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What
Search Engines See When They Visit Your Web Site
by Robin Nobles
If you have a Web
site, have you ever wondered what a search engine sees when it visits your
site to add the site to its index? Do you know that it doesn�t see the
beautiful graphics or the fancy Web design? Do you know that it only sees the
source code, or the "skeleton" of your Web site?
Do you realize that
knowing this little tidbit of information and doing something about it can make
a huge difference in your search engine rankings and, ultimately, the success of
your online business?
One very important
thing that you need to remember is: the search engines like simplicity. The
simpler your Web site is, the easier it is for the engines to determine what
your Web site is about. And, if the search engines can determine exactly what
your Web site is about, you have a better chance at top rankings under the
keyword phrases that are important for your online business.
Let�s look at this
concept in action with a page I recently created for one of my online
businesses: Search Engine Workshops.
http://www.searchengineworkshops.com/articles/search-engine-seminars.html
As you can see,
it�s a very plain, simple page that was not created to be the "main"
or "home" page of a Web site. Rather, it was created to pull in
traffic through the keyword phrase, "search engine seminars."
What I really want
you to see is the source code of the page. So, when viewing the page, click on
View on the top menu bar, then Source or Source Code.
The most important
part of a Web page is what appears at the very top of the page. Why? Because a
search engine starts at the top of the page and begins moving down as it
indexes.
So, what appears in
the <head> section of your Web page is very important,
because the <head> section is at the top of the page.
Let�s look at the <head>
section of the source code:
<HEAD>
<TITLE>search engine seminars--are you ready to have a successful
Website?</TITLE>
<META
NAME="keywords" CONTENT="search engine seminars, conferences,
workshops, CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS, Conferences, Workshops">
<META
NAME="description" CONTENT="Consider attending a search engine
seminar to learn how to take a struggling Web site and bring it to the top of
the rankings!">
</HEAD>
There are only three
tags in the <head> section of this Web page: the title tag,
the keyword META tag, and the description META tag. Because the title tag is in
the <head> section, and because of the importance that most
engines place on the tag, it is considered one of the most important tags on
your page, so it should always be the first tag in the <head>
section.
Notice that in the
title and keyword META tag, the important keyword phrase (search engine
seminars) appears as the first words in the tag. In the description META tag,
the keyword phrase is still toward the beginning of the tag, as opposed to the
end.
In other words, where
you place your keyword phrase in the tags and content of your page is important.
If you place your keyword phrase toward the beginning of all of your important
tags and toward the beginning of the contents, you�re "proving" to
the engines that the page is really about that particular topic.
I�ve mentioned one
reason why the title tag is important, but there�s another reason too. The
title tag is important because it almost always appears as the title of the site
in the search engine results. Your description META tag may appear in the search
engine results as well and is considered important by some of the engines. So,
when you create your title and description tags, remember two things: put your
keyword phrase toward the beginning of the tags, and make the tags captivating
and designed to pull in traffic.
Think of it this way.
If your site is #10 in the search engine rankings, but if the sites above yours
haven�t gone to the trouble to create appealing titles and descriptions, a
search engine user may skip over those sites to visit yours.
Now, let�s go back
to the source code. Look for this tag, which isn�t far from the <body>
tag:
<IMG SRC="images/banner3.jpg"
ALT="search engine seminars, search engine conferences, search engine
workshops" WIDTH="220" HEIGHT="100">
This is the image, or
graphics, tag for the Search Engine Workshops banner that appears at the very
top of the page. Notice that the engine doesn�t "see" the graphic
itself. It sees the name of the graphic (banner3.jpg), and it sees the ALT text
that describes the image. It sees the width and height of the graphic. But, it
doesn�t see the graphic itself. So, the engine doesn�t know that the graphic
says, "Search Engine Workshops."
Next, look for this
tag, which directly follows the image tag:
<H1
ALIGN="center"><FONT FACE="Arial">Search Engine
Seminars</FONT></H1>
An <H1>
tag is a heading tag, and heading tags are very important to a Web page. Try to
put a heading tag at the very top of your page, if at all possible, and use your
important keyword phrase in that heading tag. When you look back at my actual
Web page, do you see the words "Search Engine Seminars" right under
the graphic? That�s the heading tag.
Now, look for this
tag in the source code:
<P><FONT
FACE="Arial">Is your Web site achieving the success that . .
.
This is where the
contents of the Web page begin. Look on the actual Web page and find the text:
"Is your Web site achieving the success that..." Notice that the
keyword phrase (search engine seminars) appears in the first paragraph.
In other words, with
all of these tags and the placement of our keyword phrase in the page�s
contents, we�re proving to the engines that the page is really about
"search engine seminars."
So, let�s visit
your site on the Web. View the source code. What�s in the <head>
section? Are your title and description tags using the keyword phrase that�s
important for that particular page? Are your title and description tags
captivating and designed to pull in traffic? Each page of your site should have
different title and description tags, and those tags should be based on the
focus of that page... what that page is really about: in other words, its
keyword phrase.
How many graphics do
you have before the actual contents of your site? If you have a lot of graphics,
navigation bars, or buttons before the contents of your page, the engine has to
sort through all of that source code before it gets to the actual
keyword-containing content.
Does your page
contain lengthy Javascript or other code that pushes the important contents
toward the bottom of the page? If so, it could be hindering your chances at top
rankings.
Are you using a
heading tag that contains your important keyword phrase toward the very top of
your page? Is your keyword phrase used in the first paragraph of the page? Is it
used in several places throughout the page?
Look back at my page.
Notice that the keyword phrase, search engine seminars, is used as link text to
describe several links. Are you using your keyword phrase to describe links that
are leaving the page? If not, try to do so.
Study your own site
carefully, and apply these guidelines to your pages.
Doing whatever you
can to push your important keyword phrase toward the top of the page and toward
the beginning of your tags is the first step toward having a successful Web site
that�s ranked in the top of the search engine rankings.
In Summary:
Achieving top
rankings for your Web site does not have to be an impossible goal as Robin
Nobles has outlined above. The tips she's given will certainly help move you in
the right direction.
Unfortunately, most
keywords are competitive enough to require additional page refinements in order
to break into the top 10 listings. Moving your page from position #936 to
position #48 may be a remarkable improvement, but unless you are in those top 10
to 30 positions, you'll receive little to no search engine traffic.
Fortunately,
WebPosition Gold 2 gives you the extra competitive edge required to push your
rankings to the top. Its Page Critic module analyzes your page and gives you
specific advice custom-tailored to your keyword, page, and targeted search
engine. It eliminates the guess-work and the need to remember all the many
"rules" and "to do's" of search engine optimization.
Please visit our web
site to learn more about WebPosition
Gold.
Robin Nobles is the
Director of Training of the Academy of Web Specialists, which teaches online
training in search engine marketing. She is also a trainer with Search Engine
Workshops, which presents on location workshops in search engine marketing at
various locations across the country. Please visit our sites for more
information:- http://www.academywebspecialists.com
and
for or onsite training by Robin in locations around the world, visit http://www.searchengineworkshops.com.
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