subject: Search Engine Submission - The Right Way [print this page] Search Engine Submission - The Right Way Search Engine Submission - The Right Way
Search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo are an effective way of generating traffic and exposure for your website. To reap the benefits of organic search engine traffic, search engine submission must be done correctly.
Here are the top 5 mistakes a lot of Australian business owners make when submitting their website:
Not having a link building strategy in place
Not ensuring their website is search engine friendly
Not completing keyword research
Not creating and submitting a sitemap
Not regularly monitoring website statistics
1. Not having a link building strategy in place
Google and other major search engines follow links from page to page and website to website. Each link from a page acts a vote of confidence to the page it links to. However not all links are created equal. Getting a link from a well established site that has been around for 10 years will give you more online credibility that a link from a site that is months old.
We recommend taking a holistic approach to link building and submitting to the following types of sites:
a) Directories - You can find directory sites by going to Google and searching for "business directory australia" or "search engine australia".
b) Article sites - You can find article sites by going to Google and searching for "articles" or "article submission".
c) Blogs and Forums - You are best searching for blogs in your industry. For example, if your business provides accommodation, search for accommodation blogs.
d) Video Sharing sites - You can find video sharing sites by going to Google and searching for "videos" or "video sites".
e) Social Bookmarking sites - You can find social bookmarking sites by going to Google and searching for "social bookmarking" or "social bookmarking sites"f) Viewing competitors links for ideas - Go to http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/ and type in your competitors links at the top of the page. This will allow you to see where your competitors get their links from.
2. Not ensuring their website is search engine friendly
When it comes to anything in life its not what you say but how you say it. The same applies to websites. Search engines in general cannot read websites that are overloaded with graphics, have text embedded in the graphic files and Flash websites.
A good way to see your website how a search engine sees it is by going to:
http://www.seo-browser.com
All of the main headings and text on your site should easily stand out and be readable when you view your site through SEO Browser.
Your site should also have unique Page titles and descriptions, keyword-enriched text and be accessible via text links somewhere on your website.
3. Not completing keyword research
Quite often there is a disconnect between what we think our customers and clients are searching for and the actual keyphrases they type in on the search engines.
A good way to find out what people are actually typing in when they search for your product or service is by going to the Google Adwords Keyword tool:
a) Type in a few keywords that pertain to your core business in the Word or phrase box.
b) Be sure to select Australia in the Advanced options section.
c) Click Search
Check all the boxes next to the keywords that pertain to your business and be sure to download the list and send it to your copywriter and web designer.
4. Not creating and submitting a sitemap
A sitemap is a document usually created in XML with a list of pages that you want Google and other search engines to crawl on your site. It is the best insurance for getting a search engine to be aware of all pages on your site.
To create a sitemap, you can go to:
http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/
There you will be asked for your website address, how often your site is updated and page priority in the Priority dropdown.
To submit your sitemap to Google, go to: https://www.google.com/webmasters/
To submit your sitemap to Bing, go to: http://www.bing.com/webmaster
To submit your sitemap to Yahoo, go to: http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit
After you have added your site and verified it, you will be given the opportunity to submit your sitemap.
5. Not regularly monitoring website statistics
It is not enough to simply submit your site - you need to monitor your progress as well.
The Google Webmasters control panel, as well as the Bing and Yahoo equivalent will give you a good indication of any crawling issues such as missing pages and dead links found while visiting your site.
Another good tool to monitor your site is the free Google Analytics package. This will allow you to monitor your site and see what keywords people have typed in to find your site.
You can find the Google Analytics tool at:
http://www.google.com/analytics/
By being aware of the common mistakes business owners make when submitting their website to search engines and heeding the advice given here, you will be sure to see search engine success.
