. Moreover, once the link crawler finds it, then any
competitors resubmitting the page shouldn't cause it to drop in rank.
"Remember I said there were three crawling systems? The last one is Inktomi paid inclusion crawler.
Those using the Inktomi paid inclusion system have their URLs visited by this. The paid pages are not
boosted in rank, but neither are they penalized, as with the free Add URL pages. In other words, they
are treated exactly the same as if the link crawler found them."
Click here for the entire article:
http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/01/02-inktomi.html
Inktomi has begun offering Index Connect, a program that offers a pay-for-performance, or
cost-per-click, pricing to sites with over 1,000 pages.
Relevancy Tips
Use keywords in:
Beginning of title
Headline tags
Early in body of page (close to the top of the
document)
META author tag
Sprinkled throughout the body text and ending with
the keyword phrase
<style> tags
Anchor tag:
<<A
HREF=http://www.whateversite.com
TITLE="xyzzx"><IMG
SRC="trans.gif" ALT="Insert your
keyword here" BORDER="0">
URL
META tags (beginning of tags)
Domain names
Link text (very important)
Hidden Layer (CSS):
<DIV STYLE="visibility: hidden; left: 5; top: 5;
width: 20; height: 15;">zyzzx></DIV>
zyzzx is the keyword phrase.
xyzzx is the keyword phrase.
Other relevancy tips:
Site popularity is important
Use synonyms of your keywords and uncommon
keywords
Include links to other pages on main page
Main page often ranks higher than other pages, so
purchase additional domains
HotBot's rankings are being influenced by
DirectHit technology, which tracks the number of
Relevancy ratings are less important with HotBot
visitors to a site and how they stayed. If visitors
than with other engines.
are clicking to your site often and staying a while,
your ranking will go up.
Favors fairly short pages with a high keyword
Indexes full text of a page
weight and some graphics
Additional Comments about HotBot
HotBot indexes every word on the page and all
links, except some stop words.
Has page clustering.
A moderate approach to using doorway pages is
not considered spamming.
Try submitting your HotBot pages to Northern
Light.
Indexes pages with symbols in URL, like "?"
If you don't have a top 10 to 30 ranked page with
HotBot, you may have a difficult time with your
page gaining popularity with Direct Hit.
Does not support frame links or image maps.
Be sure to submit to the engines/directories listed
in this lesson.
Doesn't consider the content of ALT tags for
relevancy, and no longer considers the content of
comment tags.
Doesn't support META robots tag
Can't get in Inktomi? Try submitting to
Anzwers.com.
How does Inktomi feel about cloaking?
"Regarding cloaking, Inktomi doesn't like any
technique that is trying to mislead or deceive."
Does not "deep crawl" sites.
When you submit a page to Inktomi, be sure to
click through to that page through an Inktomi
engine. If you don't, you may find that the page
disappears from the index in about a month.
"Cloaking in and of itself is not necessarily
spamming. If someone's putting it up because it
helps us find the content, we have a tendency to let
those lie. However, if you are doing something to
the page that's designed to deceive the search
engine, that's not OK."
Inktomi crawls framesets but won't crawl all pages
in CSS. Flash and PDF are not indexed; you need
to provide text content. Regarding streaming
media, they're looking at alternatives for this in the
future.
If your pages drop in the rankings, it could be
because as the index refreshes, sites that are on the Using a few doorway pages with Inktomi is fine.
"border line" will drop in and out.
To see how you're doing in the Inktomi engine
itself, visit: http://www.hotbot.co.uk. It gives pure
Inktomi results.
Your Title Tag and HotBot
Keywords in the <title> tag aren't as important in HotBot as they once were. In fact, many top ranking
sites don't have the keyword phrase in the title at all. However, it's still a good idea to begin the tag
with your most important keyword phrase.
HotBot will display around 115 characters of your title tag, or 15 words.
If you don't use a title tag, HotBot will list your URL.
Try two title tags with the Inktomi engines.
The title and description in some Inktomi-based engines aren't matching what's on the pages. Instead,
the engine is pulling the title/description from LookSmart listings. So, if you haven't submitted to
LookSmart yet, take great care in crafting the title/description of your page.
Your Description Tag and HotBot
HotBot will display around 249 characters of your META description tag. If there is no description tag,
the first 249 body text characters after the body tag are used. This does not include text in ALT tags but
will include form text. Be sure to begin the tag with your keyword phrase.
Be sure to use your keyword in the META description tag with HotBot, but only use it one time.
Write a compelling META description for your page and make sure the content of the site is interesting
and appealing.
The title and description in some Inktomi-based engines aren't matching what's on the pages. Instead,
the engine is pulling the title/description from LookSmart listings. So, if you haven't submitted to
LookSmart yet, take great care in crafting the title/description of your page.
HotBot and Keyword Weight
Keyword weight plays a role with HotBot. The engine ranks slightly shorter pages with a higher
keyword weight higher than similar but longer pages in general.
Try not to let your keyword weight exceed 2 percent for the body text.
However, the best way to handle keyword weight is to determine the keyword weight for
top-ranking pages for your keyword phrase and compare it to your page, then make adjustments
accordingly. Study each section of your page and compare it to the top-ranking pages, using Keyword
Density Analyzer or a service like keywordcount.com.
For a quick way to determine your keyword weight, visit:
http://www.keywordcount.com/
Link Popularity
As you know, HotBot's Top 10 listings are refined by DirectHit.
Direct Hit is a popularity search engine that works with other search engines to fine-tune their results,
based on how popular and how much traffic a website really gets.
In an interview with Stephan Mahaney of Planet Ocean, he said, "At HotBot, link popularity is
measured by the amount of traffic that flows through the engine to a site. They simply count the number
of clicks a site receives to determine the site's popularity. The larger the number of unique individual
clicks (determined by visitor IP numbers) the higher the site's popularity rating."
Spamming
From HotBot: "We're aware that some people create pages to maliciously "spoof" search engines making search engines return pages that are irrelevant to the search at hand or pages that rank higher
than their content warrants. Common spoofing techniques include the senseless repetition of words, the
inserting of META tags unrelated to the document's content, or the use of words that cannot be read due
to their small size or color. If HotBot recognizes any spoofing technique, it will severely penalize a
page's ranking."
See Inktomi's Spam Guidelines at:
http://www.inktomi.com/products/search/content_policy.html
From the above URL:
"What is considered "spam"? Inktomi defines spam an inappropriate use of Inktomi's search engine
involving any effort to deceive the search engine into returning a result that is unrelated to the query or
whose position has been artificially inflated in the result set. Some examples, but not all, of the more
common techniques spammers employ to inappropriately use the search engine include:"
Embedding deceptive text in the body of web documents.
Creating metadata that does not accurately describe the content of web documents
Fabricating URLs that redirect to other URLs for no legitimate purpose.
Web documents with intentionally misleading links
Cloaking/doorway pages that feed Inktomi crawlers content that is not reflective of the actual page
Creating inbound links for the sole purpose of boosting the popularity score of the URL
The misuse of third party affiliate or referral programs
HotBot considers these practices to be spamming:
Your web pages will be penalized if HotBot detects spamming techniques:
1. Keyword stuffing in titles, META tags, and in the body copy. Repeated keywords (when they're
repeated next to each other) will only count once. Abuse this and be ranked zero.
2. Use of invisible text;
3. Use of text too small to read;
4. Submission of identical pages for the same keyword in an effort to dominate the top results;
5. Use of irrelevant keywords in META tags.
6. Same color text on same color background.
NOTE: HotBot does not consider utilizing the meta refresh tag to be spamming. There is no life time
ban on index spamming. Also, a moderate approach to doorway pages is okay.
Report Obvious Spammers to HotBot
HotBot wants you to report spammers and websites that rank above you that don't belong there. Send an
email to:
[email protected]
To Remove a Page or URL from HotBot
This information is posted at HotBot's site: "You can remove an offending page from your Web server
or restrict public access to your server (talk to your server administrator, system administrator, or dealer
if you don't know how to do this). Your page listing will remain on HotBot until the next time the Web
crawler visits your site, which can take up to 60 days.
"We do not manually remove pages from our index for the security of people submitting pages to
HotBot. If you find a page that you take issue with (your personal information displayed, trademark
infringements, etc.), please write to the webmaster at the domain hosting the page rather than HotBot
Support. Whereas the webmaster of a host domain can have the page taken down, HotBot Support
cannot take action based on claims by a third party of legal infraction or other abuse."
Tips from HotBot Itself
Here's what HotBot says about improving your site's ranking with the engine:
"HotBot's search results are based solely on comparing the user's search query to the content of millions
of Web pages. There is no list matching certain search terms or keywords with special results.
"Basic factors affecting a page's ranking are: the words in the title, keyword META tags, word
frequency in the document, and document length.
"If you need to know how to structure your META tags, here are a few pointers:
http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/html/96/51/index2a.html
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/meta.htm"
What if Your Site is Removed from HotBot's Index?
HotBot says, "Your site may have dropped out of the system for a variety of technical reasons. It is
possible that your server was busy or down at the time that our crawlers attempted to reach your site.
"Rest assured, we do not manually remove URLs, even if somebody writes us to remove a site from the
database. We do not censor pages based on content.
"Please resubmit your URL at our Add URL page and allow two weeks for indexing."
How to Use the "Robots.txt" File with HotBot
HotBot says, "HotBot honors the "robots.txt" file standard, which is documented at:
http://info.webcrawler.com/mak/projects/robots/norobots.html
"This file can be placed on your site to tell search robots which directories they should add to their
databases and which they shouldn't index.
"If you prefer that your site not be indexed by HotBot, ask your webmaster to create a robots.txt file for
your site. HotBot's crawler will fetch and obey this command file. It will obey any entry with a user
agent of "*" or containing the word "Slurp" (the name of HotBot's crawler).
"HotBot also honors the "robots noindex" meta tag, which keeps HTML files out of HotBot's database
index. This can be added to the head section of an HTML document, as illustrated below.
<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX">"
What is iWon?
http://www.iwon.com/
iWon is a very interesting site where you win points for surfing. iWon lists results from GoTo's paid
listings first, followed by Inktomi results.
Table of Contents
Themes -- Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning, Academy of Web Specialists
Themes -An Article by Michael Campbell
Michael Campbell, author of Nothing But Net, gave me permission to post the following article for
Academy students only. Please keep in mind that this is copyrighted information, as is all information
throughout the course material.
The Vault is no longer being sold as a monthly newsletter. Instead, Michael is writing reports on
various topics pertaining to the engines, and you can purchase the reports separately. Visit this URL to
learn more:
http://www.1-internet-marketing.com/vault/
Here's a quote that gives you a little more information about The Vault and how it compares to Search
Engine Watch and Planet Ocean.
"When it comes to reporting on search engine positioning, Danny Sullivan is like an eye in the sky
traffic reporter, looking down on everything from a helicopter. Planet Ocean is more like the man on
the scene, reporting from street level. And Campbell, you come crawling out of the sewer with search
engine muck hanging off you and say... ok, here's what's down there."
Gary Wells - Gold Vault Subscriber
August 2000 Vault Update, by Michael Campbell
http://www.1-internet-marketing.com/vault/
(Note: The following article is in Michael Campbell's words--I made no changes whatsoever to the
text.)
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/courses/basic/basic-download/themes.htm (1 of 8) [8/4/2001 1:18:41 PM]
Feature Article #1
Introduction to themes, context and topic
(The hottest search engine optimization technique this year.)
This is a simplified version of a few http://www9.org research papers, that resulted in technologies that
are affecting positioning in the search engines right now. Some people are calling this concept "themes"
others say "context" and a leading research facility calls it "TOPIC".
All of these accurately describe where search engine technology is going but it's actually a combination
of several technologies put together. What I'll try to do is examine each technology and how it is being
applied to search engine positioning.
Now, all this came about, because the search engines tried everything to provide relevant results within
a reasonably sized database, while cutting down on duplication and spammers. They tried reducing the
importance of META tags, stopped looking in all sorts of html tags, filtered out invisible text and
keyword repetition.
Then they added in link popularity, link quality (PageRank), counting clicks, even length of visits with
temporal tracking (Direct Hit), and yet the spammers kept on coming and the size of the web kept
growing. They needed a way to store more pages, into the billions, and still maintain a high degree of
relevancy on searches. This is where a new concept called "term vector databases" come in as a
foundation, or building block for all these new technologies.
Of particular note, the paper on term vectors was written by people actually working for Google,
AltaVista and MIT. Many of the big engines are expected to adopt the "themes" or "Term Vector"
model as it is a very fast way of storing data, offers relevant results, and can detect and filter out
duplicate pages, pornography and spam.
In fact, the term vector database has two main projects, or pieces of software built on top of it. One is
page classification, where they determine what your page is all about. The other is topic distillation,
where hypertext connectivity, (that's sites linking to you and who you link to), is used to improve or
penalize your web site in search results.
I read the relevant technical papers and had a computer scientist do the math. Usually I was able to pick
up a clear understanding of what the papers were talking about, but it sure was nice having the
mathematical formulas worked out to confirm or dismiss my suspicions.
I must apologize in advance to any reader that may be a computer scientist, and my gross over
simplification of papers written by rocket scientists, MIT graduates, and Ph.D.s. Here is a link to most
of the technical papers that were referenced should you care to study them.
http://www9.org/w9cdrom/
But what really matters to my Vault subscribers is not describing the technology. What matters is
"translating" the technology into what it means to them and their search engine optimization efforts. So
with that in mind, I've tried to keep the explanations to a bare minimum, just enough so that my readers
will get a fair understanding of what's going on, and why I recommend the things I do.
I also must caution that much of this is still being tested, observed and recorded, by me, and by others,
as it is slowly being implemented by the big search engines. As always, I will keep everyone posted on
what I find out, and do my best to translate what I find, into practical examples, that you can apply to
your own optimization efforts. OK, on with the show ...
Name your web site purpose in two words
Can you do it? What is your web site theme? Two words, three max. Try it. What is your site all about.
Can you describe your web site in two words? You'll need to answer these questions when you're done
reading this article. It's been all over the chat rooms and in the discussion boards, and themes are the
new big winner in long-term search engine positioning.
What's a theme? It's all about narrowing the focus of your site, and the links to, and from your site,
down to one keyword phrase, and alterations of that one phrase. You want to leave NO DOUBT, to the
search engine, what your web site is about, in two or at the most, three or four key words.
Just to keep you on track, this has a little to do with link popularity, which is simply how many
incoming links your page has. It also has a little to do with link quality, also known as "PageRank",
which means the higher the traffic or "quality" of the site that links to you, the better the quality of the
link, and the more positioning points that you get.
Here's what Google has to say about PageRank: "PageRank is an analysis of the entire link structure of
the web. Every single page affects the rank of every other page. Site A votes for site B by providing a
link. Not only is the link examined, but so is the (content of the) page that contains it."
Link popularity and PageRank are both very important recent developments and will be examined in
detail in future Vault updates, as they still account for a large percentage of - and most of Google's
present - search engine positioning. But this new stuff... is different, and what "theme sites" of the
future, will be made of.
Here's what the computer scientists call a theme: (please be sure you are sitting down and take a deep
breath). Themes: or what they call Topics:
Using a term vector database, they weight page keyword density, to calculate the page vector, which is
compared and stored relative to the term vector. They then they compute a web page reputation, by
graphing interconnectivity, and link relevancy, making sure the reputation of the page and the content
on the page actually match. The closest matches get the highest search engine positioning.
Please read the above paragraph again, it contains a lot of new phrases that we'll be discussing.
Hopefully, the phrases or concepts, and what you need to do, will become very clear once you read the
following articles a couple of times.
Feature Article #2
Themes Part 1 - Inside the Term Vector Database
(Keywords are like stars in space.)
Words on an html page will no longer be stored in a search engine database as words on a page. To the
search engines, that system was old and slow. It took a lot of RAM and processing power.
All the words on a page are now converted into numbers. Keyword phrases are also turned into
numbers. If your page number, matches the keyword number, your site will be positioned ahead of the
others. It's as simple as that. What follows is a more detailed explanation.
Every keyword phrase or "term vector" as it is known, is turned into a number, and given a vector
coordinate (that's like saying a point in space, like a star in the sky). Also, rather than store all the text
on your web page, the words on your page are also turned into numbers and given a "page vector"
coordinates.
Now when someone performs a search on a particular term, the database says, here are the closest page
vectors (mathematical matches) to that term vector, and those lucky web pages get returned as the
search results. It in geek speak, the page vector must match the term vector. Hence a partial reason for
coining of the term "themes" or "topics".
So where did the vector numbers come from? What they did, was to take the top categories at Yahoo,
and spider all the pages. The keywords were weighted, or given importance, depending on where the
keyword appeared in each html document, and in the overall collection of documents. They had a
training set of 10,000 keywords and looked at approximately 30,000 pages per category. The term and
page vectors were extracted and calculated using this seed set.
