October 30, 2017 | Author: Anonymous | Category: N/A
This is why I recommend employing search engine optimization strategies as soon as you start planning your website. How ...
Table of Contents
Search Engine Optimization Strategies Top 30 Search Engine Optimization & Submission Strategies For Dummies [6th Edition]
By Michael Wong
© Copyright 2002-5 – Michael Wong Published by Art Dacor USA LLC, 3727 West Magnolia Blvd #489, Burbank, CA, 91505, USA. All Rights Reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced in whole or in part, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
1
Disclaimer Errors are a fact of life, and some will always sneak through even with the most thorough of cheks… I mean checks. My primary goal is to present the essential facts and tips in an informal (because I don’t like textbooks), easy-to-understand manner. So if an adjective is used improperly, or I end a sentence with a proposition, I apologize in advance. This book is written in US English and has been spell checked. However, if you spot a spelling error, please don’t panic! I will catch the gremlin the next time around. I always try to provide the latest, most accurate information available, but sometimes errors can and do occur. Please understand that the service is provided "as-is" and that I assume no responsibility for the accuracy, timeliness, deletion, misdelivery, or errors of the information provided in this document. My lawyer told me to say that, because that isn’t English, is it? Please note that unless specified otherwise, information and/or a link for a product or service in this document is not necessary an indication of an endorsement from me. Please double check all vendors, before conducting business with them, because not everyone is as honest as me. ;o)
Trademarks The words contained in this text which are believed to be trademarked, service marked, or otherwise to hold proprietary rights have been designated as such by use of initial capitalization. No attempt has been made to designate as trademarked or service marked any personal computer words or terms in which proprietary rights might exist. Inclusion, exclusion, or definition of a word or term is not intended to affect, or to express judgment upon, the validity of legal status of any proprietary right which may be claimed for a specific word or term. Again, my lawyer told me to say that.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
2
Acknowledgements Peter Cooper I would like to thank Peter for proofing and editing the first edition of this book, and all his hard work and support over the years. Peter is an amazing programmer, writer, techie, and loyal friend. If you are looking for a smart, efficient and honest freelance programmer, proof-reader, or writer, at extremely competitive reasonable rates, I highly recommend contacting Pete at
[email protected] for a quote. Tell him I sent you. Try not to use him too much though, because I need him. ;o)
My Beautiful Wife, Amy. I dedicate this book to my beautiful wife, Amy, with all my love. She is the reason I walk around all day with a huge smile plastered all over my face. Without her faith, understanding, constant encouragement, unwavering support, and undying love, this, and all my other books, would not have been possible, and I would not be half the man that I am. Darling, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love you.
Publication Dates • • • • • •
1st Edition – March 06, 2002. 2nd Edition – August 30, 2002. 3rd Edition – March 11, 2003. 4th Edition – September 24, 2003. 5th Edition – April 13, 2004. 6th Edition – January 11, 2005.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
3
TABLE OF CONTENTS Click on a topic to go directly to the correct page. Don’t forget that you can also access the complete table of contents on the left, under the bookmarks tag. If you can’t see it, move your cursor over it and double click the tab to open it. Table Of Contents ...........................................................................................................4 About The Author .........................................................................................................11 Welcome To The 6th Edition! .......................................................................................15 How To Get The Most Out Of This Book ........................................................................... 15 Tips For Dealing With Broken Links On Any Website .......................................................... 17 What’s New In This 6th Edition? ..................................................................................21 HOT OFF THE PRESS: Google AdWords Announcement: Affiliate Policy Change ................... 21 Major Search Engine News Headlines ..........................................................................23 Search Engine News Resources ....................................................................................... 24 What Is Search Engine Marketing? ..............................................................................26 Why Is Search Engine Marketing Important?..................................................................... 26 What Is Search Engine Optimization? ............................................................................... 27 Why Is Search Engine Optimization Important?................................................................. 27 Should You Outsource Your SEO Campaign, Or Use An In-House Solution? ......................... 28 How To Design A Website With Search Engine Optimization In Mind .........................30 How To Incorporate Search Engine Optimization Into The Website Planning Stage............... 30 How To Incorporate Search Engine Optimization Into Your Website Design ......................... 31 How To Target The Right Keywords For Top Rankings................................................36 What Is The Internet & How Do You Get Your Site Seen In This Massive Library? ................ 36 How To Find Out Which Keywords You Should Target In Your Webpages............................ 39 Why You Must Sprinkle Uncommon Keywords & Synonyms In Your Pages........................... 41 What Is Keyword Frequency? .......................................................................................... 42 What Is Keyword Density? .............................................................................................. 42 How To Calculate The Keyword Density Of A Webpage...................................................... 42 What Is Keyword Prominence? ........................................................................................ 44 What Is Keyword Proximity? ............................................................................................ 44 Why You Must Add Important Keywords To The Title Tag On Every Page............................ 45 How To Improve Keyword Relevance In Body Text............................................................ 45 Why You Must Add Important Keywords To Headline Tags................................................. 46 Why You Should Include Keyword-Rich Alt Tags With Images ............................................ 46 How To Add Keywords To Link Titles................................................................................ 47 Which Search Engines Are Keyword Case Sensitive? .......................................................... 47 Do Individual Keywords Improve Relevance? .................................................................... 48
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
4
How Word Stemming Can Improve Keyword Relevance ..................................................... 48 What Is Keyword Stuffing? .............................................................................................. 48 What Are Stop Words?.................................................................................................... 49 297 Stop Words You Should Avoid ................................................................................... 49 Do Keywords In Domain & File Names Affect Rankings? .................................................... 50 Does Separating Domain Name Keywords With Hyphens Affect Rankings? .......................... 50 Case Study: Hyphenated Domains Out Pulls Unhyphenated Domains By Almost 3 To 1! ....... 52 Do Keyword-Rich Subdomains Affect Rankings? ................................................................ 53 How To Add Subdomains To A Website ............................................................................ 54 32 Keyword Research Tools .........................................................................................55 16 Online Search Term Suggestion Tools.......................................................................... 55 3 Top Search Lists .......................................................................................................... 57 10 MetaSpy Engines ....................................................................................................... 58 3 Zeitgeists .................................................................................................................... 59 Should You Use Every Keyword You Find? ........................................................................ 60 Basic Search Engine Optimization Techniques.............................................................61 What Are Meta Tags?...................................................................................................... 61 What Is A Meta Description Tag? ..................................................................................... 61 What Is A Meta Keywords Tag? ....................................................................................... 62 Should You Separate Keywords In The Meta Keywords Tag With Commas? ......................... 63 The Dangers Of Adding Trademarked Keywords To Meta Tags ........................................... 64 Other Commonly Used Meta Tags .................................................................................... 64 What Is A Robots Meta Tag? ........................................................................................... 65 How To Use The Robots Meta Tag ................................................................................... 66 What Is A Robots.txt File? ............................................................................................... 67 How To Create A Robots.txt File ...................................................................................... 68 Major Search Engine Robot User-Agents........................................................................... 71 Why Hackers Love The Robots.txt File.............................................................................. 71 2 Free Robots.txt File Management Tools ......................................................................... 71 How To Use Meta Refresh Tag & JavaScript Redirect ......................................................... 72 How To Change Header Font Sizes With CSS .................................................................... 73 How To Remove The Line Underneath Links With CSS ....................................................... 74 How To Change A Link Color With CSS ............................................................................. 74 How To Add Cascading Style Sheet Commands To A Webpage........................................... 74 How To Set Cascading Style Sheet Attributes For Use On All Webpages .............................. 75 Web Browser Support Problems For Cascading Style Sheets............................................... 76 What Are Site Maps?....................................................................................................... 76 9 Tips On How To Create Optimized Site Maps.................................................................. 76 How To Optimize Image Map Links .................................................................................. 78 How To Optimize A Splash Page ...................................................................................... 78 © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
5
How To Get Higher Rankings In Alphanumerically-Ranked Web Directories.......................... 79 ASCII Chart (Alphanumeric Characters) ............................................................................ 80 Alphanumeric Rankings In The Open Directory Project....................................................... 81 Alphanumeric Rankings In The Yahoo! Directory ............................................................... 81 How To Optimize JavaScripts In HTML Documents ............................................................ 81 How To Optimize Frame Based Webpages ........................................................................ 83 How To View The Source Code Of Fast Vanishing Webpages.............................................. 84 Can Bold & Strong Text Improve Search Engine Rankings? ................................................ 84 Should You Hide Keywords In Comment Tags? ................................................................. 85 Should You Hide Keywords In Hidden CSS Layers? ............................................................ 85 Should You Hide Keywords in Hidden Value Form Tags? .................................................... 86 Should You Hide Keywords In Style Tags? ........................................................................ 86 Slightly More Advanced Search Engine Optimization Techniques ...............................87 How To Use Doorway Pages To Get Top Rankings............................................................. 88 What’s The Difference Between Hallway & Doorway Pages? ............................................... 90 How To Get Search Engines To Index Dynamically Generated Webpages ............................ 91 How To Turn Dynamically Generated Pages Into Search Engine Friendly Pages.................... 91 Major Search Engines That Index Dynamically Generated Pages ......................................... 93 What Is Cloaking? .......................................................................................................... 93 How Does Cloaking Work?............................................................................................... 93 Why Do Search Engine Optimizers Use Cloaking? .............................................................. 94 What Features Should You Look For In Cloaking Software? ................................................ 94 2 Cloaking Tools............................................................................................................. 95 Why I Believe Themed Websites Do NOT Improve Search Engine Rankings ..............96 What Are Themed Websites?........................................................................................... 96 Search Engines Are Blind To Themed Websites! ................................................................ 97 What Do The Search Engines Think Of Themed Websites?................................................. 97 Examples Of Webpages That Outrank Themed Websites.................................................... 99 How To Increase Your Site’s Link Popularity For Higher Search Engine Rankings....102 How To Improve Your Incoming Link Popularity Rating.....................................................103 How To Improve Your Internal Link Popularity Rating .......................................................106 Do Outgoing Links Improve Link Popularity? ....................................................................106 How To Construct Links For Optimum Results ..................................................................108 Incoming Links Commonly Mistaken As Link Popularity Boosters........................................108 What Are Link Farms & Why You Must Avoid Them At All Costs .........................................109 Useful Software For Boosting Your Link Popularity............................................................109 How To Contact & Request Links From Link Exchanges Partners........................................110 Sample Reciprocal Link Request Email Subject Titles ........................................................111 Sample Reciprocal Link Request Email You Can Use..........................................................111 How To Create Reciprocal Links For Optimum Results.......................................................113 © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
6
How To Improve Your Link Popularity With Mini-Sites .............................................114 What Are Mini-Sites?......................................................................................................114 How To Cross Link Your Mini-Sites ..................................................................................115 What Is Site Popularity? .................................................................................................116 What Is Click Through Popularity?...................................................................................116 How To Submit To Search Engines.............................................................................118 How To Compose Search Engine Listing Titles & Descriptions............................................119 How To Manually Submit Your Website To Search Engines................................................120 Search Engine Submission Software That Automates The Submission Process ....................121 Online Search Engine Submission Services That Automates The Submission Process ...........122 How Long Does It Take To Get Indexed?.........................................................................123 How To Submit To Foreign Search Engines......................................................................123 How To Submit To Web Directories............................................................................125 How To Compose Web Directory Listing Titles & Descriptions............................................126 Examples Of Successful Web Directory Listing Titles & Descriptions ...................................129 How To Select The Most Appropriate Web Directory Category ...........................................130 7 Web Directory Submission Tips ....................................................................................132 121 Search Engines & Web Directories That Accept Free Site Submissions..............134 How To Monitor Your Search Engine Rankings..........................................................137 How To Monitor Search Engine Rankings Manually ...........................................................137 Search Engine Ranking Software.....................................................................................137 Free Online Search Engine Ranking Tool..........................................................................138 Search Engine Results Do Vary .......................................................................................138 Search Engine Relationship Charts ............................................................................139 Main Search Engines......................................................................................................139 Google ........................................................................................................................141 What Is Google PageRank? ............................................................................................143 How To Optimize Your Webpages For Higher Rankings In Google......................................144 A Simple Technique That Gets A Brand New Website Indexed By Google Within 24 Hours ...145 Two Other Ways To Getting Indexed By Google ...............................................................147 How To Stop Google Caching Your Website .....................................................................148 What Is The Google Toolbar? .........................................................................................149 What Is The Google Everflux?.........................................................................................150 What Is The Google Dance? ...........................................................................................150 What’s All The Fuss About The Google "Florida" Update? .........................................151 Google Adds Word Stemming (Variations) .......................................................................153 How To Determine If Google Has Banned Your Webpages ................................................154 How To Get Back Into Google’s Good Books, If The Google “Florida” Update Devastated Your Rankings ......................................................................................................................154 Quick Tips For Improving Your Google Rankings ..............................................................158 © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
7
Yahoo! Search.............................................................................................................163 Yahoo! Search Submissions ............................................................................................164 Yahoo! Search – Free Submission ...................................................................................164 Yahoo! Search – Paid Inclusion.......................................................................................165 What Are The Yahoo! Site Match Content Guidelines?.......................................................166 Does Yahoo! Site Match Guarantee Inclusion In Yahoo! Search?........................................168 Why Is My Site In The Yahoo! Directory, But Not In The Yahoo! Search Results? ................168 My Site Has Been Excluded From Yahoo! Search. How Can I Find Out Why?.......................169 My Site Has Been Excluded From Yahoo! Search. Where Can I Appeal Against This Ban?.....169 How To Submit Not-For-Profit Sites To The Yahoo! Public Site Match Program....................169 I’ve Heard That Yahoo! Excludes Affiliate Sites From Its Yahoo! Search Results - Is That True? ....................................................................................................................................170 Yahoo!’s Own Search Engine Ranking Tips.......................................................................170 MSN Search (Beta) .....................................................................................................172 Other Major Search Engines.......................................................................................174 Teoma Search Engine (Ask Jeeves) .................................................................................174 Top 3 Web Directories ................................................................................................176 How Web Directory Listings Play A Big Part In Your Search Engine Success ........................176 Yahoo! Directory ...........................................................................................................177 Open Directory Project (ODP) Index................................................................................180 LookSmart Directory ......................................................................................................182 Top 2 Web Portal Search Engines ..............................................................................185 AOL Search...................................................................................................................185 Netscape Search............................................................................................................186 Search Engines That Offer Paid Inclusion Programs .................................................187 Ask Jeeves Site Submit Program .....................................................................................187 Yahoo! Express .............................................................................................................188 How To Advertise In Search Engines & Web Directories ...........................................189 Search Engines That Offer Banner Advertisements ...........................................................189 Premium Search Engine Advertising ..........................................................................191 Google Advertising.........................................................................................................191 MSN Featured Sites .......................................................................................................191 Yahoo! Sponsor Listings .................................................................................................191 Top 5 Pay Per Click Search Engines ...........................................................................193 Overture .......................................................................................................................195 Google AdWords............................................................................................................197 How Google AdWords Ads Are Ranked ............................................................................200 21 Google AdWords Optimization Tips .............................................................................200 2 Ways Non-US Residents Can View US-Only Google AdWords Ads....................................204 FindWhat......................................................................................................................207 © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
8
Espotting (Europe) ........................................................................................................208 Enhance Interactive (Formerly Ah-Ha).............................................................................210 How To Optimize Pay Per Click Search Engine Ads....................................................211 17 Pay Per Click Search Engine Optimization Tips .............................................................211 Google AdWords Can Bill Twice For One Click Through! ....................................................214 How To Minimize Bid Gaps .............................................................................................214 Top 10 Price Comparison Engines ..............................................................................217 BizRate/Shopzilla ...........................................................................................................217 Ciao .............................................................................................................................218 DealTime/Shopping.com ................................................................................................218 Froogle (Beta)...............................................................................................................219 Kelkoo ..........................................................................................................................219 MSN Shopping...............................................................................................................220 mySimon ......................................................................................................................221 PriceGrabber .................................................................................................................221 PriceSCAN.....................................................................................................................221 Yahoo! Shopping ...........................................................................................................222 Price Comparison Engines Compared Side-By-Side ...........................................................223 Top 2 Metasearch Engines..........................................................................................225 Dogpile.........................................................................................................................225 Mamma ........................................................................................................................227 Search Engine Optimization Forums & Support Sites ................................................228 Top 3 Search Engine Discussion Forums ..........................................................................228 2 Search Engine Optimization Usenet Newsgroups ...........................................................228 Free Tool Monitors 70 SEO & Internet Marketing Forums ..................................................229 Pay Per Question Site ....................................................................................................229 Pay Per Minute Advice Site .............................................................................................230 Students’ Questions & My Answers............................................................................231 22 New Students’ Questions & My Answers......................................................................236 Final Words… .............................................................................................................246 Feedback & Testimonials Are Most Welcome!...................................................................247 My Other Websites ........................................................................................................248 Glossary ......................................................................................................................249 0-9...............................................................................................................................249 A..................................................................................................................................249 B..................................................................................................................................253 C..................................................................................................................................256 D .................................................................................................................................260 E..................................................................................................................................262 F..................................................................................................................................263 © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
9
G .................................................................................................................................265 H .................................................................................................................................266 I ..................................................................................................................................268 J ..................................................................................................................................270 K..................................................................................................................................271 L ..................................................................................................................................272 M .................................................................................................................................273 N .................................................................................................................................277 O .................................................................................................................................278 P..................................................................................................................................279 Q .................................................................................................................................282 R .................................................................................................................................283 S..................................................................................................................................284 T..................................................................................................................................290 U .................................................................................................................................292 V..................................................................................................................................293 W.................................................................................................................................293 X..................................................................................................................................295 Y..................................................................................................................................296 Z..................................................................................................................................296
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
10
ABOUT THE AUTHOR If you’ve never heard of me prior to purchasing this book, that’s OK. I try to keep a low profile. I do not believe in bragging about one’s success, except to your grandkids. Anyhow, I thought it would be a good idea to tell you a little bit about myself so that you know who you’re listening to. So here’s a short bio of my online career. I first discovered the internet way back in 1997. During the past 7 years, I have gained a lot of experience and knowledge in the internet marketing and search engine optimization field. Allow me to share some of it with you… When I discovered the internet, I quickly realized the potential of it as a marketing medium. I also realized the opportunity for almost anyone, regardless of sex, color, race, nationality, education, or financial situation, to build a successful business. For 10 months, I literally read just about everything I could lay my hands on that was related to web design, e-commerce and internet marketing. I somehow found the time in between the lunch and evening shift at the restaurant I was working at. You see, I was a waiter before I became a highflying, internationally renowned internet geek. I even dabbled a bit with the wok in the kitchen. But I soon discovered I was no Wolfgang Puck. Luckily for my customers, I no longer cook. Anyway, I soon discovered that there were few sites dedicated to teaching internet novices, including me, how to build and market their own websites. At least that was the case back in 1998. So in October of that year I developed my first website, eBoz.com to help people new to the internet build and market their own website. Why eBoz?. Well, “e” represents ecommerce. And “Boz” was a play on “Boss.” eBoss.com was taken, so I ended up with eBoz. You can view an archive of the original site at: http://web.archive.org/web/*/www.eboz.com I worked tirelessly often putting in 14-16 hour days, 7 days a week to build and promote eBoz. The site became very popular, very quickly. On May 7, 1999, Windows Magazine acknowledged eBoz! as one of the "101 Best Business Sites." © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
11
With only a small marketing budget, I developed and implemented a low-cost online marketing plan that turned a website with no traffic into one with over 100,000 monthly unique visitors and 750,000 monthly page views respectively within a few months. I also wrote the eBoz Newsletter which quickly grew to over 9,000 subscribers. By then, I was making enough money that I could afford to quit my slave job… I mean day job to concentrate on my internet business full time. I also expanded eBoz by developing two complementary sites. I wrote dozens of articles on web design, e-commerce and internet marketing for my sites and many of the top webmaster and marketing sites and newsletters at the time decided to publish some of my articles; Associate-It.com, Internet.com, SmartAge, and WebDeveloper.com to name a few. Soon, my sites caught the attention of a fast growing start up, iBoost Technology, Inc. - backed by the Softbank Venture Capital group -- based in Los Angeles, California. SoftBank are the same guys who backed some internet companies you may have heard of; Yahoo! and eTrade to name two. In May, 2000, my three sites were acquired by iBoost Technology. As part of the deal, I was asked to move to Los Angeles for the position of Editor-in-Chief and manage a team of 5 writers and editors. As Editor-in-Chief, I managed the development of the new iBoost.com website and 5 newsletters. With great support from the team, I combined a number of existing iBoost sites with three recent acquisitions, eBoz.com, Associate-It, and W3Nation.com, to create a network of over 1,000 webpages. Senior management were impressed with my work and in October asked me to move to the marketing department to take charge of the company's online marketing efforts. Naturally, I obliged. Over the next few months, I single-handedly optimized over a thousand webpages for the major search engines and managed all pay per click ad campaigns for the company. In total, I achieved over 2,000 top 30 positions in major search engines and web directories. This helped iBoost.com's traffic grow by over 33%, which represented an additional 400,000 visitors and 8 million page views a month.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
12
In January, 2001, senior management again went knocking on my door and asked me to help out the Media Brokerage division by taking over the position of Head Media Planner and Buyer. Again, I obliged... with a smile. ;o) For the next couple of months, I managed all the media buys for the funniest team of sales guys I had ever had the good fortune to work with. Through relationships I developed with many of the top internet sites, search engines, and search portals, I completed over $1 million worth of ad buys for the company. Unfortunately, the company didn't really get off the ground even though it went through two rounds of VC funding. In March the company hired a new President. Unfortunately, I didn’t agree with the direction the new President was taking the company, so I decided it was time to jump off the crazy train before the company hit the last stop. At the end of March, I resigned from the company. It went up in smoke shortly after that. Later that year, one of the managers from iBoost decided to set up a new company. But for some crazy reason he decided to use my old domain name, eBoz.com! I guess it wasn't such a bad name after all. So the site is still around, but I have nothing to do with it nowadays. After I left, it took me a while to get back onto my feet. I was burnt out. That happens a lot in internet companies. I guess the 16 hour days caught up with me. Luckily for me, I stumbled upon the idea of specializing in search engine optimization. After months of research and writing, I wrote this book. It is the culmination of over 5 years of search engine optimization knowledge and firsthand experience, and over 500 hours of intense research. After I launched this book, I offered search engine marketing services for a few months. But I soon realized that I could make more money and have a less stressful life by optimizing my own websites (as opposed to client websites) and marketing other people’s products. This is technically known as affiliate marketing in the industry. Let me illustrate the power of affiliate marketing with a true story. Last December (2003), I spent the first 10 days of the month in Sydney, Australia. I was there for a friend’s wedding.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
13
After returning home, I got the holiday blues. What with Christmas and the New Year coming up, I had little appetite for working. In fact, I ended up doing very little work that month. I think all I did was check my email and take care of essential maintenance tasks. If I had to put a figure of how much time I actually spent working that month, I would say I only really worked a few days for the whole of December. I wasn’t all that concerned as to how much I earned that month, because based on previous months, I knew it wouldn’t vary by much. Yet amazingly when I calculated my income at the end of the month, I discovered that my gross income had increased by 14.99% and my net income has increased by 31.01%, over the previous month! In fact, it was my best ever month! Affiliate marketing now accounts for over 88% of my income. The secret of affiliate marketing is something known as… “passive income.” If you are interested in discovering this amazing business opportunity, called affiliate marketing, I recommend getting a copy of Google Cash. You can read my book review at http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/google-cash.html Hopefully I’m less of a stranger to you now, after listening to, or possibly sleeping through, my life story. OK, let’s get straight into the book…
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
14
WELCOME TO THE 6TH EDITION! If you just purchased this book, let me start by thanking you for putting your faith in me. I am most grateful. I am confident you will be delighted with your investment. Please take a couple of minutes to read this introduction, as it contains some important information. Purchasing this book proves that you're serious about improving your website's traffic. Congratulations on taking the first step! I'm here to help you reach your goals. This book will provide you with the knowledge you need to catapult your webpages to the top of the search engines. Did you know I achieved over 2,000 top 30 search engine rankings for my last company’s website? I stopped counting a long time ago, but I would estimate that I must have obtained well over 5,000 top 30 rankings across the major search engines. The best thing is that anyone can do it. Because if I (a high school dropout who survived as a waiter for 9 years) can do it, then you can too! I don’t tell you that to impress you, but to impress upon you what is possible, with the right knowledge and tools.
How To Get The Most Out Of This Book 1. Read the entire book. Let me repeat that. READ THE ENTIRE BOOK! You got that? Read it from cover to cover. You won’t absorb everything. That’s OK. Your subconscious will. It never ceases to amaze me that people buy a self help book like this one and don’t read it. They write to me requesting a refund and complain that they couldn’t get any results after applying the strategies outlined in the book. Yet when I check their website, I can quickly see that they haven’t applied even the most basic SEO techniques. If you don’t help yourself, then I can’t help you. So do yourself a favor - read the book, will ya?! 2. Brush up on your HTML knowledge - Search engine optimization requires a basic knowledge of HTML to manipulate the code. If you need to brush up on your HTML knowledge, I recommend: •
HTML HTML – This is another one of my websites. It’s a free 818-page tutorial on HTML. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
15
The URL of the website is: http://www.html-html.com --Important Note: I include URLs, otherwise known as webpage addresses, throughout this book. You can easily spot them. They’re the BLUE links that begin with “http://”. Simply click on a link and it will take you to the webpage in your web browser. If for whatever reason that doesn’t work, either copy and paste the URL, or type the URL into the address bar of your web browser and hit the “Enter” button. You will also find blue text links without “http://” at the beginning. They are cross document links. When you click on such a link, it will take you to another section of the book. Most ebook authors don’t use this system. I felt it was required to give you maximum usability with the book. I hope you find it useful. --3. Download a search engine optimization, submission and tracking program If you don't already have one installed on your computer, I highly recommend: •
WebPosition Gold 3 – http://www.webpositiongoldpro.com
WebPosition Gold will help you to optimize your webpages, submit them to the search engines, and track their rankings in the search engines. This way you can see how your webpages are doing and know which pages you need to edit to improve rankings. WebPosition Gold is very popular with search engine marketing professionals. If you hire an SEO company to do your optimizing for you, you’ll often receive ranking reports created by WebPosition Gold. 4. Start optimizing your webpages - If you are comfortable with HTML, browse the “Table Of Contents” section and jump to the section that interests you most. Then optimize your webpages with the knowledge you have gained from this book. 5. If you need assistance, visit the “Search Engine Optimization Forums & Support Sites” section for resources that can provide help. 6. Test and monitor everything - Make notes and monitor everything you do and every optimization strategy you use. Some optimization techniques may be © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
16
controversial. But I believe no form of marketing is set in stone. Be it direct mail, viral, brand, on-/off-line, or search engine marketing. Only by monitoring and testing your techniques can you see what works and what doesn't. Only by testing, can you improve. There is no magic bullet in search engine marketing. And don’t expect to get free, hot insider tips on websites and in forums. After all, fellow search engine marketers are competing with you for the same top rankings you’re after. This is war. Don’t expect your enemy to do you any favors. Because if they did, they’re basically shooting themselves in the foot. And what intelligent person would do that.
Tips For Dealing With Broken Links On Any Website Some URLs in this book contain upper and lowercase letters. Anything after the “.com” (.net, .org, etc.) part of the domain is case sensitive. This means that if it’s uppercase letter and you enter a lowercase letter, and vice versa, it won’t work. You must enter the URL exactly as it is shown. The best way is to click on the link. It will take you to the webpage online. For example, the following all work without any problems: directory.google.com Directory.Google.com DIRECTORY.GOOGLE.COM
The highlighted part of the following URL must be entered as shown. directory.google.com/Top/Computers/
If you change the capital “T” or “C” to lowercase, as show below, you will get a 404 page not found error: directory.google.com/top/computers/
This rule applies in most websites. If you do come across a broken link in this book, please report it to me by email at
[email protected]. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
17
The best way to find the correct page is to remove the last part of the URL to see if you can hit a real page. For example, if you come across a broken link with the following URL: http://www.some-car-site.com/cars/ford/focus.html
You should remove the last part of the URL, “focus.html” to see if it hits a real page. http://www.some-car-site.com/cars/ford/
If that doesn’t work, then remove another part of the URL and try again. Keep doing this until you end up with just the domain name. For example: http://www.some-car-site.com/cars/ford/ http://www.some-car-site.com/cars/ http://www.some-car-site.com/ OK, thanks the end of the introduction. Once again, I thank you for investing in my book. I am most grateful for your faith and trust in me. I wish you unlimited success with your search engine marketing efforts! With best regards, Michael Wong Search Engine Optimization Specialist & Editor, Mike’s Marketing Tools. http://www.Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com P.S. Here’s a search engine optimization software program that turns SEO novices into experts overnight! The Internet Business Promoter (IBP) offers 3 useful search engine optimization tools: • • •
Top 10 Optimizer Keyword Density Analyzer Ranking Reporter © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
18
Both the Keyword Density Analyzer and Ranking Reporter are very comprehensive and offer many options. But what perked my interest and makes it stand out from the crowd is the Top 10 Optimizer tool. It produces a comprehensive, easy-to-follow, checklist of recommended optimization advice based on the top 10 rankings, for the keyword phrase you are targeting. This is how it works: 1. You enter the webpage you want to optimize, and a keyword phrase. 2. Select a search engine from a very comprehensive list of over 250 engines worldwide. 3. Click the “generate report” button to generate a report in HTML, PDF or text format. The software then compares 75 factors that can influence the ranking of your webpage. The clever part is that the program compares the webpage you want to optimize with the top 10 ranked webpages, for the keyword phrase you entered. This is good thinking. After all if you can make your webpage fit into the “pattern” that a search engine has decided makes the top 10 ranked webpages, then yours should surely also find its place within the top 10. After a brief 10-20 second pause you get a 36 (yes, thirty six!) page optimization checklist report. Not only does it report findings from the top 10 pages, but also makes suggestions on what you should change on your page to improve your rankings. By the way, if your webpage is already ranked in the top 10, then IBP only takes into account webpages ranked above yours for compiling its report. It ignores webpages ranked below yours. The report is not only comprehensive, but goes into the kind of detail that would take a professional optimizer quite a few hours to produce. You then simply go through the checklist and make the appropriate changes to your webpage. It’s difficult to express to you how promising the Internet Business Promoter looks. You really have to see for yourself. It’s so simple, even a complete computer novice can use it. For more information and to download a free trial version, visit the webpage below. I highly recommend it! http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/cgi-bin/g/g.cgi?l=b-ibp One word of caution. IBP is a promising piece of software. But there’s no guarantee that IBP will produce top rankings. Like I said earlier, there is no magic bullet in search engine marketing. Because if IBP were the magic bullet, we would all use IBP to
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
19
optimize our pages and be ranked #1 for every keyword we want. But we know that just can’t happen.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
20
WHAT’S NEW IN THIS 6TH EDITION? The latest edition offers almost 30 pages of new and updated content. I have updated the Major Search Engine News Headlines section and the MSN Search Beta section. Also added Yahoo!'s own search engine ranking tips; and a new section, Top 10 Price Comparison Engines. Lastly, I’ve added 22 new students’ questions and my answers. Click on a (blue) headline to jump straight to the topic you’re interested in.
HOT OFF THE PRESS: Google AdWords Announcement: Affiliate Policy Change On Friday, January 7, Google finally confirmed months of rumors of a major affiliate policy change affecting Google AdWords. Click the link above for full details and recommended action to combat the policy changes.
Major Search Engine News Headlines The search engine industry changes too quickly. It’s so quick, I can barely keep up with it. As such I have decided to only mention the most important search engine developments since the last update. For more news, I suggest you visit some of the many search engine news sites.
MSN Search (Beta) On November 11, 2004, Microsoft announced the launch of the beta version of its new MSN Search service, which is set to replace Yahoo! Search. The new MSN Search includes a new search engine, index and crawler; all built from the ground up on Microsoft technology.
Yahoo!'s Own Search Engine Ranking Tips Yahoo! offers some search engine ranking tips in its, "How do I improve the ranking of my web site in the search results?" Help section. For your convenience, I have republished the tips in this book.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
21
Top 10 Price Comparison Engines Price comparison shopping search engines enable buyers to shop around by comparing merchants and products by price, feature, shipping cost, tax, and product availability. Here's a roundup of the most popular, general purpose shopping and price comparison search engines.
22 New Students' Questions & My Answers I’ve added 22 new questions and answers sent in by students. Here’s a sample of the questions: •
If you were going to buy one program; either Internet Business Promoter (IBP) or Optilink, which would you buy?
•
You mentioned the Internet Business Promoter (IBP) in your ebook. My question is, if I'm too lazy to go through your ebook (sorry, I am lazy), can I just use IBP to optimize my website?
•
Many search engine gurus advocate mini-sites. In your experience, can a minisite rank high in search engines for keywords with medium competition?
•
Currently my website is ranked 36 on Yahoo!, but it's still not listed on Google. My website is 2 months old. Am I being too impatient here?
•
I've been making changes to my webpages, checking the next day, making more changes, and so on… but I haven't noticed any improvements to my rankings. What am I doing wrong?
•
My competitors are using all kinds of illegal SEO tricks to get top rankings. Should I try these tricks to get top rankings?
That’s it for this update. I hope you find it useful.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
22
MAJOR SEARCH ENGINE NEWS HEADLINES The search engine industry changes too quickly. It’s so quick, I can barely keep up with it. As such, I have decided to only mention the most important search engine developments since the last update, and provide you with some of the best resources for a good roundup of the latest news and views in the search engine marketing industry. Yahoo’s Overture Extends Sponsored Search Relationship With MSN Through June 2006 Overture will continue to provide its sponsored search results to MSN sites in the U.S. and Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia through June 2006. The previous agreement ran through June 2005. (November 17, 2004) Press Release: http://www.corporateir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=OVER&script=410&layout=6&item_id=646583 Website: http://www.overture.com Special Offer: http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-768873-9837879 (Sign up and get a $25 credit for Self Serve or $50 off the Fast Track program.) Microsoft Launches Beta Version of New MSN Search Service MSN finally debuted a beta version of its new MSN Search service with an index of 5 billion web documents. The global beta version of MSN Search is available for public use in the U.S. and worldwide in 26 markets and 11 languages. (November 11, 2004) Press Release: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2004/nov04/1111SearchBetaLaunchPR.asp Website: http://beta.search.msn.com Google Announces Desktop Search Google launches a beta desktop search application that enables users to search their email, files, web history, and chats on their computers. Google searches applications such as Outlook, Outlook Express, Internet Explorer, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, AOL Instant Messenger, and Text files. (October 14, 2004) Press Release: http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/desktopsearch.html Website: http://desktop.google.com (I tried installing Google Desktop Search on my PC, but was told I needed to uninstall a number of programs to complete the installation. This was a case of too much effort, not enough reward, so I gave up on it. Hopefully Google will fix this problem in future versions.)
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
23
Yahoo! Launches Local Search Beta Users can now find local businesses and services, from an index of 14 million businesses, around an address or zip code. You can refine searches by distance, category, rating, and price. Once you found the business, you can use SmartView, which is basically a map finder, to find other local attractions. (August 3, 2004) Press Release: http://docs.yahoo.com/docs/pr/release1175.html Website: http://local.yahoo.com Overture Launches Local Sponsored Search Listings To Leading Websites Overture's Local Match listings appear in the U.S. on Yahoo!, MSN, ESPN.com, InfoSpace, Dogpile, WebCrawler, MetaCrawler, Excite, and Switchboard.com. (June 28, 2004) Press Release: http://www.corporateir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=OVER&script=410&layout=6&item_id=585653 Website: http://www.content.overture.com/d/USm/ays/lm.jhtml Special Offer: http://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-768873-10369773 (Sign up using the special offer link and get a $20 bonus credit.)
Search Engine News Resources For a good roundup of all the latest news and views in the search engine marketing industry, I recommend the following resources:
Michael Wong’s Blog - This is my personal blog. My life is so busy these days, I can rarely find the time to update it. But I still do add important posts to the blog whenever I get the chance. http://www.michaelwong.com
Marketing Forum Watch – This is another one of my sites. Marketing Forum Watch doesn’t exactly offer news. What it does offer is searchable headlines from over 65 of your favorite internet marketing and search engine discussion forums and message boards, updated every 5 minutes. http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/marketing-forum/
Google Blog – The official Google Blog. Get the latest word direct from the Googleplex about new technology, hot issues, and the wide world of search. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
24
http://www.google.com/googleblog/
Yahoo! Search Blog – This is the official Yahoo! blog which takes a look inside the world of search from the people of Yahoo!. http://www.ysearchblog.com
MSNSearch’s WebLog – This is the official MSN Search blog. http://blogs.msdn.com/msnsearch/
ClickZ News – Offers search engine, internet marketing and ecommerce news. http://www.clickz.com/news/
ResearchBuzz - Covers the world of Internet research. It provides updates on search engines, web directories, new data managing software, and browser technology. http://www.researchbuzz.org
Search Engine Journal – Covers search engine news. http://www.searchenginejournal.com
Search Engine Roundtable – Offers view on search engines and search engine marketing by, supposedly, senior members of the major SEO forums on the Internet. Upon inspection, most of the post seem to come from the editor of the site. http://www.seroundtable.com
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
25
WHAT IS SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING? Why Is Search Engine Marketing Important? Search engines are the starting point for most people when they’re looking for something on the internet. This is why the most popular websites are search engines and web portals with search functions. There are many statistics that illustrate the importance of search engines as a method of attracting traffic on the internet: •
24 percent of marketers said that over three-quarters of their traffic came from search engine referrals. [CyberAtlas Research - Aug 21, 2001]
•
Nearly 60 percent of students reported using a search engine when picking an online retailer. [NACS - Mar 7, 2001]
•
Study found that 55 percent of online purchases were made on sites found through search listings. [NPD Group - Feb 14, 2001]
•
Search engines were used by 86 percent of users in Switzerland. [Wemf AG Research - Ag 31, 2000]
•
Over 80 percent of internet users reach sites through search engines. [Forrester Research - Jul 5, 2000]
•
Nearly 48 percent of websites depend on search engine listings for the majority of their traffic and over 70 percent of all websites generate at least 20 percent of their traffic from search engine listings. [NetGambit - July 14, 1997]
Personally, over 90% of my network of websites’ traffic comes from search engines. So you can see just how important search engines are as a source of visitors.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
26
What Is Search Engine Optimization? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) involves making webpages more search engine friendly to promote them as the most relevant solutions for the search engines’ users. The improvements can mean the difference between achieving top rankings, which can result in thousands of monthly visitors, and being lost in oblivion. All too often SEO is an after-thought for most site owners and web designers. SEO should play a major part of a website, even before it’s built. You should incorporate SEO in the planning stage, during the design process and after the site is launched. Search engine optimization can and should play a major part in the decisions you make in the following areas: • • • • • • • • • • • •
Domain name Site structure Structure of your site network Site design Site navigation Site topics Headings Sub-headings Page content Links Site usability Site accessibility
Why Is Search Engine Optimization Important? Search engine optimization is basically about following search engine rules. If your webpage fits the criteria that a search engines are looking for in determining the most relevant webpage for a search query, it will reward you with a top ranking. Search engine optimizers simply modify webpages to fit these criteria. They give webpages a better chance of being selected by the search engines as the most relevant page for a particular search query.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
27
Web pages that aren’t designed with search engine optimization in mind can quite innocently break a rule that search engines consider as spam. One example is using a Meta refresh tag to redirect visitors to another page. Search engines will either ignore or throw out the offending page.
