Web Reference Newsletter 11/10/00 FEATURED ARTICLE:
Instant Gratification and Search Engine Rankings
Our society demands instant gratification. Hence we have instant coffee, meals (using the term lightly) in a pouch, instant pain relievers (so they claim), games with instant win features, instant chat features, high speed access to the Internet and instant Web site marketers. No wonder marketers and promoters of products and services often tell us how their product or service will provide us with an instant solution to a problem or issue.
But, is instant gratification always a good thing?
We all would love to push a button and receive top ranking from search engines for our Web sites. After all, what we have to tell the world must be information for which everyone has been waiting!
Our product or service is the best and we just can't wait for visitors to the Super Highway to discover us so we too can become millionaires.
Let's run through a common scenario of the person who builds an>Internet site and is ready to take the Internet by storm. We will call our friend Sam Slow.
The site is up. Four hours pass. Not one single visitor! Sam figures his ISP must not be forwarding those orders.
Four days pass. Forty-five visitors! No sale orders yet, but people are coming! Oh dear, the visitors' log indicates those forty-five visitors originated from our friend's frequent (45 to be exact) trips to make sure the host's connection is active.
Four weeks pass. Sam's frequent checks on the server have scaled off a bit, but the visitors' log reveals that he is still the only visitor to his site. Gosh, those special meta words Sam bought for a princely sum were guaranteed to enhance his site traffic. Better try to track down that superhighway street vendor Sam made the purchase from.
Hmmm, that street corner on one of those free sites seems to have disappeared.
Sam Slow decides it must be time to submit his site to the search engines a couple more dozen times a day and repeat those dream meta keywords over and over and over. It's certainly easier than having to think something up. Besides, these words are special; the ad said so. They came with a money back guarantee to drive 3 million people to our friend's site within 3 days! (Too bad Sam can't find the site again.)
Four months pass. Sam is now are a proud subscriber to several dozen sites that all promised to increase his Web site rankings in the search engines. We should mention that Sam's pocketbook is a bit sore. Each subscription produces a bit of a different method, but the cost is more varied than anything else. Unfortunately Sam's site best ranking is still number 1,152 and that's on NoOneEverHeardOfUs.com search engine. Worse yet, no customers. Our few site visitors seem to see Sam's homepage and move on. This Internet e-commerce stuff must not be ready for prime time.
The Real World
The above scenario plays itself out day after day. Discouraged entrepreneurs leave the Internet without ever getting their e-business off the ground and never understand why their business was destined to fail. Most leave poorer, having paid for a "professional" Web site design, those magic keywords and one or more "instant submit to 4 billion search engines" programs.
Fortunately, many other business professionals learned as children that instant gratification often provides cheap toys that break in an hour. By our teen years, some of us learned that spending our money on a quality product pays dividends in the long run. The same lesson runs true with obtaining sustaining search engine rankings that produce paying customers.
Some businesses promising quick search engine rankings have indeed studied the way search engines work. Unfortunately their quick study provided only information sufficient enough to develop tricks that temporarily increase rankings for real or imagined customers who then provided glowing testimonials. Check back with these people in a couple of months. Better yet, drop by the major search engines and see if their site still pops up high on the list under normal search terms you would use to find their product or service.
"Beating the rules" happens in every system. However, as we all know, when those who beat the rules become prevalent enough, the rules change, usually to the detriment of the rest of us because we all receive another hoop that must be jumped and a more complex system with which we must deal.
Quick Doesn't Mean Quality
Want an even better reason why circumventing search engine rule does not work for the long run? Let's look for a minute at how search engines work, or at least the intent behind search engines and the rankings given by the search engines.
First and foremost to be ranked, your Web site needs to be submitted to the proper categories for the specific search engine with clear and concise information as to the content of your site.
Shortcutting the submission effort by using tools that submit your site to hundreds of search engines (many of which no one uses much) produces mixed results since most search engines build their own category structure. The more specific the category, the higher ranking provided to pages actually containing this specific category information.
The meta data within your site should also reflect your site content, providing keywords, meta tag descriptions and page titles that equate to contextual words the consumer will use when searching for information about your product or service. Equally important, the actual content of your site needs to bear out the meta data and the category information you submitted. (Note: the term meta data as used here encompasses page titles, keywords and key descriptions.)
Content backing up meta data is probably why Sam Slow's purchase was not effective. The best keywords for one site are not relevant for another. Rich content in conjunction with site appropriate meta data is crucial to high site ranking.
Trickery to Obtain Site Visitors. Does it Work?
There isn't much use in using the ever-popular word "sex" in your meta data and submitting your site to the entertainment category if you sell vacuum cleaners. Why? Simple. People looking for sex sites and entertainment usually don't stop and purchase vacuum cleaners. Remember, visitors don't always equate to quality site visitors and therefore sales.
When optimizing your site for search engines it is critical to think of the process as a long-term investment for your site. If done correctly the first time, maintenance of your rankings with search engines becomes much less time consuming and definitely more productive.
Search Engine Optimization is a Specialty
Many Web site designers offer search engine submission. However, while many of their search engine optimization and submission services are useful, especially for certain types of businesses only looking for a Web presence (as opposed to high volume selling and national or regional recognition), Web site design is their specialty, not serious search engine optimization and submission services.
Summary
The desire for instant gratification leads to poor business decisions. Overnight success on the Internet happens, but chances of it happening to you are probably as good as winning the lottery.
A site with easy navigation, straightforward discussion of product or service features and a pleasing design help provide credence to your business.
Without appropriate meta data, search engines cannot locate your site or properly categorize it. Search engine optimization is a continued effort. The best success in this area comes from specialists who understand the particularities of each of the major search engines and indices. Claims of success should be backed up with proof.
The full version of this article with additional tips and detail is available at WebReference.
About the author:
Peggie Brown is president of Brown Holdings LLC Group. Brown Holdings LLC Group provides sites such as KatsueyDesignWorks a custom site design and development company, BusinessSights, giving vision to businesses across the nation, Katsuey's Legal Gateway, a free legal research site and KatDomains, providing inexpensive domain name registration.
