Search Engine Optimization from Lockergnome.com
"I'm sorry. I can't tell you the ultimate formula for getting your website ranked high in the major search engines. It's not that I don't want to, it's that I really don't know what the formula is. After a handful of years in the web business, I've determined that search engines either keep changing the rules, don't all play by the same rules, or I'm just a dope. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that I'm not a dope. Instead, I'm going to share a few tips that I like to follow when publishing a new site. I can't promise you "across the board" results, but I can promise you some success if your campaign stays focused.
Meta Tags: They don't work anymore, right? Megan Morrone once went on television and showed everyone the HTML source of my blog, demonstrating my use of meta tags. She then told her viewers they were no longer effective. Thanks, Megan! *blush* I encourage you to include them anyway. There are some search engines that still use meta tags to display a brief description of your site when it appears in their search results. For example, go to http://www.overture.com/ and do a search on "Bob Peak" (minus the quotes). Result number 11 is a site that Keith and I did for Tom, Bob Peak's son. Notice the description that reads "Description here." Click on the site and view the source. "Description here" is the default meta-description produced by AceHTML. Dare I say, "Whoops!"
Title Tags: Be mindful of your title tags. Don't forget them! Often times, websites have the same title tag content for every page on their site. For weeks, I was ranked number 6 on Google for "web design" in my city. When I included the name of my city in the title tag, I jumped to number 1. On Google, at least for right now, that seems to work.
Submit to Google: It's arguably the most popular search engine at the moment. It's also one of the easiest search engines to submit to. Simply go to http://www.google.com/addurl.html and complete the simple form. Include only your top-level page and let the Googlebot find the rest. They've got a significant queue to spider every day, and "spamming" them with all of you site's pages can get you dropped from the queue.
Submit to DMOZ: The DMOZ open directory project is one of the largest indexes on the Internet. It's also a source for search results for AOL Search, DirectHit, HotBot, Google, Lycos and Netscape Search. You can find them at http://dmoz.org/
These are simple procedures that I follow to keep my websites buzzing with visitors. I must admit, they don't keep me ranked at number one for all key phrases that I think are relevant and they're certainly not making me rich. However, they are effective enough for me to keep my sites ranked high to advertise my services in my general region. For local campaigns, these simple steps can be helpful.
The most important point to keep in mind is that your business will require more marketing than search engine rankings to be successful. It's a good start, but don't be fooled into believing it's the only requirement for a successful online business."
"I'm sorry. I can't tell you the ultimate formula for getting your website ranked high in the major search engines. It's not that I don't want to, it's that I really don't know what the formula is. After a handful of years in the web business, I've determined that search engines either keep changing the rules, don't all play by the same rules, or I'm just a dope. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that I'm not a dope. Instead, I'm going to share a few tips that I like to follow when publishing a new site. I can't promise you "across the board" results, but I can promise you some success if your campaign stays focused.
Meta Tags: They don't work anymore, right? Megan Morrone once went on television and showed everyone the HTML source of my blog, demonstrating my use of meta tags. She then told her viewers they were no longer effective. Thanks, Megan! *blush* I encourage you to include them anyway. There are some search engines that still use meta tags to display a brief description of your site when it appears in their search results. For example, go to http://www.overture.com/ and do a search on "Bob Peak" (minus the quotes). Result number 11 is a site that Keith and I did for Tom, Bob Peak's son. Notice the description that reads "Description here." Click on the site and view the source. "Description here" is the default meta-description produced by AceHTML. Dare I say, "Whoops!"
Title Tags: Be mindful of your title tags. Don't forget them! Often times, websites have the same title tag content for every page on their site. For weeks, I was ranked number 6 on Google for "web design" in my city. When I included the name of my city in the title tag, I jumped to number 1. On Google, at least for right now, that seems to work.
Submit to Google: It's arguably the most popular search engine at the moment. It's also one of the easiest search engines to submit to. Simply go to http://www.google.com/addurl.html and complete the simple form. Include only your top-level page and let the Googlebot find the rest. They've got a significant queue to spider every day, and "spamming" them with all of you site's pages can get you dropped from the queue.
Submit to DMOZ: The DMOZ open directory project is one of the largest indexes on the Internet. It's also a source for search results for AOL Search, DirectHit, HotBot, Google, Lycos and Netscape Search. You can find them at http://dmoz.org/
These are simple procedures that I follow to keep my websites buzzing with visitors. I must admit, they don't keep me ranked at number one for all key phrases that I think are relevant and they're certainly not making me rich. However, they are effective enough for me to keep my sites ranked high to advertise my services in my general region. For local campaigns, these simple steps can be helpful.
The most important point to keep in mind is that your business will require more marketing than search engine rankings to be successful. It's a good start, but don't be fooled into believing it's the only requirement for a successful online business."