Here is an analogy of the way a term vector database works. Imagine looking up into the night sky and
seeing all the stars, some are closer, some are further away. It's easy to see clusters of stars very close to
each other and all related to each other in a galaxy. Each time we look up into the sky, it's like asking
the search engine to do a search. When our eyes come to rest and focus on one bright star, that is like
the term vector, a predetermined space in the sky that the keyword phrase occupies .
All the stars clustered around the star you are looking at are like the page vectors. They are web sites
and pages on the matching theme or topic. That is to say they are very close numerically or in
relevancy, to the term vector, or star you are staring at.
If you shift your eyes and look at another star that is fairly close to the first, you are looking at a new
term vector or keyword in space. It's like searching using a similar but different keyword set. This term
vector would have its own associated cluster of page vectors and the search results would be similar and
related, yet different.
Something I found very interesting, was that they only allow one category per page. If your web site or
pages do not fall within one of the 14 top level categories at Yahoo, they are considered by the database
to be ambiguous and are not classified.
This means if you have and entertainment section on your web site and a business section on your web
site, you should in theory, split the topics into separate web sites. Otherwise your site may not to get
listed at all if you are not closer to any one category than another.
Upcoming improvements to the vector database (read coming soon to a search engine near you) will be
how they determine term vectors. In one research paper I read, they clearly stated they will be looking
for terms (keywords) in more places, such page title tags, in the image alt text tags and inside the visible
text on incoming links. They will also be using advanced word stemming so that managing - manager,
Hawaii - Hawaii men - man, all appear to the database as one word instead of two.
Keeping your theme in context
If you write for a web site, be careful about the context in which your keywords are used. An example
would be a fruit wholesaler that might feature bananas. You might tell people they can find bananas,
shop for bananas, or even get bananas, but be careful not to say you have a "growing" business on the
same page.
The term vector when looking at your page may decide your page is about "growing bananas", not fruit
wholesale. If you want to put anything about growing bananas or a growing business, put it on a
separate page, or better yet, on a separate site about your company, or growing fruit.
One fellow in the discussion boards noticed that he was top in the search engines for "exotic car
engines". What happened was, his site talks about search engines, but he also had an ad on his site for
exotic cars. The vector database examined his site and determined that it was not about search engines,
but about exotic car engines.
Getting stuck with the wrong vector can happen if there are already many sites on a particular topic,
like "search engines". The word "search" is also considered a STOP word on some crawls, meaning it
does not get indexed at all. Other stop words include words like "where" , "I", "internet" and "web". So
if your site is about "internet marketing", the word "internet" is often filtered out and just the word
"marketing" is indexed by the search engine.
Spam filter or just a simple compression technique to eliminate redundancy
Another important thing of note to is the way this system handles duplicate pages and spam. Just ask
WebPosition Gold, they lost ALL corporate pages in Alta Vista for over a month. Go to www.av.com
and search for url: webpositiongold.com, to see if they have been reindexed yet. Because the vector
system is based on numbers, if your page vector is too close to another web page vector, one or both of
you may be seen by the search engine as redundant, and filtered out.
What happened was, WebPosition Gold was giving resellers a web site nearly identical to their
corporate site. In doing so the page vector numbers were so close, that it set off the "redundancy filter".
No one purposely pointed the finger at WebPosition as being spammers and mirroring their sites, it was
simply "the database" using a compression technique to eliminate redundancy from within individual
vectors.
What's really scary is the next wave of compression. It will be set up to eliminate redundancy "across"
vectors. Translated this means, the removal of nearly identical pages for slightly different keyword
phrases. The days of copying and pasting keywords in and out of an html template, for similar keyword
phrases, may soon be over.
In addition to all of the above, the term vector database stores raw data such as term frequency, and
length of the page, in both bites and in terms. This allows applications to be built on top of the database,
so that search engines can apply their own weighting schemes or filters based on keyword densities,
word counts and page size.
This access to the raw data, means that keyword density will continue to be an important factor and a
moving target for never ending optimization efforts. One engine might set a 4.5% keyword density as
being optimal this week, while another search engine runs at a 1.2% density for the same two word
phrase. Then the following week, they can simply change weighting scheme, producing different search
results, without affecting what is stored in or having to recompile the vector database.
Feature Article #3
Themes Part 1 Cont'd - Using the term vector database to your advantage
(Here are the answers. Practical step by step solutions you can do today.)
We've been introduced to themes in the first article and we understand the technology and what it does
by reading the second article. This third article in the series - themes part one - focuses on how we can
use term vectors to our advantage in our search engine optimization efforts.
Terms (keywords) are collected and weighted within the document and corpus (collection) of
documents. This means that keyword density will continue to be important not only on each page, but
across your entire site. Tighten your focus with shorter page titles, and put headline text at the top of
each page that is nearly identical to the page title.
If you are starting from scratch on a home page, here are some "old favorite" starting keyword densities
to try. Take your most popular two word key word phrase and give it a 5% sum keyword density, and
around 1.25% whole phrase density. Ideally one word should have a higher individual density than the
other, like 2.25% and 2.75%. Make sure the whole phrase appears in the title and at least once in the
body, and as separate words, well spread out in the document.
Meta keyword tags are still indexed. They are not given special attention. they are treated like any other
text on the page. They are considered more "important" however, because they appear early in the
document. If your html editor software spits out unwanted tags, be sure to delete their "advertising"
from your html code with a plain text editor after your web pages are complete.
AltaVista suggests putting synonyms in the keyword meta tags. Words that help describe the content on
the page but do not actually appear on the page. This means if the web site is about cellular phones, put
words like mobile, wireless and telephones in the tag, but not cellular or phones. Please note that I have
not tested whether AltaVista's "suggestion" actually helps in positioning, or not.
Bottom line... Pick one topic and stick with it.
If you need to focus on another topic, put it on another web site. According to WordSpot keyword
reports, of all the cellular phrases, "cellular phones" is the most searched. The home page must be
optimized for this phrase... the most popular keyword phrase.
The theme and title of the home page should simply be "cellular phones". The internal pages would
have titles like "cellular phone batteries" and "cellular phone holders". The title would always have the
two word root theme of the site and an additional word or two, to describing the contents of the page.
Just be careful not to mix your message or context. Don't put any words that could skew the theme set.
If the page is about "cellular phone handsfree", be careful not to mention the word "safety" on the same
page. The term vector might decide your page is about "cellular safety".
If you have too many words on a page, it won't get compressed enough to fit in a vector space. Chances
are, if your page is long and wordy, or contains more than one topic, you'll start to lose valuable
keyword phrases, starting with the least used keywords, until it will fit into the term vector. Again, do
not mix messages on the same page, and try to keep pages to a reasonable length.
Your pages may have been discovered by the crawler but not yet added or "folded in" to the term vector
database. This means your page could appear in a search engine, even though it wasn't "indexed". This
positioning is temporary and could change the next time they recompile the vector database.
This temporary positioning is due to incoming links to your page, giving it a "reputation", and a high
probability that your page contains the content related to incoming links. But your positioning could
change drastically once you are folded into the database, if the terms on your page do not match your
reputation. This concept will be explained in detail in a future Vault updates.
Both Google and AltaVista index words in image alt tags. With term vectors also slated to take
advantage of this in the future, it may be a good idea to put the keyword theme in the alt tags. A picture
of a phone might include the theme phrase "nokia cellular phone". Use the two word theme for the site
and a one or two word description of the picture. Engines that do not look for keywords in alt tags will
simply ignore them.
Because of the redundancy filter in the term vector database, be cautious about getting a "reseller" site
that looks the same as everyone else. You may want to investigate the domains that other resellers have
been given in the past, to make sure you're not given a site that was designed using templates. (This is
not the same as affiliate sites using dynamically generated pages.)
The next wave of compression will filter out duplicates across vectors. This likely means any "cookie
cutter" or "template" pages with swapped out keywords might get caught in the redundancy filter. This
means try to vary the hook pages in word count, keyword densities, length and byte size of the files.
Start each hook page fresh and you should be able to avert the "spam" filters. Look at each new page as
a unique challenge and don't mix messages, topics, themes or context.
Continue to use your hook pages to lead to internal pages on your site and to your home page. Be sure
to use only the core theme keywords as visible hypertext links from the hook page. That means instead
of using words like "click here" as the link, link using use the exact same words as the title and theme
of the destination page.
In my case, the clickable visible hypertext link leading to my home page should be "cellular phones".
Likewise, a clickable visible link leading to the batteries page should include just three words "cellular
phone batteries".
That's it for part one of themes. You might have a headache right now, thinking.... this means an entire
revamp of my site. Yes it could, it also means getting rid of pretty buttons and mouseovers and going
back to good old theme based text links for navigation.
I'll definitely be working on "themeing up" my marketing sites over the next few months, and
suggesting that cellwest.com does the same for their cellular sites. I'll keep you posted on how my
experiments are going, and how much of a difference all this makes to my search engine positioning.
How much time do we have? Well, based on the history of things like link popularity, click counting
and PageRank, new stuff gets implemented fairly quickly. Usually within 3 to 6 months. And some
these new technologies are already in place on a couple of search engines.
Next month in Themes Part 2, we'll look at Topic Distillation and computing your web site reputation.
What hyperlinks to your web site say your site is known for.... and why your term vector must match.
Then I'll show you how to boost your positioning in search engines using some downright sneaky
linking strategies. Until then....
Best regards,
Michael Campbell
Internet Marketing Secrets
A free internet marketing newsletter by Michael Campbell, author of Nothing But Net and the Vault
update.
Did you miss an issue of Internet Marketing Secrets? It features the same internet marketing strategies
that I used to propel CellWest.com into a runaway success. Discover how I generated $750,000 in
internet revenues for my client in less than a year (and how you can too!). Get back issues of the
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This web site and html code is copyright 2000 Dynamic Media Corporation.
All rights reserved worldwide. All trademarks and service marks are property of their respective
owners.
Table of Contents
Last updated on March 31, 2001
Compelling Words -- Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning, Academy of Web Specialists
Compelling Words you can use
in an Advertising Campaign
as published in Internet Day Newsletter
bold
accomplish
save
outrageous
warning
best
beacon
inevitable
burgeoning
gain
chaos
magnificent
courage
astounding
celebration
breakthrough
favorite
evaluate
immutable
secrets
earn
nailed
exciting
fear
money
stunning
how-to
health
unadulterated
fate
magical
vivid
stunning
you
enormous
more
audacious
incredible
imagine
sale
acclaim
totally
prosper
unprecedented
revealing
win
monumental
daring
love
wealth
dazzling
free
succeed
appalling
destiny
compliment
future
radical
temptation
security
personal
announcing
picture
protect
muscle
overwhelming
lead
thwart
enthusiastic
proud
easy
extreme
InternetDay is an excellent source of information about online marketing and promotion. Visit this URL
to subscribe (it’s free!):
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/courses/basic/basic-download/compelling.htm (1 of 2) [8/4/2001 1:18:42 PM]
Compelling Words -- Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning, Academy of Web Specialists
Table of Contents
Last updated on April 7, 2001
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/courses/basic/basic-download/compelling.htm (2 of 2) [8/4/2001 1:18:42 PM]
Engines at a Glance Chart
Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning
of the Search Engines
AltaVista
Size in Web
550 million
Pages
Crawls Web
4-6 weeks
Every:
1-2
Indexes Sites wks-pay; 6
in:
wks-free
Submit
try sub. all
Important
impo pgs.
Pages?
Daily
No limit
Submission with new
Limit
procedure
Word Count
no
Minimum?
Excite
250 million
2-3 weeks
4-6 weeks
try sub. all
impo pgs.
25 pages
no
AltaVista
META Tags
for Relevancy yes
Utilize
META
Description? yes
Description
150 chars.
Length
Title Length 78 chars.
Keywords
Count
Toward
Relevancy in
the:
HotBot
Lycos
Northern
Light
575
500 million- million 350 million
Inktomi
FAST
twice a
4-12 weeks unknown
month
48
hrs-pay;10
2-6 weeks 2-4 weeks
wks-free
yes
yes
yes
Google
Yahoo!
1.35
billion!
every
month
1 million
doesn't
crawl
1-2
months
7 days pay;
2-8 weeks
yes
only 1 pg
per site
only 1 pg
unknown per site
50 per day no limit
100 words
no
no
no
no
at least
Northern
Excite
HotBot
Lycos
Yahoo!
Light Google
no
50 pages
no
395 chars.
yes
no
May use
Look Smart
no
desc.
135-200
249 chars. chars.
70 chars.
115 chars.
80 chars.
yes
60 chars.
no
150-200
chars.
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/courses/basic/basic-download/chart.htm (1 of 4) [8/4/2001 1:18:45 PM]
no
no
submission
no
form
25 words
144 chars. (200)
5 words
83 chars. (40)
Title Tag
URL
VERY
important
yes
AltaVista
VERY
Link Area
important
Headline Tag very impo
Domain
yes
Name
Top of Doc yes
Comment
no
Tags
ALT Tags
yes
Style Tags
yes
Gives More
Weight to:
Home Pages yes
Uncommon
yes
Keywords
Keyword
Weight
Preferred
Link
Popularity
Important
Case
Sensitive
Searches
Word
Stemming
Used
Frames
Support
(noframes
tag)
Image Maps
Support
AltaVista
Check top
ranking
sites
yes
yes
Lycos
yes
unknown
Northern
Light
submission
form
no
Google
Yahoo!
very impo.
yes
yes
yes
unknown
unknown
very impo no
yes
no
yes
yes
yes
yes
no
yes
yes
unknown
yes
yes
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
yes
no
yes
no
no
no
yes
no
yes
no
no
no
no
yes
yes
yes
unknown
yes
no
yes
yes
unknown
yes
yes
yes
very impo.
yes
no
Excite
HotBot
yes
yes
unknown
Northern
Excite
HotBot
Lycos
Light
Check top Check top Check top
Check top
ranking
ranking
ranking
ranking sites sites
sites
sites
unknown no
Google
Yahoo!
Check top
ranking
n/a
sites
yes
yes
yes/site
popularity
site
popularity yes
yes
site pop.
yes
no
no
no
yes--title
yes
no
no
no
no
yes
yes
no
no
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
n/a
yes
no
no
no
yes
no
n/a
AltaVista
Will Index:
Active
Server Pages
(.asp)
Cold Fusion
(.cfm)
Server Side
Incls (.shtml)
? Symbol
Perl (.pl)
Excite
Extra Hints
Extra Hints
Lycos
Google
Yahoo!
ok
ok
ok
ok
ok
ok
n/a
ok
ok
ok
ok
unknown
ok
n/a
ok
no
ok
ok
no
ok
ok
yes
no
ok
yes
ok
unknown
unknown
unknown
unknown n/a
ok
n/a
unknown n/a
yes
yes
no
yes
yes
yes
no
Has Stop
yes
yes
Words
Offers GoTo
yes
FindWhat
Results
Has a
Connected
LookSmart LookSmart
Directory
Spam:
Tiny Text
Invisible
Text
META
Refresh Tags
Identical
Pages
Keyword
Stuffing
HotBot
Northern
Light
ODP
ODP
yes
Sponsored
AdWords Sites
is a
directory
no
ODP
Northern
Excite
HotBot
Lycos
Yahoo!
Light Google
link ex.
hidden
programs
links
spam
spam
no
unknown n/a
AltaVista
hidden
links
spam
no
spam
no
spam
spam
spam
yes
n/a
spam
no
no
spam
no
spam
n/a
spam
unknown
spam
spam
unknown
spam
n/a
spam
spam
spam
spam
spam
n/a
takes
description
from page
supports
META
robots tag
choose
use lots of appropriate
links
categories
no
use bold marketing
text
hype
short titles
and long
pages
focus on
one central
theme
use KW in
style tags
root pgs
indexed
faster
spam
run site
thru
HTML
short pages validator
incl. all
keep pages
links on
near root
main page domain
Extra Hints
use kws in
title and
first line of
body text
Link to and
from sites
like Yahoo,
ODP
Extra Hints
try no KW try KWs in
tag
bold
keywords in use tiered
links
documents
not root
submit to
domain
ODP
wise
AltaVista
HotBot
Excite
Lycos
use KW
in
indexes all headline
text on pg. tags
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Table of Contents
Submission/Resubmission Guidelines -- Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning, Academy of Web Specialists
Submissions and Re-submissions
...how often should you resubmit your pages, and when?
Note: For a suggestion in what order to submit your pages and why, click here.
Submission service suggestions
Submit Director (This is a do-it-yourself service offered by Position Technologies, owner of
PositionPro, which is designed for small companies.)
http://www.subdirector.com
Search Engine Commando (an excellent search engine submission software program that
mimics a manual submission. SEC submits to 17 search engines. View our chat transcripts for a
chat session with Michael Campbell and Dan, who created the program.)
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/comm/
WebPosition Gold (This multi-purpose program also has an excellent submitter feature to it
which mimics a manual submission.)
PositionPro (This is the same organization that handles Inktomi's paid submission service, and
we've had excellent results when using them).
Search Engine Submissions and Re-submissions
...how often should you resubmit your pages, and when?
