RSS Feed (xml)
Success in the AdSense program depends on several factors, most of which
are under your control. To get clickthroughs, you need
* Traffic
* Relevant ads
If nobody is visiting your site, you obviously won’t get clicks. If you have traffic
but your ads aren’t relevant, your visitors won’t feel motivated to click
them. You might think that it’s Google’s responsibility to send you relevant
ads (especially since I stated exactly that in the introduction to this chapter),
but successful AdSense publishers take responsibility for relevancy by giving
Google a clearly optimized site to work with. Optimization works both ends
of the equation, helping you attract more traffic while helping Google provide
relevant ads.
Briefly put, site optimization for search engines (usually called search engine
optimization, or SEO) is a bundle of writing, designing, and HTML-coding
techniques with two goals:
_ Creating a more coherent experience for visitors
_ Improving the site’s visibility in search engines
The two goals are tied together by Google’s primary mission to provide good
content to its users. Google strives to reward visitor-friendly sites with high
placement on its search results pages — taking into consideration other factors
as well. If you haven’t read Chapter 4, this is a good time to soak up its
elaborate tutorial in site optimization. That chapter is geared to improving
your site’s stature in Google, building PageRank, and climbing up the search
results page — all to the purpose of attracting traffic.
Promoting your site on other related sites is a tangential aspect of optimization
but a pertinent part of traffic building. Building a network of incoming links is
the most potent way to improve your PageRank in Google (see Chapter 3 for
much more about this). Building links is important also to your success with
AdSense. AdSense revenue benefits from all the normal ways that enterprising
Webmasters promote their online businesses.
Now, on to relevancy. Relevancy converts visitors to clickthroughs. Ironically, a
successful conversion sends the visitor away from your site, which might seem
counterproductive. Never mind that for now; if your site provides good information
value, your visitors will come back. Later in this chapter I describe how
to keep them anchored on your page even when they click an ad.
It’s no surprise that the AdSense program is much beloved by Webmasters running
information sites, as opposed to service, subscription, or transaction sites
that generate nonadvertising revenue. Information sites are often labors of
love, having been constructed from the ground up out of passion for the subject.
When AdSense burst on the scene, these hard-working, under-rewarded
folks began experiencing Internet-derived revenue for the first time. In those
cases, AdSense is the only source of site income. More established media sites
that build AdSense into the revenue mix are sometimes surprised to find it contributing
a larger-than-expected portion of income. No matter what your site’s
focus or scope, cleanly optimized content delivers more pertinent ads and
higher clickthrough rates.
The following is an AdSense-specific checklist of optimization points:
* Have only one subject per page. Get your site fiercely organized, and
eliminate extraneous content from any page. Don’t be afraid to add pages
to accommodate short subjects that don’t fit on other pages. Let there be
no question as to what a page is about.
* Determine key concepts, words, and phrases. For each page, that is.
Then, make sure those words and phrases are represented on the page.
Pay particular attention to getting those words into headlines. Your concentration
of keywords should be skewed toward the top of the page.
Don’t go overboard; your text must read naturally or your visitors (and
Google) will know that you’re spamming them.
* Put keywords in your tags. Take those keywords and phrases from
the preceding item and put them into your meta tags (the keyword,
description, and title tags). See Chapter 4 for details. Don’t use any
word more than three times in any single tag.
* Use text instead of images. Google doesn’t understand words that are
embedded in images, such as what you often seen in navigation buttons.
(Navigation buttons and other images are important in defining the subject
of the page and the site.) Replace the buttons with text navigation
links.
Try to fulfill these points before opening an AdSense account. Ideally, your
site is in its optimized state when Google first crawls it. You don’t know how
often your site will be crawled in the future, so getting properly indexed the
first time is key.
These optimization points apply more to home-grown information sites than
to database-driven media sites, such as online editions of newspapers, where
content deployment is determined by offsite editorial determinants. An online
newspaper follows the news, not the other way around, so the topicality of a
page might be torn apart by diverse stories. But even sites that drop in their
content from offline sources (such as reporters in the field) can optimize
their subject categories by organizing site structure along topical lines whenever
possible. Keeping to shorter pages of focused content encourages
AdSense success.
So far, I’ve discussed optimization as it applies to sites already built and operating.
Such optimization is largely about defining your subject by keywords,
and putting those keywords into the page’s content and tags. Taking the
reverse approach is also possible: developing a site around keywords that
lead to a high-revenue AdSense account. That approach, which I cover later
in the next section, is trickier. The middle ground between optimizing a built
site and building an optimized site is adding pages to an existing site without
betraying the overall topicality, primarily to enhance AdSense revenue. Keep
reading to explore both these possibilities.
Jumat, 04 April 2008
Optimizing Your Site for AdSense Success
Keyword Verification and Link Popularity Tools
This section spotlights a few interactive tools. These pages don’t provide optimization
tools per se, such as meta tag generators. Rather, these gadgets check
on the results of your optimization efforts in two areas:
_ Keyword verification, which checks a URL’s presence on the results
pages of several search engines, when searching for certain keywords
_ Link popularity, which checks the number of incoming links to a URL, as
viewed through multiple search engines
Marketleap Keyword Verification tool
www.marketleap.com/verify
Marketleap.com provides an integrated set of optimization checks. The two
tools described here are beautifully designed and create elegant displays of
results. These gadgets are free to use.
Figure 16-2 shows the Keyword Verification tool. It tells you whether your site
(or specific page) is returned in the search results of 11 major search engines
and, if so, on what search results page it appears. (The definition of a results
page is not provided; my experiments indicate that a page probably equals 10
results.)
Follow these steps:
1. Enter a URL.
If you’re checking an inner page of your site, you don’t need to enter the
full address of that page, although it doesn’t hurt to do so. Marketleap
finds inner-page matches to your keywords to whatever extent the tested
search engines can find them.
2. Enter a keyword or phrase.
Type whatever you’ve optimized for, as if a Google user were searching for
that phrase. You’re likely to get more encouraging results if you enter a
phrase, not a single word. Placing quotes around the phrase, for an exact
match to word order, creates more hits, but doesn’t necessarily create a
realistic report of your site’s visibility to the average Google user.
3. Enter the displayed access code.
Simply type the code that appears in colored letters. Forcing users to
replicate the code prevents this tool from being overused by automated
scripts.
4. Click the Generate Report button.
A moment after the results first appear, they’re redrawn in a table, as
shown in Figure 16-3.
Note in Figure 16-3 that some engines match your keywords with a targeted
inner page (in this example, the page that’s best optimized for the keyword
phrase), and other engines can’t see that deeply. Google has crawled the site
carefully, but AltaVista has not.
Marketleap doesn’t check any engines beyond the third page. If your page
doesn’t appear in the results table, the omission is not necessarily an indicator
that your page has not been crawled by that engine. However, it does indicate
that the page is not optimized powerfully for that engine. In the context
of this book, Google is the top priority, so all is well with the results.
Marketleap Link Popularity Check
www.marketleap.com/publinkpop
Marketleap’s second optimization tool measures your incoming link network
(see Chapter 3). In an attractive twist, this little engine also lets you compare
your main link with three comparison URLs, as shown in Figure 16-4.
Finally — and this goes above the call of duty — the results page fills in gaps
by supplying total incoming links for many other URLs, providing a broad
context in which to evaluate your site. The result can be discouraging, but
here goes:
1. Enter your site’s URL, and then enter three comparison URLs.
In both cases, enter the exact page you want to compare, with the
understanding that in most cases it should be the home, or index, page.
Most incoming links aim straight for the front door. However, if you have
been optimizing and networking an inner page, this is the place to check
out the results.
2. Select an industry from the drop-down list.
This selection determines the nature of the fill-in sites that Marketleap
provides on the results page. The more accurately you choose the industry,
the more meaningful the context of your results.
3. Enter the access code.
Again, this step blocks automated scripts.
4. Click the Generate Report button.
Wait a few seconds for the results to appear on your screen. This tool is
usually slower than the Keyword Verification device.
Figure 16-5 illustrates a results table. You see only part of the table; the
comparison results continue down the page, ending with media juggernaut
CNN.com and its impressive 6.6 million backlinks.
Note that Google often shows fewer incoming links than the other four search
engines in the table. It can be a shock to think that your site’s hard-won backlinks
are incompletely represented in Google. Actually, Google doesn’t necessarily
divulge all incoming links in its index for a given page.
Google excludes similar results, which, in many cases, means inner pages of
sites. Those inner pages might be in your own site, if you generate a lot of your
own incoming links (most sites do). Furthermore, Google (at its discretion)
excludes the display of incoming links with low PageRanks. The result of these
omissions can make it seem that other engines do a better job of assessing a
site’s backlink network. That might or might not be true in any given crawl
cycle. The more common truth is that Google withholds some results of some
searches using the link: operator. Google explicitly warns Webmasters not to
trust the link: operator (used here for Google’s column in the results table)
for a full backlink picture. The value of this table lies in the comparisons it
affords.
From the search results table, use the drop-down menu to run the search
again against a different industry.
HighRankings.com
www.highrankings.com
Operated by Jill Whelan, an optimization consultant, the HighRankings site
is distinguished by a friendly atmosphere, a generous allotment of free articles,
a free, almost-weekly newsletter, and a discussion forum dedicated to
optimization.
The High Rankings Advisor newsletter, contains articles by Whalen and
guest writers. Many of these pieces are archived in the Advisor Articles
section; new and mid-level optimizers would do well to read through
the whole lot of them. The articles tend to be detail-oriented, with, for
example, entire tutorials devoted to a single meta tag. You can also find
great information about getting framed sites indexed in Google, submitting
to directories, and other basic tasks sometimes ignored by high-pressure
optimization shops. HighRankings.com maintains a vigorous do-it-yourself
sensibility, even as it offers site evaluations, writing services, and content
editing.