Should You Outsource Your SEO Campaign, Or Use An In-House Solution? Should you outsource, or dedicate someone in-house to your SEO campaigns? That is a good question. The answer is it all depends on the resources available. If you’re a small company, then it probably isn’t feasible to hire a full-time employee for SEO purposes. Since you’re reading this book, I suspect that you may be the person who’s responsible for the SEO activities in your business. If that is the case, ignore the rest of this chapter. Instead jump straight to the next chapter and read the rest of this book. But if your company has the resources, I would always recommend dedicating at least one employee to SEO for the following reasons: • • •
• • • •
More economical, especially for larger sites with thousands of products or pages. The search engine optimizer is 100% dedicated to the success of your site. They don’t have to spread their time and effort between numerous clients. You have full control of what you want and don’t want. It’s quite common for professional search engine optimizers to stipulate that pages must not be changed as it could affect the results. Immediate attention to newly created pages. Closer working relationship between optimizer and (in-house) web design team. An in-house optimizer would have a better understanding of his/her company’s products than an outsourced optimizer. You own 100% of the work. It has been known for SEO companies to hold clients to “ransom” by increasing their charges. If the client refuses to pay, the SEO company threatens to offer the search engine positions to their competitors.
But you must make sure the employee has the skill and experience to handle the task.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
28
All too often, companies find someone in-house who thinks they are up to the task, because they had read a book on SEO. Slowly they realize that the person neither has the skill, nor the experience, to achieve the success they expected. Has this happened to your company? If you are experiencing that now, then maybe it’s time to out-source the work to a professional.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
29
HOW TO DESIGN A WEBSITE WITH SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION IN MIND How To Incorporate Search Engine Optimization Into The Website Planning Stage Search engine optimization (SEO) should play a major part in the planning of any website. The sooner you incorporate SEO into your website, the better. All too often, people only think about SEO after they have built and launched their site. By then they would have lost a lot of SEO time and may have made decisions that are detrimental to their SEO efforts. So what part does SEO play in the planning stage of a website? EVERY PART! Let’s quickly run through them now. You will find more in-depth information on each topic later on in the book.
Website Domain Name Search engines do take into account keywords in the domain name. So I highly recommend registering a domain name containing your most important keywords. However it is also important that the domain name is memorable and brandable. Please avoid domain names like, “AAA1-Cheap-Domain-Names-Registrations.com.”
Website Structure A website should be structured for optimum usability and linkability. The usability of a website is essential to the success of a website. It doesn’t matter how great your content is, if your visitors have problems or get frustrated trying to find the information they’re searching for. Typically, the usability of a website is managed by the web designer.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
30
Linkability refers to the internal linking structure of a website. It is vitality important that webpages are linked in such a way that it maximizes the Google PageRank of each webpage, because the rankings of each page depend on it. This is why I recommend employing search engine optimization strategies as soon as you start planning your website.
How To Incorporate Search Engine Optimization Into Your Website Design Search engine optimization should also play a major part in a website’s design. Let’s quickly look at each part of the web design process.
Website Design If you’re thinking of building a site that uses fancy multimedia special effects, such as Flash, you may like to reconsider. Like I said earlier, search engines rely on the keywords in a site for categorization. Flash is mainly used for entertainment and lack content. As such search engines have decided not to index Flash files. This is why you rarely find Flash pages with minimal text, ranked high in the search engines. Stick to basic HTML if you want to get top rankings. You can use other languages such as ASP and Cold Fusion, but make sure they are created using search engine friendly URLs and links.
Website Navigation Site navigation is one area that few web designers worry about, with regards to search engine optimization. For example, some search engines don’t crawl deeper than the top two or three levels of a website. So unless you use SEO techniques to help the search engine spider go deeper than the top levels of your site, your lower level pages may never get indexed.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
31
For example: http://dir.yahoo.com/ (Level 1) http://dir.yahoo.com/Health/ (Level 2) http://dir.yahoo.com/Health/Medicine/ (Level 3) http://dir.yahoo.com/Health/Medicine/Andrology/ (Level 4)
Search engine spiders that don't index more than the top 3 levels will not index pages starting with level 4 downwards. The best way to getting all your pages indexed is to lead search engine spiders to all the major areas of your site. To do this, use a site map. Visit the “What Are Site Maps?” section for more information.
Website Categories To attract the most number of targeted visitors, you must offer products, services and content that people want or need. That’s obvious right? So you must choose the right topics to target when creating your site. Split your site up into the wrong categories, or not knowing what categories to target, could cost you a lot of potential visitors and customers. For example, let’s say your website sells baby products. Did you know that more people search for baby names than baby products? With this knowledge you should create a resource to attract these people. After all, if someone is interested in baby names, there’s a good chance they will also be interested in baby products, right? Good topics include major product categories, as well as major brand names. Some people may search for a digital camera by entering “digital camera” into a search engine. Whereas others may know of the brand they want and enter the brand name, such as “Canon digital camera.” You should create categories that cater to both these types of search engine users.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
32
Webpage Content The content of a page is the most important aspect of search engine optimization. It is the keywords contained within the page content that makes or breaks a page’s chance of top search engine rankings. Let’s take the two extremes. •
A webpage has no text whatsoever, as in the case of some Flash pages. Search engines will not find any keywords to index.
•
A webpage contained lots of text, with dozens, even hundreds, of different keywords on different topics. Search engines would find it difficult to categorize the page, as there are simply too many competing keywords.
As you can see, not only is the content of a page is important, but the amount of content as well. The inherent problem with web designers is that they generally don’t understand, or even care about, the importance of creating a search engine optimized website. After all, they’re web designers, not search engine optimizers. So it’s up to you to make sure your website designers produce a site that offers a balance of aesthetically pleasing design and search engine marketability.
Links (Also known as Hyperlinks) After the contents of a page, links is the most important aspect of search engine optimization. Some would argue that links is more important. Maybe, but we could argue that issue all day. Search engines, such as Google, base their ranking system on the link structure of websites. In general, the more links pointing to a site, the higher it should appear in the search engines. But this isn’t always the case. The link text is just as, if not more, important as the link itself. But web designers would rather use aesthetically pleasing graphic buttons, than plain, simple text links. The
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
33
problem is that search engines cannot associate keywords with such links, as it doesn’t have any link text to associate it with. So make sure your website uses search engine optimized links.
Website Usability As a professional search engine optimizer, I always try to advocate the benefits of search engine optimization. However, search engine optimization is only one factor that should play a part in a website’s design. Arguably, a more important factor is the site’s usability. Search engine optimization quite often goes against good site usability design. For example, the use of frames can make a webpage more usable. However, search engine optimizers always recommend against using frames, as search engines can’t index framed pages as well as standard webpages. Search engines are now claiming to be able to index frames based sites just as well as standard webpages. But they’re still far from perfect. So you have to look at what’s more important – the usability of a website or its search engine rankings.
Website Accessibility Web site accessibility is another factor that should play a part in a site’s design. Like site usability, SEO can sometimes go against good site accessibility design. For example, search engine optimizers sometimes use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to control the look of headings and sub-headings by fixing the size. By doing that, visually impaired users are unable to increase (or decrease) the font size within the web browser. A compromise has to be struck between site accessibility and search engine optimization. It really depends on who your target audience are. If your target audience is people with disabilities, then it should be common sense that site accessibility must come before search engine optimization. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
34
Incorporate Search Engine Optimization Into Your Internet Marketing Plan Do you use any of the following marketing concepts to promote your site? • • • • •
Affiliate marketing Pay per click search engine advertising Banner advertising Newsletter advertising Viral marketing
If you do, have you optimized the advertisement landing pages, or affiliate program promotion pages for the search engines? If not, why not? Search engine optimization should encapsulate EVERY aspect of your marketing plan. For example, by optimizing your affiliate program page, you may well find that a lot more people sign up for your affiliate program, simply because more affiliate marketers are finding your program via the search engines.
Well, that wraps up this section. I hope you now have a better understanding of why and how you should use include search engine optimization into the website planning and design process. Don’t leave search engine optimization until the site is finished and ready for launch.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
35
HOW TO TARGET THE RIGHT KEYWORDS FOR TOP RANKINGS What Is The Internet & How Do You Get Your Site Seen In This Massive Library? Before I show you how to target the right keywords, you have to understand what the Internet is made up of. The internet is basically an enormous disorganized library. There are millions of websites, with billions of webpages, and gazillions of links and bytes of text. Search engines are like librarians. They both try to organize the content, so that people can find what they’re looking for, without too much effort. With books, librarians have the benefit of bibliographic databases and the information on the book covers to help them organize their library. Search engines don’t have such a luxury. There aren’t databases of every single webpage ever created. The internet is just too big, with too much information to index. And it’s growing so quickly that even the search engines can’t keep up. The only way search engines can try to organize the mass of information available on the internet is by the use of keywords and hyperlinks. It reasonable to conclude that if a webpage contains enough keywords related to a certain topic, and enough webpages “recommend it” (link to it) as a source of information for that particular topic, search engines will give it a high ranking.
Keywords Are The #1 Ranking Variable. Period. Keywords are the most important element to achieving high search engine rankings. Before you scream "You are wrong!" let me explain my reasons for that statement. Yes, keywords are by no means the only relevant factor in achieving high search engine rankings. Other factors such as link popularity, click through popularity, webpage age, © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
36
webpage size, the number and quality of competing pages, and numerous other factors all contribute to a webpage's search engine ranking. But if you study search engine optimization techniques, you will soon realize that the majority of the optimization strategies involve the keywords contained within a webpage, in one form or another. Therefore, I think it is fair to say that keywords are the most important element to achieving high search engine rankings. After all, if a page had no text at all, there is nothing for a search engine to index. The internet is mostly a textual medium. Yes, the internet does offer images, sound and multimedia. But apart from images, most search engines currently do not index these elements. Search engines concentrate on indexing text, simply because that is where the money is, I guess. The internet is an ocean of text, and search engines are simply made up of gazillions of bytes of text.
Why Web Designers Don’t Design Optimized Websites The main problem with web designers is as their job title suggests, they are designers, not marketers. Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not trashing web designers. They do a terrific job. They are great at designing attractive looking sites, but not so good at designing search engine friendly websites. This is why I highly recommend including a search engine optimization specialist in the design process. This person may be you. Another problem for web designers is that they don’t know what keywords people search for when looking for products, services or information related to what the webpages offer. The variety of keywords used to search for the same product, service or information is quite staggering. For example, here is a sample of popular keyword phrases used by people searching for information on search engine optimization: • • •
search engine optimization search engine ranking search engine optimisation (notice the English - as opposed to American spelling of optimization?) © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
37
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
search engine placement website optimisation search engine positioning website optimization (notice a space between “website”?) high search engine ranking webpage optimisation search engine promotion top search engine ranking high search engine rankings search engine rankings better search engine placement website optimisation high search engine placement search engines optimization website optimization search engine optimizations (notice the “s” at the end of optimization?) high search engine positioning
You notice how many different variations people use to search for information on the same topic? And that’s not the entire list! The fact is unless a page contains all of the keywords in a search query; it has no chance of appearing at the top of the rankings. For example, “optimisation” is the English - as opposed to American - spelling of “optimization.” Unless you have that spelling in your site, you will lose out on all the English users who search for “search engine optimisation.” So you see why it’s imperative that webpages must contain the keywords that people search for. Before webpages can be optimized, you must conduct research to determine which keywords to target. This involves finding targeted keywords, determining their popularity, assessing the amount of competition, and then deciding which keywords to use in your webpages. Luckily, there are a number of tools to help you find out what people are really searching for.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
38
How To Find Out Which Keywords You Should Target In Your Webpages Each webpage should concentrate on the following (in order of importance): 1. one keyword or keyword phrase matching the page content; 2. and most frequently used by the target audience; 3. and has the least number of competing pages in the search engines. Admittedly this is not easy and is not always possible. And how do you go about finding these “perfect” keywords? Well, let's look at each element separately.
1. Target One Keyword Phrase On Each Page It is essential that you concentrate on using one keyword or keyword phrase when creating a page. Why is that? Well, you want the search engines to consider that particular page as the most relevant for the keyword you are targeting. So you may sprinkle the keyword throughout the page, to inform the search engines that the page is important with regards to the keyword you are targeting. However, if the page contained half a dozen different keywords on different topics, a search engine could easily consider that page as too broad to be the most relevant for the keyword being targeted. WARNING: Never add popular keywords to a page that have no relation to the page content, in order to improve your search engine rankings. It doesn’t work. These keywords will add nothing to your page’s relevance in the search engines, and you could get your site banned as a result, which would be disastrous.
2. Five Ways To Find The Most Frequently Searched Keywords Your Customers Enter In Search Engines
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
39
Here are a 5 ways to find out which keyword phrases are most searched for by your target audience: a. Research A Keyword Database – Use a keyword database to build a list of the most frequently searched keywords. These sites collect and report the number of searches for a particular keyword over a given time period. They offer an amazing insight into what people are really searching for in the search engines. I cannot stress enough of the importance of this research method.
b. Gather Search Engine Related Searches - Conduct research by finding out what other related searches are popular in some of the major search engines. Search engines such as AltaVista and Netscape offer a list of popular "related search" keywords that their users have searched for. This provides a short, but good list of popular related keyword phrases for you to consider.
c. Analyze Keywords Entered In Your Site Search Engine – I highly recommend that you add site search engine to your website, if you don’t already have one. By site search engine I mean a search engine that only searches your website, not a search engine such as Google. Once you have collected enough data, analyze the keywords entered to find out exactly what your site visitors are searching for. You may find they are searching for a product you don’t stock. If you do stock the product, then it may be a good idea to add it to the home page, to ensure future visitors can easily find it.
d. Server Log File Analysis - Every time a visitor arrives at your site from a search engine, your server log files record some vital information about the visitor, including which keywords were used to find your site. So it is essential that you analyze your server log files. This is the most accurate method of measuring which keywords are being used to find your website. But just because a particular keyword phrase does not appear in your server log files, it does not mean people are not using it in the search engines. It could be because none of your pages indexed in the search engines contains these keyword phrases, which is why researching a keyword database is extremely important.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
40
e. Educated Guess – Lastly, you could come up with a few keywords that you "think" your target audience are using to search for your products, service or site information. Unless you also use the other four research methods, you will be surprised just how many other keywords, or variations of your keyword phrases, you will miss.
3. Target Keywords With The Least Number Of Competing Pages In The Search Engines Wordtracker is the only service that I know of that tells you which keywords have the least number of competing pages in the search engines. http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/wordtracker.html
You simply enter some keywords and Wordtracker will return a list of keywords that any bear relation to the keywords you entered, the search count, and the total number of competing pages for the most popular search engines. This kind of information can really help to keep you one step ahead of the competition. I can’t recommend Wordtracker highly enough. It should be an essential part of your SEO arsenal.
Why You Must Sprinkle Uncommon Keywords & Synonyms In Your Pages It goes without saying that less popular keywords will have less competition in the search engines. Therefore, it is always a good idea to sprinkle a few uncommon keywords and synonyms in your main body text. It is vital that you include keywords that maybe less popular than the main keyword you are targeting. The reason is that if someone searches for a particular keyword phrase and the keywords do not appear in your webpage, a search engine is unlikely to consider it as
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
41
relevant for the search query. The search engine is much more likely to rank another webpage which does include all of the search keywords higher than yours. For example, Google state that they only return webpages that contain all the words in a search query. http://www.google.com/help/basics.htm
What Is Keyword Frequency? Keyword frequency refers to the number of times a keyword, or keyword phrase, appears within a page. The theory is that the more times a keyword or keyword phrase appears within a page, the more relevant the page is for that keyword. But do not overdo it, by plastering a webpage with the targeted keyword. Search engines frown upon keyword spamming.
What Is Keyword Density? Keyword density is the ratio of targeted keywords contained within the total number of indexable words within a page. For example, if a page has 100 words in total and of those 100 words 3 words are your targeted keywords, then the keyword ratio is 3% (3 divided by 100). In general, I suggest using a keyword density ratio in the range of 1-3%. For specific search engines, it depends on which search engine you are targeting, as different search engines have different preferences regarding keyword density.
How To Calculate The Keyword Density Of A Webpage You can determine your page's keyword density using the following procedure: 1. View a webpage in your web browser.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
42
2. Right click on your mouse and select “Select All” to highlight the text. Right click again and select “Copy” to copy the text to your clipboard. 3. Open your text or Word editor. Copy the text to the document. 4. Select the “Word Count” option (Most text editors have it). In Microsoft Word, the option is under “Tools > Word Count…” 5. Run a find and replace procedure by putting your keyword phrase in both the find and replace area. The select “Replace All.” In Microsoft Word, the option is under “Edit > Replace…” The program will search for your keyword phrase entered in the “Find” input box and replace it with the keyword phrase in the “Replace” input box, which in our case will be the same. It will tell you how many times the keyword has been replaced. 6. Divide the keyword replaced count by the total number of words on your page to determine your page's keyword density. For example, if your keyword replaced count is 3 and there are 100 words on the page, your keyword density ratio is 3 percent.
Note: The above procedure is a very basic method of determining the keyword density of a page. The problem is that there is no standard way to calculate keyword density for all search engines. Factors such as stop words, word stemming, and whether keywords in a particular HTML tag are indexed all affect the total number of indexable words that a particular search engine would end up with. For a quicker method of calculating keyword density try this online tool, "Keyword Count.” http://www.keywordcount.com However, even Keyword Count has its limitations. You can exclude certain stop words and tags. But unless you know which stop words or tags a particular search engine takes into account or ignores, you are unlikely to get a 100% accurate keyword density count. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
43
Useful Keyword Density Software Here is a search engine optimization software program that features a keyword density analyzer: •
IBP - Internet Business Promoter - A search engine software program that compares 75 ranking factors on the top 10 ranked sites for the keyword phrase and search engine (from 250+) of your choosing, and produces a 36-page checklist of recommended optimization advice to improve your rankings. It also features a Keyword Density Analyzer. Operating Systems: Windows 98, Me, 2000 and XP. Cost: $99.95/$249.95/$499.95 http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/directory/search-engineoptimization-software.html
What Is Keyword Prominence? Keyword prominence is the concept that keywords placed near the beginning of a webpage, paragraph, sentence, and HTML tags (Title, Meta Description, etc.) are given more weight than the keywords on the rest of the page. I do recommend that you try to make your most important keywords more prominent by placing them near the beginning of a page, paragraph, sentence and HTML tag.
What Is Keyword Proximity? Keyword proximity refers to the closeness between two or more keywords. In general, the close the keywords are, the better. For example: We sell delicious biscuits for all breeds of dogs! We sell the most delicious dog biscuits in the World!
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
44
All things being equal, if a search is for “dog biscuits," the second sentence is more likely to rank higher, than the first, because its keywords are closer together. So always try to sprinkle the most important keyword phrase/s, in addition to individual keywords, in your text
Why You Must Add Important Keywords To The Title Tag On Every Page Major search engines give a great deal of relevance to keywords in the TITLE tag. As such, you should always include the Title tag along with your most important keywords on every page. In general, I have found that short keyword rich title descriptions work best, as this maximizes the keyword density. Here are some examples of good title tags: WebPosition Gold Review Canon Digital Camera Cheap Flights
And examples of poor title tags: WebPosition Gold - Search Engine Optimization Software Up To 50% Off Digital Cameras Cheap flights, tickets, air travel and much more!
How To Improve Keyword Relevance In Body Text To improve the relevance of keywords in body text: •
place your important keywords near the beginning of the page, paragraph, or sentence. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
45
•
•
write the first paragraph as if it were the description for the page, because some search engines extract the first couple of lines of a page to be used as the search result description. Spread your important keyword phrase/s and individual keywords throughout the body text.
Why You Must Add Important Keywords To Headline Tags Major search engines place a deal of relevance on keywords in headline tags (H1, H2 and H3). Therefore you should always sprinkle keyword rich headline tags throughout a webpage, starting with the largest headline tag (H1) and working your way down (H2, H3, etc.). Sample headline tags: Search Engine Optimization Keywords Meta Tags
Why You Should Include Keyword-Rich Alt Tags With Images Always include a keyword-rich ALT tag to describe the contents of an image, as some search engines index the keywords contained within the tag. You will also provide a text description of the image to visitors with slow download connections or have their images turned off. To ensure that the text is visible, you must set the image's width and height dimensions. The use of ALT tags also enables visually disabled visitors using screen readers or reviewers to interpret the image on the screen. Images can be translated, only if there is alternative text describing the image.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
46
Also consider adding a period "." at the end of the ALT tag, so that someone hearing the page can tell where one image stops and another starts. Sample ALT tag:
How To Add Keywords To Link Titles The “A HREF Title” attribute is used in text links to add information about the nature of the link. In addition link titles may be spoken by a user agent for users with disabilities. Sample link title: Click here to download Internet Explorer. Resulting link: Click here to download Internet Explorer (This is not a real link)
When Internet Explorer users hover the mouse pointer over the link, the link title appears in a tiny floating popup above the link. Don’t worry. It’s not the kind of popup that gets blocked.
Which Search Engines Are Keyword Case Sensitive? As far as I know, only a few Inktomi powered search engines are case sensitive. So, a search query using, "keywords," "KeyWords" and "KEYWORDS" produces a different set of search results. Here is a table of Inktomi powered search engines that provide case-sensitive search results.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
47
Search Engine LookSmart MSN Overture
Case-Sensitive? Partial Partial Yes
All other major search engines are case insensitive.
Do Individual Keywords Improve Relevance? There is evidence that using the individual words that comprise your keyword phrase in a page improves relevancy. You will also likely improve your relevancy for those individual words. For example, if the keyword phrase is "cheap flights," you should sprinkle, "cheap" and "flights" individually throughout the page.
How Word Stemming Can Improve Keyword Relevance Word stemming is a concept used by some search engines to return search results that include keywords that extend beyond what you searched for. For example, a search with the keyword "cheap" might return results for, "cheaper" and "cheapest." In general, try to sprinkle the longer version of keywords throughout a page. Please note that Google does not use word stemming. So make sure that all variations of your important keywords are included in your webpage.
What Is Keyword Stuffing? Keyword Stuffing is the repeating of keywords and keyword phrases in the main body text and Meta tags. Most search engines consider keyword stuffing as spam, so you © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
48
should never stuff a page with irrelevant keywords in the vain hope of improving your search engine rankings.
What Are Stop Words? Most search engines ignore common words and characters such as "where" and "how," as well as certain single digits and single letters, because they tend to slow down a search without improving the results. It also happens to help to save money by requiring less processing power – the real reason why search engines ignore stop words. Only full-text search engines, such as AltaVista and Google, index every single word on a webpage. As such, always try to use keywords instead of stop words as much as possible. Admittedly, some people may find it a bit more difficult to read, but I think it is worth the sacrifice, in the cause of trying to achieve higher search engine rankings.
297 Stop Words You Should Avoid Here’s a list of the most commonly-used stop words (There are 297 words in the list): a about above across after again against air all almost along also always an and animals another answer any are around as asked at away back be because been before began being below best better between big both boy boys but by called came can change children city come could country day days did different do does don't down during each earth end enough even ever every example eyes far father feet few find first five following food for form found four from get give go going good got great had hand hard has have he head hear heard help her here high him himself his home house how however I if important in into is it it's its just keep kind knew know land large last learn left let life light like line little live long look looked made make man many may me means men might miles more most mother Mr much must my name near need never new next night no not now number of off often old on once one only or other others our out over own page paper part parts people picture place play point put read right room said same saw say school sea second see sentence set several she should show side since small so some something sometimes soon sound still story study such sun © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
49
sure take tell than that the their them then there these they thing things think this those thought three through time times to today together told too took top toward try turned two under until up us use used using usually very want was water way ways we well went were what when where which while white who whole why will with without word words work world would write year years you young your Source: The American Heritage Word Frequency Book by John B. Carroll, Peter Davies, and Barry Richman (Houghton Mifflin, 1971, ISBN 0-395-13570-2).
Do Keywords In Domain & File Names Affect Rankings? Yes. Keywords in domain and file names can and do appear to help improve search engine and web directory rankings. To illustrate the point, conduct the following keyword searches (with or without quotation marks) on the Google search engine. Search Query free stuff funny jokes online casino
Search Results URL http://www.google.com/search?q=free+stuff http://www.google.com/search?q=funny+jokes http://www.google.com/search?q=online+casino
Notice how many of the top ranked listings have one or both searched keywords in the domain or file name? This is not to say you must include keywords in your domain name. But if your keywords are highly competitive, then it could give you a bit of an edge.
Does Separating Domain Name Keywords With Hyphens Affect Rankings? Yes, in my opinion. If you searched for the keywords in the previous section, did you notice number of domain names that separate keywords with hyphens? There are two schools of thought with hyphenated domain names.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
50
1. Some SEO experts say keywords in the domain name need not be separated by hyphens. In fact they go as far to say that the keywords are not important at all, as the search engines don't take them into account. 2. I fall into the other school of thought. That is keywords in domain names "can" make a difference and that they should be separated by hyphens. For this reason you will notice that all of my domain names follow this principle.
Here are some reasons why I believe this: 1. According to Lycos, their spider will pay close attention to the URL - see my article at http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/marketing-tips/lycos-insitepro.html 2. With some popular searches, many of the top ranked sites include hyphens in their domain names. For example: http://www.google.com/search?q=online+gambling http://www.google.com/search?q=online+casino http://www.google.com/search?q=debt+consolidation
Of course you could say that all of the top ranked sites listed in the search results above just happen to have hyphens in their domain names and that they would achieve the same positions without hyphens. We will never know and we could argue that all day. I go by what I see. And I see that many top ranked sites have hyphen/s in their domain name. I have been separating my domain name keywords with hyphens for quite a while now. Search engine experts are divided on whether separating domain name keywords with hyphens actually improve rankings. But I have my reasons for suspecting that it does. I do suggest that you name your domain and file names with hyphens separating each keyword, just to be on the safe side. After all, you would not want a search engine to index the wrong words.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
51
For example, what are the keywords in this domain name, "newshut.com"? Are they "news," and "hut," or "new," and "shut"? How about “sportsexchange.com”? Are the keywords “sports” and “exchange” or “sport,” “sex” and “change”? You can see how a search engine can easily index different keywords from those you had in mind. If the domain name is, "news-hut.com," it would be clear to a search engine exactly what the keywords are.
Case Study: Hyphenated Domains Out Pulls Unhyphenated Domains By Almost 3 To 1! I came across a case study in the I-Domain Discussion List of someone who actually conducted tests on whether hyphenated domain names make any difference. You may be surprised by the results! The site owner tested hyphenated domains vs. unhyphenated domains between July 2001 and June 2002. He bought 52 domain names related to the jewelry business, 26 hyphenated with the corresponding 26 unhyphenated. He had 26 five-page websites designed, one for each set of domain names. The only difference between the hyphenated and unhyphenated design was the color scheme. The content was identical. His sites were hosted on separate IP addresses for each of the domains. He ran the initial design for six months, and then he switched color schemes and ran them for another six months. The only promotion he did was to submit all 52 domains to search engines once per month. He did not advertise any of the domains. He did not link any of the domains to any external domain, each stood on its own. And the result? The hyphenated domains out pulled the unhyphenated domains by almost three to one! The bottom-line is this...
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
52
It doesn't hurt to have the hyphen in there. And if any of the search engines do take into account of separated keywords in the domain name (like Yahoo! used to do) then we can only benefit from it, if we use hyphens in all our domain names. Don't forget to register the unhyphenated version of the domain and forward the domain to the hyphenated version that is hosted on your server. That way, if the user forgets the hyphens they still end up on your site. You may like to use a site I set up to register all my domains. http://www.domain-registration-bank.com http://www.domainregistrationbank.com (forwarded to the domain above) The prices are extremely competitive and domain forwarding can be added on free of charge. I set this site up so that I can pay the lowest fees possible to register domains for myself. Of course you can use it too. Those are the facts as I see it. It's up to you to make up your own mind which strategy to use.
Do Keyword-Rich Subdomains Affect Rankings? A subdomain is a domain that resides under your top-level domain name, but typically acts like an independent domain. For example: subdomain.topdomain.com
I believe that keyword-rich subdomains can improve rankings. I have a good example of a subdomain getting top rankings, mainly due to the important keyword being in the subdomain. Regrettably, I can’t reveal the domain to you, for personal reasons. You’re just going to have to take my word on this one. ;o)
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
53
How To Add Subdomains To A Website Adding subdomains to point to a directory is a relatively simple procedure. Simply follow these step-by-step instructions: 1. Change every link on the website that you want to turn into a subdomain from: yourdomain.com/keywords/ to: keywords.yourdomain.com 2. Contact your website and ask them to add the subdomain/s to your server. That’s it! Simple isn’t it?
Notes: •
Any decent web host will allow you to have an unlimited number of subdomains. But there are some that do not allow subdomains, while others may charge a fee. So always ask to see if subdomains are allowed and whether there is a fee.
•
Some web hosts only allow subdomains to the root (main) directory. You can’t point to individual directories or individual files. In this instance you could still add subdomains, but instead of just linking to subdomains, you have to add the file name or directory at the end of the link. For example: subdomain.yourdomain.com/subdomain/ subdomain.yourdomain.com/subdomain.html
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
54
32 KEYWORD RESEARCH TOOLS Here are a total of 32 tools to help you find out what keywords your customers are searching for. I highly recommend that you research your important keywords to discover which keywords you should use to target your audience. There are quite a few software programs, websites, and online tools that reveal what people are entering into search engines. These include: • • • •
Online search term suggestions tools Top search lists MetaSpy engines Zeitgeists
16 Online Search Term Suggestion Tools •
Wordtracker - A 340 million keyword database that you can query to find and compile lists of the most popular search terms that people enter in search engines, including search count and the number of competing sites for each keyword or keyword phrase. It even suggests related and misspelled keywords. Wordtracker offers a variety of online subscription options; from US$6 for one day to $200 for a year. This is by far the best keyword suggestion tool I have ever used and is highly recommended! http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/wordtracker.html
•
Overture Search Term Suggestion Tool – Free online tool that returns a list of related keyword phrases based on the keywords you enter. It also displays the number of times each keyword was searched the previous month in the Overture network. US: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ UK: http://inventory.uk.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ France: http://inventory.fr.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
55
France (English Instructions): http://inventory.fr.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/?mkt =fr&lang=en_GB Germany: http://inventory.de.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ Germany (English Instructions): http://inventory.de.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/?mk t=de&lang=en_GB Spain: http://inventory.es.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ Italy: http://inventory.fr.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/?mkt =fr&lang=en_GB Switzerland: http://inventory.ch.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ Japan: http://inventory.jp.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ Korea: http://inventory.kr.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ The Netherlands: http://inventory.nl.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
•
Google AdWords Keyword Suggestions – Returns a list of 50 keyword phrase containing the keyword you enter, plus a list of related keywords. https://adwords.google.com/select/main?cmd=KeywordSandbox
•
Espotting Keyword Generator – Returns a list of 99 most popular searches and search count that contains the keyword you enter, plus related keyword phrases, for the previous 30 days. http://www.espotting.com/popups/keywordgenbox.asp
•
BrainFox Keyword Research Tool - Returns a list up to 100 related phrases, keywords and keyword variations from the BrainFox database. http://www.brainfox.com/research/
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
56
•
7Search Keyword Suggestion Tool - Returns the most popular searches and search count that contains the keyword you enter, for the previous month. http://conversion.7search.com/scripts/advertisertools/keywordsugge stion.aspx http://conversion.7search.com/scripts/advertisertools/KeywordActivi tyLookup.aspx (Number of searches and current top bids)
•
Keyword Maker – Offers an 800,000 searchable, commercial, keyword database that reveals what people in Denmark and Sweden are searching for. http://www.keywordmaker.com
3 Top Search Lists •
Top 500 Keywords - Keywords offers the top 500 searched internet keywords compiled from a database of over 344 million search terms extracted from popular metacrawlers. http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/keywords/
•
Lycos 50 - Displays a list of the 50 most searched keywords at the Lycos search engine the previous week. http://50.lycos.com
•
Search.com Top 100 Searches - Displays the previous week’s 100 most searched keywords at Search.com. http://www.search.com/top/
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
57
10 MetaSpy Engines MetaSpy engines give you a glimpse – in real time - of what people are searching for. MetaSpy is also known as search spy, search engine spying, search voyeur, spy search, and search engine voyeur. You will see the actual keywords entered into search engines. They typically update the page every 10-30 seconds. MetaSpy keywords are sometimes uncensored, so be aware that you may view keywords that are obscene and/or offensive. Here are some popular metaspy search engines: •
FontSeek Live Search – Displays recent searches and most popular searches during the last 4 weeks. http://www.fontseek.com/livesearch.shtml
•
Galaxy StarGazer - Displays random keywords searched within Galaxy.com in real time. http://www.galaxy.com/info/voyeur.html
•
Infotiger Voyeur – Displays randomly selected keywords that users are searching for. http://www.infotiger.com/voyeur.html
•
Kanoodle Search Spy - Offers the 12 most recent keywords entered at the Kanoodle pay per click search engine. http://www.kanoodle.com/spy/
•
MetaEureka Voyeur – Offers the 30 most recent uncensored keywords entered at MetaEureka metasearch engine. Yes, the word “voayer” in the URL is correct. Don’t ask me why they spelt it like that! http://www.metaeureka.com/voayer.shtml
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
58
•
MetaSpy - Offers the 10 most recent - filtered or unfiltered - keywords entered at the MetaCrawler metasearch engine. http://www.metaspy.com
•
OmniSpy – Displays last 10 searches on the OmniCrawler engine. http://www.maximumedge.com/search/omnispy.shtml
•
SearchIt Results - Displays last 20 searches made. http://www.searchit.com/current-searches/last20searched.php
•
UKSprite Search Spy - Offers the 12 most recent uncensored keywords entered at the UKSprite pay per click search engine. http://www.uksprite.com/search/searchspy.htm
•
Yahoo! Shopping What’s Selling Now - Displays a small sample of products purchased through the Yahoo! Shopping network in the last hour. http://search.store.yahoo.com/OT
3 Zeitgeists Zeitgeists offer search patterns and trends, rather than just a list of the most popular, yet unrelated, keywords. •
Google Zeitgeist - Offers search patterns, trends, and surprises derived from Google's 150 million daily searches. Updated regularly with an archive dating back to January, 2001. http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html
•
Yahoo! Buzz Index - Offers a daily updated list of the top 20 subjects in five categories; TV, music, sports, movies, and actors. Archive dates back to November, 2000. http://buzz.yahoo.com
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
59
•
JeevesIQ - Offers the most popular search queries - from consumer trends to breaking news - on the Ask Jeeves search engine. http://sp.ask.com/docs/about/jeevesiq.html
Should You Use Every Keyword You Find? I highly recommend that you do make use of every target keyword you find, no matter how few times it is searched on each month. You may not be able to include them all in your webpages. But you can submit them all to pay per click search engines. There are two main benefits to using less popular keywords: 1. You can usually bid less to get the top positions in pay per click search engines.
2. If you have enough keywords, it can add up to a decent number of searches. For example, 2 searches a day may not sound like much. But if you multiply that by 30, you get 60 searches a month. Now multiply that by let's say 100 keywords and you have got yourself 6,000 searches a month. Imagine all those potential customers you would have lost if you ignore keywords that only get a handful of searches a day.
It doesn’t matter if some of the less popular keywords turn out to produce zero clicks. You simply remove them from your list of keywords. But do give them a chance to perform for you.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
60
BASIC SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES In this section, I discuss basic search engine optimization techniques that every search engine optimizer should know about.
What Are Meta Tags? Meta tags are hidden HTML tags used to describe the contents of a webpage. There are numerous Meta tags, but for search engine optimization purposes I will only concentrate on the two most popular Meta tags; Meta description and Meta keywords. Here is a sample set of Meta tags: page title goes here
What Is A Meta Description Tag? Some search engines extract the contents of the Meta description tag to use as the search result description. The Meta description tag is often misused with misleading or even false descriptions of a page. As a result, the relevancy of search results is often compromised. So search engines have begun to de-emphasize the importance and even totally ignore the contents of this tag. Some search engines, such as Google, AllTheWeb, AltaVista and Inktomi, do still extract the contents of the Meta description tag to use as the description in its search results. So I highly recommend including a keyword-rich Meta description tag in every single webpage. But if the Meta description tag is missing, the search engine will usually extract a description from the first couple of lines of the main body text. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
61
In general, search engines will index the first 135-249 characters of the Meta description tag contents. The description should be descriptive and sell the page to search engine users, so they click on your link. So put some effort into creating descriptions that are keyword-rich (for search engines to rank) and enticing to search engine users.
What Is A Meta Keywords Tag? The contents of a Meta keywords tag is used to help define the important keywords in a webpage. It sounds good in theory. But in practice the Meta keywords tag is often misused by webmasters who stuff it with excessive or irrelevant keywords. So much so that virtually all search engines now ignore the contents of the Meta keywords tag. Inktomi is the only search engine that I know of that indexes the Meta keywords tag. The only notable major search engine that Inktomi provides results for is MSN. And most of the top rankings in MSN are provided, not by Inktomi, but by MSN itself, Overture, and the LookSmart Directory. As such, I do not recommend wasting time with the Meta keywords tag. 6th Edition Update: Yahoo!, which acquired Inktomi, recommends adding the keywords meta tag to webpages. In its Help section, “How do I improve the ranking of my web site in the search results?”, it states, and I quote, “Use a ‘keyword’ meta-tag to list key words for the document. Use a distinct list of keywords that relate to the specific page on your site instead of using one broad set of keywords for every page.” http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/ranking/ranking-02.html
If you decide to use the Meta keywords tag, I recommend you only include one or two important keyword phrases. Also make sure you include any keyword phrases in Meta keywords tag in the main body text.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
62
Should You Separate Keywords In The Meta Keywords Tag With Commas? I’ve included this topic, because there was a time when all search engines indexed the contents of the Meta keywords tag, and with Yahoo! expected to add Inktomi-powered listings to its search engine, the Meta keywords tag may well make a difference again. The question of separating keywords is one that crops up regularly, and one that I have wondered about myself. Here’s an example that separates the keywords with commas:
Some search engine optimizers recommend leaving out the commas in order to create more keyword combinations for the search engines to index, as illustrated below:
Here are some keyword combinations created from the above example: search engine marketing marketing tips search engine marketing tips
Personally I have used commas to separate the keywords in the past. The reason is because this is the original technique, and most of the top ranked webpages I have examined still use this technique. I have yet to find conclusive proof that one technique is better than the other, so I can’t recommend one or the other. I suggest you try both techniques to see if which, if any, produces better results. In case you’re wondering, I no longer include meta keywords tag in my webpages. I just don’t feel it is worth the effort anymore.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
63
The Dangers Of Adding Trademarked Keywords To Meta Tags If you use a trademarked term because you are selling products bearing the trademarked term, then you probably have a legitimately reason to add them to your meta tags. However, I would still recommend that you ask the trademark owner for confirmation. But, if you use a trademarked term simply to “trick” visitors into thinking they are at the trademarked company's site, you are very likely to get into trouble. A number of sites have had injunctions placed by judges who decided that the use of the disputed trademarked term was a trademark infringement and represented false representation. But there was one site that used a trademarked term and won their case, as they proved to the judge that they had a legitimate reason to use the trademarked term. However, that is the exception, rather than the norm. I suggest that you make sure you have permission to include trademarked keywords in your meta tags. Search the “United States Patent and Trademark Database” to find out if a keyword is trademarked. http://www.uspto.gov
Other Commonly Used Meta Tags Here is a list of other commonly used Meta tags that are generally not recommended for search engine optimization purposes. I have provided the list for your reference only. •
Author - Used for the page author's name.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
64
•
Creation Date - Used for the date the page was created.
•
Document Character Set - Used to specify the character set used in the page.
•
Dublin Core Meta Tags - Dublin Core metadata standard is a simple element set for describing a wide range of networked resources. I won't go into the specifics here. For more information, visit the “Using Dublin Core” guide. http://www.dublincore.org/documents/usageguide/
•
Revisit Tags - Used to instruct search engines to revisit a page after so many days.
•
Scripting Language - Used to specify the scripting language used.
•
Style Sheet Language - Used to specify the default style sheet language used.
What Is A Robots Meta Tag? The Robots Meta tag lets you instruct search engine spiders whether they should or shouldn’t index, or archive, the page and crawl the links found on it. Some search engine robots do not recognize the robots Meta tag.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
65
Therefore, I always recommended that you use Robots.txt files where possible.
