More Search Tips: Other Techniques

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by Aaron West

There are some other strategies that I've seen used but don't quite agree with. I can rationalize the front door redirector because every word used relates to the content on the site. When a user clicks through, they will find a site exactly as it was described. There are other strategies that search engines don't mind, but I consider deception.

I've seen many webmasters create pages just for search engine hits. What they will do is create a blank page, use a couple of keywords (1 or 2) so that hits will be high percentage, repeat the keywords a couple of times on the page (or 50-100 times), and use a redirector to take the clicker to the home page. This, to me, is deception. A better alternative is to write a piece of content on the subject one wishes to keyword. The content naturally will repeat the keywords without any tweaking, and if only a word or two is used, the ranking will be higher. This is an honest method that achieves the same results.

There are many other webmasters who will come up with a number of catchy words just to generate hits from search engines. If you use search engines often, you might have seen some results with no description but just words. This is called spamming. Search Engines, other webmasters, and users hate this. This is deception in its lowest form. It also doesn't seem very intelligent. All the keywords will result in the site being buried. And who is going to click on something that doesn't make sense? People might click once, but they'll remember the next time they get a similar description.

As mentioned before, using unrelated buzzwords in your keywords such as 'mp3' and 'sex' is considered spamming. It's also a waste of time. I doubt whether there are many 'web development + mp3 + sex' queries.

Other Engines

There are quite a few engines out there. The top 10 or 11 are responsible for 75% of all searching traffic, but it's still worth the price of inexpensive software to send to the rest. There are plenty of software packages out there that serve one purpose, submitting a site to as many engines as possible. Some of the packages are even pretty good. We recommend downloading a few trial versions, and seeing which one works best for you. What we look for in submission software is number of engines, meta tag support, speed, updates, interface and price.

There are also new search engines popping up all the time. Some new engines can become hot so it's a good idea to keep an eye out. Sites such as Beaucoup and Search Engine Watch are worth the occasional visit to see what's going on out there.

FFA Pages will generate no traffic whatsoever, but can be useful in generating a few links out there in webville. Since all the links recycle every day or two, they still don't make much of a difference, but if you have a way to submit to them fast and a junk e-mail account, then why not. Knock yourself out.

Pay engines can be very useful. Goto.com is responsible for 3% of all search engine traffic. The catch is you have to pay for keywords. Trust me, if you pay for a good keyword, you will get plenty of hits. AltaVista was planning on following suit and charging for placement, but have since decided against it. Due to the success of Goto.com, there will undoubtedly be other pay engines out there soon. If you have $$, but don't have time, then these will be viable options.

Good luck.

Part 1: How Search Engines Work
Part 2: Meta Tags
Part 3: Getting Every Page Listed
Part 4: Other Techniques