Search Engine Marketing 101: What Search Engines See When They Visit Your Web Site

If you have a Web site, have you ever wondered what a search engine sees when it visits your site to add the site to its index? Do you know that it doesn't see the beautiful graphics or the fancy Web design? Do you know that it only sees the source code, or the "skeleton" of your Web site?

Do you realize that knowing this little tidbit of information and doing something about it can make a huge difference in your search engine rankings and, ultimately, the success of your online business?

One very important thing that you need to remember is: the search engines like simplicity. The simpler your Web site is, the easier it is for the engine to determine what your Web site is about. And, if the search engine can determine exactly what your Web site is about, you have a better chance at top rankings under the keyword phrases that are important for your online business.

Let's look at this concept in action with a page I recently created for one of my online businesses: Search Engine Workshops.

http://www.searchengineworkshops.com/articles/search-engine-seminars.html

As you can see, it's a very plain, simple page that was not created to be the "main" or "home" page of a Web site. Rather, it was created to pull in traffic through the keyword phrase, "search engine seminars."

What I really want you to see is the source code of the page. So, when viewing the page, click on View on the top menu bar, then Source or Source Code.

The most important part of a Web page is what appears at the very top of the page. Why? Because a search engine starts at the top of the page and begins moving down as it indexes.

So, what appears in the section of your Web page is very important, because the section is at the top of the page.

Let's look at the section of the source code:

Search Engine Seminars--your path to success on the Web!

There are only three tags in the section of this Web page: the title tag, the keyword META tag, and the description META tag. Because the title tag is in the section, and because of the importance that most engines place on the tag, it is considered one of the most important tags on your page, so it should always be the first tag in the section.

Notice that in the title and keyword META tag, the important keyword phrase (search engine seminars) appears as the first words in the tag. In the description META tag, the keyword phrase is still toward the beginning of the tag, as opposed to the end.

In other words, where you place your keyword phrase in the tags and content of your page is important. If you place your keyword phrase toward the beginning of all of your important tags and toward the beginning of the contents, you're "proving" to the engines that the page is really about that particular topic.

I've mentioned one reason why the title tag is important, but there's another reason too. The title tag is important because it almost always appears as the title of the site in the search engine results. Your description META tag may appear in the search engine results as well and is considered important by the some of the engines. So, when you create your title and description tags, remember two things: put your keyword phrase toward the beginning of the tags, and make the tags captivating and designed to pull in traffic.

Think of it this way. If your site is #10 in the search engine rankings, but if the sites above yours haven't gone to the trouble to create appealing titles and descriptions, a search engine user may skip over those sites to visit yours.

Now, let's go back to the source code. Look for this tag, which isn't far from the tag:

This is the image, or graphics, tag for the Search Engine Workshops banner that appears at the very top of the page. Notice that the engine doesn't "see" the graphic itself. It sees the name of the graphic (banner3.jpg), and it sees the ALT text that describes the image. It sees the width and height of the graphic. But, it doesn't see the graphic itself. So, the engine doesn't know that the graphic says, "Search Engine Workshops."

Next, look for this tag, which directly follows the image tag:

Search Engine Seminars

An tag is a heading tag, and heading tags are very important to a Web page. Try to put a heading tag at the very top of your page, if at all possible, and use your important keyword phrase in that heading tag. When you look back at my actual Web page, do you see the words "Search Engine Seminars" right under the graphic? That's the heading tag.

Now, look for this tag in the source code:

Is your Web site achieving the success that. . .

This is where the contents of the Web page begin. Look on the actual Web page and find the text: "Is your Web site achieving the success that . . ." Notice that the keyword phrase (search engine seminars) appears in the first paragraph.

In other words, with all of these tags and the placement of our keyword phrase in the page's contents, we're proving to the engines that the page is really about "search engine seminars."

So, let's visit your site on the Web. View the source code. What's in the section? Are your title and description tags using the keyword phrase that's important for that particular page? Are your title and description tags captivating and designed to pull in traffic? Each page of your site should have different title and description tags, and those tags should be based on the focus of that page - what that page is really about: in other words, its keyword phrase.

How many graphics do you have before the actual contents of your site? If you have a lot of graphics, navigation bars, or buttons before the contents of your page, the engine has to sort through all of that source code before it gets to the actual keyword- containing content.

Does your page contain lengthy JavaScript or other code that pushes the important contents toward the bottom of the page? If so, it could be hindering your chances at top rankings.