The discussion forum is possibly the most thorough and SEO-dedicated set of
message boards anywhere. This forum hosts well over 1000 topics and about
15,000 messages covering every possible aspect of site optimization. (See
Figure 16-1.)
Jill Whalen is an active participant and friendly moderator of the voluminous
Webmaster chatter. Conversations, like the articles, tend toward technical
details. Participants use the space to work out fine points of site coding, CSS
style sheets, supplementary programs that bundle code in spider-friendly
ways, strategies for organizing page elements at the code level, and so forth.
I recommend the HighRankings forum most highly to serious optimizers and
Webmasters at all levels who have questions.
Search Innovation
www.searchinnovation.com
Search Innovation is a search engine marketing company with a strong optimization
streak. Two sections of this site generously provide information: the
Articles and Resources sections.
The site’s articles, mostly written by founders Daria and Dale Goetsch, are
detailed, serious, and informative. These pieces cover such topics as effective
keywords, “organic” SEO (the practice of optimizing toward high placement
in search listings, as opposed to purchasing placement on search pages),
optimizing dynamic pages (a tricky subject many optimizers don’t go near),
link building, SEO myths, crawler methods, building site maps, writing effective
link text, and content writing.
The articles at this site are enough to get this site mentioned in this chapter,
but the Resources page shines just as brightly. Here you find a directory of
forums, newsletters, blogs, interactive tools, seminars, and Web sites that are
resourceful in other ways.
AdSense for Search
There was one more AdSense feature I needed to discuss. "Everything we've discussed so far about AdSense has been about placing ads on third-party Web pages," I said. "Google refers to this as AdSense for content, because it's all about Web-page content. This is the main AdSense program, the one that everyone uses." The three of them nodded their understanding.
AdSense for Search
Learn more about AdSense for Search at www.google.com/adsense/ws-overview.
"There is a second AdSense program available," I continued, "called AdSense for search that appeals to a more limited audience."
"Is it for other search engines?" Anita asked.
"No," I answered. "In fact, one of the conditions of joining the AdSense programwe'll get to those shortlyis that you don't display ads on any search-result pages you might have on your site. In other words, you can't compete with Google's bread and butter, however minuscule that competition might be, and use Google to make money at it."
"I guess that makes sense," Anita said. "So what is AdSense for search, then?"
"AdSense for search is about getting your visitors to use Google for their searching," I explained. "If you direct your visitors to Google's search engine, Google is willing to share some of the advertising revenue with you. Joining AdSense for search gives you the right to display a Google search box on your site. Visitors who enter queries into that search box are sent to a custom Google search page. The search page displays your logo and displays search results generated using the Google search engine. Search-related advertisements are displayed prominently at the top of the page. Just as with AdSense for content, you make money if visitors click those ads."
Claude wasn't sure what the benefit of this program was: "Why wouldn't the visitors just go to www.google.com or use their browser's search box? I normally use the Google Toolbar for my searching."
"Because it's a simple way for visitors to search your site," I explained, "not just the Web. It's not a great money-maker for most sites, but if you want to add searching capabilities to your site without having to do any programming, it's an easy way to do it. We'll talk a bit about it later, but really most of our focus is on AdSense for content. I'm just mentioning it because it's an interesting and underused feature."
Blogging for Money
The Web was able to grow quickly because it was built on simple standards. A moderately technical person could download, install, and configure the necessary software in a matter of hours. Web browser software is now bundled with every new computer. Operating systems like Linux and Mac OS X even include built-in Web server software."
"One more thing, then," Claude continued. "Can you tell me the difference between a Web site and a blog? Stef's been telling me that I should 'get with it' and create a blog since I spend so much time on the computer anyhow." Stef is Claude's daughter, who attends a local college.
"When it comes right down to it," I continued, "a blog is just a set of frequently and easily updated pages on a Web site. The term blog is short for weblog, a type of online diary or journal. For some people, their blog is their entire Web site. For others, a blog is just one component of the Web site. Does Stef have a blog?" Claude indicated that she did. "Then I'd love to talk to her about it. The more advanced features of a blogletting readers post comments, tracking references by other blogsrequire the installation of special software on the Web server, so many bloggers let blogging services like LiveJournal or Bloggerwhich, incidentally, is owned by Googlehandle the technical details for them These services can host a blog for you on their own Web sites, but most can also publish the blog over to a Web site that you control. I'd be curious to know how she set up her blog."
The Web Address
Every public Web site has a Web address that distinguishes it from other sites. The address includes a host name and a domain name. The host name is the name of the computer on which the Web server software runs. The domain name is the public name for a group of computers.
For example, the Web address www.EricGiguere.com has the host name www (for World Wide Web) and the domain name EricGiguere.com. In some cases, the address includes additional information after the domain name, but usually the host name and domain name together are enough to locate a Web site. The host name is important when there are two or more Web servers in a domain, but can normally be dropped otherwise. By convention, the primary Web site in a domain uses the special host name www.
Your site will need a Web address, so you'll need to obtain a domain name. Finding the right name is harder than it seems. Ideally, the domain name will directly relate to your site's content, because AdSense uses the Web address as one of its inputs when it tries to figure out what your site is really aboutso choosing a good name is important.
History of the Web
An excellent and authoritative history of the Internet and the World Wide Web can be found on the Internet Society's site, www.isoc.org/internet/history/.
The Web Server Makes It Public
The Web server is a software application that exposes a Web site for others to see. You can't have a Web site without a Web server, because the server is what a browser communicates with in order to fetch Web pages. Without the server, your Web site is just a bunch of files sitting in your computer that only you can access.
Unlike a Web site, a Web server is complicated to set up and (especially) to maintain. In fact, there are all kinds of reasons not to run the Web server software yourself, even if you're technically inclined. I'll get to that later, but consider this: If I don't run a Web server, why should you? Let someone else run the Web server for you on their own computer. This is called Web hosting and it'll get your site up and running a lot faster than setting up your own Web server.
Web Server Confusion
Sometimes Web server refers to the physical computer that the Web server software runs on, as opposed to the software itself. To avoid this confusion, I always say Web server to refer to the software and server computer to refer to the computer on which the Web server runs.
From Web Page to Web Site
Once you have a Web page, you can build a Web site. Let me repeat this point, because I want to emphasize it: If you can build a Web page, you can build a Web site. A Web site is just a set of pages that share a common Web address. In other words, the Web site is where the Web page "lives," so to speak, on the Internet.
Although single-page Web sites definitely exist, most sites have multiple pages, often hundreds or thousands of them. But such sites are built one page at a time, so don't feel overwhelmed by the task ahead of you. If you can find time to create one or two pages a week, you'll have 50 to 100 pages on your site in a matter of months. Not that you have to wait that longyou can start making money with your site with just a few pages.
No Programming Required
The kind of Web site you're going to build doesn't require any programming. In technical terms, it's called a static site because the Web pages hardly ever change. By contrast, a dynamic site has pages that change, either because the content is updated from a database or because the content is generated by small computer programs that vary the material depending on the viewer. Sites like www.amazon.com make extensive use of dynamic page generation.
The Ads
I routinely check my AdSense account, even on weekends, because one of the great features about AdSense is that revenue is tracked by the system as it happens, with very little delay. That Saturdaytwo days after the Vioxx recall and one day after I had written the parodyI made just over $26 from the ads on my site.This was a much higher value than normal for my site.
As it turns out, one of the tongue-in-cheek "predictions" I had made had come true. In the parody, I had a so-called "industry analyst" (whose name is actually an anagram for what do I know) talk about the impact of the Vioxx recall on Google's revenues:
"Google's revenues might actually increase because now a lot of lawyers and consumer advocacy groups will start buying ads urging people to sue Merck. Lawyers are willing to pay a lot to find the right people to file for class action suits. This could actually be a short-term bonanza for Google."
This particular prediction was right on the money. Almost overnight, law firms had started placing Vioxx-related advertisements. They smelled opportunity (expensive litigation) and were looking for potential clients. And they were willing to pay to get to them. As I discovered, the lawyers were paying Google several dollars per click, an unusually high amountper-click fees of between 5 and 50 cents are the norm. The Vioxx recall was definitely good for Google, and, by extension, good for me!
Who Cares about My Pages?
Why would an advertiser deal with anyone other than the big sites? There are a few good reasons, in fact:
Not everyone visits the big sites.
The big sites are expensive advertising venues.
Ads on big sites are aimed at broad segments.
But no advertiser can afford to place ads on millions of small Web sitesit's just too much work. Even dealing with the big sites is a hassle. That's why advertisers use advertising services like Google's AdWords or Yahoo!'s Overture.
"It's all about finding the right audience," I explained to Claude. "If your pages attract a segment of the population that advertisers want to target, even if it's a small segment, they'll be interested. But they want the advertising service to find that segment for them. That's where Google's AdSense program comes in."
Perhaps an analogy would help my case. "Look at the economy," I continued. "There are many more small businesses than big businesses, but big business gets all the press and publicity. Yet small businesses employ as many people as big businesses and account for most of the long-term job gains, according to government statistics. You don't have to be big to make a difference. Most sites on the Web are small. That doesn't make them unimportant or uninteresting.
