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This is a very old SEO article written back in 1998/99, not much has changed since then, so it's still valid reading for folks learning about Search Engine Optimisation and what to look for to obtain High Rankings in the Search Engines.
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Buyers' Guide to SEO & Positioning Firms
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Search Engine SPAM
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
For high ranking results in the major Search Engines and Directories
I can really see the eyeballs roll as you think:
"Not another Search Engine Optimisation Specialist company! Don't these people know that nobody can optimise a Search Engine unless they work there?"
OR "I was just beginning to understand how to use a Search Engine and now you expect me to learn how to go and optimise one!"
Hopefully this article will help to demystify and point out some of the pitfalls in the area of Search Engine Optimisation.
Having got that out of the way, read on if you would like a few tips on how to draw visitors to your website or satisfy your quest to become Number One! in the major Search Engines and Directories with your pet keyword or key phrase.
Internet Marketing Tips:
Virtually anybody can create a great looking website (yes, yes, even your favourite nephew!), but getting it found by your target market is a whole different ball game.
Internet Marketing "experts" are in general agreement that a very high percentage of website traffic comes from the Major Search Engines and Directories, with most of the remainder coming from links on other Industry or topic related web sites and return visits. Traffic generated by word-of-mouth, traditional advertising, banner ads and email campaigns is in general negligible.
It should be noted that this article is not intended to discount the value of other ethical means of driving traffic to a web site or imply that the only Internet Marketing strategy you need to take is to optimise your web site for high rankings on the major Search Engines and Directories.
However, a successful campaign to increase your visibility on the major Search Engines and Directories will give long term results, paving the way to increased sales and a substantial reduction of your marketing expenditure and time.
Increase Traffic to your website with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
SEO is poorly understood by most but it is really not so mysterious. It means getting your website to appear within the top 30, preferably the top 10, results when a potential customer enters relevant keywords and phrases into the major Search Engines and Directories.
SEO is not about tricking the Search Engines to give your web site higher placement with questionable or plain unethical techniques.
A good Search Engine Optimisation Campaign is not an overnight job. It will take time, research, specialised skills, commonsense and an ethical and balanced approach.
The important thing to remember is that it can be done and when properly implemented, your website traffic and Internet business will benefit ~ provided you have the other essential ingredients for success on the WWW in place.
Of the billions of web pages on the World Wide Web, less than one third are indexed by Search Engines and Directories. To attain "top 10 rankings" within that third you can either invest study time and trial-and-error equivalent to a university degree.
The information you need is freely available on the WWW, if you are prepared to sift the wheat from the chaff.
OR you can call in a specialist in SEO who has the experience to increase your web site traffic with high rankings in the Major Search Engines and Directories.
When looking for a Search Engine Optimisation specialist, check these areas:
- Proof of "top 10 rankings" using simple, logical keywords and phrases people are likely to be searching with,
- Ignore meaningless claims of high "hit rates". Ask instead about "unique visitors" and average "page views" per visitor,
- Examine closely the techniques used by the SEO specialist on past work:
- Steer clear of companies offering auto-submission and periodic resubmission, "back door" "gateway" and "corridor" pages, "mirror sites", cloaking etc. These techniques can at times be used ethically and correctly, but major abuses have caused many of the Search Engines and Directories to penalise or even ban from listing websites that use these methods.
- Take care in assessing techniques to watch for artificial "spider traps" and systems established to make a web site appear more popular than it is useful.
- Another heavily frowned upon technique (trick) is "keyword stuffing". Look for excessive repetition of keywords in the meta tags and alt tags and inappropriate keyword usage. The use of invisible images that are not necessary to the web sites structure, but are merely there to pump up the keyword count.
- Last but not least, beware the old invisible text on the page trick. Most search engines have been awake up to this trick for years.
Sure, there are many examples of pages using these methods that are presently obtaining high placements, but inevitably they will be weeded out as indexing algorithms are refined to yield more relevant results and better guard the databases against spam and abuse.
For long term top ranking success, work within the individual guidelines of the Search Engines and Directories.
- Expect to be offered a full search engine ranking analysis report before and after the campaign and a quote for any necessary rewriting of content to correctly and ethically increase keyword and key phrase usage on each page to be optimised.
Always make sure that your Search Engine Optimisation efforts are centered around your business's core products and services. It's better to have highly targeted traffic arriving at and staying on your website than people who will move off immediately because you do not offer what they are looking for.
Check a website's "top 10 ranking" success rate
A great way to quickly check on a website's standing on some of the major Search Engines and Directories at the same time is to do a search for it on a Meta Search Engine such as www.ixquick.com. (There are of course, a number of other quality tools and systems that can be used for this purpose and Google cannot be overlooked for great relevancy.)
A final point - if Search Engine Optimisation is built into a web site from the foundation up, sustainable and positive results can be achieved and there is no need at all to go through the expense of applying an extra service to your Web Presence.
DiAl Design takes a very vanilla, no frills approach to the subject of Search Engine Optimisation and has been achieving consistent top 10 rankings on the major directories and search engines for clients since well before the term "Search Engine Optimisation" (SEO) was even coined. If you want to know more you can ask us for examples of Top 10 rankings in the Search Engines we have acheived for competitive terms.
Our recommendation to serious searchers is to purchase the Buyers' Guide to SEO & Positioning Firms which will give you a detailed insight into the Search Engine Optimisation field.
Written by and copyright to DiAl Design Australia.
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