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Technical Aspects of Search Engine Marketing By Adam Howitt. Frequently Asked Questions. Why does my page take so long to be indexed? How can I improve my page rank? How can I add more pages to the search engines? How can I improve my position in results?
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Frequently Asked Questions • Why does my page take so long to be indexed? • How can I improve my page rank? • How can I add more pages to the search engines? • How can I improve my position in results? • Why are only some of my pages indexed? • How is my competitor higher than me?
The History of Search • Since the Phoenicians developed an alphabet in 3500BC people have looked to the written word for information • Search is an old problem • Who are these Google people?
The History of Search 1/2 • Libraries • Which library? • Specialty vs. Generalist • Dewey Decimal System • Topic maps • Library sections by category • Index Cards • Authors to books (authority) • Where is it located? • Search Engines - Google • Which search engine? • Specialty vs. Generalist • Directories – Yahoo, ODP • Topic maps • Sites by category • Domain Name Service • Web sites to web servers • Where is it located?
The History of Search 2/2 • Books • Table of contents • Indexes • References • Weight of the book • Pages • Titles • Headings • Web Sites • Table of contents • Indexes • Hyperlinks • Amount of content • Web Pages • Titles • Headings
New Technology, Old Problems • Looking in the right place • Relevance of your results • Indexing speed • Summarizing content • Finding additional resources • Out of date information • Out of print • Book missing from the shelf
New Technology, New Problems • Growth of new Information • Lower entry cost • Ease of publishing • Quality of information • Fewer editors
Search Engine CEO Business Plan • Objective • To give you the most relevant match related to your search • Goals • Locate every new web page • Reduce number of results shown to satisfy search • Strategies • Follow each new link from the sites you know about • Calculate site authority from authority of inbound links (Page Rank) • Calculate relevance from keyword density and related topics • Measures • Number of pages indexed • Number of clicks compared to number of results shown
Spiders • Walk down Todo list • For each item • Read the page and process it for the index • Take a snapshot (cache) • Scan for existing links • Review page rank of linked pages • Scan for new links and add them to the todo list
Page Title Site Name URL Length Directory Name Page Name Internal Links Page Headings How Search Engines See Your Pages (1/2)
How Search Engines See Your Pages (2/2) • The Visible Components • Site Name • Sub-directories (site sections) • Page title • Page headings • Internal links • URL length • Page Size • The Invisible Components • Freshness • Cache:www.duoconsulting.com • Meta data • Keywords • Description • ALT tags • Web standards
Gotchas (1/2) • Flash • Use small pieces of flash to enhance the site vs. “skip intro” • JavaScript • Search engines only see HTML content • They don’t know how to use JavaScript • Any content constructed with JavaScript (drop down navigation) won’t help your page rank • New approaches like AJAX should take this into account
Gotchas (2/2) • Forms • Lots of employees in a list, make it searchable • Prohibit search engines from finding the content the form locates • Solution: Provide links to in addition to search forms • Moving Home • Be cautious when switching to a new content management tool • Have a plan for any old pages • Send out “We have moved cards in the mail” • Monitor your traffic before and after the move (Fred)
Google Sitemaps • Caveat Emptor! • Suitable for technical people only • Immature tools for beginners • What are they? • A cheat sheet for search engine spiders • A prioritized map of where to look • What are they not? • A quick way to get your site in Google • A replacement for good content
Frequently Asked Questions • Why does my page take so long to be indexed? • So much content, so little time • Track record for updates • How can I improve my page rank? • Content (Lynn) and Linking Strategy (Sonny) • How can I add more pages to the search engine index? • Sitemaps, accessible content, play the game • How can I improve my position in results? • Regularly review, revise and add on topic content (Lynn) • Why are only some of my pages indexed? • Site depth • How is my competitor higher than me? • Watch them and learn (Sonny)
How do you impact your results in search engines? • Understand the goals of the search engines • Understand your own goals • Design your site with their goals in mind • Be patient… • and then wait some more