How To Use The Robots Meta Tag The content of the robots meta tag contains directives separated by a comma. The "index" command specifies whether a robot should index a page. The "follow" command specifies whether a robot should follow links on a page. To add a robots meta tag to a page, place the robots tag between the HEAD section of a page. Here are some sample code and what they do: Instructs spiders to index the page and follow all links:
These are the default values, so you really do not need to add the tag above. Instructs spiders not to index the page, but follow all links:
Instruct spiders to index the page, but not follow any links:
Instruct spiders to neither index the page, nor follow any links:
Instruct spiders not to archive (cache) a page: © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
66
Instruct Google’s spider (Googlebot) not to archive a page:
What Is A Robots.txt File? The Robots.txt file lets you instruct search engine spiders which directories and files it is allowed to crawl and index. When a compliant search engine robot visits a site, it first checks for a “robots.txt” file on the server. If the file exists, the robot reads the contents for instructions on what it can crawl and index. Please note that search engine robots have no obligation to follow the instructions given in the Robots.txt file. However, most search engine robots do honor them.
Why Would You Use A Robots.txt File? There are a number of reasons why you may want to stop a search engine from crawling and indexing particular sections of your site. These include: •
Search engine optimized pages. For example, let's say you optimize a webpage specifically Google, AltaVista and Inktomi. You would not want one engine to index the pages designed for the other engines, otherwise they could view them as duplicate copies designed to spam their index, which could result in a ban.
•
Hiding sensitive content, such as internal reports and content not ready to be published.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
67
How To Create A Robots.txt File To create a robots.txt file: 1. Create a blank text file using a text editor that can save ASCII .txt files. You can use WordPad or Notepad which comes with Windows. You should be able to find them under: Start Menu -> Programs -> Accessories. 2. Insert instructions for each search engine robot, using the following syntax: User-agent: Robot Name Disallow: File or Directory Name
User-agent - A user-agent is the name of the search engine robot. You may also include more than one agent name if the same exclusion is to apply to them all. You do not need to worry about case sensitivity, so "googlebot" is the same as "GOOGLEBOT." An asterisk "*" indicates all robots. Disallow - Disallow instructs the robot specified in the user-agent which directories or files you do not want crawled or indexed.
Here are some sample robots.txt file instructions: Exclude all robots from the entire website (not recommended!): User-agent: * Disallow: /
Allow all robots to a website. Because nothing is disallowed, everything is allowed: User-agent: * Disallow:
Alternatively, create a blank robots.txt file. Allow all robots access to all files and directories, except the two directories listed: © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
68
User-agent: * Disallow: /cgi-bin/ Disallow: /images/
Allow Google's robot access to all files and directories, except the cgi-bin directory: User-agent: Googlebot Disallow: /cgi-bin/
Allow Google's robot access to all files and directories, except the file listed: User-agent: Googlebot Disallow: /members/login.html
A blank line indicates a new "record" - a new user-agent command. Disallow Googlebot from the website and all other robots access to everything, except the cgi-bin directory: User-agent: Googlebot Disallow: / User-agent: * Disallow: /cgi-bin/
Allow Googlebot complete access, but exclude all other robots: User-agent: Googlebot Disallow: User-agent: * Disallow: /
Disallow all robots access to a file or directory beginning with a certain value:
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
69
User-agent: * Disallow: /image Disallow: /image/
The first disallow command disallows the /image/ directory, /image.html and /images.html files. The second disallow command only disallows the /image/ directory, but allows other files such as /image.html and images.html. You may add as many lines to exclude as many directories and pages as you wish. Each disallow statement will be applied to the last user-agent that was specified. Instruct all robots not to crawl dynamically generated pages: User-agent: * Disallow: /*?
Instruct all robots not to crawl files ending in .gif: User-agent: * Disallow: /*.gif$
3. Save the file as "robots.txt" (must be all lower case) and upload it to the root or top directory on your server. For example: http://www.yoursite.com/robots.txt
82 J
86 V
98 b
110 n
122 z
39 '
51 3
63 ?
83 K
87 W
99 c
111 o
123 {
40 (
52 4
64 @
84 L
88 X
100 d
112 p
124 |
41 )
53 5
65 A
77 M
89 Y
101 e
113 q
125 }
42 *
54 6
66 B
78 N
90 Z
102 f
114 r
126 ~
43 +
55 7
67 C
79 O
91 [
103 g
115 s
127 _
44 ,
56 8
68 D
80 P
92 \
104 h
116 t
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
80
Alphanumeric Rankings In The Open Directory Project The majority of the time the Open Directory Project ranks its directory listings alphanumerically. However I have noticed that in many categories the editor has decided to ignore all the characters preceding the first alphabetical character. For example, "#1 Free Clip Art" is a listing title in the directory. But the “#1” part of the title is ignored in ranking the listings. The rank is based on the first letter of the revised title, “Free Clip Art,” which is “F.”
Alphanumeric Rankings In The Yahoo! Directory Unlike the Open Directory Project, Yahoo! takes into account all characters in the listing title in its rankings. Therefore, the listing, "#1 Vacations, Cruises & Giveaways" ("#" is #35 in the ASCII chart) ranks above, "1 Above All Resorts.com" ("1" is #49 in the ASCII chart). Once upon a time Yahoo! extracted its web search results from its web directory. This is no longer the case after Yahoo! replaced its old search results with Google powered listings, which are ranked by relevance, not alphanumerically. As a result, the Yahoo! Directory now refers far fewer visitors than before. So I think web marketers who register domain names to take advantage of alphanumerical ranked listings in Yahoo! are now mostly wasting their time.
How To Optimize JavaScripts In HTML Documents JavaScript codes in HTML documents are usually placed near the top in between the HEAD section. This pushes your body text containing your important keywords further down the page and increases the size of the document, thus the download time. It could also affect the number of keywords search engines index, especially if the page contains a lot of text, images and multimedia elements. There are two ways to move the JavaScript code away from the top of a HTML document. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
81
1. Move the JavaScript code into a separate file. 2. Move the JavaScript code to the bottom of the HTML document.
1. Move The JavaScript Code Into A Separate File The first solution is to move the JavaScript code into a separate file and link to the file from the HTML document. To do this place the following code in between the HEAD section:
This procedure also reduces your file size, and therefore your download time. In addition, it allows you to reuse the code on other pages by simply adding a link to the JavaScript file in the HTML document. Some servers may not recognize the ".js" file type. If that is the case with your server, contact your hosting company and ask them to add the following line to the "mime.types" file in the server's config directory, and then restart the server. TYPE=application/x-javascript
exts=js
2. Move The JavaScript Code To The Bottom Of The HTML Document The other solution is to move the JavaScript code to the very bottom of the HTML file, immediately above or below the closing HTML tag. Although it is considered good programming practice and nearly all JavaScript sites recommend you add your JavaScript to the HEAD section of a page, it is not necessary. The first solution is probably more convenient to use. But both solutions work just as well.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
82
How To Optimize Frame Based Webpages Frames allow you to present webpages in multiple, independent windows or subwindows, where certain information can be kept visible, while content in the other windows are scrolled or replaced. Frames use a master (frameset) page to combine multiple sub-pages to create one HTML page. Some search engines do not follow links to sub-pages, therefore cannot index the content contained there. However, search engines can, and do, index the content contained within the master page, so as long as the information is placed within a NOFRAMES tag. A frameset document with NOFRAMES Here is the non-frame version of the document. Add your search engine friendly content here.
In general I recommend steering clear frames. Did you know that none of the top 100 websites use frames? There’s good reason for that. Notes: •
Internet Explorer and Netscape browsers earlier than version 3.0 do not support frames. So make sure the content within the noframes tag is presentable, as visitors with older browsers will see the content of the noframes tag.
•
Do not include the BODY tag in the frameset page, otherwise the framed page will not display properly.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
83
How To View The Source Code Of Fast Vanishing Webpages If you have ever tried to view the source code of a page that uses some form of URL redirection or forwarding, you will know how frustrating it can be. More often than not, the redirected page flashes by so quickly that you don’t even get a chance to stop the page to view the source code. Luckily, there is a simple solution. All you have to do is enter "view-source:" followed by the URL into your web browser's address window. For example: view-source:http://www.google.com view-source:http://www.yahoo.com/index.html
UPDATE: 01/14/05 - This trick no longer seems to work on the Internet Explorer web browser. However, I did still get it to work on the Netscape 7.2 browser. If you don’t have it on your computer, you can download a free copy from: http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/download.jsp Steven Munro, Director of Unlimited Fun Ltd T/A CollarsandLeads.co.nz, who informed me of the problem, says he got it to work on the Mozilla Firefox browser. Thanks Steve! If you get it to work on other web browsers, please let me know.
Can Bold & Strong Text Improve Search Engine Rankings? Some search engine experts recommend highlighting important keyword phrases in bold to improve relevancy. For example: Mike’s Marketing Tools © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
84
Mike’s Marketing Tools
I have yet to come across any proof that this technique works. So I suggest that you try it if you like, to see if it does indeed work. There isn’t any downside to this technique, so it may be worth a try. Some search engine optimizers take it one step further by placing bold tags or strong within header tags. I’m not sure if this does any good, but it may be worth a try. For example: Mike’s Marketing Tools Mike’s Marketing Tools
Should You Hide Keywords In Comment Tags? No. None of the major search engines index keywords in comment tags, so do not waste time adding them as part of your search engine optimization strategy. In case you don’t know what comment tags are, here’s an example:
Should You Hide Keywords In Hidden CSS Layers? Hiding keywords in hidden Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) layers is a technique that search engine optimizers use to add keywords to a page, while keeping it invisible to human visitors. This technique is often used to add text to a splash page, or one containing nothing more than Flash effects. For example: keywords go here
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
85
The above example places the hidden layer 300 pixels above and to the left of the visible page. You can add as much text as you wish, since your visitors can’t see the text, but search engine spiders can. The downside is that Internet Explorer and Netscape browser versions earlier than 4.0 do not support CSS layers. They will ignore the style tags but display the content of the style element, which could produce a rather messy page. I have seen this technique being used, but personally I wouldn’t recommend it.
Should You Hide Keywords in Hidden Value Form Tags? Adding keywords to hidden value form tags is considered spam by all of the major search engines, so stay clear of this practice. However, it is almost impossible for search engines to detect the difference between genuine hidden value form tags and those added specifically for optimization purposes. That doesn’t mean I endorse this practice though. ;o) Here’s an example in case you don’t know what hidden value form tags look like:
Should You Hide Keywords In Style Tags? Very few, if any, search engines index the content of the Style tag, so do not waste any time on this technique. Here’s an example in case you don’t know what Style tags look like:
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
86
SLIGHTLY MORE ADVANCED SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES In this section I will discuss some slightly more advanced search engine optimization techniques. Don’t worry if some of them don’t apply to you, or understand how a particular technique works. Some techniques are a bit controversial and just because I discuss them, it doesn’t necessarily mean I endorse them. I include discuss them with you, so that you at least know about them and know what people are referring to when you read or hear about it. Some search engine optimizers have very strong opinions towards the validity of certain SEO techniques. I’ve heard people say you can’t do this, or you can’t that, simply because a search engine has publicly stated a certain technique is not allowed. For example, the validity of “cloaking” always produces very strong discussions. Many search engines publicly state that all forms of cloaking are spam. However, I have read stories from professional search engine optimizers who have been using cloaking for many years, achieving great rankings for their clients, without ever getting any of their sites banned by a single search engine. Plus, there are valid uses for cloaking. For example, redirecting visitors to local language versions of a site is a valid cloaking technique, which many search engines and other popular websites use all the time. I don’t have such strong opinions either way. I like to present all SEO techniques with an open mind, so that you can make up your own mind. Please don’t misunderstand me. I don’t advocate the use of SEO techniques that will get your website banned by the search engines. The problem is not whether a certain technique is valid or not. The problem is that some SEO techniques are in a gray area. It’s not always black and white. A technique that was acceptable a couple of years ago could be considered bad practice today. What is banned today may be acceptable tomorrow.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
87
SEO is just another marketing concept. Like all marketing concepts you should test all techniques to see what works. There is no 100% right or wrong techniques. I believe that given all the facts, you’re intelligent enough to decide for yourself.
How To Use Doorway Pages To Get Top Rankings Doorway pages (bridge pages, entry pages, gateway pages) are information pages created for the sole purpose of achieving higher rankings for a particular keyword phrase in one or more search engines. Doorway pages act as entry points to the real content of a site. They are used to attract search engine visitors, who are then encouraged to explore the rest of the site. Doorway pages are not visibly linked from a website's home page. Having said that, do not think that doorway pages are simply empty pages with minimal content and some links to the rest of the site. On the contrary, doorway pages should be rich in content, and offer links to other pages within the site, as well as links to related pages in other sites, in an effort to boost link popularity and relevancy. Doorway pages should offer just as much as the original page, but without the elements that can affect the page’s ranking, such as tables, graphics and multimedia content.
How To Design Doorway Pages Doorway pages are usually designed with one keyword phrase in mind. Sometimes they’re designed with one search engine in mind to maximize the relevancy of the keyword phrase for that particular search engine. You should apply all of the basic search engine optimization techniques to doorway pages. The major difference is in improving the keyword weight and density in the body content. Doorway pages should be simple. There should be minimal, if any, use of graphics, multimedia and tables. Stick to plain text, as this is the only element of a page that search engines index and use to determine the relevance of a webpage.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
88
What Do Search Engines Think About Doorway Pages? Doorway pages are one of a number of controversial SEO techniques. Some search engines, such as Google and Inktomi, publicly state that doorway pages are consider as spam. The problem is that search engines find it difficult to police this policy. A smart optimizer would create doorway pages that look similar to regular pages. As such, how can a search engine tell if a page is a doorway page or a standard page? They can’t unless a human visitor views the page. It’s technically impossible. Most of the time I doubt even a human can distinguish the difference, so don’t expect computers to be able to tell the difference. Here’s another example. How do you promote an affiliate product? Well, typically I would add a page, or two, to my website promoting the product and link to the merchant’s website via affiliate links. So are those pages considered doorway pages? I would say so. And thousands of websites promote affiliate products in this way. So if search engines consider all doorway pages as spam, then can you imagine how many websites it would affect; far too many. The truth of the matter is that search engines don’t ban these pages. In fact search engines like doorway pages; so much that quite often doorway pages occupy the top rankings. So, as long as you use doorway pages to visitors to relevant content, you won’t get into trouble with the search engines.
Should I Use Software To Create Hundreds Of Virtually Identical Doorway Pages? There are software programs that generate hundreds of virtually identical pages, which use different keywords, without any human intervention. I have seen such pages. They are ugly and don’t make any sense. I recommend you avoid using such programs. Search engines consider these types of pages as spam and will catch up with you sooner or later.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
89
According to the search engines, 30-40% of all webpages on the internet fall into the category of spam. I bet a large percentage is doorway pages created by software programs. So you see why search engines don’t like them? Search engines can, and do, detect spam doorway pages and are actively removing them from their index.
Beware of Scam Artists That Use Software Generated Doorway Pages So what do the search engine optimizers who use software generated doorway pages do, when they’re removed from the search engines? They go back to their clients and tell them that the search engines have dropped all their pages and they would need to spend more money to create and optimize new pages. Talk about getting ripped off!
How To Hide Doorway Pages From A Search Engine On a final note, if you create a doorway page for a specific search engine, you do not want other search engines to find and index the page. Because if they do index a page not intended for it and also indexes the page created specifically for it, the two virtually identical pages could set off the spam alarm bell. So how do you avoid this predicament? The answer is to use a robots.txt file to instruct each search engine spider which directories and pages they are allowed to crawl and index. Read the What Is A Robots.txt File? section for more information.
What’s The Difference Between Hallway & Doorway Pages? Hallway pages are similar to site maps, except that they only contain links to doorway pages. Hallway pages are so-called because they are like hallways leading to many doors. Do not include links to your doorway pages on your site map. Use a hallway page instead.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
90
How To Get Search Engines To Index Dynamically Generated Webpages Dynamic pages are database driven pages created "on the fly," (in real time) depending on the user's interest or request. Dynamically generated pages are commonly created using programming languages such like ASP (Active Server Pages), Cold Fusion, or Perl (CGI). Anyone who surfs the world wide web would have come across a dynamically generated website. For example, all search engines dynamically generate a particular page of search results based on the search terms you enter. There are 3 reasons why search engines do not index dynamically generated pages: 1. Dynamically generated pages do not actually exist on the internet until someone submits a request, and since search engine spiders do not submit requests, they may not find all the pages in a site. 2. Dynamically generated URLs usually contain question marks (?) or other symbols (&, %, + and $). When search engine spiders do follow dynamically generated URLs, they may only crawl part of the URL excluding everything after the question mark, which usually results in the spiders indexing nothing. 3. Many search engine spiders avoid indexing URLs that have a reference to the CGI bin directory to ensure that they do not fall into an endless loop.
How To Turn Dynamically Generated Pages Into Search Engine Friendly Pages The best way to turn dynamically generated webpages into search engine friendly pages is to use a system that converts your database into static pages whenever it is updated. Alternatively, you may use a software program to convert an entire database driven site into a static one.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
91
3 Tools That Convert Dynamically Generated URLs Into Ones That Search Engines Can Crawl & Index Use software fixes to convert ASP, Cold Fusion, or Perl generated URLs into ones that search engines can crawl and index. Note that these software fixes do not convert ASP, Cold Fusion, or Perl generated pages into HTML static pages. They simply convert the URLs into HTML versions, so that search engines will index the contents properly. •
A Users Guide to URL Rewriting with the Apache web server - A document that describes how you can use Apache's "mod_rewrite" module to enable you to turn URLs containing query strings into URLs that search engines can index. This guide is very advanced and is not recommended for beginners. http://www.engelschall.com/pw/apache/rewriteguide/
•
ASPSpiderBait - An ISAPI Filter program that rewrites URLs on the fly to help search engines find and index every page on a dynamic ASP site. Cost: $100. http://www.webanalyst.com.au/Products/ASPSpiderBait.htm
•
XQASP - Offers a NT IIS 3.0+ C++ or Unix Java filter called XQASP that converts question marks (?) in ASP URLs into forward slashes (/). Cost: $250$2,100. http://www.xde.net/xq/tool.xqasp/qx/index.htm
Here is a tool that converts databases into static HTML files: •
DBtoHTML Express – Offers a template-based tool that converts database files into static HTML files. Supports ODBC, Oracle, and SQL databases. Operating Systems: Windows 95, 98, Me, NT and 2000. Cost: $129. http://www.xlinesoft.com
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
92
Major Search Engines That Index Dynamically Generated Pages •
Google - http://www.google.com
•
Yahoo! Search (AllTheWeb, AltaVista and MSN) – http://search.yahoo.com
What Is Cloaking? Cloaking is the practice of serving search engine optimized pages to search engine spiders, while at the same time serving un-optimized pages to site visitors. It is also known as food script, spider script, ghost pages, phantom pages, IP delivery or stealth technology. Cloaking is probably the most controversial and hotly debated search engine optimization technique around today. Most major search engines publicly state that they consider cloaking to be spam. However, in the 6 years I’ve been in this business, I have yet to hear of a single website get banned by a search engine because of the use of cloaking. Some search engine optimizers who specialize in cloaking have stated that they have used this technique for many years without ever having a site banned.
How Does Cloaking Work? Cloaking works by detecting whether a visitor is a search engine spider, or human visitor, and serve the appropriate page to the spider or human visitor accordingly. Good cloaking software will identify spiders from their unique IP address (the internet address the spider came from), which can be one of many IP addresses. For this to work you need a comprehensive search engine spider IP address database. Search engine spiders are never redirected; otherwise it would be penalized by a search engine. Only your human visitors' web browser is redirected, so search engine spiders “should” never know they are being “tricked” (and I use that term lightly). © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
93
Why Do Search Engine Optimizers Use Cloaking? Cloaking allows you to: •
Optimize webpages for search engines without compromising your site's look and feel. Pages consisting mainly of graphics and multimedia typically offer little in the way of text for search engines to index. As a result these types of pages do not rank well.
•
Deliver dynamically generated (Database or CGI) webpages as static HTML pages, so that search engines will crawl and add them to their index.
•
Deliver local versions of webpages.
•
Hide the source code of your optimized pages from would-be search engine optimization page thieves. Getting top ranking pages is not easy. So you do not want to give your page optimization secrets away to your competitors easily by allowing them to view your optimized source code. Cloaking lets you protect your hard work, because the human visitor is served the un-optimized version of the page. This is the only way to hide optimized source code that search engines can index. There is another method of hiding optimized HTML source code from your visitors, but unfortunately it also hides the optimized code from search engine spiders. So it would defeat the purpose of optimizing your webpages. As such the program is not worth mentioning in the context of this book.
What Features Should You Look For In Cloaking Software? There are a number of important features you should look for when deciding on which cloaking software to use. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
94
•
It should support all the major search engines and their spiders, so that you can optimize pages for specific search engines for optimum targeting.
•
It should offer updates of spider IP addresses and other spider characteristics that the software supports. Search engines can, and do, add or change the IP address or other characteristics of their spiders. So a good cloaking software program must reflect the changes. Cloaking software that updates automatically is preferred, but some software providers will send a file for manual updating.
•
It should automatically redirect your human visitors without interfering with the spider receiving the cloaked page. Many search engines penalize websites that quickly redirect visitors. By giving search engine spiders the optimized version of webpages, spiders should not be redirected or encounter any redirection code on a page.
2 Cloaking Tools •
IP Delivery - Supports all the major search engines. You can install the script on all the domains your company owns, as the script is licensed to your company, not your domain. The purchase price includes IP updates for the first year plus phone and unlimited email support during the first month. Operating Systems: Unix (Perl) / Windows NT 4.0 (ASP). Cost: $995 + $100 per year for IP updates after the first year. http://www.ip-delivery.com
•
ShadowSniper - Offers many features. Price includes a 12 month subscription to their SpiderSpy database of search engine spiders, free installation and unlimited email support. Operating Systems: Requires PERL 5 - Unix, Linux, Windows NT and BSDI. Cost: $240 + $199 per year for IP updates after the first 12 months http://www.fantomaster.com/fassniper0.html
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
95
WHY I BELIEVE THEMED WEBSITES DO NOT IMPROVE SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS I’ve always believed that themed websites helped increase search engine rankings. That’s what I was taught when I started my SEO career. All the SEO experts agreed, so I had no reason to think otherwise. Let me tell you now that I was wrong, and I’m not afraid to admit my mistake. Search engine optimization is a complex subject. I am always learning and open to new ideas and findings. So when Mike Grehan, a search expert I respect very much, and author of “Search Engine Marketing: The Essential Best Practice Guide,” told me that search engines do not take into account the concept of theme websites, I was ready to listen. I was skeptical at first, but the mounting evidence just kept telling me that my belief in themed websites was wrong. Before I tell you why I now believe themed websites do not improve search engine rankings, let me explain what the concept of themed websites is, and why virtually all search engine optimization experts, including myself previously, endorsed this SEO concept.
What Are Themed Websites? Themed websites is a concept recommended by search engine optimizers whereby you created a website based around a theme, such as business, health, travel, etc. The idea is that search engines will give more relevance to webpages within a website if all the webpages are based around a single theme or topic. If you think about it logically, the concept makes sense. For example, let’s say you design a website on the theme of business. Every page in the site is about business and you cross link your webpages. So not only have you got dozens, even hundreds of pages, of business content, but the pages are all linked from other pages within the site which are also about business.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
96
Now if you were to pick a page from the site, it is more than likely that the page is about business, right? As such, search engines should think the same as well, correct? So in theory, the concept of creating themed websites sounds logical. Well, here lies the problem…
Search Engines Are Blind To Themed Websites! Search engines rank pages on a page-by-page basis, not on a site basis. In other words, they don't try to figure out how many pages of content you have on different topics, and reward sites with lots of content on a particular topic or theme. Instead, each webpage is ranked based on its own merits. As such, it makes no difference to a webpage’s relevance whether it is located within a site that contains 100 other pages of content on the same topic, or a site with 100 pages all on different topics.
What Do The Search Engines Think Of Themed Websites? Here are some quotes for those who like to hear the facts straight from the horses’ mouth. Here's what Daniel Dulitz, a Google software engineer said on the topic of themed websites: "I think people sometimes mean different things by 'themes.' The statement that somehow your blue widget site would be 'weaker' if it contained a page about Tigers - is completely wrong. No search engine would want to do that; having a page on Tigers doesn't affect your ability to be a resource for blue widgets. We'd miss good blue widget pages if we excluded the sites that also talk about Tigers. However, there is a difference between 'having a little bit of content about blue widgets' and 'having in-depth content about blue widgets.' Clearly we prefer indepth (more useful) content. That's not so much a preference for themes as a preference for depth."
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
97
Mike also recently interviewed Paul Gardi, Senior Vice President of Search at Ask Jeeves/Teoma. Here’s the transcript of part where Mike asks Paul whether themed websites play a part in search engine rankings. ---START Mike: Okay, a pet subject here, while we're discussing communities, and that's the subject of themed websites. I'm sure you know all about this. [Paul has a knowing smile here!] It's long been bandied around that if you have a website which sticks to one theme and one theme only, which is centered on a few keywords; this is the ticket to success. A themed website wins by pure mass, or dense aggregation, or something... So, the themed website thing, we have some poor guys laboring away desperately trying to create one hundred pages of material on the same subject so the entire site talks about blue widgets, every page is a blue widget page... Paul: You mean creating page after page on the same subject? Again, they're focusing on the wrong thing... Mike: Let me jump in again and put it this way: "Does the guy who has a blue widget website with 100 pages beat the guy who has only one page - but one very IMPORTANT page? Paul: No the larger site does not do better: Because we don't count the number of pages. We care about this: Are other pages on the same subject considering this to be a GOOD PAGE. And you know, even Google and what they do and the other methods, they can't do this. Sure, they do look at who's referring to the page but they don't look at the subject - the subject of the page. Yes, we look at all the information that the others do as well as everything else... ---END
I would like to thank Mike for allowing me to republish those snippets here. Thanks Mike! If a search engine doesn’t look at the subject of the page, as Paul states, then the concept of themed websites just cannot exist. It simply can’t!
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
98
Add to the fact that search engines do not count the number of pages, the only conclusion one can come to is that search engines determine relevancy by a page’s own merits, and not the number of pages surrounding it or the subject of those pages. What you have to realize is that it’s not that search engines don’t want to analyze the subject of every referring page. They do! The problem is that it would take far too long and reduce searches to a snails-pace instead of the quick quarter-of-a-second results we are accustomed to. This may change in the future, but for now themed websites is just not part of a search engines ranking algorithm, period.
Examples Of Webpages That Outrank Themed Websites If themed websites were given special treatment by search engines, then themed websites should always outrank single webpages, right? Wrong. Let me show you some examples of webpages outranking so-called themed websites. Unless you’re a Hong Kong movie fanatic, you probably don’t know that there is a well known Chinese movie star with the same name as me, “Michael Wong.” Now if you search for our name in Google, you would expect the most relevant search results to be websites or pages on the movie star, as opposed to me. After all, there are hundreds, probably thousands, of websites and webpages devoted to him and his movies. http://www.google.com/search?q=michael+wong
You may, or may not, be surprised to find that the top two rankings belong to me. I may not be anywhere as famous as Michael Wong the film star, but I have two webpages that Google thinks are the most relevant results for the search term, “Michael Wong.” Internet Marketing Expert - Michael Wong ... Internet Marketing Expert - Michael Wong. Mike is ... I have had the good © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
99
fortune of knowing Michael Wong for the past 3 years. He is ... www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/whos-mike.html - 23k - Cached - Similar pages Marketing News ... Marketing News By Michael Wong. Latest Marketing News Aug-15: Overture to Introduce New Ad Features. Aug-15: Website Errors Cost ... Description: Weblog offering Internet marketing news, press releases, product announcements, statistics, tips and... Category: Business > Marketing and Advertising > ... > Resources www.michaelwong.com/ - 31k - Cached - Similar pages
The #1 ranked listing is a webpage located in my Mike’s Marketing Tools website. http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com
The website offers reviews of marketing tools, some marketing tips, and a few free online marketing tools. There are about 180 pages of content, yet only about a dozen pages mentions my name. The main page which contains my bio is the one that Google has ranked as the most relevant page on the web for the search term, “Michael Wong.” Visit the site and you can see that the entire site clearly isn’t about me, but rather on marketing tools. Now if you take a look at the #2 ranking, you will see it is for another site of mine. This site has over 200 pages of content, yet only the solitary home page mentions my name in full. This site also isn’t about me at all, but offers marketing news headlines. Although this listing has my name as the domain name, it is interesting to note that the single page on the Mike’s Marketing Tools website containing my bio outranks the site containing the keyword phrase in the domain name. So it should be quite clear that themed content played no part in the ranking of these 2 top rankings. Want more examples? Search for “Arelis” which is a popular link popularity software program offered by Axandra/Voget Selbach Enterprises. The #1 ranking in Google is a review of the program on my site. This page is one page amongst 180 webpages. The official Arelis website is nowhere to be seen. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
100
http://www.google.com/search?q=Arelis
If you do a Google search for some of the marketing experts that I list on my Mike’s Marketing Tools site, you will find that my pages outrank the experts’ official websites. For example: http://www.google.com/search?q=Armand+Morin http://www.google.com/search?q=Cory+Rudl
I could go on and show you many, many more examples of single webpages outranking themed websites, but I think you get the idea. I would like to end by thanking Mike Grehan, for enlightening me on this subject. His knowledge of search engine technology is far greater than any other search engine expert I know of.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
101
HOW TO INCREASE YOUR SITE’S LINK POPULARITY FOR HIGHER SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS Link popularity refers to the number and quality of links pointing to a webpage. It is an extremely important method of improving your site's relevancy in search engines. The logic behind link popularity is broken down into two parts: 1. Quantity of Links - A link from page A to page B is a “vote” or “recommendation” for page B. Therefore it is logical to conclude that a webpage with 10,000 links pointing to it should be more relevant than one with only 10 links pointing to it. So try to get as many websites to link to yours as possible.
2. Quality of Links – A vote from an authoritative source should carry more weight than one from unknown source. For example, if you want to improve your search engine rankings, which are more likely to give the best advice - search engine optimization experts or car mechanics? So try to get as many links from authoritative websites as possible. These include: a. major search engines such as Google. http://www.google.com b. popular search portals such as MSN. http://search.msn.com c. popular web directories, such as the Yahoo! Directory and the Open Directory or Dmoz. http://dir.yahoo.com http://dmoz.org d. high trafficked sites, such as eBay, Amazon, and CNN. http://www.ebay.com http://www.amazon.com
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
102
http://www.cnn.com e. trade associations. f.
trade magazines.
g. industry experts.
The two most important websites to get links from are the Yahoo! Directory and the Open Directory. Google will crawl and index sites that are listed in either, or both, of these directories. I have seen websites achieve top rankings in Google merely with links from Yahoo! and the Open Directory and no other sites. It clearly illustrates the influence those two web directories have on Google. There are three types of links that will increase the link popularity of your site; incoming, internal, and to a lesser extent, outgoing links. Let’s take a look at each one in more detail.
How To Improve Your Incoming Link Popularity Rating Incoming link popularity refers to links pointing to a webpage from other people’s websites. It goes without saying that recommendation from a third-party should carry more weight than one from the site’s owner, simply because the third-party recommendation should be less biased. For this reason, search engines give incoming links the most weight out of the three link popularity factors. There are three ways to find websites to link to yours.
1. Free Tool For Finding Out Your Site’s Link Popularity Rating My free Link Popularity Checker offers instant, online reports of a site's link popularity rating in 4 top search engines, including Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and Teoma (Ask Jeeves) © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
103
http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/link-popularity/
2. How To Find Websites That Link To Your Competitors The best way to get other sites to link to yours is to ask them politely. And the best way to find likely candidates is to ask those sites that link to your competition. To find out which websites are linking to your competitors, visit a search engine and enter, "link:" or "links:" followed by a competitor’s domain name (with and without "www"). For example: link:yourcompetitor.com link:www.yourcompetitor.com links:yourcompetitor.com links:www.yourcompetitor.com
In the AllTheWeb, AltaVista and Yahoo! search engine, use: link:http://www.yourcompetitor.com
This should return a list of websites linking to your competitor. To check the link popularity of your own sites, simply use your own domain name. Do not forget that all the sites listed in the same category as yours in the major web directories, such as the Yahoo! Directory and the Open Directory, are ideal link candidates too.
3. How To Find Websites That Advertise Reciprocal Link Exchanges The second way to find link exchange partners is to find websites that publicly offer link exchanges. To find such sites, visit a search engine and search for:
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
104
links “your keywords”
Include the quotation marks to ensure the search engine only return pages with the exact search phrases you enter. Try replacing, "links" with one of the following sets of search phrases: resource info partner
resources information partners
4. How To Find Websites That Accept Site Submissions The third way to find websites to link to yours is to find sites that accept site submissions. To find such sites, visit a search engine and search for: "add url" "your keywords"
Try replacing, "add url" with one of the following sets of search phrases: add site add a site submit site submit a site
add link add a link submit link submit a link
add a url submit url submit a url
In addition, you can also find site submission pages by searching for the actual page. So, try replacing the "add url" search phrase with one of the following page names: addurl.html addaurl.html submiturl.html submitaurl.html add-url.html add-a-url.html submit-url.html
addsite.html addasite.html submitsite.html submitasite.html add-site.html add-a-site.html submit-site.html
addlink.html addalink.html submitlink.html submitalink.html add-link.html add-a-link.html submit-link.html
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
105
submit-a-url.html add_url.html add_a_url.html submit_url.html submit_a_url.html
submit-a-site.html add_site.html add_a_site.html submit_site.html submit_a_site.html
submit-a-link.html add_link.html add_a_link.html submit_link.html submit_a_link.html
I have discovered many relevant submission pages using these techniques.
How To Improve Your Internal Link Popularity Rating Internal link popularity refers to links between webpages within a site. Over the last few months I have noticed that search engines have reduced the importance of internal links between webpages. This must be the search engines answer to combating optimizers trying to improve link popularity by cross linking webpages within a site. Anyhow, it is still an important linking strategy. Therefore I do recommend cross linking all your important pages. This will help to improve your link popularity rating, and enable you to improve the relevancy of more important keywords. Cross linking your webpages also helps the search engine spiders find and index your most important pages quicker, especially if some pages are buried deep within your site.
Do Outgoing Links Improve Link Popularity? Outgoing links refers to links pointing to other sites from your webpages. This issue of whether outgoing links contribute to link popularity is a hotly debated issue amongst the search engine optimization community. The fact is, outgoing links do dilute the Google PageRank rating carried over to other pages by the rest of the links on the page. Some SEO experts may not agree with me on this next point, but that’s OK.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
106
I also believe that linking to other relevant websites can also help your search engine rankings, although it may not specifically help your link popularity as such. Let me give you an example of why I believe this. 1. Find a subcategory within the Yahoo! Directory. http://dir.yahoo.com
2. Search for the topic of that particular subcategory in a search engine such as Google. You are more than likely to find the Yahoo! Directory category page listed amongst the top 30 search results.
Here are some examples: Search Term: communications and networking Google Search: http://www.google.com/search?q=communications+and+networking Ranking: #1 Yahoo! Directory Category: http://dir.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Communications_and_Netw orking/ Search Term: computer generated art Google Search: http://www.google.com/search?q=computer+generated+art Ranking: #1 Yahoo! Directory Category: http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Visual_Arts/Computer_Generated/ Search Term: computer generated music Google Search: http://www.google.com/search?q=computer+generated+music Ranking: #1 Yahoo! Directory Category: http://dir.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Music/Computer_Generated/
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
107
As you can clearly see, Yahoo! does not offer any substantial content for those particular topics. It merely offers links to relevant websites. Yet many of its web directory pages are considered as relevant pages for the search queries listed. Is this a fluke? Is this limited to Google, because of its relationship with Yahoo? I doubt it very much. Conduct the same search on other major search engines and you will find the same pages listed amongst the top ranked search results in those engines as well. Some astute search engine optimizers have already gotten onto this fact and have designed links pages to take advantage of this. I have actually landed on these links pages as a result of a clicking through a top ranked Google listing.
How To Construct Links For Optimum Results It is essential that you use the important keyword phrase exactly as people would enter into search engines in your incoming, internal and outgoing links. In addition I highly recommend naming your files after the keyword phrase. For example, if the page is about “search engines,” the file name should be either “search-engines.html” or “search_engines.html” And all links to the page should contain the exact keyword phrase, “search engines.” Do not use the singular version of the keyword, which in our example would be, “search engine” minus the “s.” search engines
Incoming Links Commonly Mistaken As Link Popularity Boosters There are two types of incoming links that people commonly mistake as links that will boost their link popularity.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
108
These are links from: •
pay per click search engines, such as Overture. http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/overture.html
•
affiliate program providers, such as Commission Junction. http://www.cj.com
These links do not link directly to your site. Instead they link to their own site, for tracking purposes, which then redirects to the intended site. Search engines do not crawl and index these types of links. So these types of links will not help boost your link popularity rating.
What Are Link Farms & Why You Must Avoid Them At All Costs Link farms are networks of heavily cross linked pages on one or more sites, with the sole intention of artificially improving the link popularity of those pages and websites. All of the major search engines consider such linking as spam, so stay clear of these types of links. So NEVER EVER use link farms in the vain hope of boosting your link popularity. How can you spot a link farm? Link farms typically give you a page of links to add to your website. The outgoing links point to other link pages belonging to other members of the link farm network. The link titles and descriptions are the same on all the link pages, which makes it easy for a search engine to detect the presence of link spamming.
Useful Software For Boosting Your Link Popularity Link popularity software, such as Arelis, will help you find, manage and monitor link exchange partners. Yes, you can find link popularity partners manually. But in the time it
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
109
takes you to find 10 link exchange partners manually, Arelis would have found 1,000 potential link partners for you. •
Arelis – Searches the internet looking for suitable reciprocal link exchange sites, based on the keywords you give. Arelis then evaluates each site, sets up a links directory and uploads it to your server. It then helps you email potential link partners by sending personalized reciprocal link email requests, after you visit and approve those sites you wish to include into your links directory. Operating Systems: Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000 and XP. Cost: Demo (Up to 100 link partners) / $99.95 (Standard) / $299.95 (Business) http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/arelis.html
How To Contact & Request Links From Link Exchanges Partners In this section I will show you a sample email you can send to potential links exchange partners to request a link back to your site. Link popularity software programs, such as Arelis, provide sample emails. However, I highly recommend you edit the email to suit your own style of writing. Do not simply use the default emails that come with programs like Arelis. Why? Because thousands of Arelis users also have access to the same email template. There’s a good chance many of them would simply use the email offered by the program. You don’t want your email to sound exactly the same as theirs. Be original. Inject some personality into your emails. Once you have compiled a list of websites you wish to request links from, add a link to their website on your site. Then send an email to each site owner informing them that you have linked to their site and politely request a link back to your site. Don’t forget to use a subject line that will catch their attention without sounding like spam.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
110
Sample Reciprocal Link Request Email Subject Titles Here are some sample subject titles: Reciprocal link exchange request... I have added a link to your website... I have linked to your website... I would like to exchange links with you... I want to trade links with your site...
You notice that they are straight forward and to the point? Webmasters are busy people, so get straight to the point of the email in the subject line. Don’t use fancy headlines. Feel free to use or edit them as you see fit.
Sample Reciprocal Link Request Email You Can Use Here’s a sample email:
I highly recommend you edit the sample email to suit your own style of writing.
Sample Reciprocal Link Attached To Email Notice that I didn't include the link in the email. Instead I have included it in a text file [Mikes-Marketing-Tools-Link.txt] attached to the email. Mike's Marketing Tools is the leading review site for the very best internet marketing tools.
The reason for this is because some email clients, such as AOL, execute the HTML link in the email. The result is that the email recipient sees the link, instead of the link HTML code. Alternatively you could provide the link code on a webpage on your site, and provide a link to the page in the email.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
112
How To Create Reciprocal Links For Optimum Results Here are some tips on how to swap links for optimum results:
In General You Should Link To Your Home Page Search engines consider the home page as the most important on a website. So getting everyone to link to it will boost its chances of moving up the rankings.
Use The Exact Keyword Phrase As The Link Text The reason is that search engines will consider the keywords in the link text as the keywords the site (linking to you) is “recommending” your website for.
