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Home > Traffick
Articles > Search Engine Optimization
By Jill Whalen - January 28, 2005
Jill,
I have been doing website development for a
number of years, mostly for a big organization where optimizing
for an intranet didn't mean as much as it would for the Internet.
So I've read books and bought SE CD's to bring higher rankings,
and it has helped!
I have not completely read all your information,
but I was wondering if you have things in your literature
where you have certain guidelines, like using so many characters/words
in the title, or so many characters/words in your description,
or repeating keywords so many times in your main content?
Everyone seems to have different ideas, but I'd like to see
where someone has these kind of guidelines and results to
back them up.
I also have the following questions:
- Is manually submitting each site better?
- Once submitted
...do you keep submitting ...if so how often? (So you
don't get kicked out.)
- The Microsoft submit supposedly submits
to hundreds of search
engines and directories. Is this good or bad (the number
of SE's
submitted to)? I heard the more the better ...but there
are some
pretty cheesy search engines out there!
- What about stop
words ...do you cover this?
- I heard you should leave out
commas between keywords ...any truth to
this?
- If you are indexed in the Open Directory
(DMOZ) do you re-submit to
directories?
- Are there truly reputable submission companies...and
might I add
...that get results ...proven results?
- What about the Google
AdWords program?
- One more thing...SEO stands for search
engine optimization, correct?
- I also have a few sites
that I'm just starting to build, and they
are one-page sites... a separate domain
for each site. These sites are
linked to a main site, as a 2nd way to
find the main site. No trying
to mislead anyone, just trying to work
off separate keywords and types
of products. Are these okay?
Regards,
Pat
Jill's Response
When I first read Pat's email and questions,
I almost thought it was a joke email, because it was as if
Pat had found every SEO myth ever discussed, and then asked
me about them! So I wrote Pat back and basically said that
he/she had obviously gotten ahold of some really old info
and that he/she should erase it all from his/her memory bank
and start fresh by reading my SEO articles.
Pat wrote back very quickly and again asked
if I would at least answer some of the questions posed. I
realized that Pat really was not joking, and that if he/she
had these questions from reading some bad info that is still
out there somewhere, many of you may have similar ones.
So here's what I wrote back to Pat:
Dear Pat,
There are no specific guidelines for number
of anything in SEO (which, yes, stands for search engine
optimization). There's no number of words that is optimal
in the tags, or in the copy, or in anything. Every page is
unique and the right number for one page won't be the same
as for another page. SEO is really more art than science,
when done correctly. (See "The Art of SEO.") Many
people are looking for a magic bullet or formula that will
propel their sites to the top, but there just isn't one.
And even if you found one that worked today, chances are
it wouldn't tomorrow.
Let me answer some of your questions and you'll
see what I mean:
>>Is manually submitting each site
better?<<
You don't actually need to submit your site
at all to search engines -- neither manually nor in an automated
fashion. They all have spiders that "crawl" the
Web and find all pages that exist, as long as there is a
link to them from a page they already know about.
>>Once submitted ...do you keep submitting
...if so how often? (So you don't get kicked out.) <<
Never.
>>The Microsoft submit supposedly
submits to hundreds of search engines and directories.<<
It's a waste of time and bandwidth.
>>Is this good or bad (the number
of SE's submitted to)?<<
It's neither, just useless.
>>I heard the more the better ...but
there are some pretty cheesy search engines out there!<<
"The more the better" is incorrect.
There are only 4 major search databases that matter: Google,
Yahoo, MSN, and Ask Jeeves. Their databases power all of
the other engines that make a difference.
>>What about stop words ...do you
cover this?<<
There's no such thing as stop words. You need
to use all the words it makes sense for you to use regardless
of whether someone somewhere has classified it as a "stop
word."
>>I heard you should leave out commas
between keywords ...any truth to this?<<
It makes no difference. The Meta keyword tag
won't actually help your site rank highly for the keywords
that are important to it, and commas don't matter as they're
treated as a space anyway. Yahoo does know about the words
and phrases you put in this tag, and they recommend using
commas to separate your phrases. I've always used commas
as well, but again, it's not going to matter for the keyword
phrases that matter the most anyway, so don't worry about
it.
>>If you are indexed in the Open
Directory (DMOZ) do you re-submit to directories?<<
You can submit to directories one time (not
search engines, but directories). If you're already listed
in DMOZ, there's no need to resubmit to them, but there's
nothing wrong with submitting to other directories that are
unrelated to DMOZ.
>>Are there truly reputable submission
companies ...and might I add ...that get results ...proven
results?<<
No there are not, because submitting is unnecessary
and useless, so submission companies are useless as well.
Please note that I'm not talking about paid-inclusion companies
here. They are a different breed than submission companies.
For some sites, paid-inclusion companies may be useful. Submission
companies -- no. Paid-inclusion companies -- maybe, depending
on your needs.
>>What about the Google AdWords program?<<
Google Adwords is a great program if you know
how to use it correctly so that every dollar you put in pays
off. (See today's interview with Kevin Lee for more info
on PPC landing pages.)
>>I also have a few sites that I'm
just starting to build, and they are one-page sites.<<
One-page sites will have a very hard time doing
well in the search engines because it's doubtful they will
provide enough useful information to users, and thus search
engines will be unlikely to take much notice. That said,
they could do okay if enough other sites find them worthwhile
and link to them, but that will rarely happen.
It sounds like your one-page sites are simply "doorway
domains," which are definitely not a good idea.
Hope this helps clear up a few things for you.
Now seriously, please go read my articles and clear your
mind of all the SEO myths that you've picked up!
Good luck!
Jill
Jill Whalen of High Rankings is an internationally
recognized search
engine optimization consultant and host
of the free weekly High Rankings Advisor search
engine marketing newsletter.
She specializes in search engine
optimization, SEO consultations and seminars. Jill's handbook, "The
Nitty-gritty of Writing for the Search Engines" teaches business owners
how and where to place relevant keyword phrases on their
Web sites so that they make sense to users and gain high
rankings in the major search engines
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