In the following questions and answers on search engine optimization, many of the key issues are highlighted. Note that "appropriately" is used to eliminate non-essential detail while acknowledging that additional decisions or judgements need to be made.
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- I had a website launch campaign but people
still can't find my site?
There are 4 potential reasons. First, your launch may not have included search engine optimization.
Second, if it included SEO, then an insufficient amount of time may have elapsed for your submissions to have been added to directory databases or your pages do have sufficient keyword tuning.
Third, you may be in the search engines and directories but your ranking is low and you don't turn up in the first 5-20 hits.
Finally, if a directory submission does not appear within a reasonable time (depending on the directory), it is often the case that the directory has no record of your submission. They either skipped over it due to time constraints, the URL was submitted to the wrong category, or the site failed to meet their criteria. At this point, you need to have your site re-submitted.
- I hired an SEO firm when my site was
developed a year or more ago and I'm told I need to have the work done again.
How gives?
SEO is typically regarded as a one-time project at the launch of website. Given the evolving and dynamic nature of the web and the way in which search providers and user change, your site's pages need revision in either or both of their content or meta information (information about your site) because your competitors' websites may simply have done a better job since your launch. It may be time to get back into the game and then stay in it.
Of course, we're assuming that the original SEO work was done competently and did not use techniques which search engines consider spamming (see Question 7). If the latter is the case, you're in big trouble.
Keep in mind that in order to retain a high ranking or position, your site needs to be periodically monitored and maintained in order to make appropriate adjustments to take into account the fact that search engines constantly change their ranking algorithms.
See also Question 6.
- I've added a lot of new material. How do I
update or add to my directory listings.
You have 2 jobs to do. First, you need to have new submissions made to appropriate directories which, depending on the nature and value of the content, may require a fee or be free. A submission is a procedure that involves 4 steps: identify/select directories, prepare submissions for each, make the submissions, follow-up (re-submitting as necessary) and then check periodically to maintain them.
Second, you need to make sure that the new content has appropriate meta information so that search engine crawlers index them appropriately.
- When people come to my site, the start out
deep in the site and can't find their way to what they are looking for.
The advantage of finding information using a search engine is that you skip all of the introductory and ancillary pages that a search from the site's home page would typically involve. The disadvantage is that if the information you want is related to the page you've found, then you have to start guessing and can quickly become frustrated and give up.
The solution is to add a search capability to your own site by either adding that capability directly to the web server or by outsourcing the search service. There are free or inexpensive outsourced search services (e.g. Atomz, Google) as well as (of course) software or paid search services for which the sky is the limit.
- What can I do about the time lag from when
I make a submission to that listing turning up in searches?
Many of what were once free directory listings are now fee-based. One of the "benefits" of this aspect of web search's evolution is that the listing fees enable you to jump the queue.
You have the option of using one of the "pay-per-click" ("PPC") directories (e.g., Overture) or search engines (e.g., Google's Adwords program). PPC programs involve bidding in some way for one or more keywords and then you pay only when a customer clicks on the link to one of your site's pages regardless of how many times it's shown.
- My traffic started out at a satisfactory
level but has now fallen off to almost nothing.
In general, the high growth rate of the Internet means that sites are continually being added to the search engines and directories. In addition, the search engines and directories are constantly changing their algorithms or methods of ranking sites.
As we answered in Question 2, your decreased traffic may be as a result of your site's pages need revision in either or both of their content or meta information (information about your site) because your competitors' websites may simply have done a better job since your launch. It may be time to get back into the game and then stay in it.
Alternatively, you may have lost your position in search engines or your listing in directories because the techniques you've used are regarded as spamming (see Question 7) and penalized your site as a result. You now need an overhaul of your site to remove any such techniques and then new submissions would need to be made.
In order to retain a high ranking or position, your site needs to be periodically monitored and maintained in order to make appropriate adjustments to take into account the fact that search engines constantly change their ranking algorithms.
- My website people tell me that we're being
penalized for "directory spamming."
See the definition of "directory spamming." Search engine spam is "any attempt to artificially influence a search engine's ability to calculate relevancy."
