Debbie's Blog

Search Engines and Content

6/5/2007 - Debbie Laubacher

How come my site isn't listed at the top of Google, Yahoo or MSN? This is a question we hear quite often.

Search engines use various algorithms and logic to determine what site gets displayed in each position. Today's entry will go over a few of the changes you can make to your existing site to improve your search engine position:

- Relevant Keywords
Ask your friends and co-workers what they would use to search for your particular product or service. Perform searches for these same keywords in current search engines; what type of sites get displayed? Keywords can be a single word or a phrase. A good web page will have approximately 20 keywords/phrases on it. And the images on your web page should have keywords associated with them as well.

- Content
The content (text and images) on your site should include the exact keywords you have selected. For example, if your keyword is "fast dog", you shouldn't have "fast, friendly dog" in the text of your web page.

- Images
Pictures are appealing to the eye when visiting a web site. However search engines can't "read" an image. Wherever possible, the images should be kept to a minimum and when used, should have an Alt Tag (keyword) associated with it.