Monitor and Update the Pages
The final step is to monitor and update your Web pages on a regular basis. This is the easiest step to perform, but it's an important one you want your visitors to keep coming back. If they see that your pages are current, that the content changes in regular and interesting ways, they're more likely to come back. You want them to come back. You want them to link to your pages from their own pages. You want them to tell others about your pages. Making sure your pages are always available and are always up-to-date will make this possible.
Monitoring your pages can also help you create new content. With a bit of work, you can usually figure out which search terms visitors are using to find your site. These termsand some of them may surprise youwill suggest topics to focus on when creating new pages or updating existing pages.
Why AdSense?
While it's true that AdSense is just one advertising system, it offers a number of advantages over most of the others. Not only is there no cost to join it, it's also available to almost anyone with content on the Web. The ads are primarily text-based (image-based ads are also available as an option) and come in a wide variety of formats for placement on your pages. The ads are also drawn from the same large pool of advertisements shown by Google on its own search pages. Finally, the automated page analysis ensures that the ads displayed on your pages are relevant to the content of those pages
Read More......Drive Traffic to the Pages
The third step is to increase the number of visitors, or traffic, to your pages. Just showing ads isn't enough: in most cases, you only make money when visitors click on the ads, and the ads will be clicked by only a small percentage of your page visitors. Increase the number of visitors, and you'll increase the number of clicks.
This step sounds simple, but it's not. In fact, driving traffic to your pages is the hardest step of the process. With so many Web pages out there, the chances that someone will stumble upon yours by accident are small. Your best bets for traffic are to generate good word of mouth and to get your pages higher in Google's page rankings
Show Ads on the Pages
The second step is to show ads on those Web pages. Viewing Web pages doesn't usually cost the reader anything. Few sites can get away with charging for access to their materialthere's simply too much competing material already freely available on the Web.
If you can't charge for access to the material, how do you make money? It depends on the nature of your pages. If you're running a business that sells products or services, then the pages are indirect moneymakers. They're a marketing expense, a cost of doing business. But you don't have anything to sell. Or do you?
Well, actually, you doyou have space on your Web site. You can make money by selling parts of your Web pages as advertising space. This is the same way that newspapers and magazinesthe classic pre-Web content servicesmake most of their money.
Sample AdSense Ads
If you'd like to see sample AdSense ads based on any URL or keyword, try Digital Point Solution's handy Sandbox utility at www.digitalpoint.com/tools/adsense-sandbox/.
Google makes this step easy. Once you've created your Web pagesor at least some of themyou join Google's AdSense program. Google will read the pages you made, analyze the content that's on them, and use that analysis to select ads that are relevant to the content of the page. All you need to do is insert some Google-supplied codedon't worry, there's no programming involved, just cutting and pastinginto the pages. If someone clicks an ad on one of your pages, Google gives you a cut of the per-click fee they charge advertisers. And it's all automated, even the ad selection
Create Some Web Pages
The first step is to create some Web pages. Don't look so dubious Web page creation is not as mysterious as it seems. The basics are easy to understand, and there are many tools (both free and commercial) available to help you. What's hard is coming up with the content for those pages.
When you think about it, the Web is all about content surfing the Web is just looking for stuff. With billions of pages out there, the competition for a surfer's attention is very stiff. The better your content, the more unique and useful it is, the better your chances that others will find it. That's why I'll be discussing creating good content finding something to say and saying it well before getting into the mechanics of actually creating Web pages
Keyword Matching Options
AdWords offers a number of keyword matching options. Understanding these options can help to improve the relevancy of your ad placement, leading to fewer ad impressions but a higher CPC.
The keyword matching options are:
Broad match
This is the default option. When you enter a phrase such as sail boat, ads will appear when a user's query contains sail and boat in any order in any part of a query, possibly along with other terms. In addition, broad-matched ads will also show for expanded matches, which are matches with plural (or singular) and other variant forms of the words in a phrase.
Phrase match
When you enter your keywords in quotes for example, "sail boat" your ad will appear when a user enters the search phrase in order as it appears within the quotes, but possibly with other words as well, for example, big sail boat.
Exact match
Exact matches are the least flexible kind of keyword matching. The term that users search for must exactly match the phrase you enter in brackets for example, [sail boat]in order, without any additional terms. Exact matching is the most targeted option among experienced AdWords managers because users searching for terms that make this kind of narrow match are more likely to be interested exactly in your business's offerings.
Negative keyword match
Negative keywords are added to a search phrase, by adding a minus sign in front of the negative keyword, to make a search more precisely targeted. For example, if you target sail boat -blue, your ad will appear when a user searches for sail boat, but not blue sail boat. Negative keywords are an important mechanism for making targeting more precise.
How Your Site Appears to a Bot
To state the obvious, before your site can be indexed by a search engine, it has to be found by the search engine. Search engines find web sites and web pages using software that follows links to crawl the Web. This kind of software is variously called a crawler, a spider, a search bot, or simply a bot (bot is a diminutive for "robot").
To be found quickly by a search engine bot, it helps to have inbound links to your site. More important, the links within your site should work properly. If a bot encounters a broken link, it cannot reach, or index, the page pointed to by the broken link.
Syndication Feeds
As you may know, syndication is a simple XML-based mechanism for publishing content. Syndication feeds come in two predominant flavors: RSS and Atom. From the viewpoint of publicizing your web site, you don't need to worry about the differences between them.
Content is syndicated by encoding it within an RSS or Atom feed. This feed canand usually doesinclude links to the site originating the content.
Subscribers can view syndication feeds in all different kinds of software, including web browsers, email clients, standalone programs, and on HTML web pages. There's no mechanism built into syndication to pay for subscriptions, but once you are subscribed your feed display is automatically updated when a new item is added to the feed. It's up to the syndication-viewing software to decide how to render feeds, but software that can display web pages often shows the underlying pages to which the feed links.
There's some controversy about how publishers can best use syndication feeds, since it's not obvious how to make money from them. (Google has introduced a program allowing publishers to insert contextual ads within syndication feeds, but this is a controversial step.)
However, syndication feeds work well as a device for driving traffic to a site because:
Feed content is under the control of the publisher.
Most feeds contain items that are thematically linked (and can be related to a site).
Feed items provide content along with links back to more content on a publisher's site.
It's easy to distribute a syndication feed.
In other words, many savvy web publishers use syndication feeds as a kind of teaser for their real web content
Finding Sites to Make a Link Request
To find sites that are appropriate for an inbound link request, you should:
Consider the sites you find useful, entertaining, and informative
Use the web taxonomic directories to find sites in your category and in related categories (See "Working with Directories," earlier in this chapter)
Use specialized searching syntax to find the universe of sites that search engines such as Google regard as "related" to yours
If you've looked carefully at Google search results, you may have noticed a Similar pages link
The Similar Pages link is supposed to show you more pages like the one the link modifies. How well it works varies widely (it works better on popular, highly ranked pages and less well on obscure pages). But it can give you some leads.
You can bypass the process of clicking Similar Pages by using the Google related: operator followed by a web page directly in a Google search. For example, entering the following Google search:
related:www.bearhome.com
is comparable to clicking the Similar Pages link for www.bearhome.com (and shows exactly the same web pages as the search result).
If you find it easier to analyze data presented visually, a demonstration tool called Google Visual Search, provided free by Anacubis, may be right for you. Anacubis's Google Visual Search Tool , http://www.anacubis.com/googledemo/google, uses the Google Web APIs to (among other things) present a visual representation of the sites similar to yours. For example, Figure 2-9 shows a visual representation of sites that are similar to http://www.mechanista.com, a site about antique typewriters, calculators, and other mechanisms
The Best Inbound Links
The bestmeaning most likely to drive trafficinbound links come from:
Sites that publish content that is complementary and related to the content on your site
Hub sites that are a central repository, discussion area, and community site for a particular interest group (for example, a mention on SlashDot [http://www.slashdot.org]) can drive huge amounts of traffic to sites related to technology, so much so that the phenomenon of a sudden uptick in traffic due to inbound links has become known as the "Slashdot Effect"
Becoming Popular
Sometimes it seems like all of life has the same themes as high school: what's important is being popular. A significant measure of popularity on the Web is how many inbound linkslinks from other sites to your siteyou have.
Obtaining inbound links is not rocket science, but it is labor-intensive and does require some thought. The best way to get another site to link to your site is to ask for it, as obvious as that may seem.
It makes sense for sites to link to your site when they have similar or related contentalways assuming the webmaster in charge of the site linking to you likes your content. This is a reasonable thing for the webmaster in charge of the other site to do because it adds value for the other site's visitors. (If your site is not adding value, you might want to rethink its premise.)
Submitting Your Sites to Search Engines
Google and most other search engines use several separate mechanisms:
A program that crawls the Web to find sites, also called a crawler or a spider. Once found (crawled), sites are placed in the search engine's index.
Software that ranks sites in the search engine's index to determine their order of delivery when someone uses Google to search for a particular keyword or phrase.
To start with, if your site hasn't been found, you won't be ranked by a search engine at all (to state the obvious). So the first task is getting your site into the systems of Google and other search engines.
If you have inbound links links to your sitesfrom other sites in a search engine's index, then the search engine's spider will find your siteeventually. But why not see if you can speed the process up?
The rub, of course, is that by submitting a form to a search engine there is no guarantee if, and when, your sites will be included by a given search engine. The best approach is to list your site using the search engine's procedures, and check back in six months to see if you are included in the search engine's index. If not, submit again. In other words, this is a process that requires patience and may produce limited resultsbut at least the price is right!
Summarizing, search engines find the web pages they index by using software to follow links on the Web. Since the Web is huge, and always expanding and changing, it can be a while before this software finds your particular site. Therefore, it's smart to speed this process up by manually submitting your site to search engines
Naming Your Site
If you haven't already picked a name for your web site, try to select a name that helps to tell your story. Good names, at least with a .com suffix, are hard to find these days. It's worth working hard to find the right name.
