7 Easy Ways to Romance the Google Bot!

Day787
This article by Natalie Revell (see her resource box at bottom) has a lot of great information in it, but I especially like the fun way it’s written!

For most of us, Google is a hard nut to crack. Efforts upon efforts are put forth to increase your site's SEO and while your efforts are working in other search engines, they just seem slow when it comes to Google. So what do you do? Try romance!

Yes, romance. Who isn’t looking for romance? Non-human bot or not, the Google Bot also wants it. It wants to be romanced and feel the love from your site. If it doesn't, oh, look out! Just like a scorned woman, you are going to pay. Come on, everyone knows what I mean. It's either "Penalty City" or "the silent treatment". It all depends on what you did or didn't do.

If you really screwed something up on your site, Google is going to make you pay. This is Penalty City. Google may even take a point away from your ranking or just entirely drop you from its index. Yikes! If you actually get dropped from the index, good
luck trying to get picked back up.

If you didn't screw up, but you're not really doing anything to get the Google Bot's attention, you are going to get the silent treatment. This is when Google acknowledges the existence of your site but pretty much gives you no communication or reaction at all and just goes on about its business.

Google is female!

Because of these two reactions described above, I'm absolutely convinced Google is female. And I can say that because I am female. So, what should you do to romance the Google Bot and get on the good side of this heavy weight engine? You should
make Google's job easier. It's just that simple.

There are several things you should do actually, but we're just going to focus on the major ones. For now though, let's think about the Google Bot's job in order to understand the Google Bot better. The better we understand the bot, the better chance we have of winning it over with our romance techniques.

The Google Bot's Job

Think about it. What a feat it is to have to go through a gazillion, trillion websites reading text and following links to make sure everything is not only properly indexed, but that it
is properly working. When things are not in order on your site, such as a broken link, this makes the Google Bot have to stop. This does not make the Google Bot happy. It wants a clean, safe path to travel as it has many places to go. It doesn't like to
be tripped. That's just not nice.

Once it has retrieved all of your site's information, it still has to take that information back to the Google database, then go back out to another site and do it again. Then it has to bring that information back to the database. Then go back out again, etc. You get the idea. And it has to visit each site every so often to keep the indexing updated. Let's just say the Google Bot's little feet are extremely tired all of the time. Especially considering this goes on 24/7, nonstop. The poor little Google Bot. We need to help it out. When we do help it out, it tends to like us.

7 Easy Ways to Romance the Google Bot

Remember the primary purpose of any search engine is to offer the best, most relevant websites to its searchers.

1) Remember also that Google is a META crawler search engine, so one thing you can do to offer up some romance to the Google Bot is to ensure all of your META tags are done properly. That is pretty much like a bouquet of roses right there. You can use this source to ensure your tags are properly done: http://webdesign.about.com/od/metatags/a/aa111600a.htm

2) Want to throw in a box of chocolates? Make sure all your links are working properly. This helps out your searcher too, by the way. If you want to run a searcher off, frustrate them to no end by letting them click on a broken link and see how fast they exit your site.

3) How about giving a bottle of perfume? Try adding a robots.txt file. The Google Bot loves these files. This is like an invitation to come index your site. Every site should
have one of these, but most don't. Those that do really stand out to Google. Just like anything else though, make sure it is done correctly. One wrong character in one of those codes can send you packing, my friend. You can create these files very simply in Notepad. To learn how to properly create a robots.txt file and where to place it (in your root directory of the home page), please see: http://www.robotstxt.org/robotstxt.html.
Another good resource is: http://www.outfront.net/tutorials_02/ adv_tech/robots.htm

4) Now what could possibly be like giving the Google Bot a diamond necklace? How about a Google-Friendly Site Map. Knowing the job of the Google Bot, why not make the bot's job easier? I can hear the Google Bot now saying, "Thank goodness for this map. Finally, a site that gets me! I mean it...a site that finally gets it!"

A Google-Friendly Site map not only wins you favor with the Google Bot, it helps you out as well. To create a Google-friendly site map, see http://gsitecrawler.com/ , which is
also Yahoo-friendly:

* The SEO on your website will benefit as any correctly
designed Google-friendly Site Map will ensure all web pages
are found and properly indexed.

* If any pages are not indexing properly, the program will
advise you. This includes advisement on broken links,
blocked links, etc.

* You get an inside scoop as to how Google views your website
and you can cater your efforts accordingly.

* Google will tell you what it concludes your site is about
based on your content. If you don't have the proper message,
change it!

* Google gets notified when something on your site is new or
has changed.

5) Why stop now? Keep going with your romantic interlude and also present the Google Bot with champagne and strawberries by using bold, keyword rich headers on each of your web pages. Don't make the bot guess and have to dig to find out what the
page is about. Just tell it up front and then reconfirm your message throughout the rest of the content.

