Google optimisation is essential to help gain valuable traffic from the web as it holds the largest share of the search market, with a 60-70% UK market share. Getting a high ranking on Google can therefore be worth more traffic than all the other search tools put together.
Not surprisingly, Google optimisation is becoming increasingly competitive as more and more companies realise the importance of getting a high ranking here, but it is also one of the most 'user-friendly' search engines to work with! Google updates frequently, deep indexes many pages from a website, and is also good at ignoring sites that try to 'spam' the listings through the use of unscrupulous techniques.
Submitting a site to Google.
It is free to get your site listed on Google and, as it conducts regular updates, it can take anything from several days to several months for a new site to appear, depending on the links to a site and the structure in place.
Google provides an online submission form5 where the URL of a site can be submitted, or it is possible to submit a website through its sitemaps6 program, but it can often be better to get a site linked from an existing domain on Google, so that the Googlebot spider will find the site through its travels around the web.
Google is able to deep index complex websites, either on the first visit or after several updates, including pages within a frame. It will also index PDF documents hosted on a site.
Factors to consider for a high search engine ranking on Google.
Like most search engines, Google will use the content on a website to determine search term relevance, but it was also the first search tool to use external factors such as inbound links as a key element, thus adding an element that would be harder for spammers to manipulate. It also assesses inbound links for quality and relevence, making it hard for new websites to establish high ranking positions immediately, but it can also create very reliable and relevant results.
Factors to consider to achieve a high ranking include:
* Use relevent keywords within the title tag of each page
* Consider the position and emphasis of keywords within your content
* Create a defined 'theme' for the site, including the number of pages indexed and the use of keywords throughout
* Seek a listing on the Open Directory7 with a keyword relevant description
* The number of inbound links8 from other relevant and and established websites are especially important.
Written by the web search workshop
Friday, January 4, 2008
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
What Search Engines Want From Webmasters
Self-proclaimed search engine experts have, over the years, touted all kinds of methods for ranking higher in search engines. This has included things such as hidden text, hidden links, meta tag stuffing, double meta tags, page stuffing, cloaking, redirect pages, bulk-quantity doorway pages, and other “secrets” of dubious quality.
Those techniques, and newer techniques that still amount to trickery, can result in lower rankings just for using them. In a worst case scenario they can even result in your domain being banned. Once banned, it’s hard to get back in. Let’s look at search engines from the search engine perspective instead of a selfish perspective.
My site, www.boogiejack.com, has consistently been ranking high in search engines since it opened in 1997. The ranking will fluctuate from time to time with each search engine, but I usually enjoy a few front page and number one links at any given time. Try a search for “left border backgrounds” now (one of my specialties), and see how it ranks at several search engines.
What’s my secret? It’s quite simple, I know how search engines want us to behave, and I have always followed the rules. I do everything I legally can to optimize my pages, but always play within the rules using only legitimately recognized (read that search engine approved) methods. When a search engine catches on to new trickery, you can be dropped or banned without warning.
So what do the search engines really want? They want to be able to help their web site visitors find what they are looking for, and they want to give them the best and most logical matches first. They can’t do that easily with webmasters trying to manipulate their ranking by artificial means.
They want webmasters to show the search engine the same content you show your visitors, so anything like hidden text and links, cloaking, redirects and other tactics that show the search engine one thing and visitors another are high risk tricks that often result in being banned.
Your web site’s content is the search engine’s content, so they want sites with high quality content above all else. They want to show the best sites available for a search return, because if their content is helpful to the searcher, the searcher will be more likely to use their site for searches time and time again.
It’s hard to get search engine employee’s to comment on how their engines rank sites, but speaking on conditions of anonymity, here are the words of a technology specialist from one search engine (…and I won’t knowingly betray a trust, so don’t ask who the specialist is or what engine he works for, I won’t tell):
“Design your site so that your text accurately reflects your content, products, and services. We penalize sites that make obvious attempts at manipulating our engine. No tricks, no misleading verbage designed for placement.
Link popularity is very important, so make sure the sites that should link to you are linked to you, and you to them. This is more than the latest buzz, this is reality. So if your site is about MP3’s, you should have links with music sites, MP3 software sites, band fan sites, and so on.