The Cult of Personality
Life writ large with the cult of personality might well describe the times we live in. Paris Hilton, an heiress with an apparently vacuous personality, has a television show, and is famous, because (and not despite) of that vacuous personality. I think the reality is that Paris is a great deal smarter than she seemsalthough another moral you can certainly draw from the Paris Hilton success story is that sex sells.
My point is that people, particularly celebrities, get attention these days. If you have celebrity, have access to celebrities, or have ideas about how to create celebrity, I say: "Go for it! Milk it!" And don't forget to mention your web site.
It's reasonable that people should be interested in people. People are interesting. As the poet Alexander Pope said a long time ago, "The proper study of mankind is man." (If Pope had included both genders, we moderns could surely go along with this.)
It's really very simple. Getting web site traffic requires publicity. Publicity is best generated using stories about people, particularly interesting or notorious people. If your web site has an interesting story about people, let others know about it (perhaps using a press release). Your people story will draw traffic.
Ideally, a site name, as I mentioned, should tell, or evoke, the story of your site and be memorable. Consider these classics:
Amazon: the world's greatest river meets the world's largest inventory.
eBay: I don't know why this one works, but it does.
Google: a very big number fits with the very large quantity of information Google indexes
Creating a Checklist
In addition, your plan should provide a checklist with specific "to do" itemsessentially, all of the techniques used to create online publicity described in this chapter. The list should also include offline marketing and publicity placements appropriate to your target audience and your story.
Successfully getting online publicity and generating traffic is largely a matter of focus and keeping track of the details. Creating a checklist as part of your plan will help you make sure that none of these details fall through the cracks.
Popular Sites: Using Alexa
I've already mentioned Google as an example of a site with broad traffic. There are, of course, many others. If you are curious, you can go to Alexa, http://www.alexa.com, which monitors both how much traffic a site gets and the relative increase (or decrease) in site popularity.
Where Does Content Come From?
No, content doesn't grow on trees. Content is a valuable commodityand perhaps more than a commodity. Great content is wonderful and unique, and not fungible.
Communities can supply a great deal of content if you have an idea for a good framework that will entice contributions about specific subjects.
If you are a writer, you can create content yourself. (Maybe this is the time for your inner writer to finally come out!)
Site owners can hire writers, either as employees or freelancers, or with a profit-sharing arrangement.
You can often pick up the rights to publish material on the Web that was originally created for a book, magazine, or newspaper very inexpensively. Content creators may be placed to let you use their content simply in exchange for publicityin the form of an author credit as an expert and/or a link.
You also might check out book and literary agencies. Some of them run a sideline business supplying aggregated recycled content and represent whole groups of writers.
So even if you aren't confident that you can personally create valuable content, don't despair: there are many inexpensive ways to publish valuable content without writing it yourself.
Don't underestimate the value of resource pages as content. A simple page of links to sites related to a specific subject (for example, sites of interest to collectors of antique typewriters and calculators) may draw traffic if the links are accurately described, kept up-to-date, and expanded when new relevant sites are opened.
On the Alexa site, click on the Top 500 Sites tab to see an ordered list of the most highly trafficked sites, updated daily. The most trafficked sites according to Alexa are shown in Figure 1-1.
Alexa's Movers and Shakers, shown in Figure 1-2, is also interesting. This snapshot of the "right here and now" Web is useful for seeing if there are any Web-wide trends in action, and also for learning about the kinds of exogenous events that move large-scale web sites up and down the chutes and ladders of popularity.
Although it is probably unrealistic to expect that you or I will be piloting sites that are the top of Alexa's list, it is worth spending time learning about popularity on the Web if you want to build successful sites. Alexa provides the tools you can use to see for yourself what is trafficked and what is gaining or losing among top-ranked sites.
You can also use Alexa to see traffic statistics for sites that are not in the top 500. For almost any site that has been around a while, Alexa will give you an idea of traffic statistics and whether it is gaining or losing traffic.
Alexa works by collating results from users throughout the Web who have installed the special Alexa Toolbar. (If you'd like, you too can install the Alexa Toolbar and help with popularity statistics.) There's some question about the statistical validity of Alexa for less trafficked sites because of this method of gathering dataAlexa's results are probably skewed towards users who are already web savvy and heavy users.
Most likely, Alexa's results are not very meaningful for sites that are ranked below 100,000 in popularity (very roughly, with fewer than 10,000 visitors per week).
The Alexa ranking of 100,000 or lower is also a great divide: if your site is in the top 100,000 you have content that many advertisers will consider worthwhile. Being in the top Alexa is a pretty good goal for your web site or sites: you can make real money from a top 100,000 site; it is an ambitious goal, but attainable.
Useful Free Services and Software
TinyURL , http://tinyurl.com, provides a practical and very useful (but simple) service: it allows you to convert long, unwieldy URLsfor example, like those you often see from Amazon.com when you select an inventory itemto short, convenient URLs that are easy to use in HTML code (and easy to enter in a browser). Astoundingly, this service is free. Last time I looked, TinyURL had more than 185 million hits a month. Talk about traffic!
In part, a service like TinyURL works to generate ad revenue because it is so targeted. If you go to the site, you'll find Google AdSense content ads for things like DNS (Domain Name Server) services and software that fixes technology problems with browsers. In other words, technology that addresses the problems of reasonably savvy web users is likely to be contextually relevant to the concerns of visitors to TinyURL. Enough users click these ads to more than justify the startup cost and ongoing costs of maintaining the URL conversion service.
It's splitting hairs to try to decide whether sites that provide access to free downloadable software are providing a service or information. Whatever the case, a site that provides information, links, resources, and downloadable software covering a particular technology can draw a great deal of traffic.
For example, if you want to learn about RSS and Atom syndication softwaretools for reading and writing feedsand to download this software (and find easy one-stop links for the location of the download sites), a good site to visit is the RSS Compendium , http://allrss.com. Because of their usefulness, one-stop technology sites such as RSS Compendium (whether or not they provide access to downloads) can draw considerable traffic and content-based ad revenue.
If you are going to publish a site whose main draw is access to software, and then make money off the site with content advertising, it is worth bearing in mind that software that runs on the Web typically generates multiple page views for a single user running the software. (In other words, the user spends time on the web site.) This makes it better for the purpose of generating content revenue than a site that merely publishes information about software with download links.
With a download link, once the user downloads the software, there is probably going to be no more interest in the web content.
Funny Web Destinations
Humor itself, as is well known, is in the eye of the beholder (and by itself as a category has infinite variety), but an example of a humorous site that is popular and makes money from contextual advertising is Googlefight , http://www.googlefight.com, a site that compares the Google rankings of two terms such as "God" and "Satan."
Humorous sites tend to have short half-lives. Like stars going nova, they can draw tons of traffic for a short while and then fade from view. For example, when Christo's Gates, an elaborate and well-publicized art installation, were up in Central Park, New York, a number of parody sitesCrackers Gates, Nicky's Gates, the Somerville Gatessprang up. These sites were quite popular for a week or two, but when the Christo art installation was taken down and the media publicity surrounding the installation faded, so did interest in the parody sites.
Today, everyone is bombarded with content in a variety of mediums. Things come and go quickly. For the most part, humor sites that are static , meaning that the content doesn't change, publish content that can be expected to fade from public interestwhich means that to make money from this content you must be prepared to strike while the iron is hot, because it will only be popular for a short while.
The reason that a site like Googlefight has some longevity, or legs, is that it draws upon a community effort to constantly update itself (with new examples of humorous juxtapositions). Community participation is a crucial element in many web content success storiesand has the virtue that you don't have to create the content yourself! See "Great Communities," later in this chapter, for more information.
Build It and They Will Come: Creating Popular Web Sites
"Build it and they will come" is a wonderful line in the movies. Too bad it's usually not quite so easy in real life! True, good web content is occasionallynot alwaysdiscovered surprisingly quickly. More often, it requires a great deal of disciplined work to draw traffic to a web site, no matter how good the content of the site is.
And what is a good site and good web content, anyhow? "Good" does not mean a site with a halo! The way I use the word good in this chapter is probably circular: a site, and its content, are good if the site and its content draw traffic (or can draw traffic when suitably promoted).
If your site has a great deal of traffic, then the site's traffic is broad . Google itself is a prime example of a broad-traffic site: people use Google to search for myriad different things. But narrow, or focused , traffic can be more useful to advertisers than broad, unfocused traffic. For example, a site discussing complex ophthalmologic conditions might be very successful with targeted advertising even if it draws only a few hundred users a day. Google's traffic becomes more focused, and less broad, when a keyword search is initiated. And all the targeting in the world won't help unless you get some eyeballs.
To make money with your web site content it's a necessary (but not sufficient) condition that you have good contenteither broad or targeted at a specific niche. Content can mean information, but it also can mean other thingsfor example, software applications or jokes.
From a technical viewpoint, there are some issues about setting up a content web site so you can be flexible about the advertising you publish. Flexibility is good: to make money with advertising you need to do a great deal of tweaking. I'll explain how to set sites up so you can easily modify advertising as you go along without having to rewrite your entire site
A Final Tip: Googling Google
If you find yourself staring at a Google feature you've never heard of before, or if you're wondering when Google introduced the calculator, or if you want to know about getting a job at the company, head to the bottom of the home page or any search results page and click About Google. The links there take you to all four corners of the Google universeif you can figure out where to look. For example: Is the calculator under Web Search Features or Services & Tools?