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/courses/basic/basic-download/submit.htm (1 of 9) [8/4/2001 1:18:47 PM]
by Robin Nobles
Do you remember a time when search engine submission strategies were fairly easy
and worked almost across the board? Sure, we recommended manual submissions,
and yes, we recommended daily submission limits, but the strategies were
uncomplicated.
No more.
These days, knowing when, and if, to resubmit your pages is one of the most
confusing areas of search engine positioning.
For example, some engines seem to place more relevancy on pages they find
themselves. So, it's to your benefit to let the engines find your pages, rather than to
submit them individually.
Do we need to resubmit our pages on a regular basis? And what if we submit a page
and it doesn't get in the index? Do we need to submit the page over and over and
over again until it finally gets in?
What about AltaVista, where we're told not to resubmit pages that haven't been
changed or have been changed very little? How much is "very little"?
To write this article, I interviewed Jim Stob with PositionPro
http://www.positionpro.com. Obviously, anyone who operates a sophisticated search
engine submission service with as much success as Jim Stob knows the ropes on
search engine submission policies.
First, let's look at PositionPro to see why the service is such a good role model in
how to submit pages.
PositionPro has thousands of domains carrying several million URLs in their system,
and every one of their submissions comes from the same IP address.
What does that say to you? Because PositionPro submits every page from the same
IP address, if they get in trouble one time, their entire operation is in jeopardy. "They
can track us without any problem and shut us down," says Stob.
Jim has working relationships with many of the engines, which is why he is able to
learn what they want to see in search engine submissions and can walk the fine line
to stay out of trouble. With his impressive list of clients, including Canada.com, it's
obvious he's doing something right.
Using AltaVista as an Example
We can learn a lot by tailoring our search engine submissions along the same lines
as PositionPro. Let's look at AltaVista as an example.
In the past, we were told to submit just one a page a day to AltaVista. But with AV's
new submission procedure, we can submit more. How many can we safely submit?
Let's look at how does PositionPro handles AltaVista.
"We submit five pages per domain per day, and we don't have any problems. Could
we submit ten? Probably. Could we do it over a time period? No," explains Jim.
By the way, it might interest you to know that PositionPro doesn't accept cookies. As
you probably know, we've advocated cookie control when working with AV. Is this
why they're able to submit five pages a day? Probably not. "I think if you talk to AV,
they would be fine with five," Stob says.
What about pages that have had no changes made to them? Does PositionPro
resubmit those pages?
"We only do a submission one time to start out. So, with a site that contains 50
pages, it will be fully submitted within 10 days," says Jim. Then, once the pages
make it into the index, the service doesn't resubmit them again, at least as far as
AltaVista is concerned.
After that, the spider will pick up any changes you make to the pages on its next
spider run. But, let's say that you've made significant changes to your pages, and you
want those changed pages picked up before the next spider run. At PositionPro, you
can tell the service to manually submit your page. However, it won't allow you to
resubmit the same page any sooner than 21 days since the last search engine
submission.
What if you submit a page and it never makes it into the index? Should you submit
over and over again until the page gets in?
"No, that's inappropriate," explains Stob. "If I submit to AltaVista, and if it's not
accepted, there's a reason that the page wasn't accepted. It wasn't because of the
search engine submission. The engine went in there, and their algorithm judged it
not to qualify for their index."
So, what are your options? For one thing, keep in mind that the engines operate on a
timetable - their timetable! Be patient and wait to see if the page makes it into the
index. If it doesn't, before rushing out to resubmit, look at your page carefully and
consider what additional optimization strategies you can employ to boost your
chances at getting in the index. Remember: content is what the engines are after.
Note: AltaVista now has a pay inclusion program, where you can pay to have your
site indexed by AV.
Safe Search Engine Submission Guidelines
Based on the guidelines that have kept PositionPro out of trouble, let's create a list of
"safe submission" guidelines that we can follow for our own sites.
We'll get into engine-specific search engine submission guidelines later in this
article, but for now, let's look at some general guidelines.
Submit new pages to the engines, and then wait to see if the pages make it into the
engines' indexes. Remember that it can literally take weeks (months?) for pages to
get into an index.
If the pages don't make it into the index, don't resubmit them, but look them over
carefully to see if you need to employ additional optimization strategies before
resubmitting.
Submit all of your important pages to the search engines that allow you to submit
more than just the main page of your site.
Stob explains, "None of the spiders crawl as well as they say they do. Sometimes
they do an excellent job, but in most cases, they don't."
After a page has made it into the index, unless you make significant changes to the
page or the page has dropped from the index, don't resubmit it.
If a page is dropped from the index, wait for two weeks to see if the page is picked
back up, and then resubmit it.
If you've made significant changes to a page, resubmit it, but no sooner than 21 days
since your last search engine submission. It might benefit you to play it safe!
Consider adding visible links to all of your important pages on the main page of
your site. Give the engines something to spider!
What about using hidden links, which is a very popular strategy these days? Stob
says to begin to approach this practice with caution. "I believe AV is beginning to
look for hidden links, so try to stay away from them. I'm not saying that you will
have trouble based upon their spider. However, they do have people reviewing, and I
believe they are looking at this closer."
Submit your pages manually, or use a search engine submission service or software
that mimics a manual submission. By that, we mean that the software or service
waits for verification before submitting another URL. If you use a search engine
submission software program, make sure that you're able to choose the schedule for
your submissions. If you can't, you may find yourself in trouble with the engines for
over-submitting.
Keep in mind that if it takes too long for an engine to access your site, it probably
won't get indexed.
Engine-Specific Guidelines and Tips
AltaVista
Submission URL: http://add-url.altavista.com/cgi-bin/newurl?
How long does it take to index a page? a few days with Express Inclusion, their pay
inclusion program; 6 weeks through their free Add URL page.
Submission Limit per Day: through free Add URL: 5 pages or more with their new
procedure
With AltaVista, rely on the use of links to get the pages in your site indexed. Unless
you've made significant changes to your pages, don't resubmit them. Instead, let
AV's spider find those changes during its next spider run.
Try submitting your pages using "www" and not using it in the URLs.
AV won't index a site submitted as an IP address. A rep from AltaVista explains,
"The spider is doing reverse DNS lookups when an IP site is submitted. You must be
registered with Internic and have DNS running to be indexed by the spider."
Does AltaVista have a limit to the number of pages from a particular domain that
can be in its index? AV answers, "In reality, the whole site could be indexed with no
restriction on depth, except that we have size limitations and stop the spider once the
index of the site has a certain size." In other words, they aren't saying. (Is this
surprising?)
To check to see if your pages are in the index, enter your URL in the search box like
this:
url:yourdomain.com (reveals every page under the root domain)
url:members.prodigy.com/yourwebsite/ (narrows the search to pages within your
site, if you're under someone else's domain)
url:members.aol.com/yourwebsite/yourwebpage.htm (finds a specific page at your
site)
Excite
Submission URL: http://www.excite.com/info/add_url
How long does it take to index a page? A few months
Submission Limit per Day: 25 pages (to be on the safe side)
At times, Excite will only accept the main page of your site through their search
engine submission process. Other times, it will accept interior or doorway page
submissions. There's no doubt about the fact that Excite definitely prefers main
pages over interior/doorway pages, however.
Therefore, make use of visible links to all of your important pages off the main page
of your site, and give the engine something to index.
With Excite, there's an unwritten "rule" that generally only 25 pages from a domain
can be in the index. Of course, like most search engine rules, this one is broken all
the time. However, don't be surprised if your site is limited to having 25 URLs in
Excite's index.
Because of this rule, pick and choose the URLs yourself by making use of robots.txt
files.
Though PositionPro recommends submitting only 10 URLs a day to Excite, Jim
Reinhold, Engineering Manager of Excite, says "Our limit is 25 URLs per domain
per day."
To check to see if your pages are in the index, enter the URL without the http://
prefix, like this: www.myveryownwebsite.com/webresources.html
You can also search for the root domain to find many pages from the same site at
once. Enter your root URL, such as: www.myveryownwebsite.com
Google
Submission URL: http://www.google.com/addurl.html
How long does it take to index a page? 1-2 months
Submission Limit per Day: 10 pages
With Google’s supplying Yahoo!'s supplemental index, submitting to Google has
become even more important.
Submit all of your important pages to Google. However, with Google's unique way
of indexing, your links should be picked up by this engine with no problems. But,
why take a chance - submit your important pages.
You can submit up to 10 URLs to Google a day and be safe. "Google doesn't have a
number per se," says Stob. "When I first approached them, they asked me to keep it
low so we started at 2 per day. They were in the middle of building a new index.
Since then we have brought the count to 10 per day."
Stob continues, "Could I submit 50 a day? Probably. Would I consider doing it on a
large site? Probably."
With Google, be sure to have other sites link to your Google pages, or those pages
may not be picked up in the index.
To check to see if your pages are in the index, search for your domain name like
this: www.yourdomainname.com
Then, click on "Find web pages that contain the term." From there, you can choose
"Search within results" to narrow down the search to particular pages.
HotBot / Inktomi Engines
Note: Your best bet for submitting to the Inktomi engines is to go through their pay
inclusion program. For more information, visit: http://www.positiontech.com/. If
you don't want to pay to submit, your next best bet is to submit to Inktomi through
Anzwers.com.
Submission URL: http://www.anzwers.com.au/cgi-bin/print_addurl.pl?
How long does it take to index a page? 2 weeks if not through their pay inclusion
program; 48 hours if through pay inclusion
As you know, Inktomi supplies results to HotBot, GoTo, MSN Search, and many
more search services. To get your site into the Inktomi engine faster, try submitting
to Anzwers.com instead of through HotBot, or again, through their pay inclusion
program.
Be sure to submit all important pages of your site to HotBot. Try submitting the
same page using different variations of the page. For example:
http://www.HereIAm.com
http://HereIAm.com
http://www.HereIAm.com/index.html
You may find that your sites using the "www" are ranked slightly higher than those
without the "www."
When you submit a site to Inktomi, have you noticed that it may be appear in the
index for a month or two, then be dropped? Jim explains what might be happening.
"Inktomi will analyze a page for inclusion in their index. It may show up for a month
or two and then be dropped. It is dropped because Inktomi has not seen it come up in
a search and has determined that it doesn't have any value."
So, if the page doesn't get accessed through a search engine, it will be dropped from
the Inktomi index?
Stob answers, "Yes for Inktomi, no for AltaVista. Inktomi has two indexes as you
probably know."
Have you also noticed that your rankings fluctuate in HotBot or other engines? Stob
explains, "Rankings will alter by the hour with some engines. If you lose the spot for
more than two weeks, you should be concerned."
To check to see if your pages are in the index, use their Check URL form:
Or, visit HotBot's main page and choose the "Advanced Search" button, which is on
the left-hand side of the page. The SuperSearch page will appear.
Find the Location/Domain box toward the middle of the page, and enter your
domain without the "http://www" prefix in the domain box. You can choose other
variables, such as the page depth and the number of search results you'll be shown.
Click on Search.
Lycos / FAST
Submission URL -- Lycos: http://www.lycos.com/addasite.html
Submission URL -- FAST: http://alltheweb.com/add_url.php3
How long does it take to index a page? 20-40 days (in FAST)
With both Lycos and FAST, you can safety submit all of your important pages, even
though both engines are “deep crawlers” and should find the links on their own.
Try omitting the "www" when submitting your pages to Lycos.
To check to see if your pages are in the index, search for your root domain, such as:
thisismysite.com
Some of your pages will usually be listed. If not, search again, but leave off any
suffixes, such as ".com" or ".edu" like this: thisismysite
Northern Light
Submission URL: http://www.northernlight.com/docs/regurl_help.html
How long does it take to index a page? 2-4 weeks
Though Northern Light prefers that you submit just one page to the engine, you can
submit your interior and doorway pages, and you should.
However, as with all engines these days, make good use of hidden links on your
main page to other important pages of your site.
To check to see if your pages are in the index, search for your domain like:
yourwebsite.com. Then, choose More Results from this Site.
In Conclusion
When submitting to the search engines, play it safe. Don't submit over and over
again, and look at each engine's submission guidelines carefully. If you're going to
err, err on the side of being conservative.
As Jim Stob says, "The moral of the story is, don't trick them. Give them content."
This article was written by Robin Nobles, Director of Training at the Academy of
Web SpecialistsTM. Over the past few years, she has trained over 1000 people in her
online and onsite courses in search engine positioning strategies and has written
three books that can be ordered through Amazon. Visit the Academy's training
Website to learn more about their online courses:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com.
This article first published by Planet Ocean in their Search Engine News Update
Newsletter (http://www.searchenginehelp.com/acws).
Table of Contents
Submission Order -- Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning, Academy of Web Specialists
Submission Order
by Ginette Degner
of Entire Course
Puzzled about how you should handle your submissions? Which order? Which engines? Read
this informative article by Ginette Degner and get her expert opinion.
To achieve maximum reach in the search engines, I suggest the following submission order.
Engines have become so interdependent it takes a flow chart to keep track.
1. Paid Inktomi - Why? It feeds over 300 other smaller portals run by ISP's plus AOL, MSN,
iWon, LookSmart, About, Hotbot, GoTo, CNET, and ICQ. This is the quickest way to get the
most visibility in 48 hours. While they do update the Inktomi database in 48 hours, their partners
may not update for as much as 4 - 6 weeks. I have always found the average to be two weeks to
full inclusion across the network. From here you can quickly see how effective your web site is
capturing traffic from the search engines, and you have the opportunity to make adjustments and
see results in 48 hours. (Pay inclusion at Inktomi: http://www.positiontech.com/)
2. Excite/LookSmart paid inclusion- Do the submission through the Excite Express Add URL,
because this will take care of Excite and LookSmart in one fell swoop. It gets your site added to
the Directory, which is actually LookSmart and Excite's search index as well. LookSmart results
feed AltaVista, MSN, and iWon. This is another 48-hour review/inclusion situation. Just submit
your main page. In a few weeks, you will get a special offer from LookSmart to add more pages
at a "special" rate. (Pay inclusion at Excite/LookSmart: http://www.excite.com/info/add_url)
3. AltaVista -Once you have confirmation back from the other two paid submissions, I advise
going forward with the paid inclusion in AV. Time is money, and I think 1 week beats 4-6 for
qualified traffic. (Pay inclusion at AV: https://www.infospider.com/av/app; free Add URL:
http://add-url.altavista.com/cgi-bin/newurl?)
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Submission Order -- Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning, Academy of Web Specialists
4. Yahoo! - Do the express submit to Yahoo! (Submit through appropriate category:
http://www.yahoo.com)
5. ODP - Once you are in Yahoo!, it seems to be easier to get into ODP. I mean, if Yahoo! liked
the site, why wouldn't the volunteer editors at ODP??? (Submit through appropriate category:
http://dmoz.org)
6. Fast/All the Web (Submission URL for Fast: http://www.alltheweb.com/add_url.php;
Submission URL for Lycos: http://home.lycos.com/addasite.html)
7. Google - Because Google places more weight on link and click popularity to determine your
position, it is important to already have your other submissions in place before submitting to
Google. (Submission URL: http://www.google.com/addurl.html)
8. Northern Light (Submission URL: http://www.northernlight.com/docs/regurl_help.html)
Table of Contents
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Online forums devoted to Search Engine Optimization topics
By Robin Nobles
Online Forums
Table of Contents
There are several excellent online forums where you can enter into discussions with other search engine
optimizers. Be sure to try out:
Search Engine Forums, which is an excellent group of forums that contain some good beginning
information
Spider-Net Forums, which is smaller and more friendly/helpful
Webmaster World, which offers more in-depth information, but it's generally for advanced folks
MarketPositionTalk, sponsored by First Place Software
AIM-Pro Forums
Table of Contents
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HTML Test Page -- What's wrong with this page? What's right?
HTML Test Page
Table of Contents
Instructions:
Look at the source code for this page. Let's say that the page is supposed to be optimized for AltaVista
for the keyword phrases "nine-banded armadillo" and "southern country roads." What's wrong with this
page? What's right? What changes would you make in order to optimize it for those keyword phrases?
Most importantly, have fun!
Note: This project is part of your lesson #7 homework assignment.
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Nine-banded armadillos are sick of Mexican food.</TITLE>
<TITLE>Nine-banded armadillos don’t want to be road kill.</TITLE>
<META NAME="description" CONTENT="Nine-banded armadillos roam southern country roads at
night, desperately hoping not to be the next road kill. They live in Mississippi and Texas, and they don’t
want to move to Arkansas with Bill Clinton. They would rather move to New York with Hillary.
