Search Engine Optimization

by Rich Olson, Lux IT Director

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Abstract

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the art of gaining traffic for your site by getting high rankings for your pages in search results. This article gives a few pointers on this topic, focusing on Google, which is currently the dominant Web search engine.

How search engines used to (not) work

Search engines used to be little more than plain-text searches. The order of results would be based on the frequency of keywords in the page. They also relied heavily on meta-tags - keywords in the HTML intended specifically for search engines.

This made them easy to trick. In an effort to get traffic, unscrupulous Webmasters would load their pages with irrelevant keywords in an effort to rank highly for any search they could. Commonly searched-for terms would frequently return pages containing nothing relevant to the query.

Google

Google revolutionized the quality of search results using a technology called PageRank. PageRank examines the number and quality of incoming links to a Web page to help determine how important it is and what it's about. Links from highly ranked pages then in turn carry more weight when ranking other pages.

When determining result order, Google considers not only the number of incoming links, but the text inside and surrounding those links. Consider this excerpt from a hypothetical Web page:

Tom's Pastry Links
Harold's Crumpets in Chicago (links to www.harolds-crumpets.com) makes the best blueberry crumpets

When Google indexes this page it will boost the PageRank of www.harolds-crumpets.com. Google will also associate the page with terms found inside and close to the link, such as "crumpets," "Chicago," "blueberry" and "pastry" causing it to rank more highly in searches containing those keywords.

You can use the Google Toolbar (http://toolbar.google.com/) to determine the PageRank for a given Web page. The Google Toolbar also lets you access a list of what pages link to a given page.

Choosing your keywords - popular and relevant

Targeting the right keywords is crucial to search engine optimization. After all, you probably don't want just any traffic. You want traffic relevant to your site. You need to rank high in searches that people interested in your company or site will actually perform.

If the keywords you target are too general, you will have an uphill battle to get your listing towards the top of the rankings. Too specific and your listing might not generate significant traffic even if you secure a highly ranked listing.

Using online utilities such as Overture's Keyword Suggestion Tool (http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/) it's possible to get a rough idea what people are searching for.

When you focus on more general keywords:	When you focus on more specific keywords:
More difficult to get a high ranking	Easier to get a high ranking
More frequently searched for	Less frequently searched for
More likely to be heavily competed for	Less likely to be heavily competed for
A high ranking may generate more traffic...	A high ranking may not generate much traffic...
...but much of this traffic may not convert to sales.	...but the traffic should be relevant, and so it's likely to convert to sales.

Optimize Your Site

While Google looks heavily at which other sites link to yours, having the right content in your site is still critical.

Google not only counts links from external site towards your PageRank, but also links from pages within your own site. The more unique, interlinked, relevant pages on your Web site the better.

Include variations on your keywords / phrases in:

Page Titles
In and around links to your other pages
Image descriptions (ALT tags)
Meta tags - keywords and description

It's even advantageous to include your keyword in your domain name, if practical.

Having the right content in your site won't do any good unless the search engines actually see it. Google and other engines can't follow Flash-based navigation or index text contained in Flash. If you plan on using Flash or similar technologies in your site be sure to provide text-based alternatives for all critical content and navigation.

Getting Incoming Links

When calculating PageRank, Google looks not only at the number of links into your site, but also the quality of those links.

The higher the PageRank the better.
The more relevant the page content the better.
The fewer outgoing links to other sites the better.

Try searching on your keywords; note which pages come up first. These sites are probably your competitors, and they're doing something right. Use the Google Toolbar (http://toolbar.google.com) to find out which sites are linking to them. Where practical, follow their lead and get links on those same sites.

Swapping Links - often a good idea - but not always.

Knowing which sites you'd like to have link to you is one thing - actually getting those links is another. Sometimes it's as easy as requesting that a site owner include your site on their list of similar sites.