Make Sure The Link Text Is In The Landing (Linked To) Page Otherwise search engines will disregard the page as relevant to a search query for the keywords in your link text.
Word The Link Description To Attract Click Throughs Your reciprocal link exchange partners can and will send you free visitors, so take advantage of this by selling your website to visitors who visit your link partners' links page.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
113
HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR LINK POPULARITY WITH MINI-SITES The easiest way to get external websites to link to your main website is to add links to your main site from your other existing websites. If you don’t have any, then create some mini-sites.
What Are Mini-Sites? Mini-sites are small websites, normally containing no more than a few pages. Let’s use an example to illustrate how to use mini-sites. Let’s say you have an online store selling baby products. Here are some ideas on how to create mini-sites for your store.
Idea #1 Set up a website offering a list of baby names and their meanings. According to the Overture Search Term Suggestion Tool, there were 598,551 searches for “baby names” compared to only 75,872 searches for “baby clothing” across the Overture network in June 2003. So it makes sense to target visitors interested in baby names. After all, what kind of people is interested in baby names? Parents of course! And do they buy baby clothing? Absolutely! http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
Idea #2 But why settle for one website offering baby names? Set up additional sites for names in other languages, such as Chinese, Jewish, French, Japanese, etc. You get the idea?
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
114
Idea #3 You could also set up a website allowing parents to send email announcements of the birth of their new baby to their friends and families. Include the option to add photos of their baby to the announcement and allow recipients to purchase copies of the photos.
Idea #4 How about setting up a website offering advice on how to protect a baby from SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), also known as cot death? I’m sure new parents would find such a site most useful. Plus you would probably attract many links as well. I’m sure you get the idea. The idea of mini-sites is to create websites that compliment your main website. In general, you should offer free information or service that your customers would find useful. You then funnel the traffic from the mini-sites to your main website.
How To Cross Link Your Mini-Sites On your mini-sites, add text links to your main site, as well as to the other mini-sites. Make sure to include the exact spelling of your most important keywords in your text link. I highly recommend using different keyword phrases on different pages, in order to improve your search engine relevancy for different keyword phrases. Not everyone enters the same keywords when they are searching for a particular product or service. For example, in the case of our example baby store, you could link to the main site using the following popular search terms: baby furniture baby clothes baby bedding baby gifts and so on…
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
115
You can see how I have used this technique to funnel traffic from my free content sites to my commercial sites. http://www.amgy.com http://www.michaelwong.com http://www.1hour-search-engine-optimization.com http://www.javascript-2.com http://www.html-html.com http://www.great-web-design-tips.com http://www.ecommerce-dictionary.com Actually mini-sites are probably not a good description for these sites, as they contain over 1,800 pages of content in total. But their main purpose is to funnel traffic to my commercial websites, which you can find a list of at: http://www.amgy.com
What Is Site Popularity? Site popularity refers to click through popularity, and how long visitors remain at the site after getting there. Do not confuse site popularity with link popularity. Link popularity refers to the number and quality of links pointing back to a website. Direct Hit was the best known site popularity engine, but since Teoma acquired it, the public search interface has been removed and is no longer accessible. As far as I know there are no other major site popularity search engines in existent today.
What Is Click Through Popularity? Click through popularity refers to ranking links by the number of clicks it receives. One such search engine that uses click through popularity is the Yahoo! Directory. It takes click through popularity into account to determine the rankings of its “Most Popular” listings in each category of its web directory. To determine if a search engine or web directory tracks click through popularity, simply look at the link URL of an outgoing link. If the link URL starts with the search engine's © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
116
own site address, it is a clear indication that the search engine is monitoring the click through activity. For example, here is the outgoing link for Amazon.com in Yahoo's search results page: srd.yahoo.com/srst/2015786/amazon/1/359/T=1008927398/F=56ee31eeb0b688 94eb9ce52dd1d0985f/*http://www.amazon.com/
It is interesting to note that the outgoing Amazon.com link in Yahoo's directory (see below) is slightly different from the search results link. The reason is probably because Yahoo! uses different links to track the popularity of a link in different areas of the site. Category: Home > Business and Economy > Shopping and Services > Retailers > Amazon.com srd.yahoo.com/drst/2015786/*http://www.amazon.com/
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
117
HOW TO SUBMIT TO SEARCH ENGINES It is vital that you let the search engines know your website exists. Because if they don’t know your website exists, you have no hope of getting indexed by them. There are two ways to get your site onto the search engine radar: 1. Submit your webpages directly. 2. Let the search engines find your webpages via links from webpages already crawled and indexed by the search engines. Nowadays this is the preferred method. The reason is because more and more search engines, such as Google, no longer rely on site owners to submit their websites for indexing. Instead they rely on finding sites via links from other websites already in its index.
The most basic way of submitting to a search engine is visit a search engine's “submissions page” (add a site, submit URL, submit a site, etc.) and submit your website’s URL. The search engine “should” add your site to its list of URLs to crawl. However, this doesn’t always happen and you will usually find some statement stating this on a search engine’s submission page. Part of the reason is because far too many webmasters abuse the system by submitting their websites over and over again. So don’t rely on search engines indexing your site just because you submitted it via their submission form. I highly recommend getting links from websites already indexed in the major search engines. Visit the “How To Increase Your Site's Link Popularity For Higher Search Engine Rankings” section for more information.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
118
How To Compose Search Engine Listing Titles & Descriptions To ensure that your entire website is indexed properly by the search engines, you must prepare your website before submitting it. To do that you must make sure each page has: • •
a useful listing title. a useful listing description.
How To Compose Search Engine Listing Titles You must include a HTML TITLE tag in the HEAD section of every single page. All search engines extract the contents of a page's TITLE tag to use as the listing title. Without a title tag search engines will either use something like "Untitled," or the page URL as the listing title. This is detrimental to your page's search engine relevancy and doesn’t help to sell your webpage to search engine users. Here’s an example of a TITLE tag: Search Engine Optimization Strategies
How To Compose Search Engine Listing Descriptions Quite a few search engines now extract the contents of the meta description tag to use as the listing description. If the meta description tag is missing, the first sentence of the main body text is used instead. Here’s an example of a meta description tag:
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
119
Common Problem With Indexing The First Sentence If the meta description tag is missing, search engines will extract the first sentence of the main body text to use as the listing description. This sounds good in theory, but quite often doesn’t produce the desired results. The reason is most webpages display a navigation menu at the top or left side of a webpage. As such navigation links come before the main body text in the HTML document. So the first couple of hundred characters that search engine spiders see are the navigation links. This is what they extract to use as the listing description. This is not good. But what’s worse is that if a website uses a top or left navigation bar, it is most likely to use it on every page of a site. So every listing description will end up with the same keywords. Visit the “How To Compose Web Directory Listing Titles & Descriptions” section for more information on how to compose your page title and description for optimum rankings.
How To Manually Submit Your Website To Search Engines The best way to submit a website to search engines for indexing is by hand. Yes, I do mean physically visiting a search engine and registering your URLs. Of course you should only submit a site by hand if you only have one or two small websites to submit. If you have dozens of webpages, I recommend using a search engine submission software program or online service. Some search engines have a policy of only accepted a limited number of URLs per day. So you would have to return on another day to submit additional URLs. In addition, most search engine spiders only crawl a limited number of pages in a site. So if you have a large site with hundreds of webpages you should register every important page of your site, which may require many visits.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
120
Visit the “121 Search Engines & Web Directories That Accept Free Site Submissions” for a comprehensive list of search engines you can submit to for free.
Search Engine Submission Software That Automates The Submission Process Search engine submission software can automate the tedious task of submitting hundreds of webpages to the search engines. NOTE: It is extremely important that you only use search engine submission software that simulates manual submissions, as most search engines have banned automated submissions that simply submit URLs without any regard for the search engine’s submission guidelines and limits. Here is a recommended search engine submission software program that I use, which simulates manual submissions: •
WebPosition Gold - A popular search engine optimization, submission and monitoring software program. The reporting feature display a summary of your ranking statistics over time, by search engine and keyword, what is positioned above and below you, and alerts you to places where you have declined in rank. Supports 92 major search engines, web directories and pay-per-click search engines worldwide. Operating Systems: Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, NT and XP. Cost: $149 (Standard Edition) / $349 (Professional Edition) http://www.webpositiongoldpro.com http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/webposition-gold.html (My review)
For more search engine submission software, visit: http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/directory/search-enginesubmission-software.html
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
121
Online Search Engine Submission Services That Automates The Submission Process Online search engine submission services are similar to their software counterpart, except they are hosted online rather than on your computer. As with search engine submission software, you should only use an online search engine submission service that simulates manual submissions. Be careful of which online search engine submission service you use. Many of them are very basic in design, often designed before search engines starting banning automated submissions. Many claim to submit your site to hundreds of thousands of search engines. That is just marketing hype. The fact is there aren't that many search engines on the internet. The vast majority of the search engines these services claim to submit to, are either small directories or link pages, with little or no traffic. Another problem with the majority of online submission services is that they do not take into account that search engines only accept a maximum number of URLs from one site, per day. What happens is that people end up submitting too many URLs, which are either ignored, rejected or get the site banned. If you prefer an online search engine submission service to a software solution, here is a service worth considering: •
Priority Submit - An online search engine submission service that offers Trusted Feed services and paid inclusion of your webpages in top search engines within 48 hours. http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/priority-submit.html (My review)
For more search engine submission services, visit: http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/directory/search-enginesubmission-service.html
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
122
How Long Does It Take To Get Indexed? Once you have submitted your site to the search engines, it may take up to eight weeks or more, depending on the search engine, for your site to appear in the search results. Why does it take so long? The answer is that it takes search engines that long to crawl and index the billions of pages on the web. In addition, some of the major search engines receive up to several hundred thousand submissions a day. A lot of people do not understand why it takes so long for their site to get indexed. They get impatient after a few days of not being able to find their site in the search engines. As a result, they resubmit their site again and again in the hope of speeding up the indexing process. This does not speed up the indexing process. Instead, it will get your site blacklisted. You must be patient when it comes to the search engines. You either play by their game, or not at all. In general, I suggest that you wait 6-8 weeks, before resubmitting a URL.
How To Submit To Foreign Search Engines Be careful of search engine submission software and online services claims that they will submit your site to thousands of search engines. More often than not a good percentage of those search engines are foreign, non-English search engines and directories. In general it can be difficult to get indexed by foreign search engines because: •
most foreign engines only accept websites ending with their country code extension (e.g. ".de" for Germany).
•
they only websites belonging to its country's citizens, permanent residents, and companies.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
123
•
many foreign search engines only accept websites in their local language. It can be difficult and expensive to translate a site into a foreign language.
•
Many foreign search engines only accept websites that are hosted locally. It can be expensive to co-host a site in another country. The costs can quickly add up if you had to rent server space for every country you wanted to host your site in order to comply with local search engine registration policies.
So in general unless your main target audience is non-English speaking, I advise against spending much, if any, effort in submitting to foreign search engines. It just isn’t worth it.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
124
HOW TO SUBMIT TO WEB DIRECTORIES The first place your should submit your website to are the popular web directories, such as the Yahoo! Directory, Open Directory Project, and LookSmart. http://dir.yahoo.com http://dmoz.org http://www.looksmart.com
Here are the four main benefits: 1. Listings in the Open Directory and LookSmart index also appear on many of the top search engines, including Google, Yahoo and MSN. http://www.google.com http://search.yahoo.com http://search.msn.com 2. Search engines will have a better chance of finding and indexing your website. Google for example publicly state that they will index your website within six to eight weeks, once your website is included in either the Yahoo! Directory, or the Open Directory Index. 3. Some search engines give a relevancy boost to sites that are already indexed in major web directories, such as the Yahoo! Directory, or the Open Directory Index. Therefore, I recommend submitting your site to the web directories, before you submitting it to the search engines. 4. Web directories themselves can provide a lot of free traffic.
But before you submit your websites, I highly recommend that you spend a bit of time selecting appropriate categories and composing your web directory titles and descriptions. They will ultimately determine the success of your listings in the directories, and can also contribute a major part to the success of your listings in the search engines.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
125
How To Compose Web Directory Listing Titles & Descriptions Before you even consider submitting your site to the web directories, you must prepare the listing title and description for your site. If you have already built your website, I assume you know what your most important keyword phrase, right? If not, visit the “32 Keyword Research Tools” section for tools to help you find out what keywords your customers are entering into search engines. In the case of the Open Directory Project, which accepts multiple submissions for different topics in a website, you should find the most important keywords for each section of your site you are submitting.
How To Compose Listing Titles Here are some tips on how to compose good listing titles: • •
•
• •
Only use the most important keyword phrase. The fewer keywords you use, the greater the weight given to each keyword, which increases relevancy. Spell the keyword phrase exactly as your visitors would enter into the search engines. Do not use plurals, if your visitors usually enter in the singular version of your keyword phrase, and vice versa. Do not include your company name in the title, unless that is the primary keyword you are promoting, or is required by the web directory you are submitting to. Do not hype up your title. It’s not a classified ad. Web directory editors only want functional titles. Do not include any "stop words" (a, an, and, i, in, it, of, on, etc.) in your title. Stop words are usually ignored by search engines to speed up searches, and do nothing for search engine relevancy.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
126
Here are some examples of good titles: • • •
SEO Services Cheap Baby Clothing WebPosition Gold
And examples of poor titles: • •
John Smith’s SEO Services (Remove your name, if possible) The Cheapest Baby Shop In The World! (Too much hype) WebPosition Gold – Search Engine Software (Too many keywords)
How To Compose The Description Here are some tips on how to compose the listing description: • • • • • •
Do not hype up your description into a sales pitch. Web directory editors only want functional descriptions. Compose a one sentence description. Include the most important keyword phrase as close to the beginning of the sentence as possible. Include some secondary keyword phrases. Spell the keywords exactly as your visitors would enter into the search engines. Use as few "stop words" (a, an, and, i, in, it, of, on, etc.) as possible. Stop words are usually ignored by search engines to speed up searches, and do nothing for search engine relevancy.
Here are some examples of good descriptions: • • •
Features search engine strategies, news, statistics, optimization tips, resources, and a weekly newsletter. Offers baby clothing, toys, diapers, and a free online dictionary of baby names. Internet marketing news headlines, statistics and commentary.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
127
And examples of poor descriptions: • • •
Offers America’s best search engine optimization service, with guaranteed top 10 listings within 7 days! Features 5,000 different software titles, all low prices and free delivery. The Baby Superstore offers baby clothes of all sizes, colors and designs. Plus toys, diapers, and a baby name dictionary.
If you submit an unsuitable description, the editor could either edit it to the point that it no longer resembles the description you submitted, or worse still ignore or reject your submission altogether. So stick with functional keyword-rich descriptions and you won’t run the risk of major edits to your description, which could lose some, or all, of the important keywords you want.
Maximum Number Of Words Or Characters Allowed In The Listing Title & Description Each web directory has its own set of guidelines as to the maximum number of words or characters allowed.
Max. Title Length Max. Description Length
LookSmart Open Directory Project 55 Characters. N/A 145 Characters / 25-30 Words 20 Words
Listings Per Site
One
Yahoo! 40 Characters / 5 Words 200 Characters / 25 Words
Accepts multiple listings, as long as One each submission offers unique content.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
128
Examples Of Successful Web Directory Listing Titles & Descriptions Here are a few examples of successful titles and descriptions that I have created in the past: Affiliate Programs Guide - Articles and tutorials on how to start making money with affiliate programs. Dreamweaver Tutorial - Tutorial for novices and gurus alike which covers various aspects of how to use Dreamweaver. Free JavaScripts - Over 400 free JavaScripts. Link Popularity Checker - Generates a report of your site's link popularity in top search engines.
Notice how the important keywords are in both the titles and descriptions? Always try to include additional keywords in the description that are not in the title. This will help to create more keyword phrases. For example: Affiliate Programs Guide - Articles and tutorials on how to start making money with affiliate programs.
Important keyword phrases include: affiliate affiliate affiliate affiliate affiliate
programs program guide program articles program tutorials program make money
Create a number of listing titles and descriptions. Play around with it. Even leave it and come back to it the next day. I am often surprised how a fresh mind can improve a title or description I had written the day before. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
129
You really only have one chance to get the listing title and description right. Because once you submit it, it’s virtually impossible to get it changed unless your site content changes significantly. Directory editors do not care about your site’s rankings. So don’t expect to be able to edit your listing if it doesn’t get a good ranking. When you are 100% satisfied with your title and listing, you are ready to submit your site to the web directories.
How To Select The Most Appropriate Web Directory Category The choice of category can make or break a listing. Select inappropriate categories and your submission will probably be rejected. Select unpopular categories, or categories situated down too many levels, and you may only receive a trickle of visitors. Another important consideration is that search engines tend to give listings indexed in web directory categories nearer the top of the directory tree. So always try to select a category as near to the top level as possible. Go to a web directory’s search form and enter the most important keyword phrase you are targeting in the search box. Let’s say your important keyword phrase is "cheap web hosting" and we conduct a search in the Yahoo! Directory: http://search.yahoo.com/search/dir?p=cheap+web+hosting
Take a good look at the title and domain names of the top listings. Notice how the keywords appear in the majority of the listings? Now take a look at the link directly underneath the top 5 listings. You should see one of the following text links: More sites about: Website Hosting © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
130
More sites about: Website Hosting > Directories
This tells you that the Yahoo! Directory considers these two categories as the most relevant for our keyword phrase. More often than not, the searched keywords are in title of the category itself. In fact, the category is the most important factor in a site’s ranking in the Yahoo! Directory. Select the wrong category and your chances of achieving top rankings are virtually zero. Click on one of the “More sites about…” links. This takes you to the listing's category in the Yahoo! Directory. You notice the border at the top of the page that stretches across the screen, directly underneath the banner? It's in yellow. This indicates a commercial category. Noncommercial categories are in blue. You should find the, "Suggest a Site" link at the top of the page. These links correspond to this particular category in the Yahoo! Directory. Every category has its own submission link. So you must visit the category you want to submit to and click the "Suggest a Site" link to submit to a particular category.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
131
7 Web Directory Submission Tips Here are seven web directory submission tips:
1. Make Sure Your Website Is 100% Ready Web directory editors are under no obligation to index your website. Do not submit a website if it isn’t 100% ready and professional looking.
2. Submit Your Website Manually I highly recommend that you do not use any kind of automated search engine submission software or online submission service to submit your site to the web directories. Web directory submissions should be undertaken manually, and I have always followed that policy.
3. Follow The Submission Guidelines Carefully read and follow the guidelines set out by each web directory.
4. Submit To The Most Appropriate Category This could make or break your listing, so make sure you get this right, as you only have chance at it.
5. Double Check Every Detail Make sure there is no spelling or typing errors. Make sure the contact details you enter in the submission form matches the details in your site and the InterNIC (Whois) records. To find your Whois records, visit Domain Registration Bank, click the Whois link at the bottom of the page, and enter your domain name. http://www.domain-registration-bank.com
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
132
6. Consider Submitting To A Regional Directory Or Category If you have a regionally specific website, consider submitting it to the appropriate regional directory or category. Regional submissions have a better chance of getting in, and in a much quicker time, since those editors are more interested in building up their guides and do not usually have as many submissions to deal with. If you submit to a regional directory, your site will still available for searching in the main directory.
7. Indicate Time Sensitive Submissions If your website contains time sensitive news or information, make sure you indicate this on the submission form. Quite often, websites that contain time sensitive information are indexed very quickly.
That’s it! Good luck with your web directory submissions!
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
133
121 SEARCH ENGINES & WEB DIRECTORIES THAT ACCEPT FREE SITE SUBMISSIONS Many search engines and web directories nowadays no longer accept free site submissions. Fortunately there are plenty that still do. Here are 121 legitimate search engines and web directories where you can submit your site to for free. None of them are FFA (Free For All) link pages. I highly recommend that you steer clear of FFA sites. In general they are consider spam by search engines. I have visited and double checked every single search engine in this list. But please do report any broken links by emailing me at
[email protected]. Thank you in advance. Country
Name
Free Submissions
-
Citysearch
Argentina
Yahoo! Argentina
http://selfenroll.citysearch.com/Enroll_Start.asp?Agent=citysearch&Feed =default http://ar.docs.yahoo.com/info/sugerir.html
Asia
Yahoo! Asia
http://asia.docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/
Australia
NineMSN Search
http://au.zeal.com
Australia
OzSearch
http://search.oznetwork.com.au/search/tips.html
Australia
Yahoo! Australia & NZ http://au.rd.yahoo.com/f/su
Brazil
Yahoo! Brazil
http://add.br.yahoo.com/fast/add?2086175535+BR
Canada
http://www.canadaone.com/business/addurl.html
Canada
CanadianOne Business CanadianOne
Canada
CANLinks
http://www.canlinks.net/addalink/
Canada
Categories.ca
http://www.categories.ca/cgi-bin/user.cgi
Canada
MSN Canada Search
http://ca.zeal.com
Canada
Sympatico
http://pre.sympatico.ca/en/search/submit.html
Canada
Yahoo! Canada
http://ca.rd.yahoo.com/home/bpl/*http://help.yahoo.com/help/ca/url/
Catalan
Yahoo! Catalan
http://ct.docs.yahoo.com/info/suggerir.html
China
Yahoo! China
http://cn.yahoo.com/docs/info/suggest.html
Denmark
Yahoo! Denmark
http://dk.docs.yahoo.com/express/splash.html
France
MSN France Search
http://search2.msn.fr/suggestions/fr/default.asp
France
Yahoo! France
http://fr.docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/splashyexhp.html
Germany
Yahoo! Germany
http://de.docs.yahoo.com/info/yexpress/splash.html
http://www.canadaone.com/business/suggest.html
Hong Kong MSN Hong Kong Search Hong Kong Yahoo! Hong Kong
http://msn.openfind.com.tw/MSN/submit-hk.htm http://hk.yahoo.com/docs/info/suggest.html
India
Yahoo! India
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/
Italy
Yahoo! Italy
http://it.docs.yahoo.com/splash_espress.html
Japan
Yahoo! Japan
http://help.yahoo.co.jp/help/jp/url/url-04.html
Korea
Yahoo! Korea
http://kr.suggest.yahoo.com
Mexico
Yahoo! Mexico
http://mx.yahoo.com/docs/info/sugerir.html
Norway
Yahoo! Norway
http://add.europe.yahoo.com/bin/add?2000226956+NO
Rus. Fed.
MavicaNET
http://www.mavicanet.com
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
134
Singapore
Yahoo! Singapore
http://sg.docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/
Spain
Yahoo! Spain
http://es.docs.yahoo.com/info/sugerir.html
Sweden
Yahoo! Sweden
http://se.docs.yahoo.com/express/splash.html
Switzerland SearchEngine.com
http://www.searchengine.com/List_Your_Site/Basic_Submit/
Taiwan
MSN Taiwan Search
http://msn.openfind.com.tw/MSN/submit-home.htm
Taiwan
Yahoo! Taiwan
http://add.yahoo.com/fast/add?69349243+TW
UK
192 Directory
http://www.192directory.co.uk/forms/submit.htm
UK
Gimpsy
http://www.gimpsy.com/gimpsy/searcher/suggest.php
UK
HotBot UK
http://www.hotbot.lycos.co.uk/submit.html
UK
Mirago
http://www.mirago.co.uk/regions/default.asp
UK
Mirago Directory
http://dmoz.org/add.html
UK
Splut
http://www.splut.com/cgibin/suggest.cgi?type=site&level=000
UK
Yahoo! UK & Ireland
http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/ukie/express/splash.html
US
2kCity
http://www.2kcity.com/search/addurl.asp
US
About.com
http://www.about.com/gi/pages/homehc.htm#c4
US
Aeiwi
http://www.aeiwi.com/submit.html
US
Aesop
http://www.aesop.com/cgi-bin/sub/submiturl.cgi
US
Alexa
http://pages.alexa.com/help/webmasters/index.html
US
AllTheWeb
http://www.alltheweb.com/add_url.php
US
AltaVista
http://addurl.altavista.com/addurl/new
US
AOL Directory
http://dmoz.org/add.html
US
AOL Search
http://www.google.com/addurl.html
US
Bhanvad
http://www.bhanvad.com/index.php?t=rregistration
US
Blue Web 'N
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn/suggesturl.cfm
US
Cipinet
http://www.cipinet.com/addurl.html
US
Claymont
http://www.claymont.com/login/login.asp
US
Clickey
http://www.clickey.com/signup.shtml
US
Ditto
http://www.ditto.com/addurl.asp
US
Education Index
http://www.educationindex.com
US
Education World
http://www.education-world.com/navigatio-dd_url_form.shtml
US
Entireweb
http://www.entireweb.com/eng/basic/
US
ExactSeek
http://www.exactseek.com/add.html
US
FindInfo
http://www.findinfo.com/submit.htm
US
Froogle
http://froogle.google.com/froogle/merchants.html
US
GamblingSeek
http://gamblingseek.com/cgi-bin/addurl.cgi
US
Go.com
http://www.google.com/addurl.html
US
GoGuides
http://www.goguides.org/info/addurl.htm
US
Google
http://www.google.com/addurl.html
US
Google Catalogs
http://catalogs.google.com/googlecatalogs/catalog_vendors.html#add
US
Google Image Search http://images.google.com/addurl.html
US
Google News
http://www.google.com/help/about_news_search.html
US
HotBot
http://insite.lycos.com/searchservices/ssecrm_homepage.asp?func=free
US
HumorSeek
http://humorseek.com/cgi-bin/addurl.cgi
US
Inktomi
http://free.submit-it.com/msnsubmit.htm
US
Internet Archive
http://pages.alexa.com/help/webmasters/
US
Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org/div/contact/
US
iWon
US
Jayde
http://search.jayde.com/cgi-bin/submit.cgi
US
JoeAnt
http://www.joeant.com/suggest.html
US
LibrarySpot
http://www.libraryspot.com/suggest.htm
US
Librians' Index to the http://lii.org/search?suggest=1
http://www.google.com/addurl.html
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
135
Internet US
Lycos
http://insite.lycos.com/
US
Lycos Directory
http://dmoz.org/add.html
US
Mallpark
http://www2.mallpark.com/MS/MSIndex.cfm
US
Medology
http://www.medology.com/addurl.htm
US
MixCat
http://www.mixcat.com/addurl.html
US
MSN US Search
http://www.zeal.com/users/non_profit.jhtml
US
My Global Website
http://directory.myglobalwebsite.com/cgi-bin/request.cgi
US
NationalDirectory
http://www.nationaldirectory.com/addurl/
US
Nerd Wide Web
http://www.nerdworld.com/ww_add_a_link.html
US
NetInsert
http://www.netinsert.com/en/insert.html
US
Netscape Search
http://www.google.com/addurl.html
US
http://dmoz.org/add.html
US
Open Directory Project PageSeeker
US
Prime Find
http://www.primefind.net/add-a-site.html
https://secure.pageseeker.com/signup.htm
US
QuestFinder
http://www.questfinder.com/search/s-ctm.cgi?s-addurl.ctm
US
Refdesk
http://www.refdesk.com/criteria.html
US
REX
http://rex.skyline.net/add/
US
Scrub The Web
http://www.scrubtheweb.com/addurl.html
US
SearchHippo
http://www.searchhippo.com/addlink.php
US
SearchIt
http://www.searchit.com/addurl.htm
US
SeekOn
http://www.seekon.com/addurl.html
US
SeekOn/Local
http://www.seekon.com/faq.html#listing
US
SirLinksalot
http://www.sirlinksalot.net/suggest.html
US
Splat! Search
http://www.splatsearch.com/submit.html
US
Subjex
http://www.subjex.net/submit_url.html
US
TravellerSeek
http://travellerseek.com/cgi-bin/addurl.cgi
US
TrueSearch
http://www.truesearch.com/addurl/
US
TryAmerica
http://www.tryamerica.com/AddURL.htm
US
http://www.turnpike.net/directory.html?getentry
US
TurnPike Emporium Directory Walhello
US
Web World Index
http://www.webworldindex.com/submit.htm
US
Websquash
http://www.websquash.com/cgi-bin/search/search.pl?Mode=AnonAdd
US
WhatUSeek
http://www.whatuseek.com/addurl-secondary.shtml
US
Wisenut
http://www.wisenut.com/submit.html
US
WWW Riot
http://www.dxpnet.com/riot/submit.asp
US
Yahoo!
http://submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request
US
Yahoo! Directory
http://www.yahoo.com/r/ad
US
http://chinese.yahoo.com/docs/info/suggest.html http://e1.docs.yahoo.com/info/sugerir.html
US
Yahoo! U.S. in Chinese Yahoo! U.S. in Spanish Yahooligans!
US
Zeal
http://www.zeal.com/guidelines/user/
US
http://www.walhello.com/addlinkgl.html
http://add.yahoo.com/fast/add?+Kids
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
136
HOW TO MONITOR YOUR SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS Search engine rankings are a measure of a site's visibility in the search engines. Being ranked #10,345 will not get your site any traffic, as few people ever go beyond the first three pages (top 30) of search engine results.
How To Monitor Search Engine Rankings Manually You can find out your search ranking results manually by entering a keyword phrase in a search engine to see where your webpages appear in the rankings. Of course, monitoring your search engine rankings manually is only recommended if you have a tight budget, only a few pages and keyword phrases to check, and a lot of time on your hands. Alternatively, you can monitor your search engine rankings quickly and efficiently using one of the many search engine ranking software programs, or online services.
Search Engine Ranking Software Here is a software program that I use to check the search engine rankings of my sites and those of my clients: •
Web Position Gold - A popular search engine optimization, submission and monitoring software program. The reporting feature display a summary of your ranking statistics over time, by search engine and keyword, what is positioned above and below you, and alerts you to places where you have declined in rank. Supports over 80 major search engines, web directories and pay-per-click search engines worldwide. Operating Systems: Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, NT and XP. Cost: $149 (Standard Edition) / $349 (Professional Edition) http://www.webpositiongoldpro.com http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/webposition-gold.html (My review)
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
137
For more search engine ranking software, visit: http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/directory/search-engineoptimization-software.html
Free Online Search Engine Ranking Tool I also offer a free online search engine ranking tool on my Mike’s Marketing Tools website. •
Search Engine Ranking Reports - instant, online reports of website rankings in 7 top search engines, including Google, Yahoo! Search, MSN, AOL, Teoma (Ask Jeeves), AltaVista, AllTheWeb, and the top 3 web directories; Yahoo! Directory, Open Directory (Dmoz), and LookSmart - FREE! http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/ranking-reports/
Search Engine Results Do Vary Various factors can affect rankings reported by the search engines. These include time of day, indexing runs, traffic load, load balancing measures, server timeout, ongoing ranking jobs, etc. Some search engines, such as Google, use multiple databases. So search engine rankings aren’t necessarily 100% accurate, since they only present a snap shot of the rankings at a particular moment.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
138
SEARCH ENGINE RELATIONSHIP CHARTS The search engine relationship chart shows the major search engines and the search engines that power their main, pay per click, web directory and backup search results. This will give you a quick overview of the major search engines and their relationships with other search engines. Search Engine AllTheWeb AltaVista AOL Ask Jeeves Dmoz Go.com Google HotBot iWon LookSmart Lycos MSN Netscape Overture Teoma WiseNut Yahoo! Search Engine
Main Search Results Yahoo! Yahoo! Google Teoma Dmoz Google Google Inktomi Google WiseNut Fast Search Yahoo! Google Teoma WiseNut Yahoo! Main Search Results
Pay Per Click Results Overture Overture Google Google Google Google Lycos Google LookSmart Lycos Overture Google Overture Ask Jeeves LookSmart Overture Pay Per Click Results
Directory Results Dmoz Dmoz Dmoz Dmoz Dmoz LookSmart Dmoz Dmoz Dmoz Yahoo! Directory Results
Backup Results WiseNut LookSmart Inktomi Backup Results
Main Search Engines This search engine chart shows the most popular or influential search engines and the part they play in other search engines. Main Results by Google AOL Go.com Google iWon Netscape
Pay Per Click by Google AOL Ask Jeeves Go.com Google iWon Netscape
Pay Per Click by Overture AllTheWeb AltaVista MSN Overture Yahoo!
Directory by Dmoz AltaVista AOL Dmoz Google iWon Lycos MSN Netscape
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
Owned by Yahoo! AllTheWeb AltaVista Inktomi Overture Yahoo!
139
For the latest updates to the search engine charts, visit: http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/search-engine-chart.html
The online version uses search engine logos which probably makes for easier viewing.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
140
GOOGLE Google is the world's biggest search engine with over 8 billion webpages, 880 million images, and 1 billion Usenet messages. Its search results now appear in some of the most popular websites including Yahoo!, AOL Search, and Netscape. Google is without doubt the most widely used search engine on the planet, with over 250 million searches per day. Fifty percent of Google.com traffic is from outside the US.
Google Information Documents Indexed
Crawls The Web (Every) Unique Visitors (Monthly) Audience Reach Searches (Daily) Referral Traffic Directory Partner (Powered By) Pay Per Click
Supplies Results For Search Results Listing Order Free Submission (Time to Index) Non-Submitted Pages (Time to Index) Submit Pages Deep Crawl? Pages Indexed Submission Limit (Daily) Paid Inclusion? (Time to Index & Update + Costs) Ranking Data Spider's Name Page Clustering? Maximum Title Tag Length Maximum Description Tag Length
Maximum Keyword Tag Length
8 billion web Pages 880 million images 1 billion Usenet messages 4 weeks (in order of importance) 62.2 million (Nielsen//NetRatings 10/02) 39.4% (Nielsen//NetRatings 01/04) - over 50% of which is from outside the US. 250 million+ 14.40% Open Directory Project Google AdWords Set Up: Within minutes Cost Per Click: $0.05 minimum Ads per page: Up to 8 Ranking Algorithm: Mixture of bid price and click through ratio Yahoo!, AOL Search, Netscape Search, CompuServe, EarthLink and AT&T. Google 4-8 weeks 4-8 weeks Home page Yes - 4 levels down Entire website 1 page recommended Not Available Spider Googlebot Yes 83 characters 160 characters. If tag is missing, it displays webpage extract. Also displays Open Directory description, if available. Not indexed
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
141
Support Frame Links? No Support Image Maps? No Support Meta Robots Tag? No Support Robots.Txt? Yes Index Description Tag? Yes Index Dynamic Pages? (CGI, ?, =, %, &, Etc.) Yes, but given lower ranking than HTML pages. Index Keyword Tag? No Index PDF Files? Yes Recommended Maximum File Size 20k Recommended Maximum Keyword Weight 1-3% Recommended Maximum Word Count Per Page Maximum of 750 words (Content) Case Sensitivity Affect Ranking? No Cross Linking Important Pages Affect Ranking? Yes Directory Listing Affect Ranking? Yes Home Page Affect Ranking? No Keywords in ALT Attributes Affect Ranking? Yes Keywords in Anchor Text Affect Ranking? No Keywords in Body Content Affect Ranking? Yes (Density) Keywords in Bold Affect Ranking? Yes Keywords in Bottom of Page Affect Ranking? Yes (Density) Keywords in Comment Tags Affect Ranking? No Keywords in Entire HTML File Affect Ranking? No Keywords in Headline Tags Affect Ranking? Yes (Density) Keywords in Hidden Layers (CSS) Affect Ranking? No Keywords in Link Text Affect Ranking? Yes (Frequency) Keywords in Link URL Affect Ranking? Yes (Frequency is important) Keywords in Meta Author Tag Affect Ranking? No Keywords in Meta Description Tag Affect Ranking? Yes (Frequency) Keywords in Meta Keyword Tag Affect Ranking? Yes (Density is important) Keywords in NoFrames Content Affect Ranking? No Keywords in Style Tags Affect Ranking? No Keywords in Title Tag Affect Ranking? Yes (Density and frequency is very important) Keywords in Top of Page Affect Ranking? Yes (Frequency and density is important) Keywords in URL Affect Ranking? Yes (Frequency is important) Link Popularity Affect Ranking? Very important Page Length Affect Ranking? Short pages Spider Found Sites Affect Ranking? Yes Stop Words Affect Ranking? Yes Uncommon Keywords Affect Ranking? Yes Word Stemming Affect Ranking? No Cloaking Considered Spam? Yes Hidden Links Considered Spam? Yes Duplicate Pages Considered Spam? Yes Invisible Text Considered Spam? Yes Keyword Stuffing Considered Spam? Yes Keywords in Hidden Value Tag Considered Spam? Yes Link Exchange Program Use Considered Spam? Yes
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
142
Meta Refresh Tag Considered Spam? Tiny Text Considered Spam? Home Page Engine's Own Site Submission/Ranking Tips Free Submission Paid Inclusion Sponsored Feature Listings Email Support Spam Report / Support Copyright Infringement Support Customer Support Telephone Number
Yes Yes http://www.google.com Google Information for Webmasters http://www.google.com/webmasters/ Submit your site http://www.google.com/addurl.html Google AdWords https://adwords.google.com/select/ Premium Sponsorships Advertising http://www.google.com/ads/overview.html
[email protected] [email protected] http://www.google.com/dmca.html 1-650-330-0100
What Is Google PageRank? PageRank is the heart of the software that runs Google. It’s a system for ranking webpages developed by Google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. PageRank relies on the nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of links a page receives. It also analyzes the page that links to the linked page. Links from pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important." Important, high-quality sites receive a higher PageRank, which Google remembers each time it conducts a search. Of course, important pages mean nothing to you if they don't match your query. So, Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines all aspects of the page's content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it's a good match for a search query. So always try to get links from webpages with a PageRank of 3 and above. Anything lower is generally a waste of time. But what is also important is the number of links out of the page that you’re receiving a link from. It’s almost definitely more beneficial to get a link from a webpage with a © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
143
PageRank of 4 that only contains a few external links, than one from a page with a higher PageRank, but contains hundreds of outgoing links. The reason is because every outgoing link has a share of the PageRank that a page offers. So the more outgoing links there are, the less PageRank each link gets. Lastly, concentrate on getting as many different quality sites as possible to link to one page on your site, usually your home page. Do not spread the links to different pages. This will maximize the PageRank of your main page, plus those of the subpages.
How To Optimize Your Webpages For Higher Rankings In Google Here are what I believe to be the two most important ranking factors used by Google. My findings are as a result of my ongoing optimization experiments of my network of websites on Google. The top two Google ranking factors are: • •
PageRank Incoming Text Link Keywords
I’ve explained what PageRank is above and why its importance in getting higher search engine rankings. Add incoming text links keywords and you have the formula for high search engine rankings.
Incoming Text Link Keywords Always provide text links for linking to your site. Avoid image links. Google does index image links, but without any text for it to index, it won't help your link popularity rating for your important keywords. In addition:
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
144
a. Include the most important keyword phrase in the text link, using the EXACT spelling. b. Do not pluralize the keyword phrase in the text link, if your visitors usually enter the singular version of an important keyword phrase, and vice versa. c. Avoid excess words in the text link, where possible. d. The linked to page must have the text link keywords in the body of the page; otherwise Google will discount the page as a relevant page. e. Include the text link keywords within the title tag of the linked to page. It is possible for a page without the text link keywords in the title tag to get top rankings. But I have discovered that around 80% of top 10 rankings have the text link keywords in the title tag, so always include it.
Well, there you have it. Those are what I consider the two most important ranking factors used by Google. Other factors are considered by Google, but their importance pales in comparison to the two discussed here. Follow these tips whenever you optimize your webpages and they will quickly shoot up the Google rankings.
A Simple Technique That Gets A Brand New Website Indexed By Google Within 24 Hours Here’s a simple technique that will get any website – commercial or non-commercial -indexed by Google within 24-48 hours. Here’s what you do… Simply get blog or weblog to add a link to your site on their homepage.
