Search Engines from a Webmaster Perspective

By now, virtually every webmaster has heard or read that the major search engines are responsible for 80% or more of the traffic received by most web sites and that most searchers never look beyond the first 20 - 50 search results. Not surprisingly, an entire industry devoted to search engine ranking and search engine optimization (SEO) has sprung up to capitalize on these well known facts.

Tens of thousands of web sites compete to achieve top ranking for their chosen keywords and keyword phrases. We've published numerous articles by various SEO experts on linking strategies, optimizing meta tags and page content, and relevant page content. And, undoubtedly, we'll publish many more. Achieving a top ranking for a particular keyword or phrase is a major accomplishment, but the sad fact is that most web sites will never come close to reaching a top 10, a top 30, or even a top 100, listing in any major search engine.

Is it possible to be listed in the top 10 - 30 search results of a major search engine? Yes, possible, just not very likely for the average web site. It's a lot like playing the lottery and with the same appeal. Get your site in the top 10 search results and the payoffs are big - you just need to knock out a few million competitors.

THE RISE OF PAY-PER-CLICK

The difficulty in achieving a top ranking for a free site listing has in recent years given rise to the pay-per-click search engine phenomena. Overture's singular success with this model has resulted in hundreds of search engines jumping on the pay-per-click bandwagon. Pay-per-click is a great idea and taps right into the frustrated webmaster/site owner market. Many site owners simply do not want to be bothered with checking keyword density, tweaking their page content, fiddling with their meta tags and undertaking linking campaigns.

With pay-per-click, you get the site ranking you can afford. A simple, understandable concept. If money isn't a problem, the PPC system is hard to beat.

Most experts would probably recommend combining search engine optimization with PPC for maximizing traffic. And, there you have it - the two dominant methods for driving targeted visitors to your web site. Dominant, but probably irrelevant to the vast majority of site owners and webmasters who don't have the time to learn the ever-changing art of SEO or the budget for PPC's and SEO firms.

What should be relevant is how to get traffic to your site without breaking the bank or having to earn a degree in SEO techniques. Where it comes from should be secondary. Don't limit your traffic building efforts to just a few of the majors like Google, Yahoo, Inktomi and Overture. The top 8 or 10 search engines may be popular but that doesn't mean that your site will reap the benefits.

Here are several reasons why:

1. Sometimes the numbers work against you. Another billion pages added to Google or AlltheWeb are NOT going to help the average site owner - they are just going to bury the needle - your website - deeper in the haystack. And search traffic is only important, if your website can be found.

2. The major search engines cater primarily to searchers not webmasters. Why? Because more search traffic means more revenue and there are far more searchers than webmasters.

3. Even PPC engines deliver more than top 50 search results. That means unless you're a high bidder, your website may still not be seen by many.

From a webmaster's perspective what you should be looking for in a search engine is the right balance of search traffic and understandable site listing/ranking options. Engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL, and Ask Jeeves have massive traffic, but you need to evaluate your chances for having your web site added and then ranked well. You also need to determine if a search engine is more focused on revenue generation through ads, paid inclusion and Sponsored listings than they are in catering to your concerns about where your web site appears.

More specifically, when evaluating any engine regardless of size or traffic, you should consider the following factors:

1. Free Site Listings

A few years ago, you could submit your site to almost any search engine, small or large, for free. But times have changed. Today, even many second tier engines have PPC or paid inclusion programs, and free submissions, where offered, are often given little attention. This ties right into the second feature you should be looking for in a search engine.

2. Indexing Speed

The usual pitch is that free listings can take a month or more to be added (with some SE's, never is more likely), but a paid listing will be added within 48 hours to a week. Does this make sense? Most search engines don't manually review site submissions so whether a submission is free or paid shouldn't affect indexing speed. Slow indexing for free site submissions is most often nothing more than a deliberate ploy to get your money.

3. Ranking Options

Look for a search engine that offers some clues on how to improve your site ranking, short of emptying your wallet. Few engines reveal all the factors they use in ranking sites but knowing where the emphasis is (content, link popularity, meta tags, etc.) can be enough to point you in the right direction. There are also a handful of engines and directories that offer innovative listing options that give your website a much better chance of being seen.

4. Quality Searches

Important to site owners and searchers alike. When quality sites are buried in a sea of second rate listings, no one benefits.

5. Traffic

If you want your website seen, the traffic a search engine attracts is important, but don't be too quick to write off smaller, up and coming engines. Not too long ago both Google and Overture were considered long shots in the search engine wars. Also, keep in mind that top ranking in an engine that receives a few million searches per month may be more important to you than no ranking in an engine that receives millions of searches per day.

6. Paid Listing Options:

Look for paid listing options that offer more than fast inclusion in a database. With PPC, you get what you pay for, but with paid inclusion, you should receive more than you would with a free listing.

If you're not familiar with any search engines other than the big players, check out FreeWebSubmission.com (http://www.freewebsubmission.com) where you can find a list of the 50 top search engines that still offer free site listings. Engines are ranked by their Alexa rating which indicates their user popularity. Here's a list of the top 10 from FWS with current Alexa rankings:

SearchHippo - 2,905

Some other engines and directories worth considering in your promotion efforts are Gimpsy (http://www.gimpsy.com/), RoList (http://www.rolist.com), SitesOnDisplay (http://www.sitesondisplay.com) and National Directory (http://www.nationaldirectory.com).

About The Author

Mel Strocen is CEO of the Jayde Online Network of websites. The Jayde network currently consists of 12 websites, including ExactSeek.com (http://www.exactseek.com) and SiteProNews.com (http://www.sitepronews.com).

