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What is a Search Engine?
'Search Engine' - it's a strange piece of Internet jargon, but what does it mean? As you might already know, a search engine is a website which lets you find other websites - a kind of Yellow Pages for the Internet!
To use a search engine, you type in some words that describe the site you're looking for, and it shows you a list of sites that might be suitable.
Search engines you might know include Google, Yahoo! Search, Hotbot and Altavista, but remember that when you use your ISP's home page to search, you're still using a search engine - even when you search for something on AOL, MSN or Freeserve.
Remember, if you want to go direct to a particular website that you already know, you don't have to use a search engine - you can just type the site's web address (its 'domain name') into the box at the top of your web browser labelled 'Address'.
Getting more visitors from Search Engines
So, if you are a website owner, how can you make your website appear higher up the search engine listings? (Doing this means that when someone types in some words that are relevant to your website, it appears closer to the top of the search engine's results. This is a good thing because it means you'll get more visitors to your site.)
First, you should know that the search engines are generally very slow to update their listings - they usually take 6 to 8 weeks.
This means that any changes you make to your site will take some time to show up in the search engine listings. It also means that your new website will take up to four months to appear in the search engine listings. Our Free Trial websites, because they only last for one week, rarely appear in the search engines at all.
We're sorry, but we can't speed up the search engines (though we often wish that we could!). They're run by completely separate companies to us.
Now, to raise your position in the search engine results, you need to concentrate on the titles of your pages. You need to describe the page - for example, imagine the title of your site is 'Andy's Plumbing Services'. This is fine to start with, but unless a visitor is searching for your site specifically, they're unlikely to find it in the search engines.
Tip: People usually search for general, not specific, words.
In the case of our plumbing site, people we want to attract might search for 'plumber london' or 'uk plumber'. So we should change the title of the site to 'Andy's Plumbing: Plumber in London, UK'. This is a better title because it includes more words people might type into a search engine ('plumber' as well as 'plumbing', 'london', 'UK').
Here are some examples of good and bad page titles:
Bad title: HOME PAGE
This is a bad title because it doesn't describe the site at all.
Tip: Think to yourself, "If I didn't know what this site was about, would I be able to tell from the title?"
Better title: Holiday Cottage to
Rent, Cornwall UK
This is better because it does describe the site, and
it includes some words that people might search for. But we can still
improve it...
Tip: Think to yourself, "What different words might people search for, if they're looking for a site like mine?"
Good title: Holiday Cottage to Rent
(Vacation Rental) Near Cardigan Bay, Cornwall UK.
This is a good title because it includes lots of words people
might type into the search engines. Americans would search for
'Vacation', while Brits would be more likely to search for 'Holiday'.
It also includes both the words 'Rent' and 'Rental' - you want your site
to be listed whichever word people search for.
If you're a business, then unless your product is available to the whole world (perhaps it is if you offer mail order), you're probably interested in people visiting your website who live near enough to come and purchase from you. So include your country in the title, and if you're in the USA then include your state, the whole word and the abbreviation - e.g. 'Florida (Fl)'. Some people will type the state name into a search engine, and some people will type the abbreviation.
Tip: Include your location in the title.
Remember, the Internet covers the whole world - visitors who arrive at your site from a search engine don't know where in the world you are, unless you tell them.
| Want to know more? Have a look at these articles... | |||||
| What Are Keywords And What The Heck Do You Do With Them? and Nip and Tuck - Three Quick Tricks for Writing SEO Copy introduce the art of creating pages which attract search engine visitors. | Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone (you need to register with the site to read this article, but it is free). This classic article is simply the best guide to getting excellent results with Google (the most important search engine). If you follow this advice your site will definitely take off! | ||||
| See Also: Optimizing
Keywords for Search Engines - how to select the most
search engine friendly keywords and phrases to help you get more
visitors! If you're thinking of paying someone to improve your search engine rankings, we strongly recommend you read Google's Guide to Search Engine Optimizers. |
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| Pay-Per-Click (PPC) articles: | |||||
| Pay-Per-Clicks… One Way to Boost Traffic to Your Web Site explains how the pay-per-click search engines operate, and has some very useful tips for building a profitable PPC campaign. | Pay-Per-Click Strategies for Search Engine Marketers - an excellent, in-depth interview with four PPC experts. It's long, but it's worth reading for the excellent tips and inside knowledge. | ||||
| See Also: The Keywords That Sell - selecting keywords that generate sales. | |||||
I hope that's given you a good outline of the first steps you can take to get more traffic from search engines - remember, if you have questions, we're here to help at any time. If you've done what I've described in this article and you'd like to go further, please don't hesitate to contact us, we'll be happy to advise you. You can email us any time at customer.service@2-minute-website.com.
Andrew Ellam
2-Minute-Website Ltd
customer.service@2-minute-website.com