Half the time, it's easier to simply Google Google. There's a blank search box on almost every page within About Google, usually labeled "Search our site" or "Find on this site." When you run a search (like a google job) you get a regular page of Google results, complete with handy snippets. It's a terrific timesaverletting you learn within seconds that the place to send your résumé is www.google.com/jobs, for example. Too bad they don't make Google for your life.
Tip: Cheaters may never win, but cribbing with the Google Cheat Sheet (www.google.com/help/cheatsheet.html) provides a quick hit of instant gratification when you can't remember a particular Google command. The Cheat Sheet keeps essential Google information stashed on one simple Web page, including a quick recap of common Google search operators, calculator functions, and the URLs for other Google services.
Nine Very Cool Google Tricks
Google has a handful of tricks up its sleeve. Here are nine special and useful things you can do with Googleseveral of which even search hounds tend to overlook.
1.6.1. Definitions
When you can't remember what "sedulous" means, or you want to find out what a "wireless LAN" is, you don't have to bother opening the dictionary or calling your friendly neighborhood IT guy. Instead, Google can come to your rescue. Type define into the blank search box, followed by your term, like this:
define sedulous
and then press Enter to have Google include a definition at the top of your search results. (The definitions come from Web sites Google tracks.)
If you want a list of definitions and no other results, type in define followed by a colon and your terms, with no spaces on either side of the colon, like this:
define:wireless LAN
You can also get a list of definitions by typing your term into the Google Deskbar and pressing Ctrl+D (not available for the Mac). Alternatively, if you use Safari as your Web browser, you can type define: followed by your term in the Google search box (not available in Windows) to get the definitions for a word.
Google Definitions aren't just English-only, either. If you ask the site to define a multilingual word like "rouge," for example, and then click "all languages," you get definitions for what the word means in English, French, and Germanall on the same results page.
Tip: If Google doesn't come up with a definition that helps youor in rare cases, if it doesn't come up with one at alltry searching for your terms at www.OneLook.com, which aggregates definitions from nearly 1,000 dictionaries. That ought to do it.
1.6.2. Calculator
This trick is extra cool: You can use the blank Google search box as a calculator. Just enter an equation, like 2+2, and then press Enter to have Google tell you 2+2=4. For multiplication, use the asterisk (*), like this: 2*3. For division, use the slash (/), like this: 10/3. You can also use the search box to perform unit conversions, like this: 5 kilometers in miles or how many teaspoons in a cup? For a chart listing of units of measure Google can convert, check out Nancy Blachman's site, GoogleGuide, at www.googleguide.com/calculator.html.
The calculator works for simple equations and for some seriously complex operations, too, like logarithms and trigonometric functions. You can find a rundown of all its capabilities at www.google.com/help/calculator.html. And if you know what a physical constant isor the phrase "base of the natural system of logarithms" makes your heart pitter patter with joyGoogleGuide does a terrific job of steering you through these features.
Tip: For a great alternative interface to Google's calculator, check out Soople at http://soople.com/soople_intcalchome.php. it tells you all about it.
1.6.3. Phonebook
Google provides a phonebook service, letting you look up a phone number and address (with corresponding map) for business or residential listings. You can make it work in two ways: either as part of your regular search results (with a cute phone icon indicating that something is a phonebook listing), or as a separate set of listings. shows the difference.
Figure 1-17. Top: You get just one or two results when you know lots of details beforehandlike the full name of the person or business, and their state or Zip codeso you're likely to hit the right result.
Bottom: A full listing is the way to go when you have only a partial name and a state. (Either way, the listings are sometimes out of date, as shown at top.)
To have a single residential listing appear at the top of a regular results page, try typing any of the following into the Google search box:
First name (or first initial), last name, city (state is optional)
First name (or first initial), last name, state
First name (or first initial), last name, area code
First name (or first initial), last name, Zip code
Last name, city, state
Last name, Zip code
For a single business listing, typing in the company name along with city and state or Zip code ought to do the trick.
Tip: You can also type an area code and phone number business or residential to get the name and address associated with it in Google's phonebook. You don't need to include any punctuation.
To get a page of nothing but phonebook listings, type the word phonebook followed by a colon, then a space, and then the name and state you want to look up. (Weirdly, you can't capitalize phonebook.) The phonebook listings give you about 600 results, so if you're looking for a common name, add the city (if you know it) to narrow your search. Your query should look something like this:
phonebook: ansonia veterinary center NY
or:
phonebook: ansonia veterinary center new york NY
You can also narrow your search by telling Google whether you want to search for business listings or residential listings only. To limit your search to residential listings, type rphonebook before the name and state. For business listings, use bphonebook. (If you don't specify one or the other, and your results have both types, Google gives you five of each and lets you pick which you'd like the full set for.)
Note: Google has a parallel service, Google Local, that provides contact information for businesses anywhere in the U.S. Unlike the phonebook feature, which requires that you know a name, Google Local works more like a Yellow Pages, letting you search by business type (eyeglasses, or bagels, or dog walkers) in a specific Zip code or town. The results look similar to phonebook listings. (Sometimes, when you run a search even with a business name, you get results from Google Local, which has a compass logo rather than a phone icon.
The phonebook trick has a couple of quirks:
You can't use the minus sign to exclude terms. For example, if you want to find every New Yorker with the last name Doe except those with the first name John, you can't run the search rphonebook: doe -john new york NY.
You can't use OR to find listings in more than one state. For example, the query bphonebook: espn (NY OR NJ) gives you listings only in New Jersey, since Google reads the rightmost part of your query. On the other hand, you can use OR with the name of a person or business. So if you want to find an array of chain restaurants in the heart of Manhattan, try bphonebook: (espn OR hooters) new york NY.
Tip: If you want to remove your listing from Google's phonebook, head over to www.google.com/help/pbremoval.html, which provides a delisting form for residences and a snail-mail address to send delisting requests for businesses.
1.6.4. Street Maps
If you enter a U.S. street addressincluding city and state, or Zip codeGoogle usually tops your results with links to several maps.
1.6.5. Stock Quotes
If you enter a ticker symbol for a company or mutual fund listed on the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, or the American Stock Exchange, Google begins your results with a link for that corporation or fund; when you click the link, Google takes you to a page with tabs of stock information from Yahoo Finance, Quicken, and other companies. You can enter one symbol, like this: msft (for Microsoft). Or several symbols, like this:
msft gm dis
If you don't know the ticker symbol for a company, try the full name. If Google recognizes it as a public company, it provides a link for stock quotes at the end of the result for that company.
Figure 1-18. Top: The stock-quote trick works for companies but not mutual funds.
Bottom: When searching for information about some public companies, your search results may come back with an up-to-date graphic of the firm's most recent stock performance.
Even when you're not specifically looking for the financial lowdown, stock quotes and charts may show up in your regular search results. Type in ebay, and you often get the stock's most recent daily performance results from NASDAQ, atop links to all other things eBay on your search results page.
Tip: Sometimes, adding the word company or corporation after the proper name in your query (like Microsoft Corporation) can prompt Google to recognize that you want stock info.
1.6.6. Patents, Tracking IDs, and Other Numeric Goodies
Hardly anyone knows this, but Google lets you search for numbers on the Web. And not just any numbers, but specific tracking IDs: U.S. patent numbers, FAA airplane registration numbers, FCC equipment ID tags, Universal Product Codes, maps by area code or Zip code, and vehicle identification numbers. When Google comes up with a match for your number, it shows you a special listing at the top of your results page.
Figure 1-19. Each type of result from a number search has a slightly different look, but they all appear at the top of a results page and include a link to the Web page with the info you're looking for.
Here's how to run the specific searches:
UPS, FedEx, and U.S. Postal Service tracking numbers. Looking up package tracking numbers and finding out whether your Lands' End long underwear is stuck in a warehouse in Kentucky has long been a major benefit of the Web. The process just got easier. Simply type your tracking number in a blank search box, and Google provides a link to a Web page with your item's transit history.
Patent numbers. If you look up patent numbers regularlyor everyou know the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office makes you jump through a lot of hoops to find a patent by number. Stave off a few gray hairs by using Google to look them up instead. Just preface the number with the word "patent," like this: patent 5123123.
Universal Product Codes (UPCs). For some basic information on consumer products, like their manufacturer, try looking up the UPC, like this: 036000250015 (no need to include UPC first). Most of the time, you can find UPCs under an item's barcode.
Federal Communications Commission equipment ID numbers. If you're an engineer at a wireless phone company, and you want inside info on a competitor's product, check out the FCC's database. To get there, type fcc into Google, followed by the ID number, like this: fcc G9H2-7930.
Flight numbers. Want to find out if your cousin's flight from Ottawa is on time? Check flight status by typing in the airline and flight number, like this: continental 501.
Federal Aviation Administration airplane registration numbers. If you're the head of a startup airline, and you're considering buying a used plane from one of the big industry players, this feature's for you! Just type in the registration number directly, like n233aa, and Google gives you a link to the FAA site with some details about the manufacturer and history of that plane.
Tip: You can typically find airplane registration numbers on the tail of a plane.
Vehicle identification numbers (VINs). If you're buying a used car, you can use the VIN to learn more about that individual auto's history (the VIN is usually on a small metal tag at the bottom edge of the windshield). Type in a number, like JH4NA1157MT001832, and Google provides a link to the Carfax info for that car.
Maps by area code or Zip code. Type in an area code, like 212, or a Zip code like 95472, and the top of your Google results includes a link for a MapQuest map of that region. The maps generally cover a larger area than the area code, but they can give you a sense of whether 609 is in New Jersey or Idaho.
