Gaining Rank on Search Engines

So you've built a site and you want to get hooked up with some search engines? Well, that's a pretty tall order these days, but here are some tips and tricks to get you going.

Cross-Site Promotion

We saved the best for last. These days, the more sites that link to you, the more likely you are to get ranked high in the search engines. It's also not just the number of sites that link to you but the quality of those sites. If they are ranked high, then you'll be ranked higher. This concept was invented by Google and is called PageRank and is now used in 80% of searches on the Internet.
"Nearly four out of five Internet searches happen on Google or on sites that license its technology." ~ Wired Magazine / January, 2003

What all this means is that if you know of sites that link to your site (or if you control multiple sites) you'll do well to submit the linking sites at the same time you submit yourself. There are programs on the market that help you do that process a little easier. Dumptruck (http://www.trafficstudio.com/dumptruck/about.htm) is one that we recommend.

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Content	<h2>Gaining Rank on Search Engines</h2> So you&#39;ve built a site and you want to get hooked up with some search engines? Well, that&#39;s a pretty tall order these days, but here are some tips and tricks to get you going. <div class="content"> <a name="idQAkbmq9l7OFPXFmqrXIMiw"></a> <h2>Meta Tags</h2> It was once thought that meta tags were the be-all end-all of search engines. These days, they are pretty much irrelevant on big search engines like Google, but there are a few older and smaller search engines that still use them, so you might as well add them to your site. If you don&#39;t know how to build meta tags, then you can use a site like http://www.metatagbuilder.com. If you do know how to build meta tags, then do it well. Follow these simple rules for success with meta tags: <ol><li>Add meta tags to each page or each section of your site. </li><li>Use different key words in each section. </li><li>Be sure your key words match the key words in your content, this will get you better ranking.</li></ol> <br /> </div> <div class="content"> <a name="id_ENEOnYJrMmiYYOGY_olsQ"></a> <h2>Alt Elements</h2> Be sure to fill out the ALT element of your images. Put in descriptive content of what is contained in the image. This will not only get you better ranked on search engines, but will help out the sight impaired visitors to your site, as they will be able to "hear" your images. </div> <div class="content"> <a name="idW296iNpK6ObV4HHbZO0pWA"></a> <h2>Titles</h2> Proper use of title tags in your site can mean the difference between getting listed or not in a search engine. Use a different title on every single page in your site. Make it specific to the content on your page. In WebGUI this is a no-brainer, because the software takes care of it for you. </div> <div class="content"> <a name="idNVJlDqDMiHLnFqbkYa_JxA"></a> <h2>Content</h2> If you want to do well on the search engines, then it&#39;s not only important that you provide good or useful content, but that your content is phrased properly. Good spelling can go a long way. Proper grammar also helps. Most importantly, be sure that there are a lot of nouns and adjectives in your content. Most search engines throw out adverbs, verbs, and conjunctions. </div> <div class="content"> <a name="idxSJ9SxNrIdsNYFeT8mUelg"></a> <h2>No Frames</h2> When you build your site, don&#39;t use frames. Search engines have difficulty indexing framed sites. Also, if they do end up indexing it, they won&#39;t index your frameset document, but rather your content pages (often without any sort of navigation at all). </div> <div class="content"> <a name="idrApm5pJIhPcRg5f4bmUnZA"></a> <h2>Pay-Per Submission</h2> Many search engines are moving to a pay-per submission model, where they either speed up the submission process, or they won&#39;t take submissions unless you pay to get indexed. If you&#39;re looking for good placement, then you may wish to take them up on their payment methods. </div> <div class="content"> <a name="idVZHjy0HXSElDxvu3CX_j3Q"></a> <h2>Text Navigation</h2> A lot of people like to use graphic or even animated navigation on their site. While some people think this looks cool, search engines don&#39;t. Search engines read text. If your links aren&#39;t text-based then the search engines have a hard time spidering them (if they can spider them at all). No matter how much you like your flaming blinking jazzed-up navigation system, dump it if you want good search engine placement. At the very least, provide alternate text-based navigation at the bottom of all your pages. </div> <a name="idndG9o4-R631nw5CQZD6CCg"></a> <h2>Cross-Site Promotion</h2> We saved the best for last. These days, the more sites that link to you, the more likely you are to get ranked high in the search engines. It&#39;s also not just the number of sites that link to you but the quality of those sites. If they are ranked high, then you&#39;ll be ranked higher. This concept was invented by Google and is called PageRank and is now used in 80% of searches on the Internet. <br /> <span>"Nearly four out of five Internet searches happen on Google or on sites that license its technology."</span> ~ Wired Magazine / January, 2003<br /> <br /> What all this means is that if you know of sites that link to your site (or if you control multiple sites) you&#39;ll do well to submit the linking sites at the same time you submit yourself. There are programs on the market that help you do that process a little easier. Dumptruck (<a href="http://www.trafficstudio.com/dumptruck/about.htm">http://www.trafficstudio.com/dumptruck/about.htm</a>) is one that we recommend.
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