At the very least you should be exchanging links with non-competitor sites whose content complements your own, and if you’re not afraid to link directly to competitors and they’ll exchange links with you, all the better. We give a little boost to sites that link directly to competitors.
One of the things we’re after with this is to have your site “pre-judged” for us by your fellow webmasters. All links help, because it shows others find your site valuable enough to link to you, but links from relative content sites help your ranking even more.
I’ll admit that sometimes people find ways to manipulate results for a short time, but sooner or later we catch on to these techniques (nobody studies our search engine harder than we do), and we’ll penalize or ban sites for obvious manipulation attempts. Whether we ban a site or just penalize them, is partly determined by the degree of cheating and partly by the mood of the reviewer!
Once we’ve flagged your site, you’ll have a hard time getting a top ranking again no matter how well you clean up your act. You’ve heard the expression, “once a cheater, always a cheater?” So have we. And here’s a dirty little secret for you: if we catch you once, we may check other domains you own with a fine-toothed comb to see if you’re spamming or cheating us with them too.
We don’t place quite as much emphasis on themed sites as some engines do, but a themed site will give you a boost with us too. That’s not to say your MP3 site can’t talk about your love of dogs, just that if you cover many topics within a particular theme, you’ll get a boost in rankings. You’re not penalized for addressing many diverse or unrelated topics.”
So there you have it, search engines want the same things surfers want. Quality content presented accurately and honestly, links to and from sites with complementary content, at least one major theme, and no dirty tricks.
Gosh, that isn’t a great revelation is it? It shouldn’t be, it’s the way we should all be doing business in the first place - honestly and accurately. It is what works best in the long term with search engines and in life, and your site will never be penalized or banned by playing fairly.
Dennis Gaskill is the creator and owner of Boogie Jack’s Web Depot at http://www.boogiejack.com - a popular webmasters resource site ranking in the top 1% of the most linked to sites on the Internet. He is also author of the new book Web Site Design Made Easy and publishes Almost a Newsletter, named the Best Ezine of 2000.
Those techniques, and newer techniques that still amount to trickery, can result in lower rankings just for using them. In a worst case scenario they can even result in your domain being banned. Once banned, it’s hard to get back in. Let’s look at search engines from the search engine perspective instead of a selfish perspective.
My site, www.boogiejack.com, has consistently been ranking high in search engines since it opened in 1997. The ranking will fluctuate from time to time with each search engine, but I usually enjoy a few front page and number one links at any given time. Try a search for “left border backgrounds” now (one of my specialties), and see how it ranks at several search engines.
What’s my secret? It’s quite simple, I know how search engines want us to behave, and I have always followed the rules. I do everything I legally can to optimize my pages, but always play within the rules using only legitimately recognized (read that search engine approved) methods. When a search engine catches on to new trickery, you can be dropped or banned without warning.
So what do the search engines really want? They want to be able to help their web site visitors find what they are looking for, and they want to give them the best and most logical matches first. They can’t do that easily with webmasters trying to manipulate their ranking by artificial means.
They want webmasters to show the search engine the same content you show your visitors, so anything like hidden text and links, cloaking, redirects and other tactics that show the search engine one thing and visitors another are high risk tricks that often result in being banned.
Your web site’s content is the search engine’s content, so they want sites with high quality content above all else. They want to show the best sites available for a search return, because if their content is helpful to the searcher, the searcher will be more likely to use their site for searches time and time again.
It’s hard to get search engine employee’s to comment on how their engines rank sites, but speaking on conditions of anonymity, here are the words of a technology specialist from one search engine (…and I won’t knowingly betray a trust, so don’t ask who the specialist is or what engine he works for, I won’t tell):
“Design your site so that your text accurately reflects your content, products, and services. We penalize sites that make obvious attempts at manipulating our engine. No tricks, no misleading verbage designed for placement.
Link popularity is very important, so make sure the sites that should link to you are linked to you, and you to them. This is more than the latest buzz, this is reality. So if your site is about MP3’s, you should have links with music sites, MP3 software sites, band fan sites, and so on.
