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I Can't Find My Site!
More than you ever wanted to know about search engine rankings.
We often get questions from clients who are worried about their search engine results or who may be confused by all the incorrect information they've seen and heard. In this article, we'll give you a quick look at how search engines work these days, some common traps to avoid, and why it's better to work on your site and your marketing than to fret over search engine rankings.
Google.com is the world's number one search engine by far. Depending on who you believe, 75% to 90% of all searches are performed through Google. However, most search engines now function much like Google (many have even merged with Google or use Google technology), so this advice is valid for just about any search engine.
Google's software (the Googlebot) "crawls" the internet constantly and automatically indexes all the web sites it can find. This takes about two to four weeks, and then the Googlebot starts over.
Heavily trafficked sites are scanned more often - that's why you can usually search Google for news events and find information just an hour or two after the event.
Google indexes based mostly on the text visible on the page, and assigns relevancy based on several factors and algorithms. These factors are proprietary, very complex, and are constantly under revision.
When you combine this complex, mysterious process with the strong emotions people feel about their search engine rankings, you have a natural environment for scam artists and people spouting misleading opinions. It's quite difficult to find accurate, unbiased information.
Here are some of the things we do while building a site to help ensure it gets indexed accurately:
- This is the single most important part: we try to make sure the content of your web site is honest, useful, relevant, well-organized, and written using plain language instead of marketing hype. This makes your site more credible and usable, and makes it more likely that people will be able to find your site during a search. More importantly, it makes sure they'll stay and use your site when they get there, whether it's through a search engine or by typing in the URL.
- As much content as possible should be in the form of text on the web pages so that search engines can find it. Search engines index the text that's part of the HTML code. They can't read graphics or text hidden inside Flash presentations. If we do use a graphic, we make sure it has an ALT attribute that reproduces the text in the graphic. For example, if there's a graphic button that says "About Us", we add ALT="About Us" to the IMG tag.
- We don't ever try to "play" or "game" the system. Search engines look specifically for pages that attempt various ploys for fooling the system, such as invisible text, tiny text, repeating words, and so on. Sites that try these dishonest tactics are punished by being removed entirely.
- META tag keywords are also useless nowadays. Too many people have falsified the content of META keywords on their sites, and they are no longer used by search engines. We don't waste time using META tags on the sites we build.
- We make sure every page on your site links to every other page or to every other section of the site.
- Links act like headlines to a search engine -- they give a clue as to the content of the destination page. Therefore, we make sure that relevant words are used as links. For example, we generally do not use links that say "Click Here for more about blue parrots in the Amazon jungle." where the words "Click Here" are a link. Instead, we make the words of the topic into a link, like this: "Blue parrots are found in the Amazon jungle.", where the words "Blue parrots" are a link.
- We generally do not use frames or dynamic HTML (DHTML), since these techniques make it much more difficult for the search engine and the end user to determine how the pages are related.
- We limit the use of Javascript so that the site is still useful even if the user has Javascript turned off. This also helps ensure that search engines can read and follow links on your site.
- We submit new sites to Google, but there are no guarantees as to if or when your site will be indexed. This simply alerts Google that your site exists. You can submit your site again and again if you wish, but it won't speed things up in any way.
Here are a few things you can do:
- Make sure your site is part of any online directories available to you, such as the yellow pages, trade associations, etc. Part of Google's rankings are based on how often your site is referenced by other sites.
- You'll need to publicize your web address so that more people know about your site and use your site. Everything connected with your credit union should include your web site address: letterhead, receipts, business cards, ads, billboards, radio and TV commercials, yellow page ads, press releases, etc.
- Keep in mind that people in the real world search using words, terms, and phrases that you would never imagine. Don't attach too much importance to certain phrases or combinations of search words.
There are no quick solutions or guarantees with search engine placement. Anyone trying to tell you otherwise or guarantee something is scamming you or at least misinformed. It normally takes at least a few weeks or months for your site to be indexed at all. Even with a concerted effort, it takes several months or even a few years to build awareness and traffic.
There are some legitimate companies and consultants that can help you optimize your web site for search engines by using legitimate tactics discussed above. However, the process is detailed and expensive - there are no quick fixes or automated solutions. Anyone selling a guaranteed placement is probably a scammer. Your site could also be detected as trying to "play" the system with false information and end up getting removed from the index.
In the end, it's most important to keep the issue in perspective. Search engine placement is an extremely minor part of a total marketing effort. It's far more worthwhile to spend time and resources building a good, useful site and creating awareness through other types of marketing.
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