Thread: Maximizing Search Position

Maximizing Search Position SEO is the practice of modifying Web pages to enhance their visibility in search engine results. If your business sells, say, left-handed widgets, your goal is to be listed near the top of the results if someone performs a search using the keywords "left-handed wid¬gets." If your site isn't within the top 30 search results, research shows, very few visitors will click through to it.

To reach a high rank in a search en¬gine, you must learn to think like the robots (also called spiders and crawlers) that search engines such as Google use to find and catalog Web pages. First, learn to describe your products and services at your Web site using words that your prospective customers will likely use in a search (most search en gines understand words, not images).



Search-engine robots give certain as¬pects of a Web page, such as its title and its major headings, special emphasis. So don't squander the potential benefit by using a nondescript title like "Home Page of Big Bazaar". Instead, devise a detailed title that reinforces the primary anticipated search term for the page, suit rankings, too.

I recommend contacting the Webmasters of related (but not competing) sites for link opportu¬nities. Contact them personally, not via an annoying automated link spammer (which most recipients will ignore). How can you tell whether a potential
Monitor your progress by checking your site's "referer log" (yes, that's how it's spelled, typically) to see where your visitors came from and what search terms they used to reach your site.

Don't expect instant results from SEO. The robots must comb through millions of Web pages, so you may have to wait three months or longer to see the full benefit of your opti¬mized site. After implementing basic SEO mea¬sures, don't stop. The Search Engine Optimization Forum ( /forum), run by Boston-based SEO services firm High Rankings, offers many more SEO tips and discussions.