A blog is typically a journal containing bits of news, information, and links to relevant websites that the author adds on a regular basis.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
145
This technique works because Google LOVES blogs and makes an effort to crawl thousands of them on a very regular basis, like daily, or even several times a day. So the trick is to get a blog that Google crawls regularly to add a direct link to your website. An added benefit is that blogs typically have a good PageRank as many websites link to them. To find a blog simply search for it in your favorite search engine. Enter the keywords related to your site and include the keyword “blog” or “weblog” in the search query, and you should be presented with a bunch of relevant blogs. To refine your search results, you could tell Google to only return results with the keywords in the title. To do this, simply add “allintitle:” before your keywords in the search form. For example: allintitle: internet marketing blog
Some search engines, such as Google, will indicate the date the site was last crawled and indexed. Pick blogs that have been updated recently. Visit each one to make sure it is relevant to the topic of your website. Some blogs welcome news submissions. Others don’t openly say they welcome news, but you should find that most blog owners are happy to received news that they can add to their blog. If you have something interesting to say about your new site, then write to the blog owner with your story. If you can’t think of anything newsworthy, then offer to pay for a small text link on the blog owner’s home page. If you can get the link added to every page; so much the better. You could probably get a text link added for a nominal fee. Depending on the blog’s popularity, I would expect to pay no more than $25-100 for a small text link ad for a one month period. You may be wondering why you would want to have a link to your site on the blog site for one month if Google will index your site within 24-48 hours.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
146
The reason is that Google does two types of crawls; a regular “fresh crawl” which runs about once a day and a main “deep crawl” which runs about once a month. The fresh crawl only indexes the main pages of a site. You have to wait for the deep crawl for Google to crawl and index the rest of your site. You could probably get away with getting into the fresh crawl database with a 2 day text link, and then hoping that Google to does a deep crawl from the URL it has indexed as a result of the link from the blog. But I would recommend that you keep the blog link for a full 30 day period just to be safe.
Two Other Ways To Getting Indexed By Google There are actually two others methods to getting listed in Google. But only one is guaranteed and that can cost you $299, if your site is of a commercial nature.
1. Submit Your Site To Google The first method is to submit your website via Google's free “submit your site” form. http://www.google.com/addurl.html Just submit your home page and Google's crawler, Googlebot, will crawl the rest. However, Google do not add all submitted URLs to their index, and there is no guarantee as to when, or if, your site will be indexed.
2. Submit Your Site To The Yahoo! Directory & The Open Directory Project Index The second method is to submit your website to the Yahoo! Directory and/or Open Directory Project index, which is owned by Netscape. http://dir.yahoo.com http://dmoz.org
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
147
As far as I know, this is the only 100% guaranteed method of getting into the Google index because Google has agreements with Yahoo! and Netscape to include the sites indexed in their directories in the Google index. So submit your site to either, or both (recommended), of these directories. For more information, visit Yahoo!'s How to Suggest Your Site page and the Open Directory Project's How to add a site to the Open Directory page. http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/ http://dmoz.org/add.html Once your site is included in either of these directories, it will appear in the Google index in about 4 to 8 weeks. So now you have no excuse for not getting indexed by Google.
How To Stop Google Caching Your Website As Google crawls and indexes webpages, it also stores them in its cache to retrieve for users as a back-up in case the webpages are not available. Users can view the cached version by choosing the "Cached" link on the search results page. If you don't want your content to be accessible through Google's cache, set the NOARCHIVE attribute in a Robots meta tag. For example:
This tag tells ALL robots not to archive the page. All robots will continue to index and follow links from the page, but will not present cached material to users. If you want to allow other robots to cache your content, but only prevent Google's robot (Googlebot) from doing so, use the following tag:
The change will take effect the next time Google crawl the page containing the NOARCHIVE directive in a tag. If you want this change to take effect sooner, you must contact Google and request immediate removal of the archived pages. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
148
The NOARCHIVE attribute only instructs robots whether it can provide a cached copy of a webpage. To control whether the page is indexed or links on the page are followed, visit the “What Is A Robots Meta Tag” section for more information.
What Is The Google Toolbar? The Google Toolbar is a FREE add-on for the Internet Explorer web browser. The minimum system requirements for running the Google Toolbar are: • •
Microsoft Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP or 2003 Server Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5 or later
Unfortunately the Toolbar is unavailable for the Mac. The Google Toolbar offers a number of useful and timesaving features: • • • • • • • • • • •
Google PageRank of a page Backward links (links to a page) Highlight search terms on a page Cached snapshot of a page Similar pages Translate a webpage into English Search the web with Google from any site Pop-up blocker Fill in forms with one click Link a weblog to the page you're visiting Search a site
The two most useful features for search engine optimizers are: • •
Google PageRank of a page Backward links (links to a page)
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
149
The Google PageRank bar will instantly tell you what the PageRank of the page you’re viewing. Please note that if a page is not indexed by Google, the Toolbar will often try to guess the PageRank of the page. The Backwards links feature will tell you how many and which pages link to the page you’re viewing. This is useful in determining the link popularity of a page. I highly recommend you download the Google Toolbar. You will find the features useful, and best of all, it’s FREE! If you don’t like it, you can uninstall it at anytime. http://toolbar.google.com
What Is The Google Everflux? The Google Everflux refers to the fluctuation of rankings that webpages get as Google crawls and indexes webpages. Google does two types of crawls; a regular “fresh crawl” which runs about once a day and a main “deep crawl” which runs about once a month. As Google crawl new pages and existing pages, rankings can fluctuate. The rankings settle once the main crawl is complete.
What Is The Google Dance? The Google Dance refers to the different search engine rankings a webpage gets depending on which Google database you search. Every month Google calculates the PageRank of each webpage and changes the search engine results pages (SERPs) for all keywords. The Google Dance is the time between the start and the end of an update, which usually lasts about 4 days. In that time you get different results on www.google.com, www2.google.com and www3.google.com. http://www.google.com http://www2.google.com http://www3.google.com
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
150
Well, that wraps up Google. Remember Google is by far the most popular search engine, not only in terms of searches, but also in actual referred visitors. So do spend a good part of your time and effort on optimizing for Google.
WHAT’S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT THE GOOGLE "FLORIDA" UPDATE? Around the middle of November 2003, Google did something to its ranking algorithm that caused sweeping changes to the rankings of thousands of webpages. Some even disappeared from the top rankings altogether, after many months and years of top rankings. Some students have written into me for help. Here’s my take on what happened and how to fix the damage. So what happened? Why were so many rankings affected? What did Google do to its ranking algorithm? With no official explanation from Google, the SEO community was baffled. Many different theories were thrown around by SEO experts and analysts. Some SEO analysts thought Google were filtering sites that targeted "money or commercial keywords," because the hardest hit sites were commercial websites. What would be Google’s motive? Greed of course, or was it? The thinking was the changes coincided with the upcoming holiday shopping season, as well as the supposedly forthcoming Google IPO. The speculation was that if commercial websites could no longer get Google traffic from its free listings, they would be forced to pump money into their Google AdWords paid listing program to get any traffic from Google search results. So who benefited? It seems that non-commercial websites, such as government, educational, and non-profit sites benefited the most. Indeed many of the top rankings were replaced by such sites.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
151
Since these types of sites aren't your typical Google AdWords advertiser, analysts believed that ranking them high would not affect Google’s income. So what’s the real story? Is Google actually filtering commercial sites to force them into advertising on their AdWords program? Well, let's step back a bit and take a look at the whole picture. Fact #1: Google constantly changes its ranking algorithm, so thousands of webpages move up, as well as down, every time Google updates it index. Fact #2: It wasn’t only optimized webpages that were affected by the Google “Florida” update. Many non-optimized websites were also affected. Fact #3: Thousands of commercial websites lost their top rankings. But since there aren't any empty positions, then thousands of other sites must have filled those newly vacated top rankings. Fact #4: There was a disproportionate amount of negative noise in the SEO community. Most of the noise about the changes came from disgruntled commercial website owners and optimizers who saw their rankings plummet. There was hardly any noise from people who saw their rankings rise. Fact #5: Google is constantly fighting a battle against search engine optimizers, who are trying to influence Google's rankings for profit. Google on the other hand would prefer to have full control over the rankings of its index. Fact #6: The Google founders live by the principle - "You can make money without doing evil." I have yet to see Google do something that goes against this principle, and I would give Google the benefit of the doubt until I see irrefutable proof.
My Conclusions I've had a few months to take note of the after effects of the ranking algorithm changes and read all the reports, analysis, and speculations on what exactly occurred. After examining the evidence and given much thought to the subject, I have come to the following conclusion...
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
152
I do not believe the speculation that Google changed its algorithm to line its pockets. I simply do not believe Google would do something that would severely damage its brand and credibility. I believe that all Google did was what it has always done - tried to improve its ranking algorithm. After all, it's been doing that ever since its inception. The difference this time was that Google tried to level the playing field a bit more than usual. It threw a spanner into the works of over-optimized webpages. Increasingly noncommercial websites, such as government and educational sites, which are typically not optimized for search engines, have been losing out to over-optimized webpages. It just so happens that they mostly comprise of commercial websites – not that it should come as a surprise to anyone. Now, if on the other hand, the change had caused thousands of government and educational websites to drop from the top rankings, it probably wouldn't even have caused a ripple in the SEO community, let alone the storm that we all experienced.
Google Adds Word Stemming (Variations) Google recently added stemming technology to its search results. Now when appropriate, Google will search not only for the entered search terms, but also for words that are similar to some or all of those terms. For example, if you search for "search engine optimization strategies," Google will also search for " search engine optimization strategy” and other related variations. Any variants of the search terms will be highlighted in the search result extract. http://www.google.com/search?q=search+engine+optimization+strategies
Naturally this has had an impact on rankings, as stemming expands the number of pages that Google uses to determine relevant matches for a particular search.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
153
How To Determine If Google Has Banned Your Webpages To see if Google has indexed any of your webpages, visit Google, and enter any of the following in the search box: site:your.domain link:your.url
If you can’t find any of your webpages, visit the My Webpages Are Not Currently Listed page on Google for possible reasons. http://www.google.com/webmasters/2.html
How To Get Back Into Google’s Good Books, If The Google “Florida” Update Devastated Your Rankings Many thanks to all my students who responded to my request for Google Florida update damaged webpages. I was inundated with websites. Thank you for your support. I conducted extensive research into webpages that lost their top rankings due to the Google Florida update. After much research, I have come to the conclusion that if you stick to the basics and do not over-optimize your webpages, you will do well in the rankings. This may sound obvious to most people. And it is. But I still find websites that don’t follow the basic principles of SEO, and use all kinds of bad SEO tricks to try to get ahead. Listen. Don’t do it! It’s not worth it. Stick to the basics and you won’t get into trouble with Google or any other search engines. Here is a checklist of advice to get your webpages back into Google’s “good books.” Many of these tips are common sense SEO. But common sense isn’t all that common, right? ;o) So I highly recommend that you study these tips whether you’re trying to get back into Google, or simply want to improve your rankings. You may find that you are making the most basic of errors in your SEO campaigns.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
154
Remove SEO Spam Techniques This may sound obvious, but most banned or dropped webpages are the result of SEO spam techniques being detected by search engines. I came across numerous websites that used SEO techniques that could be construed as spam. Make sure you remove all possible traces of SEO spam techniques from your website. These include: •
Excessive Keywords - Avoid excessive use of targeted keyword/s. I came across a site where one in four of the keywords on the home page consisted of the targeted keywords. Worse still, more than one in two of the links on the page included one of the keywords in the targeted keyword phrase. That’s far too high a ratio. Stick to a keyword weight of about 1-3% in the body and link text.
•
Don’t Link to Bad Neighborhoods - Double check all sites that you link to, to ensure that you’re not linking to a site that has been penalized by Google. Because if you are, then you could get penalized as well. How can you tell if you’re link to a “bad site?” Visit the homepage of each site that you link to, and see if the Google PageRank is 2 or lower. If it is, then I would recommend removing your link to that site. Also be aware of sites that have thousands of links pointing to the home page, yet have a low PageRank of 3 or even 4. Sites with so many links should have a PageRank of at least 6 or 7. The reason for the low PageRank could be because Google has penalized the site for spammy SEO techniques. Please note that the PageRank bar is sometimes misleading. Google do admit that it doesn’t work 100% of the time. So recheck the page’s PageRank by refreshing the page, and also visiting the page at a different time. Don’t worry about “bad sites” linking to yours. Google does not penalize for that. They understand that that isn’t your fault.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
155
•
Remove Comment Tags - Keywords in comment tags could be construed as spam. So remove unnecessary comment tags from your source code. I came across a webpage that included multiple header tags and keywords in a comment tag. This is not recommended. Another one had several hundred lines of HTML code hidden in a comment tag. Such code is not executed, so it’s simply a waste of space and download time. Make a backup of the page, and remove the unused code from the published webpage.
•
Alternative Text - Don’t use more than one ALT (alternative text) attributes in IMG (image) tags. For example:
In addition, only use one keyword phrase in ALT attributes. I came across ALT attributes that included almost 50 words, or over 300 characters.
•
Tiny Text - Minimize the use of FONT SIZE=1 tags. Better still, use FONT SIZE=2 or larger. I came across a webpage that used ‘ FONT SIZE="-6" .’ Font sizes range from 1 to 7, with 3 being the medium. So a “-6” is clearly asking for trouble.
•
Duplicate Links - Don’t include too many text links to the same URL on a page. I came across a home page that had 12 identical text links, all pointing to the same URL. There were 58 links in total on the page, so 1 in 5 links were identical. That’s far too high a ratio. Don’t use more than two or three identical links on a page.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
156
•
Fix Broken Links - Check for broken links. Relative links are the most common culprits. For example:
These links may work fine on your computer. But it doesn’t work when you upload it to a server.
•
Remove Hidden Spammy SEO Code - If you’ve ever used a third party to optimize your webpages, examine the HTML source code for suspect SEO spam techniques. Pay close attention to the bottom of the page. This is usually the area where bad search engine optimizers add spammy SEO code, such as hidden links and text. If you find any, remove them from all your pages.
•
Webpage Errors - Fix webpage errors. JavaScript errors are the most common. Java and Flash are less common. The best way to find JavaScript errors is to test every piece of JavaScript code in your webpages. To help you, switch on the “Display a notification about every script error” feature in your Internet Explorer web browser. You can find it under: Tools > Internet Options… > Advanced > Browsing > Display a notification about every script error (check the box)
•
Avoid Text Links In Header Tags – I suggest that you do not include text links inside header tags at the very top of the page – the rest of the page is OK. I have seen sites that used this technique get penalized by Google. When the code was removed from the pages, Google reinstated the webpages in its index.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
157
Quick Tips For Improving Your Google Rankings Include The Keyword Phrase Everywhere On the one extreme, I have seen webpages with no mention of the targeted keyword phrase get high rankings. But this isn’t the norm. You should go to the other extreme, and include the targeted keyword phrase one or more times, in every aspect of a webpage and incoming links. These include, the TITLE tag, META Description, header tags, body text, text links, ALT, file name, etc.
Add A Header Tag or Replace Graphical Text With A Header Tag On every page, include the exact targeted keyword phrase in a header tag. I recommend using a H1 tag (largest). But the resulting header text doesn’t have to be large. You may change the properties of the header tag using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). For example: Keyword Phrase Keyword Phrase Keyword Phrase
Sprinkle A Webpage With The Exact Targeted Keyword Phrase Make sure you include the exact keyword phrase you’re targeting throughout a page. By that I mean the whole phrase, and not separate incidences of the individual keywords. For example, if the keyword phrase is “double beds” then craft a paragraph something like this:
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
158
Our double beds are made of the highest quality materials. Each one of our double beds are individually crafted by one of our own master craftsmen. There are over 130 different styles of single beds, double beds, and queen size beds to choose from.
The above paragraph is much better than: Our double beds are made of the highest quality materials. Each one is individually crafted by one of our own master craftsmen. There are over 130 different styles of single, double, and queen size beds to choose from.
Notice the difference a change of wording can make? See how the first version has a higher keyword density and frequency of the exact targeted keyword phrase, as well as individual keywords than the second paragraph?
Use The Exact Targeted Keyword/s In All Text Links Make sure you use the exact keyword/s you’re targeting in all text links. For example, if the keyword phrase is “sofa beds,” then use: We offer a range of 59 different sofa beds in our store.
Don’t use: We offer a range of 59 different sofa beds in our store. (Contains untargeted keywords)
Take a look at this modern sofa bed. (It should be plural. If you search for “sofa bed” and “sofa beds” in Google, you will notice it returns two different sets of results.) Also avoid text links with meaningless keywords. For example: © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
159
Click here to for more information on this sofa bed.
It would be better to use: More information on this sofa bed.
I even came across a site that used Flash links. It was no surprise that Google didn’t index those links. It did include text links further down the page. Unfortunately, the text links were in font size one – in other words, tiny text. A back link check showed no internal links, so it means Google doesn’t index font size one text links. So re-examine all your text links. View them on their own. See if you can tell what each text link is about and if it relates to the landing page. If you can’t, then replace the text with more descriptive keywords, which would help Google to better understand the nature of the landing page.
Replace Image Links With Text Links Image links won’t help your rankings, because search engines simply cannot tell what images signify. It is far better to use text links. I came across a site that had over a dozen links to it. The problem was that all of the links were either image links, or text links that didn’t include the targeted search term. It was no surprise that the site failed to get top rankings for the keywords it wanted.
Link To A Target Page From As Many Pages As Possible Google likes text links. That is a fact. So you must link to a target page from as many pages as possible, from within your site, as well as from other websites, using the exact targeted keyword/s in the text links (see previous tip). If possible, add a link to the targeted page from every single page of your site. Of course this isn’t always possible, especially if you have a large number of keywords you © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
160
want to target. In that case, at least add a link to the targeted page from every page within the same section of the site. I came across a website that “forgot” (at least I think they did) to cross link their webpages. How crazy is that?!
Replace Splash Pages With The “Real” Home Page Why? Because splash pages typically consist of nothing more than an image or a Flash animation. There’s no text for search engine spiders to index. As such, how can you possibly expect search engines to give you a high ranking? You can’t - and they won’t! So get rid of it. Replace the splash page with the home page that the splash page links to.
To Hyphenate Or Not To Hyphenate Keyword Phrases? Google does distinguish hyphenated and unhyphenated words. For example, if you search for “pop ups” and “pop-ups” in Google, you will notice two different sets of search results. http://www.google.com/search?q=pop+ups http://www.google.com/search?q=pop-ups
So should you hyphenate or not? I would recommend do both. I would suggest that you target the hyphenated version in one webpage, and the unhyphenated version in another page. If that isn’t possible, then use the most searched version - be it hyphenated or unhyphenated – as the main keyword phrase, and sprinkle the other version of the keyword throughout the page.
Once you have cleaned up your over-optimized webpages, try sending a re-inclusion request to Google at:
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
161
[email protected]
That’s it! Follow those tips and your webpages should start reappearing in Google again within one to two crawls (4-8 weeks).
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
162
YAHOO! SEARCH On February 18, 2004, Yahoo! replaced Google search results on its website with its own Yahoo! Search Technology, which combines various acquired search technologies, such as Inktomi, AltaVista, AllTheWeb, and Overture. Yahoo! leverages Open Directory Project (ODP) title, description and category Meta data to enhance Yahoo!'s relevant search results on distribution partner sites.
Yahoo! Search Information Documents Indexed Crawls The web (Every) Audience Reach Searches (Daily) Supplies Results For Free Submission (Time to Index) Non-Submitted Pages (Time to Index) Submit Pages Pages Indexed Submission Limit (Daily) Paid Inclusion? (Time to Index & Update + Costs)
Ranking Data Spider's Name Maximum Title Tag Length Support Frame Links? Support Meta Robots Tag? Index Description Tag? Index Dynamic Pages? (CGI, ?, =, %, &, Etc.) Index Keyword Tag? Index PDF Files? Case Sensitivity Affect Ranking? Home Page Affect Ranking? Keywords in Anchor Text Affect Ranking? Keywords in Entire HTML File Affect Ranking?
“Several” billion 2-4 weeks 30.4% (Nielsen//NetRatings 01/04) 42 million+ (01/03) Yahoo!, AltaVista, AllTheWeb and others. 2-4 weeks 2-4 weeks All important pages Entire website 20 Pages Site Match (Up to 1,000 URLs) Initial Index: Within 4 business days. Update: Every 48 hours. URL #1: $49/year. URL #2-10: $29/URL/year. URL #11+: $10/URL/year. $0.15/30 Per Click $50 Refundable Deposit. Site Match Xchange (1,000+ URLs) Initial Index: Within 4 business days. Update: Every 48 Hours $??? Depends on Content Category Spider Yahoo! Slurp 60 characters Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
163
Keywords in Headline Tags Affect Ranking? Keywords in Link Text Affect Ranking? Keywords in Meta Keyword Tag Affect Ranking? Keywords in NoFrames Content Affect Ranking? Keywords in Title Tag Affect Ranking? Cloaking Considered Spam? Doorway Pages Considered Spam? Duplicate Pages Considered Spam? Invisible Text Considered Spam? Keyword Stuffing Considered Spam? Keywords in Hidden Value Tag Considered Spam? Link Exchange Program Use Considered Spam? Tiny Text Considered Spam? Home Page Customer Support Telephone Number Free Submission Paid Inclusion Email Support Spam Report / Support
Yes Important Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Link farms Yes http://search.yahoo.com 1-408-349-3300
Submit Your Site http://submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request Site Match & Site Match Xchange http://www.content.overture.com/d/USm/ays/bjump/sm.jhtml http://add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/ysearch/cgi_feedback http://add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/ysearch/cgi_reportsearchspam
[email protected]
Yahoo! Search Submissions Yahoo!’s spider, known as Slurp, goes around the web crawling and indexing webpages. But if your webpages were missed by Slurp, there are two ways to submitting your webpages to the Yahoo! Search index; submit your site via the free submission form, or pay for inclusion with the Site Match and Site Match Xchange program. With both submission programs, listings appear in the main body of the search results page, and are ranked by relevance. Paid inclusion pages do not get preferential ranking treatment.
Yahoo! Search – Free Submission The Yahoo! Search index contains several billion webpages with more than 99% of its pages populated through the free crawl process. You may submit your webpages at:
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
164
http://submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request Registration, which is free, is required. Enter only the top-level page of your site, and Yahoo!’s spider will crawl and index the rest of your site from there. It will also automatically detect and remove dead links. Expect a delay of several weeks before your URL is crawled.
Yahoo! Search – Paid Inclusion In addition to the free site submission service, Yahoo! also offer paid inclusion services; Site Match and Site Match Xchange (for sites submitting 1000+ webpages). The service is available via the Overture website (also owned by Yahoo!) at: http://www.content.overture.com/d/USm/ays/sm.jhtml
The benefits of paid inclusion include: • • • •
Guaranteed timely review and addition of your webpages in the Yahoo! Search index, within 4 business days. 48-hour reindexing of webpages allows constant testing of search engine optimization to try to improve rankings. Traffic reporting includes number of clicks, and search terms for each URL in the program. Both current and historical data are presented. A dedicated account representative and XML feed for advertisers submitting 1,000 or more webpages.
Site Match Pricing With Site Match, you pay a non-refundable annual fee, per URL, per domain, PLUS $0.15 or $0.30 for each click through. There is also a $50 refundable deposit to cover click through fees. If your URL is not accepted and you do not want to use the Site Match service, your $50 deposit will be refunded.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
165
URL Submission First URL: $49 Next 2-10 URLs: $29 each 11th URL and beyond: $10 each
Cost-Per-Click Fee Tier 1 Categories: $0.15 CPC
Tier 2 Categories: $0.30 CPC
Adult Automotive Books Computers & Software Dating Education & Career Jewelry & Watches Music & Video Office Other Reference Sports & Outdoors Toys & Baby Equipment
Apparel Electronics Financial Services Flowers, Gifts & Registry Health, Beauty & Personal Care Home & Garden Professional Services Real Estate Telecom & Web Services Travel
Site Match Xchange Pricing Site Match Xchange is for larger sites submitting 1000+ webpages. There is no annual fee. The pay per click fee is based on content category.
What Are The Yahoo! Site Match Content Guidelines? Pages Site Match wants in its index: •
Original and unique content of genuine value.
•
Metadata (including title, description and keywords tag) that accurately describes the contents of a webpage. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
166
Pages Site Match doesn’t want: •
Pages dedicated to directing the user to another page ("doorway pages").
•
Pages that have substantially the same content as other pages. Unfortunately, this includes pages promoting affiliate products.
•
Sites with numerous, unnecessary virtual hostnames.
•
Pages in great quantity, automatically generated, with minimal content or of little value.
•
Pages using methods to artificially inflate search engine ranking.
•
Pages with text that is not easily read, e.g., text that is too small or is obscured by the background of the page.
•
Cloaking or stealth; a technique used by some websites to deliver one page to a search engine and a different page to all other users.
•
Excessively cross-linking to inflate a site's apparent popularity.
•
Pages built primarily for search engines or pages with excessive or off-topic keywords.
•
Misuse or inaccurate use of competitor or brand names.
•
Duplication of content, either by submission of multiple pages with same content, submitting the same content from multiple domains, or submitting the same content from multiple hosts.
•
Pages that use excessive pop-ups, interfering with user navigation.
•
Pages that seem deceptive, fraudulent or provide a poor user experience (Descriptions that are not relevant to the page content).
•
Pages that result in a 404 error.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
167
Does Yahoo! Site Match Guarantee Inclusion In Yahoo! Search? No. Site Match only guarantees a review of your submitted URLs within 4 business days. If a URL is refused, you get a second review of the URL at no additional cost. However, after that you must pay again for review.
Why Is My Site In The Yahoo! Directory, But Not In The Yahoo! Search Results? The reason is because there are separate editorial guidelines for the Yahoo! Directory, Add URL, crawler and Site Match services. Directory submissions are reviewed by editors only. Sites from the Add URL, Site Match service or crawler are reviewed both by editors and algorithmically. If the Yahoo! spider catches a site using search engine optimization spam techniques, such as hidden text, it would bar the site from its index. This and other search engine spam techniques are quite as easy to detect by human editors. As such, a site could be accepted into the Yahoo! Directory but not into the Yahoo! Search results. This is OK because the directory listings are not ranked by relevance and therefore are not influenced by search engine spam techniques, such as the hidden text. But with the algorithmic search, the hidden text is in violation of editorial guidelines because it is an attempt to influence the relevance of the Yahoo! Search results. So inclusion in the Yahoo! Directory does not guarantee inclusion in the Yahoo! Search results.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
168
My Site Has Been Excluded From Yahoo! Search. How Can I Find Out Why? If your site is excluded from Yahoo! Search, and you’re unsure why, you could try emailing
[email protected]. This was suggested by Tim Mayer, Yahoo's Director Of Product Management, in a thread in the WebmasterWorld forum. - http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum35/1845.htm
My Site Has Been Excluded From Yahoo! Search. Where Can I Appeal Against This Ban? If you believe your site was incorrectly excluded from the Yahoo! Search results, or you feel that you have corrected the issues that led to your exclusion, you can ask Yahoo! to re-evaluate your site. Contact Yahoo! at:
[email protected]
This is the only email address you should use. As you might imagine, Yahoo! have a backlog of requests for review, so please be patient. It may take at least two months for your site to be re-evaluated and may take longer for that site to be updated in the search results.
How To Submit Not-For-Profit Sites To The Yahoo! Public Site Match Program Not-for-profit sites can submit their webpages to the Yahoo! Public Site Match program. To do that, send an email to Yahoo! at
[email protected] with your site information to see if it qualifies for the program. They will follow up with you if additional information is required.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
169
I’ve Heard That Yahoo! Excludes Affiliate Sites From Its Yahoo! Search Results - Is That True? Kind of. Yahoo! says they don’t want its Yahoo! Search index to contain duplicate content. So they try to avoid indexing affiliate sites that display the same sales letters, articles, etc., as other affiliates of the product/service. So the answer is that Yahoo! is excluding webpages with the same content. It just happens that many affiliate sites use the same content, and is caught in the crossfire.
I’m still conducting tests on how to optimize webpages for higher rankings in the new Yahoo! Search index. Hopefully I will have something for you in the next update. Please accept my sincerest apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Yahoo!’s Own Search Engine Ranking Tips Yahoo! offers some search engine ranking tips in its, “How do I improve the ranking of my web site in the search results?” Help section. For your convenience, I have republished the tips here (Gee, I hope I don’t get a letter from Yahoo!’s lawyers for this): •
Think carefully of the key terms that your users will search on to find content like yours. Use those terms to guide the text and construction of your page.
•
Users are more likely to click a link if the title matches their search. Choose terms for the title that match the concept of your document.
•
Use a "description" meta-tag and write your description accurately and carefully. After the title, the description is the most important draw for users. Make sure the document title and description attract the interest of the user but also fit the content on your site.
•
Use a "keyword" meta-tag to list key words for the document. Use a distinct list of keywords that relate to the specific page on your site instead of using one broad set of keywords for every page.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
170
•
Keep relevant text and links in HTML. Placing them in graphics or image maps means search engines can't always search for the text, and the crawler can't follow links to your site's other pages. An HTML site map, with a link from your welcome page, can help make sure all your pages are crawled.
•
Use ALT text for graphics. It's good page design to accommodate text browsers or visually impaired visitors, and it helps improve the text content of your page for search purposes.
•
Correspond with webmasters and other content providers and build rich linkages between related pages.
•
Note: "Link farms" create links between unrelated pages for no reason except to increase page link counts. Using link farms violates Yahoo!'s Site Guidelines and will not improve your page ranking. Yahoo! Search Site Guidelines http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/basics/basics-18.html
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
171
MSN SEARCH (BETA) MSN Search is part of the MSN web portal, which is owned by Microsoft. On November 11, 2004, Microsoft announced the launch of the beta version of its new MSN Search service, which is set to replace Yahoo! Search. The new MSN Search includes a new search engine, index and crawler; all built from the ground up on Microsoft technology. Existing MSN Search http://search.msn.com New Beta MSN Search http://beta.search.msn.com
According to a Nielsen//NetRatings report, 29.6% of the internet population searched at a MSN-owned website, in January 2004. Note: The following information refers to the beta version of the new MSN Search service. Aside from it’s search engine technology, MSN Search also has a few other resources to draw on when providing results: •
Direct Answers from MSN Encarta provides information about geographical locations, historical figures, animals, and more.
•
The Encarta Calculator and Equation Solver provides answers to mathematical questions.
•
MSN’s automated news service searches over 4,800 news sources worldwide.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
172
MSN Search Information Documents Indexed Audience Reach Supplies Results For Submit Pages Pages Indexed Ranking Data Spider's Name Support Meta Robots Tag? Index Description Tag? Index Dynamic Pages? (CGI, ?, =, %, &, Etc.) Cloaking Considered Spam? Doorway Pages Considered Spam? Duplicate Pages Considered Spam? Invisible Text Considered Spam? Keyword Stuffing Considered Spam? Keywords in Hidden Value Tag Considered Spam? Link Exchange Program Use Considered Spam? Tiny Text Considered Spam? Free Submission Email Support
5 billion 29.6% (Nielsen//NetRatings 01/04) MSN Homepage Entire website Spider MSNBot Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Link farms Yes
Submit Your Site http://beta.search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx
[email protected]
I will add more information on the new MSN Search, as they become available.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
173
OTHER MAJOR SEARCH ENGINES There has been a number of major changes in the search engine industry in the last couple of years. AllTheWeb and AltaVista search results are now powered by Yahoo! Search Technology. With MSN working on its own search engine technology, it basically only leaves one other “major” search engine, aside from Google and Yahoo!; that being Teoma.
Teoma Search Engine (Ask Jeeves) Teoma primarily powers Ask Jeeves search results and appear above Ask Jeeves’ own knowledge base of answers to roughly 7 million commonly asked questions. http://www.teoma.com http://www.askjeeves.com http://www.ask.com
Ask Jeeves Information Unique Visitors (Monthly) Searches (Daily) Audience Reach Search Engine Partner/s Directory Partner (Powered By) Pay Per Click Partner Search Results Listing Order
Searches (Daily) Page Clustering? Paid Inclusion? (Time to Index & Update + Costs)
Home Page Free Submission Paid Inclusion
11.3 million 20 million (02/03) 8.5% (Nielsen//NetRatings 01/04) Teoma Open Directory Project Google AdWords Google AdWords Teoma Ask Jeeves 25 million+ No Ask Jeeves Site Submit Initial index: 7 days Update: Every 7 days 1st URL: $30/URL/year URL 2-1,000: $18/URL/year http://www.teoma.com http://www.askjeeves.com Not available Ask Jeeves Site Submit
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
174
Email Support Spam Report / Support Customer Support Telephone Number
http://ask.ineedhits.com
[email protected] [email protected] 510-985-7400
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
175
TOP 3 WEB DIRECTORIES Web directories are human edited lists of websites organized into categories of topics and subtopics. The top 3 web directories are: 1. Yahoo! Directory - The leading web directory on the internet generating an estimated 250 million search related page views every day. http://dir.yahoo.com 2. Open Directory Project - The largest human-edited web directory on the internet with over 4.5 million reviewed sites within its index. http://dmoz.org 3. LookSmart – A pay per click web directory consisting of commercial websites only. http://www.michaelwong.com/b/looksmart.html
How Web Directory Listings Play A Big Part In Your Search Engine Success A search engine's goal is to provide its users the best solution available from all the webpages stored within its index. So how do search engines work out if your webpage is the best solution to their users’ queries? That is, rank your site at the top of its search results. Well, unlike humans who are sold on emotions, search engines are sold on cold hard data. There are two sources of data that web directories rely on to determine the ranking of a website: 1. The first source is internal, or the data a search engine spider extracts from a webpage. The internal data search engine spiders collect include keyword phrases, keyword frequency, density, proximity and prominence, page length, keywords in various HTML and Meta tags and, so on.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
176
2. The second data source is external data, or data and events not entirely under the site author's direct control. These include link popularity, click through popularity, and site listings in popular web directories, such as the Yahoo! Directory and the Open Directory Project. The first source of data is often manipulated and abused, so search engines have increasingly begun to rely on the second data source.
At present, search engines do not have the time and resources to physically visit each site to verify the quality of its content. The internet is just growing too fast. For this reason, search engines have turned to pre-existing web directories, such as the Yahoo! Directory and the Open Directory Project. Web directories may only index a small percentage of the websites available on the internet. But their goal is to index the best of the Web, not every site on the planet. This is why search engines, such as Google, place a great deal of importance on sites listed in the Yahoo! Directory and the Open Directory Project. For each site in their respective directories has at least had a human reviewer visit the site to confirm that it meets the quality required to be listed in the directory and the listing title and description fits the site.
Yahoo! Directory Yahoo! is without doubt one of the best known brands on the internet. Many people mistakenly categorize the Yahoo! Directory as a search engine, although it does have a search engine that searches the directory. According to Yahoo!, they generated 1.32 billion page views per day on average during December 2001. But in an interview by Forbes.com, (12/11/2000) Tim Koogle – Yahoo’s previous CEO - stated, "Yahoo!’s two original services, directory and search, now grab only 20% of the website's total page views." Only 20%! That is still an impressive 250 million search related page views per day. Yahoo! displays pay per click ads provided by Overture at the top of its search results. http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/overture.html
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
177
Should You Submit To The Yahoo! Directory? Prior to October 2002, when you conducted a search at Yahoo!, you were presented with a list of search results comprising of Yahoo! Directory listings. In October 2002, Yahoo! decided to replace its web search results with search results powered by the Google search engine. As a result, the Yahoo! Directory listings were no longer the first set of returned search results. Instead Yahoo! placed a link to Directory search results on each search results page. What this effectively did was greatly reduce the importance and traffic generated by Yahoo’s Directory listings. In February 2004, Yahoo! replaced Google search results with its own Yahoo! Search Technology. The technology comprised of AllTheWeb, AltaVista and Inktomi technology. Yahoo! could have taken the opportunity to include its directory listings within its search results, but it failed to do so. As such, I would not consider a listing in the Yahoo! Directory as essential. I would only recommend submitting to the Yahoo! Directory if your website is brand new, and you don’t have any links pointing to it. By being listed in the Yahoo! Directory, your website will get indexed by the Google search engine. Plus Google gives listings in the Yahoo! Directory a ranking boost. Generally, it gives a link from the Yahoo! Directory a Google PageRank of 3. Visit the “How To Submit To Web Directories” section for more information on how to submit and optimize your listings in the Yahoo! Directory.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
178
Yahoo! Directory Information Documents Indexed Unique Visitors (Monthly) Audience Reach Searches (Daily) Referral Traffic Search Engine Partner (Powered By) Pay Per Click Partner Pay Per Click Listing Order
1.8 million 56.1 million 28.9% (Nielsen//NetRatings 01/03) 250 million 53.40% Google Overture Top: Top 3 Listings Bottom: 4,5 Search Results Listing Order Overture Google powered results Free Submission (Time to Index) 2-8 weeks (non-commercial only) Submit Pages Home page Pages Indexed One URL Submission Limit (Daily) One page per site Resubmission Time (Free Submission) 4 weeks Paid Inclusion? (Time to Index & Update + Costs) Review within 7 days ($299 per year) Ranking Data Submission form Maximum Title Tag Length 40 characters / 5 words Maximum Description Tag Length 200 characters / 25 words Alphanumerical Ranking? Directory listings only Site Popularity Affect Rankings? Click throughs count towards appearing in the “Most Popular” section of the directory category listings. Telephone Support Submissions: 408-349-3333 Changes: 408-731-3333 Home Page http://www.yahoo.com Directory Home Page http://dir.yahoo.com Engine's Own Site Submission/Ranking Tips How to Suggest Your Site http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/ Free Submission How to Suggest Your Site http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/ Paid Inclusion Suggest a Site Using Yahoo! Express http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/busexpress.html Sponsored Feature Listings Sponsor Listings http://sponsoredsites.yahoo.com Change Listing How to Suggest a Change to Your Yahoo! Listing http://add.yahoo.com/fast/change Email Support
[email protected]
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
179
Open Directory Project (ODP) Index 12/04 UPDATE: The ODP weblog is written by ODP editors to inform the general public about news of any important events happening in the world of the ODP that others may be interested in. This includes both news from within the organization, press articles on other sites, and interesting discussions that may prove useful to users and submitters alike. http://dmoz.theblob.org/dmoz/journal.cgi
04/04 UPDATE: Google recently demoted its Open Directory Project (ODP) web directory link from the main page. To get to the directory, users now have to click on the "more>>" link at the top of the page. Google will still include ODP data. However it will be relegated to a level of lower importance. ODP descriptions and categories will not appear alongside search results.
03/04 UPDATE: The Open Directory project now indexes RSS feeds, alongside standard HTML websites and PDF documents. There's no change in the submission process, but in future categories will start showing 'XML' sections with links to related RSS feeds.
The Open Directory Project – also known as Dmoz - is the largest human-edited web directory on the internet with over 4.5 million reviewed sites in its index. It is maintained by a community of over 62,000 volunteer editors. What makes the Open Directory Project unique is that it has foundations in the Open Source movement and is the only major web directory that is 100% free. You may submit as many websites as you like to the directory for free. They even accept submissions for different sections of your website, if it contains sufficient content to warrant a listing. You can even use the Open Directory's data on your own website, as long as you agree to comply with their free use license. It is for these reasons that many of the major search engines and portals make use of the Open Directory Project index data.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
180
However, the Open Directory Project is not entirely a non-commercial entity, as it is owned, hosted and administered by Netscape Communications, a division of AOL TimeWarner.
