Help with better keywords for internet search engines?

Question

My company has a website hosted by another company and in the program we use to make the webpage we type in the keywords and phrases. But when I search for us in yahoo or google, we never come up. We have tried super specific words, generic words, a couple words, tons of words and nothing seems to help. Does anyone have any ideas on how to improve our chances of being found by an internet search engine? We are very small and struggling as it is so we can't afford to spend a bunch of money on internet ads. Thanks!

Answer 1

The basic rule is : design a site for the user, not for the search engines. Create great original content that users would love and other sites would want to link to -- and top rankings in the search engine will follow.

Content must be compelling, accessible and unique - this is a key ingredient in getting links. Make sure people can link to specific content.

Here are tips by Adam Lasnik, Google's search evangelist (yes, that's his actual title)

Make your pages easy to index. Think about the terms that visitors will use to search for your information and make sure your pages include those words. Provide a unique title tag and meta description tag for each page. Use descriptive anchor text when linking to other pages of your site (e.g., "Obtain the latest federal tax forms for 2006" instead of "Click here for 2006 federal tax forms")

Make your pages easy to find. Provide an HTML sitemap that contains links to pages deeper in the site. On your home page, include links to the major sections inside the site. If your site includes many pages, consider creating a browsable set of links that enables the visitor to choose a category, then see links within that category.

Make sure search engines can access the content. Ensure pages of your site can be reached without cookies, registration, session IDs, or forms. Verify that your site isn't blocked with a robots.txt file and that search engines don't receive errors when trying to access your pages. (You can check both of these things using Google's webmaster tools.)

Don't be an island. Responsibly interact with realted sites to garner natural links, and -- more importantly -- mindshare. Search engine conferences are a great opportunity to learn and network, but participation on forums and blogs can also be very productive.

Study the source. Regularly review search engines' often-updated official written advice (e.g., Webmaster Guidelines, blogs, etc.).

You can read more of Adam's tips at http://docs.google.com/Doc.aspx?id=a4bb8f9kppt_0drmp5z&access=firstgov

If you are going to read only one piece on search engine optimization, I suggest you read Brett Tabke of WebmasterWorld.com's "Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone: 26 steps to 15k a day." http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/2010.htm

WebmasterWorld.com http://www.webmasterworld.com has different sections that cover various aspects of search engine optimization, and each section is participated in by respected webmasters and even search engine employees (e.g. there's a GoogleGuy that responds to Google topics)

Other resources that can help you get top ranking in the search engines are:

Google Press Releases http://googlepress.blogspot.com/
Matt Cutts Blog (Adam's boss) http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/ (Matt is a Google software engineer)
Digitalpoint Yahoo Forums http://forums.digitalpoint.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6
SearchEngineWatch's MSN Forums http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/forumdisplay.php?f=8

As for tools to help you get top rankings in the search engine, here are some of the best in the field today

Total Optimizer Pro http://www.totaloptimizer.com/
Keyword density tool http://googlerankings.com/ultimate_seo_tool.php
Google Sitemaps (to help Google index your pages faster) https://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/siteoverview?hl=en
SEO Book - lots of free great SEO tools http://tools.seobook.com/

Answer 2

Meta tags are good for this :) Added a tutorial on Meta Tags on the source. After you update your website with the Meta Tags, you will probably have to wait a few hours to a few days or even a week until search engines such as Google or Yahoo can detect it.

Google uses a web crawler, so until it reaches your page, all you have to do is wait.

As for getting better search results, in the Meta Tags, you can add keywords such as your company name, products your company sells, you can probably even use your competitors name as one of the tags. Last I heard though was that in the UK that was illigal.

Good luck.

Answer 3

I am currently working with 'The Internet Marketing Centre' a Canadian based company and they are teaching me all about Search Engines etc. If interested just enter theabove in Yahoo or Google and you should find them easily.

Answer 4

You might have to wait just a little bit, your site won't show up on search engines instantly. The search engine spiders need to find your site first.

Answer 5

do a web search for meta tags...