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How to Avoid Trouble With the Engines
More and more, search engines are cracking down on the use of techniques they consider inappropriate for gaining top rankings in their indexes. No doubt many techniques in this special report are now or will be targeted sooner or later. Interestingly, CNET Central, the computer network and first Web site supported with its own television show, just completed an article that details what search engines returned the most relevant search results.
Infoseek used to be well known as the Web site marketer's favorite search engine because a page could be indexed in minutes - though they now take up to two weeks. In the past, this instant indexing meant that anyone with a good understanding of search engine optimization techniques could quickly move their pages into top positions on Infoseek. As a result, most pages at the top of Infoseek's search results are there because someone like you or me figured out a way to get those pages there. |
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CNET recruited a team of evaluators to conduct a series of keyword searches and then rank each engine by how well the search results matched the intent of their queries. Infoseek placed second.
Nonetheless, search engines have declared a silent war against those of us working on their behalf (well, OK, on behalf of our clients really - but they clearly benefit!) to ensure that good Web sites make it into top positions. Those indexes that are most difficult to master seem to return most irrelevant documents (Excite and the now defunct OpenText search engine ranked second to last and last, respectively).
Because the search engines are working to penalize the small
minority of spammers who inappropriately submit dozens of
pages and present off-topic material, legitimate operators
must be careful that we don't get clipped in one of these
stings. Penalties can be draconian and can include having
your domain name, your IP address and even pages registered
under your Internic handle banned from a particular search
engine.
In extreme cases, we've heard of search engines checking
domain registrations with Internic for owner's names and addresses.
With this information they can prevent known spammers from
registering new domains and getting back into their index.
We received an e-mail from someone recently claiming that
AltaVista was blocking submissions of all of his URLs, even
new ones he registered.
He suspected that AltaVista had captured his Nic handle information
and was blocking any new URLs he registered under it, though
we could not confirm this practice. You do not want to suffer
such a fate. There is no reason you should if you observe
these guidelines:
1. Never use keywords in your META tags that do not
apply to your site's content.
Tip: Let's say you have a travel service business.
The single keyword "travel" will probably be very hard to
be positioned well on. To attract the visitors you want, you
may want to create good content related to your business in
order to attract the right type of visitors. For example,
if you sell vacation cruises to the Caribbean, make a page
all about "Parasailing in the Caribbean."
Give them all the information they'd want to know about the
sport, the pros and cons, then show them how to get there
on one of your vacation plans! However, good content is the
KEY. Your page must really get the prospect excited about
going parasailing before they're going to start thinking seriously
about buying a ticket.
2. Avoid repeating the same keyword dozens of times
in a row on your page or in your META tags. Increasingly,
search engines are penalizing and even banning Web sites for
employing this technique. List a keyword one to seven times,
no more. Any more than that and you're entering the "danger
zone."
3. Do not create too many doorway pages. It's good
to create multiple doorway pages that each target different
sets of keywords or topics related to your site, but DO NOT
BE EXCESSIVE! Search engines now watch for multiple submissions
that appear the same or very similar. Try a couple of variations,
submit them, then wait and see how you rank.
Tip: It's important to review your Web site and check
your rankings for many keywords that appear in the text that
makes up the different pages of your Web site. Often you'll
find that your Web site did not rank well for one important
keyword, but it may rank very well on some other keyword or
phrase found on the page!
If you don't rank well anywhere, read "The Golden Rule" (see
page 50), redesign your page and resubmit. Search engines
don't really care if you resubmit a page after making changes.
In fact, they encourage it.
The easiest way to get in trouble is to have three, four or
more of your pages all appear together in the matches for
a single keyword search. One of your competitors will likely
report you. This could get you banned from that search engine.
4. Avoid submitting too many pages at once. If you
have 100 pages you need indexed, first review the rules of
the particular search engine to make certain the search engine
will index this number. We suggest you play it safe and break
up your submissions.
Submit half one day and half the next avoiding any undocumented
limits a search engine may have whereby they simply ignore
your pages after a certain number of submissions. Also be
wary of automated site submission tools that submit too many
pages simultaneously.
5. Avoid submitting the same page twice on the same
day. Generally search engines will simply ignore a second
submission. You can, however, rename the page and resubmit
it, but again, don't abuse the system. Keep page variations
to a minimum, follow up, and if you don't rank well for your
keywords, then redesign the page and submit it again. Consider
it doorway page recycling.
6. Following up by checking your rank for many keywords
in 10 search engines sounds like a lot of work. It is. Some
people tell us they spend 30 hours a week checking their rank
for their important keywords.
7. After you've been in business awhile, you'll learn
that to succeed, you need a competitive advantage. Use technology
and knowledge to do more in less time. This is how the smaller
or newer companies can often compete against the big boys.
However, don't sacrifice your ethics to achieve your goals.
Using Princess Diana's name on your Web site to bring traffic
is patently offensive. It's deception in every application
whether the keyword concerns a sensitive current event or
simply a high-interest keyword. Most importantly, it won't
translate into revenue, only aggravated visitors. And even
if you make a buck or two, it will be on your conscience.
Making money on the Web is not that hard. This report makes
it even easier. Now go make lots of money and report back
and tell us how you did it!
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