The Marketleap Report
Vol. 1 - Issue #19 - November 14, 2001

Search Engines
The Marketers Cost Efficient Outlet for Results and Relevance
by Keith Boswell

The Internet is only as good as what it connects to. Good networks rely on authentication. Authentication provides reliability, accuracy and trust. Companies that focus on search engine strategy, at the same time they work on their web business strategy, find success because they know how to communicate with the network.

As the usage of the Internet spreads, people turn to search engines to guide their travels. Studies consistently show that 80-85% of web users find web sites they are looking for through search engines. Search engines help make sense out of the vast expanse of web pages available for browsing.

Sites that hope to attract successful, qualified visitors must be aware of their visibility within search engine results. If they are not aware of that visibility, they will never realize their true potential online audience. Too many companies abandon or claim failure with their online initiatives because of a lack of understanding on the basics of being visible online.

Why do users of the Internet turn to search engines? Where else can you hope to assimilate all of the information available online? Search engines work because people believe they will find what they are looking for more easily than guessing or attempting to find a site on their own. In order for the technology to work, search engines rely on sophisticated algorithms that analyze data on a web site and link popularity to determine the results they present to users.

Link popularity increases the likelihood that a search engine user connects with the right web site by factoring in the number of qualified sites that provide links to the site in question. The algorithms that search engines use examine the HTML code and content of a web site to help factor relevancy. Once these two elements come together, more accurate search results are given.

Companies hoping for success must understand the elements that a search engine looks for when it reviews a web site. A niche industry called Search Engine Optimization (SEO) continues to grow because more companies realize they don't have the in-house expertise to successfully have their site be found or indexed by major search engines.

When search engine optimization became a hot topic, talk centered around META-tags and Keywords. Some people were lead to believe that by putting all the keywords they wanted to be associated with by search engines into their META-tags, everyone searching online would find them.

Terms like business, sales, marketing and other empty terms were crammed into HTML code like scattered garbage. Misguided clients searched through sites like Yahoo and Excite and when they could not locate their site with the keywords they had in their META-tags, called their search engine marketers crying for explanations.

Today, reputable SEO companies depend on a number of tactics to help their clients find success with their search engine visibility. Link building and analysis, keyword analysis, submission and verification, site analysis and in depth monitoring ensure a solid search engine strategy.

Links are a vital piece in establishing relevancy. Qualified links from sites that are similar in nature to your own help to improve credibility with search engines. If your site suffers from poor linking from exterior sites, a campaign to get links from those sites is in order. Requesting links from sites that will appeal to your online audience help build community and promote your place in it.

Link analysis involves assessing the number of links that are currently pointing at a website online. Tools like the Google Search Bar, used on a PC running Internet Explorer 5 and above, allows you to quickly run a reverse link check on any website. By knowing how many links and the types of sites that are linking to a site, a company understands its relevancy to the entire online audience. The more links, the better a company appears to the online community.

Keywords are the words that visitors to a search engine will use to find a website. Terms like business and sales are in use by thousands of companies and to be found in that sea is a slim hope without paid placement. Instead of using generic terms, companies will find that niche terms that tie directly into their business and products greatly increases the chances of appearing high within search engine results.

Keywords then become part of a content strategy. It helps to include these terms within META data on a site but integrating the keywords into valuable content also increases the chances of being found. Content, not simply lists of words, makes something relevant.

Back in the late 90's, one of the most popular types of spam email to receive was the pitch to submit a website to thousands of search engines for $19.95. Hundreds and thousands of customers lined up and used this type of service in the hope of attracting the flood of traffic they knew really awaited them online. Most of them found disappointment and disillusionment when the flood never came.

The empty promise could never work because submission to search engines and then verifying those submissions is a crucial step in a search engine strategy. Each of the search engines has a particular version of the submission process. Most of the information that each of them collects is similar, but there are nuances and differences that if not addressed will keep a submission from reaching its maximum potential.

Smart submission strategies involve hand submitting the site to each search engine individually. While taking more time, it ensures that each is accurate and complete for every individual engine. Companies that promise submission to hundreds or thousands rapidly are using software to fill in the submission forms and do not account for minor differences amongst the different engines.

Web site analysis helps companies that have already built their online presence understand the elements within their site that they can improve to achieve greater results within search results. Guidelines are built that provide short and long-term strategies for improving a sites search engine visibility. META enhancements, improved content and features, and increased submission of multiple pages within a site help ensure consistent search success.

Ongoing monitoring and resubmission are the final components necessary to stay on top. By analyzing a sites ongoing position within search results, companies can continue to make subtle changes to their site to maintain and improve their ranking. As new content comes online, it is important to submit that content to the search engines as well. The more available unique pages you present to search engines, the more likely you are to be found.

Relevant connections. That is the goal. It's also why companies must assess how they communicate with search engines if they hope to reach their audience. To blindly go online today and hope to be found is like walking into the night eyes closed, hoping to run into the party of your life. Your audience uses search engines all the time. Whether they find you or not depends on how much intelligent planning you put into helping them.

report@marketleap.com.