|
|
Search engine information and some myths dispelled
Most people setting up a web site are concerned to attain a top listing in the free area of the major search engines, notably www.google.com.
Now search engine placement in the free areas is considered to be a complex subject, but there are some fairly obvious truths that can be taken on-board.
About free search engine listings
Fact one: The search engines do not want people to be able to "rig" their position in the listings. Consider it for a moment, if they did, the listings would become the easy target for all the spammers in the world.
Fact two: There are things you can do when a site is built that can penalise it and reduce its free listing position, or worse, get it banned from the search engine results altogether.
Fact three: The method used for sorting the order in which sites are to be displayed in the free listings is a closely guarded secret of the search engines, and such methods are constantly under review and improvement to prevent people rigging the results.
Fact four: People will continually try to "out do" the search engines and rig the results, and some people will offer to do this for you with your site for money.
Fact five: No one can guarantee you a top search engine results placement. Whilst this might happen over a short period it is virtually impossible to maintain (unless the position is truly deserved) due to all the factors mentioned above.
Fact six: There are things you can do when a site is built that can assist to the search engine to do its job, by presenting the site in such a way that the search engine finds it easy to read, simple to navigate and it does not contravene any of its published guidelines.
Fact seven: If your site is properly configured and contains lots of interesting content relevant to a particular search query, in time your presence in the search engine results pages will improve. The two words to underline in that sentence are "in time", as search engines also count longevity as a factor towards relevance, and also (and very importantly) they take account of the number of sites that link to your site with genuine links.
Fact eight: Keeping your site content fresh by revising it or adding to it over a period will also prevent it from being considered "fossilised" and this of course is where a content managed site can help dramatically, as you do not have to pay someone for every little change or update you make.
Fact nine: Our content managed sites, are built to very high standards and we seek to ensure that no rules are breached in the way they are put together. As this is a matter of prime importance, our programs will be updated over time to make sure that all our sites remain clean, uncluttered and free from any of the problems that can hamper your search engine process.
Fact ten: If you decide that a presence in the search engines is "mission critical" within a controlled time span, then you will have to examine your marketing budget and think about an entry in the "paid inclusion" areas of the search engine. (As an example in Google, look at the right hand column of the results page - these sites are paying for their inclusion). So you can get an presence early and sustain it as long as you like, but it will cost for this type of representation. For high placement in the free listings, please feel free to read this page again from the top!
There has been a huge amount written on this subject over a period of time, and if you are so inclined there is a lot to be found on the internet as a whole. Experience shows however that the best policy is to pursue the production of a clean site, full of natural and good quality information, relevant to its chosen topic, that it is added to or revised over time, and has a steadily increasing number of sites which consider it significant enough to link to.
We can supply the framework to deliver your site, the content is yours to decide upon and if you require any additional advice we will be happy to assist. |
|