At the very least you should be exchanging links with non-competitor sites whose content complements your own, and if you’re not afraid to link directly to competitors and they’ll exchange links with you, all the better. We give a little boost to sites that link directly to competitors.
One of the things we’re after with this is to have your site “pre-judged” for us by your fellow webmasters. All links help, because it shows others find your site valuable enough to link to you, but links from relative content sites help your ranking even more.
I’ll admit that sometimes people find ways to manipulate results for a short time, but sooner or later we catch on to these techniques (nobody studies our search engine harder than we do), and we’ll penalize or ban sites for obvious manipulation attempts. Whether we ban a site or just penalize them, is partly determined by the degree of cheating and partly by the mood of the reviewer!
Once we’ve flagged your site, you’ll have a hard time getting a top ranking again no matter how well you clean up your act. You’ve heard the expression, “once a cheater, always a cheater?” So have we. And here’s a dirty little secret for you: if we catch you once, we may check other domains you own with a fine-toothed comb to see if you’re spamming or cheating us with them too.
We don’t place quite as much emphasis on themed sites as some engines do, but a themed site will give you a boost with us too. That’s not to say your MP3 site can’t talk about your love of dogs, just that if you cover many topics within a particular theme, you’ll get a boost in rankings. You’re not penalized for addressing many diverse or unrelated topics.”
So there you have it, search engines want the same things surfers want. Quality content presented accurately and honestly, links to and from sites with complementary content, at least one major theme, and no dirty tricks.
Gosh, that isn’t a great revelation is it? It shouldn’t be, it’s the way we should all be doing business in the first place - honestly and accurately. It is what works best in the long term with search engines and in life, and your site will never be penalized or banned by playing fairly.
Dennis Gaskill is the creator and owner of Boogie Jack’s Web Depot at http://www.boogiejack.com - a popular webmasters resource site ranking in the top 1% of the most linked to sites on the Internet. He is also author of the new book Web Site Design Made Easy and publishes Almost a Newsletter, named the Best Ezine of 2000.
Referrals and linkages for rankings.
Referrals and linkages of high-ranking websites always influence search engine rankings. The more the referrals, the higher the website ranking will be. The algorithm considers referrals and links to have a major impact on the traffic quality that any website receives. The basic purpose of the website design is served when it is accessed regularly and popularly. The investment made online has a profound effect on the business profitability.
Getting referrals and links is linked to the fame of a website. To receive fame on cyberspace requires in-depth and perfect services and this takes most websites years to accomplish. There is software that can also be used to generate links. Such software are part of the link popularity program that finds and manages reciprocal link partners, to increase the website link popularity ratings, which in turn improves search engine rankings.
Such software though expensive, can handle the whole process. Website gurus consider such software to be the anti-algorithm of a search engine algorithm. This website track of every site the request has been sent to permits the website to monitor what stage the link request is at.
To move up the ladder on a search engine ranking, the website may come across some on-line services that make false promises. Such services ask for a large amount of money and offer pathways, which may have no impact on the website. They might be over thousands of pathways directed towards the website, but with a non-existent traffic. This may occur on account of the position, quality and relevance of the pathways being negligible.
The algorithm of search engines increases their mathematical dimension every year. The algorithms are able to state the relevance and the usefulness of the website. This is the reason why software having the anti-algorithm can work miracles for the website and improve the volume of traffic the website receives.
Most Internet browsers use a search engine optimization method that really analyzes the web pages having a better and a high ranking for their keyword. In such cases, a tie-up with the optimization company could also lead to increased traffic to the website. The profit arising out of the investment offers real value for the money spent.
Getting referrals and links is linked to the fame of a website. To receive fame on cyberspace requires in-depth and perfect services and this takes most websites years to accomplish. There is software that can also be used to generate links. Such software are part of the link popularity program that finds and manages reciprocal link partners, to increase the website link popularity ratings, which in turn improves search engine rankings.
Such software though expensive, can handle the whole process. Website gurus consider such software to be the anti-algorithm of a search engine algorithm. This website track of every site the request has been sent to permits the website to monitor what stage the link request is at.
To move up the ladder on a search engine ranking, the website may come across some on-line services that make false promises. Such services ask for a large amount of money and offer pathways, which may have no impact on the website. They might be over thousands of pathways directed towards the website, but with a non-existent traffic. This may occur on account of the position, quality and relevance of the pathways being negligible.