6) Add a day at the spa by keeping your content clean, relevant, an easy read, and keyword rich with properly placed keywords. There is a proper way to pepper in your keywords to make the content SEO-friendly without making your content choppy. Your
searcher must also be able to read the content in a good flowing manner, so be sure to write for the searcher also, not just the bot.

7) You can also add a day at the beach by not using Flash. Females usually like flashy things, but not this one. Not Flash technology anyway. Flash is built in frames and it stops the Google Bot dead in its tracks, confuses it, and then nothing gets indexed. Not good! If you are dying to have Flash, then try keeping it in your banner only. Home page banner only is even better, if you are carrying your banner to all inner pages as well. While Flash is very eye appealing if not over done, it is a big no-no for SEO.

Put these 7 romantic techniques into action and see what happens. What do you have to lose? Any results that come from proper use of these techniques beats a trip to Penalty City or getting the silent treatment any day.

Author Natalie Revell is the eMarketing Director/Owner of Write Ink Marketing, http://www.writeinkmarketing.com/ . WIM offers many services and continues to grow. Natalie is currently working on becoming a certified eMarketer. You can contact her at
natalie@writeinkmarketing.com, or by visiting the site and filling out the contact form.

This Article printed from SEO-News: http://www.seo-news.com

7 Search Engine Tips for Non Webmasters

Day778
This is a really helpful article I found by Jinger Jarrett (her bio is at the end) Learn and enjoy!

With all of the changes to the search engines these days, you can drive yourself crazy trying to get your site submitted. Unless you are willing to commit yourself to doing it full time, or you are a search engine expert, you won't rank at the top of the engines. However, this doesn't mean that you should neglect this important means of getting traffic to your site.

Unlike most of the methods for promoting your business, which came from the offline world, this method is different. It's unique, and it is changing and growing at a rapid pace. By at least informing yourself of the basics, you can make this a more effective method for driving traffic to your site.

Below are seven tips you can implement to get started:

1. Understand the Relationships of the Various Search Engines. Before you can know where to submit, you need to understand how all of the various search engines are related so that you don't duplicate your work, or worse, get banned from submission.
Now, mind you, I am no search engine expert. However, I have been watching closely what is happening, and here is what I have seen so far:

Recently, Yahoo, a directory, acquired All the Web, Altavista, Inktomi and Overture. Yahoo is no longer going to be using search results from Google as its backend.
Although it remains to be seen what role All The Web and Altavista will play, Inktomi will only provide limited offerings in Yahoo because Yahoo announced that Inktomi's paid inclusions would not be included in its results.

Overture, the number one pay per click search engine, provides paid results to 80 per cent of the major search engines and will continue to do so. It will also be providing backend results to Yahoo. Overture provides results to major sites like HotBot and MSN.

Yahoo is adding its own search engine and will continue to offer its paid directory at $299 a year.

Currently, MSN and Yahoo, the number two and number one sites respectively on Alexa, are battling for supremacy. Bill Gates is also working on a new model for his search engine, but it remains to be seen what that will be.

Eventhough Google will no longer be providing backend results to Yahoo, Google is still a major player. It is also the number one search engine in the world. Google gets some of its results from the Open Directory Project, a volunteer effort to create a directory of the best sites on the Internet.

Looksmart is still out there, but it appears to have changed its model to a pay per click. You can get started for free, but you'll have to pay for each click. (NOTE: I found this site hard to navigate to answer the most simple questions. Maybe that's why it's the least relevant of the options available.)

Finally, you have Alexa, which is in a class all its own. You definitely want to get your site submitted here because it's a great way to find out who is linking to you, where you rank, and other statistics about your site. Back end results for Alexa are provided by Google.

The easiest way to track your site using Alexa, is to download a copy of the toolbar. You can get it here: http://www.smallbusinesshowto.com/htmlfiles/alexa.html

2. Prepare Your Site for Submission. Now that you know where to submit your site, you want to prepare your site so that it gets accepted.

The best tool to help you is Good Keywords: http://www.goodkeywords.com This free utility will let you search for the best keywords to use on your site.

Key words, however, are only part of the equation. You will also want to create a good title and description. Take your time when you create these. You want each to be key word rich, and the right length.

Once you've written your title, keywords, and description, then all you need to do is to create the metatags for your web site. You'll find all the tools you need at Evrsoft - http://www.evrsoft.com/, including a link popularity checker, submission to over 100 search engines, search engine analyzer, and a metatag generator.
Once you have used the metatag generator to create your metatags, then all you have to do is paste it into the header of your web page.

You will want to check your metatags first to make sure they aren't too long and are search engine friendly. You'll find a metatag analyzer here: http://www.scrubtheweb.com/abs/meta-check.html

This one is stricter than the one I use, but it works very well.
Let me emphasize here that this step is absolutely crucial to getting your site accepted. You would be amazed at how many professionally done web sites skip this step.

