Hi Spider5,
Successful search engine submission and optimization is a field
provoking much discussion, but there are a number of simple steps
which you can use to increase the likelihood your site will be
indexed. The first thing to do, if you have not already done so, is
submit your site to the Google search engine. You can do this for
free at:
Add Your URL to Google
://www.google.com/addurl.html
The Google Spider (software that indexes the Internet's content) has a
large job on its hands to attempt to keep up with all the new
submissions, so you may find that it takes a few weeks to see any
results. However, this time can be spent productively in improving
your site from the search engine perspective.
Probably the most important facet of any site when viewed by a search
engine spider is its content, and this is where your site is let down
slightly. I hasten to add that this is not because you have produced
a 'bad' site, but because the index.html front page is fairly light on
descriptive content.
By adding a couple of paragraphs of extra text on the front page,
maybe using your key terms 'freelance writer', 'artist', 'creative' a
few times, Google and other search engines will be able to assess your
site's subject much more easily. Don't go over the top and 'spam'
search engines with extreme repetitions of keywords, but aim to
reinforce the theme of the site to a reader.
Another important part of the site are the page titles. Although the
story pages are titled with appropriate text, the other pages could be
improved on. For example, index.html is named 'index'- not
particularly helpful to Google when judging your content. 'Brian
Schmarje: Freelance writer, artist, creative person', or something
similar, would probably be more effective.
Again, to reinforce your content, adding alternative text to your
images will allow a search engine spider to determine what they
depict. If you are familiar with HTML, simply add:
ALT="A concise description of the picture"
within the <IMG> </IMG> tags. Alternatively, if you are using
Microsoft Frontpage, Dreamweaver, or similar, there should be an
option within the image properties to allow the addition of
alternative text.
Many of Google's results are drawn from its directory which is based
upon the Open Directory Project (http://dmoz.org). This is a
hierarchically categorized directory which is moderated by thousands
of editors across the world. To submit your site, simply chose a
category you think is appropriate for your site and click on the 'add
URL' link in the top bar. You will be asked for your URL and site
description, then an editor assess your site for entry.
It may also be worthwhile submitting your site to:
Yahoo Directory
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/
AllTheWeb
http://www.alltheweb.com/add_url.php
AltaVista
http://addurl.altavista.com/addurl/new
Before concluding this answer, I will also quickly mention meta-tags.
These are additional HTML tags which allow site-builders to specify a
description and keywords for their site. Google does not refer to
these in the indexing process because of high levels of abuse of the
keywords feature by webmasters. However, many other search engines
still look at the meta-tags, so it would be worthwhile adding them to
your page. The necessary code is:
<meta name="keywords" content="keyword1, keyword2, keyword3etc">
<meta name="description" content="A concise description of your site">
Obviously you should replace keyword1 etc. with appropriate keywords
such as 'freelance' and 'writer'. Avoid repetition of keywords and
try to limit their number to about 10-15.
Using the above methods, I think it would be reasonable to expect to
see you site coming up in search results for 'freelance writer' and
similar terms within 2-3 months. Below are a few sites which I have
found useful when researching search engine optimization.
Google Information for Webmasters
://www.google.com/webmasters/1.html
://www.google.com/webmasters/2.html
Search Engine World
http://www.searchengineworld.com
Webmaster World
http://www.webmasterworld.com
Additionally, here is a link to a related Google Answers question I
answered recently concerning search results page ranking. I feel it
is maybe slightly outside the scope of your question, but might
provide useful reading.
"Google search for a non-profit family website placement"
http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=207544
I hope you find this answer both interesting and informative. If you
would like clarification of any area, please do not hesitate to ask
before rating my answer.
Kind regards,
mcfly-ga :)
Search strategy:
google "submit site"
google search optimization
search engine optimization OR optimisation |
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