Search Engines: Tips and Strategies on Getting Listed and Ranking High for Newbies

It's World War Spam

Come across this on PC Pro News this morning, Search engines unite to fight spam, Google, Yahoo & MSN have joined forces to "attempt" to fight spam.

The type of spam we are talking about is the type you find on most forums, blogs and guestbooks. The search engines as well as a few big blogger sites such as Blogger.com are showing a united front (there is always a first time) and will now recognise the following code in the HTML of a link.

< href="http://www.spam.co.uk" rel="nofollow"> My Great Website < /a>

Note the rel="nofollow", this will instruct the search bots to ignore the link without ignoring the rest of the links/content on the page (unlike the META tag nofollow). Meaning no PR will be passed and the anchor text will not be parsed creating a link of no value to the person spamming.

This has got to be good news for any forum/blog owners out there that have a spam problem and may help to stop the pesky spammers. This is all well and good but you have got to ask if this alone will prevent what seems to be the unpreventable. How will any would be spammer know that many of the links they are generating are of no value and lets face it "most" spammers are using spam techniques because of their ignorance/arrogance to the web community and a small number of the remainder are quite simply some of the most savvy webmasters online who don't mind breaking a few eggs!

If the last statement is true which I believe it is, most spammers won't even no that such tactics are being used while the less ignorant others will simply look at the source code to determine if the target site is worth spamming and if not move on to the next. The real clever spammers will not be affected, it’s the old catch up game that the search engines are playing and unfortunately the seasoned spammers are not one or two but several steps ahead the game. With spammers creating large networks of sites that are built purely to be used for harvesting large quantities of links that point to the spammer’s main site.

The World War Spam Front Line

Surely this is where the front line of the World War Spam should be focused, fighting the spammers who are clogging up the search engines main arteries with spam blood cells which block the good types of blood cells trying to reach their rightful destination. You see for nearly every genuine website you visit there is several spam sites with the sole intention of making a certain site more visible by pointing tons of relevant links at it. The worst part is that it’s not difficult to create your own network of spam sites for link harvesting and the only personal cost involved is your time. With more and more networks being created everyday and the complex cross linking structures some of the stealthier ones use, its hard to see how the problem can be combated affectively without the chance of harming genuine sites.

Stealth Networks

I wrote an article some time ago about creating website networks for link harvesting and tactics people are using to protect the network from being discovered and penalised by search engines. The basic element being used is to include not only links to the network in a strategic fashion to eliminate the chances of the entire network being discovered but to include links to other sites outside of the network that are considered to be quality sites and other relevant sites. So as these types of networks get harder to discover, how are the search engines going to eliminate them.

It’s Linking All Gone Wrong

When Google introduced link analysis for first time it worked and the theory was sound, basing their algorithm on a type of voting system where each web page has a vote and the strength of the vote is determined by the number and strength of votes cast to that page. The system worked and a highly relevant search engine was the result but unfortunately as people worked out how the system worked they also discovered it was easy to influence. As Google became the number one provider of search results holding the largest share of internet traffic, webmasters needed to rank well on Google or lie at the bottom of the SERP’s with little to no traffic. In affect, Google became a victim of its own success, creating the most relevant search engine to date but one that was probably easier to influence it results than the rest. The situation we are in now was simply inevitable.

The idea would have been great and worked well to this day if wasn’t for the fact that people will always try to out wit search engines to their own advantage. The whole ethos of link analysis was based on the concept that if a webmaster reads something they like or believe is relevant to their site on another site they will link to it, which fundamentally is how linking should be conducted but due to link analysis, links have now become a commodity. You have probably seen sites that sell links for ranking purposes and some of these services (not all) are in control of these types of large networks and will simply add your links in exchange for cash. Put simply, if you want your site to succeed and bring new customers from search engines you need links and it’s only the competitiveness of the market sector you compete in that determines the amount of unnatural links required (and £) to be placed high on the results pages.

Summary

My personal view is link analysis is killing the internet and needs to be changed; we need another way of determining the relevance of a site for the search query made. The search engines need to tackle the problem at its source rather than focusing on the symptom. Until a new type of algorithm is created that doesn’t rely on links, links will be exploited creating link spam instead of being something that benefits the internet as a whole.

There is Still Some Hope

The fact that some of the search engines have opened channels of communication and have begun to look at tackling the massive problem of spam is good but its going to be a hard job and I believe that the solution to the problem is located a lot closer to home than they imagine. As the relevance of search results largly determine a search engines market share and spam is lowering that relevance, I think it is safe to say that an all mighty war has begun.

Welcome to 2005 and welcome to World War Spam.

Search Engines: Tips and Strategies on Getting Listed and Ranking High for Newbies

You've got a website. You've put countless hours into it, tweaking the look and feel and making sure all the links work. The bad news is there are a gazillion other websites out there. The good news is there are many things you can control to make sure your site isn't lost in the morass of dot coms.

One of the most important is showing up in the search engines, and getting listed in the top 20 for your subject. This article covers the steps you can take within your site.

First things first: Just like there's no "get rich quick", there's also no "get listed quick" (unless you pay for it).

Getting top listings in the search engines is an accomplishment. It gets you traffic and it gets you credibility. You can buy sponsored listings ? you can't buy credibility.

Always Remember: Search engines base their usefulness on the quality of the results they give. You want people who are searching for your product to find your site; they want people who are searching for your product to find relevant sites. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is all about making sure you both get what you want.

SEO requires many steps. They pay off, but not immediately. Once you're "spidered" you'll see the effects of changes you make pretty quickly, but getting "spidered" (sorry to all the arachnophobes) can take awhile.

