search engine optimisation tools
search engine optimization information

This week, we're informing you about the top 5 search engine optimization myths and what you can do about it. As always, we're also bringing you the latest search engine news.

Table of contents:

• Facts of the week
• Search engine news of the week
• Articles of the week
• Recommended resources
• Previous articles

We hope that you enjoy this issue and that it helps you to get more out of your web site. Please pass this newsletter on to your friends.

1. Submitting my web site to search engines will bring me visitors.
   
   Submitting your web site to search engines doesn't automatically bring visitors to your site. If your web site isn't optimized for the search engines, chances are that your web site will not be listed at all or somewhere at position 3,739 and beyond.
   
   You must make sure that your web site is optimized for your important keywords before submitting it to search engines. Otherwise, you're wasting your time and your money.
   
   
   
2. I must submit my web site to 1,500 search engines.
   
   There are only about 5 important international search engines and the same amount of country specific search engines that will bring you 99% of your search engine visitors. Therefore, it's pointless to submit your site to 1,500 "search engines".
   
   Most of these sites are no search engines at all but FFA (free for all) link pages that do nothing else but adding your email address to a spam list. Focus on the most important search engines that are really used by web surfers.
   
   Apart from that, if your web site has many incoming links, you don't have to submit your web site at all. Search engines are able to find your web site automatically through the links and they will give it a higher value than a directly submitted page because other people link to your site.
   
   
   
3. META tags will improve my search engine ranking.
   
   Most search engines don't use the META Keywords tag anymore to determine the ranking of a web site because they have been abused too often in the past to trick search engines. Inktomi is the last major crawler-based search engine that supports the META Keywords tag.
   
   "The META Keywords value is just one of many factors in our ranking equation, and we've never given too much weight to it." said Ken Norton, director of product marketing for Inktomi's web search division.
   
   The META Description tag is still useful because its description will be displayed on the query result page of some search engines.
   
   Adding any other META tags (besides the META Robots tag) such as the META Author tag, the META Copyright tag, the META Language tag or the Dublin Core tags means nothing to the major search engines and seems little worth your time.
   
   
   
4. Cloaking or doorway pages will get me a high ranking.
   
   Techniques such as using hidden content, cloaking or doorway pages used to work for some time and some techniques might still work on some search engines.
   Sooner or later, all major search engines will recognize these techniques as spam. As soon as they find out that you're trying to trick them, your web site will get in trouble and maybe it will be even banned for a long time.
   
   
   
5. Search engine optimization is not as good as traditional advertising.
   
   This is the opposite of reality. People who find your web site through search engines are active and ready to buy. Search engine traffic is very qualified because your visitors performed searches with a purpose when they found your site.
   
   Search engine leads can be more targeted and more valuable than traditional media advertising methods.

If done correctly, optimizing your web site for high search engine rankings is the most cost-effective advertising method for your business.

Therefore it's essential to make sure that your web site is optimized for search engines and that it has many incoming links.

If your web site is good in these two areas, you'll get many targeted visitors from search engines and other web sites without submitting your site to the search engines even once.

"London-based pay-per-click advertising network Espotting has won several new deals with European search firms, Mamma.com and Euroseek."

AOL adds Google's image search

AOL has added Google's image search to its online services. However, offensive content will be always filtered.

Yahoo Japan posted first full-screen ad on web site

"If a user clicks on the new product banner on the main Web page, the Yahoo Japan logo will change to Asahi Honnama Aqua Blue, the name of the new product, and a full-screen advertisement will pop up, with the background color of the site turning to blue from white, the sources said."

"Google has a profitable business, a household name and millions of users. So what would it do with the money if it launches an initial public offering? [...] Many observers believe Yahoo might buy Google's top rival in the paid-search business, Overture. Or that Microsoft might merge with LookSmart, one of its longstanding partners."

Many surfers say Web engine ads are blurring the line

"Over the last two years, search engines have morphed from trusted, no-nonsense Internet indexes into a successful advertising vehicle."

What's going to be the next good search engine?

"These days, the most popular tech parlor game after guessing Google's IPO date is speculating what it will take knock the company off its throne as web search champ. [...]

A new model could very well emerge, where crawlers crawl and marketing firms target campaigns. Meta search engines could very well differentiate themselves providing real aggregation value, executing on relevancy and user experience, and emerge as the top search destinations."

As you've read in the article above, not all tips and tricks you read on search engine optimization web sites really work.

But if these tips don't work, what can you do to optimize your web site for top 10 rankings on Google and other popular search engines?

A method that really works is to analyze the web pages that currently have a high ranking for your important keyword. As these pages have a top 10 ranking, they must have done something right.

Of course, analyzing the HTML code of the top 10 ranked web pages is a time-consuming work and many people don't know what to analyze.

That's why we developed IBP. IBP analyzes the web pages that currently have a top 10 ranking on the search engine of your choice. It tells you what they have done to get that ranking and how you must change your web pages to obtain a similar ranking.

IBP's advice on how to change your web pages is based on the current and up-to-date top 10 positions. You'll get an individual ranking report specifically for your keyword and for the search engine you selected.

It's really easy and it works. Download the free Lite edition now.

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