Search Engine Similarities
by Judith Tramayne-Barth

It's true - search engines are a royal pain when you try to optimize your web pages for them, but you can reduce the pain by analyzing their similarities.

Similarity #1
Search engines do not like frames, so don't use them or put in the tag.

Similarity #2
Titles should include the key word and not be longer then 75 characters. Less is even better. Make sure your title starts with the key word if possible.

Similarity #3
Each web page should have a different key word in the title, but these should be part of a theme. Search engines look for consistent keywords throughout your site.

For instance,

<title>Golf tips by Butch Harmon at nationalgolfer.com</title>

on one page,

<title>Free golf putting tips by David Leadbetter at nationalgolfer.com</title>

on another page or even

<title>Golf products to improve your golf game at nationalgolfer.com</title>

on a third page. Each title has the word golf so the search engine spider knows the site must pertain to golf - which it does. Hey, nobody ever accused these robots of being smart.

Similarity #4
Meta name description and keyword tags are accepted by some, but not all; therefore, keep your description to a minimum length and the keyword tag to only one or two. Spend your time on a pithy, one-line description sentence which includes your keyword at the start of the sentence but will also entice the person viewing to click on the link.

Similarity #5
Search engine spiders or robots like the keyword or phrase at the top of your page between the codes. So make sure the first table cell on your page has your pithy one-line description in it using the opening and closing tags.

Similarity #6
Some search engines like short pages and other engines like longer, so creating an average length of 250 words should help you get in all major search engines. Or, you might even want to create short pages for one keyword and a longer 500-word (or more) page for another keyword, thus satisfying all the major search engines' requirements.

Similarity #7
Link popularity. This means looking for sites that complement yours and asking for reciprocal links. Be creative when describing these links by using keywords.

Large sites also want your link so don't be afraid to ask. Why do you think they offer affiliate programs? It's not just for the visitors that might click through from your site but also the link you put on your page. They know this community of links is what the search engines now consider the most important.

Besides, as more and more search engines require pay before they even consider sites, your reciprocal links might be the only way your small business gets visitors or is listed.

So create web pages using the seven search engine similarities, submit them to all the search engines you can find and see if the number of "targeted" visitors to your site improves. It should, but don't expect it to happen overnight.

About the Author:
Judith Tramayne-Barth has written an ebooklet, "Make Your Site Spider Friendly" which is part of her A Good Read Art & Book Club. Visit http://www.agoodread.com or her art site at http://www.trabar.com.