3. Submit Your Site. Now that you have your site ready, you want to start submitting. You will use your title, keywords, and description again here.
Here is your submission list:

Free
Alexa - http://pages.alexa.com/help/webmasters/index.html#crawl_site
Google - http://www.google.com/addurl.html Open Directory
Project - http://dmoz.org/add.html
Fast Submit - http://www.evrsoft.com/fastsubmit/ - Submission to 100 of the top search engines. (Caution here: some of these sites may ignore or ban you if you are a business site).

Paid
Google Ad Words - http://services.google.com/marketing/links/ads_us/adwords/ - Pay
Per Click Inktomi - http://www.inktomi.com - Yearly Fee Per Url
LookSmart - http://www.looksmart.com -
Pay Per Click Overture - http://www.overture.com - Pay Per Click

4. Check to make sure you are listed. After about a month, you want to go back and make sure that your site is listed in the appropriate search engine. The way to do this is to go to the search engine and type in your domain name. You don't have to include the http://www to do this.
If you are not listed, then go to the next step.

5. Resubmit if Necessary. If your site is not in the search engine you have selected to search, then resubmit your information for inclusion. It's important to remember that unless you are using paid inclusions, it is up to the discretion of the search engine whether or not your site is listed.

Your chances of success will increase if you include some quality content on your site that is dense in your key words. You also want to have as many quality links as possible. You can build your links by contacting other webmasters who have sites that complement yours.

6. Reevaluate. If your search engine strategy isn't working, it's time for a change. However, you need to consider that submitting to the search engines is a very long term strategy, and it isn't something that will occur over night. Only if you are using pay per clicks can you see an increase in traffic almost immediately.
For your free inclusions, you just want to make sure that you are included. Quality content and quality links can help here in raising your rankings.

For paid inclusions, you want to make sure that you are getting the click thrus you need. Unlike free inclusions, you should see results immediately. If you aren't getting enough traffic, consider changing your key words. Good Keywords will help you here.

7. Stay Informed.
If you want to continue to use this strategy in your business, then you need to stay abreast of industry happenings because things change so quickly.
The best place to get information on this constantly changing industry is here:
http://searchenginewatch.com/
They offer three different newsletters to cover the industry. At a minimum you should be reading the daily newsletter.

Although it is only one of the many strategies I use to promote my business, it can be very effective when done correctly. Take your time, be patient, and learn what you need to do before you use this strategy. It will become an effective tool in your marketing arsenal.

Jinger Jarrett is a former newspaper reporter and military journalist who currently spends her time writing, marketing, and consulting. You can get her free ebook/ecourse, "How to REALLY Start Your Business in 30 Days" free here: http://www.smallbusinesshowto.com
jingerjarrett@smallbusinesshowto.com

Submitting Your Site to Search Engines

Day606
You will find millions of opinions on the Internet. Some people say you should submit your site to search engines if you're not listed. Some people say you should NOT submit your site; that it's better to wait until your site is found and indexed by the search engine bots/spiders.

You don't have to submit your site because it will eventually be found and indexed.

As far as whether you should submit your site to the search engines that haven't found it yet, there isn't any correct answer since opinions vary. The most important or widely used search engines are:

http://www.live.com
http://www.google.com
http://www.ask.com
http://www.yahoo.com

Altavista uses the exact same database as Yahoo. Live.com is supposedly going to replace msnsearch.com. A lot of little "nobody" search engines are driven by Google. So you only need to be concerned about these four.

Submitting your site to Open Directory is good as well. They are at dmoz.org. Being listed with them seems to improve a site's position on the search engines. They're very slow to add a site though. They have humans look at the site and assign a description to it, so it gives the sites listed there a kind of legitimacy or higher "status" than the other search engines which just automatically add sites with a software routine.

The best way to help boost a web site in search engine rankings is to get quality links from other sites. Use www.webmastereyes.com to find sites with high page rank and try to get them to link to you with anchor text that's relevant to your site.(Not just “click here”)

I get forum advice about meta tags

Day23
Sent out dozens of Valentine theme press releases to New York weekly papers. Even sent one to the Today Show :)
I’ve been emailing back and forth with one of the guys on the CafePress forum. I had asked him to look at my meta tags and see if they were ok. I learned more in two emails from him then my three weeks working on my site! He said given the theme of my site – that each product has a word like “no smoking”, “no alcohol” “no victim”, etc. it’s a shame I can’t optimize each page. Someone who is just typing in “giving up smoking” won’t come up to my page full of “no smoking” products. I thought they would because I had filled in keywords/tags on every page. But, he explained that those were for CafePress to use and all that the Search Engines saw was the store meta tag! (Which isn’t very big and can’t be.) He said I should create another website, optimize each page and when someone who was searching for whatever they are giving up or are against or their pet peeve clicked on my site it would link through to my CafePress site which would still do the orders and shipping. All very logical and possibly necessary, but I’m going to file that in the back of my mind for now and keep trying to promote it and learn more first.Wow! Three weeks ago I’d never heard of a meta tag!!