Search Engine Basics
When You're Online and Ready to Start Selling
The next step is to make
sure shoppers can easily find your store. Promoting
your site on search engines is a key element
to marketing your online store.
Intro to Search Engines
There are several types of
search engines: crawler-based search engines,
human-powered directories, and shopping search
engines. Searchers choose which search engines/directories
to use based on where they will get the most
relevant matches to their queries. In most rankings
of search engines/directories, Yahoo!, Google,
AltaVista, LookSmart, and AskJeeves appear in
the top five.
Crawler-Based Search Engines
Crawler-based engines, such
as Google, must first find your site. There
are three pieces to a crawler-based search engine:
the crawler, the index and the search engine
software. The crawler, or "spider," crawls sites
by following the links through each page, collecting
information to add to the index. The index is
a list of every page on the Internet that has
been "spidered." Spiders periodically return
to sites, usually every one or two months, so
that changes you make to your site will be updated
in the index. There is some lag between the
time the updates are submitted by the spider
and when they are added to the index. The third
piece, the search engine software, sorts through
the information in the index and presents the
searcher with results in the most relevant order.
Making a few simple changes
to your site, including using meta tags and
adding static pages, can increase your chances
of being picked up by spiders.
Meta Tags
Meta tags are HTML tags that
you can include on your site, between the head
and body tags, to give you some control over
how your site's description appears in crawler-based
engines. There are two meta tags that search
engines look for: keywords and descriptions.
The keywords tag is what
the search engine will use to match a query
to your site. Many search engines don't index
sites based on the meta tag keywords, and instead
use words that visitors can actually see on
your site. In order to get the most out of the
keyword tag, you need to follow a few simple
rules: don't repeat the same word twice in a
row or more than 2 or 3 times in the tag, use
words that are also in the text on the page,
and never include words that have nothing to
do with the content on the page.
The description tag will
show up as the summary of your site in the list
of matches. Using the meta description tag on
your site ensures that searchers see a clear,
concise description of your site. The examples
below show the difference in what searchers
see with and without meta tags.
Example 1 - Let's say the
title of your site is Kid's World, and the header
says, "Welcome to Kid's World." This is what
would show up in the list of matches on a search
engine:
Kid's World
Welcome to Kid's World.
Example 2
Now let's see the difference
when you add meta tags. Here is how the code
will look:
When someone searches using
any of those keywords and your site shows up,
the summary will look like this:
Toys
The best toys for kids of
all ages.
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Static Pages vs. Dynamic Pages
Static pages are HTML pages
that don't change on their own, while dynamic
pages are pages that query information from
a database, and are updated automatically when
changes are made to that database. ProStores
uses the term "dynamic" when describing the
storefront, because changes made in Store Administration
are automatically reflected in the storefront.
Some search engines may
have difficulty spidering dynamic pages. However,
when search engines use the term "dynamic",
they are referring to URLs that contain one
or more of the following characters: ?, &, %,
+, =, $. They are not referring to the home
page ProStores generates. Therefore, search
engines will pick up your store. However, some
search engines may have difficulty picking up
other pages in your store.
So, in summary:
- ProStores *.bok pages are spidered.
- Other pages linked from the home page -
with URLs that do not contain a "?" character
- will be spidered.
- Some search engines will spider pages with
URLs that contain a "?" chacter.
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Human-Powered Directories
TThe second type of search
engine is a human-powered directory. These listings
are created by people, who review sites that
are submitted. In order to be listed in a directory
you need to write a short description of your
entire site and submit it to the search engine.
A group of editors evaluates the descriptions
and decides what gets listed. When a searcher
submits a query to a human-powered directory,
the matches that come back are only from descriptions
that have been approved.
The advantage of registering
your site with a directory is that any changes
you make to the content on your site won't affect
your listing. Having your site listed in a directory
is another way to increase your chances of being
picked up by a crawler-based search engine.
There are several directories
where you can list your site, including Yahoo!
and LookSmart. Typically, there are charges
associated with registering your site on a directory,
and each one charges differently. Some have
set-up fees, monthly fees or pay-per-click charges.
Information on Yahoo! and LookSmart is located
at the end of this document.
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Shopping Search Engines
There are several search
engines that specialize in finding products
for which a shopper may be searching. Currently,
ProStores is integrated with three of the most
popular shopping search engines: Shopping.com,
BizRate and Froogle.
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Search Engine Registration and Optimization
The terms "search engine
submission" and "search engine optimization"
are often interchanged, but it is important
to understand the difference between the two.
Search engine submission, or registration, means
that a search engine knows your site exists,
and it will show up as a match to certain keyword
searches. Submitting your site has nothing to
do with how it will rank, meaning, where it
will show up in a list of matches on a particular
search engine.
Search engine optimization
are the things you do to your site to improve
its ranking on search engines. Ranking on a
search engine is where on the list of matches
your site shows up. Ideally, you want your site
to show up on the first page of matches, or
in the top 10. This is mainly done using paid
services, but there are a few things that you
can do on your own.
We mentioned keywords earlier.
It is essential to know who will be visiting
your site, which search engines they will use
and what terms they will use to search for your
site. There are sites that can help you pick
the best keyword, including Overture's Keyword
Suggestion Tool and WordTracker. You can find
Overture's free Keyword Suggestion Tool at http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/.
Simply enter a keyword and it will tell you
how many times that keyword was searched in
the prior month, and related searches that include
the term for which you searched.
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Search Engine Examples
ProStores stores are "search
engine friendly", without requiring the merchant
or web designer to perform time consuming and
redundant tasks. Some of the ways in which it
simplifies working with search engines include:
- automatically including the product name
in the title page of a product detail page,
helping search engines find and display
product information.
- enabling the inclusion of product keywords
and descriptions in the
tags, with just a few clicks of the mouse.
- fully integrating with three of the top
shopping search engines: Shopping.com, Bizrate,
and Froogle.
Crawler-Based Search Engines
-
Google is a crawler-based search engine,
so it is not necessary to submit your site.
Your site has to be crawled and indexed
by Google's spiders in order to guarantee
that it will be listed. Google offers no
paid inclusion or ranking services. Approximately
40% of all internet searches are handled
by Google, in part because Google powers
Yahoo!.
-
- AltaVista is also a crawler-based search
engine, but does let you submit your site
a couple of ways. You can use the Basic
Submit option or the Express Inclusion options.
The Basic Submit is free and takes about
4-6 weeks for a URL to be evaluated for
inclusion. The Express Inclusion is priced
as a six-month subscription by URL. You
can submit up to 500 URLs.
Human-Powered Directories
-
Yahoo!, a directory, offers two ways to
get listed. Yahoo Standard is free, and
simply entails submitting your site through
the "Suggest Your Site" area on the bottom
of the Yahoo! home page. The second way,
Express, is a paid application to be listed
that includes a non-refundable, annual fee.
If your site is chosen, you can pay an additional
monthly fee to become a sponsored listing.
This puts your site's listing above the
regular listings under the heading "Sponsored
Listings."
-
LookSmart is also a directory. When you
register your site on LookSmart, it will
be seen in several places on the Internet
through their large network of partners,
including MSN Search and AltaVista. Once
you've created your listing and paid the
listing set-up fee, you are charged for
every click-through your listing receives.
You set up a monthly account, which is charged
for every click-through. If the number of
click-throughs exceeds your monthly budget,
you are required to add to your account
balance. LookSmart also provides management
tools, including click reports and the ability
to edit your listing or adjust your monthly
budget, to help you maximize results.
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