The algorithm of search engines increases their mathematical dimension every year. The algorithms are able to state the relevance and the usefulness of the website. This is the reason why software having the anti-algorithm can work miracles for the website and improve the volume of traffic the website receives.
Most Internet browsers use a search engine optimization method that really analyzes the web pages having a better and a high ranking for their keyword. In such cases, a tie-up with the optimization company could also lead to increased traffic to the website. The profit arising out of the investment offers real value for the money spent.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Get the Most Out of Your Banner Ads
Affiliate marketing is dependent on several factors in order to be successful. The success of an experienced affiliate can be measured mainly by how often a visitor clicks on the merchant's banner or text link that they have placed on their site with the intended goal of referring traffic. Many factors are involved in contributing to this success and in so doing, squeezing the highest conversions out of an ad campaign. In this column, I will address the point of influence over the visitor, the advertisement itself, and more specifically, jpeg and gif banner ads.
The most difficult aspect to designing a banner ad is using your given space wisely. If an advertisement is too vague, it is unlikely to convert. On the contrary, if it is crammed with information, it will not attract the attention of the visitor. One must strike a delicate balance between providing sufficient information for the visitor to recognize the offer, while at the same time avoiding a cluttered appearance. It is also important to leave some information untold in order to entice the visitor to click on the ad. Even larger banners provide limited work space and in most cases, the merchant will prefer to provide more information than is possible.
A simple way to determine what information to include on a banner is to use “who, what, why and when” as a guideline. The “Who” question, refers to the demographic to which your ad is targeted. Frequently, this information is provided simply by including a picture. For example, an advertisement for a multi-vitamin for the elderly may include a smiling, healthy-looking older woman; where as, an ad for a fitness supplement may show a professional cyclist.
The “What” question refers to the product being offered. By providing the visitor with this information, one can ensure a higher conversion rate, because the visitor knows precisely what the advertisement is offering, and will therefore be more likely to purchase after the click. Also, it is advisable to provide the features and benefits of the product or service being offered. This creates a clear sense of advantage over competing products.
“Why” tells the visitor precisely why they must try this product or service. This can be supported by testimonials, guarantees, and other facts that add to the validity and value of the product or service. “When” is simply a call to action, such as “click here,” and can also include a sense of urgency, such as “while supplies last” or an expiration date for the offer.
The most difficult part of including all or most of this information is creating a design that will not clutter the given space while also maintaining eye appeal and visibility. One way in which to do this is to separate unrelated text as much as possible. This can be done by sectioning off the creative with an image, or by changing the color of the text and its background color.
I will now apply the above suggestions to an example. Pretend that the merchant is a website containing answers to common medical questions. Firstly, consider the demographic, otherwise known as the “who”. For this banner, a good choice would be a picture of a doctor, or possibly a patient. The banner could then ask a simple question such as, “Should I get a flu shot?” In this example, envision this as white text on a black background. Considering the recent flu shot shortage, this headline would attract the attention of a very large audience. Just below the headline a call to action could be placed on the banner such as, “To find out who should be receiving flu shots, click here”. This time we'll use black text on a white background. The contrast of colors creates separation of the banner, making it easier to read and more likely to capture the attention of the visitor.
The above banner could also make reference to the overall purpose of the site, such as “Search over 10,000 medical questions and answers”. Also, it is necessary to provide an offer that is related to the headline. In this example, we may offer a “free guide to conquering the flu”. This creates an even greater incentive for the visitor to click on the banner.
Banner design may seem simple in nature, but can become complicated when one is trying to include all of the pertinent information in one advertisement. This difficulty arises when deciding what information to include on the banner, and what information to reserve for the landing page. If it is impossible to include enough information, or if one desires to catch the visitors' attention more thoroughly, animation may be used to present additional information.
