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Search Engine Articles
No Quick Fixes Where Search
Engine Optimization is Concerned
by Jill Whalen (The Web Whiz) Written July 2000 - Updated March 2002
Wouldn't it be great if we could simply edit meta tags and get high rankings?
For the past few weeks, I've been reading Stephen R. Covey's "The 7 Habits of
Highly Effective People." One thing Covey discusses is the glitter of the
"Personality Ethic." He mentions how some people try to find some "quick and
easy way to achieve quality of life ... without going through the natural
process of work and growth that makes it possible." Then he goes on to say, "The
Personality Ethic is illusory and deceptive. And trying to get high quality
results with its techniques and quick fixes is just about as effective as trying
to get to some place in Chicago using a map of Detroit."
What Covey says is nearly identical to what I've been saying for years regarding
search engine optimization: There are simply no quick fixes.
I wish I had a dime for every potential client who came to me and said, "We just
need you to fix our META tags so our site will rank high with search engines."
These people don't realize that if it were simply a matter of fixing META tags,
they could probably do it themselves!
Where Do Search Engine Rankings Come From? A lot of folks believe that every
time a search is made using a search engine that the entire Internet is combed
through to find an answer to the search query. Search engines do not search
through the entire Internet when someone runs a search query.
When someone looks for a Web site in a search engine, they are searching only
through the information the search engine has available in its own unique
database. In other words, if they're searching for their friend's personal home
page, they will most likely need to know the exact URL (Web site address) to
find it.
Although most search engine spiders do crawl through many pages on the Internet
when they look for new sites to index, they cannot find all sites on their own.
They can find a site if another site in their database links to it, and they can
find a site if the site's owner purposely directs them to it via the search
engine's "Add URL" form.
Once a search engine spider does find a site, it extracts what it perceives to
be the pertinent information from it, and places this data in the search
engine's database. Each engine's spiders index and categorize sites based on
their own complex formula.
All search engine spiders are programmed to consider the content of the Web site
(the actual text on the pages) to be the number one thing to extract and put
into their database. If a Web site is lacking three or four easy-to-understand,
keyword-specific paragraphs that describe what the site is all about, the search
engine spiders will probably be confused by the discrepancy between the content
in the META tags and the content in the page itself. They won't calculate that
the meta tags are truly relevant to the site if the text on the page doesn't
support this. They'll index whatever they can find that seems to be pertinent,
such as words that were in the text more than once, words that appeared in
headings, and/or words that were within a hyperlink pointing to that site.
This brings us back to Covey's "Personality Ethic."
Sure, someone can edit your META tags quickly and submit your site to the search
engines. However, if you haven't invested the time up front to create a Web site
with great content that speaks to the reader in plain language that real people
use (in other words, without technology buzzwords), you will not get good
long-term results.
How to Get Good Long-Term Results You may achieve one or two high rankings with
one or two engines by editing your META tags but, as Covey so aptly put it,
these will be illusory and deceptive results at best. As soon as the search
engines change their ranking formula, there's a good chance your high rankings
will vaporize - and with them goes your traffic.
It's imperative to think of the search engine optimization process as a
long-term investment for your site. Here are a few tips to help you invest in
the future rankings of your Web site:
Make sure your site is not made up of graphics alone, as these cannot be "read"
by the search engine spiders who come a-crawling. (This is especially true of
graphics that look like text — these are often used when a particular font is
desired.)
Be sure to use natural, easy-to-understand language that conveys the message of
your Web site, and includes keyword phrases you'd like your site to rank high
for.
Make sure your TITLE tag, META tags, and ALT tags all jibe with the visible
content on the page. Be patient! The search engine spiders are extremely slow to
index new information that they find when crawling Web sites. Don't be
discouraged if it takes six months or more to see the fruits of your labor.
Remember, you are working toward the future. Good placement achieved by doing
things the right way will almost always get better and better over time with
very little additional effort. Like everything in life, if you spend the time
and money to do it right to begin with, the long-term results will be
impressive.
Contact Jill Whalen by e-mail at jill@highrankings.com, or by phone at
508-309-3037.
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Jill Whalen of High Rankings is an internationally recognized
search engine optimization consultant
and editor of the free weekly High Rankings Advisor
search engine marketing
newsletter
She specializes in search engine optimization, SEO consultations and seminars.
Jill's handbook, "The
Nitty-gritty of Writing for the Search Engines" teaches business owners how
and where to place relevant keyword phrases on their Web sites so that they make
sense to users and gain high rankings in the major search engines.
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