How To Optimize For The Open Directory Project Index Visit the “How To Submit To Web Directories” section for more information on how to submit and optimize your listings in the Open Directory index. Here’s a tip on how to select the best category for your submission. Google, which has its own version of the Open Directory index, probably sends the more traffic than any other user of the Open Directory data. Google also gives listings in the Open Directory index a boost in rankings. As such, I recommend finding the most appropriate category to submit to by searching for it in the Google Directory, rather than in the Open Directory itself. Simply select the most appropriate category that the top ranked sites are indexed under in the Google search results. http://dir.google.com
Open Directory Project Information Documents Indexed Supplies Results For
4.5 Million AOL Search, Google, InfoSpace, Lycos, Netscape Search and hundreds of other search sites. Partner Index Update 2 weeks+, after URL is indexed in the Open Directory Free Submission (Time to Index) A couple of weeks to several months Submit Pages All important sections of your website, as long they fit under different categories Pages Indexed Only submitted URLs Submission Limit (Daily) No limit, although I recommend you don’t submit more than a couple of URLs a day. Resubmission Time (Free Submission) 3 weeks Ranking Data Submission form Maximum Description Tag Length 30 Words Alphanumerical Ranking? Directory listings only Home Page http://dmoz.org Engine's Own Site Submission/Ranking Tips Submitting Your Site http://dmoz.org/help/submit.html Free Submission How to add a site to the Open Directory http://dmoz.org/add.html © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
181
Change Listing
Changing Your Site Listing http://dmoz.org/help/update.html Feedback http://dmoz.org/cgi-bin/feedback.cgi (I recommend contacting the subcategory editor/s directly) Open Directory Project Public Forum http://resource-zone.com/forum/
Online Form for Support
Online Forum for Support
LookSmart Directory 04/04 UPDATE: LookSmart lost its biggest search partner, MSN Search, at the beginning of 2004. Its listings now only appear on a few of the smaller search engines and directories, such as LookSmart, Lycos, InfoSpace, Mamma, and CNET Search. I can’t see LookSmart prospering in the search arena. It just can’t compete with the likes of Google, Yahoo! Search and soon-to-be-released MSN Search. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is acquired, or merges with another search engine to expand its reach. LookSmart is a web directory consisting entirely of commercial websites. For noncommercial websites, LookSmart accepts submissions in its Zeal directory. http://www.zeal.com
LookSmart Is A Pay Per Click Web Directory Prior to April 2002, LookSmart was a standard web directory accepting submissions for a one-time fee. In April of that year LookSmart changed its business model into a pay per click web directory. LookSmart accepts multiple listings per website. So you can have one listing for each product category. LookSmart Introduces New Pricing Structure LookSmart now charge a $29 submission fee for each new listing, plus $0.15 per click through, for the first 5,000 clicks. After that, you pay a higher cost per click, depending on the category of your listing.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
182
Here is a chart of the new pricing structure: Category Auto Books, Magazines, CDs, and DVDs Auctions, Affiliate Malls & Coupon Sites People & Relationships Business Services Professional/Consumer Services Moving and Real Estate Paid-Download Services Retail Ticket Services Travel Education Jobs & Careers Health Products Credit/Bad Debt Online Gaming Finance/Insurance Communications/Internet Hosting
Cost Per Click $0.23
$0.30
$0.40
$0.75
How To Optimize For The LookSmart Directory Visit the “How To Submit To Web Directories” section for more information on how to submit and optimize your listings in the LookSmart directory.
LookSmart Directory Information Documents Indexed Unique Visitors (Monthly) Audience Reach Searches (Daily) Search Engine Partner (Powered By) Supplies Results For Partner Index Update Search Results Listing Order
Free Submission (Time to Index) Submit Pages Pages Indexed Submission Limit (Daily)
2.5 million 60 million 1.7% 45 million+ WiseNut Lycos, InfoSpace, Mamma, and CNET Search. A few days Sponsored Listings Reviewed Websites Directory Categories Not Available All important pages, if they fit under different product categories Only submitted URLs No Limit
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
183
Paid Inclusion? (Time to Index & Update + Costs) LookListings Add new listing: $29 $0.15 per click through for first 5,000 clicks each month, then $0.23-75 per click thereafter Update listing: $19 Minimum monthly spend: $15 Ranking Data Submission form Maximum Title Tag Length 65 characters Maximum Description Tag Length 170 characters Alphanumerical Ranking? In directory only Home Page http://www.looksmart.com Paid Submission LookListings http://listings.looksmart.com Free Submission Zeal Directory http://www.zeal.com
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
184
TOP 2 WEB PORTAL SEARCH ENGINES Web portals typically provide users with multiple services, including search, email, shopping and other services. Their search results are usually provided by other search engines. The top 2 web portal search engines are: • •
AOL (15.5% - Nielsen//NetRatings 01/04) Netscape
Note: MSN Search now has its own section, after Microsoft launches beta version of new MSN Search service on November 11, 2004. Let’s take a look at each one in more detail.
AOL Search AOL Search is part of AOL.com, which is owned by AOL Time-Warner. It offers a search engine which everyone - not just AOL internet access subscribers - with access to the internet can use. http://search.aol.com
According to a Nielsen//NetRatings report, 15.5% of the internet population searched at an AOL-owned website, in January 2004. AOL Search results, including its sponsored links, are powered by Google. As such, the search results on AOL Search are pretty much the same as those on Google. So visit the “Google” section for information on how to optimize and submit your website for inclusion in AOL Search. AOL Search also now uses Google’s version of the Open Directory Project as its web directory.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
185
http://dmoz.org
To get indexed in the Google directory you have to submit your site to the Open Directory. So visit the “Open Directory Project Index” section for more information on how to optimize and submit your website for inclusion in the Open Directory index.
Netscape Search Netscape Search is part of the Netscape web portal which is owned by AOL TimeWarner. http://search.netscape.com Like AOL Search, its search results are also powered by Google and its web directory is powered by the Google Directory. So visit the “Google” and “Open Directory Project Index” sections for more information on each of these search engines.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
186
SEARCH ENGINES THAT OFFER PAID INCLUSION PROGRAMS Some search engine offer paid inclusion services, which offer either guaranteed inclusion in a search engine index, or a site review within a certain number of days in web directories in exchange for a one-off or annually recurring fee. A site review does not guarantee your site will be included in a web directory. However it appears that most sites that pay for guaranteed site reviews are accepted. This is probably due to the fact that most people make sure their site is up to scratch before submitting it. Both AllTheWeb and AltaVista are now powered by Yahoo! Search Technology, which also comprises the Inktomi search index. So submit your site to the Overture Site Match program for fast submission to the Yahoo! Search index. Google does not offer a paid inclusion program, and doesn’t intend to in the foreseeable future.
Ask Jeeves Site Submit Program The Ask Jeeves Site Submit program allows you to get your most important pages included and refreshed in Teoma’s U.S. index. http://ask.ineedhits.com/sitesubmit.asp
• • • • •
Submit between 1 & 1,000 URLs. Inclusion within one week. 12-month inclusion subscription. Pages checked and updated every week. Reporting on click throughs.
Your content will appear in the Teoma search partner network, including sites such as: •
Ask Jeeves © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
187
• • • • • • • • • •
Excite HotBot iLor Ixquick Mamma MetaCrawler MySearch MyWay Search123 Teoma
Pricing 1st URL: $30 (Adult $60) URLs 2 – 1000: $18 (Adult $36)
Yahoo! Express Yahoo! Express guarantees a member of Yahoo!'s editorial staff will look at your site and consider it for inclusion in the Yahoo! directory, within seven business days. In addition, you will receive an email response within seven business days, stating whether your entry is accepted or declined. If your entry is denied, you will be told why. Payment does not automatically guarantee inclusion in the directory, site placement, or site commentary. Yahoo! Express requires a US$299.00 non-refundable, recurring annual fee per submission, or US$600.00 non-refundable, recurring annual fee for submissions offering adult content and/or services. http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/busexpress.html
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
188
HOW TO ADVERTISE IN SEARCH ENGINES & WEB DIRECTORIES Advertise in the major search engines and web directories if you want guaranteed exposure. Costs can vary greatly, so decide on the form of search engine advertising that fits your marketing budget. There are four types of search engine advertising: • • • •
Banner advertising. Paid inclusion listings Pay per click advertising. Sponsored feature listings.
Search Engines That Offer Banner Advertisements Banner advertising on search engines and web directories is one way of getting your message in front of search engine users without optimizing your listings. You simply pay for banner ads to be displayed on the same page as the search results, in web directory sub-categories, or across a site or network of sites. The banners are either non-targeted (Run of Site - ROS, or Run of Network - RON), or targeted by keywords, topic, category, demographics, countries, or some other variable. Targeted banner advertising costs more than non-targeted banner advertising, but is preferred, due to improved return on investment. Here are a list of major search engines, web directories and metacrawlers and direct links to their respective pages on banner advertising: •
AllTheWeb, AltaVista, FindWhat, Kanoodle, and LookSmart no longer offer banner advertising. Google has never offered banner advertising.
•
AOL - For advertising on AOL, AOL Anywhere, AOL Music, CompuServe, Digital City, ICQ, MapQuest, Moviefone and Netscape. http://advisor.aol.com
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
189
•
Ask Jeeves – Banners, towers and interstitials. http://sp.ask.com/docs/advertise/traditional.html
•
Dogpile - Advertise on Dogpile and the rest of the InfoSpace network, which includes 100Hot, Go2Net Portal, Haggle Online, HyperMart Network, InfoSpace, MetaSpy, PlaySite, Silicon Investor, Useless Pages, WebCrawler and WebMarket. http://www.infospaceinc.com/advert/
•
Lycos – Now managed by 24/7 Real Media. http://247realmedia.com/products/web_ad.html
•
Mamma – Offers full & tower banners and pop-up windows. Run of network ads, or target by keyword, category, country, state, area code, and/or browser. http://www.mamma.com/banners.html
•
MSN - Requires a minimum budget of $40,000! http://advantage.msn.com/home/home.asp
•
Netscape – See AOL above.
•
Overture’s banner advertising is managed by DoubleClick. http://www.doubleclick.com
•
Yahoo! - Minimum ad budget of $3,000. https://public.yahoo.com/leads-cgi/iso_lead_form.pl
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
190
PREMIUM SEARCH ENGINE ADVERTISING Search engines also offer premium positions for large advertisers. Typically the ads are displayed at the very top of the page, above the search results. Minimum buys are usually in the thousands of dollars per month and usually require commitments of several months at the very least.
Google Advertising • • • •
Text listings displayed in colored boxes, at the very top of the page, above the main search results. Minimum spend: $30,000 over three months, with at least $10,000 per month Minimum spend for agencies: $10,000 per client per month with a minimum of one month http://www.google.com/ads/overview.html
MSN Featured Sites • • • •
The listings are displayed under the heading “Featured Sites” at the very top of search results pages. Keyword-targeted listings. Only three paid clients per keyword. http://advantage.msn.com/adproducts/adproducttype.asp?aptid=apti d8
Yahoo! Sponsor Listings • • •
Allows commercial websites already listed in the Yahoo! Directory to enhance their placement. Participating sites are featured in a "Sponsor Listings" section above the directory listings. Pricing and availability varies by category. Categories priced in the US$50-$300 per month range can be submitted through their online subscription form. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
191
•
Categories priced above US$300 per month are handled by the Yahoo! sales team and have a minimum 3 month term. http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/bzinfo/prod/marketserv/sponsorlist. php
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
192
TOP 5 PAY PER CLICK SEARCH ENGINES 04/04 UPDATE: In October 2003, Google acquired the Sprinks pay per click search engine, which powered About.com. As a result, Sprinks was put into retirement and About.com's text links are now powered by Google AdWords.
Initially pay per click search engines started life as individual search engines. Soon they began expanding their reach by paying websites for referring search traffic, but the growth was slow and somewhat limited. They quickly realized that to reach critical mass, they needed to harvest the huge volumes of traffic that the most popular sites attracted; namely search engines, web directories and web portals. They achieved this through revenue sharing listing partnerships. Pay Per Click search engines offer a number of features that standard search engines do not offer: •
Guaranteed top positions - typically before the main search results - in major search engines, web portals and metacrawlers.
•
Keyword targeted listings - your listings will only appear in search results for keyword phrases you have selected. This allows you to extend or narrow your targeted audience as you see fit.
•
Pay only for click throughs - you only pay for visitors - not impressions - who come to your site by clicking on your ad.
•
Cost control - you determine how much you want to bid for each keyword phrase. Typically the higher you bid, the higher your listing appears in the search results. This allows for better tracking of your advertising costs and return on investment.
The top 5 pay per click search engines are: 1. Overture 2. Google AdWords © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
193
3. FindWhat 4. Espotting 5. Enhance Interactive (Formerly Ah-Ha)
Let’s take a look at each on in more detail.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
194
Overture Overture is the leading pay per click search engine delivering 2.2 billion click throughs in 2002. Overture supplies results to many of the top search engines and web directories, including Yahoo!, MSN, AllTheWeb, AltaVista, Lycos, and InfoSpace. Overture has existing marketplaces in the Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US. Overture can deliver a high volume of visitors, so be careful of bidding too much for a visitor. I have seen people spend thousands of dollars in a few days, without getting much in return. It is a painful lesson to learn.
Overture Information Websites (Countries)
Language Support Search Terms Represented Unique Visitors (Monthly) Audience Reach Searches (Daily) Search Engine Partner (Powered By) Supplies Results For
Number of Advertisers Total Bidded Search Listings Number of Click Throughs Average Price Per Click Account Set Up Service
Minimum Account Opening Budget Minimum Monthly Spend Minimum Bid Per Click Time For Listings to Become Active Maximum Keyword Phrases Allowed Keyword Pluralization? Maximum Title Length
Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US. English, French, German, Japanese and Korean. 4.4 million 11.2 million More than 80% of active U.S. Internet users. 167 million+ (02/03) Yahoo! AllTheWeb, AltaVista, AOL Europe, InfoSpace, Lycos, MSN, Yahoo! and thousands of affiliate sites. 100,000+ (Q1 2004) 7.4 million 646 million (Q2 2003) $0.40 (Q2 2003) Self Serve – No Service Fee * Editorial review within 5 days Fast Track - $199 Service Fee * 3 business day turnaround. * Expert Assistance with search term selection, titles, descriptions, budget management, and tracking URLs. * Customized proposal. $50 $20 $0.10 3-5 Business days 25,000 Yes 40 Characters
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
195
Maximum Description Length Optimizes Bids? ($0.01 More Than Next Ranked Listing) Home Page Email Support Telephone Support Open Account
Advertiser Tools
190 Characters Yes - automatic. http://www.overture.com
[email protected] 1-866-999-6837
Get $10 credit (up to 100 leads) with this link: http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/cgi-bin/g/g.cgi?l=bonus-ov10 Get $50 (25%) off Fast Track with this link: http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/cgi-bin/g/g.cgi?l=bonus-ov50 Search Term Suggestion Tool http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ View Bids Tool http://uv.bidtool.overture.com/d/search/tools/bidtool/ ROI Calculator http://www.content.overture.com/d/USm/learning/roic.jhtml CPM Advertising ROI Calculator http://www.content.overture.com/d/USm/learning/roasc.jhtml
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
196
Google AdWords HOT OFF THE PRESS: Google AdWords Announcement: Affiliate Policy Change On Friday, January 7, Google finally confirmed months of rumors of a major affiliate policy change affecting Google AdWords. The main policy changes are: 1. Google will only display the top ranking ad, per search query, for affiliates and merchants sharing the same top level domain. Lower ranked ad positions will be replaced by ads for other domains. 2. The display URL in the ad must match the landing page URL. Unique tracking URLs, often used by affiliates and advertisers, can continued to be used, so long as the display URL matches the landing page URL. 3. You may not frame the landing page in another website. 4. Affiliates will also no longer be required to identify themselves as an affiliate in an ad. However, current ads will continue to display the affiliate status until it is changed by the advertiser. There’s no word from Google when the new policy will come into effect. The rumor is that it will be “sometime in January.” Recommended actions to combat the policy change: a. Bid as much as you can afford, and/or optimize your ads, in order to gain the top ad position. b. If the top ad position is too expensive, you can: a. show your ads on the Google content network, if they’re not already enabled. b. get free traffic from Google’s main search results. Do this by creating and optimizing a content page on your website specifically targeted for each search term. c. Don’t remove the “affiliate” or “aff” notice from your ads just yet, as this will reset its ad rank. Instead, create a new identical ad, without the affiliate notice. Over time, the ad rank of the new ad should roughly match that of the old ad. When that happens, remove the old ad. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
197
Google AdWords is Google’s own pay per click advertising program. Google AdWords listings are displayed in Google search results and its network of search partners including AOL, Netscape, CompuServe, Ask Jeeves, Excite, WebCrawler, EarthLink and Dogpile. Google AdWords is fast catching up on Overture in terms of the number of click throughs it generates for its advertiser. Personally I have found Google AdWords generates as many click throughs as Overture. Costs are comparable. Google have made great improvements to their user-interface. I personally think it’s much more user-friendly than Overture’s.
Google AdWords’ Unique Features: Here are some unique features that differentiate Google AdWords from other pay per click search engines: •
AdWords Discounter monitors competing bids and adjust your bid to just one cent above than your closest competitor, based on the maximum bid you set.
•
Lets you create more than one ad, within an ad group, which are rotated. Your ads are shown equally at first, and as your campaign progresses, ads that receive more clicks will appear more often.
•
Rank is determined by a combination of your bid price and click through ratio. Ads that don't attract clicks will move down the rank. Ads that do attract clicks will rise to the top. This way, no one can lock you out of the top position purely by outbidding you.
•
Ads go live the within minutes of creation. No need to wait 3-5 days for editorial review.
•
You may target your ads by country (250) and/or languages (14), including English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
198
•
$5.00 total startup cost with no monthly minimum spends. Your credit card is charged after 30 days or when you surpass your credit limit.
•
The option to opt out of having your ads shown on its partner sites.
Google AdWords Information Website Targeting (Countries) Language Targeting Supplies Results For
250 14 languages AOL, Netscape, CompuServe, Ask Jeeves, Excite, WebCrawler, EarthLink, Dogpile, BizRate, InfoSpace, AT&T, Sympatico-Lycos, Searchalot, and MetaCrawler. Minimum Account Opening Budget $5 Account Auto-Recharge Feature? Credit card charged after 30 days or credit limit surpassed. Minimum Monthly Spend $0 Minimum Bid Per Click $0.05, but varies according to a keyword's popularity. Time For Listings to Become Active Goes live almost immediately upon submission Maximum Keyword Phrases Per Submission 2,000 Maximum Keyword Phrases Allowed Unlimited Search Phrase Pluralization? Yes Maximum Title Length 25 Chars Maximum Description Length 2 Lines X 35 Characters Per Line Maximum Keyword Length Unlimited Optimizes Bids? ($0.01 More Than Next Ranked Listing) Yes - automatic. Open Account Welcome to AdWords https://adwords.google.com/select/ Online Form for Support Contact Us http://www.google.com/contact/ Engine's Own Site Listing Tips Optimization Tips https://adwords.google.com/select/tips.html Advertiser Tools Google AdWords Keyword Suggestions https://adwords.google.com/select/main?cmd=KeywordSandbox
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
199
How Google AdWords Ads Are Ranked An ad's position is determined by a combination of its maximum cost-per-click (CPC) or price, and click through rate (CTR) or performance. This is known as an ad’s Ad Rank. The algorithm weighs more heavily on click through rate than the average cost-per-click. So raising your maximum CPC has less effect than you think. For example: Site A’s maximum bid is $0.10 and has a 1% click-through rate, which produces an Ad Rank of 10 (10x1). Site B’s maximum bid is $0.06 and has a 2% click-through rate, which produces an Ad Rank of 12 (6x2).
As a result, site B's ad will appear above site A's since it has a higher Ad Rank value, even though its maximum bid is less than site A’s. This is Google's attempt to ensure that only the most relevant ads appear for a search term. To improve your ad’s Ad Rank, either improve the cost-per-click or click through rate.
21 Google AdWords Optimization Tips Here are 21 Google AdWords optimization tips that will increase your click through ratio and lower your cost per click: 1. Divide your keywords into campaigns. Each campaign could refer to a specific product category or promotion. This will let you set different options for each campaign and obtain more accurate return on investment (ROI) data.
2. Only target customers who speak your language. For example, if you website is only in English, then only target users who understand English.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
200
3. Only target countries where your customers are. If you find that the majority of your customers are from the U.S. and Canada, then only select those two countries for your ad to appear in. This is one advantage that Google AdWords has over Overture and allows for more targeted advertising.
4. Enter as many targeted keyword phrases as possible. Don’t make assumptions on whether a keyword phrase will attract clicks.
5. Include misspelled keyword phrases. I find they produce the highest click through ratios as they typically have little competition.
6. Breakdown your keyword phrases into groups of similar keywords that can be targeted using the same titles. This will produce the higher click through rates and lower cost per click.
7. Use “Exact” and “Phrase” match to improve your click through ratio and lower you cost per click. For example: [search engine optimization] – Exact match ”search engine optimization” – Phrase match search engine optimization – Broad match
8. Include negative keywords to avoid click throughs from people you don’t want to attract. For example, all software promoters should include keywords such as free, hack, crack, warez, etc., which are entered by people looking for free or hacked versions of the software.
9. Minimize the use of “stop words” such as “in, on, at, from, and, etc.” in your ads. For more information on stop words, visit the What Are Stop Words? Section.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
201
10. Set your initial cost per click bid as high as you can afford. This will help to get as high a click through rate as possible. After you have achieved a reasonable click through ratio, you may lower your bid. The high click through rate will help you to achieve a higher position for your bid.
11. Set a high enough bid to at least get your ad into the top 8 positions, or the first page. If possible try to bid for the top 2/3 positions to get your ads “above the fold” – visible content that does not require the user to scroll down the page. This will help you to maximum your click through ratio.
12. For extremely popular and competitive keywords that cost far too much to the top positions, don’t be afraid to settle for low cost bids that give you rankings in the 40-50 range. They can and do attract click throughs.
13. Enter a reasonable daily campaign budget. Make sure it is sufficient; otherwise your ads may not appear every time your keywords are searched.
14. Uncheck the “content sites in Google's network” checkbox, if you do not want your ads to appear in content-targeted pages. People have reported that content-targeted ads generally attract a lower click through and ROI ratio. Please note that by choosing not to display your ads in the content sites in Google's ad network, your ads will not appear in the Google Directory and Google Groups, aside from other highly trafficked sites.
15. Always include the main keyword phrase you’re targeting in the ad title. If the keyword phrase doesn’t fit onto one line, let it continue on the second line. When a user searches for the keyword phrase you’re targeting, it will be highlighted in bold and will help to draw attention to your ad.
16. Always test 2 or more ads simultaneously. Google will automatically display more of the better performing ad. After a while, replace the lesser performing ad with a fresh one. Continue this process in your never-ending quest to improve your © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
202
click through ratio and lower your cost per click.
17. Test ad groups by pausing them to see what effects it has on your conversion ratio and return on investment. Add the ads back into the system by selecting the “Resume” option.
18. Test ads by changing the title, description, and displayed URL. Also try changing just one word in an ad. You could be surprised by the results. I have had ads perform up to 30% better just by changing one word in the ad.
19. Don’t be afraid to pause and delete ad groups and campaigns that are not producing a return on investment.
20. I have seen Google AdWords ads appear in the 2 premium positions that are usually reserved for large advertisers. These positions typically produce higher click through ratios. So it can pay to bid for the top rankings.
21. Optimize your return on investment by watching your average cost-per-click, not your maximum cost-per-click. Quite often you can drive more click throughs by setting a much higher maximum cost per click, yet keeping your average costper-click low.
For more Google AdWords optimization tips from Google, visit https://adwords.google.com/select/tips.html Visit the How To Optimize Pay Per Click Search Engine Ads section for more optimization tips.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
203
2 Ways Non-US Residents Can View US-Only Google AdWords Ads If you don’t live in a particular country, and you conduct a search in Google, you will not see Google AdWords ads where the advertiser has not selected your country as one of the countries he/she wants their ad to appear. There must be lots of Google AdWords advertisers who target the US market, but don’t live in the US. So how do you know what ads you’re competing with? Well, there are 2 ways to view the same set of ads that US-based users see. 1. Use The Google Toolbar a. First you must be using Internet Explorer and have the free Google Toolbar installed onto your computer. You can download the Toolbar at http://toolbar.google.com b. Visit Google US – http://www.google.com c. Conduct a search. d. Click the 'I' button on the Google Toolbar, and select the "Translate into English" option. Now look again at the ads. They should have been replaced with the same ads US users see.
2. Use A US Proxy Server A proxy server is simply a server that anyone can connect to. By requesting a webpage via a US based proxy server, you are able to view webpages as though you was connecting from within the US itself. Please note that this procedure is a bit more advanced and is not recommended for complete beginners. a. Visit the CyberSyndrome website. http://www.cybersyndrome.net/pls.html
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
204
b. Select one of the proxy servers from the huge list of worldwide proxies available. c. Visit the WhereIs website to make sure the proxy IP address is US-based. Enter the proxy IP address (first part -- before the colon -- of the address) into the search form and if the result is “US” or the country you want, then proceed. Otherwise try another proxy. http://where-is.info d. Find your internet connection setting in your web browser. e. Switch to connecting via a proxy and insert the proxy setting. i. Internet Explorer > Tools > Internet Options > Connections > Lan Settings. ii. Check the “Use a proxy server for your Lan” checkbox. iii. Enter the first part (before the colon) of the proxy address into the Address input box and the second part (right of the colon) into the Port input box. iv. Click OK. OR: v. Netscape > Exit > Preferences > Advanced > Proxies vi. Check the “Manual Proxy Configuration” radio button. vii. Enter the first part (before the colon) of the proxy address into the HTTP Proxy input box and the second part (right of the colon) into the Port input box. viii. Click OK. f.
Visit Google US – http://www.google.com
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
205
g. If the Google homepage obviously doesn’t look like the Google US homepage, then you need to try another proxy. h. Conduct a search and you should see the same Google AdWords ads as US-based users.
Connecting to the internet via a proxy server can be quicker than connecting via your local internet service provider. Plus if you’re a parent, this is actually a good way to add a free adult content blocker onto your computer.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
206
FindWhat FindWhat supplies results for Dogpile, Excite, MetaCrawler and Search.com. FindWhat’s list of distribution partners are smaller search engines, so don’t expect to receive as much traffic as advertising in Overture or Google AdWords.
FindWhat Information Websites (Countries) Language Support Search Terms Represented Search Engine Partner (Powered By) Supplies Results For
USA English 750,000 None Search.com, Excite, WebCrawler, NBCi, MetaCrawler, Dogpile, and Go2Net. Searches (Daily) 33 million+ (01/03) Number of Advertisers 24,500 Number of Click Throughs 98.4 Million (Q2, 2003) Average Price Per Click $0.18 (Q2, 2003) Minimum Account Opening Budget $25 Minimum Bid Per Click $0.05 Time For Listings to Become Active 24 hours Keyword Pluralization? Yes Optimizes Bids? ($0.01 More Than Next Ranked Listing) Yes - manual. Home Page http://www.findwhat.com Email Support
[email protected] Telephone Support 1-877-274-2525 1-239-454-6988 Open Account Advertiser Tools
Advertise With Us http://www.findwhat.com/content/advertiser/index.asp View Current Ads (Bids) http://www.findwhat.com/content/advertiser/view_current_ads.asp
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
207
Espotting (Europe) NEWS: Espotting signs amended merger agreement with FindWhat search engine. Espotting is Europe's leading pay per click search engine powering over 1 billion search requests per month across Europe. Its listings are distributed across the top UK sites, including Yahoo! UK & Ireland, Netscape, Ask Jeeves, LookSmart, Lycos, AllTheWeb, InfoSpace, and UK Plus. According to Espotting 97% of the click throughs come from their top 5 listings, so it is essential that you bid for the top 5 positions.
Espotting Information Note: £1.00 equals approximately $1.80-$1.85 depending on exchange rate fluctuations. Websites (Countries) Language Support Supplies Results For
Number of Advertisers Account Set Up Service
Minimum Account Opening Budget Minimum Bid Per Click Time For Listings to Become Active Home Page Email Support Telephone Support Open Account
UK, Ireland, France and Germany. English Yahoo! UK & Ireland, Netscape, Ask Jeeves, LookSmart, Lycos, AllTheWeb, InfoSpace, UK Plus, and other major search engines across Europe. 20,000 Bronze * Optional automated bid management service. * £10 fee + minimum £100 deposit. Silver * Professionally written titles & descriptions. * Optional automated bid management service. * £75 fee + minimum £100 deposit. Gold * Advises you on how to maximize your listings. * Provide a list of targeted keywords. * Professionally written titles and descriptions. * All keywords activated at #1 position across their affiliate network. * Optional automated bid management service. * £149 fee + minimum £100 deposit. Platinum * Minimum £50,000 budget * Espotting manages campaign and ROI. £10 fee + £100 deposit. £0.05 48 hours http://www.espotting.com
[email protected] +44-(0)20-7539-0500
Espotting Media © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
208
https://www.espotting.com/advertisers/secureadvertisers/list_yoursite.asp Advertiser Tools Keyword Generator http://www.espotting.com/popups/keywordgenbox.asp
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
209
Enhance Interactive (Formerly Ah-Ha) In December, 2003, Ah-Ha changed its name to Enhance Interactive. Enhance is a family-friendly pay per click search engine that does not accept adult content.
Enhance Interactive Information Websites (Countries) Language Support Unique Visitors (Monthly) Searches (Monthly) Search Engine Partner (Powered By) Supplies Results For Number of Advertisers Minimum Account Opening Budget Account Set Up Service
Minimum Account Opening Budget Minimum Bid Per Click Time For Listings to Become Active Home Page Email Support Open Account Online Form for Support Email Support Telephone Support Open Account
USA English 21 million (Enhance Interactive 04/04) One billion+ (Enhance Interactive 04/04) FAST Search Dogpile, Excite, Verizon, WebCrawler, and NBCi. 14,000 $50 We’ll Do It For You * Sign up process (5-10 minutes) * Editorial review (included) * Keyword creation * Title and description creation * Personal account representative * Toll free customer service * $99 service fee Do It Yourself * Sign up process (30-60 minutes) * Editorial review (4-5 business days) * Toll free customer service * No service fee $50 deposit. $0.03 4-5 business days http://www.enhance.com
[email protected] Sign Up https://secure.ah-ha.com/signup/teaser.aspx Contact Us http://www.enhance.com/about/contact.asp Questions or Feedback -
[email protected] Prospective Advertisers -
[email protected] 1-801-705-7125
Get $10 credit with this link: http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/cgi-bin/g/g.cgi?l=bonus-ei10
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
210
Free $5 Kanoodle voucher. Get top rankings on Dogpile, WebCrawler, MetaCrawler, CNET Search, MSNBC, CBS MarketWatch, and Quicken. http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/cgi-bin/g/g.cgi?l=bonus-ka5
For information and reviews on over 630 pay per click search engines, visit http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com
HOW TO OPTIMIZE PAY PER CLICK SEARCH ENGINE ADS Pay per click search engine advertising is becoming increasingly popular as they allow anyone to bid for top positions in major search engines and drive immediate traffic within hours of launching a website. In this section I will discuss some ways to optimize your pay per click search engine ads.
17 Pay Per Click Search Engine Optimization Tips Here are 17 tips on how to optimize your pay per click listings: 1. Create a list of every single targeted keyword phrase you can find and submit them to the pay per click search engines. For more information on how to find targeted keywords, visit the “32 Keyword Research Tools” section.
2. If the pay per click search engine does not automatically pluralize keyword phrases, make sure you include plural versions of all keyword phrases.
3. Create attention grabbing titles. Include the search phrase in the ad title. Often a search engine will highlight the search term in ads in bold. This will help to catch the search engine user’s attention.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
211
4. Compose benefit driven descriptions. Tell your potential customers how your website meets their needs. Spell out the most important benefit/s to encourage prospects to click on your link.
5. Offer incentives, such as special offers, freebies, product reviews, online coupons, and free trial download to entice prospects to click your ad.
6. Tell people what to do by including a call to action phrase at the end of the ad. For example, “Download free 30-day free trial now!”
7. Minimize the use of stop words. Try to replace them with keywords. Visit the “What Are Stop Words?” section for more information on stop words.
8. Monitor the performance of every keyword phrase and ad to track click throughs, click through ratios, conversion ratios, sales and profit margins.
9. The #1 position gets the most clicks – period. But also try the #2 and #3 positions, as they can turn out to produce a better return on investment than the top position.
10. Avoid bidding wars. Instead try to find more specific multi-word phrases that cost less per click.
11. Create landing pages for different keyword phrases to grab the visitor's interest, create desire and invoke action, by leading them to make a purchase decision, or seek more information about your product or service.
12. Start by setting the maximum cost per click you are willing to pay. Monitor results on a daily basis - hourly if you are getting a lot of click throughs. Decrease cost per click until you hit the perfect balance of visitor numbers and return on investment.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
212
13. Update your listings as the shopping season changes. For example, Christmas, Easter, Valentines Day, etc.
14. Including the price in the ad description to deter freebie hunters and to improve click through ratios. I have found that adding prices and discount percentages nearly always improves click through ratios.
15. Submit listings using misspelled keyword phrases. This may not produce a whole load of clicks, but the chances are your competitors haven’t thought about this, so you end up with 100% of the click throughs.
16. Test! Test! Test! Test every part of your campaign. Test with different keywords, titles, descriptions, bids, landing pages, etc.
This last tip which won’t be easy to perform, but is essential if you are spending thousands of dollars a month on pay per click advertising. 17. I recommend setting up some kind of system to monitor your click throughs for click fraud. By click fraud I am talking about detecting multiple clicks from people who are out to waste your advertising dollars. I have read of horror stories where advertisers have detected their competitors clicking on their ads on a regular basis, racking up tens of thousands of dollars of useless clicks. Yes, pay per click search engines does have systems in place to track basic click fraud, such as multiple, successive clicks on an ad. But it won’t detect “smart” clicks, such as when people click on different ads at various times of the day, on a daily basis. If you are paying a few dollars a click, it can quickly add up to thousands of wasted dollars. It is up to you to monitor your clicks for click fraud. I recommend you budget for an additional 20-25% on top of your bids to cover click fraud.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
213
Google AdWords Can Bill Twice For One Click Through! I recently read a report from a reputable source that if someone clicks on your link in Google AdWords, visits your site, returns to Google, and then hits the back button; Google counts this as another billable click. It probably doesn’t occur too often. But wouldn’t you still kind of feel cheated by Google?
How To Minimize Bid Gaps Bid gaps are the price differences between rankings in pay per click search engines. For example: #1 - $1.00 #2 - $5.00 #3 - $0.49
The bid gap between the #1 and #2 ranked listing is fifty cents, whereas the bid gap between the #2 and #3 listing is only one cent. The majority of the major pay per click search engines does offer a minimum bid gap feature so that you only pay one cent more than the next highest ranked listing. However, the majority of the smaller pay per click search engines doesn’t offer this feature. So unless you minimize the bid gaps, manually, using a bid optimization service, or software program, you’re almost certainly paying more than you should for click throughs. There are 4 types of bidding tools to help you minimize bid gaps…
2 Online Bid Gap Optimization Services If you want to constantly monitor and optimize your keyword bids, then automated online keyword bid optimization services are a good option.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
214
They work by monitoring your keyword bids to identify opportunities whereby they can minimize the gap between the price you are paying and the price you need to pay to maintain the position. When a bid gap is found, they automatically adjusts the bid for you to ensure you only pay one cent more than the highest ranked listing below yours. •
Go Toast - (Overture Approved) - Optimizes your bids and positions in 19 major pay per click search engines. Cost: From $79.95/month for monitoring 50 keywords on 16 pay per click search engines, twice a day, to a jaw-dropping $15,599.90/month for 1,000 keywords, on 27 engines, 48 times a day. Basic return on investment tracking aid included in price. The service works well, but can get expensive if you are monitoring a large number of keywords. http://www.gotoast.com
•
PPC BidTracker - (Overture Approved) - Supports Ah-Ha, ePilot, Espotting, FindWhat, Kanoodle, Overture (US, UK, France, Germany) and Sprinks. Monitors accounts every 30 minutes, with the exception of Overture. Cost: Ranges from $39.95 per month for up to 50 keywords on either Overture, or all engines except Overture, to $499.95 per month for 2,000 keywords on either Overture, or all engines except Overture. Above 2,000 keywords costs $499.95 + $.20 per keyword. http://www.ppcbidtracker.com
2 Bid Gap Optimization Software Keyword bid optimization software is similar to their online counterparts, except they run on your computer. Keyword bid optimization software usually costs far less than the monthly fees charged by self serve keyword bid optimization services. The disadvantage is that unless you have a constant connection to the internet, the software will only monitor your bids when you are connected. This could lead to missed bidding opportunities. •
BidRank - (Overture Approved) – Supports Overture (US, UK, France, Germany), Ah-ha, BrainFox, Espotting, FindWhat, Kanoodle, SearchFeed, Sprinks, Xuppa, 411Web, LifeTips, Turbo 10. Operating Systems: Win 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 and XP. Cost: BidRank for Overture - Standard (50 Keywords) $129 / Professional (500) $299 / Business (2,000) $449 / Enterprise (5,000) $599. BidRank Plus - Standard (50 Keywords) $119 / Professional (500) $249 / © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
215
Business (2,000) $349 / Enterprise (5,000) $399. (All versions include 1 year of free upgrades) http://www.bidrank.com
•
PPC Pro - (Overture Approved) – Supports Overture (US, UK, France, Germany), Google, Ah-ha, FindWhat, and Kanoodle. Prices include all updates and upgrades. Cost: PPC Pro Overture - $15/month or $119/lifetime for 50 keywords to $120/month or $949/lifetime for unlimited keywords. PPC Pro Non-Overture $15/month or $99/lifetime for 50 keywords to $80/month or $699/lifetime for unlimited keywords. http://www.ppcmanagement.com
Bid Gap Monitoring Software Keyword bid monitoring software reports bid gaps. Unlike bid gap optimization tools, they do not automatically adjust your bids. •
PPC Bid Reporter Professional – Supports Overture (US, UK), 7Search, FindWhat, Xuppa, Kanoodle, ePilot, Ah-ha, Brain Fox, GoClick, eSpotting and Search Feed. Includes a built in keyword builder to help you create lists of keyword phrases. Cost: US$77 for single copy / $175 for site license, both of which includes one year of free updates. http://www.ppctoolkit.com/products/gkwpro/
Visit the “21 Google AdWords Optimization Tips” section for more optimization tips.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
216
TOP 10 PRICE COMPARISON ENGINES Price comparison shopping search engines enable buyers to shop around by comparing merchants and products by price, feature, shipping cost, tax, and product availability. Price comparison engines are basically pay per click search engines that online shoppers. The major difference is that products are typically ranked by price, as opposed to bids. Product listing fees vary, and typically cost from 5 cents to one dollar per click through, depending on the product category. I would definitely recommend submitting your products to price comparison engines, especially if your products fall into the popular categories such as books, health and beauty, home and garden, toys, etc. I have tested e-goods, such as independent software and ebook listings, on price comparison engines, without much success. It seems e-goods buyers generally don’t use price comparison engines to shop for those types of products. Here's a roundup of the most popular, general purpose shopping and price comparison search engines.
BizRate/Shopzilla http://www.bizrate.com (US) http://www.shopzilla.com (US) http://www.shopzilla.co.uk (UK) http://www.shopzilla.fr (France) Founded in 1996, BizRate is one of the oldest and most popular price comparison engines on the web. In November 16, 2004, BizRate changed its corporate name to Shopzilla, Inc. and unveiled Shopzilla.com. Both BizRate and Shopzilla continue to operate as separate services, supported by the same underlying technology.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
217
Shopzilla offers over 28.7 million products, from 52,000 merchants, at the time of writing; December 2004. BizRate attracts 13.2 million unique visitors a month. Merchants can get their products listed on BizRate and Shopzilla for as little as $0.05 per click thtough.
Ciao http://www.ciao.fr (France) http://www.ciao.de (Germany) http://www.ciao.it (Italy) http://www.ciao.es (Spain) http://www.ciao.co.uk (UK) Ciao claims to offer a multi-million-strong online community that critically reviews and rates millions of products and services. The service is available in local-language versions in 5 major western European countries. Ciao doesn’t have as many products as some of the other price comparison engines, but it still attracts a healthy 12 million visitors a month, generating 2 million leads per month.
DealTime/Shopping.com http://www.dealtime.com (US) http://www.dealtime.co.uk (UK) http://www.shopping.com (US) http://uk.shopping.com (UK) Launched in April 2003, Shopping.com is the combination of DealTime; a price comparison engine, and Epinions; a consumer reviews and ratings website. The Shopping.com network consists of over 200 websites, including Shopping.com, DealTime, Epinions, and AT&T. They claim to reach more than 15% of online shoppers, each month.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
218
Shopping.com offers “millions” of products from over 5,000 merchants. The website attracted 15.8 million unique visitors in October 2004, according to comScore, and generates 20 million leads per month. Merchants can list their products for between $0.05 and $1.00 per click through.
