Toolkit
Addition
ToolKit:
Building Traffic With Titles
Let's take
a step back at this point and take a fairly broad overview of the
function of Search Engines and one way in which you can improve
your placement in them.
The Web currently
has literally thousands of Search Engines and Directories where
you can list your site.
In point
of fact, most traffic travels through seven engines and one directory.
It's therefore sensible to concentrate your efforts (at least initially)
on trying for good placement on those sites.
The major
directory is Yahoo!. It differs from the engines inasmuch as sites
are selected for inclusion by people, and are arranged by both subject
area and geography. Regard it, if you will, as a Table of Contents
of a book, with the search engines functioning as indices (with
greater or lesser levels of inclusion).
The major
Search Engines are:
- Excite
- Infoseek
- Alta Vista
- Lycos
- WebCrawler
- HotBot
and
- Northern
Light
This last,
Northern Light, is a relative newcomer. It reputedly has the most
comprehensive index of the Web. It also "pre-sorts" the results
of a search · information is, allegedly, a mere "four clicks away"
from hitting the search button. Northern Light also provides access
to information not on the Web through its "Special Collection",
which is available on a "dollars for data" basis.
Each engine
categorizes and ranks sites slightly differently. Many engines use
"meta tags" as a means of categorization and assessment, while other,
most notably Excite! ignore them.
The concept
of "keywords" is central to any meaningful ranking in the engines.
"Keywords" are words - and combinations - which define the content
of your page(s).
The important
thing is to remember that they need to be chosen from the potential
user's point of view.
For example,
as a recruiter based in Kansas and looking to fill retail positions
in the North East, you may perceive your "keywords" as "Kansas,
recruitment, retail, North East, career, careers, job etc etc".
However,
if you shift perspective to the user's point of view and try to
imagine what search terms would give rise to your listing, you would
probably come up with a very different list - for example "executive,
career, opportunity, retail, Boston".
Keywords
first come into play in the " tag of your page. Your title
should be descriptive and emotive. Don't shy away from emotive words
like FREE ("free listings for applicants!"). Eschew the use of the
word "homepage" - it says nothing and is over-used. Unless you have
great brand-recognition, avoid the use of your company name - it
takes up space (usually only the first 64 characters of the title
are used) and adds little.
And avoid
repetition. This is known as "search engine spamming" and is penalized
by most engines.
|
Search Tips
Search: More
Directories
Finding new
prospects is still the name of the game. You've tried Usenet, mail
lists, and discussion groups. Perhaps a name rings a bell, but you
have no contact info. Or maybe you need to branch out a bit to find
new contacts in new places. Try these rather handy directory pages.
- World
Phone Directories for 43 countries. Some individual directories
listed offer only a search by classification, but fax numbers
are often included, too. Other directories allow searches by region
along with categories.
- directories.
Contains more than the usual Big Foot and 411.
- Close
to 100 links to . Includes white, yellow and specialized
directories.
__________
|