---

MORE RESOURCES:

Business Consulting Web Development Web Site Design Graphic Design Ecommerce
Marketing Web Hosting Domain Name Registration Clients Web Maintenance Voice Overs Talent
Contact Us Company Info Home Page
>> Link Exchange Directory - Ad Your Site Now! <<

INFORMATION AND HELPFUL ARTICLES
Web Design Web Hosting Web Development Search Engine Optimization
Web Design Samples Graphic Design Samples Glossary Pantone Chart RGB HTML

Web MediaRocket.com

Tampa Web Design and Development Tampa Bay Web PHP Development and Web Hosting
Graphic Design Tampa Bay Small Business Consultant

 

Search Engine Optimization -- A Must During a Recession - PR Web (press release)

Internet Marketing News

Search Engine Optimization -- A Must During a Recession PR Web (press release), WA - 1 hour ago Increase Visibility, a prominent search engine optimization and marketing firm, has discovered that SEO/SEM advice has become more important and sought ... SEO Malaysia | Greenfrog Studio | SEO ( Search Engine Optimization) Klue High Position in Topseos UK Rankings - search engine optimisation WebWire (press release) Google Search Engine, Subject of Search Growth Studies WebSite Host Directory (press release) Market Wire (press release) - Internet Marketing News all 24 news articles

Search Engine Marketing Agency, Formic Media, Launches - PR Web (press release)

Search Engine Marketing Agency, Formic Media, Launches PR Web (press release), WA - 19 hours ago Formic's initial SEM service offerings include web analytics optimization, keyword research & recommendations, website search engine optimization (SEO) ...

RAGE Software Updates Search Engine Optimization Software Suite ... - Promotion World (press release)

RAGE Software Updates Search Engine Optimization Software Suite ... Promotion World (press release), CA - 20 hours ago We are pleased to announce major updates to our search engine optimization software suite for Mac OS X. The updates include new versions of a number of our ... RAGE Software Announce Major Updates to their SEO Tools Suite webhostdir.com all 2 news articles

Search Marketing Expo - SMX West Rates Increase January 10, 2009 - PR Web (press release)

Search Marketing Expo - SMX West Rates Increase January 10, 2009 PR Web (press release), WA - Jan 5, 2009 Sessions are organized thematically on topics including search engine optimization (SEO), paid search advertising (PPC), online/offline issues and landing ...

New Hires Add Talent, Experience and Bandwidth to Brandwidth - Promotion World (press release)

New Hires Add Talent, Experience and Bandwidth to Brandwidth Promotion World (press release), CA - 6 minutes ago The new talent adds significant depth and versatility to its impressive roster of web marketing, search engine optimization and creative brand development ...

Looking For The Key To Search Engine Optimization? - Meadow Free Press

TechRadar UK

Looking For The Key To Search Engine Optimization? Meadow Free Press, ID - Jan 1, 2009 The writer who promises that his or her book will tell you everything that you need to know about search engine optimization for your site. ... New approaches to search engine optimization Central Valley Business Times Use public relations to drive search engine optimization (SEO ... Examiner.com Search Engine Optimization for Long - Term Results PWO Search Newz - Live-PR.com (Pressemitteilung) all 21 news articles

Readers: Tech isn't the only answer - Inman.com

Inman.com

Readers: Tech isn't the only answer Inman.com, CA - 1 hour ago Asked to rank blogs, lead generation, pay-per-click, organic search-engine optimization and online banner or display ads as the best Web marketing tools of ...

LA Management Company Drives Traffic to Charlotte Limousine Service - dBusinessNews Charlotte (press release)

LA Management Company Drives Traffic to Charlotte Limousine Service dBusinessNews Charlotte (press release), NC - 16 hours ago Charlotte - Marketing services firm, LA Management Company has been engaged to provide search engine optimization services for Signature Transportation, ...

Puppy's Picks - January 5th, 2009 - Search Engine Guide

Puppy's Picks - January 5th, 2009 Search Engine Guide, TX - 13 hours ago Jennifer specializes in common sense search engine marketing, viral marketing and customer outreach via social media and blogs. A former search marketing ...

Search Engine Optimization-Budgeting - PWO

Search Engine Optimization-Budgeting PWO, France - Jan 3, 2009 The key to a successful webpage is search engine optimization. Search engine optimization is the art and science of making your website attractive to the ...

Search Engine Optimization - Google News

© MediaRocket.com All rights reserved.
 
Business Consulting Web Development Web Site Design Graphic Design Ecommerce
Marketing Web Hosting Domain Name Registration Clients Web Maintenance

voice overs work, onhold music, on hold message, on hold messages, message for voice mail, voicemail greetings, voice mail greetings, voice mail greeting, voicemail messages, messages for voicemail, messages for voicemails, voice services, radio voices, radio voice, voice over recordings, voice over auditions, voice acting, voice over artists, voice over artist, voiceover artists, voiceover artist, voiceover auditions, voiceover audition, voiceovers auditions, voice over agents


Tampa web site design voice talent and voice overs, small business consulting web design graphic design business consulting services tampa web design web design tampa business consulting st. petersburg web design florida web design sarasota web design jacksonville web design orlando web design miami web design business consultant  radio station web design radio web design clearwater web design tallahassee web design small business consultant real estate web design west palm beach web design ecommerce web design business web design hosting web design professional web design flash web design flash graphics web design web design company web page designers color chart Web Design -- Business Consulting Services Web Development Web Site Design Graphic Design Ecommerce Marketing Web Hosting Clients Web Maintenance Contact Us Company  Home Page Employment  Privacy Glossary, Voice Talent, Voice Overs voice over talent voiceover artist voice overs