One way to encourage other Web site owners to link to you is to offer them a link on your page. This is usually a good idea, in that it's likely to boost both of your pages' search engine placement. However, if you link to a site that Google has "penalized" for trying to artificially boost its ranking, you can also have your site reduced in rank.

Don't try any funny stuff.

Over time Webmasters have come up with countless tricks to get ranked highly. For instance, there are several software packages that will automatically generate thousands of interlinked pages based on keywords you specify. Other link-building tricks border on being pyramid schemes.

If a search engine optimization service or product sounds too good to be true - it probably is. Be wary of anyone promising a top-ranked position and thousands of visitors a day for only a few dollars.

Sometimes these ploys work - until you get caught. Google and other search engines don't take kindly to blatant attempts to manipulate their results. Webmasters who do so can find their sites "banned." For nearly all sites, the prospect of a permanent ban heavily outweighs any short-term gain from unethical tricks.

Beyond Google

Google fulfills more search requests than all other search engines combined. In addition handling searches for Google.com, it also answers queries for AOL.COM and others.

Still, that doesn't mean that there aren't other search engines worth thinking about. Alta Vista (http://www.altavista.com) is still important, and Inktomi may be on the rise. Lycos (http://www.lycos.com) and Ask Jeeves (http://www.ask.com) are also heavily used. Fortunately, optimization strategies applied for Google largely work with the other major engines.

In addition to search engines, there are also some important human-edited directories on the Web. Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com) is the king of directories; however, commercial Web sites must pay to be considered for the Yahoo Directory (and paying does not guarantee inclusion!). The Open Directory Project's DMOZ (http://www.dmoz.org) is beginning to take a piece of the directory action. Few people access DMOZ in its own right, but the AOL (http://www.aol.com), HotBot (http://www.hotbot.com), Google (http://www.google.com), and other directories all use DMOZ's data.

Buying Traffic with Pay Per Click

Recently a number of search engines (including Google) have begun to offer "Pay Per Click" (PPC) advertising.

Advertisers create small text ads, and specify keywords they would like to trigger their ads. These ads are then displayed either as part of or alongside search results. Participants are only charged when a user actually clicks on the ad. The placement and frequency that ads are shown at are determined by the amount bid. Bidding can start as low as $.05 per click.

Frequently it's possible to generate more targeted traffic for a few dollars per day spent on PPC than through extensive search engine optimization.

Currently, the most popular PPC programs are Google Adwords (http://www.google.com) and Overture (http://www.overture.com).

Lux and Search Engine Optimization

Lux staff members have real-life experience running successful SEO campaigns. As part of the site design process, Lux will work with you to determine which keywords to target, locate potential sources for incoming links, and develop optimized content to help your site rank highly.

Lux can also implement and manage a Pay Per Click advertising campaign as part of a comprehensive online promotion strategy.

About the Author

Rich Olson brings over a decade of systems experience as IT Director at Lux. Previously he worked with Lux founders Ben Thompson and Jayson Jarmon at Saltmine in the role of MIS Manager.

He has deployed and supported dozens of high-volume Web sites including PGATOUR.COM. He has also provided IT expertise to Microsoft and Fisher Communications. Rich has a strong background implementing the Windows platform for both development and hosting purposes.

As founder of SpamButcher he has conducted extensive online promotion campaigns utilizing pay per click advertising and search engine optimization.

© 2004 The Lux Group, Inc. All rights reserved. This page is provided as a public service to the Web community. As with any copyrighted work, limited quotation with appropriate attribution for purposes of review is permitted. Links to this page are welcome. Explicit permission from Lux is required to otherwise publish, transmit, transfer or sell, reproduce, create derivative works from, or distribute this content, including by incorporating the content into any e-mail. If you wish to reproduce this content, please contact us for permission.

Lux believes that basic information like this should be shared rather than hoarded. Naturally, an article like this only constitutes an introduction to a subject. We hope that if this article has been useful to you, you will consider Lux if you have need for expertise in this area.

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