You now need an overhaul of your site to remove any such techniques and then new submissions would need to be made (see Question 6.
- Are there any free listings?
Yes. your site can be listed in some of the large directories for free. For example, Yahoo! and LookSmart, 2 category-based Web directories, make this possible through their non-commercial categories and your listing is dependent on the quality and value of the content in one or more of those non-commercial categories.
Danny Sullivan
provides an example of non-commercial content:Noncommercial content? Let's say you sell something, such as American flags, which are in high demand right now. Your Web site is commercial in nature, so submitting the home page is likely to be seen as commercial content. However, let's say you've spent the time and energy to build a section of your Web site about the American flag -- how it originated, how it has looked over time, maybe even a section on flags around the world. This flag resource section is noncommercial in nature. In it, you are giving away information freely, and so you are eligible to be considered for listing in the noncommercial areas of both Yahoo! and LookSmart.
- I'm in hundreds of directories and search
engines but I'm not getting the traffic which I think I should.
The top dozen search engines and directories perform the vast majority of user searches. Unless the "hundreds" to which you refer were selected on the basis of your target market or audience and the content of your site, then you have wasted your time and money on them. The thousands of smaller ones can be useful if evaluated and selected appropriately but are of little value otherwise. Its a question of whether to use a shotgun or a rifle and quantity versus quality.
Those SEO providers who offer automated submissions to a large number of directories and/or search engines are a not only waste of time and money, they lead you to believe that you have accomplished something when, in fact, you've lost the opportunity to be accessible to your target market or audience for the period until you figure this out.
This highlights the importance of "manual" submissions, submissions created by a knowledgeable person for a specific directory which has some basis for you to believe will be used by your prospective visitors.
- How do I build traffic when my company's
name and products aren't well enough known to be terms for which people would
search?
This is one of the key issues for sophisticated web marketers.
One answer is to choose the commercial categories in major directories with great care and to note in the description submitted for those categories the company's name and products.
The more effective approach is to determine what keywords people in your target market or audience use in searches and then make sure that your content has sufficient keyword density to result in a high ranking for those keywords.
Another approach is to set up reciprocal linking arrangements with sites which your which target market or audience would be likely to use. In effect, this is a referral technique. An additional benefit of this approach is that search engines such as Google use the sites that link to yours as a key criteria in the ranking that their algorithm generates in searches.
Another approach is paid inclusion which means that, for a fee, a search engine will guarantee to list pages from a Web site. Typically, these programs do notnot guarantee that the pages will rank well for particular queries that is dependent on a given search engine's underlying relevancy algorithms.
In contrast, another type of program is paid placement which does guarantee top listings. If you pay enough, you'll be top ranked for the terms of your choice. However, paid placement can be expensive because getting and keeping a top ranking at paid-placement search engine such as Overture is an ongoing expense. You pay by the click for any traffic you receive.
In contrast, basic paid-inclusion programs at crawler-based search engines such as Inktomi operate on a flat-fee basis. You pay once, and then you get all the traffic you can handle (maybe).
There are the pay-per-click ("PPC") programs at a variety of directories and search engines. If you think of the hits that a search engine generates for a given search as the "editorial" content, then PPC programs are the advertising that accompanies that editorial content.
Finally, all of these techniques can be combined.
- When will I see results from my SEO
program?
If your site hasn't been optimized for search engines and directories, you will see results in days or weeks of the completion of the work. Directory listings can be accomplished relatively quickly if paid listings are chosen; otherwise, they require several months or more depending on the directory. Achieving a high ranking for a given keyword or phrase depends on the number of iterations required for the selected keywords.
In general terms, for large sites where some work has been previously done and for which keywords are highly competitive, a SEO program will produce minor search ranking improvements in the first month following the initial optimization phase of generating keywords, modifying pages and making submissions. Top 10 and Top 20 rankings are achieved in approximately six months.
The timing is dependent on the following factors:
- your industry;
- the competitive level of your keywords;
- the previous success of your website; and
- the search engines' updates.