Note: If you'd like Google to add another type of number to its search service, let them know: suggestions@google.com.
1.6.7. Weather
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, thanks to Google's weather forecast feature. Just search for weather, followed by the name of the U.S. city you're meteorologically mulling, as in weather fargo. Google pops up current conditions and the four-day forecast for your specified burg. (The info comes courtesy of the Weather Underground site.)
Figure 1-20. Your four-day forecast is just a few keystrokes away in Google's search box; just type in weather, followed by the name of an American city. And if four days isn't far enough ahead for you, click the first link to jump to an even more foresightful forecast.
Most of the time, just a city name is enough information, but you can also add in the state and Zip code if you don't get the results you had in mind. (There are more than a few Portlands, after all.) And although you can easily get the weather for London (in Kentucky) and Paris (in Tennessee) if you include the state abbreviations, Google's weather feature usually refers you to CNN or BBC links for international weather.
1.6.8. Q&A
If you find yourself in need of fast facts, Google's Q&A feature may help fill the bill. The trick's to phrase your question as a fact.
If you want to know how many people live in South Korea or who the president of Mexico is these days, for example, just search for population of south korea or president of mexico. Google brings back the answer at the top of your results page.
1.6.9. Movies
Don't waste time rustling up a newspaper or waiting through Mr. Moviefone's yammering over the phone: You can find out what's playing down at the nearest multimegaplex by asking Google. If you live in Phoenix, just type movies phoenix or showtimes phoenix in the search box, and you'll get a list of films playing in theaters around Phoenix. If you click the film title you're considering, Google gives you a list of theaters and screening schedules.
You can search directly for a movie currently playing in your town, too. If you typed in star wars phoenix during the summer of 2005, you would've gotten a list of the theaters showing Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith around Arizona's capital.
If you've already told Google where you live using Google Local,you can leave off the city name and just type movies, showtimes, or star wars to get theaters, schedules, and showtimes (respectively) for your area.
Google's movie mania isn't limited to listing showtimes. If you remember vague details about a film but can't remember its title, try using the movie: operator in front of any factoids you remember, like directors, actors, or plot points in the production. The search movie: holy grail delivers a long list of films focusing on the Arthurian legend, including Excalibur, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and, of course, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. shows how obscure you can get.
Figure 1-21. The movie search operator does more than just round up theaters and showtimes for current flicks playing around town. Feed it a few facts from movies you can't fully remember, and Google brings back the title and other information like reviews and pop-culture cross-references. You can also use the movie: operator in front of actors' names to pull up a partial filmography of the stars' noted roles.
Two Important Google Quirks
Much of the time, Google does what you expect. Quotes, "and" and "or," special symbolsthey're all familiar from other search features you've probably used. But Google has two quirks worth noting: weird wildcards and a ten-word query limit.
1.3.1. Wildcards
A lot of search engines let you use wildcards. Wildcards are special symbolsusually an asterisk (*) but sometimes a question mark (?)that you add to a word or phrase to indicate that you want the search to include variants of your query. The wildcard stands in for the possibilities. For example, it you're not sure whether the Culture Club singer was Boy George or Boy Gorge, you might search for Boy G* to see how other people have completed the word.
But Google doesn't let you include a wildcard as part of a word like that. Which, frankly, is a drag. (In programming circles, you may hear the partial-word wildcard referred to as stemming.)
Google does, however, offer full-word wildcards. While you can't insert an asterisk for part of a word, you can throw one into a phrase and have it substitute for a word. Thus, searching for "chicken with its * cut off" could find: "chicken with its head cut off," "chicken with its hair cut off," "chicken with its electricity cut off," and so on.
Tip: A single asterisk stands in for just one word. To set wildcards for more words, simply include more asterisks: "three * * mice" leads to "three blind fat mice," "three very tough mice," and so on.
The full-word wildcard isn't as useful as the partial-word wildcard. But it can come in handy for filling in the blanks and when your memory fails. For example, you've always wondered exactly what Debbie Harry was singing in the first line of "Heart of Glass." You think it might have been "Once I had a lung and it was a gas," but you're not sure. Maybe it was "Once I had a lunch and it was a gas." Type in "Once I had a * and it was a gas"; Google gives you 1,090 links suggesting the lyric is actually "Once I had a love…" In short, the asterisk combined with quote marks is good for finding quotations, song lyrics, poetry, and other phrases.
The full-word wildcard is also cool when you want the answer to a question. For example, if you're wondering how often Haley's comet appears, you can use the asterisk to stand in for your X factor by running this query:
Haley's comet appears every * years
If you type your query as a question ("How often does Haley's comet appear?"), then Google searches for instances of the question, which is a nice way to find other people with a thin knowledge of astronomy, but might not actually turn up the answer.
Tip: For a search engine that does allow partial-word wildcards, try Altavista (www.altavista.com).
1.3.2. The Ten-Word Limit
Quite possibly, you've been using Google since Bill Clinton was president and you've never noticed that the site has a strict limit of ten words per search. Indeed, for most people, this limitation isn't a problem. But if you're the type who likes to search for long phrases, it can be maddening.
For example, if you're looking for "There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold and she's buying a stairway to heaven," Google cuts you off after "gold." If that's a problem because, say, you want only instances of the whole sentence, or if you want to add additional query words (e.g. "live recording"), you can employ a couple of tricks to circumvent the limit.
1.3.2.1. Obscurity rules
You can get relevant results without wasting precious keywords by limiting your query to the more unusual keywords or phrase fragments you want to find. In this case, a query that included:
"glitters is gold" "buying a stairway"
would probably keep you on track while conserving eleven words. If that doesn't fly, try adding words in, one or two at a time ("buying a stairway to heaven" instead of "buying a stairway").
1.3.2.2. Playing the wildcard
Google doesn't count wildcards as part of your ten-word limit. So the full-word wildcard, described above, can really help you out here. Just toss in wildcards for common words, and you're in business. For example:
"* * lady * sure * * glitters * gold * she's buying * stairway * heaven"
looks strange if you're a person, but Google is a mess of computers, and it eats that query right up while saving you nine big keywords. This is a particularly good trick if you're looking for something with a lot of common words, like "year *, year *," or "easy *, easy *."
Rabu, 02 April 2008
AdWords and Search Advertising Terms
Account: A Google AdWords account provides the Web space in which you
design and operate a campaign. Opening an account costs nothing; activating
your account costs five dollars. Account holders have access to Google’s keyword
research and traffic estimation tools, even before activation. Therefore,
you can conceive and budget a complete ad campaign before spending a dime.
Activation: To activate a Google AdWords account, you select a payment
method and currency and provide billing details. After you activate an account,
you’re ready to launch a campaign.
Activation fee: A five-dollar fee is charged when AdWords advertisers
first activate their accounts. An additional five-dollar fee is imposed every
third time you reactivate a campaign after Google has stopped it due to
underperformance.
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Actual cost-per-click: As compared to cost-per-click, the actual cost-per-click
is the billable amount charged by Google when a searcher clicks your ad. This
amount might be the same as or lower than your maximum bid for your ad
placement, but it’s never higher.
Ad Group: The main subdivision of an ad Campaign, an Ad Group consists
of one or more ads associated with one or more keywords. Keywords define
the Ad Group. New Ad Groups in a Campaign are associated with different
keywords, though they might have the same ads.
AdRank: Advertisements are placed in sequence based on AdRank, with the
top-ranked ad at the top of the column. AdRank is measured as a combination
of bid value (maximum CPC set by the advertiser) and clickthrough rate (CTR).
Successful ads with high CTRs are sometimes ranked and placed higher than
less successful ads with higher CPC bids. The measurement, ranking, and
placement of ads are automated.
AdWords column: The right-hand stack of AdWords advertisements on a
Google search results page. Ads are placed in that column according to
AdRank, which is a calculation of maximum CPC and clickthrough rate.
Affiliate (aff): Affiliate marketers direct their clickthroughs to third-party
destinations that sell products or services. The affiliate receives a commission
when the clickthrough results in a sale. Google’s guidelines require advertisers
to indicate in their ad copy if they’re engaging in affiliate marketing. To save
space, the aff abbreviation is often used.
Broad match: The default keyword-matching setting in Google AdWords. Broad
match displays your ad on search results pages that match your keywords and
a large peripheral universe of keywords that Google determines is relevant —
so your ads appear on the results pages of keywords you might not have
directly chosen. Broad match is an easy way to spread your ad out to keywords
that haven’t occurred to you. In choosing this option, however, you’re
relying on Google’s relevancy algorithm to choose keywords related to your
selections. (See also keyword-matching options, expanded match, exact match,
and negative match.)
Call to action: Google recommends using short phrases that command the
viewer to do something. These calls to action encourage clickthroughs with
phrases such as “Learn more,” or “Download now for free.” Some marketers
dispute the effectiveness of calls to action. A good way to test the value of
calls to action is to use multiple ads in an ad group, some with calls to action
and others without.
Campaign: The largest subdivision of a Google AdWords account, a Campaign
holds one or more Ad Groups. Campaigns can be paused, resumed, budgeted,
networked, and scheduled — these settings affect all Ad Groups simultaneously
and equally. Ad Groups have their own settings for finer control.
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Clickthrough: Clickthroughs occur when a viewer clicks your AdWords ad.
Clicking through generates a charge to your account.
Clickthrough rate (CTR): The CTR is a calculation of an ad’s clickthroughs
divided by its impressions (the number of times it’s displayed). CTR measures
the effectiveness of an ad.
