Helpful things that matter to search engines

1. Who else links to you
   • AltaVista, Excite, Go, Inktomi, NorthernLight all consider how many links there are to your site when returning search order results
   • Google looks at who links to you and how often as the critical determinant of your position in the search order results
2. Meta keywords help with some sites but not others
   • List most important keywords first
   • Separate keywords with spaces, not commas
   • Use description meta for a 50-100 word intro to your site
3. Position of the text
   • Earlier in the page is better
   • Look at the page with lynx
   • Tables for layout can move meaningful text down
   • Javascript at the beginning does the same
   • Get your most important keyword in your title
   • Use Meta Keyword tag to add useful keywords
     

1. Frames
   • Excite, Go, Lycos, Inktomi don’t index them
2. Image Maps
   • Excite, Google, Inktomi, Lycos don’t index them
3. Active pages
   • asp, cgi – search engines won’t run them
4. Index invisible or tiny text
   • Many engines will not index very small or hidden text
5. Spamming the index
   • Many engines will ignore your site completely if you submit it to them too many times
   • Listing the same keyword multiple times in Meta Keyword tag is also seen by some search engines as spamming

1. Some search sites return your URL – make it mean something, not ‘file2.html’
2. Some search sites return your title – “New Page” is not a descriptive enough title
3. Keywords – some search sites use keywords, some don’t
4. Descriptions – some search sites return descriptions as part of the search results
5. Opening paragraph – other search sites return just your opening paragraph, so place it near the top of your home page