Posts Tagged ‘best search engine positioning’

What You can Learn from Wikipedia’s Top Search Engine Placement Techniques

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

One of the most crucial pieces of successful search engine placement in a web marketing campaign is content and volume. And arguably, the most crucial aspect of a successful Web site—one that brings long-lasting results—is content. And by that we mean lots of quality content spread out over lots of pages. For proof of this, you need to look no further than the search engine placement success of Wikipedia. Wikipedia achieves superior search engine placement because it has heaps and heaps of pages indexed (over 2.5 million English language articles exist), with unique content on nearly every page. And anyone who has spent time with Google can attest that Wikipedia entries consistently get great search engine placement and land among Google’s top search results.

Why? Wikipedia offers what Google wants among its top search results. Google gives Web pages like Wikipedia’s great search engine placement because Google wants a page that’s geared directly toward whatever it was that you searched for. Search for “golden retriever” and you’ll get a Wikipedia page that’s about one thing: golden retrievers.

It also helps Wikipedia’s search engine placement when they theme their content. At the bottom of Wikipedia’s golden retriever page are links to related sections: “Dog breeds,” “Sporting dogs,” and “Breeds originating in Scotland.” Wikipedia can link to other content-rich pages related to their golden retriever page, pages that also undoubtedly contain the original search term “golden retriever” several times, gives Wikipedia that all-important facet known as “authority” which is crucial to search engine placement.

To achieve authority and top search engine placement in your particular field, you need what Wikipedia has: unique content and many pages. Luckily, you probably won’t need the 2.5 million that Wikipedia boasts. But with search engine placement, the more pages the better. Sometimes that means as much as a few hundred pages.

This may sound like a colossal undertaking. And maybe not even worth it. But with the right search engine strategy for search engine placement, it can be easier then you think to rack up a few hundred pages within a few months. A multifaceted campaign that incorporates blogs, advanced product categorization, articles, advice, and social industry marketing can get lots of unique pages and earn your Web page top search engine placement in Google’s rankings.

Google’s New Ability to Index Flash—How Will it Affect Search Engine Placement?

Thursday, August 7th, 2008

Adobe Flash is a multimedia software program used primarily in crafting Web sites. If you’ve ever been to a Webpage that features animation and interactive menus, then chances are you’ve seen Flash in action. But Flash has had a long and tumultuous relationship with web professionals, especially those concerned with search engine placement. Some web designers allege that the Web site software sacrifices easy usability for graphical wizardry. There’s too much “flash,” in other words. And SEO specialists have warned that since search engines can’t index the data contained in Flash menus and content areas, it’s a poor tool for those looking for superior search engine placement.

But that could change. In July Google announced that their search engine was finally capable of indexing Flash Web sites, thereby boosting their potential for search engine placement. That means that the words that are written into Flash animations and Flash-based Web sites will finally be searchable from Google. And Google will also be able to find URLs that are contained in most Flash files. And that’s good news. But notice that we said most, not all, Flash files. Google still can’t index text that’s contained in images or animated files. However, there are still problems with Google recognizing files within JavaScript, a Website tool that many SEO specialists are concerned with search engine placement are less than enthusiastic about.

While there is some improvement in regards to optimizing search engine placement with Flash, there are still plenty of disadvantages for anyone who wants to have a Flash-based page which is extremely search engine-friendly. Google still uses HTML and XML as the basis for deciding where the important stuff lies on a page. Flash doesn’t use the tags used in HTML and XML, so Google still can’t tell where a Flash Webpage’s headline resides. That means that pure HTML and XML sites still have an edge over Flash sites when it comes to search engine placement. Also, Flash Web sites are structured differently. Flash Web sites usually lack the ability to have a glut of incoming links aimed at several different parts of a Website, an important aspect for anyone looking for superior search engine placement.

When done well, Flash can create a very engaging and beautiful Website. But before diving wholeheartedly into a Flash site, one must always consider the payoff. While Google’s ability to index Flash sites is certainly good news for those looking for a better Google ranking, it will still be extremely difficult for a Website that is heavily dependent on Flash to get a great search engine placement.