Organic search engine optimization (SEO) FAQ

1) What is an organic search engine optimization (SEO) program?

2) What are some SEO techniques I should avoid?

3) Why should I be concerned about my site's search positioning?

4) What search engines should we focus on?

5) Why can't I have an all Flash or all JAVA Web site?

6) What is the Google Supplemental Results Index?

7) Why is researching the correct key phrases important?

8) What are Information Pages?

9) I heard that search engines don't like optimization and my site will be penalized. Is this true?

10) Why do I need to have text links on my Web site?

11) Should I submit my site to hundreds and thousands of search engines?

12) What are meta tags?

13) Will meta keywords help me get higher rankings?

14) What is IP cloaking?

1) What is an organic search engine optimization program?

Organic search engine optimization (SEO) is a comprehensive marketing program that helps your site rank high for relevant, frequently searched key phrases.

Organic search engine optimization includes:

• Content rich Web pages with information of interest to target audiences.
• Content properly filled with keywords.
• Text links using target key phrases.
• Page-specific, relevant title, meta-tags and alt tags for each page.
• In-bound links from relevant, quality Web sites, Blogs and directories.

2) What are some SEO techniques I should avoid?

• Hiding content using redirects, IP cloaking or font colors that are the same as the background.
• Mass, automated submissions to obscure portals and link farms.
• Overuse of keywords.
• Session IDs as search engines have problems indexing these sites.
• Frames as search engines have trouble indexing these. If you use frames, make sure there are links on each content frame or you may lose customers. When search results return a content frame, the navigation frame is often missing.

3) Why should I be concerned about my site's positioning?

For the same reason retailers put a sign outside their store or an ad in the Yellow Pages. Every day, more and more people are logging onto the Internet. Each one is a potential customer. Gaining the attention of these customers is vital to your online success. If you don't capture this audience, your competitors will.

Search engines are the most popular means for people to find what they are looking for on the Web. People are using them to locate what your offer. They are prime prospects ready to buy. A report by Pew Internet & American Life Project Surveys, March 2000-December 2006 shows that approximately 70% of US adults are online. If you have not implemented a search engine marketing program then you could be losing some of the best quality traffic your site can attract.

4) What search engines should we focus on?

There are literally hundreds of search engines. But Google, Yahoo and MSN are the big three. More than 80% of all searches are done on these three engines with Google having the lion's share. Most of the rest of the remaining search market is fed by these 3 search engines. For example, AOL is fed by Google.

5) Why can't I have an all Flash or all JAVA Web site?

Search engines have great difficulty reading / following JAVA or Flash properly. If your Web site is all Flash or JAVA, search engines will not be able to see the content of your Web site. By not being able to properly read and follow your Web site, they can not determine how relevant your site is for a particular search query.

6) What is the Google Supplemental Results Index?

Google Supplemental Results is a secondary index of Google in which pages are placed for any one of many reasons. Google is not specific as to why these pages are placed in its Supplemental Results. Reasons thought as to why pages end up in Supplemental Results are pages appear redundant, of low quality or outdated. Supplemental Results do not appear in search results until after relevant pages from Google's regular indexes are displayed.

7) Why is researching the correct key phrases important?

Identifying key phrases that are both relevant to your site and frequently used by your audiences is the cornerstone for developing a strong traffic-generating SEO program. There are two primary tools to use.

Wordtracker is a tool that gives a fairly accurate representation of what is actually searched on the Web because it takes actual query data from DogPile and MetaCrawler.

The Yahoo Keyword Selector Tool is a similar tool. However, the data is skewed by its marketers frequently checking their positions. And it does not distinguish between singular or plural usage. Since results are different for singular and plural versions of the same term, this is significant data to know.

8) What are Information Pages?

Web pages optimized to gain high rankings for selected key words. Content drives the results. Information Pages need to be fully integrated into Web sites to be effective.

9) Is it true that search engines don't like search optimization strategies?

Some SEO firms use black hat techniques that search engines object to, such as hiding content.

Search engines do welcome optimized content that is relevant and provides value to the user. See the guidelines published by Google and Yahoo.

10) Why do I need to have text links on my Web site?

Text links allow the search engines to navigate through your site. Without text links Search Engines would not be able to find valuable content therefore would not be able to properly index your Web site.

11) Should I submit my site to hundreds and thousands of search engines?

No! There are literally hundreds of search engines however most of them use Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask search results. These four are the only true crawler-based search engines with any popularity.

12) What are meta tags?

Meta tags are HTML code that does not appear on the page. The meta-tags you should be concerned about are the title, meta description and meta keyword tags. The title tag does impact search positions. This tag is displayed at the top of the browser. Each page on your site should have its own relevant, unique title. The meta description has no effect on search positions however is often displayed in the search results. It should be written to compel searchers to the Web site. Meta keywords have no effect on search engines either. As good practice however avoid repeating your key phrases over and over in the meta-keywords tag.

13) Will meta keywords help me get higher rankings?

Not any more. Most engines, such as Google, do not read or seriously score meta keywords. Yahoo and MSN do consider meta keywords in their results, but only to a minor effect. However, it is important that all of your pages have a unique title.

14) What is IP cloaking?

"IP" stands for "Internet Protocol". "IP cloaking" is a technical trick designed to deliver different Web pages from the same Web address, depending on whether the visitor's IP is from a search engine spider or from someone else. If the IP is from a search engine, the server feeds a highly-optimized page. Otherwise it delivers a regular page such as the Home page. IP cloaking is also known as "IP spoofing" or "IP delivery".

IP cloaking is often abusive in how it attempts to manipulate a search index. Some practitioners develop hundreds of IP-cloaked pages using software. Since IP cloaking hides content, pages optimized around irrelevant key phrases are often developed. Consequently search engines routinely purge IP cloaked pages and will ban these domains from their indexes.