The idea of anybody finding your single site among the 12 million or so on the Net sounds like a modern day version of the proverbial hunt for a needle in a haystack. However, some clever technology a
The idea of anybody finding your single site among the 12 million or so on the Net sounds like a modern day version of the proverbial hunt for a needle in a haystack. However, some clever technology and a few simple rules can make your 'needle' stand out like a beacon - you just need to know where to start.
If the needle of the ancient myth had been threaded, finding it would have been as simple as following the thread back to the source. On today's Internet haystack, if you provide the threads, a search engine or a directory will show the masses the way to your Web site.
It's important to understand how to lay down the threads and to know the difference between search engines and directories. Search engines - often known as robots, spiders or crawlers - constantly visit sites to capture and catalogue information you have included in your site, for their databases. They run automatically and index an enormous number of Web pages, often finding information not listed in directories.
A directory, unlike a search engine, uses information you provide to them. When you submit your site, it is assigned to an appropriate category or categories. A directory, such as Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com) relies on humans for its listings. You provide a short description to the directory for your entire site, or sometimes directory editors will write their own description for a site they have reviewed. A search of the directory then looks for matches in these descriptions you or an editor has submitted and this human element often means directories provide better results than search engines.
You cannot rely on a search engine finding your site if you haven't told it you are there in the first place. It can be a time consuming job notifying each of the search engines and major directories, and there are numerous online services that offer to list your site for you. There is even software that will do the job. But, as time consuming as it might be, it is still more reliable to submit manually so you can see if there are any problems. It's also important to adapt your information for each search engine and directory.
A search engine query often turns up hundreds or thousands of matching Web pages. In most cases, only the ten most relevant matches are displayed first. The key to people finding your site is to get it listed in that first ten - and that requires some lateral thinking. When submitting your site, consider how people will search for you. The words they type into the search box should be your strategic 'keywords' so brainstorm a list of keywords and use the plural where possible. If you list a keyword as 'plumber' and a surfer searches for 'plumbers', the search results will not list your site. If, however, you list your keyword as 'plumbers' and someone searches for 'plumber', the search will pull up your site.
You wouldn't write a book and not give it a title, and the same rule applies for a Web site. Most search engines treat the words in your title as major keywords and the lack of a document title will cause most surfers to pass over your site. Just as we title our books, most of us label our property to identify it and you can do the same with your Web site using a 'meta' tag. A meta tag gives a search engine's robot specific information - such as keywords and summaries - about your site. They are part of the HTML code used to create you site and work behind the scenes, hidden from the end user. While meta tags are not a magic formula for a top listing, they do help on search engines such as Alta Vista and Infoseek.