It is hard to imagine do-it-yourself search engine optimization
actually working. It is even more difficult to believe
that it can be done using mostly free tools. But then
that is one of the really wonderful things about the
World Wide Web - there are so many different ways of
skinning a cat or doing the same thing and knowledge
can save you more than just a fortune.
Besides the truth is that so many websites that are
huge and popular today got where they are through the
do-it-yourself search engine optimization efforts and
skills of an individual.
Before delving into the techniques that can be used
for search engine optimization, it is useful to appreciate
what search engines really look for and the reason why
most websites find it so difficult to deliver.
What Do Search Engines Look For? In most of the search
engine articles you read these
days, search engines are portrayed as being quite similar
to some serial-killing monster with no clear motives
other than to kill and destroy. For instance shock outrage
and puzzlement are always expressed when leading search
engines change their rules.
The problem is that most people forget that the competition
between search engines today is so keen, such that
their main motive can only be one thing - to become
the leading search engine, and when they get there.
To retain that position for as long as possible. It
is rather obvious that to achieve this objective they
have to remain very focused on the customer. The search
customer or client, is the person using their favorite
search engine to seek all sorts of information. Everybody
prefers to use a search engine that is as quick and
useful as possible in getting them the information that
they seek. It's really that simple. All changes in policies
and rules can only be driven by one thing and one thing
alone - to become better in the eyes of he customer.
In deciding your page ranking, search engines will look
for links to your sites and not just any links, but
quality links meaning sites that have a higher ranking
than you do. This tells search engines that other sites
they rank highly are linked to you and therefore you
must be a useful site and therefore deserve a high rank.
The Biggest Obstacle To Getting Enough Good Links
To Please Search Engines
Folks are often advised to submit their sites to search
engines and high pagerank directories. The problem is
that many of these sites will charge you dearly for
the privilege of being listed with them. Yahoo for example
charges about $299 annually for a site to be listed
in their high traffic directory.
The secret to bear in mind here and what most folks
do not know, is that many of these sites that ask for
so much money will list you almost immediately and for
free if you have good quality links pointing to your
site. It is that customer driven motive we were talking
about again. Good quality links are links from sites
that the search engine already ranks highly. The assumption
here is that since you have received a vote of confidence
from sites that are already held in high esteem by the
search engines, then you are also bound to be a useful
site that customers who use the search engine will find
useful. The higher page ranking you will receive, as
a result will mean better search engine visibility for
you and naturally, much higher traffic.
Another strategy used to try and gain quality links
is to make an effort to submit your site to various
directories for free listing, but it will usually take
months for one directory to accept your site.
A Powerful Do-It-Yourself Search Engine Optimization
Technique
The way to do
it is to start off by creating a web page on your site
with a list of links. The idea here is to be adding
links to other sites on your links page in exchange
for the sites doing the same for you. You will of course
be careful to concentrate your efforts on getting links
from high page rank websites. It is advisable to find
sites that are related to your product or service.
Usually, to make search engines happy, you should limit
each reciprocal links page to 50 links only.
Most sites maintain their reciprocal link pages using
LinkMan script from PHPJunkYard. You can download this
php script from http://phpjunkyard.com/. The really amazing
thing about LinkMan script is that it allows a site's
visitors to add their links immediately after they add
links to the site on their own pages. What this means
is that using the LinkMan script you just need to find
the desired sites, add their link to your reciprocal
links page, and you can immediately add your link to
theirs.
Be careful to meet the requirements of the LinkMan script
one of which is to place a notice on your links page
stating: "Powered by Link manager LinkMan 1.02 from
PHPJunkYard - free php scripts."
The Easy Way To Find High Page Rank Sites You can easily
find sites using Linkman by searching on Google for
the exact phrase; "Powered by Link manager LinkMan 1.02
from PHPJunkYard." You can also change the phrase to
find sites using earlier versions of LinkMan.
Visit the link pages on the sites with a browser showing
their Google pagerank. As soon as you come across a
site using LinkMan that has a high Google page rank,
simply add their link to your reciprocal links page
and then add your link to theirs and you are done. You
can then move on to find yet another site that you would
like to link to.
It is difficult to beat this amazing, free and instant
search engine optimization (SEO) technique that is quick,
easy to use and extremely effective.
Article
by David Callan. David is the leading search engine
consultant with AKA Marketing.com's Search Engine Optimisation Ireland
team. AKA Marketing.com provide full SEO services as
well as telephone based consulting for those preferring
the DIY approach. |