Nine-banded armadillos, nine-banded armadillos, nine-banded armadillos, armadillos, armadillos,
armadillos, armadillos">
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="nine-banded armadillos, Nine-Banded Armadillos,
NINE-BANDED ARMADILLOS, road kill">
<META HTTP-EQUIV="keywords" NAME="keywords" CONTENT="Mexican food">
</HEAD>
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<BODY>
<CENTER>
<h2> Nine-Banded Armadillo <BR>
<IMG SRC="ClassProject/armeyl.gif" HEIGHT="61" WIDTH="130" ALT="armey1.gif"> </h2>
</CENTER>
<!—nine-banded armadillos>
<style>Hillary likes armadillos></style>
<P><B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><FONT SIZE="+1">No one knows why the lowly
nine-banded armadillo, often called Texas Roadkill, chose to make its way from the southern regions of
Mexico all the way to the US regions of Mississippi, Tennessee, and even
Kentucky.</FONT></FONT></B> <BR>
<BR>
<B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><FONT SIZE="+1">Something drove the poor defenseless
beast from its familiar surroundings in search of a new beginning.</FONT></FONT></B></P>
<P><B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><FONT SIZE="+1">Perhaps the food got really bad in
Mexico, and the starving nine-banded armadillo had had enough of tacos, rice, and refried beans.
</FONT></FONT></B> </P>
<P><B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><FONT SIZE="+1">Let's look at the individual story
of</FONT></FONT></B> <BR>
<A HREF="http://www.robinsnest.com/ClassProject/armadillo_test.html"><IMG
SRC="ClassProject/armadillo_1.jpg" ALT="armey" HSPACE="2" VSPACE="2" BORDER="0"
HEIGHT="250" WIDTH="252" ALIGN="TOP"></A><B><FONT FACE="Times New
Roman"><FONT SIZE="+1"><FONT COLOR="#990033"> Juan Armadillo</FONT>, pictured
here.</FONT></FONT></B> <BR>
<BR>
</P>
<INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="HIDDEN" VALUE="web positioning is a challenge">
<A HREF="index.html"><IMG SRC="clr.gif" BORDER="0" ALT="nine-banded armadillos"></A>
<P><B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><FONT SIZE="+1">Juan is a nine-banded armadillo,
the most numerous one and the only one found in the US. </FONT></FONT></B></P>
<P><B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><FONT SIZE="+1">For more information about
nine-banded armadillos, click on Juan.</FONT></FONT></B></P>
<P><B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><FONT SIZE="+1"><A
HREF="nine-banded-armadillo-texas.html></A>Click here for more information about nine-banded
armadillos in Texas.</FONT></FONT></B>
<BR>
</P>
<P><A HREF="nine-banded-armadillo.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG
SRC="ClassProject/top_button.gif" HSPACE="2" VSPACE="2" BORDER="0" HEIGHT="23"
WIDTH="72" ALT="Texas"></A> </P>
</BODY>
</HTML>
Table of Contents
HTML Test Page
Table of Contents
Instructions:
Look at the source code for this page. Let's say that the page is supposed to be optimized for
AltaVista for the keyword phrases "nine-banded armadillo" and "southern country roads." What's
wrong with this page? What's right? What changes would you make in order to optimize it for
those keyword phrases? Most importantly, have fun!
Note: This project is part of your lesson #7 homework assignment.
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Nine-banded armadillos are sick of Mexican food.</TITLE>
<TITLE>Nine-banded armadillos don’t want to be road kill.</TITLE>
Play it safe with one title tag, though you can sometimes use two title tags for AV. Since
"southern country roads" is one of your main keyword phrases, it should be used in the title tag.
<META NAME="description" CONTENT="Nine-banded armadillos roam southern country
roads at night, desperately hoping not to be the next road kill. They live in Mississippi and Texas,
and they don’t want to move to Arkansas with Bill Clinton. They would rather move to New
York with Hillary. Nine-banded armadillos, nine-banded armadillos, nine-banded armadillos,
armadillos, armadillos, armadillos, armadillos">
With AV's new guidelines, we suggest not using the keyword phrases in the META tags. Even
better, don't use a META description tag at all! So, with the description tag, use synonyms of the
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main keyword phrases. Also, this description tag is very long, with a bunch of keywords strung
on the end of it, not to mention irrelevant comments. Very unprofessional! If you don't use a
META description tag, you'd need to make sure that the first text on the page is appropriate to
appear as a description of the page in the search results.
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="nine-banded armadillos, Nine-Banded Armadillos,
NINE-BANDED ARMADILLOS, road kill">
Again, use synonyms of your main keyword phrases in the META keyword tag, not the keyword
phrases themselves. Better yet, don't use a META keyword tag at all with AltaVista.
<META HTTP-EQUIV="keywords" NAME="keywords" CONTENT="Mexican food">
Since AV considers only the first two uses of a keyword phrase, use the keyword phrase in a title
and headline tag at the very top of the page. You can try meta http-equiv tags if you can't get the
ranking you want with these guidelines. However, using "mexican food" certainly won't help
your ranking!
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<CENTER>
<h2> Nine-Banded Armadillo <BR>
Search for the keyword phrase using both capitalized and all lower-case versions. AV gives
different results for both, as well as different results for the keyword phrase in all caps.
Therefore, you'll want to use the all lower-case version in this header tag, since this is how most
people will be searching. Also, can you incorporate your other keyword phrase in the header tag
as well? A good idea these days is to use graduated header tags, beginning with an <h1> tag at
the top of the page, then a paragraph or two of text, then an <h2> tag, and so forth. Since
searches for each variation produce different results, try to use all variations somewhere in the
text and tags on your page.
<IMG SRC="ClassProject/armeyl.gif" HEIGHT="61" WIDTH="130" ALT="armey1.gif">
</h2>
What about naming the graphic after the keyword phrase? What about putting the keyword
phrase in the ALT tag, since AV considers the content of ALT tags?
</CENTER>
<!—nine-banded armadillos>
AV doesn't consider the content of comment tags.
<style>Hillary likes armadillos></style>
AV does consider the content of style tags, but this one certainly won't help your rankings! What
does Hillary have to do with this page?! Put your keyword phrase in the style tag.
<P><B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><FONT SIZE="+1">No one knows why the
lowly nine-banded armadillo, often called Texas Roadkill, chose to make its way from the
southern regions of Mexico all the way to the US regions of Mississippi, Tennessee, and even
Kentucky.</FONT></FONT></B> <BR>
<BR>
<B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><FONT SIZE="+1">Something drove the poor
defenseless beast from its familiar surroundings in search of a new
beginning.</FONT></FONT></B></P>
<P><B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><FONT SIZE="+1">Perhaps the food got really
bad in Mexico, and the starving nine-banded armadillo had had enough of tacos, rice, and refried
beans. </FONT></FONT></B> </P>
In the first three paragraphs, there's no mention of our other keyword phrase.
<P><B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><FONT SIZE="+1">Let's look at the individual
story of</FONT></FONT></B> <BR>
<A HREF="http://www.robinsnest.com/ClassProject/armadillo_test.html"><IMG
SRC="ClassProject/armadillo_1.jpg" ALT="armey" HSPACE="2" VSPACE="2" BORDER="0"
HEIGHT="250" WIDTH="252" ALIGN="TOP"></A><B><FONT FACE="Times New
Roman"><FONT SIZE="+1"><FONT COLOR="#990033"> Juan Armadillo</FONT>, pictured
here.</FONT></FONT></B> <BR>
Put the keyword phrase in the ALT tag. Name graphics after keyword phrase. Put keyword
phrase in URLs.
<BR>
</P>
<INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="HIDDEN" VALUE="web positioning is a challenge">
For shame! This is spamming to the engines! Remove that hidden value tag!
<A HREF="index.html"><IMG SRC="clr.gif" BORDER="0" ALT="nine-banded
armadillos"></A>
All right! Finally used the keyword phrase in an ALT tag.
<P><B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><FONT SIZE="+1">Juan is a nine-banded
armadillo, the most numerous one and the only one found in the US.
</FONT></FONT></B></P>
<P><B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><FONT SIZE="+1">For more information about
nine-banded armadillos, click on Juan.</FONT></FONT></B></P>
<P><B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><FONT SIZE="+1"><A
HREF="nine-banded-armadillo-texas.html></A>Click here for more information about
nine-banded armadillos in Texas.</FONT></FONT></B>
And, our keyword phrase is used in a URL -- good!
<BR>
</P>
<P><A HREF="nine-banded-armadillo.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG
SRC="ClassProject/top_button.gif" HSPACE="2" VSPACE="2" BORDER="0" HEIGHT="23"
WIDTH="72" ALT="Texas"></A> </P>
</BODY>
</HTML>
Other ideas -- increase word count, since AV tends to like longer pages. Check competing pages
and adjust length/keyword weight accordingly. Use second keyword phrase more -- it's used very
seldom here. Add links to other pages on the site, with single pixel images and ALT tags
containing the keyword phrase. Name the page after our keyword phrase; purchase a domain with
the keyword phrase in it. Use Search Engine Optimizer or WebPosition Gold's Page Critic for
more ideas.
Table of Contents
-- Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning, Academy of Web Specialists
Eight Tips to Top 20
by Michael Campbell
of Entire Course
Trying to get top search engine placement in today's ultra competitive environment can be tough.
Here are my top eight optimization tips to keep your site in the top 20 - the front pages - of the
search engines.
1) You can control your web site reputation or theme by setting up several small related sites and
using hypertext links to cross link them all together. The trick is to pick two or three keywords
that describe the theme of the destination site. Always use those exact same key words when
linking to the destination site from any other site you control.
2) Where you place your keywords on your web page is critical to its search engine positioning.
Your keyword phrase must appear in the title, in the url (or file path if possible), in headline tags
at the very top of the page (before tables or anything else), in the first paragraph, and in a
hypertext link.
3) To score a top 20 page, it's best to use very old html code like version 2.0 or at the most 3.2.
Search engines are ill equipped to handle more modern code. Do not use frames, Javascript, fancy
programming or <gasp> even tables if you can avoid them.
4) Got links to your site from the directories? Good, now link your web site back to those
directories and other web sites in the center of the bow tie of the internet universe. This includes
linking to directories, search engines, large manufacturers and maybe even upstream or
downstream suppliers. It's important to the crawlers that your site explode into millions of links,
all within a few mouse clicks.
5) Store doorway pages on several domains in different cities or far away each other in terms of
I.P. address number. This will prevent search engines from using web maps to filter out stand
alone pages, that drive traffic to only a few destinations. Spreading the doorway pages around
will let you fly UNDER the radar so your legitimate pages don't go setting off the spam detectors.
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-- Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning, Academy of Web Specialists
6) Include common misspellings of your target keyword phrase near the beginning of your meta
tags. If you have a page about web site design, also include the phrase website design. Many
people mush the two words together without a space. Same with cell phone and cellphone.
7) Be sure to include geographical information like your dirt world address on your pages. A
whole new breed of spiders is looking for area codes, zip codes and city names, to assist
searchers in finding stores and services near their location. Doing so will allow you to come up
ahead of the competition when someone searches for web site designers... in Seattle.
8) Want your page to be known as an authority on a subject? It's easier than you think. If a portal
or directory leads to your web page, put only one link on it. Have that one link lead to a different
portal or directory - one that you own and control - on the same topic as your authority page. The
fewer the destinations you link to with an authority page, the better its positioning will be.
Published by permission of Michael Campbell from his Internet Marketing Secrets Newsletter
dated June 27, 2001. Michael is the author of Nothing but Net, and he also writes monthly reports
about the search engines. Visit his site to learn more.
SearchEnginePositioning.com
Table of Contents
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How to Keep up with Changes in the Search Engine Industry -- Essen...ndations in Search Engine Positioning, Academy of Web Specialists
By Robin Nobles
How to Keep up with
Changes in the Industry
Keeping Up With Changes in the Industry
Tips for Getting Your Web Site Noticed . . . Outside of the Search Engines
Do Your Clients know what to do with the Traffic You've Gotten for Them?
Community Building Course
Interested in Starting a New Career Online?
Once you've learned search engine optimization strategies, how are you going to keep up with
changes in the industry?
Not only that, but once you boost traffic to your or your clients' sites, do you know what to do
with that traffic? In other words, is the traffic converting to sales?
How to Keep up with Changes in the Industry
1. Purchase the Advanced Search Engine Positioning download through the Academy. Click here
to see what the Table of Contents looks like for the Advanced course.
You may decide to take the Advanced course with a mentor, which means that you would have
someone to ask questions, to visit your site, and to guide you along for 16 weeks.
2. Once you complete the Advanced course, sign up for continued access to the course material.
3. Subscribe to Planet Ocean's newsletter;
Subscribe to the Academy's newsletter (free);
Subscribe to MarketPosition newsletter (free);
Subscribe to the Spider Report http://www.spider-food.net/spiderreportsubscriptions.html (free)
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Subscribe to Michael Campbell's mailing list and learn about his most recent reports;
Subscribe to Fantomaster's newsletter (free);
Subscribe to Search Engine Guide(free);
Subscribe to Danny Sullivan's Search Engine Newsletter (pay; free version available);
Subscribe to Chris Sherman's Web Search Newsletter (free);
Subscribe to iSearch (free);
Use PositionPro's Analyzer Feature
Subscribe to our e-mail lists, if you haven't already done so:
Search-Engine-Talk (general search engine discussions, news updates, questions/answers, job
announcements, etc.)
Professional SEO's (set up particular for professional search engine optimizers who work with
clients)
4. Participate in forums:
Search Engine Forums (excellent for beginners)
Spider-Net Forums (friendly and helpful)
Webmaster World (a little more advanced)
MarketPosition (sponsored by First Place Software)
AIM-Pro Forums
5. Cloaking resources:
Cloaking or Stealth Technology at Fantomaster.com
Spider Hunter
6. Purchase Search Engine Optimizer (SEO) software, which will keep up with changes in the
industry for you! (okay okay, a little blatant self promotion, but version 2 is an excellent software
program!)
7. Purchase WebPosition Gold and purchase their yearly knowledge-base updates as well.
Tips for Getting Your Web Site Noticed . . . Outside of the Search Engines
Do you have products or services that would be appropriate to be listed on an auction site? If so,
why don't you give it a whirl? Start the auction at the lowest price you'd take, and see what
happens. Be sure to link to your site from your auction listing! We've heard extremely positive
reports of traffic increases JUST from that one simple link back to your site from an auction
listing. The link is even more important than the auction itself!
When you have a newsworthy item in your company, such as a new product or service, new
management slot filled, partnership with another company, etc., be sure to send out a press
release, then post that press release at your site. There are numerous places for sending out free
and pay press releases. Here are a few:
(Free):
http://www.prweb.com
http://clickit.com/touch/presform.htm#SUBMIT
http://www.comitatusgroup.com/pr/
(Pay):
http://www.webwire.com/Home.asp
http://www.internetwire.com
http://www.ereleases.com/
What about writing a classified ad? Here's an article that offers tips:
http://www.iboost.com/promote/advertising/articles/20015.htm
Converting Traffic to Sales
With the importance of "relationship commerce" hitting the news, what are you doing to make
your Web site "sticky," so that your customers will revisit your site again and again?
Are you using the power of permission e-mail marketing to keep your customers coming back?
Stephen Mahaney of Planet Ocean fame has created a dynamite permission e-mail marketing
course that is now available. It's the perfect "next step" to search engine positioning.
Why is that?
Think of it this way. Do you remember the days when Web designers would create a site, then
turn it back over to the client? The client would have a beautifully designed site but wouldn't
have a clue about how to get traffic to the site. Neither did the Web designer.
Along came search engine positioners, and we took those sites and brought them traffic. The site
owners were thrilled.
But, did sales automatically pick up because of it? In other words, did that traffic convert to
sales? Not necessarily. If the site owner doesn't know what to do with the traffic, your hard work
is virtually in vain.
Search engine positioners who are willing to offer "full-service" marketing efforts, including
consulting with clients on permission e-mail marketing strategies, community building features,
and more, will be in great demand in the future. Those folks will not only be able to get the
traffic, but they'll be able to help the site owner's sales increase as a result.
Planet Ocean's Business Course in Permission E-Mail Marketing comes packaged with a bulk
e-mail software program. Click here for more information.
Community Building
Another excellent way of making your Web site "sticky" is to set up community features, such as
chat rooms, bulletin boards, file sharing, etc.
The Academy is planning on creating a course in community building, and we'll let you know
when it's available for enrollment.
Interested in Starting a New Career Online?
We often get inquiries from people who want to change careers and work online, but they really
don't know how to get started.
We've had the distinct good fortune of meeting several WorldSites franchise owners and people
from the main headquarters of WorldSites, and we want to pass along this excellent business
opportunity to you.
WorldSites offers franchise opportunities to people across the world. Here's what it says at their
site:
"The Worldsites Network is quickly becoming the leader in providing full service
Internet consulting and solutions to businesses worldwide. By establishing a
Network of independent Internet Consultants in cities around the globe, the
Worldsites Network is regionalizing the Internet at the community level."
For more information, visit their Web site at:
http://www.worldsites.net
Or, send an e-mail to:
[email protected]
Table of Contents
Suggested Steps for Working on a Site -- Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning, Academy of Web Specialists
Suggested Steps for Working on a Site
. . . once the course is over
of Entire Course
Once the course is over, if you're handed a site or group of pages and told to optimize them,
where to do you begin?
