Monitoring Search Engine Positions

Since search engines are the first stop for people on theInternet looking for goods or services, the position yourwebsite appears in search results is an important factor.If your URL shows up far down the results list, the chances of the consumer never finding you increase incrementally.Once you achieve a high search engine position, it isessential that you make sure you maintain the high rankingyou have worked so hard to achieve.

This means you must come up with a strategy to monitor yoursearch engines positions. This strategy is crucial to thesuccess of any marketing campaign. Think of your searchengine positions as your online portfolio. Would you letyour stock portfolio be ruled by chance and marketfluctuations, or would you keep close tabs on your stocksso you could buy and sell when the time is right? This isthe way you must consider your search engines positions.
Be aware that at first, after you have launched your searchengine campaign and done all the right things to increaseyour rankings, you will most likely see a continual upwardclimb. What you need to be on the lookout for is the momentthat upward climb reaches a plateau. When this happens,your search engine position campaign moves into stage two,the monitoring and protecting stage.
In stage two, do not be concerned about the short-termfluctuations in your positions. These are similar to thesubtle rising and falling of stocks in a portfolio.Short-term movement is an integral part of the wholeprocess. It's the long-term changes that you must watch forand prepare to act on immediately.
Analyzing the long-term trends of search engines positionsis imperative. The way in which search engines rankwebsites may change at the drop of hat. If you are unawareof these changes - many of which are subtle yet can bedeadly to your ranking - your position may drop to thebottom of the list before you can get your bearings. Toprevent this kind of precipitous drop, you must create asystem to monitor your positions on a monthly basis. Devisea chart to keep tabs on your top ranking positions or yourtop pages, and make sure to watch "the market" closely.
Each search engine uses a formula to compute websiterankings. When a search engine changes this formula in anyway, it may raise or lower your ranking. Some searchengines use a number of different formulas, rotating themso that a formula doesn't become overused or outdated.Depending on which formula is being applied, your searchengine position may suddenly drop or rise in ranksignificantly. Therefore, you must check your positionsfrequently in order to catch when a search engine changesformulas and what effect it has on your positions.
You must also deal with your competition - a crucial factoryou must always be vigilant about. Your competitor'sposition may suddenly rise, automatically lowering yourposition. Or their position may drop, pushing your positionhigher. Each month, expect position changes due to thecontinual changes that are occurring in your competitor'sposition, and be prepared to adjust your marketing strategyto compensate for decreased rankings. Monitoring thesefluctuations will also give you vital information about howto improve your website to increase your position in searchresults.
Of course, you must discern what the most popular searchengines are in order for your monitoring efforts to beeffective. Right now, there are ten popular search enginesthat direct most of Internet traffic to your sites. Thechallenge you face is that these top ten may change frommonth to month.
This means that your must not only monitor your searchengine positions, but you must also keep track of theranking popularity of the search engines you aremonitoring. Find out which search engines people use mostfrequently every month and be sure to live in the present!People are fickle about their favorite search engines, andit takes constant vigilance to follow their dalliances. Thesearch engines they loved when you first launched yourcampaign may be old news in the next few months. You mustadjust your list of engines according to the whims of theInternet users. Check outhttp://www.searchenginewatch.com/reports/netratings.htmlfor a current list of website favorites.
Another factor to monitor carefully is a sudden drop ofyour positions in all search engines. This is not the sameas monthly fluctuations - this is a neon red warning sign!It could mean a number of different things.
It all your search engine positions have plummeted, it mayindicate that search engines spiders - those sneakyprograms that seek out your site and rank their positions -have found some type of problem with your website. If youhave recently changed the code, for instance, the spidermay become utterly confused and consequently drop yourpositions disastrously. If a spider creeps up on yourwebsite when it is down for adjustments or changes, you mayactually disappear from a search engine index entirely. Ora search engine may drastically change its formula, andsuddenly all of your website come up as irrelevant. If thatsearch engine is a current favorite, it may create a dominoeffect, causing all of your position to drop in all searchengines.
Some search engines rely on the results from other searchengines, and it is vital that you know which engines theseare and keep track of all the engines they influence. Thebiggest problem here is that search engines will sometimeschange affiliations, and this can create a major shift inthe geography of the Internet. For example, recently Yahoodecided to display only results gleaned from Google. So youmust not only monitor your own positions, but you must keepabreast of seismic shifts in the landscape of the Internetas a whole.
Finally, pay attention to your keywords. Keywords are thefoundation bricks of the entire search engine system, andthey demand individual scrutiny in your monitoring efforts.If you have found that a number of your positions haveplummeted, it may mean that a page of your website hasbecome invisible or inaccessible to search engine spiders.Or the competition for that particular keyword or phrasehas recently rocketed into outer space. In either case, youmust act quickly and efficiently to regain lost ground.
Your search engine marketing campaign is an investment. Ifcosts you time and money on a continual basis. Protect thisinvestment as diligently as you would your financialportfolio. In the same way, track your positions from anobjective perspective, and monitor your positions on aregular basis. Make sure your time and effort reap rewardsby keeping your eye on the big picture - your long-termmarketing campaign.

Improving Link Popularity

Search engines are the gateway to the Internet; they are the first tool that potential customers use to find the products and services they need. This is why link popularity is so imperative. If the customers do not find your website, you have no possibilities of making any sales.

