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Search engine marketing is the newest craze not only here in America, but also on a global level. Advertising online ensures that a broader audience will be able to access the information that is put out. Search engines work in a diverse and complex manner. Understanding the way a search engine indexes information and ranks websites will provide clues necessary to keep a site running smoothly and getting steady traffic. Having a quality site is just the beginning of an online operation. Keeping a site in the top of the search engine list is not an easy task, but it is critical for the success of any website.
There are many major search engines to advertise with such as, Google, Yahoo, MSN, Bing and a variety of others. Major search engines have robots scouring the internet for information. Once the robot visits a website, their information is stored in an index, this process is called spidering. When a word is typed into a search engine, one is really just looking into the search engines entire index (Leib, 2009). Since the internet is constantly changing, the robots are always out there to keep track of new pages and changes made to current pages.
Creating a sitemap makes it easy for the robots to find the listing to every URL on the site. Linking all the pages so that the robots have a clear path to follow also gives the page a higher visibility rate. Indexing is how a site is recognized by a search engine, no one will find a site if it is not indexed properly. Before a search engine can provide a link to a particular web site, the site must be visited by the search engine and analyzed, the information is then added onto the search database (SEO Administrator, 2007).
Without indexing, the search engine does not know about the site and cannot recommend it. Information can be manually submitted to search engines and they should be checked on at least once per month to ensure that the site is getting the most potential clicks. Many factors determine the ranking of websites and because of this, it is critical to constantly check reports to maintain maximum effectiveness. Each site is ranked by popularity on the web. This is where web pages success rates come into play, a site that is close to the top of the search results, ill get more clicks than a site at the bottom of the search results. Rankings change constantly and while they can be influenced, they cannot be completely controlled (Leib, 2009). Search engine optimization makes a site findable for the user. There are billions of websites out there and to make one stand out there has to ensure that the site is easy to find. If a site ranks high one day, it may not necessarily stay in the top position. Keywords and phrases can help a site be found by a search engine.
Websites are constantly evolving and sites are constantly changing and updating content. Websites change often, and so do search engines. It is critical that site managers are familiar with the ever-changing online world. Letting search engine optimization go for a few months could significantly lower the finding rates for a site. This could lead to severe profit losses and a lower return on investment for the companies’ online resources. Keeping those robots happy, providing good links for them to hop around is only the start.
Watching for trends among users can provide clues to keep content relevant. There are also many different services offered between the different search engines. Knowing this information will help a site maintain a higher ranking. References Leib, R. (2009). Search Engine Optimization. New Jersey: FT Press. SEO Administrator. (2007). Site Indexation Tool. Retrieved Janurary 7, 2012, from www. seoadministrator. com: http://www. seoadministrator. com/indexation-site. html