| LYCOS
According to this source HotBot does not look at keywords
in ALT tags nor keywords contained in hidden form tags. HotBot
does consider keywords in comment tags, and a good keyword
weight scores a page higher in their index.
When we asked him why it seemed that short pages with some graphics and very few words on the page seemed to score higher, he wouldn't provide an exact reason, but he thought it would likely be due to HotBot's keyword weight ranking.
HotBot penalizes a variety of spam techniques including: stuffing of keywords in text, same color text on same color background and stuffing keywords in the title tag (when they're repeated next to one another).
Pages that trigger these spam penalties will be assigned zero weightings in the HotBot index - those spammed words will not count toward HotBot's relevancy assessment. HotBot will only count a keyword once, even if it finds the keyword repeated. | |
HotBot's ranking algorithm is attuned to unnatural word patterns. Our contact said that HotBot uses in-house grammar-checking software. He offered the following examples of unnatural repeated keyword word patterns that are most common:
"Computer hard drive, Computer hard drive"
"computer disk, computer modem, computer disk, computer, computer modem"
When we asked if people using one doorway page per keyword would set off spam detection, we were told that such a moderate approach would not be penalized. However, when a site is detected as submitting dozens of duplicate pages for the same keyword these pages will not be listed - HotBot will list just one page and on occasion, present the others as alternative pages. HotBot has no lifetime ban for spamming at this time.
Our Own Experience and Observations
WARNING! HotBot changes its relevancy scoring criteria
often, a fact that is maddening to those of us trying to achieve
a high ranking. However, the good news is that HotBot does
this in response to user input and surveys, which usually
result in better overall results to queries that can only
help you if you run a good site.
HotBot will index your entire site. Just submit your main
URL.
Step 1:
Build a series of doorway pages for HotBot. HotBot seems
to rank shorter pages with less copy higher than longer pages.
Multiple doorway pages will be effective so long as you limit
each doorway page to two or three keywords - achieving a good
keyword weight for multiple keywords can be tricky. It's best
to use several doorway pages. The keyword weight ranking will
bite you if you get greedy and chase 5 or 10 keywords per
doorway page.
Step 2:
Include a gif or jpg graphic on your doorway pages.
Perhaps make the graphic an arrow and a graphic word next
to it that states, "continue." Activate the graphic as a hypertext
link that sends people to your main site. The purpose of this
is to
reduce total copy on these pages and score strong keyword
weight ratings.
Step 3:
Create keyword and description META tags and lead with your
most important keyword.
HotBot also rewards uncommon words (i. e. words not found
as often on the Internet as a whole). Do not repeat keywords
in your META tags, it does not help you.
Step 4:
Alter your use of capitalization of important keywords for
an extra boost.
Step 5:
Increase your keyword frequency. Measure your total number
of keywords in the body as compared to the pages ranked ahead
of you. HotBot rewards keyword frequency as well as keyword
weight. In general, HotBot ranks slightly shorter pages with
higher keyword weight higher than similar but longer pages.
Step 6:
Register a new domain name that includes your most important
keyword. Lately, we've noticed that HotBot cares a lot about
keywords in the URL. As we've suggested in other sections
of this report, consider investing the $70 to register an
iteration of your domain name such as www. keyword-domain.
com.
Step 7:
Add a single pixel gif with an ALT tag. If you need to add
more keywords consider the "single pixel gif" trick, as HotBot
does index and score keywords found in ALT tags.
Need more power? Consider the following tips:
1. Focus on keywords and keyword phrases included as activated
links to other internal pages and less on keywords in the
title tag. Add your targeted keyword in the link text on the
viewable page.
2. HotBot favors Web pages with keywords at the top of the
page AND at the bottom of the page. Work toward a keyword
theme in your pages.
3. Include the plural form of your keywords since HotBot
will not automatically return pages for keyword synonyms.
4. In consideration of Direct Hit's technology, do what you
can to query your own Web page, and then visit it often and
encourage others in your company or circle of friends to do
the same. It may, over time, influence the Direct Hit algorithm.
How Your Domain Name Can Influence Your Score
Obtaining a domain name with your keyword in it can significantly
improve your score in HotBot. For example, if you have a domain
of: http:// www. mycompany. com you should strongly consider
purchasing additional domains that include your most important
keywords within the domain name. If you sold widgets, pages
on the following domain should score higher in HotBot, with
all other things being equal:
www. widgets. com
For multi-word phrases, be sure to separate them with dashes
as follows:
www. blue-widgets. com
Including the keyword in a sub-directory name or page name
can also help, although not to the same extent as the domain
name. Consider purchasing secondary domain names for this
purpose if you've been unsuccessful in ranking well in HotBot
for your keywords. Other engines now appear to add additional
weight to domain names with keywords in them, so this may
help you elsewhere as well. |