Spidered: Search engines search sites throughout the entire World Wide Web (if that sounds a lot like Sally searching for seashells by the seashore, it's intentional). But, to search for your site, they have to know you're there. So, these benevolent spiders send their hairy arms searching through the Web and whatever sticks to their spindly legs they keep.

If you create a web these spiders might want to visit, this process gets you a more desirable string on their web. You want to create a spa for spiders.

Think about it: how do you search for something on the Internet? You put in a few words that say succinctly what you're searching for, i.e. downtown Chicago restaurants.

So, when you design or revamp your site, consider the keywords anyone would use to find what you offer.

The beauty of the Internet is the ability to target niche markets. You don't need a gazillion hits a month. You need people who are searching for YOUR product to find YOUR site. To illustrate the above example: if you search for "downtown Chicago restaurants" in Google, TheLocalTourist.com is the first listing. If you look for "Chicago Restaurants" it's aways down the list. But that's perfect. Because The Local Tourist only lists restaurants in downtown Chicago.

If The Local Tourist had a high listing for Chicago Restaurants, then someone looking for a place to eat in one of the outlying neighborhoods would be disappointed, and we don't want that.

By focusing on your niche keywords, on your target market's desires, you're forced to evaluate what you have to offer and the best way to present it. When you designed your product or service, you (hopefully) had the end-user in mind. So you know what they want.

As you're starting out, don't use the most popular keywords; use ones that don't get as many searches because there won't be as much competition. You're just trying to establish a presence. A good resource to find the popularity of keywords is http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/. Type in the keywords you think people would use to find your work and this tool will show you how many people have searched for it in the previous month through Overture. Google searches are approximately 12x that number.

Go to your favorite search engines and type in your chosen keywords. Now visit the top three for each set of keywords from each search engine. Try to figure out how they got such high listings.

An easy way to keep track of this reconnaissance work is to create a simple spreadsheet and use a different worksheet for each search term. You'll want to have a row for each of the following:

b. Add a date next to the ranking so you can track your movement up the listings

When you visit each of your competitor's sites, you're going to use a wonderful tool called Source Code. Copy and paste their URL into your spreadsheet, then in your browser click on View?Source. A new window opens with their HTML. (I always feel a little dirty when I do this, like I'm a voyeur or a spy, which I guess I am. That being said, it's completely legit.)

Now that you're seeing all their dirty laundry, you're going to look for their Meta Tags, which will be at the top of the code.

Meta Tags are the code in the HTML that visitors don't see but search engines do. They used to be the main way to get listed, but search engines have gotten smarter since abusers were loading up their tags with irrelevant keywords. They aren't nearly as important as they used to be, but the Title and Description tags are still vital. Many search engines use the title for the listing and the description for, well, the description. If your tags are relevant to your content, they don't hurt and do help with some.

Find the tags for Title, Description, and Keywords. Simply look for "title", "description" and "keyword" at the top of the source code.

1. The title uses the main keywords potential customers use to find sites. For example, TheLocalTourist's home page title is "Downtown Chicago Restaurants, Bars and Nightclubs, Shopping, Events, Things To Do". This title highlights the areas of the site where I want to receive search engine rankings based on the number of searches on those terms.

2. The description is where sites give their metaphorical "sound-byte". The trick is to pick keywords and write a compelling, succinct description without sounding like you're trying to use all your keywords. Gee, it sounds so easy.

3. The keyword meta tag is simply a listing, separated by commas, of all the keywords people would use to find a site. They should be different for each page because the content is different. ONLY use keywords that represent your content. Don't go crazy and don't use the same ones too many times.

Now go back to the page itself and read through it. Take note of how they use their keywords in their content. It's a good idea to print each one.

Finally, gather your spreadsheets and your competitor's site print-outs and pull the keywords and descriptions that reflect your site's content. Analyze how they present their information.

This process is time consuming, but it forces you to take a look at your competition. It also, of course, makes sure your site is search engine friendly and therefore potential-visitor friendly.

Change your file names to include the most relevant keywords for each page. You can't do that with the home page since it has to be something like "index", but you can name the other pages on the site with the relevant keyword for each page. Believe it or not, it does make a difference. Pick one or two so the file name isn't too long.

Write a title (not a meta tag, a real title) for each page as close to the top of the page as possible using the best keywords to describe the content. Format it as Header 1. (Most HTML editors have an easy way to format text without going into the code if you're unfamiliar with HTML.) You're putting it at the top of the page because search engines read like we do: left to right, top to bottom. This placement and the header formatting is a flag stating that "This is what the page is about".

Within the content of each page, include a blurb that uses as many keywords as possible without being annoying or redundant. Make your keywords bold, but only once. A good, brief example is the Things to Do page http://www.thelocaltourist.com/ThingsToDo.htm. This is one of the most frequently visited pages on The Local Tourist from search engines.

Make sure every picture has an "alt tag" (alternate). That's the text that shows up while the picture is loading. Search engines can't "read" pictures, so the alt tags show them what the picture is about. On most HTML editors you add the alt tag in picture properties.

Use your hard-earned knowledge from spying to create your own meta tags. Tailor your competitors' usage for your own site. (Learning how to implement meta tags is beyond the scope of this article, but you can do a web search for "meta tag tutorial" to find plenty of help.)

Ta da! You now have a website that's ready to be submitted to the search engines. It's a good idea to check your rankings on a regular basis and track them with your spreadsheets. Remember, this is not an instant process. The absolute best way to get impressive rankings is to have a content-rich quality site that addresses your target market's needs.

Theresa Carter is the creator, publisher, and search engine optimizer of The Local Tourist, a free online guide to downtown Chicago. Find restaurants, bars, spas, salons, events, attractions, shopping, media, transportation, articles about Chicago and more. http://www.thelocaltourist.com

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Search Engines: Tips and Strategies on Getting Listed and Ranking High for Newbies