The first thing to remember is that all optimizers do things a little differently. What works for me
may not work for you, and vice versa.
However, this page will give you some simple steps in getting started, until you develop your
own steps.
Another thing to remember is that the sequence of lessons in this course is an excellent starting
point as well. So, think back to your course. What did you do first? You analyzed your site, right?
You decided which pages needed to be optimized. Then, you looked at the site to see what
problems areas you need to overcome. From there, you moved to keyword development, and so
forth.
Another thing to consider: SEO work can be extremely time consuming. If you have time, it's
good to do certain things, like analyzing your competition. If you don't have time, however, there
are certain things that can be left off. Again, this is a personal choice, so be sure to do what works
for you.
General Steps in Optimizing a Site
1. Analyze the site itself. Decide which pages are important and which need to be optimized.
Take good notes! Look at the source code of the pages. Start thinking of SEO strategies that may
be effective for this particular site.
2. Analyze the site in terms of any potential problems you'll have in optimizing the site. For
example, is the site in frames? Is it all graphics? Is it low in content? Many of your SEO
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strategies will depend on what problems you find in the site's design.
3. Will the site's owner let you make changes to the site? Will you have access to the server to
upload changed pages? Again, these answers will determine how you'll go about optimizing the
site. If you can't make any changes to the site, you'll need to consider effective information pages.
4. Talk to the site's owner and determine how he/she wants the site to be found. Then, do some
extensive keyword research at WordTracker or GoTo's Search Term Suggestion Tool.
Determine how much competition you'll have with those keyword phrases, then determine how
many people actually search for those keywords in the engines. This is one area where you
simply can't cut corners. Keyword development is crucial to the success of a Web site.
5. With WebPosition Gold, run the Reporter function and determine the placement of the
pages right now. If you're getting top rankings for any of the keywords for any of the pages,
you'll want to think carefully before making changes to those pages.
6. Determine what keyword phrase is important for every page of the site that needs to be
optimized. Choose one or two keyword phrases per page -- no more. Make a list of any keywords
that you aren't able to use in the site's existing pages.
7. Create effective title and description tags for each of the pages, using each page's targeted
keyword phrase in both tags.
8. Optimize each page, based on that page's targeted keyword phrase. We'll work on doorway
pages later, but for now, concentrate on existing pages. Even if you can't touch the content of the
pages, you can still create new title and description tags, and you can add some of the tags that
aren't visible on the page, such as ALT tags and style tags. If you can change the content itself, be
sure to use your important keyword phrase in the body text, link text, headline tags, etc.
9. Run your pages through Search Engine Optimizer (SEO) software's Generic Search
Engine. This setting will give you tips on optimizing the page in a very general way, and it will
remind you of things you might have forgotten.
10. Look closely at the site and the existing pages, and make sure that you've linked back and
forth between all of your major pages. Create a site map, if possible, and give the engines
plenty of links to spider when they visit your site.
11. If you have time to research your competition, do so. Visit top ranking sites for your
keyword phrases in several of the engines. What makes those pages so effective? What is the link
popularity of the site? Is that why they're ranked so high? Where are they using the important
keyword phrase? You can also run your pages through a program that will determine their
keyword weight, such as WebPosition Gold or Keyword Density Analyzer.
12. Submit all of your pages to each of the major engines by manually visiting each engine
and clicking on their Add URL link. Or, you may want to save yourself some time by using a
submission service like Position Pro or by using a submission software program like WebPosition
Gold or Search Engine Commando.
13. Use Inktomi's pay inclusion program if at all possible, and pay to have your site listed in
Yahoo!. You can also consider paying to have your site listed in LookSmart.
14. Remember that it takes a while for some of the engines to index your pages. Give it time!
15. After the major engines have indexed your pages, use a software program like
WebPosition Gold’s Reporter to determine your rankings. Look over your rankings to see
which search engines haven’t given your pages top 10-30 rankings. Begin tweaking those pages.
16. If you have any keyword phrases that you weren't able to use on existing pages, or if you are
unable to make many changes on the existing site, begin creating content-rich information
pages and focus on those keywords.
17. If you don't have visibility in some of the search engines, this is also the time to consider
creating engine-specific pages and target those engines. Again, run your pages through SEO
software, and get engine-specific tips for each search engine.
18. Check your log files, then use that information to strengthen your Web site. WebTrends
is an excellent log analysis program, and it even offers a Web-based service, WebTrends Live,
that is very effective.
Table of Contents
Dummy Web Pages for Students at the Academy of Web Specialists
By Robin Nobles
Dummy Web Pages
Table of Contents
If you don't have pages you can use when working through the course, we have some "dummy"
pages that were donated by past students. We greatly appreciate their help by creating and
providing these very simple pages.
We recommend you use these pages to complete the course work, but that you don't submit them
to the search engines, since they aren't "real" pages.
Dummy Web Pages to be Used if You Don't have a Web Site:
Armadillo
Chipmunk
Instructions: You'll download the page and connected graphics for the certification page you've
chosen, work on it with your HTML editor, then upload it to your server. Simply click on the
certification page that you've chosen, then click on File, and Save As. Do the same thing with the
graphics. Then, open the page in your HTML editor and make your changes. Some of the pages
have very little text. ADD YOUR OWN CONTENT!
Again, we don't recommend submitting any of the dummy pages to the search engines.
Table of Contents
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Dummy Web Pages for Students at the Academy of Web Specialists
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chipmunk
I try to teach my children the importance of respecting wildlife and to help animals
when the need arises. We put out bird seed in the winter, and go on frequent
nature walks in the spring, summer, and fall. Over the years, our house has been a
makeshift hospital for a number of little creatures from birds, snakes, and turtles to
the occasional squirrel or chipmunk. This seems only fair since most of our patients
have been brought to us by our fearless felines - Sam and Van Go. While “Survival
of the Fittest” is clearly within our cats’ Moral Code of Animal Ethics handbook
(page 23), we do not look kindly on their behavior and try to intervene whenever
possible.
One summer day, a couple of years ago, Sam, the eldest cat, decided to play a little
too roughly with one of the neighborhood chipmunks. The little chipmunk, still alive,
was obviously in trouble: although his breathing was fast and shallow, he was
laying motionless in a decidedly unchipmunklike way. As I
soon learned, this was the classic “Play Dead and Maybe
the Cat Will Go Away” response (Rodent Survival Guidepage 1). All I knew was that he needed more care than I
could give him .With my now sobbing children pleading for
me to Do Something, I put on my heavy, leather gardening
gloves to protect myself from any nasty bites, and scooped
the little guy up. I placed him carefully in a box, got a sitter
for the kids and headed off to the vet’s.
I was halfway through one of those impossible intersections,
making a fun left turn into oncoming traffic, when Mr.
Chipmunk regained total consciousness. He quickly realized he was no longer on
the semi-lush grass of our front yard, and started to freak out in an energetic, and
efficiently chipmunklike, kind of way. First, he made some sort of a gurgley noise which I can only assume meant, “Hey lady ,what do you think you’re doing and why
am I in this box?” After questioning my motives, he promptly jumped out of the box
and landed directly on my head! He did a little hair dance that took no longer than a
few seconds, then vaulted into the back seat where he proceeded to bounce around
explosively like a superball thrown in a small bathroom.
I suddenly realized that (1) in my haste I had forgotten to put on shoes, and (2) the
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chipmunk
only things between me and a nice case of rabies was a tank top and a pair of
shorts! With visions of 18 inch needles being jammed into my belly button - an
image from my youth, planted lovingly by my older brother - I made a hard left,
followed by a harder right onto a small residential side road. Then, with the split
second choreography that can come in the Face of Horror, I threw the car into Park
and leapt out in one smooth motion. A woman, apparently having noticed the terror
on my face, rushed from a nearby house to help. Pointing at the crazed chipmunk,
assuming this was adequate explanation under the circumstances, I asked her to
get a pair of gloves. She disappeared into the house and returned moments later
with a nice pair of knit gloves. That's right! Knit gloves! Intuitively understanding
that the Ralph Nader people had probably not yet forced the powerful multinational
knit glove conglomerates into adopting controversial rodent protection standards, I
just opened all of the car doors in hopes the critter would jump out. No luck. By
now, he had wedged himself between one of the kid’s car seats and the seat of the
car. He was also sagely Playing Dead again, presumably to avoid being eaten by
the car seat. As I removed the car seat to free him, he immediately revived and
started leaping around again and screeching chipmunk profanities. At this point, the
friendly lady with the knit gloves and I began to scream.
The screaming alerted the man next door, who came barreling out of his house
down the street, ready to do battle with whatever it was in the back of my car. As he
ran, he yelled commands like, ”Back away!” and, “I’ll take care of it!!”.Meanwhile,
the chipmunk - having told us off - decided it was time to leave. Quietly and calmly,
he hopped out of the car and WALKED away, robbing our heroic ‘knight’ - who had
just arrived panting and out of breath - of the opportunity to save us damsels in
distress.
Looking back, I learned two things that afternoon. One, though a little sweaty and
out of shape, chivalry is not dead. And - more importantly - two, most all animals,
reportedly including exceptionally bright goldfish and exceptionally lethargic couch
potatoes, have mastered the art of Playing Dead. Consult your Rodent Survival
Guide.
(A special thanks to Academy instructor Jacquie Ansell for creating this delightful
page and donating it to the Academy, and to Dave Bailey who allowed us to use the
"chipmunk in flowers" graphic.)
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Free Trial Versions of Software -- Academy of Web Specialists
Software
Table of Contents
To download a free trial version of WebPosition Gold, which you'll be using to check your rankings
throughout the course, visit:
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/wpg
To download a free trial version of Search Engine Optimizer (SEO), which you'll be using to check
your pages, visit:
To download a free trial version of Keyword Density Analyzer, visit:
http://www.grsoftware.net/downloads/grkdademo.zip
To download free trial versions of other software, please visit:
http://www.acws.com/resources.html
Table of Contents
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Free Trial Versions of Software -- Academy of Web Specialists
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What's New in the Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning Lessons?
What's New?
Table of Contents
Updated 8/3/01
Added a new page on Submission Order by Ginette Degner.
Updated the Submission Guidelines page.
Updated 8/2/01
Removed suggestion to write "longer" titles and substituted what's working better now in lesson 5.
Read the entire lessons to make sure everything was accurate. Made small changes accordingly.
Remove mention of "hidden links" in lesson 6, and made other minor changes.
Noted LookSmart's price increase and pricing for modifications to LS listings in lesson 7. Made other
minor changes as well.
Made minor changes in lesson 8.
Updated "How to keep up with changes once the course is over" page by adding additional forums and
important newsletters.
Updated Problems page in the JavaScript area.
Added additional forum (Spider-Food-net) on the forums page.
Updated Helpful URLs page.
On the AltaVista page, added a link to an article on AV. Added tips from Ginette
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On the Inktomi page, corrected pricing for pay inclusion program; added information from Ginette
Degner about Zeal.com and other Inktomi tips.
Updated Engine Chart and Engine-by-Engine Recap.
In lesson 4, added a new place to add keywords: paragraph tag.
Updated 7/31/01
Corrected the URL for downloading trial versions of SEO and KDA, and noted that the trial version of
SEO features 2 engines and a generic engine in lesson 1. Also changed the submission URL for AV.
Minor changes made to lesson 1, lesson 3, lesson 4.
In lesson #2, removed the example of Flash and added more text, as well as other minor changes for
clarification.
Updated 7/30/01
Since you can't view the source code of the doorway page templates in a PDF file, I posted the HTML
versions online in this location:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/doorway-templates.html. I added this URL to Lesson #6.
Updated 7/5/01
Added AV's pay inclusion program to the AltaVista page. Added a link to an article about a German
submission service cracking the AV submission procedure. Rearranged some of the AV information.
Added a link about Mercator. Added information about AV's new algorithm.
On the Inktomi page, listed Inktomi's spam guidelines, and mentioned that iWon is back to using
Inktomi results.
Began removing WebSnapshot's URL from the course material. The service is no longer available for
free. Changed the location of AV's Add URL page on the Helpful URLs page. Also added a link to
Spider Hunter.
Updated Engine Chart and Engine-By-Engine Recap with new submission times for AV.
Read this article about the future of search technology:
http://interactive.wsj.com/public/current/articles/SB992985242835676272.htm
Added information about WordTracker's KEI index in Lesson #3.
In lesson #1, noted AV's new pay inclusion program.
Made minor changes in lessons #2, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
Added a new page on Eight Tips to Top 20 Search Engine Positioning, by Michael Campbell. Linked to
it from Lesson #8.
Updated 6/11/01
Added additional information in lesson #1 about the Pre-Lesson in HTML.
In lesson #2, added "link exchange programs" as a strategy not to use.
In lesson #3, changed the area on AltaVista's "related searches" to HotBot's "People who did this search
also searched for."
In lesson #4, added Links4Trade under reciprocal linking ideas, and suggested that you subscribe to
their free trial in order to get 10 free related links.
Made minor changes in lessons #5, 6, 7, and 8. Changed wording, rearranged a few
sentences/paragraphs, etc., but nothing major that needs to be mentioned separately.
Updated Engine Chart and the Engine-by-Engine Recap.
Be sure to read the transcript of Brent Winter's chat session at
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/chat/brent5-29-01.html
Made several changes to the Inktomi page -- be sure to read the What's New information at the top.
Removed Canada.com and iWon; mentioned concerns about MSN and AOL.
Changed how results are being shown at AltaVista. Mentioned click-through popularity at AV, and
discussed submissions going to the bottom of the rankings for a while.
Updated 5/15/01
Added a Pre-Lesson in HTML to the course material, for those who need extra help in HTML before
beginning the class.
Added a Suggested Steps for Working on a Site page, which will be referred to at the end of the lessons.
Changed GoTo's Search Term Suggestion Tool's URL in Lesson 3 and on the Helpful URLs page.
On Lesson #2, added a link to the Top Nine Illegal Search Engine Tactics, found at:
http://www.webseed.com/article1006.html
Updated the Engine chart and the Engine by Engine Recap.
Updated the Hotbot/Inktomi page with an interesting article about Inktomi and rearranged page some.
Updated AltaVista page by adding information on not using the robots <noarchive> tag, then
rearranged the AV page. Removed Ask Jeeves from the AV page, and removed information on AV
providing supplemental results to LookSmart.
Updated 4/19/01
Removed RealNames from the AltaVista page. RN is no longer providing results to AV.
Updated 4/11/01
Removed NBCi from the course material.
Updated 4/10/01
Added information about NBCi closing its doors to the NBCi page.
Updated 4/8/01
Posted a final exam for one-time download students:
Updated 4/5/01
Have updated each of the lessons in relation to removing the Search Button engine, removing "our"
forums and adding the online forums, downloading a trial version of Gold, etc.
In lesson #4, added information about a linkage service called LinkageXpress.
Added information about using iWon to check to see how you're doing with Inktomi. Updated price for
pay inclusion program. Added Search Connect program.
Linked to an article outlining what happened at the Search Engine strategies Conference in Boston in
March 2001. Added notes from the engines' reports in the Inktomi and AltaVista pages.
Added information in Lesson #3 about using another company's name in a domain name.
Updated Engine Chart. Updated doorway templates.
Added a URL for downloading a free HTML and JavaScript book.
Updated 4/4/01
Updated lesson #1 by including downloading a free trial of Gold to the lessons for checking ranking
throughout the course. Asked students to read the Reporter section of the Strategies for Using
WebPosition Gold section of the material. Added example of the importance of simplicity.
Began removing Academy forums from the course material, and added visiting other online forums to
read discussions and enter into conversations.
Updated 4/3/01
Began changing course material to include downloading a free trial version of WebPosition Gold to
check rankings and Search Engine Optimizer (SEO) to check pages.
Removed links to Academy forums and began recommending other online forums instead.
Updated 3/18/01
Updated AltaVista page to reflect their new submission procedure.
In lesson #1, updated the number of engines that are included in WebPosition Gold.
Added an AltaVista quiz to the course material.
http://school.discovery.com/quizzes3/smslady/altavista.html
Added an Inktomi quiz to the course material.
http://school.discovery.com/quizzes3/smslady/inktomi.html
Updated 3/8/01
In lesson #1, removed mention of the GO engine and several other minor changes.
In lesson #2, warned against using hidden links and participating in link exchange programs (as far as
Google is concerned). Also mentioned the fact that Google now considers cloaking to be spam.
In lesson #3, added URL for GoTo's Search Term Suggestio Tool.
http://inventory.goto.com/inventory/Search_Suggestion.jhtml. Also, added Ixquick as a means of
checking your ranking across 14 different engines.
In lesson #4, added the URL for checking link pop and themes in the themes area of the page.
http://www.searchengineworld.com/cgi-bin/theme.cgi
Made minor cosmetic changes in lessons #5, #6, #7, and #8.
Updated 3/7/01
On Inktomi's page, mentioned the increase in price for submitting to the pay inclusion program;
information about HotBot's directory; Network Solutions now provides a pay-per-inclusion service;
On AltaVista's page, mentioned the increase in number of sites in AV's index to 500 million. Mentioned
how AV detects duplicate pages.
