Because there are millions of pages that are fetched by the crawler and indexed by the indexer, a simple query can also  return millions of pages that match the query.  The goal of search engines is to be able to return useful and highly relevant pages. The exact formula on how search engines rank your pages is not really known; it is a closely guarded secret and fine tuned every now and then.  Nonetheless, there are some basic principles of good web page design that can withstand any tweaking to the search engines' algorithm.

The fact is, you do not need to submit your site to be indexed. Once your site is uploaded, the crawlers will be able to find your site. However, it is still a good idea to alert the major seach engines of your existence by submitting your URL to the search engines that matter.

In this section and the next, you will be hearing the words search engine optimization (SEO) . Though it sounds techy, SEO is simply the art and science of designing, fine tuning the contents, tags  and other elements of your website so as to improve your ranking in the search engines.

SEO is a major component of Internet Marketing and there are organizations that exist just to "optimize" your site.  If you have a budget, you may check out some of these professionals. But if you do not have, you can still do DIY-SEO.

Important Pointers to Remember for a Search-Engine Friendly Site

1.  Content is still King

2. Text is Prince

Nowadays, websites are judged based on how fancy the graphics are, how impressive the technologies are. But the fact remains that as far as search engines are concerned, text is the prince.

Text is what search engines index; they can be viewed by any browser and it loads very fast.

When you start writing your pages, keep in mind that the text near the top of the page counts more than the text at the end.  Your page title and the first line of your text are very important, which brings us to the next point.

3.  Page titles are important

Search engines give high priority to the contents in page titles. If words matching a search appear in your page titles, that page will have a higher chance of being ranked higher than similar pages but titled differently.

Use your page titles wisely. It must clearly desribe the contents of your page, using the keywords effectively. Ensure that you do not just put keywords in succession as this can be interpreted as keyword spamming.

Do not have the same title for all your pages as this is a waste of potential traffic. Each page of your site must have its own title tag - each one with 1 or 2 keywords and accurately describing the content of that page.

For example, your site is called www.angelspa.com and you have articles on how to set up a mini spa at home. Your page title for this particular page could be "How to set up a mini spa at home - angelspa.com". This is a better title than "Welcome to my spa".

Keep your title tag between 50 to 80 characters long, including spaces.

4. Simplicity works: skip the fancy programming

I am sure you are familiar with those fancy websites that emply a lot of fancy technologies: Flash, video, audio, even some 3D animation. These sites can work if you are a big name and people look for your site by direct request: meaning, they type the name www.bigcompany.com on their browser. But if you are a small business owner, you should avoid these fancy programming because they hinder the search engines.

5. It's not just the home page:  secondary pages are just as important

If people found your site through directories, classified ads, online press releases, other site's links, they would land on your home page. But if they used the search engines, which the majority do, they will land on the page where the keyword was found.

What is the implication of these?  People may not actually get to see your home page. Therefore, all your pages must be freestanding because each page is a potential entry point. You must find a way to state what your site is about in all your pages plus make sure there is a link to your home page and all the important pages.

6. Build a sitemap

Always include a sitemap in your site. Search engines check out the sitemap to trace the links in your site. Of course, if you have a minisite (1 page sales website), there is no need for a sitemap.

Include a link to your sitemap in every single page of your site. Sitemaps can be made manually but most authoring software do this automatically.

7. Avoid structures and designs that hinder search engines.

There are certain design techniques and structures that cause problems with search engines. Some of these are:

Frames: Frames divide the screen into two parts: One part usually containing the company name and navigation links remains constant and the other part, which is the content part changes as you click on the navigation links. When designing a site, choose the No Frames option.

Dynamic Pages: Dynamic pages are those that change everytime you visit: the pages are assembled based on the visitor's behavior.

While this is very attractive to viewers, this is not so attractive to search engines as it is more difficult to index. At this point, though,it is not a cause for worry because as a start-up Netpreneur, building a dynamic website is not a practical idea.

Text embedded in pictures:  Search engines index text and if the text is embedded within a picture, the search engines will miss these text.

Drop-down menus: Some crawlers cannot follow the links in drop-down menus.

Flash:  Search engines can't index sites made with Flash; it can't also follow links made with Flash.

Navigation using Javascripts: Search engines can't follow links that are within Javascript. If you insist on using Javascript (why?), you should add some add some form standard HTML hyperlinks to all of your pages on each of your pages so that your site will be crawled properly. Then create a sitemap that uses standard html links to link each page of your site. Add the sitemap link to every page of your site.

Image Maps for Navigation:  Image maps can't also be crawled by search engines.  Your best bet is to use standard html links for navigation. But if you insist on using image maps, you must also add another navigation that uses standard html. Again, create a site map with standard html and include the sitemap link to all your pages.

Very, very long pages:  In this case, the crawler might just index the first few paragraphs of your page. It is better to break down the pages into more manageable parts.

8.  Avoid black hat SEO tricks

Search engine optimization is often divided into ethical and unethical practices. Black hat SEO refers to those practices generally thought of as unethical and  cheating the system.

Black hat SEO techniques work on the weaknesses of the search algorithm.  They can work for a while but not for the long term. Search engines are constantly tweaking their algorithms so your quick techniques can actually get your sites banned from the search engines forever.  Here's a list of texhniques you should avoid:

Cloaking: Google defines cloaking as "a website that returns altered webpages to search engines crawling the site." This means that a visitor sees a different page than what the search engines see. This can be done by programming.  Sites that do "cloaking" risk being banned by  Google and otther major engines.

Keyword Spamming/Stuffing:  Keyword is such a powerful word in SEO. To rank high in search engines, some webmasters non-sensically pepper their sites with the keywords. They can be written in small letters or write them in the same color as the background. So it means, your viewer cannot see the keywords but the search engines do.  This practice, once discovered, can also get your site blacklisted. 

Title Stacking: Title pages are likewise very important, as we discussed previously, and hence, also subject to abuse. Don't be tempted to stuff your titles with your keywords. For example, this site is on Internet Marketing. I can't put the title as "Internet Marketing, Internet Marketing, Internet Marketing" because it just doesn't make sense and it is clearly title spamming.

Duplicate Content:  Do not  create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.

Automatically Generated Content - You will encounter a lot of offers that say "sign up, sit back and relax and we will do the rest for you". By this, they mean that you will be given websites with automatically generated content.  To you, this means that your site will have duplicate content as the other sites. Search engines also frown on duplicate contents.

Automated Inquiries: Stick to the manual mode. The major engines  Google and Yahoo do not encourage robot submissions of URL  or automated checking of ranking. Google sees this as  violation of  the Google Terms of Service.

Bad Links: Links are queens in SEO and having a lot of good links pointing to your site increases your PageRank in Google. Similarly, putting links on bad sites can also adversely affect your ranking.

Doorway Pages: 

You will probably get some offers to create "free" doorway pages:  Pages that are just created for search engines and then redirected to your real home page. This is also a practice not encouraged by Google.

Empty Shells:  

Avoid "cookie cutter" sites: Sites that have been premade and sold to a lot of people. These sites are normally just sales sites that can be "rebranded". If you participate in an affiliate program, ensure that your site adds value by providing unique and relevant content.

	Related Content   How to choose the right keywords How to write search-engine friendly copy How to optimize your metatags

To continue, click here.