You're probably wondering what the blazes is popular about a link! Well, in a word - plenty! Link popularity refers to the ranking assigned to your website by the search engines, and it determines the ranking your page gets when keywords are entered into a search engine. So, you're probably wondering, how do I make my link popular?

Search engines are discretionary, giving status and ranking to sites that have links to their pages from related, quality sites. It's a simple formula, but a very important one. Google created the system, and now virtually all the most popular search engines employ it to rank your web
pages in their indexes.

The more commonly used your keyword is, the harder it will be to achieve link popularity, but without achieving this step, it is almost certain your site will never rank highly on any search engine. But don't be discouraged; there are tried and true ways of achieving link popularity using the most competitive keywords.

There are a few things you should be aware of. The first is that just linking up with a large number of other websites will not achieve link popularity. In fact, it may have quite the opposite effect. This is particularly true when pertaining to websites that are nothing more than "link farms" - pages containing line after line of indiscriminate links. Search engines may aggressively discriminate against your website if you are associated with a link farm, so steer clear of them!

The next thing to bear in mind is the quality of the site you are linking to. Never link to a page you have reservations about your visitors seeing. The last thing you want your website to appear as is indiscriminate and cheap. Linking to sites of poor quality will only lessen your link popularity, if not completely destroy it.

So let's get to what you need to do to achieve supreme link popularity and improve your rankings to stellar status on all the popular search engines.

The first step, and the fastest way to get your foot in the door, is to get a listing in a popular directory, such as Open Directory Project and Yahoo. If your site is business-related, you will want to be listed on Yahoo, and despite the fact that it will cost you around $300 a year, it will be money well spent. If your site is non-commercial, the listing will be free, but it will take time and follow-up to actually get it listed. Open Directory is gives you a free listing whether you are business-related or non-commercial, but be prepared to make a lot of follow-up inquiries before you see your site listed.

You are aiming to get listed in the highest level of appropriate category, and this just takes some common sense. For example, if your company ships Alpaca wool from an Alpaca farm located in the middle of Nowhere, Tiny State, do NOT submit your listing to "Retailers from Nowhere, Tiny State." BIG MISTAKE! All you have to do is look a little deeper - and submit your listing to the "Fine Alpaca Wool" category. You will not only associate yourself with culture and quality, but you will be listed in a national category.

The next step after you have attained directory listings is to locate other quality sites that will increase your link popularity. Try to find sites that are in some way related to yours, so not only will your link popularity increase, but your customer base may also be expanded. You want to avoid your competitors and look for sites that are useful to your site's visitors. Let's look at the Alpaca Wool site example. Linking up to a site that sells knitting supplies would be helpful to your visitors, and the chances of the knitting supply site wanting to link up to your site are also greater. By linking to a related site that will be relevant to your website's traffic, you are increasing both of your site's business prospects - and both of your sites' link popularity.

Not all sites want to link to other sites, so you will have to do some research when you are looking for possible linking partners. Google is an excellent starting place for your search. Make sure you enter keywords that you think quality customers will also enter to find your own site.

Remember, your criteria are quality, highly ranked, non-competing websites that have a links or resources page. Go to these sites and objectively assess them. Look at the quality of the product, the graphics, and the ease of use. Then check out the other sites they are linked to, and determine if your own site would fit in with the crowd.

When you decide you have found a good prospect, you must set out to woo them. The first thing to do is to add a link on your own links page to their site. This is an essential first step; it shows good faith, and ups your chances significantly of their reciprocity. After you have added their link, you must contact the webmaster of their site. Since this is almost always done by email, you want to make sure it is immediately clear that your message is not junk mail. This requires that you tell them right off the bat that you have added a link to their page on your site. A hook like this almost always insures the reader will read on.

Next, be sure to be flattering and let them know how much you appreciate their website. Make sure you emphasize that you have actually visited their site, and that their site is not just a random pick. Give them the address of your links page, and ask them to check out the link for themselves. It's a good idea to mention that they will not only benefit from the increased traffic your website will direct their way, but you will also increase their link popularity. Briefly, explain why link popularity is so essential, but do this in a sentence or two so you don't sound like a professor! Finally, tell them you would greatly appreciate if they would reciprocally add a link on
their own links page to your website.

Go through this process with as many appropriate sites as you can find, bearing in mind the criteria of quality and non-competitiveness. After you have emailed all relevant sites, be sure to check these website frequently to see if they have added a link to your page. Give it about a month, and if no link appears, try another charming email. Then give it another month, and if your site is still absent from their links page, it's time to remove their link from your own links page. The only time you want to pursue a link further than this is if you believe a site is crucial
to your link popularity and your business needs. Just remember to keep all your communications complimentary and cordial.

Then set up a schedule to check your ranking in search engines frequently to see if your link popularity has improved. This is not achievable in the blink of an eye. It will take some time and a good deal of work. There is no way around the labor-intensive quality of improving your link popularity, which is why search engines regard it with such importance.

By the way - make sure you have a beautiful, streamlined site or you will never persuade anyone to link up to you. Be prepared to keep plugging away at this process, as long as it takes, until you achieve link popularity stardom!