On the NBCi page, mentioned that NBCi may be excluding spiders from its database.
SearchButton is no longer offering free onsite search engines.
Removed GO from the Engine Chart and Engine by Engine recap.
Updated 2/8/01
Added iWon information to the HotBot page. Added additional information about penalties for
submitting through the free AddURL pages to Inktomi. Updated the Engine Chart.
Added an email sent to GO Guides pertaining to GO shutting down.
On the Helpful URLs page and the Problems page associated with lesson #2, added information about
Master Frame Reunion, a neat tool where visitors arriving at unframed pages through a search engine
still see the page within your frame context.
Created a new final exam and moved it to a new location. This is referenced in lesson 8.
Updated 2/1/01
Made several updates to the AltaVista, Inktomi, and NBCi pages to reflect recent changes made in
those engines. Mentioned that AV was pulling title/description from LookSmart listings. Also, made
changes to the NBCi page to reflect suggestions for optimizing a page for NBCi's Inktomi listings.
Updated 1/31/01
Updated engine sizes in the Engine Chart and Engine Recap.
Updated Contacts page for new Australian/New Zealand instructor, Garry Janson.
Updated size of the AltaVista engine on the AV page and rearranged some of the information in the
What's New section and moved it to where it belongs in the lesson.
Updated 1/30/01
Made changes throughout the lessons and course material to reflect GO closing shop and using
Inktomi's pay inclusion program and AV instead.
In lesson #3, removed the link to GoTo's Search Term Suggestion Tool, since that "back door" URL no
longer works. Also deleted the URL from the Helpful URLs page.
In lesson #4, warned against using link exchange programs at this time.
In lesson #6, re-optimized the sample doorway page for AV instead of GO and made considerable
changes there.
In lesson #7, removed RealNames, and made changes to the test page and results.
In the "What to do when the course is over" page, mentioned the WorldSites franchise opportunity.
Added a new page for Latest Tips for Inktomi Engines and removed links to the Latest Tips for GO,
pending what happens to the engine.
(Deleted all of 1999's and 2000's changes here, to keep the size of this page from getting too large.)
Table of Contents
Search This Site | Add Your URL to our Search Engine
Helpful URLs -- Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning, Academy of Web Specialists
By Robin Nobles
Helpful URLs
Table of Contents
Click here to go to specific areas on this page:
Academy URLs
Articles about Search Engines
Check Submission Status
Cloaking/Dynamic Pages/Redirects/Scripts
E-Commerce
Editor (How to Become)
Examples
Free Newsletters
Helpful URLs
Keywords
Keyword Weight
Link Popularity
META Tags
Newsletters (Paid)
Referrer Logs
Robots and Spiders
Search Engines Addresses and Phone Numbers
Search Engines E-mail Addresses and Feedback Forms
Search Engines and Directories - URLs
Software Programs
Spammers--Where to Report Them?
Statistics
Submission Guidelines
Submission URLs
Tutorials
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/courses/basic/basic-download/helpful.htm (1 of 20) [8/4/2001 1:19:03 PM]
Academy URLs
Academy's Partner/Affiliate Program:
http://www.acws.com/partners.html
Advanced Search Engine Positioning Course Enrollment:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/advanced-web-positioning.html
Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning Course
Enrollment:http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/beginning-web-positioning.html
Chat Schedule:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/chat/schedule.html
Chat Transcripts:
Final Exam for the Essential Foundations course:
International Web Positioning:
http://www.globalwebpositioning.com
Search-Engine-Talk and Professional SEOs E-Mail Discussion Lists
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/courses/basic/listserve.html
Search Engine Forums:
forums.html
Articles about Search Engines
Article about Search Engine Strategies Conference in Boston 2001:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/information/sec_boston2001.html
Search Engine-Related Articles Published in Planet Ocean
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/information/search_engine_articles.html
How to Rank High in the Search Engines (an article)
http://www.kcustom.com/searchenginesrobinnobles.htm
Choosing the Right Keywords Adds up to Success for Your Website
http://www.wordtracker.com/articles/
After You've Chosen your Keywords, where on Earth do You Put Them?
http://www.wordtracker.com/articles/
Notes on Helping Search Engines Index your Web Site:
http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/appendix/notes.html#h-B.4
Article on META Search Engines by the UC Berkeley Library
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/MetaSearch.html
Recommended Search Engines and Subject Directories (UC Berkeley)
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/ToolsTables.html
http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/
Search Engine -- Ten Steps (at Web Search at about.com)
http://websearch.about.com/internet/websearch/library/weekly/aa040400a.htm
Article on submissions and resubmissions as published in Planet Ocean.
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/information/submissions.html
Article about theme-based search engines by Search Engine World:
http://www.searchengineworld.com/links/theme_engines.htm
Check Submission Status
AltaVista http://www.altavista.com/
Excite
Search for host:yourdomainname.com
http://www.excite.com/
HotBot
Lycos
Yahoo!
Search for: www.yourdomainname.com
http://www.lycos.com/addasite.html
http://www.yahoo.com
Search for your URL
Cloaking/Dynamic Pages/Redirects/Scripts
Article on cloaking published in Planet Ocean's newsletter:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/information/cloaking.html
A Users Guide to URL Rewriting with the Apache Webserver:
http://www.engelschall.com/pw/apache/rewriteguide/
CloakCheck - program to check to see if a page has been cloaked:
http://se.make-it-online.com/
Cloaking Chat Transcripts:
Cloaking Tutorial by Bill Gentry:
Cold Fusion Support Conference:
http://forums.allaire.com/DevConf/index.cfm
Drewstar's Superscripts CGI Archive:
http://superscripts.com/
Fantomaster's cloaking software and cloaking newsletter:
http://www.fantomaster.com
IP Delivery - cloaking software:
http://www.ip-delivery.com/foodscript
Matt's Script Archives:
http://www3.all-yours.net:8001/scripts/
Redirect Trick - article:
http://www.builder.com/Authoring/Tagmania/011000/ss01.html
Scrub the Web Cloaking Tool:
http://www.scrubtheweb.com/abs/cgi/tools.html
Spider Hunter (Learn to write cloaking scripts and track spiders):
http://www.spiderhunter.com
Spider Trap - script-based toy:
http://www.spider-trap.com/trap.html
Traffic Titan, cloaking software
http://position-it.com/traffictitan/
User-Agent Explorer - program to check to see if a page has been cloaked:
http://straylight.netmeridian.com/~delph/useragent/
E-Commerce
E-Commerce Chat Transcripts:
E-Commerce Exchange:
http://www.qcaffiliate.com/qc/egotfrid/index.html
Audio Web Pro (will place an audio advertisement on your site without using RealAudio, etc.
http://www.audiowebpro.com
Editor (How to Become)
Open Directory Project:
http://dmoz.org/about.html
Wherewithal Search:
http://www.wherewithal.com
WorldLight.com
http://www.worldlight.com/
Examples
Clear gif Example:
http://www.robinsnest.com/clr.gif
Doorway Page Example:
http://www.bindersbailbonds.com/orange-county-bail/as/index.htm
http://www.placesforfun.com/hotel_reservations.htm
http://www.wickhomes.com/wisconsin.htm
Image Map Example at Concierge.com:
JavaScript Example (Site also uses tables and dynamic pages):
http://www.travelocity.com/
Example of moving JavaScript to a separate file:
http://www.apuldramroses.co.uk/about.html
META Refresh Example:
Navigation Bar on Right Example:
http://www.webplacing.com
http://www.bakersfield.com/
<NoFrames> Example:
http://www.gdrectifiers.co.uk/index2.html
Site Map Example:
http://pages.ebay.com/sitemap.html
Tables Example at TechEncyclopedia:
http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/
Tiny Bullet Graphic Example:
http://www.robinsnest.com/circle1.gif
Free Newsletters
Academy of Web Specialists' free monthly newsletter
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/newsletter.html
Fantomaster Cloaking Newsletter
http://www.fantomaster.com
InternetDay:
Internet Marketing Center
http://www.marketingtips.com/
MarketPosition
http://www.webposition.com/newsletter.htm
Search Engine Watch
http://www.searchenginewatch.com
The Spider Report
http://spider-food.net/spiderreportsubscriptions.html
WebMarketingNow
To subscribe to this newsletter, send an e-mail to: [email protected] with "Subscribe"
in the Subject.
Web Search at about.com
http://websearch.about.com/internet/websearch/_
Helpful URLs
Accredited Registrar Directory of InterNIC
http://rs.internic.net/alpha.html
Adgrafix Virtual Servers
http://www.adgrafix.com/info/cmarratt/virtual.html
AnyBrowser.com (will check single pages to show how they will appear online in any browser.)
http://anybrowser.com/
Better Business Bureau Online
http://www.bbbonline.org/
CNet's Glossary:
http://www.cnet.com/Resources/Info/Glossary/?st.bl.gp.tb.glos
Cookie Central (resource on Internet cookies, including what they are and how to block or stop them.
http://www.cookiecentral.com/
Cookie information at Andy's Netscape HTTP Cookie Info
http://www.illuminatus.com/cookie
The Copyright Website (resource all about copyright issues)
http://www.benedict.com/
DevelopersNetwork.com (free resources for Web developers)
http://www.developersnetwork.com
Dominator (checks the availability of domain names and searches the U.S. Trademarks Database, lists
all trademarks with your term, defines the term, and indicates related words and similar spellings to
spark your creativity.)
http://www.e-gineer.com/e-gineer/domainator/index.phtml
FindSame (search engine for finding duplicate content)
http://www.findsame.com/
Helpful Net Glossary
http://home.earthlink.net/~cybersmartnow/csn/glossary.html
List of Sites that use the Open Directory Project
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/WWW/Searching_the_Web/Directories/
Open_Directory_Project/Sites_Using_ODP_Data/
PromoMinder -- online marketing tool for rapid Internet marketing
http://www.promominder.com
Promotion Pro -- very effective online tool that will submit your pages for you (mimics a manual
submission) and will check to make sure the pages have title tags and descriptions, and more.
Richard Seltzer's AltaVista Search Tutorial:
http://www.samizdat.com/script/title.htm
Search Engine Alliances
http://searchenginewatch.com/reports/alliances.html
Search Engines and Frames at Search Engine Watch
Search Engine Conference Notes, San Francisco, November 1999
http://websearch.about.com/internet/websearch/library/blses99.htm
Search Engine News
http://searchenginewatch.internet.com/news.html
http://searchengineshowdown.com/
Search Engine Simulator - will show you what an engine sees when it visits your site
http://www.delorie.com/web/ses.cgi
Spider-Food.net has excellent tutorials and up-to-date information on the engines:
http://spider-food.net
Security checker for your computer system -- lets you know how secure your system is from hacker
attacks
http://grc.com/
TracerLock -- a free service that monitors the Web for sites matching your interests, and sends you
email when it finds a new match
http://www.peacefire.org/tracerlock/
WebMasterFree - devoted to providing free software to webmasters
http://www.webmasterfree.com/
Web Site Traffic Builder's free ranking report
http://www.websitetrafficbuilder.com/
What is a Bridge Page or Entry Page
http://searchenginewatch.internet.com/webmasters/bridge.html
Keywords
A Position Monitor (subscription keyword service)
http://www.a-position-monitor.com/
Alternative Dictionaries:
http://www.notam.uio.no/~hcholm/altlang/
Compelling Words
http://www.robinsnest.com/webpositioncompellingwords.html
GoTo’s Search Suggestion List
http://inventory.goto.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
This service is often only available for subscribers through their DirecTraffic Center.
Phrase Finder
http://www.shu.ac.uk/web-admin/phrases/
Plumb Design Visual Thesaurus
http://www.plumbdesign.com/thesaurus/
Problems with Using Trademarked Terms
RealNames
http://customer.realnames.com/Virtual.asp?page=Eng_Subscribe_GetYourKeywords
Roget's Internet Thesaurus:
http://www.thesaurus.com/
Weekly Search Engine Keyword Statistics
http://www.mall-net.com/se_report/
What People Search For
http://searchenginewatch.internet.com/facts/searches.html
WordNet
http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/~wn/
WordSpot
http://www.wordspot.com
WordTracker.com
http://www.wordtracker.com
Keyword Weight
KeywordCount.com
http://keywordcount.com
Keyword Density Analyzer:
http://www.acws.com/gr/GRKDA.html
WebPosition Gold's Page Critic
Link Popularity
Boosting Link Popularity Chat Transcript:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/chat/linking2-10-00.htm
CyberRobotics.com (Zeus, a software program that will help you find related links):
http://www.cyber-robotics.com/
LinkageXpress, a link building service that the engines approve of!
http://www.linkagexpress.com
LinkPopularity.com
http://www.linkpopularity.com
Link Popularity Tips from About.com
http://websearch.about.com/internet/websearch/msub2-m03.htm
META Tags
Back to Basics: META Tags:
http://www.webdeveloper.com/html/html_metatags.html
How to Use HTML META Tags
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/meta.htm
NetNanny META Tags
http://www.rsac.org
META Tag Lawsuits
http://searchenginewatch.com/resources/metasuits.html
Search Engine Design Tips
http://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/tips.html
Trademarks in META Tags OK, with Good Reason
What can <META> Do for You
http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/html/96/51/index2a.html
Newsletters – Paid
Planet Ocean
http://www.searchenginehelp.com/acws/
Search Engine Watch (has two components: a free newsletter and a paid subscription to the site that
includes a newsletter)
http://www.searchenginewatch.com
Referrer Logs
Article on referrer logs published in Planet Ocean:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/information/traffic.html
Access Statistics:
http://ctcr.investors.net/funnelweb/Webreport.html
Chat session on Referrer Logs:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/chat/referrer5-25-00.html
eXTReMe Tracking
http://www.extreme-dm.com/tracking/?home
FlashStats
http://maximized.com/products/flashstats/
WebTrends
http://www.webtrends.com/
Robots and Spiders
Chat session on Robots.txt files:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/chat/robots5-11-00.htm
RoboGen, a software program that creates robots.txt files:
http://www.rietta.com/robogen/
Robots Exclusion:
http://info.webcrawler.com/mak/projects/robots/exclusion.html
Robots.txt File Tutorial Written by Rhoda Schueller:
Robots.txt syntax checker
http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~sxw/robots/check/
Spider Hunter
http://www.spiderHunter.com/
Spider Spotting Chart: Robot Agent and Host Names
http://searchenginewatch.internet.com/webmasters/spiderchart.html
StartIndex/StopIndex Tags
http://software.infoseek.com/products/ultraseek/faqs/faq052.htm
Search Engine Addresses and Phone Numbers
AltaVista Company
529 Bryant
St. Palo Alto, CA 94301
Phone: 650-617-3496
Phone: 650-617-3515
Fax: 650-617-3200
Excite@Home
450 Broadway Street
Redwood City, CA 94063
Phone: 650-556-5000
Fast Search & Transfer, Inc.
1700 West Park Drive
Westborough, MA 01581
Phone: 508-616-2400
HotBot
660 Third Street
Fourth Floor
San Francisco, CA
Phone: 415-276-8400
Lycos, Inc.
400-2 Totten Pond Road
Waltham, MA 02451
Phone: 781-370-2700
Northern Light Technology Inc
222 Third Street, Suite 1320
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-621-5100
Yahoo! Inc.
3420 Central Expressway
Santa Clara, CA 95051
Phone: 408-731-3333
Search Engine Email Addresses and Feedback
Forms
AltaVista
http://doc.altavista.com/help/contact/contact_us.shtml
Excite
Fast
HotBot
http://doc.altavista.com/help/contact/intro_help.shtml
http://www.excite.com/feedback/
http://www.alltheweb.com/cgi-bin/feedback.php3
[email protected]
http://hotbot.lycos.com/help/supportform.asp
Lycos
Northern Light
Search.com
Web Crawler
Yahoo!