Froogle (Beta) http://froogle.google.com http://froogle.google.co.uk Froogle is Google's price comparison engine. Google attempts to crawl and include as many online products as possible, but it encourages merchants to submit product feeds for accurate listings. Unlike most other price comparison engines, Froogle does not charge merchants a fee for product listings, though merchants can bid on Google AdWords which are included in Froogle result pages for product-related queries. Froogle was recently promoted with its own link on the Google.com search engine homepage, replacing the Directory link. In October Google also launched a UK version of Froogle, with other country-specific versions to come.
Kelkoo http://fr.kelkoo.be (Belgium) http://dk.kelkoo.com (Denmark) http://fr.kelkoo.com (France) http://www.kelkoo.de (Germany) http://it.kelkoo.com (Italy) http://nl.kelkoo.com (Netherlands) http://no.kelkoo.com (Norway) http://es.kelkoo.com (Spain) http://www.kelkoo.se (Sweden) http://www.kelkoo.co.uk (UK)
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
219
Kelkoo is Europe's leading price comparison engine. In April 2004, Kelkoo was acquired by Yahoo! Inc and is now a wholly owned subsidiary. They operate in 10 European countries and receives over 32 million unique users per month. Kelkoo offers over 2 million products, from more than 2,400 UK merchants, including 80% of the top 50 UK retailers. The minimum cost per click is 15 pence (approx. $0.29), and there is a minimum spending cap of GB£500.00 (approx. $970.00) per month.
MSN Shopping http://shopping.msn.com (US) http://shopping.msn.co.uk (UK) http://shopping.ninemsn.com.au (Australia) http://www.msn.be/eshop/ (Belgium - Dutch) http://www.fr.msn.be/eshop/ (Belgium - French) http://www.msn.com.br/eshop.asp (Brazil) http://eshop.msn.ca (Canada - English) http://magasiner.sympatico.msn.ca (Canada - French) http://shopping.msn.fr (France) http://shopping.msn.de (Germany) http://msn.co.il/page/11.asp (Israel) http://shopping.msn.it (Italy) http://shopping.msn.co.jp/home.htm (Japan) http://www.msn.nl/winkelen/ (Netherlands) http://shopping.xtramsn.co.nz/home/ (New Zealand) http://www.msn.no/shopping/default.asp (Norway) http://www.msn.com.sg/shopping.asp (Singapore) http://www.msn.es/compras/ (Spain) http://www.msn.se/shopping/ (Sweden) MSN Shopping is part of the MSN Network, offering more than 4 million products, from over 200 stores. Microsoft claims that MSN Shopping includes more Fortune 500 retailers than any other online shopping portal, including Blue Nile, Circuit City, Dell, and JC Penney, Target, and Wal-Mart.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
220
Unlike the other websites in this list, it doesn’t offer a price comparison service. MSN Shopping attracts 12 million visitors a month. The big drawback with MSN Shopping is that they require a minimum budget of $40,000 for product submissions.
mySimon http://www.mysimon.com MySimon, owned by CNET, was one of the early online shopping search engines. It was created by Yeogirl Yun, a Stanford University student, who later founded Wisenut, a crawler-based search engine now owned by LookSmart. CNET don’t provide specific figures, but claims its MySimon database offers “millions” of products from “thousands” of merchants.
PriceGrabber http://www.pricegrabber.com (US - English) http://uk.pricegrabber.com (UK) http://ca.pricegrabber.com (Canada) http://www.preciomania.com (US – Spanish) http://mx.preciomania.com (Mexico) http://br.preciomania.com (Brazil) PriceGrabber, a popular price comparison engine with over 13 million visitors each month, offers 5 millions products from over 5,000 merchants.
PriceSCAN http://www.pricescan.com PriceSCAN’s database consists of publicly available product and pricing information, gathered from magazine ads, vendor catalogs, web sites, etc. PriceSCAN doesn’t charge merchants for listings in its database. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
221
Yahoo! Shopping http://shopping.yahoo.com Yahoo! Shopping is one of the most popular online shopping malls, featuring more than 50 million products from over 200,000 Yahoo! Small Business Merchants and merchants from around the web. There are three ways to get your products into the Yahoo! Shopping search results pages; 1. Build an online store with Yahoo! Small Business Merchant Solutions. Fees range from $39.95 to $299.95 per month, plus 0.75% to 1.5% a transaction fee, and a $50 set up fee. For more information, visit: http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/merchant/ 2. Submit products to the Yahoo! Product Submit program. Fees are $0.15 to $1.00 per click through. For more information, visit: https://productsubmit.adcentral.yahoo.com 3. Bid for rankings at the Overture pay per click search engine. Bids start from $0.10, but top rankings are likely to be much higher, especially for popular product categories. For more information, visit the Overture section.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
222
Price Comparison Engines Compared Side-By-Side Comparison
Countries
Stores
Products Visitors/ Leads/ Product
Engine BizRate/
FR, UK, US
52,000
28.7M
Ads By
Month Month
Listings
13.2M
$0.05+/
Google
click
AdWords
N/A
Shopzilla
Customer Shopping Ratings
List
Yes
Yes
Website URL
bizrate.com shopzilla.com shopzilla.co.uk shopzilla.fr
Ciao
DE, ES, FR,
N/A
500,000
12M
2M
N/A
Espotting
Yes
No
ciao.co.uk
5,000
Millions
15.8M
20M
$0.05-
Google
Yes
N/A
dealtime.com
$1.00/
AdWords
IT, UK DealTime/
UK, US
Shopping.com
dealtime.co.uk
click
shopping.com uk.shopping.com
Froogle
UK, US
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Free
Google
Yes (1)
Yes
AdWords Kelkoo
MSN Shopping
10
2,400
2M
32M
N/A
GB£0.15+ Overture/
European
($0.29)/
countries(2)
Click(3)
17
200
4M
12M
N/A
Yes(5)
froogle.google.com froogle.google.co.uk
No
No
kelkoo.co.uk
No
N/A
shopping.msn.com
Yahoo!
MSN
countries(4)
shopping.msn.co.uk eshop.msn.ca
mySimon
US
Thousands Millions
PriceGrabber BR, CA, MX,
5,000
5M
N/A
N/A
N/A
CNET
Yes
Yes
mysimon.com
13M
N/A
N/A
Price
Yes
No
pricegrabber.com
UK, US
Grabber
uk.pricegrabber.com ca.pricegrabber.com
PriceSCAN
US
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Free
PriceSCAN
No
No
pricescan.com
Yahoo!
US
200,000
50M
N/A
N/A
$0.15-
Overture
Yes
Yes
shopping.yahoo.com
$1.00/click
Shopping Comparison Engine
Countries
Stores
Products Visitors/ Leads/ Product Month Month
Listings
Ads By
Customer Shopping Ratings
Website URL
List
Notes: 1. Froogle's customer reviews and ratings are provided by other comparison engines, such as BizRate, NexTag, PriceGrabber, ResellerRatings and Shopping.com. From this, Froogle calculates its own store rating for each merchant. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
223
2. Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, UK 3. Minimum spend of GB£500.00 (approx. US$970.00 at the time of writing) per month. 4. Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, France, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom, and United States. 5. MSN Shopping requires a minimum budget of $40,000 for product listings. M = Million N/A = (Information) Not Available AU - Australia BE - Belgium BR - Brazil CA - Canada DE – Germany DK - Denmark ES - Spain FR - France IL - Israel IT - Italy JP - Japan NL - Netherlands NO - Norway NZ – New Zealand SE - Sweden SG - Singapore UK – United Kingdom US – United States
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
224
TOP 2 METASEARCH ENGINES Metasearch engines / metacrawlers do not crawl the web and index webpages. Instead they search other search engines simultaneously, compile the results, and display them either in groups, sorted by search engine employed, or by clustering them together and eliminating duplicates. In other words metasearch engines allow you to search a number of search engines with one click. Because metasearch engines neither crawl and index sites, nor have a database of websites of their own, they cannot accept site submissions. However, many metasearch engines do accept classified and/or pay per click listings for those who want guaranteed exposure. Let’s take a look at the top 2 metasearch engines… (Scroll down)
Dogpile Dogpile searches up to 11 search engines and displays the top 5 or 10 results from each search engine in a clustered format (listings from different search engines combined into one set of search results). It also offers listings by individual search engine. Dogpile offers a paid inclusion service which also adds your webpages into the Search Partner Network (DogPile, Verizon, WebCrawler, NBC, and MetaCrawler), with an option to add to Excite. The fees are really quite competitive, compared to other paid inclusion services. But I guess the reason is because the search network attracts far less searches than the top search engines.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
225
Dogpile Information Number of Search Engines and Web Directories Supported Search Engines Supported
Clustered Search Results? Number of Search Results Per Page Other Search Results Search Engine Submission
Home Page
11 Yahoo!, Google, FAST, Ask Jeeves, Overture, FindWhat, Sprinks, Ah-Ha, About, LookSmart, and Open Directory Project. Yes 20 Images, audio, multimedia, news, and shopping. Paid Inclusion Initial Index: Within 72 hours Reindex: Every 48 hours 1 URL: $49.95/year Up to 10 URLs: $99.95/year Up to 50 URLs: $199.95/year Up to 100 URLs: $249.95/year Up to 500 URLs: $299.95/year http://www.dogpile.com
Paid Inclusion https://secure.ah-ha.com/guaranteed_inclusion/teaser.aspx?network=dogpile
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
226
Mamma Mamma is a metasearch engine that serves 21 million unique users a month on Mamma.com and her network of 14,000 third-party websites.
Mamma Information Number of Search Engines and web Directories Supported 10 Search Engines Supported MSN, Ask Jeeves, Teoma, FindWhat, About, LookSmart, Open Directory Project, Business.com and Mamma Collection. Clustered Search Results? Yes Number of Search Results Per Page 15 Affiliate Sites (Powers) 14,000 Unique Visitors (Monthly) 21 million Click Throughs (Monthly) 2.5 million Other Search Results Audio, images, kids, and news. Pay Per Click Ads Mamma Classifieds Cost Per Click: $0.15-$1.00 * Top three listings on Mamma.com's results pages and within the results of network partners. * No monthly minimum spend. * Fixed priced pay per click determined by category. * Free professional campaign management. Paid Inclusion Standard Submit * Guaranteed site review within eight weeks. * $29.99 + $19.99/year after first year. Velocity Submit * Guaranteed site review within two business days. * $59.99 + $19.99/year after first year. Home Page http://www.mamma.com Pay Per Click Ads Mamma Classifieds http://classifieds.mamma.com/signup/ Paid Inclusion Mamma Collection Submission http://mamma.whatuseek.com Email Support
[email protected] Telephone Support 1-888-844-2372 (US & Canada) 1-514-844-2700
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
227
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION FORUMS & SUPPORT SITES In this section you’ll find search engine websites where you can mingle with fellow search engine optimizers and experts alike and ask questions, offer advice, start or join in discussions.
Top 3 Search Engine Discussion Forums Here are 3 popular search engine discussion forums: •
Webmaster World – Offers over 680,000 posts in 46 forums, including separate forums for every major search engine and web directory. http://www.webmasterworld.com
•
Search Engine Forums – Contains over 268,000 posts. http://www.jimworld.com/apps/webmaster.forums/
•
Free Search Engine Forums – Offers over 116,000 posts by over 3,600 registered members. http://www.ihelpyouservices.com/forums/
2 Search Engine Optimization Usenet Newsgroups Search engine Usenet newsgroups offer a collection of user submitted messages and discussions on various search engine topics that are posted to servers on a worldwide network. Usenet newsgroups are similar to discussion forums, except they are usually not moderated, which means you sometimes have to shift through the junk to access the useful information. Google offers a way to view and post messages on Usenet through Google Groups.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
228
The following Google Groups offer messages and discussions on search engine related topics. Not all threads are relevant. Therefore I suggest that you search a newsgroup by entering keyword(s) and select the "Search only in..." option to refine your search. •
Google Public Support - 16,500 posts on Google related issues. http://groups.google.com/groups?group=google.public.support.gener al
•
Search Engines – Over 32,000 messages on search engine issues. http://groups.google.com/groups?group=alt.internet.search-engines
Free Tool Monitors 70 SEO & Internet Marketing Forums I’ve created a free online tool that offers constantly updated, searchable, customizable headlines from 70 of your favorite search engine and internet marketing forums and message boards. This way you can keep up with what’s happening in all the popular forums without having to visit each website individually. http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/marketing-forum/
In addition, Ecommerce Forum Watch offers free, searchable, headlines from over 30 of your favorite ecommerce and web design discussion forums and message boards, updated every 5 minutes. http://www.mikes-ecommerce-software.com/ecommerce-forum/
Pay Per Question Site Pay per question sites offer answers to questions in return for an agreed fee, usually in the region of US$5-25. •
Google Answers - Gives access to more than 500 approved researchers (in all topics), starting at $2.50 per question. It does not specify how many of their researchers are search engine experts. It also offers previously asked questions © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
229
and recently answered questions. http://answers.google.com/answers/
Pay Per Minute Advice Site Pay per minute advice sites offers answers to questions and live advice over the telephone. The phone charges can vary from a few cents to a few dollars per minute. So be careful otherwise you could end up with a huge phone bill! The main advantage of pay per minute advice sites is that they can provide immediate answers to your questions. The downside is the cost. Those phone charges can quickly add up, if you get drawn into a long conversation with the expert, so have a clock or watch handy and keep an eye on the time. •
Keen – Experts provide live answers to questions and recorded advice over the phone on a cost per minute basis. A search for the keywords "search engine optimization" returned 68 experts. Prices ranged from $0.75-$2.50 per minute. http://www.keen.com
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
230
STUDENTS’ QUESTIONS & MY ANSWERS Here are my answers to questions that students have sent in.
Q: Will my site be banned if I submit it too often to the search engines? A: No, never. Otherwise it would be too easy for your competitors to get your websites banned.
Q: Do you recommend creating doorway pages with duplicate content with only the keywords changed?
A: No. Duplicate webpages simply waste space in search engine databases. As such search engines will usually ignore them. Be careful of using doorway page generation software that creates hundreds of copies of a webpage with only the keywords changed. I do not recommend this technique at all.
Q: Do you recommend adding hidden/invisible keywords to webpages? A: No. In the old days search engine optimizers often hid irrelevant keywords and links in webpages by changing the text color to match the background color. Search engines caught onto this practice a long time ago, and will either ignore or penalize websites that use this technique. So I suggest you avoid this technique.
Q: Do search engines penalize the use of tiny text? A: Only if you use it excessively. None of the search engines specify exactly what they consider as tiny text. I would say font size one (7.5pt or 10px) is considered tiny text. Some search engine books state that font size two or less is considered spam. However, in my studies I have found many top 10 ranked sites use font size two. So I conclude that it is safe to use font size two.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
231
It is perfectly fine to use some tiny text in a webpage. For example, many people use tiny text for the copyright message at the bottom of pages. I do. What search engines don't like are webpages where tiny text is the main font size. That is, the majority of the text. I guess the theory is that if people can't read it, then it must be for optimization purposes, which search engines don't like.
Q: What types of links can’t search engines crawl? A: Search engines currently don’t crawl JavaScript links, search forms, Flash links, or links that requires cookies or session IDs for access. So avoid using such links, where possible.
Q: I noticed that you recommend WebPosition Gold. I also bought that a long time ago but stopped using it because I heard that some search engines may penalize it for the auto submission. Is this true?
A: I think the rumors are due to what Google state on their website http://www.google.com/intl/mr/webmasters/guidelines.html "Don't use unauthorized computer programs to submit pages, check rankings, etc. Such programs consume computing resources and violate our terms of service. Google does not recommend the use of products such as WebPosition Gold that send automatic or programmatic queries to Google."
But if you think about it, all search engine optimization software and web-based services use a similar method to submit webpages and get rankings from search engines. No serious search engine optimizer would waste time submitting and getting rankings of dozens, even hundreds or thousands of webpages, manually. The fact is, Google simply don't like ANY such programs that do any of those tasks, because it uses up their resources without them getting anything in return for it. Yet thousands (even millions) of web marketers use such programs to submit their webpages to search engines and check their rankings. Google surely cannot ban them all, and they haven't. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
232
I have yet to hear of a single case of a site being banned because they used WebPosition Gold, or something similar. Google actually allow advertisers to advertise the WebPosition Gold program in their search engine. Surely Google wouldn’t allow ads for WebPosition Gold, if they banned websites that use it, would they?!? I do know this. I've been using WebPosition Gold for years and have achieved thousands of top rankings without ever getting banned for the use of it. In addition, I know of many SEO companies and professionals who use WebPosition Gold. Therefore, I wouldn’t worry about using programs like WebPosition Gold. It’s an excellent time-saving program and perfectly safe to use. http://www.webpositiongoldpro.com
Q: If I order Arelis, and get pretty good at it, how much time will it take me on the average to generate 5 reciprocal links, based on your experience? In other words, for each hour I spend, what's my average going to be?
A: It will be different for each person and website. Arelis will help you find dozens, even hundreds, of reciprocal links in no time, especially when you get Arelis to find sites that link to your competitors (a feature I suggested to the author). However, contacting site owners and getting them to add your link will take a bit longer and don't expect everyone to reply. If you spend an hour a day on it, you should be able to easily generate 10-20 reciprocal links a week; of course it could be more. That may not sound like much, but if you do this consistently, it really adds up over time.
Q: How truly important are hyphenated URL's? Are they a must for SEO? Can I expect to fail at conquering the top ten spots for a given keyword phrase without them? Whenever I ask someone this question they kind of dance around the answer and tell me it helps sometimes, but is not necessary all the time. This kind of answer doesn't help me much.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
233
A: You ask a very good question. The reason why most people dance around the answer is simply because they can't give you a definite answer. The main problem is that it is extremely difficult to test whether a domain with hyphen/s ranks better than one without, especially since Google only update once per month. I believe that hyphenated domain names do affect search engine rankings, which is why I generally use hyphenated domain names for my websites. Visit the Does Separating Domain Name Keywords With Hyphens Affect Rankings? section for more information. There you will find a case study of someone who tested hyphenated versus unhyphenated domain names and discovered that hyphenated domains out-pulled the unhyphenated domains by a ratio of almost three to one!
Q: WordTracker seems like a great tool and I'm sure I will get a lot of use out of it. I have been using Overture's Keyword tool, but this one seems better. I wanted to know which of the searches is best to use? Compressed, Comprehensive, Simple, Exact or Precise. Which do you use most? Which is the most effective? Do you ever use the GoTo or 7 Search databases? Also, which engines do you use when performing a competition search? Do you use just one or two and which ones?
A: I use compressed mode all the time. Compressed search removes unnecessary characters (+, -, ") and compresses all forms of the term to lower case. E.g. 'POKEmon', '+pOkEmon' become 'pokemon' I do use the GoTo database when I want to build keywords for Overture. I never use the 7 Search one. I rarely use the competition search, because I don't believe that the number of competing pages is the key to success. After all, most, if not all, popular keyword phrases will have lots of competition. You won't find a popular keyword phrase with no competition. As long as you optimize your pages better than the top ranked ones, you will be ranked higher than them.
Q: Is there a limit to the size of a webpage that search engines will index?
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
234
A: A good rule of thumb is to keep webpages (excluding images) under 75k, as most search engines stop crawling when a page exceeds this limit. I also try to limit the number of hyperlinks on a webpage to 50.
Q: In your opinion, what are the best search engine tools for getting top search engine rankings?
A: The top 3 tools I would recommend are; (1) WebPosition Gold for submitting to search engines and tracking rankings; (2) Arelis for finding reciprocal link partners; and (3) Optilink for more advanced search engine optimization. http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/webposition-gold.html (review) http://www.webpositiongoldpro.com http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/arelis.html (review) http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/optilink.html (review) http://www.optilinksoftware.com
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
235
22 New Students’ Questions & My Answers
Q: I've been reading more of your reviews of SEO programs. It seems to me that Optilink has several distinct features from Arelis, which again is different from Web CEO. Would you say that all 3 such programs have quite different but necessary tools? Do they round out the SEO toolbox? What else is required as far as software is concerned?
A: You're absolutely right. OptiLink, Web CEO and Arelis are 3 distinctly different programs. Although Web CEO does offer other features, it is primarily designed for submitting web pages to search engines and tracking their rankings. Arelis is designed for finding link partners and managing those relationships. Optilink is for search engine optimizers who want to find out how a web site/page got its top rankings, so that you can use that insight to improve your own rankings. By the way, WebPosition Gold and Internet Business Promoter are similar to Web CEO: WebPosition Gold http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/webposition-gold.html Internet Business Promoter http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/cgi-bin/g/g.cgi?l=ibp-shorturl May I suggest that you download each free trial and test out the programs to see what each does, and whether it suits your needs.
Q: If I have more than one domain name, say 10-20 or more, for the same company name. Is it illegal with search engines?
A: There is nothing illegal about it. In fact it could work to your advantage. Check out the top listings in Google for “Coke” to see what I mean: http://www.google.com/search?q=coke However, it doesn't necessarily work with all search engines. Some will only index one domain and ignore the rest.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
236
Q: What is the best search engine cloaker you would recommend that works really well?
A: I've never used a search engine cloaker, so I don't have a recommendation. Sorry. By the way, I wouldn't recommend using a search engine cloaker.
Q: I have created a search engine optimized hallway page. This is linked from the logo image on the homepage. The links on this page then drill down to further optimized doorway pages. My question regards submitting these pages. Do I submit each and every page to the search engines, or should I just submit the hallway page, or just the main homepage? Please let me what is the best way to submit.
A: I do not recommend submitting hallway pages that only contain links and no text. Some search engines, such as AltaVista, ignore/reject links only pages, as they see it as SEO spam. A better way would be to add a short description beside each link. Why not turn it into a site map or something like that. Then link to the page, via a text (not image) link, from all the main pages of your site. The important thing is to use the exact keywords in your text links that you want to target. When you've done that, submit your homepage and all your important pages, such as the "site map" (hallway) page as suggested above.
Q: I was ready to purchase WebPosition Gold. However, they don't support my Macintosh. Your other suggestions also don't support Macs. Do you have any suggestions that would be similar to WebPosition Gold for a Mac?
A: Try SubmitWolf Mac; a search engine submission software program for the Apple Macintosh that automates the process of submitting web pages to hundreds of search engines. You can find more info at: http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/directory/search-enginesubmission-software.html
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
237
Q: Can I apply your search engine strategies to Chinese search engines? A: Yes, you should be able to apply the SEO strategies to Chinese search engines. There may be some differences, but the basic principles should apply.
Q: If you were going to buy one program; either Internet Business Promoter (IBP) or Optilink, which would you buy?
A: IBP is quite different from Optilink. IBP is a search engine optimization/submission/ranking tool, whereas Optilink is a link analysis tool more suited for intermediate to advanced optimizers. If you're just starting out and require a program for optimizing, submitting and ranking, then I recommend either IBP or WebPosition Gold (WPG). WebPosition Gold Review http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/webposition-gold.html Internet Business Promoter (Direct link) http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/cgi-bin/g/g.cgi?l=ibp-shorturl
Q: At the moment, we have a campaign with a well known newspaper website, where we are on all article pages, but not the front page. We are also in the featured links on the bottom right, for one month. This gave us about 300 links in Google, but they all have a page rank of 0-2. We were offered the opportunity to be on the front page, which has a page rank of 9. Would it be of much help to our PageRank and traffic in Google by having this one link on the front page as opposed to the many pages that have low PageRank?
A: I would recommend getting a PageRank 9 link as opposed to hundreds of PageRank 0-2 links, which is basically doing nothing for the PageRank on your webpages. Having said that, there's no guarantee that a single PageRank 9 link will be picked up by Google or the PageRank will be passed onto your landing page. A number of factors come into play including how they link to you and the number of links out of the page. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
238
The major benefit of having hundreds of PageRank 0-2 links compared to the one PageRank 9 link is that there are hundreds of "doorways" for the website's visitors to click through to your site, whereas the PR9 link only offers one. What I would suggest is test the homepage PageRank 9 link for 4-6 weeks to see if it affects your website's PageRank. I'm pretty sure the newspaper site is crawled and indexed by Google on a regular basis (if not daily), so you should be able to measure any benefits within 4-6 weeks.
Q: I am setting up a new website, and was wondering whether it makes a difference if the domain name is 29 characters long. Is this too long? Will people frown on using a long name compared to a shorter one? It seems like most of my top 10 competitors use short domain names.
A: I would recommend a shorter domain name; the shorter the better. There are good reasons why domain names are short, and why all your competitors are using short names. The benefits include: * easier to remember * less likely to be misspelled * more brandable
Q: I'm very interesting in implementing the strategies in your ebook.
The
ONLY concern I have is that search engines are a little sensitive to "aggressive" or "gimmicky" game playing, and quick to blackball websites. Is your methodology "conservative" in the sense that you won't lead me to do things that would "annoy" search engines and cause them to black-ball me? Being new to the game I want to learn the ropes without getting into trouble.
A: I totally understand your concern, and it is a most valid one. What I do in my book is teach you everything you need to know to get top rankings; legitimately. However, I do show you techniques used by "advanced" optimizers that can be construed as "onthe-borderline". I don't preach these techniques. I only show them to my students, so
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
239
that they are aware of them. It is entirely up to you whether you use any of them. They are all categorized in one section of the book, so you can easily spot them.
Q: I remember it is possible that domains with hyphens and include keywords can be ranked higher than domains without the keywords, separated by hyphens. What I'm wondering is which domain should be the actual real domain of the site, and which ones should be submitted to the search engines?
A: To answer your question, let me show you what I have done with most of my sites. I have used www.domain-name.com and forwarded all www.domainname.com visitors to www.domain-name.com. I submit www.domain-name.com to the search engines. If I were to promote my domains offline, I would use www.domainname.com as it's easier for people to remember. Take a look at some of my domains at http://www.amgy.com to see what I mean.
Q: When I have my website analyzed by a keyword analyzer, it shows I have twenty-eight words with the name function. But that word appears nowhere. Do you have any ideas?
A: I'm not quite sure what you mean. But if you're saying a keyword analysis tool finds keywords on one of your web pages which you can't see, then it could be due to hidden keywords; keywords added to a webpage typically using the same font color as the background color to hide the text from visitors. Did anyone else edit your web pages for you? If so, ask them what keywords they added to your webpages. Alternatively, search the HTML source code of the webpages to see if you can find the keywords.
Q: You mentioned the Internet Business Promoter (IBP) in your ebook. My question is, if I’m too lazy to go through your ebook (sorry, I am lazy), can I just use IBP to optimize my website?
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
240
A: Yes, you can use IBP to optimize your website. However, you'll more likely to get better results by understanding how SEO works and applying the knowledge in the book alongside any SEO tools you use.
Q: Many search engine gurus advocate mini-sites. In your experience, can a mini-site rank high in search engines for keywords with medium competition?
A: Yes. I have used so-called "mini-sites" to get high rankings on search engines for very competitive keywords.
Q: I am using SiteBuildIt (SBI) for my website. SBI already has a wellknown system for search engine optimization. In my case, do you advise me to buy search engine software, such as Internet Business Promoter (IBP) or WebPosition Gold (WPG)?
A: That is a very good question. I have seen many SBI sites achieve good rankings, so it must be doing something right. Having said that, there's no guarantee that SBI can or will get all SBI created sites into the top rankings. There are too many other variables that come into play. As far as I know, SBI offers most of the main features offered by WPG and IBP. If that is the case, then there is no point in spending money on a program that does the same jobs. So, I would simply recommend applying the strategies and techniques in my book; something the SBI system cannot do.
Q: Currently my website is ranked 36 on Yahoo!, but it’s still not listed on Google. My website is 2 months old. Am I being too impatient here?
A: No, you're not. Google should have picked it up by now, but only if you submitted it and/or it's linked from at least one or more sites that are already in the Google index. Having said that, there is no guarantee that Google would pick up your site. With gazillions of links on the internet, it is easy for search engine spiders to miss a link here and there. To improve your chances of getting indexed by Google, try to get as many websites already indexed in Google to link to yours. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
241
Q: Question on PageRank. In your book you stated, "Concentrate on getting as many different quality sites as possible to link to one page on your site, usually your homepage. Do not spread the links to different pages." I have started a shopping directory with multiple categories; shirts, shoes, socks, etc. Each category page will target a different keyword for that particular products. Let's say I get some sites about "shoes" to link to me. Shouldn't I have them link to my shoe category? Should I have them link to my homepage? If I have all incoming links point to my homepage, then how can I improve the SERP (Search Engine Ranking Positions) for the category pages? Can you give me some advice on a good linking strategy for a site with multiple categories?
A: If you have a site that covers many topics, then it makes sense to get other websites to link to the main category pages for each topic. The advice I give for getting other sites to link to the homepage is mainly for sites that cover one or two topics. It's better to build the PageRank up on the homepage. This way the high PageRank will spread onto the lower-category pages. For example: Homepage - 6 Level 2 pages - 5 Level 3 pages - 4 and so on. Whereas getting sites to link directly to lower level pages will probably do this: Homepage - 5 Level 2 pages - 4 Level 3 pages - 3 and so on. Your homepage cannot get top rankings for lots of keyword phrases, so in your situation, it would probably be better to get sites to link directly to subcategory pages.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
242
Another thing you have to take into consideration is the landing page that visitors who click through on the links on the other sites land on. If you direct everyone to the homepage, they will have to find to find the category pages they are interested in. Whereas linking directly to a subcategory page, they land on the webpage they are interested in.
Q: I'm looking for software to use in my site redesign.
My HTML knowledge is limited, so I'd want something that does most of that for you, but gives you the capability of doing some HTML writing/editing directly as well, as I learn more about optimizing the site. Obviously I want something that’s in wide enough use so that I can continue to use it for years to come. Can you recommend anything beside something like Dreamweaver which is probably too complicated to learn for my purposes, and more sophisticated than I think I need?
A: Yes, of course. A couple of programs worth trying is Microsoft FrontPage and CoffeeCup HTML. They are both very popular programs, used by millions of webmasters, and should be around for a while. You might find the link below useful. It offers download links for numerous HTML software programs. http://www.download.com/sort/3150-2048_4-0-1-4.html
Q: I have a question regarding a section of your book, "Why I Believe Themed Web-Sites Do Not Improve Search Engine Rankings". You give two examples of your own websites where the search engines ranked highly, that are primarily based on single pages containing your "bio". What is the use of having many pages of keyword content, if the search engines are going to rank you on one page?
A: Each webpage should be targeted for one specific keyword phrase. You see, the point I tried to make in the section you refer to in my book is that search engines see each webpage individually. It doesn't matter if you have one hundred webpages under one domain, or one hundred domains each containing one webpage. They can all rank at the top of the search engines.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
243
Q: I’ve been making changes to my webpages, checking the next day, making more changes, and so on… but I haven’t noticed any improvements to my rankings. What am I doing wrong?
A: There is no need to make changes to the same webpages everyday. That is a complete waste of your time. I would recommend making changes once every 2 months or so, after you have given the search engines a chance update their index. Having said that, there is a way of speeding up the entire process to a few days; pay for your webpages to be included in search engines such as Yahoo and MSN. This is known in the industry as pay-for-inclusion listings. Google do not offer this option. With this method, you can quickly find out, within 2-3 days, whether your optimization efforts have worked or not. If you haven’t achieved the desired rankings, simply modify your webpages, wait for the search engines to come around again, and then check your rankings. You can do this almost indefinitely, until you do achieve the desired rankings. It does cost money, but the investment may well prove profitable in the end. Visit the Search Engines That Offer Paid Inclusion Programs section for more information.
Q: My competitors are using all kinds of illegal SEO tricks to get top rankings. Should I try these tricks to get top rankings?
A: No. Don't worry about websites that use banned SEO techniques. The search engines will catch up with them sooner or later. The analogy I use is... websites that use banned SEO techniques are no different from people who break the law. They may get ahead quicker than law abiding citizens, and even get away with it for a while. But we all know that sooner or later, the chances are the law will catch up with them, and they will lose everything. You have to ask yourself, “Am I willing to take this risk?” Are you willing to risk losing all your rankings; and consequently all the traffic you get from the search engines?
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
244
Q: With regards to Google, I have had problems with getting the wrong page of my website set as "The Page" for a particular set of keywords. How do you overcome this to get the right page indexed.
A: A quick way to stop the search engines listing the wrong webpage for the targeted keyword phrase is to remove the keywords from the page in question. Search engines typically don’t give high rankings to webpages that doesn’t contain the targeted keywords. By removing the keywords from the page, this should stop the search engines from listing the webpage in question. However, that may not be the end of it. If other webpages links to the webpage in question using the targeted keyword phrase, then the search engines may still consider that page as the most relevant webpage for the targeted keyword phrase on your website. To correct this, you should either remove or change those links, or get more text links, using the exact keyword phrase, to point to the webpage you want the search engines to consider as the correct page for the targeted keyword phrase.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
245
FINAL WORDS… Well, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed my guide to getting top 30 rankings. There is a lot of information contained in this book. I’m sure you won’t grasp it all on your first read, so do go back to the sections that interest you most and study them in more detail. Apply the strategies and techniques as soon as possible. It is possible to get results within days, but do allow 6-8 weeks in general, as search engines typically only update their indexes about once a month. So please be patient. There is no magic bullet, aside from a deep pocket, which I’m sure most people don’t have. Remember to constantly test and tweak your techniques. Don’t think the job of optimizing a website is finished when you have optimized your website. It’s a neverending quest to improve rankings and drive more quality traffic for the lowest possible cost. That in turn will increase profits. If you don’t get the results you expected. Examine what you have done. Then work out what you did wrong and try different techniques. I always remember this wise man’s definition of a fool.
“A fool is someone who expects different results, when they do the same thing over and over again.” Don’t be a fool. Remember that, and you will be more successful in business, and in life in general. Want to be even more successful? Simply do one constructive thing each day - be it for your business or your life. There’s no such thing as overnight success. Success comes from doing lots of small things, right, on a consistent basis.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
246
Feedback & Testimonials Are Most Welcome! I welcome any feedback you may have, including broken links, improvement suggestions, new topics I should include in the next update, etc. If you enjoyed my book, please send a glowing, sincere (non-hyped) testimonial. With your permission I will include your testimonial, along with your name, job title and company name in my search engine ebook website. http://www.SearchEngineOptimizationStrategies.com If you also include a nice, clear, color photo, I will include a direct HTML link back to your site – assuming you have a professional looking website and is not banned or penalized by the search engines. At the time of writing, the site has a Google PageRank of 5, and attracts thousands of visitors a month. So a direct link to your site from mine will help your link popularity rating, plus send you some free visitors on a regular basis. Please send a color photo of at least 120 (width) by 180 (height) pixels. The larger the better, as I can edit it down to the required size. Please send feedback and testimonials directly to me at
[email protected]. Please note that I can’t promise that I will use every testimonial I receive. But unless you enter, you can’t win, right? ;o)
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
247
My Other Websites •
Mike's Marketing Tools For informative, straight-to-the-point reviews on a wide range of internet marketing software tools. Plus internet marketing tips to read, or republish in your website, newsletter, or ebook. There are also a number of useful, free marketing tools; An instant, link popularity checker, search engine rankings reporter, online marketing forums aggregator, AdWords Wrapper, search engine chart, and a constantly updated list of top 500 searched keyword phrases. http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com
•
Mike's Ecommerce Software For informative, straight-to-the-point reviews on a wide range of ecommerce and web development software and tools. http://www.mikes-ecommerce-software.com
•
Domain Registration Bank If you want really low, low prices and great service on domain registration services, check out this website of mine. I partnered with GoDaddy on this site and I’ve set the prices to the lowest allowed, so you can be sure you’re not paying a penny more than you have to. One-year registrations cost as little as $4.95 per year, at the time of writing. SSL certificates only cost $49.95 per year! http://www.domain-registration-bank.com
•
AMGY.com Network The AMGY.com Network basically offers a list of all my websites. There are over 2,000 pages of content in the network of sites, so be sure to visit it! I’m sure you will find something useful. http://www.amgy.com
I wish you every success with your search engine marketing efforts! With best regards,
Michael Wong Editor, Mike’s Marketing Tools http://www.Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
248
GLOSSARY 0-9 404 File Not Found / dead link Error message displayed when a browser can't find the page requested. Caused by mistyping a site address in the browser window or clicking a broken link.
A accessibility The state or quality of websites that is accessible to users with disabilities. acquirer A financial institution that maintains merchant card processing services, and receives transactions to be distributed to the card issuers for a merchant. above the fold Top section of a webpage that is viewable without the user having to scroll down, or sideways. ad audience Number of unique users exposed to an ad within a specified time period. ad blocker Software on a user’s browser which prevents banner and interactive ads from being displayed. ad centric measurement Audience measurement derived from a third party ad server's own server logs. ad copy Printed text in an advertisement. ad impression / view Single display of an ad that is viewed by a web user on a webpage, in a newsletter or email. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
249
ad network Online advertising agency that brokers ad impressions on behalf of the websites within its network. ad rotation Number of banner ads that are rotated into an ad space on a website by software residing on a site's server, or a remotely hosted ad server facility. ad space Space on a webpage that is reserved for advertisements. add URL / site / page Same as search engine submissions. Address Verification Service (AVS) Service in which a merchant can verify a credit card holder's address with the Issuing Bank. Required by VISA for credit card processing over the Web. adjustment Debit or credit to a credit card holder or merchant account to correct a transaction error. affiliate Publisher who is a member of an affiliate program or network. affiliate / associate program Marketing concept whereby a website sells its products and services with the help of affiliates, usually other websites. affiliate directory Categorized index of affiliate programs. affiliate fraud Bogus or unlawful activity generated by an affiliate in an attempt to make money. affiliate marketing Use of affiliates to help market a website's products and services in return for a commission of each sale generated. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
250
affiliate merchant Advertiser in an affiliate marketing relationship. affiliate network Online advertising agency that sells ad space on behalf of its network of affiliate sites. Affiliates are paid on a per click, lead, registration, or sale basis. affiliate software Software used by affiliate managers to track and report activity (clicks, leads, registration, sales) generated by its affiliates. Ah-Ha Ah-Ha is a popular pay per click search engine. AllTheWeb AllTheWeb is the testing domain for the "FAST" search engine. alphanumeric rankings Alphanumeric rankings are used by web directories to rank its listings. The listings are displayed in the order of the ASCII character set (punctuation marks, mathematical and other conventional symbols, numbers, and then letters). AltaVista AltaVista claims to be the first searchable full-text database of the World Wide Web launched way back in December, 1995. alternate text Alternative text description of an image for users who disable image downloads in their browser. Also appears as a pop-up text message when a user moves their mouse over an image. animated GIF A GIF graphic that rotates through a series of static images to create the effect of animation. Anonymizer Intermediary which prevents websites from seeing a user’s IP address.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
251
Anonymous FTP (File Transfer Protocol) A way of accessing another computer to upload or download files. Generally used to upload files to web servers or for downloading applications. antialiasing Smoothing of text, or an image, to remove rough sharp edges. AOL Search AOL Search is a search engine which everyone - not just AOL internet access subscribers - with access to the internet can use. Apache Apache is the name of a project team which has created the Apache web server [www.apache.org] , a freely available web serving program. applet Small program embedded in a webpage that gives special functionality, usually written in Java. archive Single file containing a collection of compressed or zipped, files for efficient storage. To extract the original files from the compressed file, use an unzipping program, such as: PKZIP – http://www.pkware.com StuffIt Expander – http://www.stuffit.com/win/expander/ tar – http://www.gnu.org/software/tar/tar.html WinZip – http://www.winzip.com ask an expert “Ask An Expert” sites have experts in different fields offering answers to posted questions. While some “Ask An Expert” sites are free, others charge on a pay per question emailed, or per minute of advice given basis. Ask Jeeves Ask Jeeves is one of the most popular search engines that combine a knowledge base of answers to roughly 7 million commonly asked questions.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
252
ASP (Application Service Provider) Company that offers individuals or enterprises access over the internet to software applications and related services that would otherwise have to be located on their own personal or enterprise computers. associations Organization which administers and promotes different types of credit cards that are licensing and regulatory agencies for bankcard activities. attachment Computer file electronically attached to an email and sent along with it. authorization Approval of a credit card transaction by a card-issuing bank or approved service provider for a specific sum of money. The authorization indicates that the credit card holder has enough credit to be able to make the purchase. autoresponder Computer program that automatically returns a pre-written email message to anyone who sends email to a particular internet address.
