Search Engine Basics 101

How do Search Engines, (a.k.a. Google) work? A potential web visitor enters a word or phrase into Google’s search box and the results are matched against Google’s database. The “hits” are then presented to the visitor in order of Google’s estimation of their relevance. Currently, there are two factors that influence how Google finds and ranks your website: Content and Link Analysis. We will discuss the first part of the equation, Content, in this month’s column.
Content is the keywords that describes your website to your audience and Google. Content needs to be included in both your website’s verbiage and HTML tags. Content embedded in images or Flash multimedia is ignored by Google. Google’s web crawler is not able to read images or Flash multimedia.
Let’s look into how to determine the best keywords for your website. First, brainstorm and write down any keywords that you think a visitor might enter into Google that could lead them to your website. Good sources for brainstorming keywords are friends, coworkers, and your competitor’s website. Next, narrow down the number of keywords to a reasonable number, appropriate for the size of your website. If you include too many keywords in your website, this is called “keyword stuffing”, your website run’s the risk of being penalized by Google.
Keyword selection needs to be general enough so that potential visitors are actually using them when searching the web, but specific enough so that Google doesn’t return a zillion hits. For example, if you are in the art business, a good choice for some of your keywords may be “art, paintings, Door County sunsets, artist, John Johnson”.
There are many ways to “fool” search engines when designing your websites. Some of these ways, include keyword stuffing, invisible text (white font color on white background), and many others over the years. They may get your website high rankings for a while, but the search engines always catch on and make the necessary adjustments. Once they do catch up to the offender, their websites are penalized or blacklisted completely. Be sure to play by the rules.
Visitor friendly websites translate into Search Engine friendly websites. Provide your website visitors with good, high quality content, especially on your website’s home page. Give your visitors the information they are looking for when they are on the web.

Check back next month for Part II of Search Engine Basics 101.