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
http://www.webcrawler.com/feedback
[email protected]
http://www.yahoo.com/info/support/contacts/
Search Engines and Directories
AltaVista
AltaVista Search Network
Anzwers
AOL Search
Ask Jeeves
Canada.com
Direct Hit
Electron Search
Excite
Fast
FindWhat
Google
GoTo
HotBot
Inktomi
Jayde
LookSmart
Lycos
Magellan
MSN Search
Northern Light
ODP Engines/Directories
Scrub the Web
Web Crawler
whatUseek
http://www.altavista.com/av/content/av_network.html
http://www.anzwers.com.au
http://search.aol.com/
http://www.askjeeves.com/
http://www.canada.com
http://www.directhit.com/
http://electronsearch.com/
http://www.excite.com/
http://alltheweb.com/
http://findwhat.com/
http://google.com/
http://www.goto.com/
http://www.hotbot.com/
http://www.inktomi.com/products/search/
http://www.jayde.com/
http://www.looksmart.com/
http://www.lycos.com/
http://magellan.excite.com/
http://search.msn.com/
http://www.northernlight.com/
http://dmoz.org
ODP Engines/Directories
http://www.scrubtheweb.com/
http://www.webcrawler.com/
http://www.whatuseek.com/
Yahoo!
http://www.yahoo.com/
Yep
http://yep.com/
Search Engine Worldwide http://www.twics.com/~takakuwa/search/search.html
Software Programs
Affiliate Program - affiliate software program:
http://www.theaffiliateprogram.com/entry.htm?3151
AnalogX Keyword Live - shows you the top 100 keywords and phrases being used on several popular
search engines on the web.
http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/keyword.htm
Anonymity 4 Proxy - includes a database of hundreds of anonymous proxy servers, so you can surf the
Internet with complete anonymity.
http://shareware.cnet.com/shareware/0-13628-500-1513395.html
Anonymizer Window Washer V2.6 - cleans your browser’s cache, cookies and history, your Recycle
Bin, Windows Temporary Folder, recently opened document list, etc.
http://www.anonymizer.com/3.0/anonwash/
Circle Group Internet (assorted programs):
http://www.justdoit.net/sfkt99/
Cookie Crusher - monitors cookies.
http://www.thelimitsoft.com/cookie.html
Cookie Pal
http://www.kburra.com/cpal.html
CyberRobotics.com (Software program that will help you find related links):
http://www.cyber-robotics.com/
dumpTRUCK - a batch URL submission tool.
http://www.trafficstudio.com/dumptruck/about.htm
Extractor automatically summarizes text.
http://extractor.iit.nrc.ca/
The Hit List shows alternatives to purchasing keywords at GoTo, at much less the cost.
http://www.targetplanet.com/hitlistsite/
Hi-Verify© and Microsoft® FrontPage® - verifies web site structure and design.
http://www.hisoftware.com/hiverify.htm
Hi-Visibility™ for FrontPage® - automatically submits your website to the largest engines an
directories.
http://www.hisoftware.com/hivisfpa.htm
HTML Power Tools - manages meta tags, alt tags, copyright, and will insert the tags on all pages at
once.
http://www.tali.com
IP Delivery - cloaking software.
http://www.ip-delivery.com/foodscript
Keyword Density Analyzer - analyzes keyword weight.
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/kda_download.html
Link Checking Software by Holger:
http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html
If you use frames, be sure to check out Master Frames Reunion. With this FREE tool, visitors arriving
at unframed pages through a search engine still see the page within your frame context.
http://willmaster.com/master/framereunion/
Namewiz - allows you to change extensions.
http://www.softbytelabs.com/
Powermarks - bookmark system.
http://www.kaylon.com/power.html
RoboGen - a software program that creates robots.txt files:
http://www.rietta.com/robogen/
Search Engine Commando
http://www.academywebspecialists.com/comm
Spider Trap - generates pages for search engines using templates the developer makes.
http://www.spider-trap.com
Stroud's Consummate Winsock Apps List - place to download freeware and shareware software
programs
http://cws.internet.com/
TagGen for Microsoft® FrontPage® - allows you to implement meta tags easily.
http://www.hisoftware.com/officeupdate/
TextPad - replaces Notepad and won't mess up java or programming.
http://www.textpad.com/
Text Tally - counts the number of characters and words that make up any block of text you've copied to
the Clipboard.
http://hhsoft.csoft.net/ttally.html
Ultimate Bulletin Board - message board software.
http://www.ultimatebb.com
WebPosition Gold - generates search engine ranking reports, etc.
Spammers – Where to Report Them
AltaVista
Excite
HotBot
Lycos
Northern Lt
WebCrawler
Yahoo!
http://www.excite.com/feedback/
E-mail to: [email protected]
http://www.northernlight.com/docs/gen_help_prob.html
http://www.webcrawler.com/feedback
Statistics
Accessibility and Distribution of Information on the Web
http://www.wwwmetrics.com/
GVU's Tenth Annual WWW User Survey
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/user_surveys/survey-1998-10/graphs/use/q52.htm
GVU's WWW User Survey
http://www.gvu.gatech.edu/user_surveys/survey-1998-04/#exec
MediaMetrix.com, November 1999
http://mediametrix.com/TopRankings/TopRankings.html
NUA Internet Surveys: Search Engines beat Banners
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905356456&rel=true
Search Engine Sizes at SearchEngineWatch.com
StatMartket.com
http://statmarket.com/SM?c=WeekStat
Submission Guidelines
AltaVista
AOL Search
Ask Jeeves
Direct Hit
http://www.Alta Vista.com/cgi-bin/query?pg=addurl
http://search.aol.com/add.adp
http://www.ask.com/docs/about/policy.html
http://www.directhit.com/util/spider.html
Excite
Fast
FindWhat
Google
GoTo
http://www.excite.com/info/getting_listed
http://alltheweb.com/addurl.html
http://findwhat.com/static/ab_promote.html
http://www.google.com/addurl.html
http://www.goto.com/d/about/advertisers/
GoTo's Express Service
HotBot
Jayde
http://www.goto.com/d/about/advertisers/express.jhtml
http://hotbot.lycos.com/help/addurl/
http://www.jayde.com/submit.html
LookSmart
Lycos
Magellan
MSN Search
Northern Light
Web Crawler
whatUseek
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Business Express
Yahoo! Canada
Yahoo! How To Guide
Yep
http://www.looksmart.com/r?page=/h/info/submitfaq3.html
http://magellan.excite.com/info/add_url/
http://search.msn.com/help_addurl.asp#proc18
http://www.northernlight.com/docs/regurl_help.html
http://www.webcrawler.com/Help/GetListed/GetListed.html
http://www.whatUseek.com/noshock/addurl-tableset.shtml
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/
http://www.yahoo.com/info/suggest/busexpress.html
http://ca.yahoo.com/docs/info/help.html
http://howto.yahoo.com
http://yep.com/YEP/Register
Submission URLs for Search Engines and
Directories
AltaVista
AOL Search
Ask Jeeves
Canada.com
Direct Hit
Excite
Fast
FindWhat
Google
GoTo
Submit to ODP: http://dmoz.org
Send email to: [email protected]
http://www.canada.com/search/web/addurl.asp
http://www.excite.com/info/add_url
http://www.ussc.alltheweb.com/add_url.php3
http://findwhat.com/static/ab_promote.html
http://www.google.com/addurl.html
Submit to: GoTo
HotBot
Jayde
Jayde Online Market Links (listing of
numerous submission URLs)
LookSmart
LookSmart Changes
Lycos
Magellan
MSN Search
Northern Light
Web Crawler
whatUseek
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Canada
Yahoo! Changes
Yahoo! Chinese Properties
Yahoo! Italia
Yep
http://hotbot.lycos.com/addurl.asp
http://www.jayde.com/submit.html
http://www.jayde.com/webprm.html
http://www.looksmart.com/h/info/submitfaq.html
http://www.looksmart.com/h/info/confirm.html
http://magellan.excite.com/info/add_url/
Submit to HotBot: http://hotbot.lycos.com/addurl.asp
http://www.northernlight.com/docs/regurl_help.html
http://www.webcrawler.com/info/add_url/
http://www.whatUseek.com/noshock/addurl-tableset.shtml
http://www.yahoo.com/
http://ca.yahoo.com/docs/info/suggest.html
http://add.yahoo.com/fast/change
http://chinese.yahoo.com/
http://www.yahoo.it/
http://yep.com/YEP/Register
Search Engine Registrations (Submits to top 50 search engines for you)
Themes
Article about theme-based search engines by Search Engine World:
http://www.searchengineworld.com/links/theme_engines.htm
An article about theme-based search engines written by Michael Campbell
Tutorials
A Beginner's Guide to HTML:
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html
Cloaking Tutorial by Bill Gentry:
Framing the Web:
http://webreference.com/dev/frames/
HTML Crash Course for Educators
http://edweb.gsn.org/htmlintro.html
HTML 4 Rookies Tutorial:
http://htmlprimer.com
HTML Goodies:
http://www.htmlgoodies.com/tutors/
HTML Machine
http://www.worldaccess.com/~pfarnell/machine.html
HTML Testbed:
http://www.ash.udel.edu/ash/tutor/html/testbed.html
Robots.txt Files Tutorial by Rhoda Schueller:
Search Engines and Frames:
Search Engine Tips: Tables
http://www.delorie.com/web/ses-hint.html
Search Engine Tutorial for Web Designers:
http://www.northernwebs.com/set/index.html
Spider-food.net (assorted tutorials, including one on working with CSS in SEO strategies):
http://www.spider-food.net
Web Monkey's HTML Basics:
Web Resources - Tutorials
http://www.nr1webresource.com/tutorials/tutorials.htm
ZDNet Developer:
http://www.zdnet.com/devhead/filters/homepage/
Table of Contents
Engine by Engine Recap, Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning Course at the Academy of Web Specialists
By Robin Nobles
Engine by Engine Recap
Table of Contents
Let's briefly recap some of the highlights of the major engines, so that you will easily be able to
see how each engine compares with the others.
Click below to go to different areas of this page:
Submit each page?
How long to index submitted pages?
How long to index nonsubmitted pages?
How many pages beyond submitted pages does the engine gather?
Follow frame links?
Recognize META tags?
Case Sensitive?
Submission form or spider?
Stop words?
Site or link popularity?
Alphabetical ranking?
Title tag for relevancy?
Prominence of keywords in title tag?
Comment tags?
ALT tags?
Spamming techniques?
Length of titles?
Length of keyword tags?
Length of descriptions?
Number of websites indexed?
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Number of times main search page is accessed?
Which Engines Require You to Submit Each Page?
Yahoo!: Submit JUST ONE page
AltaVista: Submit all important pages
Excite: Generally submit the main page and add links to the rest
Google: Submit each page
HotBot: Not necessary--spider finds (Better to pay to submit)
Lycos: Optional
NorthernLight: Unknown
How Long does it Take Each Engine to Index Submitted Pages?
Yahoo!: 2 to 8 weeks
AltaVista: 1-2 weeks (pay); 6 weeks (free)
Excite: 2-6 weeks
Google: 1-2 months
HotBot: 2 weeks to 2 months (48 hours if pay)
Lycos: 2-6 weeks
NorthernLight: 2-4 weeks
Fast: 20-40 days
How Long Does it Take Each Engine to Index Non-Submitted Pages?
Yahoo!: N/A
AltaVista: 2 weeks to 1 month
Excite: 6 weeks
Google: 1-2 months
HotBot: 2 weeks
Lycos: 6 weeks
NorthernLight: 2-4 weeks
How Many Pages Beyond the Submitted Page Does The Search Engine Gather
Information?
("No limit" means that the engine will try to gather everything they can find at a website. It
doesn't mean they succeed, but they do try. "Sample" means that they gather a sampling of web
pages from a website. Some gather a larger sampling than others.)
Yahoo!: N/A
AltaVista: No Limit
Excite: No Limit
Google: No limit
HotBot: No Limit
Lycos: Sample
NorthernLight: No Limit
Can the Search Engine Follow Frame Links?
(If it can't, the engine is probably missing much of your site, so be sure to study the information
provided on how to overcome problems with search engines.) Note, however, that all of the
engines recognize the <noframes> tag.
Yahoo!: N/A
AltaVista: No
Excite: No
Google: No
HotBot: No
Lycos: No
NorthernLight: No
Which Engines Recognize META Tags?
Yahoo!: No
AltaVista: Yes
Excite: Supports the META description tag
Google: No
HotBot: Yes
Lycos: No (uses the META description tag if the page is listed in the ODP)
NorthernLight: No
Which Engines are Case-Sensitive?
(These are the engines that notice if keywords have been capitalized or not. If an engine is
case-sensitive, you'll need to include both capitalized AND lowercase versions of your
keywords.)
Yahoo!: No
AltaVista: Yes
Excite: No
Google: No
HotBot: No
Lycos: No
NorthernLight: Mixed/Title
Which Engines Use Data Entered on a Submission Form To Determine Your Site's
Ranking, and Which Use a Spider?
Yahoo!: Submission form
AltaVista: Spider
Excite: Spider
Google: Spider
HotBot: Spider
Lycos: Spider
NorthernLight: Spider
For Which Engines do Stop Words Affect How a Page is Ranked?
Yahoo!: N/A
AltaVista: Yes
Excite: Yes
Google: Yes
HotBot: Yes
Lycos: Yes
NBCi: N/A
NorthernLight: No
Which Engines Consider Site or Link Popularity?
Yahoo!: Site (click-through) popularity
AltaVista: Link popularity
Excite: Link popularity
Google: Link popularity
HotBot: Site popularity (click throughs)
Lycos: Link popularity
NorthernLight: Link popularity
Which Engines Use an Alphabetical Ranking to Determine a Relevancy Score?
Yahoo!: Yes, within Yahoo! categories.
AltaVista: No
Excite: No
Google: No
HotBot: No
Lycos: No
Which Engines Consider the Title Tag for Relevancy?
Yahoo!: Yes, but only on the title you enter on their submission form
AltaVista: Yes
Excite: Yes
Google: Yes
HotBot: Yes
Lycos: Yes
NorthernLight: Yes
Which Engines Consider the Prominence of Keywords in the Title Tag?
Yahoo!: Yes, but only for the title you enter on their submission form
AltaVista: Yes
Excite: Yes
Google: Yes
HotBot: Yes
Lycos: Yes
NorthernLight: Yes
Which Engines Consider the Comment Tags for Relevancy?
Yahoo!: No
AltaVista: No
Excite: No
Google: No
HotBot: No
Lycos: No
NorthernLight: No
Which Engines Consider the ALT Tag for Relevancy?
Yahoo!: N/A
AltaVista: Yes
Excite: No
Google: Yes
HotBot: No
Lycos: Yes
NorthernLight: No
Which Factors are Considered Spamming by These Engines?
(The factors are: meta refresh tags, the use of invisible text, and the use of tiny text)
Yahoo!: N/A
AltaVista: Meta refresh, invisible text, tiny text
Excite: All are okay
Google: Meta refresh, hidden links, hidden text, cloaking, participating in link exchange
programs
HotBot: Invisible text, tiny text (meta refresh is okay), participating in link exchange programs
Lycos: Invisible text, tiny text, meta refresh
NorthernLight: Invisible text (meta refresh & tiny text are ok)
Maximum Length of Titles?
Yahoo!: 40 characters (unless company name is longer)
AltaVista: 78 characters
Excite: 70 characters
Google: 83 characters
HotBot: 115 characters
Lycos: 60 characters
NorthernLight: 80 characters
Maximum Length of Keyword META Tags?
Yahoo!: N/A
AltaVista: Unknown
Excite: N/A
Google: N/A
HotBot: Unknown
Lycos: N/A
Maximum Length of Description?
(Engines form their descriptions from the first text they find on a page or from the META
description tag, if they support it. This shows the description length in all cases.)
Yahoo!: 200 characters--no more than 25 words total
AltaVista: *150 characters
Excite: *395 characters
Google: 144 characters
HotBot: *249 characters
Lycos: 135-200 characters
NorthernLight: 150-200 characters
*Those engines that support the META description tag.
Total Number of Websites Indexed? (according to Search Engine Watch)
(as of April 2001)
Yahoo!: 1 million
AltaVista: 550 million
Excite: 250 million
Fast/Lycos: 575 million
Google: 705 million full-text indexed; plus partial-text listings for a total of 1.3 billion
Inktomi: 500 million
NorthernLight: 350 million
Total of Unique Visitors who Visited the Site during the Month of April 2001
(indicating its popularity)? (according to Media Metrix)
Yahoo!: 56,190,000
MSN: 49,052,000
AOL Search: 37,862,000
Lycos: 25,925,000
Netscape: 17,386,000
Excite: 13,313,000
Ask Jeeves: 11,327,000
GoTo: 11,201,000
iWon: 10,314,000
AltaVista: 9,008,000
LookSmart: 7,812,000
For additional information about Inktomi, andAltaVista, read their Latest Tips in the Must See
Information! section of this course.
Table of Contents
Doorway Page Templates -- Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning, Academy of Web Specialists
Essential Foundations in
By Robin Nobles
Doorway Page Templates
Doorway/Informational Page Templates:
Note: These pages are provided to help you when creating doorway pages for these major engines.
These pages were created with cloaking in mind, which is why we suggested using your keyword
phrase in all lower-case letters in the headline tags. However, you can use this same template if you
don't use cloaking by making it more presentable to the visitor. Simply substitute your information for
the information provided. Be sure to view the source code, and read the comment tags which contain
additional notes and reminders. As you find a technique that works for you, be sure to add it to that
engine's template. NOTE: Using these pages will not guarantee a top ranking -- they are simply a
guide for you to follow when working with the engines included here.
(Note: Since this is a PDF file, you won't be able to view the source code of the pages that are provided
in the PDF. So, to view the source code, visit:
http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/doorway-templates.html)
AltaVista
Excite
HotBot
Lycos
NorthernLight
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Table of Contents
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Chat Rooms at the Academy of Web Specialists
By Robin Nobles
Chat Rooms
Table of Contents
To attend chat sessions at the Academy, you must have purchased 6 months of access to the
course material.
