How Search Engines Connect Sellers and Buyers

Maggie knows how to find what she wants. She lets her fingers do the walking ? not in the Yellow Pages, but at Google.com. She wants to learn about bread baking, and you have just written Bread Baking Made Simple, and you sell some great baking tools. The good news is the Google and other search engines exist for one simple reason: to help Maggie find your website.

Google will show Maggie 534,000 resources on "bread baking". Unless she fails to find what she wants on the first page, or top 10 results, she will never find your website listed 124th in the results. (Actually, if she does not find what she wants in the top twenty or thirty results, she is likely to refine her search to "easy bread baking" or "home bread baking").

How do you get into the top 10 results so Maggie can find your website? You might have heard a lot about "search engine optimization" and "ranking analysis" and "algorithms". It all sounds very complex, but it really works on a simple 1 ? 2 ? 3 principle.

  • A search engine will show Maggie only resources (websites) it has on record. So make sure to submit your site to the key search engines and directories. You do not need to hire somebody who will charge you big dollars to do this. Nor should you fall for any of the auto-submit software or services. This should be done by hand, and anybody can do it. You can do it yourself.

  • The search engine will rank highest those websites it feels are most "important". This means you have to show that your website is most important. There are a few simple things you can do. First, make sure you have content. Text content equals importance on the Internet. Links, both coming in and going out, are key. Connectivity equals importance on the Internet. Get listed in the major directories (DMOZ.com, Yahoo.com, Zeal.com, JoeAnt.com, etc.), as this also is a measure of importance.

  • The search engine will show Maggie the most "relevant" high-ranking resources. Google might rank http://TheHappyGuy.com relatively very high, but it is totally irrelevant to a search for bread baking. How does a search engine know which websites are most relevant for Maggie's search? By the number of times "bread baking" shows up in text on your web page. By the variety of ways it shows up on your page. By number web pages you link to and that link to you with the words "bread baking" included.

    Are you ready to roll? Possibly. Some of this you can easily do yourself. But there are three places that are worth spending money to help all the Maggies out there find your website and your book.

    The first is choosing the right keywords. It might look simple, but "bread baking" might not even be the best keyword phrase to focus on. It might be "easy bread baking" or "home bread baking". The most searched terms might not be the best, nor the term with the least competition.

    The second is to prepare a link strategy. The "link exchange" pages that are getting more popular each day are also becoming less effective each day. Here are just a few of the linking factors that will affect whether Maggie discovers your book:

    • The total number of incoming and outgoing links

    • The importance of the sites you link to and from

    • The relevancy of the sites you link to and from

    • Which pages on their sites and on yours are being linked

    • What you include in the incoming and outgoing links

    • Where on the page the links are placed

    • How many links are on those pages

    • How many pages are linked to or have outgoing links

    • The ratio of links to content on the pages involved

    You can implement the strategy yourself, but it is worth hiring somebody to put it together for you. Ask the person what factors he would consider when building a strategy for you. If he does not mention several of the above, your money is better spent elsewhere.

    The third place to invest is to have somebody knowledgeable review your html code. Chances are that you have missed numerous opportunities to let the search engines know your website is relevant, and possibly some opportunities to show it is important.

    About The Author

    Discover how to climb the rankings the RIGHT way: Pick up a copy of Don't Get Banned By The Search Engines at http://thehappyguy.com/SEO.html. You might also want to find out how to promote your website with a media relations plan at http://thehappyguy.com/publicity-self-promotion-report.html, or profit from more free publicity ideas at http://www.thehappyguy.com/publicity-self-promotion-products.html

    info@thehappyguy.com

    In The News:

    • pen paper and inkwell


    cat break through


    8 ways to build a really bad web site for Search Engines

    Some web sites receive hundreds or thousands of unique visitors... Read More

    How to Prevent Duplicate Content with Effective Use of the Robots.txt and Robots Meta Tag

    Duplicate content is one of the problems that we regularly... Read More

    All You Need to Know About Your Website Traffic is Contained in 5 Key Stats

    You built that content rich web page optimized for your... Read More

    SEO: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

    I seem to have created quite a stir, on a... Read More

    Is Google Having a Tough Time with Their Website Limit?

    If you are one to pay attention to what happens... Read More

    How To Design A Search Engine Friendly Website

    There are many websites that fail to target their required... Read More

    Guide to Search Engine Optimization

    What is Search Engine Optimization?Search Engine Optimization or SEO for... Read More

    A Simple White Hat Technique To Get Indexed By Google

    Everybody knows that getting indexed in Google is getting more... Read More

    The Search Doesnt End at Your Homepage

    In a recent report for a new client, I wrote:... Read More

    SEO For Ecommerce

    Ranking well under the free listings in the major search... Read More

    How To Get Number 1 Spot In Google, Every Time, Guaranteed

    Woaah! Wait a minute. Before I exclusively reveal these insider... Read More

    Google Adsense Optimization Tips

    There are plenty of tips to help you enhance your... Read More

    The Myth of Search Engine Submission

    Contrary to what most people think, it is not necessary... Read More

    Monitor Your Visibility in Google, MSN, and Yahoo with these DIY SEO Tools

    This is the second part of an article series in... Read More

    How To Syndicate Your Content

    Note: In order to preserve the proper format for the... Read More

    SEO #5: Analyzing the Top Ranked Website on Google

    Yesterday you should have read the forth course out of... Read More

    Search Engines from a Webmaster Perspective

    By now, virtually every webmaster has heard or read that... Read More

    Your Online Home-Based Business Can Lead To Search Engine Stress

    As a member of several search engine optimization forums, I... Read More

    Stay In The Know With Google SMS

    The Short Messaging Service (SMS) from Google sends short, quick,... Read More

    Google - PR & Backlinks

    Here are some observations that I have made recently:1. On... Read More

    You Cannot Hide From the Public Record Search Engines

    As a search engine optimization specialist, I often run across... Read More

    What Is Search Engine Marketing?

    It's in our genes, we're driven to seek. We 'hunt'... Read More

    Everything You Wanted To Know About Google -- But Were Afraid To Search For!

    (A Reflective look at the little search engine that soared!)All... Read More

    Rock Your Rank With a Dynamite Text Link - Yahoo Directory Explodes Rankings

    Last week a client called me excitedly exclaiming that their... Read More

    Search Engine Monopoly

    Ever wondered how one search engine is dominating the entire... Read More

    Search Engine Indexing - 3 Strategies Guaranteed to Skyrocket Your Success

    In order to design a website that performs well with... Read More

    Basic Search Engine Optimization For Dummies

    OK, you published your site, now you just sit by... Read More

    The Latest Craze: Local Search, 7 Steps to Being #1 in Your Local Market

    Anyone would agree that it is much easier to be... Read More

    Keyword Ownership: What It Is And Where Its Headed

    Have you ever got one of those silly emails that... Read More

    From Corpora to Matching

    Making effective use of the Internet is increasingly about creating... Read More

    DIY SEO - Part 2 Tags n Things

    Part 2 Tips 4 tagsMeta tags are the descriptive tags... Read More

    SEO Help: Dont Try to Fool the Search Engines

    Writing articles is all the rage these days on the... Read More

    Is My Search Engine Optimization Working?

    You've just built a website and can't wait to start... Read More