2006 Dec 04 - Mon
Keywords for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engines like keywords, keywords that are balanced, not overused, not underused.
Both copy writers and site designers need to be involved in optimization of keywords and
phrases. Once appropriate keywords and phrases have been determined (more about this in
another entery), copy writers need to work them into the text of the website. In
addition, the keywords and phrases can be incorporated into meta-tags of the page, but I've
heard that you can't overboard here, nor can you rely only on meta-tags to carry the day.
Another trick is to incorporate the keywords into web site structure and navigation. For
example, on one my pages I discuss a set of HD-600 headphones by Sennheiser. The page references the word
AudioPhonics and the directory structure in which the article rests has that word as part of
the path.
That article has a Google rank of 7 or 8. It has reached that rank within a few weeks of
posting. However, that page is actually about the Sennheiser HD 600 headphones, and if I do
a search on that phrase, page rank is very very low. It is somewhere between 140
and 745,000. So, in effect, people will land on that page due to a search of the nebulous
topic of AudioPhonics rather than the more specific topic of Sennheiser HD 600 Headphones
about which I wrote.
Because there are so many other pages out there that have Sennheiser HD 600 in the title
bar, which my page doesn't (I'm going to have to move to different blogging software to make
that happen), they probably enjoy higher rankings. However, an appropriate title is only
one of many attributes a search engine will use to compute a page rank.
Those other pages also probably use meta-tags.
Those other pages may also have inbound links of one form or another to gain
them extra visibility.
Those other sites may also have related content that helps a search engine's related
content matchers. (I'm still finding out about this one to see how true it is).
But you'll also note that when doing a search on the phrase 'Sennheiser HD 600', a bunch
of other kind of related pages show up: ones that have a portion of the phrase repeatedly,
ones that include the phrase in passing but related to similar equipment, and ones that have
them in the url somewhere.
So, after having mentioned what search engines like, we'll see what happens with this
page in the page rankings in a few weeks for the search topic 'Sennheiser HD 600'. I've
mentioned the product multiple times within the
text of this document, which is what Search Engines seem to like. I'm still missing the
text in meta-tags, the title, and the url, but we'll see how things go. It will be form of
double irony that people come here because they searched for 'Sennheiser HD 600' when in
fact this page is actually is about Search Engine Optimization, in another form:
Optimzation for Search Engine Findability.
In summary, if you are looking for visibility and findability, each page you write needs
to be hand crafted with these various techniques in mind. And even if you've crafted a page
for a certain phrase, you may find a search engine likes it differently based upon user's
search patterns and preferences. But if you watch these patterns, you can use them to your
benefit to further enhance your findability.
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Book Review: Ambient Findability by Peter Morville
As I've been adding content to my blog, I've also been looking into methods and
mechanisms of promoting it .
Over the last few years, I've been receiving JIll Whalen's High Rankings Advisor Newsletter. She devotes her time to
educating her readers in the subject of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). I've been reading
the newsletter ever since the time that meta-tags had significant meaning. Now they
represent only a portion of toolset needed to successfully promote a web site.
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Web site promotion is really all about 'findability'. Peter Morville presents this topic
in a very readable book called 'Ambient Findability' available from O'Reilly Press. The
sub-title of his book is 'What We Find Changes Who We Become', which I think is very apt,
based upon the research he presents within the pages of his book.
We as Blog authors and web page developers provide content so that we can share it with
others, and perhaps make some money from it, if not for other altruistic reasons. As they
say, content is king. But if no one knows about the content, what good does it do? So the
key question is: how does one get others to visit?
Obviously, other's can't visit if they don't know where to visit. One concept that comes
immediately to mind is a one called viral marketing. Marketing
Terms defines it as a 'marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to
pass along a marketing message'. If you can get a snowball of a message rolling, people
will come.
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On the other hand, in order to build a base of respectability and long term associations,
any number of ideas and philosophies need to be considered. No one promotion gimmick will
yield results. Around 175 pages of book can be boiled down to this meaning laden quote:
Semantic Web tools and standards create a powerful, enduring foundation. Taxonomies and
ontologies provide a solid semantic network that connects interface to infrastructure.
And
the fast-moving, fashionable folksomonies sit on top: flexible, adaptable, and responsive
to user feedback.
The book is much more readable than what is found in that exerpt, but hopefully the
exerpt provides a desire to find out more of what it takes to build a successful web site. Search
Engine Optimization is part and parcel of semantic content. Tag building through such sites
as Flickr and Del.icio.us provide the folksomony, or user ratedness of a site. And search
engine classification schemes provide accessibility.
Many different topics related to finding things are presented within the book. It is an
excellent first book for those involved with the multi-role task of making web sites
findable, as well as usable.
[/Personal/SoftwareDevelopment/HTML/Findability]
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