7 Ways To Help Search Engines Find Your Website

Clients often wonder why their website hasn’t been found by a major or minor search engine. Below are some of the top ways you optimize your website’s visibility, and be discovered!


1) Your domain name:
It’s increasingly difficult to obtain a domain name that contains the keywords a person will use to search for you. But having one with even 1/2 the key words can make all the difference. www.CoachMaria.com is better than not mentioning the word coach at all!

2) The words used in the title of each page:
From the address alone, you should be given an idea of the website content. Example: www.TheResourceQueen.com/website.html You can infer that this site has resources on it, and the subject of the page is website.

3) The title you give each section of your web site:
Be detailed with each title on your website. This gives many small opportunities to reinforce your message, and what you are about. Example: Name the “About You” page – “About Business Coach Maria Marsala”, instead of just “About” or “About Maria.”

4) Meta Tags (description and keywords):
While no longer mandatory, they are still very helpful in allowing your pages to be found. The description will also show up when someone does a search.
Resource: http://searchenginewatch.com/2167931

5) Keywords used at the beginning of paragraphs after “header tags”:
Proper placement of keywords can make a big difference in how you are recognized by search engines. They can also make your website more interesting to the viewer.
Resource: http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol4/html_no9.htm

6) Links to your web site from other web sites:
Linking for the sake of linking, is a waste of time. Think collaboration. Give away some articles for others to tweet about, post on their blogs, etc. Resource: http://www.tamingthebeast.net/articles4/exchanging-links.htm

7) Tell the search engines to find you:
Be sure that all major search engines know about your site, and have accurate, interesting descriptions in place. Also, be aware of the differences between a local and global listing.
Resources:
https://ssl.bing.com/listings/BusinessSearch.aspx and http://www.google.com/addurl.html
Bonus tip: This year, one of the biggest search engines started taking into account the speed it takes to download your web pages and the amount of time people stay on it. Resources: Test your homepage download time at http://websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/ Research how much time people stay on your site, by going to your website’s control panel to review the stats.