Search Engine Optimization for Your Web Site

1. Search Engine Optimization for Your Web Site Dr. Soe, Dr. Westfall & CIS Dept. California Polytechnic University, Pomona, June 2009 http://www.csupomona.edu/~rdwestfall/451common/searchplace120.ppt

2. Agenda • Introduction • Steps to take to make your pages show up higher in search engines • How do search engines work? • How do you get your web site listed? • Search engine exercise

3. Introduction: Search Engines • Search engines return lists of links based on search words entered by user • Most users only look at 10-20 items in search output before changing words • Placement--how high a web page is in the listings--is critically important in generating traffic from search engines

4. High Search Engine Placement • "We can guarantee you a top 10 ranking" • what's it worth? • how can they do it? • Ixquick search on telecommuting productivity • does not include Google, but see next page

5. High Search Engine Placement • Google and Yahoo searches on specified words • telecommuting productivity • Westfall research • Mrs. Westfall • textbook ripoff

6. What Are "Key Words?" • words that are what your web page is really about • just as the words in the title of a text book are what it's about • usually are found in your page a lot • words that people would use to search for a web page like yours

7. Putting Keywords in Pages • in the text of your pages, using an authoring tool like Dreamweaver • make sure that keywords are in the visible text of your page fairly often, especially in prominent places such as near top, in links, headers, etc. • in the code of your pages • using an editor like Notepad • or using authoring tool's code window

8. Putting Keywords in Code • put keywords into <title> tag • put keywords in <H1> tag at page top • put keywords into <img alt=" "> tags • put keywords in the text of links and in the letters of the URL also if possible • e.g., www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/

9. Code Examples • Include some keywords in phrases in important HTML tags, but do it in a natural phrase that describes things • Replace <title>Untitled-1</title> with a <title>[keywords]</title> • Replace <img src="file1.jpg"> with <img src="[keywords].jpg" alt="[keywords]"> • Replace <p>[some words at top of page] with <h1>[keywords among words]</h1>

10. What Not to Do • don’t use keywords that are not related to the content of the page • don’t repeat keywords in any ways that don’t make sense • not in very small text • not in text color similar to background color • not repeated many times in a row

11. Register your Web Site with Search Engines • Register individually with top sites • Yahoo! , AOL, MSN, Open Directory Project (goes into Google, etc.) • Try site submission web sites? • Submit Express 75,000 search engines, $25 • Submit-it submission also a waste of money, but other services might justify $49 • Change content, resubmit every so often?

12. Search Engines Deliver Indexes • User requests information via search page • Query engine searches database • Delivers list of web resources • creates results web page based on search • Listed in order of a calculated index • index values based on search words, and also on "popularity" of site • but usually preceded by "paid placements"

13. Web DirectoriesBuilt by Human Indexing • Analyze site’s purpose • Classify sites by broad subject area • hierarchical classification schemes • Yahoo! - has many people reviewing web site submissions • doesn't have to accept submissions • 6 week delay unless pay for priority service?

14. Meta Search Engines • Don't have their own databases or indexing • instead, combine results from other search engines • Examples • Dogpile, Vivisimo • Ixquick (top 10 listings in other search engines)

15. Search Engines Ranked by % of People that Use Them • Google 56.3% • Yahoo 21.5 • MSN 8.4 • AOL 5.3 • Source: Nielsen/Net Ratings quoted in Wikipedia Search engine article as of July 2007

16. Get Site Into Directories • Directories (e.g., Yahoo!) require careful selection of search categories & keywords • Search for your keywords on Yahoo! to find appropriate categories • Yahoo! asks for a 25-word description of content • make it really good to impress human indexers

17. Targeting Spiders • pick "keywords" that people would use to find a page like yours • make these keywords prominent in your web pages, especially in the entry page

18. Meta Tags • keywords meta tag used to be important • <meta name="keywords" content= "telecommuting, research, telecommuting research, telecommute, telecommutes, telecommuter, telecommuters"> • search engines generally ignore them now because of widespread attempts to use them to manipulate rankings

19. Meta Tags - Description • even though not used much in rankings anymore, contents of following tag are shown in Google outputs • <meta name="description" content="Westfall research and papers on telecommuting, telecommuting productivity, telecommuting economic analyses, telecommuting strategies">

20. Keywords for Spiders • All keywords are not created equal - spiders give heavier weights to: • keywords in the <title> (more than once?) • keywords in <h1> and other headers • keywords in other text near top of page • keywords in <img alt="[keywords]"> tags • keywords in links (seen by user or in URLs) • How Search Engines Rank Web Pages

21. More Keywords for Spiders • Use keywords frequently, but don't repeat same word more than once in a row • OK: pizza pizza • not good: pizza pizza pizza pizza pizza pizza • Use variations of keywords (plurals) • Use keywords in alternate text for images • <img src "file.jpg" alt="[keywords]"> • Google Search Engine Optimization 101 My list

22. Links for Spiders • Number of pages linking to a site has become extremely important • Google pioneered this • if high ranking pages link to a site on the same topic, it must be good • Quality of links is also important • need to be relevant both to page they are on and to linked page

23. Trying to Fool Spiders • Search Engine "Spamming": • spiders are being programmed to detect it • Examples: • repeat hidden keywords • in background color, or <font size=1> • keywords not related to site content • irrelevant links: "link farms" or "link stuffing" (ethical issues)

24. "I can guarantee a top 10 …" • Junk mail and web sites • True, but… • not for your 1st choices of key words • Use relatively unique combination of several words, and put them into key parts of page (<title>, <H1>, etc.) • probably not many people will search for this combination of words • e.g., telecommuting productivity

25. Guaranteed Top 10 Listing • Use misspelled words • including 2 words ran together (no space between e.g., muhammedgonzales) • Search for these made-up words • keep trying until you find a "word" not found on any other page • Put in page, get links to page in another page(s), submit to search engine(s)

26. Googlewhacks • identify two words, NOT in quotation marks, that get only one result in Google • examples • Exercise: find another Googlewhack

27. "Google Bombing" • drives traffic to other pages by links and keywords • early (2001) Google bombing campaign • Wikipedia Google bomb article • Wikipedia Political Google bombs article

28. Search Engine Exercise • Search for your keywords on any automated search engine • For top 2-4 sites, look for keywords in: • <meta...>, <title>, <h1>, <a href="…>, <img… alt="…>, etc. (use View, Source) • words in page, esp. near top • also use Google advanced search (Page-Specific) to find pages linking to these sites • Report any patterns you see