Content network: Non-search-engine sites that publish Google AdWords
make up the Google content network. These sites participate in the AdSense
or premium AdSense programs. AdWords advertisers decide whether or not
they want to release their ads to this expanded network.
Content-targeted ads: AdWords ads targeted to the information pages of the
content network and distributed through Google’s AdSense program.
Control Center: The Control Center is the entire suite of ad-creation and
campaign-reporting tools located in Google AdWords.
Conversion: Conversion occurs when a site visitor performs an action
planned and desired by the Webmaster. In a business context, conversion
usually involves a capture of information (such as registering at the site
or joining a mailing list) or a transaction (such as buying a product).
In the context of AdWords, conversion is the final step of a successful
clickthrough.
Conversion rate: A calculation determined by dividing a site’s conversions by
AdWords clickthroughs. Conversion rate measures the success of an AdWords
ad and, ultimately, the return on investment (ROI) of the campaign.
Conversion tracking: A tool in the AdWords Control Center that measures
conversions resulting from ad clickthroughs.
Cost-per-click (CPC): The maximum or billable cost of a viewer clicking an
AdWords ad. In Google’s system, unlike competing systems (at the time of
this writing), actual CPC is often lower than the maximum CPC established
by the advertiser. Cost-per-click is assigned to an entire Ad Group, or to individual
keywords of that Ad Group, or both. You can think of your maximum
CPC as a bid for placement in the AdWords column.
Cost-per-thousand (CPM): A measurement of the cost for each thousand
impressions (displays) of an ad. CPM is not used in Google AdWords, which
employs a cost-per-click (CPC) system. However, some other search engines
sell advertising on a CPM basis.
Creative: The text copy of an AdWords ad. Google is reducing its use of
this word to describe ad text, but it remains in widespread use in forums
and articles about the AdWords program.
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Daily budget: Set at the Campaign level, the daily budget establishes a ceiling
on Campaign expenses. Google recommends a daily Campaign budget based
on projected impression frequency and clickthrough rate. The actual ceiling
is set by the advertiser.
Destination URL: Not necessarily visible in the ad, the destination URL points
to the ad’s landing page.
Display URL: Visible in the ad, the display URL doesn’t necessarily match
the destination URL. The main purpose of a different display URL is to
reduce the destination URL to a size that fits in the small ad box. The
shortened URL makes it easy for viewers to see the ad’s target site before
clicking.
Distribution preference: This setting allows the advertiser to release or not
release a Campaign’s ads to Google’s content networks.
Exact match: One of Google’s keyword-matching options, exact match forces
Google to display your ads only on search results pages that exactly match
your selected keyword or key phrase. Exact match may be selected for individual
keywords in an Ad Group. (See also keyword-matching options, broad
match, expanded match, and negative match.)
Expanded match: Expanded matches are variations of your selected keywords
(such as plurals, synonyms, and misspellings) that Google deems relevant and
helpful to your ad’s success. Expanded matching is included in the broad
match option. (See also keyword-matching options, broad match, exact match,
and negative match.)
Geo-targeting: Google enables advertisers to target ads by geographic region,
according to a preset list of countries, American states, and certain American
metropolitan areas. Geo-targeting works by identifying the searcher’s IP
(Internet Protocol) address, thereby locating the searcher geographically.
Geo-targeted ads are displayed only to searchers viewing Google in the targeted
area.
Google advertising network: The total reach of Google AdWords, consisting
of Google.com, Google Groups, the Google Directory, and Froogle, plus its
search partners (AOL Search, Netscape, AskJeeves, and others), and the
Google content network of AdSense sites.
Impression: A single ad displayed on a user’s screen.
Keyword: The specific word combinations and phrases users search on and
advertisers bid on.
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Keyword Suggestion Tool: This interactive tool is Google’s in-house keyword
generator for AdWords users. The Keyword Suggestion Tool spits out long
lists of words and phrases related to a selected keyword.
Keyword-matching options: Google offers four keyword-matching options
for expanding or restricting how your ads match keyword searches. These
options are broad, expanded, exact, and negative. Refining the keywordmatching
options can turn around a faltering campaign.
Landing page: A Web page represented by the destination URL. The landing
page usually seeks to convert visitors to customers.
Negative match: This option prohibits an ad being displayed once a negative
term has been applied. (See also keyword-matching options, broad match, exact
match, and expanded match.)
Optimization: In the context of Google AdWords, optimization has nothing to
do with Web site design (see Chapter 4). AdWords optimization is about the
distribution of multiple ads in an Ad Group. Google tracks the relative success
of ads and manages their rotation accordingly. This optimization can be turned
off by advertisers who prefer a random rotation of ads in an Ad Group.
Overdelivery: Overdelivery refers to Google’s optimization allowance. In the
Terms of Service agreement, Google is permitted to exceed your daily budget
by 20 percent but must reconcile this overdelivery of ad impressions (and
resulting clickthroughs) every month. Your monthly budget, which is determined
by multiplying the daily budget 30 or 31 times, can’t be overcharged.
Furthermore, if Google overshoots the daily budget by more than 20 percent,
it issues an overdelivery credit for the additional clickthroughs.
Paid placement: Search result listings paid by sponsors, these listings might
be indistinguishable from index results. Some search engines accept paid
placement as a form of advertising, but Google does not.
Pay-per-click (PPC): Pay-per-click is another term for cost-per-click (CPC).
Phrase match: One of Google’s four keyword-matching options, phrase match
forces Google to restrict the placement of your ad to search results pages that
exactly match your key phrase, including matching the word order. Other
words might be included in the user’s keyword string, but the exact phrase
specified in your phrase match must be present.
Return on investment (ROI): A general business and advertising term,
return on investment measures the profitability of a campaign. Simplified,
ROI calculates a formula by which expenses are subtracted from sales to
measure revenue gain. As an AdWords measurement, ROI is about conversions
exceeding clickthrough expenses.
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Rotation: Rotation is the formula by which multiple ads in an Ad Group are
selected for display. In Google, rotation may be random or optimized.
Start and end dates: Google enables AdWords advertisers to determine in
advance the start and end dates of a Campaign.
Traffic Estimator: The Traffic Estimator is an indispensable tool in the
AdWords Control Center that enables advertisers to gauge the clickthrough
rates of individual keywords.
AdSense Terms
Ad layout: An ad configuration for AdSense publishers. Google offers ten ad
layouts; you can choose horizontal or vertical layouts containing one, two,
four, or five ads. AdSense publishers cannot alter the configuration of ads
within the bars and banners that constitute ad layouts, but they may change
the colors in which text and borders are displayed.
Ad unit: One set of AdSense ads displayed in an ad layout.
AdSense code: The snippet of HTML and javascript that Webmasters paste
into their pages to begin serving AdWords ads.
Alternate ads: AdSense publishers may specify non-Google ad sources for the
space occupied by an ad unit, in preparation for those occasional times when
Google can’t deliver ads. Once specified, the alternate ad source is bundled
into the AdSense code, and the replacement of Google ads by alternate ads
occurs automatically if Google has no relevant ads to serve.
Banner: One type of ad layout. Three banners are available; one vertical and
the other two horizontal. Each banner contains multiple ads.
Button: A type of ad layout that holds a single ad.
Clickthrough rate (CTR): Calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the
number of displays (impressions). AdWords advertisers are charged for clicks
through their ads. AdSense publishers are paid for clicks through the ads they
host, sharing the revenue with Google.
Color palette: Individually adjusted colors for each of five elements in AdWords
ads: headline text, ad text, URL text, border, and background. Google supplies
several preset color palettes.
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Content-targeted advertising: The generic name for Google’s distribution
of AdWords ads to AdSense sites. The AdSense network is also known as
the content network. The word content is important in this context because
Google uses its analysis of an AdSense page’s content to determine which
ads should be served on it.
Cost-per-click (CPC): A monetary amount charged by Google, and paid by the
advertiser, when a user clicks through an ad. Advertisers bid for placement by
offering a maximum CPC per keyword; Google charges the minimum amount
beneath that amount (called the actual CPC) required to hold the best possible
page position for the advertiser. AdSense publishers are paid an undisclosed
percentage of the actual CPC.
Cybersquatting: The practice of unfairly capitalizing on ownership of a domain
name that infringes a trademark or copyright. Google doesn’t allow AdSense
publication on a cybersquatting Web page.
Destination URL: An underlying URL in an AdWords ad that specifies the destination
of clickthroughs. The destination URL is not necessarily the same as
the URL displayed on the ad (called the display URL). When you set up a URL
filter, the destination URL is blocked.
Distribution preference: Set by AdWords advertisers to include, or exclude,
the content network of AdSense sites. AdSense publishers run AdWords ads
only when those advertisers opt to have their ads appear on content pages.
Double serving: The practice of placing AdSense code in more than one
location on a single page. Doing so violates Google’s terms of service and
is grounds for a warning and possibly expulsion from AdSense.
Impressions: Ad displays. AdSense measures and reports the impressions of
all your ad units.
Inline rectangle: A type of ad layout meant to be placed within bodies of
text, not in sidebars. Google offers four configurations of inline rectangle.
Leaderboard: A type of ad layout featuring four AdWords ads arranged horizontally.
Leaderboards are designed to be placed at the top of Web pages but
can be placed anywhere on the page.
Public service ad (PSA): Used to fill an AdWords ad before an AdSense site is
crawled for the first time or if topical relevancy can’t be established for some
reason.
Publisher: An AdSense account holder and operator of a content site.
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Skyscraper: A vertical arrangement of ads. Two skyscrapers are available,
one holds four ads and one holds five.
Towers: All the vertical ad layouts: two skyscrapers and one vertical banner.
