Do Search Engines Scare You?

What do the words "Search Engine" make you think of? I get immediate mind-pictures which vary but all have similar themes. Sometimes I see one of those tiny submarines which are used to explore the deepest parts of the ocean bed. I have this picture in my mind of the tiny submarine underwater in complete darkness apart from the beam of its searchlight which is probing the gloom. Other times I see a horse-drawn carriage driving through dense fog with only its weak lamp relieving the darkness. This scene is from a movie where the police are racing through London in search of Jack The Ripper. The final picture is of a line of policemen in old-fashioned uniforms advancing across a moor in darkness through rising mist with only their flashlight-beams to light their way.

It can get a bit scary inside my mind at times. If these were dreams rather than passing thoughts, they would probably be analysed as meaning an obsession with darkness and getting lost. Maybe the lights penetrating the darkness symbolise a fear of ignorance (or maybe a fear of getting found out). The obvious link is that these pictures all relate to a search of one kind or another. The first one might represent a search for knowledge, the second one is obviously the search for a criminal and the final one a search for clues at the scene of a crime.

Why would the words "search engine" conjure up these dark visions? If you look at the words we associate with search engines, I think the connection will be clear. We talk about "submitting" our websites to search engines. We don't "send" our websites or "apply" to search engines or "register" our websites with search engines. We are submissive and the search engines dominate us.

We adopt this submissive posture and the search engines send their robots to "crawl" over our websites. Doesn't sound very pleasant does it? The future of your website is entirely in the power of these monsters. You have spent time and perhaps some cash getting your website ready for the visit. Your website, the shop window to your home business, has been tweaked and "search engine optimised", now you can do nothing except hope that your efforts will be rewarded with approval by these invisible inspectors.

Web site owners act as if the search engines are neighbourhood dignitaries: "We must tidy up, the search engines are coming to visit". An anxious time follows while your website, brushed, polished and optimised to the best of your ability, waits to greet these visitors. The most respected visitor is Googlebot. He causes most anxiety and is renowned for being unpredictable. Webmasters try to analyse the "Googledance" in the hope of making Googlebot's visit enjoyable. If we can get the mighty Googlebot to dance instead of merely crawling, he might give us a good report, but Googlebot can't seem to decide what algorithm he prefers. How are you supposed to get his feet tapping? Unfortunately, the search engines are not the most communicative visitors and you only realise they have carried out their examination when something (either good or bad) happens to your protégé's page rank.

The search engines are not like your school teacher who gives you a class test, they are more like the university Board Of Examiners: when you have passed or failed their test, you will never get to know which questions you got right or where your weakness lies. Further improvement will have to be a matter of guesswork but suppose your guess is wrong? You might destroy the very things which met with the search engines' approval. Then you hear that the search engines don't agree amongst themselves, so what pleases some of them might lose you points with others. Which ones should you try hardest to impress? Should you turn your website into some sort of private Googledancer and risk offending the rest of the robots? Would it be better to try to please one or two of the larger search engines or a big bunch of the lesser ones? Finally you hear a rumour that the search engines are changing their secret rules anyway but nobody knows what the changes will entail. You despair of ever satisfying the masters of your fate, you feel as if you are stumbling around in the dark. Panic takes you over.

Should you be afraid of search engines?

Anybody in his right mind should be afraid, very afraid.

This is one of a series of articles published by the author, Elaine Currie, BA(Hons) at http://www.Huntingvenus.com.

For honest advice on working from home subscribe to Online Profits newsletter by
mailto:huntingvenus@SubscribeMeNow

---

8 Essential SEO techniques

1) Title Tag - The title tag is the most... Read More

Search Engine Robots - How They Work, What They Do (Part II)

If your site isn't found in the search engines, it... Read More

Google Page Rank Is Dead - Part II

In part I - Google Page Rank Is Dead -... Read More

Google, Adsense, SEO, and How It All Works

Google uses an algorithm to determine the search engine results... Read More

Google, Yahoo!, Pandoras Box And The Lottery

In the fall of 1990, the musical group Snap had... Read More

Expert Help From Google Answers

Web users turn to search engines for answers to their... Read More

Yahoo!/Overture Site Match: A License To Steal

Unless you've been living in a cave somewhere, I'm sure... Read More

Do You Submit Your Website To All The Search Engines?

There is really only one search engine to worry about... Read More

Why Search Engine Optimization is Not Enough

OK. So you've created a nice website with lots of... Read More

Getting Honest With The Search Engines

Getting Honest With The Search EnginesI spend a lot of... Read More

5 Extremely Valuable Search Engine Optimization Tips

Search engine optimization is THE most cost effective way for... Read More

Google Sitemaps Explained - How To Use Google Sitemaps

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

When Google PR Tool Bar is Down!

Where is the need to worry? Who needs a PR... Read More

Its All in the Title

Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world. You may... Read More

The SEO Gurus poem

Am I alone as I survey that vast wilderness outside,Sat... Read More

Is Reciprocal Link Exchange Dead?

The sun seems to be setting on the world of... Read More

Google Loosing Fan Base?

"Nothing last forever but the Earth and sky." - from... Read More

7 Search Engine Optimization Mistakes and Solutions

To many websites, webmasters discover that major sources of website... Read More

Top 10 Little Used SEO Strategies

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

Keyword Selection- The Dark Horse of Search Engines Optimization

Below are what I call the "10 Commandments" for Keywords.To... Read More

Google Page Rank Is Dead - Part III

HELP! My PR page rank is grey, call the development... Read More

Search Engine Optimization - A Must

As you surf the web take a look around at... Read More

Is My Search Engine Optimization Working?

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

Choosing your Meta-Keywords

Introduction This article assumes you already know what... Read More

A Way for Search Engines to Improve

Wouldn't it be nice if the search engines could comprehend... Read More

The Search Engine Optimization Game Is Getting Tricky

For more than 4 years now I have been modifying... Read More

A Classified Way To Drive Business To Your Web Site

There are more than 105 million of them in the... 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

Mindset from Yahoo!- Changing the SEO Game

Yahoo! has a developed a new concept in search engine... Read More

Google Website and Web Page Indexing for Dummies

You may have heard how important it is to have... Read More

Your Website Title Could Be Costing You Money

Nothing could be simpler than the title you give to... Read More

Goofy Mistakes that Hurt Your Search Engine Rankings

One thing is for sure, you don't want to spend... Read More

Search Engine Optimization Strategies To Drive More Targeted Traffic To Your Website

Want to drive more targeted traffic to your web site?Want... Read More