B B2B / BtoB (Business-to-Business) Trade between businesses rather than between businesses and consumers. B2C / BtoC (Business-to-Consumers) Trade between businesses and consumers. B2G / BtoG (Business-to-Government) Trade between businesses and government. back-end Application or program that serves indirectly in support of the front-end services. For example, a CGI search script is a back-end application that processes and returns results for a search form submission.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
253
backbone High speed communication links that connect internet service providers and other large internet sites. bandwidth Bandwidth refers to the speed, in bits per second (bps), of data on internet connections. bandwidth transfer The amount of data your web hosting plan allows you to transfer in a given month. 'Transfer' means any data that needs to be sent to visitors at a site, such as HTML pages, images, sounds, music, and other files you have available for download. bank card Debit or credit card issued by a bank or financial institution. banner ad Advertisement in the form of a graphic image that is typically displayed on a webpage. Dimensions: Full banner (468 x 60 pixels), half banner (234 x 60) and vertical banner (120 x 240). banner exchange Ad network where member sites display banner ads on their own sites for credits, which allows them to purchase ad impressions on other member sites. batch A full day's worth of transactions collected together ready to be processed by a card processor. BBS (Bulletin Board System) Software that enables users to log into email, Usenet and chat groups via a modem. BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) Insert email addresses into the BCC field of an outgoing email to send an email to one or more recipients, without revealing the email addresses of all the recipients.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
254
beacon Code placed in an ad on a webpage, or in an email, to track whether the ad was delivered correctly. beta / pre-release test Phase of testing in which a sampling of the intended audience tries the product out, before it is launched. beyond the banner Every other form of internet advertising, except the standard animated GIF banners. For example, interstitials. bit Short for binary digit. The smallest unit of data in a computer. A bit has a single Boolean value, either 0 or 1. bonus impressions Free ad impressions above the commitments outlined in the approved insertion order. booked space Number of sold ad impressions for an ad space. bookmark Record the address of a file or webpage, so you can return to it later. In the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser, it's called, "Favorites." In the Netscape Navigator browser, it's called, "Bookmarks." bounce When email cannot be delivered and is returned to the sending mail server. bps (bits per second) A measure of how fast data is transmitted. brand marketing Concept of marketing a product, service, or company to identify its distinctive benefits and qualities.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
255
button ad Similar to banner ads, except they are smaller than the standard 468 by 60 pixel banner ads. Dimensions: Square button (125 x 125 pixels), button 1 (120 x 90), button 2 (120 x 60) and micro bar (88 x 31).
byte Group of eight bits used to represent a character such as a letter (a), number (1), or typographic symbol (?).
C cache / caching A place to store something temporarily for quicker access at a later date. Typically, webpages are stored in a browser's cache directory on a hard disk, or on a local proxy server. cache busting Preventing browsers or proxy servers from serving content from their cache, in order to force the browser or proxy server to fetch a fresh copy for each user request. Cache busting is used to provide a more accurate count of the number of requests from users. canonical domain names (CNAME) Canonical domain names are sub-sets (prefixes as it were) of your main domain name which point to the same place. For example, mail.yoursite.com and members.yoursite.com. cardholder Any individual who has been issued a credit or debit card (bankcard). card issuing bank The bank that issued a credit or debit card (bankcard) to an individual or company. CC (Carbon Copy) Insert email addresses into the CC field of an outgoing email to send an email to one or more recipients. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
256
CGI (Common Gateway Interface) Standard way for a web server to pass a web user's request to an application program and to receive data back to forward to the user. CGI is commonly used to process online forms. CGI script CGI scripts are commonly used to handle forms, database search queries on webpages, and to produce dynamic webpage content. The CGI Resource Index is a popular directory containing thousands of CGI / Perl scripts. http://cgi.resourceindex.com chargeback Transaction debited to a merchant's account usually as a result of a cardholder dispute. chat room Place for web users with a common interest to communicate in real-time. clearing The process of managing the details between an acquirer and an issuer to allow posting of a cardholder's account and reconciliation of a merchant's settlement position. click / click through When a web user clicks on an advertising banner or text ad and lands on the sponsor's webpage. 'Click through' is the more popular term. click stream Recorded path of the pages a user visited as they surfed one or more websites. client Program, such as a web browser, that requests the services of another computer. A web browser makes requests for pages from servers all over the Web. clip art Prepared artwork designed for use in webpages by experts and novices alike.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
257
clustering / clustered results Clustering is a technique used by search engines to "cluster" search results together, when they find multiple results from the same website. Usually, the most relevant result is listed first with the other relevant pages from that same site indented below it. This makes search results clearer and more useful to searchers, by preventing a small number of sites occupying all of the top rankings. cobranding When two websites display their logos, and thus their brands, together so that the web user considers the site or section to be a joint venture. colocation / co-location / collocation The provision of space for a customer's own computer server in the internet service provider's premises. comment tag Comment tags () are used by programmers to add comments to a HTML page and also to hide JavaScript code from non-compliant web browsers. Content Management System (CMS) System used to manage the content of a website. Typically, a CMS consists of two elements; the content management application (CMA) and the content delivery application (CDA). conversion rate The percentage of people who take a desired action (click, register, subscribe, buy, etc.). cookie Small information text file that a website stores on your hard disk so that it can remember something about you at a later time. Typically, a cookie records your preferences when using a particular site. cookie buster Software that blocks cookies from being placed on a user’s browser.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
258
cost-per-sale Cost, in terms of a commission payment, to an advertiser for each sale generated by an affiliate. CPA (Cost-Per-Action) Cost to an advertiser for each visitor that takes some specifically defined action in response to an ad beyond, such as subscribing to a newsletter. CPC (Cost-Per-Click) Cost to an advertiser for each click through of an ad generated by a site visitor. CPL (Cost-Per-Lead) Cost to an advertiser for each lead generated by an affiliate. CPM (Cost-Per-thousand ad impressions) "M" is taken from the Roman numeral for "thousand." CPO (Cost-Per-Order) Cost of advertising based on the number of orders received. CPT (Cost-Per-Transaction) Cost of advertising based on the number of transactions received. crawler / spider / bot Program that visits and reads webpages in order to create entries for a search engine index. creatives Banner ads, copy, active URLs and other forms of creative artwork which are due to the ad seller prior to the initiation of an ad campaign. CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Management of customer relationships to increasing brand loyalty. CRON script A list of one or more commands to a computer operating system or application server that are to be executed (processed) at a specified time.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
259
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) CSS defines how to display HTML elements in a webpage. CTR (Click Through Rate / Ratio) Percentage of ad impressions that resulted in click throughs. customer acquisition cost The cost of acquiring a new customer. cybercafe A place, usually a coffee shop, which offers internet access to the public.
D database Collection of data that is organized so that its contents can be easily accessed, managed, and updated. de-listing Removal of pages from a search engine's index. decryption Process of interpreting data which is sent in a hard to read form (encrypted). dedicated server Rental and exclusive use of a computer that includes a web server, related software, and connection to the internet, housed in the web hosting company's premises. deep linking Linking to a page other than the site's home page. demographics Characteristics of population or audience, such as gender, age group, occupation, income, race, preferences, etc. description tag HTML meta tag used to provide a description for search engine listings. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
260
DHTML (dynamic HTML) Advanced version of HTML that contains more features, for example, animation. dial-up connection A method of connecting to an internet service provider using a telephone connection in a system of many lines shared by many users. A dial-up connection can be started manually or automatically by a computer's modem or other device. digital certificate / signature Electronic "credit card" that establishes your credentials when doing business or other transactions on the Web. Direct Hit Direct Hit was a search engine that provided search results by analyzing the activity of millions of previous internet searchers. Direct Hit was acquired by Teoma, who subsequently removed the public search interface. discussion forums Discussion forums are sites where people can meet for open discussion on various topics. DNS (Domain Name Server) Machine which translates an internet domain name, such as www.google.com to internet Protocol (IP) address 216.239.51.100. Dogpile Dogpile is a metasearch engine that searches multiple search engines at a time and displays the results from each engine in order. domain Name with which domain name server records are associated that describe subdomains or hosts. domain name Meaningful and easy-to-remember "handle" for an internet address.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
261
doorway / bridge / entry / gateway / information page A doorway page is an information page created for the sole purpose of ranking high in search engines for a particular keyword phrase, or specific search engine. download The process of copying a file from a remote computer to your local computer. DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) DSL is a technology that transmits high-bandwidth information over ordinary copper telephone lines. Individual connections will typically provide 512 Kbps to 1.544 Mbps downstream and 128 Kbps upstream transfer rates. A DSL line can carry both data and voice signals and the data part of the line is continuously connected. dynamic ad rotation Delivery of ads on a rotating, random basis so that visitors are exposed to different ads in different pages of a site. dynamically generated page A dynamically generated page is a database driven page created "on the fly," depending on the user's interest or request.
E e-book / ebook Electronic version of a traditional print book that can be read on a personal computer or a special e-book reader. e-commerce / ecommerce (electronic commerce) Buying and selling of goods and services over the internet. email / email (electronic mail) Electronic messages sent over the internet. email discussion lists Email discussion lists are similar to discussion forums, except the discussions are conducted via email, not on the Web.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
262
email marketing Marketing via email. encryption Process of encoding data into a form which is hard to read and decipher. This data can then be decoded (decrypted) by someone with the correct key. Excite Excite@Home, the company that owns the Excite search engine recently filed for bankruptcy. As a result, Excite@Home sold Excite.com to InfoSpace, which has decided to replace the Excite search engine with InfoSpace's Dogpile metasearch engine results. So search results on both Excite and Dogpile are identical. extranet Private network that uses the internet and the public telecommunication system to securely connect a business with its customers, suppliers and business partners.
F FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) List of frequently asked questions and answers. FAST search Search engine that powers the AllTheWeb search engine. Favicon.ico (Favorite icon) Customized image that Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.0 and above uses, if it is available, as an icon to go with a user-specified bookmarked site on the Links bar at the top of a web browser window. For more information about designing your site's Favicon, visit http://www.favicon.com Favorites Method of recording the address of a file or webpage for later reference in the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
263
FFA (Free For All) Links page where anyone can add a link. Do not bother with submitting your site to FFA pages, as it will only generate lots of spam emails for you. FindWhat FindWhat is a popular pay per click search engine supplying results for some of the most popular search and metasearch engines on the internet, including Dogpile, Excite, MetaCrawler and Search.com. finger Program that tells you the name associated with an email address. firewall Set of related programs used to prevent unauthorized outsiders from accessing the local network. flame Angry, inflammatory, or insulting message sent via email, or posting to a forum or newsgroup. flame war Exchange of angry, inflammatory, or insulting messages between internet users. Flash Popular authoring software developed by Macromedia. It's used to design and deliver low-bandwidth animations, presentations, applications, and websites. To view a Flash file, users have to install the Macromedia Flash player. http://www.macromedia.com http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/ footer Often used to refer to the bottom part of a webpage. frames Frames allow you to present webpages in multiple, independent windows or subwindows, where certain information can be kept visible, while content in the other windows are scrolled or replaced.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
264
freeware Freeware is free software. The authors of the free software still retain the copyright so that you can't use the software code in anything you may be developing. front-end Application that web users interact with directly. For example, a search form is the front-end of a search engine. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) Method of transferring files, such as webpages, over the internet. Typically used to upload webpages and images to a host server. The server then serves the pages to users requesting it over the internet. FTP server Computer on the internet that stores files for transmission by FTP.
G gateway Computer that connects one network with another. Often used in commerce to act as a gateway between a merchant and a bank. Gbps 1 Gbps = 1 billion bits per second. A measure of bandwidth on a digital data transmission medium such as optical fiber. GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) / GIF89a One of the two most common file formats for graphic images on the World Wide Web. The other is JPEG. gigaPrefix meaning one billion (1,000,000,000). gigabit In data communications, a gigabit is one billion (1,000,000,000) bits.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
265
gigabyte Measure of computer data storage capacity. One gigabyte is 1,073,741,824 bytes. Google Google is the most popular search engine in the world. gross exposures Total number of times an ad is served, including duplicate downloads, to the same user. guerrilla marketing Unconventional marketing techniques for achieving maximum results from minimal resources or budgets. GUI (Graphical User Interface) Graphical (rather than purely textual) user interface to a computer.
H HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) Study of how humans interact with computer systems. header The beginning of an email that contains information about the email itself; "To" and "From" addresses, date sent, subject, etc. A header is also used to refer to the top of a webpage. hidden links Hidden links are a means of adding links from a home page or site map to doorway and hallway pages, so that search engines can crawl and index them, while keeping the links invisible to human visitors. hit The request of a single file, such as an HTML, image, audio, or other file from a web server.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
266
home page The main entry page of a website. HotBot HotBot no longer offers its own search engine. Instead it offers a search form to the four major web indexes; FAST, Google, Inktomi, Teoma. house ad Self promotional ads that replace unsold ad inventory. HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) Most popular language used to write webpages on the Web. HTML webpages usually have the extension .htm, .html, or .shtml. HTML banner Banner ad that includes HTML elements, such as interactive forms or pull-down menus. HTML email Email that is formatted using HTML. HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) Protocol used by web servers to deliver and receive information. Used to exchange text, graphic images, sound, video, and other multimedia files on the Web. All webpages URLs start with "http", although its use is often optional. HTTPS (Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol) A secure extension of HTTP. This extension securely encrypts and decrypts webpage requests. Whenever you pay for goods using a credit card on the internet, HTTPS will be used to ensure your credit card details are secure. Human Factors Study of how humans behave psychologically and physically in relation to particular products, services, or environments. hybrid pricing Pricing model based on a combination of a CPM pricing model and a performance based pricing model.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
267
hypermedia Hypermedia is an extension of the hypertext to include links to pictures, sound, video, and virtual reality. hypertext System of organizing information that enables the text to be linked in different ways. The web is hypertext, since it is nothing more than an enormous amount of information content connected by an enormous number of hypertext links.
I IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) Organization that fosters the growth of advertising on the internet and recommends a set of standard size banner ads for webpages. ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) ICANN is a private non-profit corporation responsible for issuing IP address space allocation, domain name system management (.com, .net and .org). http://www.icann.org ICQ ("I Seek You") ICQ is a popular instant messaging system that lets users exchange instant messages. http://www.icq.com IFrame (inline frame) Floating frame that is inserted into a webpage. IM (Instant Messaging) System that allows users exchange instant messages electronically (Internet, cell phones, WebTV, PDAs, etc.). image map Graphic image that has separate clickable areas. incentivized traffic / clicks Site visitors who have received some form of compensation for visiting a site.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
268
incoming link A link going into your site from another site. Inktomi A search engine that used to provide search results for many of the top search engines. It is now owned by Yahoo!. interactive advertising Interactive advertising is advertising that customers can interact with by sharing a mutual exchange of information and ideas. interactive ad agency Ad agency that uses traditional print, broadcast and online advertising to get a message across. interchange Fee that an acquirer pays to an association (or credit card company) to compensate the issuer for risks associated with accepting and funding the cardholder's account. This fee comes out of the discount rate charged to the merchant. Internet Worldwide system of computers that are connected together to communicate with one another. interstitial Page that is inserted in between webpages for the purpose of advertising or brand reinforcement. intranet Private network that is contained within an enterprise (corporations, small businesses, non-profit institutions, or government bodies). An intranet is used to share information and computing resources among employees, to facilitate working in groups and for teleconferences. inventory Total number of ad impressions that a website or newsletter has available to sell over a given period of time.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
269
invisible web Areas of the web not indexed by search engines, such as database driven dynamically generated websites. IO (Insertion order) Formal printed order to run an ad campaign. Typically, an ad space seller will send the advertiser an IO for them to sign and send back. IP address Unique numeric address given to every TCP/IP device. These addresses are used to locate other computers on the internet. IP address cloaking IP address cloaking is the practice of serving search engine optimized pages to search engine spiders, while at the same time serving un-optimized pages to site visitors. Also known as page cloaking. IRC (Internet Relay Chat) System that enables internet users to chat to each other in real-time. ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) High speed internet connection over ordinary telephone copper wire at speeds as of up to 128 kilobits per second. ISP (Internet Service Provider) Organization that provides access to the internet. Ixquick Ixquick is a metasearch engine that clusters its search results and ranks listings by the number of different search engines a listing achieves a top ten ranking, and the actual ranking it has received.
J Java Programming language used to create complete applications or small application modules or applets for use as part of a webpage.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
270
JavaScript Popular programming language used to JavaScript is used to do such things as automatically change a formatted date on a webpage, or cause a page to appear in a pop-up window. JPEG / JPG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) One of the two most common file formats for graphic images on the Web. The other is the GIF. JPEGs are typically photographic images. Files in this format end in ".jpg".
K K / KB (kilobyte) Measure of computer memory or storage. One kilobyte is 1,024 bytes. Kanoodle Kanoodle is a popular pay per click search engine. Kbps (kilobits per second) In data communications, kilobits per second (thousands of bits per second) is the measure of how fast data flows on a given transmission path, such as an internet connection. keyword A keyword is a word used as a reference point for finding other words or information. keyword density Ratio of keywords contained within the total number of indexable words within a page. keyword frequency Number of times a keyword phrase appears within a page. keyword proximity Closeness between two or more keywords.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
271
keyword stuffing Repeating of keywords and keyword phrases in meta tags and elsewhere on a HTML page. keyword tag HTML meta tag used to help define the important keywords of a page. kiloPrefix meaning one thousand (1,000). kilobit In data communications, a kilobit is one thousand (1,000) bits.
L LAN (Local Area Network) Group of computers that share a common communications line and resources of a server within a small geographic area. link / hyperlink Clickable connections from a word, picture, or information object to another. link checker Software program or online service used to check for broken links in a site. link popularity Link popularity is a measure of a site's popularity by the number and quality of links linking to a site. link rot Links to pages that used to work, but no longer work, because the page has moved or been deleted altogether. link text The text contained within a link.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
272
Linux Free or very low-cost operating system that is similar to the more expensive UNIX systems. list server A program that manages email mailing lists and distributes new messages, newsletters, or other postings from the members of the list to the entire list of subscribers. long domain name A domain name that contains more than 26 characters. A limit of 67 characters, including the extension (.com, .net, etc.), is allowed. LookSmart LookSmart is a pay per click web directory consisting only of commercial websites. log file Record of all the requests for individual files that have been requested from a website. login Process of gaining access to a service by identifying yourself, often with a username and password. Lycos Lycos is a web portal and part of the Terra Lycos Network.
M mail server Computer on the internet that provides email services. mailing list List of people who receive periodic email on a particular topic, or a discussion forum distributed by email.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
273
Mamma Mamma is a popular metasearch engine. manual submission Submitting a site to the search engines by hand. MB (megabyte) A measure of computer memory. One megabyte is 1,048,576 bytes or 8,388,608 bits. Mbps (megabits per second) In data communications, megabits per second (millions of bits per second) is the measure of how fast data flows on a given transmission path, such as an internet connection. m-commerce / mcommerce (mobile commerce) Business transactions conducted via a mobile device, such as a WAP enabled phone. media broker Person or company that brokers ad space between site owners and media planners and buyers. media buy The buying of advertising. media buyer A person who places advertising orders by requesting proposals and negotiating the final cost. media kit An information file about a business or product. media planner A person who deals with the planning of ad campaigns. megaPrefix meaning one million (1,000,000).
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
274
megabit In data communications, a megabit is one million (1,000,000) bits. merchant A retailer that agrees to accept credit cards, and has signed an agreement obliging them to meet several requirements to do so. merchant account Account associated with a merchant. This account holds the money obtained through credit card sales until you transfer it to a different account. A merchant account is necessary for you to process credit cards. Merchant Identification Number (MIDS) Unique number that identifies a merchant for reference and billing purposes. merchant agreement Contract between a merchant and a merchant account provider. meta refresh Coding on a webpage that automatically redirects a visitor to a new page after a specified number of seconds. meta tag Meta tags are HTML tags in a webpage that describes some aspect of the contents of the webpage. meta tag generator Software or online service that creates meta tags based on input information. MetaCrawler MetaCrawler is a popular metasearch engine. metasearch engine Metasearch engines searches other search engines simultaneously, compiles the results, and displays results either by search engine employed, or clustering results together after eliminating duplicates. metaspy search engine Metaspy search engines give you a glimpse of what other people are searching for, in real time. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
275
MHz (Megahertz) MHz is commonly used to express microprocessor clock speed. Most computers currently in use fall between 200 and 2000 MHz (2Ghz). In comparison, the first IBM PC operated at 4.77Mhz. MIME (Multi-Purpose internet Mail Extensions) A system which allows a user to send audio, video, images, application programs, and other non-text information via email. mirror site Exact copy of the original site on another computer server in order to reduce network traffic and is usually updated frequently to ensure that it reflects the content of the original site. moderator Someone who presides over an online discussion forum. Moore's Law A theory that states computer-processing power doubles every 18 months. MOTO (Mail Order/Telephone Order) A card transaction where a merchant cannot see the card, for example, by telephone, by mail or on the Web. This is also known as a 'card not present' scenario. mousetrapping The use of browser tricks in an effort to keep a visitor captive at a site, often by disabling the "Back" button or generated repeated pop-up windows. MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) Common file format for video files on the Web. Files in this format end in ".mpg" or ".mpeg". MSN Search MSN Search is part of the MSN (Microsoft Network) web portal.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
276
MySQL MySQL [www.mysql.com] is a free relational database management system (RDBMS) that uses Structured Query Language (SQL), the most popular language for adding, accessing, and processing data in a database.
N Net Delivery Exposure (NDX) The time between when a cardholder is charged and when their order is successfully fulfilled. netiquette Etiquette practiced or advocated on the internet and in emails. Netscape Search Netscape Search is part of Netscape - one of the most popular web portals on the internet. network A group of computers connected together. news server Computer that receives, stores, and serves Usenet newsgroup messages. newsgroup A news discussion on a particular topic that is distributed via Usenet. news reader Program that lets people read and respond to messages in Usenet newsgroups. newsletter / ezine Newsletter or magazine delivered via email or published on the Web.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
277
O offline / off-line Not connected to a network. online / on-line Connected to a network. Open Directory Project / Dmoz Open Directory Project is the largest human-edited web directory on the internet. opt-in email Email that recipients have previously requested by subscribing at a website or via email. opt-out email Opt-out email is similar to opt-in email, except that email recipients are systematically added to a mailing list, unless they choose to opt out of, rather than into joining a list. OS (Operating System) A program that provides the basic functionality of a computer. For example, Windows, MacOS and Linux are all operating systems. out of the box Synonym for "off the shelf," meaning a ready-made software, hardware, or combination package. outgoing link Link going from your site to another site. Overture Overture, formerly known as GoTo, processes more pay per click searches than any other engine of its kind.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
278
P P2P (Peer-to-Peer) Process whereby computers can trade information between each other without having to pass the information through a centrally controlled server as with email or IM programs. page jacking / pagejacking The theft of original content from a site for republication at another site. page view / impression A measure of the number of pages visited by users. Paid Inclusion Listings Paid inclusion listings are guaranteed search engine site inclusion reviews in exchange for a one-off fee. payment threshold The minimum accumulated commission an affiliate must earn to trigger payment from an affiliate program. pass-along rate The number or percentage of people who pass on a message or file, which is typically a measure of the effectiveness of word-of-mouth marketing. Pay Per Click Search Engines Pay Per Click (PPC) search engines are also known as Bid For Location, Bid For Position, Cost Per Click (CPC), Pay For Performance, Pay Per Performance, Pay For Placement, Pay Per Placement, Pay For Position, Pay Per Position, Pay For Ranking, Pay Per Ranking and Pay For Result search engines. These are search engines that allow advertisers to bid for rankings. The higher they bid, the higher they rank. Pay Per Click advertising Pay Per Click advertising is where an advertiser pays for each visitor sent by a website.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
279
PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) A term for any small mobile hand-held device that provides computing, information storage and retrieval capabilities. These include schedulers, calendars and address books. PDF (Portable Document Format) Adobe's PDF is a file format that captures all the elements of a printed document as an electronic image that you can view, navigate, print, or send. To view PDF files, you need the free Acrobat Reader. Once you've downloaded the Reader, it will start automatically whenever you want to download a PDF file. http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/ Perl (Practical Extraction and Reporting Language) Perl is a popular programming language used for developing common gateway interface (CGI) programs. http://www.perl.com permission marketing A marketing concept of selling goods and services to prospects who have explicitly agreed in advance to receive marketing information. persistent cookie A cookie which remains on the user’s hard drive until the user deletes it. PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) PGP is a program used to encrypt and decrypt email over the internet. It is also used to send an encrypted digital signature that lets the receiver verify the sender's identity and know that the message was not changed en route. http://web.mit.edu/network/pgp.html PICS (Platform for internet Content Selection) The PICS specification enables labels to be associated with internet content. It was originally designed to help parents and teachers control what children access on the internet, but it also facilitates other uses for labels, including code signing and privacy. ping (Packet internet or Inter-Network Groper) Basic internet program that lets you verify that a particular IP address exists and can accept requests.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
280
pixel A single illuminated dot on a computer monitor. plug-in A program you add to your browser to help it handle special files, such as PDF and Flash. POP (Post Office Protocol) System whereby email is received and held for you by your internet server. Any mail stored in your mail-box on the server can be downloaded into an email program. pop-over A new browser window that appears over, as opposed to under, the current browser window to display another webpage or advertisement. pop-under A new browser window that appears under the current browser window to display another webpage or advertisement. pop-up A new browser window that “pops up” in front of the current browser window to display another webpage or advertisement. portal Web site designed to be a starting point for users to surf the Web. General portals, such as Yahoo.com and Netscape.com, try to offer everything. Specialized or niche portals, such as CNBC.com (for Investors), and women.com, cater to a particular audience or interest. PPA (Pay-Per-Action) Commission paid by an advertiser for a specific action generated by an affiliate. PPC (Pay-Per-Click) Commission paid by an advertiser for each click through generated by an affiliate. PPL (Pay-Per-Lead) Commission paid by an advertiser for each sales lead generated by an affiliate.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
281
PPS (Pay-Per-Sale) Commission paid by an advertiser for each sale generated by an affiliate. PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) Protocol for communication between two computers, typically connected by phone line to a server. privacy policy A website's official statement on: o the type of personal information that is being collected. o how the information is being used. o how an individual can access their own data. o how an individual can opt-out. o the type of security measures that are in place to protect the user's information during the collection process and in storage. privacy seal program Program that certifies a site owner complies with the site’s proposed privacy policy. For example, BBBOnline and TRUSTe. http://www.bbbonline.com http://www.truste.org profiling Building a profile on consumers' interests by monitoring and analyzing the URLs, types of content, and paths users take while online. protocol Special set of rules that computers rely on to communicate. proxy server Proxy servers cache web content in order to provide quicker access for users, when new requests are made for the same content.
Q query Request for information, usually from a search engine.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
282
QuickTime QuickTime is a multimedia and video file format from Apple Computer. QuickTime files combine sound, text, animation, and video in a single file. http://www.apple.com/quicktime/
R rate card Pricing information for various advertising options. RealAudio A continuous or streaming audio file format from RealNetworks. A RealAudio player plug-in is required to listen to RealAudio files. http://www.real.com reciprocal link Exchange of direct links to and from a site. rectangle ad Seven new Interactive Marketing Unit ad formats introduced by the (Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) designed to enable marketers greater interactivity and creativity. Dimensions: Large rectangle (336 x 280), medium rectangle (300 x 250 pixels), vertical rectangle (240 x 400), rectangle (180 x 150) and square pop-up (250 x 250). referrer The URL or site address from which a visitor came from. relationship manager Bank representative assigned to your account once you've started to process large volumes of transactions. This person is your direct link to the bank. repeat visitor Unique visitor who accesses a site more than once over a specific time period. rich media ad Internet advertisements that contains interactive elements such as video, sound, music, request forms, and games. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
283
Robots Meta tag The Robots Meta tag allow you to instruct search engine robots whether or not it can index or archive a page, and crawl the links found. Robots.txt file A Robots.txt file allows you to instruct search engine robots not to crawl or index certain pages, directories, or files on your server. ROI (Return On Investment) The bottom line on how successful an ad campaign was in terms of returns for the money spent. RON (Run Of Network) Ads that are run on some or all ad space across a network of sites. ROS (Run Of Site) Ads that are run on some or all ad space across a single website. router Computer that connects two or more networks
S Satisficing Satisficing is a cross between "satisfying" and "sufficing." It refers to the fact that when human beings are presented with numerous choices, I usually select the first reasonable option, rather than the best option available. scalability The ability of a computer application or product (hardware or software) to continue to function well as it (or its context) is changed in size or volume in order to meet a user need. Scooter The name of the AltaVista search engine spider. (Now retired)
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
284
screensaver Program or animated image that is activated on a personal computer display when no user activity has been sensed for a certain time. search engine A set of programs that include: 1. a spider (crawler, bot or robot) that crawls the internet retrieving web documents that want to be searchable, and follows hypertext links to retrieve other web documents. 2. a program that creates an index from the documents retrieved by the spider. 3. a program that receives your search request, compares it to the entries in the index, and returns results to you. search engine optimization / positioning / placement Search engine optimization (SEO) refers to search engine positioning and placement, a concept whereby you improve your site's design and content to achieve higher rankings in search engines. search engine rankings Search engine rankings are a measure of a site's visibility in the search engines. search engine spider / robot / crawler / bot They crawl the internet retrieving web documents that want to be searchable, and follows hypertext links to retrieve other web documents. search engine submissions / registration Search engine submissions refer to getting your site indexed by search engines and web directories, so that people can find your site. search term / phrase Word or phrase that searchers enter into search engine and web directory search forms. Section 508 A federal mandate requiring that information technology is made accessible to people with disabilities. Much of Section 508 compliance concerns making websites, intranets, and web-enabled applications accessible. This affects government agencies as well as private-sector institutions.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
285
secure server Web server that uses encryption technology to prevent non-authorized users from intercepting and reading sensitive messages sent via the internet. sell through rate Percentage of ad inventory sold, excluding traded or bartered inventory. server A server is a computer program that provides services to other computer programs in the same or other computer. For example, email, FTP, Usenet, and HTTP connections. session cookie Temporary cookie placed into a computer’s RAM for use during that user session. When the user exits, the cookie is removed. settlement A process by which a merchant and a cardholder exchange financial data resulting from a transaction. SFA (Sales Force Automation) SFA is a means of increasing your sales team's efficiency and effectiveness using technology to help automate, organize and track the sales process. shareware Software that is distributed free on a trial basis with the understanding that the user may need or want to pay for it later. Sometimes shareware programs are 'lite' versions of a program with certain functions disabled as an enticement to buy the complete version of the program. Shockwave Macromedia's Shockwave is a program for viewing interactive media on the Web. http://www.shockwave.com shopping cart An interactive online catalog where a user can view, add and remove items to and from a cart.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
286
signature / sig file Short block of text at the end of an email, often used as a business card. signed volume Projected annual volume for a new merchant. This figure is used to track the risk of a particular account. site map Site maps are a visual model of a website's content that allows the users to navigate through the site to find the information they are looking for. Typically, site maps are organized hierarchically, breaking down the website's information into increasingly specific subject areas. site popularity Site popularity refers to click through popularity, and how long visitors remain at the site after getting there. site search Searching of a single site. skyscraper ad Tall online banner ads, usually displayed at the side of a page. Dimensions: Skyscraper (120 x 600) and wide skyscraper (160 x 600). SLA (Service Level Agreement) The objectives committed to a merchant by the merchant account provider for delivery of services. SLD (Second-Level Domain) The portion of an internet address that identifies the specific and unique administrative owner associated with an IP address. The second-level domain name includes the TLD (top-level domain) name. For example, in AMGY.com, "AMGY" is a second-level domain. "AMGY.com" is a second-level domain name (and includes the top-level domain name of "com"). slotting fee Fee charged by sites to advertisers for premium ad positions on their site. Slurp The name of the Inktomi search engine spider. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
287
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) A method by which computers use to send and receive email. sniffer Software that detects user's browser capabilities, such as bandwidth, JavaScript, plug-ins and screen resolution. SOHO (Small Office Home Office) A term used for the small office or home office environment. spam Typically used to refer to unsolicited junk email on the internet. Historically means an electronic message which is sent to a large group of people when such messages are prohibited or discouraged. splash page A splash page is the first page, usually the home page, of a website used to capture the visitor’s attention for a short time as a promotion or lead-in to the proper home page. SPM (Sales Process Management) SPM is the front-end evaluation and assessment of a company's sales process. Innovative diagnostics benchmark current processes, identify areas of improvement, and codify best sales practices. Through SPM, effective sales processes are put into place that enhance productivity and help generate and increase revenue. Sponsored Feature Listings Sponsored feature listings are text link ads that are normally displayed at the top of the page in search engines, before the search results. Sprinks Sprinks was a pay per click advertising system that primarily serves its ads on the About.com network. Google acquired it in October 2003 and replaced its ads with ones from the Google AdWords program. SQL (Structured Query Language) A standard interactive and programming language for extracting and updating information to and from a database. © Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
288
SSI (Server-Side Include) A variable value that a server can include in an HTML file before it sends it to the browser. SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Commonly-used protocol for managing the security of a message transmitted via the internet. Stealth script CGI script that switches page content depending on who or what is accessing the page. stickiness A measure of a user's loyalty to a site, measured in the amount of time spent over a given time period. stock photography Copyrighted photographic images that can be licensed for use in a website. stop words Stop words (a, an, and, but, he, her, his, i, in, it, of, on, or, she, the, etc.) are common words and characters ignored by some search engines to enhance the speed and relevancy of their search results. super affiliate A top earning affiliate who is capable of generating a significant percentage of an affiliate program's income. Superstitial A rich media ad format developed by Unicast that combines Flash or other animation technology with Java programming to deliver video-like web commercials. http://www.unicast.com surf Another word for browsing the Web.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
289
surround session A concept whereby ads follow readers as they link from page to page, deploying ads from only one advertiser during the entire visit.
T T-1 / T1 Digital line with a potential bandwidth of 1.544 million bits per second. T-3 / T3 Digital line that can provide 44.736 million bits per second of bandwidth. t-commerce Electronic commerce conducted via interactive TV. target audience An audience group being targeted by an advertiser, usually in terms of demographics, interests, product purchase behavior, product usage or media usage. targeting Purchasing ad space that matches audience and campaign objective requirements. TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) The basic communication language or protocol of the internet. Telnet Program that lets you access a remotely hosted computer, assuming you have permission to access it. text ad Advertisement using text based links. theme based content Theme based content is a concept used by search engines to classify a site as one based around one theme, much like a human would.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
290
thread Sequence of responding messages to an initial message posted in Usenet newsgroups and similar forums. thumbnail A term used by graphic designers and photographers for a small image representation of a larger image. timeout An action that takes place after a certain time has elapsed. For example, your dial-up connection may "timeout" by disconnecting if no activity has taken place for some time. title tag HTML tag used to define the title of a page. The title is displayed at the top of a web browser and also used by many search engines as the title of a search result listing. TLD (Top-Level Domain) Identifies the most general part of the domain name in an internet address. A TLD is either a generic top-level domain (gTLD), such as "com" for "commercial," "net" for "network," etc., or a country code top-level domain (ccTLD), such as "uk" for the United Kingdom. trick banner A banner ad that attempts to trick people into clicking the banner, with graphics that look like actual links or buttons, or an operating system error message. trademark (tm) A name, symbol, or other device identifying a product, officially registered and legally restricted to the use of the owner or manufacturer. Search the United States Patent and Trademark Office to find out if a word is trademarked. http://www.uspto.gov two tier affiliate program Affiliate program that pays affiliates commissions on their conversions [first tier], in addition to conversions of webmasters they refer [second tier] to the program.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
291
U UCD (User-Centered Design) A method for designing ease-of-use into the total user experience with products. unique / unique visitor A single count of a visitor with a unique IP address who visits a website during a specified period of time; usually a month. UNIX A popular server operating system. Uptime The time during which a website is accessible. URL (Uniform Resource Locator) An address of a file accessible on the internet. URL redirection URL redirection is the process of automatically redirecting a user to a different URL, without the user's intervention. Usability The user-friendliness and ease-of-use of a product to achieve specified goals. Usenet newsgroups Collection of user submitted messages and discussions on various search engine topics that are posted to servers on a worldwide network. user session Each time a site visitor with a unique IP address enters a website during a specified period of time; usually 20-30 minutes, is counted as one user session. If the visitor exits the site and re-enters within the specified period of time, it does not count as another user session.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
292
V viral marketing A marketing concept that induces internet users to pass on a marketing message to other users, thereby creating a potentially exponential growth in the message's visibility and effect. Viral marketing is basically the internet's equivalent of mouth-of-mouth advertising. virtual domain A domain hosted on a virtual server. virtual hosting The provision of web server hosting service so that an individual or company doesn't have to purchase and maintain its own web server and connections to the internet. virtual server Server at someone else's location that is shared by multiple website owners so that each owner can use and administer it as though they had complete control of the server. virus Piece of programming code designed to cause havoc to computer systems and usually spread by way of email to other computers. You can protect your computer from viruses by scanning all email attachments and downloaded software using anti-virus software. vortal (vertical industry portal) Web site that provides a gateway, or portal, to information related to a particular industry, such as automobile, health care, or insurance.
W WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) An open international standard for applications that use wireless communication. For example, e.g. Email and internet access from a mobile phone.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
293
WASP (Wireless Applications Service Provider) An organization that provides content and applications for wireless devices. WAV (Wave file) A popular audio file format that has become a standard PC audio file format for everything from system and game sounds to CD-quality audio. Files in this format end in ".wav". Web browser Program that lets you view webpages on the World Wide Web. Popular browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/ Web design The development of a website. Web directory Searchable subject guide typically organized by major topics and subtopics. The best-known directories are LookSmart, the Open Directory Project and Yahoo. Web ring Group of related sites all interlinked together. Navigation is usually by going forward and backward along the "ring" of sites. Web server A computer that serves webpages and files to internet users. Web traffic The number of visitors to a website over a given period of time. Web usability The user-friendliness and ease-of-use of a website to achieve specified goals. WebCrawler WebCrawler was acquired by InfoSpace from the now defunct Excite@Home Network. As a result, InfoSpace has decided to replace the WebCrawler search engine results with Overture pay per click search engine results. So search results on both WebCrawler and Overture are identical.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
294
weblog / blog Web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts (links, commentary, news, diaries, project updates, etc.) that are arranged chronologically. WebTV Microsoft's WebTV provides web access via a standard television using a set-top modem box similar to a cable TV box. Whois An online service that tells you who owns a particular second-level ".com," ".net," and ".org" domain name. Windows CE An operating system based on the Microsoft Windows operating system designed for mobile computers and devices. word stemming Concept used by some search engines to return search results that include keywords that extend beyond what you searched for. WWW (World Wide Web) Global network of computers on the internet that provide pages of information in HTML. WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Web site editor or program in which the screen displays what the end result will look like while the document is being created.
X XML (Extensible Markup Language) Relatively new language which provides more efficient data delivery over the web. XML is similar to HTML and both are used to describe the contents of a page or file.
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
295
Y Yahoo! A popular web portal offering an array of internet services. http://www.yahoo.com
Z ZIP file A compressed file. You need a file unzipping program, such as PKZIP or WinZip, to decompress compressed ZIP files. http://www.pkware.com http://www.winzip.com
THE END
Pssssssst... Wanna be inspired, like I was, by amazingly successful small business netrepreneurs who make millions of dollars a year? If your answer is yes, check out… http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/success-secrets.html
© Copyright 2002-5 - Michael Wong, Art Dacor USA LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Visit: Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
296
