subject: Advertising: Essentials of Search Engine Optimisation Campaign [print this page] The search engine optimisation (SEO) process consists of designing, writing, and coding web pages to increase the likelihood that they will appear at the top of search engine results for targeted keyword phrases. Many so-called SEO experts claim to have reversed engineered search engine algorithms and use strategically created "doorway pages" and cloaking technology to maintain long-term search positions. Despite all of these claims, the basics of a successful search engine campaign have not changed in all the years we have provided these services.
To get the best overall, long-term search engine positions, three components must be present on a web page:
Text component
Link component
Popularity component
All of the major search engines (AltaVista, FAST Search, Google, Lycos, MSN Search and other Inktomi-based engines) use these components as a part of their search engine algorithms. Sites that have (a) all of the components on their web pages, and (b) have optimal levels of all the components perform well in the search engines overall.
Text component
Since the search engines build lists of words and phrases on URL's, then it naturally follows that in order to do well on the search engines, you must place these words on your web pages in the strategic HTML tags.
The most important part of the text component of a search engine algorithm is keyword selection. In order for your target audience to find your site on the search engines, your pages must contain keyword phrases that match the phrases your target audience is typing into search queries.
Once you have determined the best keyword phrases to use on your web pages, you will need to place them within your HTML tags. Search engines do not place emphasis on the same HTML tags. For example, Inktomi reads Meta tags; Google ignores Meta tags. Thus, in order to do well on the entire search engines, it is best to place keywords in all of the HTML tags possible, without keyword stuffing. So no matter what the search engine algorithm is, you know that your keywords are contained in your documents
The strategy of placing keyword-rich text in your web pages is useless if the search engine spiders have no way of finding that text. The way your pages are linked to each other, and the way your web site is linked to other web sites, does impact your search engine positions.
Even though search engine spiders are powerful data-gathering programs, HTML coding or scripting can prevent a spider from effectively crawling your pages. Examples of site navigation schemes that can be problematic are:
Advertising: Essentials of Search Engine Optimisation Campaign
