Internet marketing SEO

2006-04-13T08:58:00.000-07:00

search engines, robotic software programs, meta tags, text-based machine-readable title,description, keywords, alt image tags.

Search Engine Marketing

As part of your overall Internet marketing strategy, it is
important to devote resources to search engine marketing. This
component of your marketing mix has become increasingly critical
due to the importance that search engines and directories play
in how prospects access information. Search engines have the
advantage of driving highly qualified traffic due to the
self-selection process initiated by the searcher in choosing
their search query.

Research shows that there are more than 8 hundred million people
in the world have the habit to access Internet. 86% of them tend
to locate information via search engines. In addition, research
shows that most people will only look at 2 to 3 pages of search
results, so your ranking among the results is becoming
increasingly important.

When developing your search engine strategy you need to
understand how search engines work, how they are different from
directories, and how to maximize their effectiveness in making
sure that your business gets as much exposure as your budget
allows.

Search Engines populate their databases for search results
through robotic software programs that crawl the web looking for
content to index. This crawling requires that the software find
text-based machine-readable content to index and categorize a
site. The content accessed is from the meta tags (title,
description, keywords, alt image tags), filenames and content on
pages throughout your site. Spiders tend to look at the root
directory, 1st level files and occasionally will spider your
site to 2nd level content. To determine a site's meta tags,
right click your mouse and select View Source.

If your site has not been developed with search engines in mind,
you could have difficulty in having your content properly
indexed. Search engines also determine relative rankings of
results based on certain algorithms that include factors like
link popularity, site traffic, site content, etc.

When search engines first evolved, they were based on a "free"
business model, where conceptually all sites had an equal chance
of being indexed and displayed in search results if their
developers optimized with some basic steps.

While the basic steps are still an important part of your search engine
marketing strategy, they no longer are enough. This is due to
the fact that many search engines (and dot bombs) found that it
wasn't just about capturing eyeballs, but was also about making
money. This has led search engines to modify their business
models to capitalize on all possible sources of revenue
generated by their traffic and/or technology.

Rank high in the search engines! Professional grade SEO softwares. Get a free analysis of your site

Traffic was seen as a logical source for advertising revenues and technology was
felt to be transferable for use at other sites requiring robust
search engines. To date, most search engines have not elected to
go towards a subscription-based model where searchers get
charged for accessing information. These new business models
require that site developers work even more closely with
marketing strategists to ensure that the most effective business
decisions are made.

About the author:
Phillipe Wu is the marketing manager of B2BChinaSources.com,
the B2B manufacturers & suppliers marketplace, listing with
comprehensive trade and product information of China
manufacturers and supplier