The Axandra newsletter archive
17 September 2002
WEEKLY SEARCH ENGINE FACTS
http://www.Axandra.com
Issue #21 - September 17, 2002
Copyright 2002-2003 Axandra / Voget Selbach Enterprises GmbH
Welcome to a new issue of Search Engine Facts.
This week we're telling you what you can do when other Web sites get better search engine rankings by using spam techniques. In addition, we're finishing our 19-part series about common mistakes in getting top search engine rankings.
1. Facts of the week: How to report spam to Google & Co.
A real nuisance for search engines are webmasters that try to deceive them to obtain high rankings (called "spamming").
The following techniques are usually considered spam by the search engines:
- cloaking (the server returns different pages for search engine crawler programs and for Web browsers)
- cybersquatting (using domains that resemble common domain names to get traffic from users that make a typo, for example, www.gogle.com)
- doorway pages or multiple domains with identical or nearly identical content
- invisible text (text in the same color as the background color)
- offensive content (e.g. hate views or offering illegal services)
- overuse of keywords
- overuse of tiny text
- stuffing pages with irrelevant words
- submitting to inappropriate categories (on directories)
- using deceptive or misleading links
- using irrelevant keywords in the title and in the Meta tags
What can you do if you discover that other Web sites get better search engine rankings than you because they use one of the techniques above?
The search engines encourage reporting spam to them. We've compiled a handy list of addresses where you can report search engine spam:
Always be fair to search engines and don't try to cheat them. You'll get the best long-term results for your Web site by building good content and a thoughtful reciprocal linking strategy.
2. 19 common mistakes that prevent your Web site from getting top rankings on search engines - Part 19 of 19
Is your Web site not getting listed in search engines? Is your Web site listed but it's not getting top rankings? In our series we tell you the 19 common mistakes for low or no ranking and what you can do about it.
Reason #19: Have you waited long enough?
The Internet is growing rapidly. According to a study of the NEC Research Institute, most search engines need about 6 months to index a Web site.
Source: NUA Internet Surveys
http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905355013&rel=true
The data was collected when there were by far fewer Web sites than today. With todays number of Web sites, it might take even longer (although many search engines have also improved their equipment).
That means that your Web site submissions may need up to half a year until they appear in search engine listings.
The result of the study shows that it's important that you submit your Web pages the right way, right from the start. When search engines need six months to index your Web site, you should make sure that they'll index your pages correctly.
No one can guarantee a good search engine ranking. However, if you don't make the mistakes which we outlined in our 19-part series, a good ranking is much more likely.
If you've missed some parts of our series, you can read the missing parts in our free newsletter archive .
3. Google updates :-)
Is Google really as important as everybody says? Yes, says a recent Fortune article:
"Web users perform 150 million searches a day on Google, 50% more than its nearest rival, Inktomi."
Read other interesting things about Google in the Fortune article at
http://www.fortune.com/indexw.jhtml?channel=
artcol.jhtml&doc_id=209291&page=1
By the way, a reader told us that Google has updated its 404 Not Found page. You'll be redirected to this page if you enter a Web page that doesn't exist on Google's server. Test it yourself:
http://www.google.com/this-page-doesn't-exist.htm
It now shows a textual rendition of the Google logo.
If you're interested in information about the way Google ranks Web sites, try our search engine ranking report .
4. Recommended resources
- Free webmaster tool
It's almost a truism that increasing the number of links to your Web site will improve your search engine rankings.
But how do you know which and how many Web sites link to your site? The free webmaster tool " Link Popularity Check " knows the answer.
It checks the link popularity of your site on Google, AltaVista, AllTheWeb, HotBot and MSN Search.
- We'd like to link to you
If you have a Web site about search engine marketing or webmaster resources, we'd like to link to you .
- Marketing and Web site promotion sites we recommend
5. Previous articles
If you want to publish one of the above articles on your Web site, you're allowed to do so! However, you must not change the contents in any way. Also, you must keep all links and you must add the following two sentences with a link to www.Axandra.com: "Copyright by Axandra.com. Internet marketing and search engine ranking software ."
Please recommend this issue to anyone you know who is interested in search engine facts. It's a good way to stay in touch with your clients, too.
If you're receiving this issue as a forward, and would like to get your own free subscription, visit
http://www.Axandra.com/subscribe.htm
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http://www.Axandra.com/news
Copyright 2002-2003 Axandra / Voget Selbach Enterprises GmbH
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