Here is a simplified view of how the search engine
algorithms work:
Think of the engines like teachers handing out gold stars
(or check marks) for everything that you do well.
Google currently has about 200 factors in their algorithms
that determine how your site will rank.
The process they go through is the equivalent of the
teacher looking at your site and then looking at their
checklist and giving you a gold star for each of the things
that you do right.
However, some of the items on the list are more important
and you may get multiple gold stars.
No one knows for sure how the algorithm works, but we test
and monitor the industry to come up with a technique that
works well for getting sites ranked.
You should look at the foundation of the site first (we
call this search engine friendliness.)
This includes looking at the HTML that is used to build
your site and making sure there are no errors in the code,
and looking at how the site is built to make sure there is
nothing that will block the spiders.
Then you should look at on-page optimization, which is
tweaking the content for keyword density (increasing the
usage of keywords on the site), tweaking the Meta tags
(they are like a guide to each page that tells the search
engines what keywords are on the page and what the page is
about, and then use ALT tags, Header tags and various other
HTML tweaks.
You should also look at adding new content - as long as it
is informative and relevant and not just keyword stuffed
text that has no value.
You should do a sitemap, an XML sitemap (this is a
technical way of feeding your site to the engines so they
spider your content frequently).
You should work on obtaining quality links into your site
to boost your link popularity.
All of this is to drive the search engine spiders to your
site, so they can review it and hand out the gold stars.
The number of gold stars you achieve will determine how
well your site will rank.
There are no shortcuts; there are no tricks (none that are
safe to use and won't result in trouble down the road).
All you can do is make sure your on-page optimization and
links are in place and consistently work on growing your
site with relevant content.
You really don't need to submit to the engines these days,
especially not multiple times. Your XML sitemap set up and
submission will call Google and Yahoo, and the rest will
follow.
----------------------------------------------------
Jennifer Horowitz is the Director of Marketing and co-owner
of http://www.EcomBuffet.com
Since 1998, her expertise in
online marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has
helped clients increase revenue and achieve their business
goals. Jennifer has written a downloadable book on Search
Engine Optimization and has been published in many SEO and
marketing publications. Jennifer can be reached at
Jennifer@ecombuffet.com
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