However, one must beware! Animation has the potential to sabotage your click conversion if it is implemented improperly. Use the animation for two purposes only: To either capture the visitor's attention, or to provide supporting features and benefits. At any given time, the visitor should be able to see the “who, what, why and when.” Animation should be used solely for additional benefits that will add validity or value to the offer. This ensures that the visitor will understand the offer even when viewing only part of the animation and will still be likely to click on the advertisement. One should, at all times, avoid using rapid animation or continuously looping banners that do not have a pause of four seconds or more between cycles. Not only can these banners be annoying to the visitor, but affiliates are also less likely to deploy them.
Though the preceding guidelines are rather simple, they are of the utmost importance for producing advertisements that convert well. Even the most experienced designers can take this advice into consideration and should cross-reference all of their banner work with this simple advice.
The most difficult aspect to designing a banner ad is using your given space wisely. If an advertisement is too vague, it is unlikely to convert. On the contrary, if it is crammed with information, it will not attract the attention of the visitor. One must strike a delicate balance between providing sufficient information for the visitor to recognize the offer, while at the same time avoiding a cluttered appearance. It is also important to leave some information untold in order to entice the visitor to click on the ad. Even larger banners provide limited work space and in most cases, the merchant will prefer to provide more information than is possible.
A simple way to determine what information to include on a banner is to use “who, what, why and when” as a guideline. The “Who” question, refers to the demographic to which your ad is targeted. Frequently, this information is provided simply by including a picture. For example, an advertisement for a multi-vitamin for the elderly may include a smiling, healthy-looking older woman; where as, an ad for a fitness supplement may show a professional cyclist.
The “What” question refers to the product being offered. By providing the visitor with this information, one can ensure a higher conversion rate, because the visitor knows precisely what the advertisement is offering, and will therefore be more likely to purchase after the click. Also, it is advisable to provide the features and benefits of the product or service being offered. This creates a clear sense of advantage over competing products.
“Why” tells the visitor precisely why they must try this product or service. This can be supported by testimonials, guarantees, and other facts that add to the validity and value of the product or service. “When” is simply a call to action, such as “click here,” and can also include a sense of urgency, such as “while supplies last” or an expiration date for the offer.
The most difficult part of including all or most of this information is creating a design that will not clutter the given space while also maintaining eye appeal and visibility. One way in which to do this is to separate unrelated text as much as possible. This can be done by sectioning off the creative with an image, or by changing the color of the text and its background color.
I will now apply the above suggestions to an example. Pretend that the merchant is a website containing answers to common medical questions. Firstly, consider the demographic, otherwise known as the “who”. For this banner, a good choice would be a picture of a doctor, or possibly a patient. The banner could then ask a simple question such as, “Should I get a flu shot?” In this example, envision this as white text on a black background. Considering the recent flu shot shortage, this headline would attract the attention of a very large audience. Just below the headline a call to action could be placed on the banner such as, “To find out who should be receiving flu shots, click here”. This time we'll use black text on a white background. The contrast of colors creates separation of the banner, making it easier to read and more likely to capture the attention of the visitor.
The above banner could also make reference to the overall purpose of the site, such as “Search over 10,000 medical questions and answers”. Also, it is necessary to provide an offer that is related to the headline. In this example, we may offer a “free guide to conquering the flu”. This creates an even greater incentive for the visitor to click on the banner.
Banner design may seem simple in nature, but can become complicated when one is trying to include all of the pertinent information in one advertisement. This difficulty arises when deciding what information to include on the banner, and what information to reserve for the landing page. If it is impossible to include enough information, or if one desires to catch the visitors' attention more thoroughly, animation may be used to present additional information.
However, one must beware! Animation has the potential to sabotage your click conversion if it is implemented improperly. Use the animation for two purposes only: To either capture the visitor's attention, or to provide supporting features and benefits. At any given time, the visitor should be able to see the “who, what, why and when.” Animation should be used solely for additional benefits that will add validity or value to the offer. This ensures that the visitor will understand the offer even when viewing only part of the animation and will still be likely to click on the advertisement. One should, at all times, avoid using rapid animation or continuously looping banners that do not have a pause of four seconds or more between cycles. Not only can these banners be annoying to the visitor, but affiliates are also less likely to deploy them.
Though the preceding guidelines are rather simple, they are of the utmost importance for producing advertisements that convert well. Even the most experienced designers can take this advice into consideration and should cross-reference all of their banner work with this simple advice.
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