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Search Engine Optimisation
UK-Netmarketing Weekly Round-up - April 27, 2001

Whether you've just put the finishing touches to your very first website, or you're marketing a large e-commerce enabled site, at some point search engine optimisation will make an appearance. With many subscribers to the uk-netmarketing list directly involved, when Mark Knight asked for some pointers there was no shortage of help.

Mark asked, "Can anyone offer any suggestions as how to best optimise a site prior to submitting to the search engines. My developer has set all pages to have the same Meta tag description and keywords, but I think I have read that search engines are now blocking submittals like this. Is this right? Should you only submit the home page? Should the meta tags be specific to each page of content?"

Tim Ireland replied, "I can't answer all of your questions, Mark (because the answer will mostly be 'it depends' and/or 'who should I make the invoice out to?'), but I will say that search engines that spider sites generally ignore META Tags. A strategic approach to the inclusion of prioritised keywords in *every* element of your site (and its listings), catered to your main page (and any major sections) is more like what you need."

Shakil Khan suggested, "Go to http://selfpromotion.com [it] will show you how it is done, and whatever you do, do not fall for the SCAM doing the rounds by certain large companies offering Search Engine Enhancement. Also I recommend using the http://www.inktomi.com service, works well for all our sites and gets high positions every time, I also suggest submitting to http://www.looksmart.com and http://www.looksmart.co.uk although not a search engine but a directory now being heavily used by MSN, AltaVista, etc."

Leslie Bunder added, "As always, first port of call to all things search engines is the rather helpful Search Engine Watch good luck and don't put all your faith in the search engines and directories to give you traffic."

Lindsey Annison had some more suggestions, "... First of all check your keywords and phrases are in your text on your index page. First 200 words is best. You need them there anyway as you have around 15 secs to convince folks that they are on the right site. If you have no keywords in your well-written copy they won't know what they are doing there. Check you have descriptive alt img tags on all images. Not pic_315.jpg or whatever!...Run your site through the Bobby test as if it fails that you shouldn't be putting the site up anyway."

Make sure you have a Links page or similar on your site as link popularity will up your ranking whatever your site looks like from an SEO point of view. If you have got a designer who felt it necessary to use frames that's a fairly serious amount of work to optimise it. Can't cover that here, and personally I think it would just be easier to add them to the nearest pyre for inflicting a framed site on you!"

"Having unique tags for each page is better.", wrote Victoria Clare. She continued, "However, I refer you (and the writer of that recent silly article in FT Connectis) to Danny Sullivan's article at http://www.searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/meta.html. It begins:

'Before we start, let's make it clear:

Meta tags are not a magic solution.

If people could just get over this idea that use of meta tags will propel them to the top of search listings, my life would be *so* much easier. I just had to write a bunch of tags for a site which uses a forced cookie-tracking solution throughout, that excludes all search engine spiders. I have explained this to them, but the response was 'yes, but we want them anyway'. Repeat after me: The customer is always right...

Danny Sullivan, the man behind one of the definitive search engine , replied, "Each page should have a unique HTML title, then ideally a unique meta description tag that reflects the page's content, then perhaps a unique meta keywords tag that reflects the content on the page. My page at http://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/meta.html explains meta tags in more depth, plus there are links to other content in the site on search engine optimisation issues.

If you are in a hurry, use the headline from the page's main HTML body copy as the title tag and plug in the first sentence or two from the opening paragraph as your description. That's it - 30 seconds later, you've done a basic optimisation, yet it is still one that can be helpful. Don't worry if you have all your pages with the same meta coding on them right now. You're not going to be done for spamming, but you are wasting an opportunity to better position your pages. Change that code when you make regular page updates.

As for submitting, do your home page and one or two inside pages, in case the crawlers have problems hitting your home page. As long as you have good internal linkage, that's all you need to do - in general. There are some very specific tips depending on the exact search engine you deal with, but it's too much to go through here."

Getting the information from ironically a search engine, Sean Dillon suggested searching on Google for 'search engine tips', finding:

Mark Knight thanked everyone, "Having asked the original question I have to agree! A big thanks to everyone who has responded. It seems a lot can be done to enhance websites if you know where to look! - the websites with free advice are a god send - its just finding them!"

Victoria Clare suggested some more resources, "As people are recommending resources, can I suggest http://searchengineforums.com and http://websearch.about.com. And there's a handy list of UK -specific search resources at http://www.dmdl01758.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk."

Nicola Pilkington rounded off with a lengthy post and a whole heap of advice, "Search Engines - Firstly, remember that having great search engine placements doesn't necessarily guarantee loads of traffic. And loads of traffic doesn't necessarily equal loads of business, but that's another story... I have clients that have spent literally HOURS submitting to search engines, waiting the requisite 6 weeks and then wondering why they aren't placed anywhere.

Link Sites - There are thousands - hundreds of thousands - of link sites out there; link sites for specific subjects, free-for-all link sites where anyone can post a link, link sites that no-one ever visits because they are listed on a multi submission program, link sites that actually work...

SUBMIT BY HAND - yes, it takes time, yes, it's a pain in the @$$, but at least you know your ad is there - don't rely on some software program telling you it's there - because the chances are, it isn't. I have yet to find a program that actually manages to submit my ad to the sites it claims it has done - even when getting the confirmation email and checking afterwards, my ad wasn't there in most cases.

Newsletter/Ezine Adverts- Newsletter and ezine advertising brings one of the best response rates of any other form of advertising on the Internet. The best thing about it is that it is possible to target your advertising so well, that you almost KNOW that the people reading it are interested in your product... Also try searching for the type of ezine you need in any search engine.

Signature Files- What is a signature file? At the end of each and every email you send out you should be promoting your company and your website. It could be something as simple as just your company name and address - that's a signature file. See! It's easy!!! ALWAYS have a signature file - if you send out 10 emails a day (and here I send out over 200 daily, plus autoresponders) that's 10 chances to promote your site!! Lisa Bryan has a great article on sig files available from (I believe) signature@wrdwrks.com

Online Press Releases - There are many places online to submit your press releases, but many people forget about the online press release, and concentrate on the offline one. Some places charge a fee, some are free (http://www.prweb.com) Some ezines and newsletters accept press releases. A well written press release can bring in the traffic like nothing else on earth!! See http://www.tauruspr.co.uk for a free 'how to write a press release' guide.

Mailing Lists - Mailing lists provide a great way of keeping contact with your potential clients - at the end of each email will be a link to your website, encouraging them to visit again. Whether it's a simple 'We'll tell you when this site is updated' list, or a daily tips list, it's a great way to keep in touch. Run it yourself, or get someone else to run it for you if you can afford it.

DON'T FORGET TO PROMOTE YOUR SITE OFFLINE TOO! - We have an article - 12 Steps available from 12steps@severina.co.uk. We also have a client who provides wonderful postcards with images from your site on them - our other clients have found them a great success. If you would like a sample of his work - featuring YOUR site, not anyone else's - then go to http://www.netprinter.co.uk and fill in the form for free samples.

LINKS OF NOTE:
A quick round up of interesting, funny, useful and other links gleaned from the uk-netmarketing list, office gossip and other nefarious sources...we take no responsibility should you chose to click...basically, it's not our fault. Enjoy:

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