Optimising websites for search engines
Search engines are often the first place people go to on the Internet when seeking information. It is therefore vital to make your website search engine friendly.
In this article you'll discover some easy-to-implement search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques that you can apply to your own site to help increase its position on search results.
How search engines locate information
Before we look at the approaches you can use to improve your site's ranking on search engines, it's a good idea to have a basic understanding of how search engines obtain the information they use to determine search results in the first place.
Most search engines obtain their information by "crawling" the Web on a regular basis, following hyperlink after hyperlink and creating a virtual map as they go. The information obtained on these crawls is applied to complex algorithms used when searches are undertaken.
Ways to improve your website's rank
There are a several methods that you can apply to your site to help improve its rank.
- Use Relevant Key words: Key words are fundamental to a search. It is important that you determine and list the words describing your site that people are likely to search for. Make sure that those words appear somewhere within your site, and that a link to that page is easily accessible. Remember that the more relevant key words your site uses, the greater the chance your site will be displayed in search results.
- Frequency of Key words: The frequency of key words also plays a role in determining a page's relevance - the more times a word appears on a site, the higher its potential ranking. However, you should never repeat words more than necessary as search engines will consider excessive use of the same word an attempt to achieve a higher ranking without entitlement. As a result, search engines will most likely penalise you by giving you a lower search rank for doing so.
- Number of Links Pointing to Your Site: Possibly one of the most important factors in determining your website's ranking in search results is the number of links from other websites that point to your site. The greater the number of websites that link to yours, the higher the positioning your site will receive on search results on a relevant key word.
- Nature of Text: Some search engines take the formatting of text into consideration when evaluating search results, although this approach is decreasing in popularity. Text rendered in bold or as a hyperlink, for example, may be deemed to have greater importance than surrounding text.
- Maintain Updated Content: Regularly updated websites are also looked upon favourably by most search engines since Internet users are usually seeking the most recent information available.
- The ultimate trick for achieving a high position on search engine results is to work hard on constantly developing and improving your site and its content - and you will most certainly be rewarded for doing so in the future.
Making a search engine's jobeasier
It is always a good idea to do everything possible to ensure your page is as easy to analyse by search engines as possible. You should place particular emphasis on the following:
- Introductory text: Have you noticed the short paragraph of text at the top of Multimedia Australia's home page? Besides providing a brief introduction to the company, its main purpose is to assist search engines in displaying an accurate description of the site in search results. Home pages often place heavy emphasis on the use of images - which can't be interpreted by search engines under most circumstances. If this applies to your own site, consider adding a similar introduction to the top of your home page to make the work of search engines that little bit easier.
- Webpage Titles: The title of your webpage (as defined by the
<title>and</title>elements) is often used by search engines to name individual webpages throughout your site. Although the title should retain some consistency throughout all your webpages (such as indicating the name of your site), make sure that each title also describes the content of the page. - Metatags: You may have noticed the
<meta>tags that display when you create new documents in the BestAddress HTML Editor. Their purpose is to provide information about the document. They are sometimes used by search engines when evaluating searches and displaying descriptions. Use the "description" and "keywords" meta tags to aid in search engine placement. - Robots.txt Files: As was mentioned earlier, search engines crawl the Internet on a regular basis, visiting all websites they can locate. Before search engines begin their evaluation, they check whether a file named "robots.txt" has been included on your site. This file allows you to provide instructions to the search engine on how it is to proceed. The uses of this file is outside the scope of this article - if you're interested, there is a vast amount of information available in the help documentation of most search engines.
Paid Search Engines
The most popular and accurate search engines are often considered to be those that obtain information by manually crawling the Internet. Some search engines, however, list websites on a paid-listing basis. If you want to see traffic results quickly, you might like to evaluate the benefits of using reputable search engines using this method. In addition, many search engines also offer advertising programs that list search-relevant ads in conjunction with search results.
Submission Services
Consider using a search engine submission service, such as the one offered through Multimedia Australia's website Promotion Service. Submission services are an excellent way to submit your website to large numbers of search engines within a matter of hours.