Towers are usually placed on AdSense pages in the sidebars.
Typosquatting: The practice of purchasing and capitalizing on a misspelling
of a prominent domain name, such as googal.com.
URL filter: A means of blocking specific AdWords ads from displaying on
an AdSense site. This feature is normally used to prevent competitors from
advertising on your site, taking away your visitors. Webmasters need to know
the destination URL of any ad to block it.
SEO Terms
Above the fold (ATF): Originally a newspaper term, above the fold means on
the top half of the page. Placing a story above the fold makes it more visible.
In Web publishing, in which no fold exists, premium placement generally
means toward the top of the page, in a position where visitors don’t have to
scroll down. Screen resolutions differ, of course, so if you design your page
using a resolution of 1280 x 1024, for example, your own fold is way down the
page. The higher the resolution, the more material you can put into each
“fold” portion of the page, because high resolutions make text and graphics
smaller. (In effect, high resolution makes the screen bigger.)
For years, I optimized my page design with the assumption that my visitors
were viewing the site on a 640 x 480 screen. I now regard that resolution as
sufficiently obsolete to upgrade my optimization to 800 x 600 screens, which
are still prevalent on laptops. (My apologies to 640 x 480 users, who must
scroll vertically and horizontally at my sites.) Keeping all this in mind, and
perhaps viewing your pages through different resolutions, try to place your
most magnetic content so that it’s visible without scrolling.
Backlink: A link at another site, leading to your site. Also called an incoming
link. The number and quality of backlinks represent the most important factor
in determining a site’s PageRank. The value of any backlink is determined
partly by the PageRank of the linking site, which is determined partly by the
quality of its backlinks, and so on.
Bridge page: See doorway page.
Cloaking: A type of search-engine subterfuge in which an indexed Web page
is not shown to visitors who click its link in Google (or another search engine).
The cloaking works two ways: Visitor content is cloaked from Google, and
Google’s indexed content is cloaked from visitors. This serves to give a high
PageRank to content that ordinarily would rate a low PageRank. Cloaking is
not always illicit. A certain type of cloaking are used to deliver pages tailored
to a visitor’s ISP (America Online, for example) or specific Web browser.
Crawler: See spider.
Cross linking: Intentionally or unintentionally, cross linking creates large
backlink networks among sites that exist in the same domain or are owned
by the same entity. Unintentional cross linking happens when a site generates
a large number of pages with identical navigation links or when at least two
sites mutually link related content. When cross linking is done intentionally,
the Webmaster is seeking to raise the PageRank of the involved sites. Excessive
cross linking can backfire. If Google decides that the resulting enhanced
PageRank is artificial, any or all of the sites might be expelled from the
Web index. Innocent cross linking between two related sites is usually not
a problem.
Deepbot: The unofficial name for Google’s monthly spider. Freshbot is the
unofficial name of Google’s frequently crawling spider. The official name for
both crawlers is Googlebot.
Domain: The first- and second-level address of a Web site. Top-level
destinations are defined by the domain extension: .com, .net, .org,
.biz, and others. The second level adds a domain name: yoursite.com.
Domain name: The second-level domain address that identifies and brands a
site, such as google.com and amazon.com.
Domain name registration: The process of taking ownership of a domain
name. Registrations are processed by dozens of registrars approved by ICANN
(Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). The cost of domain
ownership is no more than $35 per year. (Hosting the domain’s Web site is an
additional expense.) Registration takes place online, and the activation of a
new domain (or moving a domain from one host to another) generally requires
no more than 48 hours.
Doorway page: An entry page to a Web site, sometimes known as a splash
page. Doorway pages endure a negative connotation due to illicit techniques
that send visitors to an entirely different site than the destination they clicked
in Google.
Dynamic content: Web pages generated by an in-site process that depends on
input from the visitor. Most dynamic content comes from a database operating
behind the scenes, feeding information to a Web page created in response to
a visitor’s query. Search engines are among the largest producers of dynamic
content; every Google results page, for example, is pulled from the background
index in response to a keyword query. Google’s spider generally avoids portions
of sites that rely on dynamic page-generation, making it difficult to index
the content of those sites.
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Entry page: See doorway page.
Fresh crawl: Google’s frequent scan of Web content that occurs between the
deep monthly crawls. Google does not publicize the schedule of its intermediate
crawls or its target sites. The term “fresh crawl” is an unofficial one used
by Webmasters, site optimizers, and other Google obsessives.
Freshbot: The unofficial name for Google’s near-daily spider. Deepbot is the
unofficial name of Google’s monthly-crawling spider. The official name for
both crawlers is Googlebot.
Googlebot: Google’s Web spider.
Incoming link: See backlink.
Index: In the context of Google, the index is the database of Web content gathered
by the Google spider. When Google receives a search query, it matches
the query keywords against the index.
Keyword: As an optimization term, a keyword represents a core concept of
a site or a page. The site’s content, HTML tagging, and layout strategies are
based on effective deployment of keywords, which could also be key phrases.
Google matches search results to keywords entered by its users and assigns
a PageRank in part on how consistently a site presents its keywords.
Keyword density: A proportional measurement of keywords embedded in a
page’s content. High keyword density focuses the page’s subject in a way that
Google’s spider understands. The spider can interpret too high a density as
spam, which results in a lower PageRank or elimination from the index. Most
optimization specialists recommend a density between 5 and 15 percent.
Keyword stuffing: The attempt to gain a higher PageRank (or higher ranking
in any search engine) by loading a page’s HTML code or text with keywords.
In most cases a visitor can’t see the keywords because they’re buried in HTML
tags, camouflaged against the background color of the page, or reduced to a
tiny typeface. Keyword stuffing violates Google’s guidelines for Webmasters
and can result in expulsion from the index.
Link farm: A site whose only function is to display outgoing links to participating
Web sites. Link farms are disreputable versions of legitimate, topical
link exchange sites through which visitors gain some content value. Link farms
often have no topicality and present no guidelines or standards of submission.
Google does not explicitly threaten expulsion for joining link farms, but it discourages
their use.
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Meta tag: Positioned near the top of an HTML document, the meta tag defines
basic identifying characteristics of a Web page. Often, several meta tags are
used on each page. In those tags you set the page’s title, description, and
keywords.
Mirror site: Mirror sites duplicate content and are used for both legitimate
and engine-spamming purposes. Legitimate mirror sites assist in downloading
when a great deal of traffic is trying to reach a page or acquire a file. Illicit
mirror sites attempt to fill a search results page with multiple destinations
owned by a single entity. When Google discovers a mirror site whose only
purpose is to dominate a search page, that site risks expulsion.
Optimization: A set of techniques to improve a Web site’s presentation to
visitors and its stature in a search engine’s index. As a specific field, search
engine optimization has suffered in reputation due to unscrupulous individuals
and companies using tactics that degrade the integrity of search results and
violate guidelines set by those engines. Generally, any optimization scheme
that tricks a search engine also tricks visitors to that site, making online life
worse for everyone involved. Pure optimization, though, helps everyone: the
Webmaster, the search engine, and the visitor. The true values of optimization
are clear content, coherent navigation, wide reputation for quality, and high
visibility in search engines.
Outgoing link: A link from your page to another page. Outgoing links don’t
build PageRank by volume, as incoming links (backlinks) do. However, Google
pays attention to the text elements of outgoing links, and a page’s optimization
can be strengthened by consistent placement of key concepts in that text.
Page redirect: A background link that sends site visitors to another site. Page
redirects can be used legitimately, as when a site moves from one domain to
another. In that scenario, the Webmaster sensibly keeps the old domain active
for a while, seamlessly sending visitors to the new location when they click the
old one. As an illicit optimization technique, page redirects deflect visitors
from the site indexed by Google to another site that would not be able to gain
as high a PageRank. This type of redirect, when uncovered by Google, risks
the expulsion of both sites from the index.
PageRank: A proprietary measurement of Google’s proprietary ordering of
pages in its Web index. PageRank is the most intense point of focus, speculation,
observation, and desire in the Webmaster and optimization communities.
More than any other single marketing factor, PageRank has the power to determine
a site’s visibility. A high PageRank moves a page toward the top of any
search results page in Google when that page matches the user’s keywords.
Obtaining a PageRank high enough to break a page into the top ten is the
primary goal of Google optimization. An approximate version of any page’s
PageRank can be checked by displaying the page in Internet Explorer while
running the Google Toolbar. Hover your mouse over the PageRank cursor to
see the current page’s rank on a 0-to-10 scale.
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Robots.txt file: A simple text file that stops Google (and other search engines
that recognize the file and its commands) from crawling the site, selected
pages in the site, or selected file types in the site.
SE (search engine): A site, such as Google.com, that matches keywords to
Web page content.
SEO (search engine optimization): SEO seeks to increase a site’s visibility in
search engines and enhance its value to visitors through topical page design,
consistent HTML tagging, and focusing content on core keywords.
SERP: Search engine results page. A page of links leading to Web pages that
match a searcher’s keywords.
Spam: Generally refers to repeated and irrelevant content. As an optimization
term, spam refers to loading a page with keywords or loading a search
engine’s index with mirror sites. Google reacts strongly to spamming, and
takes harsh measures against Web sites that use spamming techniques to
improve PageRank.
Spider: An automated software program that travels from link to link on the
Web, collecting content from Web pages. Spiders assemble this vast collection
of content into an index, used by search engines to provide relevant sites to
searchers. Spiders are also called crawlers, bots (short for robots), or Web
bots. Google’s spider appears in Webmaster logs as Googlebot.
Splash page: See doorway page.