The Search Engine Optimizing Industry

One such tool is the “Web History” utility that is now available to all users of Google Search. Using this tool, Google will collect information about the sites you visit and use it to generate a better response to your queries. Some of the key points of the utility are:
1) The ability to view and manage your web activity – search across the full text of the pages you’ve visited, including Google Searches, web pages, images and news stories.
2) Get search results that are more personalized and based on the things you’ve searched for on Google and the sites you’ve visited.
3) Get reports on your trends and web activity – how many searches did you conduct and at what time of the day. Which sites do you frequent the most?
You can read more about the capabilities and features of Web History at: www.google.com/psearch .
How will Web History affect the Search Engine industry?
It will help Google provide you with results that you want to see the most, and, when combined with another tool in the beta process, will help discard items that you are not interested in seeing in your search results.
Want to try an experiment?
Break out your google goggles and let’s get started! Begin by creating a user account with Google. Then turn Web History on for a week or so, and chase your tail looking at keywords that are specific to the ranking of your website or a site you are maintaining. Check several times a day, closing and relaunching your browser each time you check. Eventually you are going to see a message near the top of the window that the results of your search are being influenced by… you guessed it… Web History. Pay attention to where your site is ranking with Web History turned on.
Now, after a week of allowing “Web History” to collect some information… go to your google account and turn it off, and check your page positions on Google for the same Keywords? Did you see any difference? You betcha! Google is watching you and capturing your behavior and they are manipulating your search results to match your expectations and what they perceive is your preference based on the “experiences” they have collected from you. If Web History perceives that Blue Donuts by a particular manufacturer are important to you in the majority of your searches, they will bubble to the top of the page while other Blue Donuts by different manufactures will sink lower and lower.
Is it the end of the Search Engine Optimizing Industry?
Probably not, factors that will account for the appearance of one site’s links above another may not be completely limited to the users interaction and preference in the future. Other traditional factors such as content and page ranking may continue to play a part in getting the position on the page ahead of some of the clients perceived preferences, in addition to other new developments currently underway.
Does it end here?
I for one don’t think so. There’s at least two more prominent areas where Google can capture user preferences and then modify the result set to meet their expectations, and they are actively testing or running programs to do exactly that right now. I’ll cover the second area in my next article. “There’s Room for 10″.
This is my first online article and I’d like to thank those that have taken the time to read it. I hope you will find this useful and that it might stimulate some additional discussion on the subject material covered.

Thoughts On The Search Engine Industry

SEO – Cutting Through the Clutter to Get You Results

SEO – Cutting Through the Clutter to Get You Results

If you had to guess, how many websites would you say are in the world? One million? Ten million? Internet experts differ wildly in their estimates.

Guesses range from between one hundred million to more than three hundred million active websites today. So with all this competition, how are you going to get your website noticed?
The answer is clear: Search Engine Optimization.

What is Search Engine Optimization? Basically, it is industry speak for anything that makes your site more attractive to search engines. Websites like Google, Bing, Yahoo!, and others send out programs called “crawlers.” These “crawlers” search for new websites and content. When they find anything new, they add it to their database and make it possible for people to find it using them. This is called indexing. But you have to do it correctly, or Google will skip right past you.

For example, let’s say you own a small shoe company called Seattle Treks. You just put up a website. How can you make sure people find you on Google?

1.) Be sure the purpose of your site is clear.

In the code of your site, there is a place for “meta” information. This is the information that Google and other search engines look for first. There are two types of meta information: Meta descriptions and meta tags (more on meta tags in step 2). The meta description is what people read below your name in Google. Describe the purpose of your site and your company in a short, succinct phrase. “Seattle Treks – Buy fine custom footwear made in Seattle, Washington” will attract Google and tell people what to expect from your site.

2.) Fill in the meta tags.

These are words that are associated with what you are. They go in the code on the main index page of your site. These words give Google clues as to what your site is about. If people type these clue words into Google, your site will pop up. So for your imaginary shoe company, you would put words like “shoes, usa made shoes, leather shoes, hiking books, A-TRAK shoes, treks, treks seattle, shoes seattle, outdoor shoes,” etc.

Try to picture the words people might type into Google. This SEO work will ensure that when people are looking for shoes made in USA, or maybe for hiking boots, your website will pop up. Every site, no matter what it is for, needs to have solid meta tag information.

3.) Put dynamic content on your site.

This means anything that changes. The Internet is like a pile of sand that you have to keep climbing and climbing. The moment you stop going up, you start sliding down. So add content to your site constantly. The more new content you have, the more often Google’s crawlers come by. The more often they come, the more often you get indexed. The more you get indexed, the higher you show in the search results. This is why big companies pay lots of money for SEO experts to keep them on top.

How can you have dynamic content? Easy. Start a blog. Blogs are a painless way to add new content. Talk about your new shoe models. Take pictures of your community activities and write about them. Add to your blog at least once a month. Be sure that when Google comes around again, it finds a lot of new things to index.

4.) In the writing of your site, be keyword rich.

What does that mean? It’s SEO speak for having a lot of the words that Google looks for. For example, images are an often overlooked keyword opportunity. Don’t call a picture of your new shoe “img3.jpg.” Try “new_shoe_model_XTRAC4_seattle_treks_shoe.jpg.” If someone searches any of those words on Google, chances are good they will stumble across your picture and come to your site.

When you write on the site, use lots of keywords. “Our shoes are made right here in Seattle, using the finest nubuck and space-age materials,” will help Google. Keep that in mind when you write on your blog, and be sure to put “tags” on your entries.

5.) Set up company pages with Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc.

Backlink them to your site and add as many friends as you can. Google loves sites that link to other sites.

6.) Make a site map.

This is an .xml file that goes in the root directory of your site and tells Google what all the pages are for. If you don’t understand .xml, it’s probably something you should have an expert do.

7.) Use a Search Engine Optimization service.

These people are experts who know how to make search engines find you. They can also help you to create a site map.

About the Author: Troy Childers – For more information, or to get started on your SEO campaign now, visit http://www.magicseoservices.com.

« Previous Page — Next Page »