Click here for more information.
To view transcripts of past sessions, visit:
To view a schedule for this month's chat sessions, visit:
Table of Contents
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Chat Rooms at the Academy of Web Specialists
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Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning, Academy Web Specialists, E-mail Listserve
By Robin Nobles
E-Mail Discussion Lists for
Search Engine Positioning Topics
Table of Contents
Search-Engine-Talk
Search-Engine-Talk is a discussion e-mail list composed of both current and past
students. It can be used to discuss things back and forth between each other, post
questions and answers, make announcements of what's happening in the industry, give
tips, job announcements, etc.
To subscribe, send an e-mail to: [email protected]
To send messages to the Search-Engine-Talk list, send an e-mail to:
[email protected]
Mailing List for Professional Search Engine Optimizers
Professional-SEOs is an e-mail discussion list primarily for search engine optimizers who
work with clients. If you're interested in joining, send an e-mail to:
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Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning, Academy Web Specialists, E-mail Listserve
[email protected]
To send messages to the Professional-SEOs list, send an e-mail to:
[email protected]
Table of Contents
Last updated March 31, 2001
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Purchase 6 Months of Access to the Course at the Academy of Web Specialists
By Robin Nobles
Importance of Access to Updated Materials
Table of Contents
Congratulations! With the purchase of this one-time download, you're well on your way toward
better search engine rankings!
However, because things change so frequently in this industry, you may want to consider purchasing 6
months of access to the course material. That way, as changes are made to the course material to reflect
changes in the industry, you'll be kept up to date as you work through the course material.
Another benefit to purchasing 6 months of access is that you'll be able to attend the Academy's
chat sessions!
When you purchase 6 months of access to the course material, you'll also be able to attend the
Academy's chat sessions. Each week, we offer several chat sessions at various times on a wide variety
of subjects. We also invite guest speakers to discuss search engine optimization strategies, their
services, or their products.
You can even recommend topics for chat sessions.
The additional cost of purchasing 6 months of access is worth it just for the chat sessions alone!
To give you an idea of what chat sessions are offered, visit:
To purchase 6 months of access to the material, so that you can be kept up to date on the latest
happenings in the search engine industry and so that you can attend Academy chat sessions of your
choice, contact Robin Nobles.
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Purchase 6 Months of Access to the Course at the Academy of Web Specialists
Table of Contents
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Glossary of Web Positioning Terms -- Academy of Web Specialists
By Robin Nobles
Glossary of Terms
Table of Contents
Algorithm: Ranking criteria that are utilized by each individual engine in determining ranking. An
engine’s ranking algorithm changes quite frequently.
Case sensitive: When an engine is “case sensitive,” it means that it will search for the keyword
*exactly* as you have entered it. For example, if you enter “NEW ORLEANS” in the search query
window, a case sensitive engine would only search for the keyword phrase in all caps. Some engines
are case sensitive for certain searches, but not for other searches (like AltaVista). So, your best bet is to
search for your keyword phrase in all variations (all caps, all lowercase, and capitalized) and see if the
search results differ.
Comment tag: A comment tag is used to describe something within your HTML code that is not
viewed by people visiting your site.
Directories: Directories rely on submissions from website owners to build their indexes. They don't
utilize spiders to index websites. Examples are Yahoo! and the Open Directory Project.
Doorway page: A page that has been created for the sole purpose of ranking higher in the search
engines for a particular keyword or set of keywords, the name of your company, or even for a specific
engine. These pages act as additional "doorways" into your site, thus increasing traffic through those
doorways.
Dynamic HTML: Pages that are generated via CGI script or database delivery. Dynamic HTML will
most likely have a negative effect on rank, because search engine spiders do not interpret it well.
Frames: Divide web pages into multiple, scrollable regions. An example of a website with frames can
be found at Search Engine Watch:
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http://searchenginewatch.internet.com/webmasters/examples/frames/example1.html
Invisible text: Stuffing keywords in a font color that is the same color as the background of the page.
Keyword "weight": Refers to the number of a particular keyword or keyword phrase appearing on
your web page in relation to the total number of words appearing in the visible text of the page.
Keyword weight is also referred to as “keyword density.”
Meta refresh tag: A tag that automatically takes visitors to a different page within the website. Engines
don’t like META refresh tags, as a general rule. For an example of a META refresh, go to:
To view the source code of a page with a META refresh tag, even a very fast META refresh, type
"view-source:" in front of any URL, like this:
view-source:http://www2.netdoor.com/~smslady
Meta tag stuffing: Stuffing your META tags with your keywords, over and over again.
ODP – Open Directory Project: A directory of websites that is operated by thousands of volunteers.
This directory provides directory results to Lycos, HotBot, Netscape, and more.
Punctuation sensitive: Indicates if an engine recognizes symbols in the URL, such as the ampersand
(&), percent sign (%), equals sign (=), dollar sign ($) or question mark (?).
Relevancy: How well a document provides the information a user is looking for, as measured by the
user. The higher the relevancy, the higher the ranking in the search engine results.
Root-domain wise: If an engine is root-domain wise, you do not need to use "index.html" when
submitting your main page.
Search engines: Search engines are one of the primary ways that Internet users find web sites. Search
engines use spiders to crawl the Web, which is how they build the index of websites that you utilize
when searching. After you submit your website to these engines, they send their spiders to your site to
index it. Examples of search engines are AltaVista, InfoSeek, Excite, HotBot, Lycos, WebCrawler,
and Northern Light.
Site popularity: The "popularity" of your website as evidenced by the quantity and quality of sites that
felt it was important enough to link to.
Spider: Also called a robot, a "spider" is a program that scans the web looking for URLs. It starts at a
particular web page and indexes all links from it, then moves to another page.
Stop words: Words that some engines leave out when they index a page, or words they may not search
for during a query. Examples are: and, the, too, etc.
Tiny text: Repeating your keywords over and over again in a very small font size, usually at the bottom
of your page. Many engines consider this to be spamming.
Word stemming: Some engines utilize "stemming" or "word stems," which means that searches for
root words will also include variations of that word. For example, a search for “prevent” would also
produce “prevention,” “preventative,” etc.
W.Y.S.I.W.Y.G. HTML Editors: This stands for “What You See Is What You Get.” Utilizing these
editors is like typing in a word processor. You don’t view the tags or codes. However, most of them
have a way of allowing you to view the tags. These editors are generally bad about adding unimportant
META tags to your pages (such as the generator tag) and placing those tags above your important
keyword-containing METAs. They’re also bad about placing your <title> tag beneath other META tags
at the bottom of the <head> section. Move your title tag to the top of the <head> section!
Table of Contents
Last updated March 31, 2001
Certification and Credit at the Academy of Web Specialists
By Robin Nobles
Certification and Credit
Table of Contents
You can earn Certification in Search Engine Positioning Skills by
completing the Course with a Mentor!
If you take any of our courses with a mentor, and if you complete all course requirements such as
turning in all homework, completing the certification project, and passing the final exam, you can earn
Certification in Search Engine Positioning Skills through the Academy of Web Specialists.
To upgrade to a mentor-led course, contact Robin.
You can earn Continuing Education Units for completing the
Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning Course with a
Mentor!
Students of the Academy who complete all course requirements are eligible to earn Continuing
Education Units (CEUs) from the University of Southern Mississippi. Keep in mind that only students
who take the course with a mentor are able to earn university Continuing Education Units or
Certification from the Academy.
If you're interested in upgrading to a course with a mentor, so that you can earn Certification and
university CEUs, contact Robin.
For more information on CEUs and the Academy's courses, visit this URL.
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Search Engine Checklist -- Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning
Search Engine Checklist
Name of Engine: __________________________________________________________
Name/URL of Page: _______________________________________________________
Keyword Phrase: __________________________________________________________
Check
Answer
Notes
Keywords
Are you using a highly
focused keyword phrase,
rather than a keyword
that’s too general?
Are you optimizing the
page for 1-2 keyword
phrases only?
Are you using regional
keywords, if
appropriate?
Are you using the
longest version of your
keyword phrase?
Are you using specific
product names and
services as keywords?
Where to Place Keywords
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Are you using your
keyword phrase at the
beginning of all tags,
including the title,
description, headline,
etc.?
Are you using your
keyword phrase at the
beginning of your body
text?
Are you using a title
tag?
Are you using a
description META tag if
appropriate for this
engine?
Are you making use of
headline tags, possibly
in a graduated format?
Are you using your
keyword phrase to
create effective link
text?
Are you overusing your
keyword phrase?
What is your keyword
weight for the page?
Is your page close to
the root domain?
Are you using your
keyword phrase in ALT
tags if this engine
considers the contents
of ALT tags?
Did you name the page
after your keyword
phrase?
If the page is in a
subdirectory, did you
name the subdirectory
after the keyword
phrase?
Did you change the
names of your images to
reflect the keyword
phrase?
Are you using
subdomains?
Is the domain named
after your keyword
phrase?
Are you using keywords
in a <style> tag?
Titles and Descriptions
Is your title tag
captivating and
designed to bring in
traffic?
Is your keyword phrase
used toward the
beginning of the tags?
Are your tags written
with a capital letter
starting the tag, and
followed by all
lower-case letters,
unless you’re using
proper nouns?
Are you using your
company name in the
title tag instead of a
keyword phrase? Don’t!
Is your title easy to
read?
If this engine uses the
content of description
tags, is the
description tag
captivating and
designed to attract
business?
Is your description tag
easy to read?
If this engine doesn’t
use a description META
tag, is the first text
on your page
appropriate as a
description of the page
in the search engine
results?
Navigation/Linking
Are you linking to all
important pages of your
site from this page?
If you own additional
domains, are you
linking to those pages
too, if they’re related
in content?
Are you linking to
popular sites that are
related in content to
your site?
Are you using effective
link text when linking
both on and off your
site?
Are you using a site
map containing links to
all important pages of
your site? If so, have
you added some content
to the page as well?
Are you working toward
building a good, solid
related link
popularity?
Problems
Does the page begin
with text rather than a
graphic, if at all
possible?
Are you using
technology that could
create ranking
problems, such as
frames, lengthy
JavaScript,
database-delivered
content, etc.?
Does your HTML editor
stick in any irrelevant
tags that could be
hurting your ranking?
If you’re using tables,
do you use your keyword
phrase in the tables?
If you’re using frames,
have you created a mini
Web site in a
<noframes> tag and
added valuable content
in this manner?
If your site is
database delivered,
have you created static
pages as well?
If you’re using lengthy
JavaScript, have you
moved most of it to a
separate .js file?
If you’re using an
image map, have you
provided text links to
interior pages as well?
Spam
Are you using a
redirect tag? If you’re
using a META refresh
tag, use a Java
redirect instead.
Are you using keyword
stuffing in tags or in
the body text?
Are you using tiny
text?
Are you using hidden
text?
Is your keyword weight
too high?
Are you using keywords
that don’t pertain to
the content of the
page?
Does the page contain
links only? If so, add
content!
Is this page a mirror
of another page?
Do you have other pages
optimized for the same
keyword phrase?
Other
Is the page full of
valuable content? If
not, did you add
content through a
<noframes> tag?
How long is the page?
The average word count
for top-ranking pages
across the board is 450
words.
Is your data
segregated, to where
the focus of each page
is kept separate?
Table of Contents
Return to Beginning Course Start Page
Directory Checklist -- Essential Foundations in Search Engine Strategies
Directory Checklist
Name of Directory: __________________________________________________________
Name/URL of Page: _________________________________________________________
Keyword Phrase: ____________________________________________________________
Check
Answer
Notes
Is your site ready for
traffic?
Do all graphics load?
Do all links work?
Has it been updated
recently?
Is contact information
provided on the main
page?
Did you list a physical
address on your page,
if appropriate?
Is there more than one
page of the site?
Does the site contain
original content?
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Do visitors have to
download a plugin
before being able to
effectively view the
site?
Do you have a copyright
notice on your page?
Is this a mirror site
of another site?
Is this a site that is
strictly set up for the
purpose of selling
affiliate programs?
Is the main page just a
splash page, where
visitors have to click
to go to another page?
Is your text easy to
read?
Is the font and
background color
pleasing and
professional?
Is the site ready for
the scrutiny of a human
editor?
Did you choose the most
effective category(s)
for your site?
Did you create an
effective title that
uses your important
keyword phrase, if
possible? (Some
directories will only
let you use the name of
the business as the
title.)
Is your title length
within the limits of
the directory’s
guidelines?
Does your title contain
more than just a series
of keywords?
Is your title written
in all caps? Don’t!
Did you create an
effective description
that uses your
important keyword
phrase?
Is your description
length within the
limits of the
directory’s guidelines?
Does your description
contain more than just
a series of keywords?
Is your description
written in all caps?
Don’t!
Did you follow
submission guidelines
explicitly?
If this is the second
or third time to submit
to the directory, did
you allow ample time
for the editor to
accept it into the
index when previously
submitted?
Did you use any
marketing hype?
Did you use brand names
in your title or
description? As a
general rule, don’t!
Did you consider
submitting through the
express services, if
available for this
directory?
Table of Contents
Log Analysis Checklist - Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning
Log Analysis Checklist
Instructions: Look at your log files and compare them from week to week.
Check
Week of:
Week of:
Page views per day?
User sessions per
day?
How long are users
staying at your site?
Most requested pages?
Least requested
pages?
Top entry pages?
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Top exit pages?
Single access pages?
Errors/404’s?
Most active
countries?
Top referring sites?
Top referring search
engines?
Keywords?
Browsers used?
Visiting spiders?
Additional Questions:
How are you recording
session logs?
How many pages do
your users hit before
leaving?
Are your visitors
returning later?
Table of Contents
Competitor's Checklist -- Essential Foundations in Search Engine Positioning
Competitor’s Checklist
Your Page
Your Ranking
Your Link Popularity
Competing Page
Their Ranking
Their Link Popularity
Search Engine
Keyword Phrase
Check
Your Site
Competing Site
Uses a title tag?
Keyword placement in
title?
Length of title?
Uses keyword more
than once?
Uses a description
tag?
description?
Length of
description?
Uses keyword more
than once?
Uses a keyword tag?
keyword tag?
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Length of keyword
tag?
Uses keyword in other
variations? What are
they?
Uses synonyms? What
are they?
Order of <head>
section. For example,
is the title tag the
first tag on the
page? If not, what
is?
Uses any irrelevant
tags in the <head>
section? What are
they?
Does text appear
before an image?
Uses frames?
Uses JavaScript?
Moved Java to a
separate .js file?
Uses tables?
Uses a large image
map?
Uses flash?
Dynamically-generated
site?
Where in the body
text does the keyword
phrase first appear?
Length of page?
Keyword weight of
body text?
Keyword weight of
entire page?
Keyword weight of
individual keywords
in keyword phrase?
Where at the end of
the body text does
the keyword phrase
appear?
Uses keywords in:
ALT tags?
Style tags?
Two title tags?
Http-equiv tags?
Image names?
Domain name?
Subdirectory name?
Name of URL?
Headline tags?
Link text?
How many outgoing,
related links appear
on the page?
Does the page focus
on one theme alone?
Does the entire site
focus on a related
theme as well?
Is this an index
page?
An interior page?
A doorway page?
Is it visibly linked
to from the main page
of the site?
Is the page using any
spamming techniques?
If so, what are they?
Is it possible that
the page is cloaked?
Is the site listed in
the engine’s
directory?
Other comments and
observations?
Table of Contents
Contact Information at the Academy of Web Specialists
By Robin Nobles
Contact Information
Table of Contents
Who We Are
If you need assistance, please glance over this list and find out who works in the area where you
need help.
Robin Nobles
All training areas, online courses, onsite workshops, regional workshops, research, and other related
areas.
Terry Plank
Outsourced Web positioning, marketing, collaboration efforts, and other general Academy areas.
Eric Gotfrid
Affiliate programs, partner programs, accounting processes, software issues, and other general business
areas.
Robin Gotfrid
Web site development
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Contact Information at the Academy of Web Specialists
Don Mendel
Legal Counsel
Debra Cozzolino
Administrative Assistant and bookkeeping issues
Instructors
Jacquie Ansell -- Beginning, Advanced, and Individualized Search Engine Positioning
Carl-Henrik Borg -- Beginning course in Swedish
Frederic d'Arc -- Beginning course in French
Marcus Holmström -- Beginning course in Swedish
Garry Janson -- Beginning and Advanced Search Engine Optimization courses and onsite training in
Australia, New Zealand, and Asia
Natalia Kim -- Beginning course in Spanish and the Director of our International Training area
Amy Ma -- Beginning and Advanced Search Engine Positioning and Beginning course in Chinese
Robin Nobles -- Beginning, Advanced, and Individualized Search Engine Positioning
Rhoda Schueller -- Beginning, Advanced, and Individualized Search Engine Positioning
Konstantin Tkachenko-- Beginning course in Russian
Table of Contents
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"Search Engine Positioning" or

Transcription

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