Are you using a heading tag that contains your important keyword phrase toward the very top of your page? Is your keyword phrase used in the first paragraph of the page? Is it used in several places throughout the page?

Look back at my page. Notice that the keyword phrase, search engine seminars, is used as link text to describe several links. Are you using your keyword phrase to describe links that are leaving the page? If not, try to do so.

Study your own site carefully, and apply these guidelines to your pages.

Doing whatever you can to push your important keyword phrase toward the top of the page and toward the beginning of your tags is the first step toward having a successful Web site that's ranked in the top of the search engine rankings.

About The Author

Robin Nobles, Director of Training, Academy of Web Specialists, has trained several thousand people in her online search engine marketing (http://www.academywebspecialists.com) training programs. Visit the Academy's training site to learn more (http://www.onlinewebtraining.com). She also teaches 3-day hands-on search engine marketing workshops in locations across the globe with Search Engine Workshops (http://www.searchengineworkshops.com).

Copyright 2002 Robin Nobles. All rights reserved.

RobinN@acws.com

---

Search Engine Optimization Tips For 2005 - Part Three

Welcome to part three of our series of articles on... Read More

Get Traffic You Need - Make Your Links Work

So you have built a nice web site with good... Read More

PageRank and How It Gets Assigned

We know that each and every website page is assigned... Read More

1 Simple SEO Strategy To Get More Visitors To Your Site From Google

Did you know that you can dramatically increase the number... Read More

Googlebot Wont Go Home

I have 'Googlebot' crawl my site every day like a... Read More

Google Sitemaps Explained - How To Use Google Sitemaps

Three Ways To Index Your Site With Google Sitemaps [Difficult,... Read More

Google Love - Five Top Tips To Make Google Love Your Site

1. Google love ...Google and all its programming is not... Read More

Press Release + PRWeb = Top Google Rank... True or False?

I've always been a big time press release aficionado.And up... Read More

How to Get the Ranking You Always Wanted!

Is your web site well ranked (In the top ten... Read More

How MSN and Yahoo Sells Your Traffic

Yes, it really happens. Now you might find it hard... Read More

Search Warrant

So, you've just paid £300 - £10,000 for a new... Read More

Search Engine Algorithm Quandaries

Before you make drastic changes to your website after a... Read More

SEO, the Simplified Version

Lets get things straight. SEO is a very competitive market.... Read More

Surviving the Search Wars ? Local Directories

The pursuit of online information has become an increasingly dynamic... Read More

A Naive Mistake Cost Me My Google Rankings

Little do you know but you too could be making... Read More

Which Search Engine Optimization Services to choose, Google OR Yahoo?

Search Engine Optimization is emerging as the most powerful form... Read More

Owning Your Category Online - Is Our Website Broken?

"Owning your business category online is more than just a... Read More

Common Sense Approach to Search Engine Optimization

Most web surfers start their sessions at a search engine... Read More

Search Engine Traffic: Winning With Content

Targeted traffic is the lifeblood of any online business. The... Read More

Search Wars! - MSNs Opening Salvo

With all the recent publicity given to Google as the... Read More

Article Marketing: Fox in the Competitor Hen House or Chicken Little?

I recently was asked by an author to remove a... Read More

THREE Secrets to High Search Engine Rankings the Easy Way!

Let me guess, you've read article after article on how... Read More

High Search Engine Rankings - A Long Term Strategy

The last 1.5 years have shown major changes in search... Read More

Duplicate the Exact Steps Used to Get a Number 1 Yahoo Ranking in Less than 30 Days

If you have ever been into a McDonalds you will... Read More

Google Takes Care of Idiots Too

There's an old saying that goes, "God takes care of... Read More

The Long And Short Of It Is That These Two Sales Techniques Are The Same

With the Internet beginning to stand up and be counted... Read More

How To See What Pages Of Your Site Google Has In Its Index

There is a lag time between the indexing or updating... Read More

How To Indirectly Get To The Top Of Search Engines

There are millions of web sites trying to get listed... Read More

Effective Keyword Optimization and Analysis Techniques

Keyword optimization involves vital keyword selection and placement strategy depends... Read More

Niche Marketing - Why Keyword Research Come First

A good portion of my business involves spending hours and... Read More

SEO #1: Choosing THE Keywords to Optimize for

This is the first lesson out of 6 that teaches... Read More

New Free Online Tool for Keyword Research

I came across a new website the other day and... Read More

?Web Content Management System fr Window?: Search Engine Typos

Oops! I meant "web content management system for windows." Do... Read More