About 84.8% of Web users use search engines to find sites like yours, according to the GVU Center, College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, but with millions of people using search engines every day, simply submitting your site to the engines is not enough to be found. If your site does get indexed (listed) by a major search engine, it will just be one of millions. So, just being listed, has nothing to do with making sure you get a good position. Positioning is what matters most! The truth to obtaining this huge number of potential clients is a search engine position on the first three pages of the returned keyword search results. If your keywords rank below page three, your share of this potential traffic will be practically nonexistent.

There are many ways to improve your site’s ranking. But, with the intense demand to achieve a top search engine position, the cost to achieve it is not inexpensive. However, it is usually much less than what one would spend on a bid-for-position search engine. Achieving a high ranking on the search engines is the best advertising "bargain" on the Web today. The reason is simple: Millions of searches are done everyday. The thousands of Web sites that appear near the top of those search results essentially get free advertising. People must be able to find your site on one or more keywords when they do a search!

So what can you do to improve your site’s getting found?

• Make sure each page of your site has the proper Title, Meta description & content tags. Many sites only have the proper tags on their entry page, leaving the other site pages with incomplete/improper tags. Do not just copy your entry page tags over to your other pages. To be useful, the tags should be unique to the content on that page.
• To continue on with tags, you should check any framed pages used on your site. Here you should verify that your are using good NOFRAME tags. Not all search engines correctly index framed pages. Without the correct NOFRAME tags here, your framed pages may not be properly indexed.
• Sites that are graphic intensive should be utilizing the ALT tag to properly describe each graphic. No search engine reads/indexes graphics. Therefore, the ALT tag is very important.
• Never use “Under Construction” text or images on any page. This is almost a sure way to not be indexed on certain major search engines. If your page is not complete, do not publish it!
• Apply for Web site awards. Some awards are more difficult to achieve than others, but all are always free. The award issuing sites just require a link back to their site linked to their award graphic. Awards add creditability and also enhance the time spent on investigating your site. An excellent graphic accompanies the Web Genie Excellent Content Award.
• With the algorithms of most search engines factoring in link popularity, your site should have a links page. To be effective, this page should be linked to your site’s entry page. Use this page to trade links with other sites in related (but noncompetitive) industries. Real estate sites could trade links with home improvement/maintenance sites, lenders, lawyers, financial planners, logging sites etc. Keep in mind, the objective is not to just link these sites, but, to exchange links with them!

Point of caution: There are a number of sites that will offer you free membership in a link exchange service. You are required to host a number of pages on your site listing the other participants links. Though well intentioned, and effective in increasing your link popularity, the search engines have caught on to this ploy and will de-list your site for this practice.

Plus, the importance of links to achieving a better ranking for your site is related to the standing of the site linking to you. So, a link from a site highly ranked itself, will be worth more in the search engines eyes than hundreds of links from low/non-ranked sites.

Do not fall for the pie-in-the-sky instant promises of these services. Building effective links takes time and perseverance.

Published: April 27, 2001

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Bob Schwartz is a Certified Residential Specialist, real estate broker specializing in San Diego real estate & co-owner of an Internet search engine optimization firm, WebsiteTrafficBuilders.com, specializing in domain name registration and Internet domain website hosting. Bob received his BBA majoring in real estate & computer programming. Bob is an expert witness for major San Diego law firms, has served on the Consumer Affairs Community of the San Diego Association of Realtors, is past president of a local HOA and co-owner of a condominium management Co., and directs a multi-state high traffic network of legal directory sites. You can visit Bob's San Diego real estate site at BrokerForYou.com.