7 Proven Steps to Search Engine Success

Having a good website isn't enough—you need to help people find it. The most commonly used tool for finding sites is the search engine. Unfortunately, getting search engines to recognize and include your site in results listings isn't always clear.

In fact, getting a prime, "natural listing" on a search engine is more an art than a science; still, there are some steps you can follow that will take you a long way toward improving your chances.

1. Decide on Your Message

To create your top keyword phrases (or keyphrases), think like a person doing a search. Write down the top ten keyphrases that describe your business, the products or services you provide, and the geographic region you serve. Be as specific as you can. Each phrase should be at least two words—"running shoes," "custom furniture."

Come up with these phrases quickly; the goal is to replicate the thinking process of those you hope will find your site. If you have some time and want to test your terms, you can go to www.yahoo.com and use the Term Suggestion Tool, which lets you enter a search term and see how many searches were made on the term in the previous month. This tool also suggests related terms you might not have considered.

2. Add Relevant Content to Pages

Use your keyphrases but not at the expense of compelling content. Draw on your keyphrases to write your page content. Be sure to use the exact same wording, and repeat yourself often. The frequency with which the phrases appear will help in listings.

Try to fit in the phrases naturally, and keep your writing natural, not stilted. Remember, getting people to come to your site by way of a search engine is only part of the battle. You also need to provide compelling, useful content once they arrive.

3. Create a Relevant Title for Each Page

Use keywords in page titles, and keep titles short. Once again, draw on your keyphrases to create a title. Repetition is important! Try to keep the title to the three words that matter most, but make sure the title is descriptive.

4. Create a Description Metatag for Each Page

Include your keyphrases in your description metatag, but keep the content coherent and interesting. Metatags are hidden HTML codes that describe pages. The description metatag is recognized by some search engine “bots” and is also used by many search engines when listing a site on a search results page.

Your description metatag should be a short paragraph that includes as many of your top ten key phrases as possible but is still understandable, coherent, and capable of stimulating visitors to click through to your site. Again, do not sacrifice good content by getting carried away with keyphrases.

5. Create a Keyword Metatag for Each Page

Cover your bases by including all your keyphrases in the keyword metatag. Historically, everyone thought the terms in a keyword metatag were responsible for a high ranking in a search engine, and, for a while, they probably were right. But today's search engines are more sophisticated. They pay more attention to page content than to metatags—but it doesn't hurt to cover your bases.

Add all the phrases you generated in step 1 of this procedure into your keyword metatag, but maintain good content, not only for the search engines' benefit but also for the benefit of the visitors to your site.

6. Have Related Businesses Link to Your Site

Linking to other sites not only helps in search engine ranking, but it can bring you more business. The number of sites that are linked to your site is important to some search engines. If many other sites link to you, it confers a legitimacy that improves your ranking.

Linking to other sites has other benefits, too. Linking to related sites can bring you referrals and related business. For example, if you have a bicycle accessories business, and you have a link from a bicycle repair shop, customers of the repair shop will probably click through to see what kind of accessories you carry.

7. Don't Cheat

Don't list keyword terms hundreds of times; the bots will know you're cheating. Cheaters do things like list key terms and phrases hundreds of times on a page in the background color of the site so visitors cannot see them. They think the search engines' bots won't realize what's happening, but bots are clever, and the search engines will ban your site entirely if they find you are trying to trick them. Stick to the steps previously mentioned. You'll get your site noticed without running the risk of getting blacklisted (banned from a search engine).

The Bottom Line...

Your best chances for getting your site listed by search engine is following simple steps. Focus on content, keyphrases, and proper use of metatags.