The Popularity of MySpace

This is a great little article that I read in one of my ezines on the popularity of MySpace. The numbers are mind boggling.

Hitwise recently released their "Top US Search Lists of 2006." This list gives us a different perspective compared to other lists concerning what Web users were interested about last year.

For 2006, "myspace" was the top search term with a 0.63% share. Second was "myspace.com" with a 0.41% share, while "ebay" was third with 0.33%.

"Yahoo," "mapquest," "www.myspace.com," "yahoo.com," "my space," "myspace layouts," and "lyrics" rounded out the top 10.

There are two things to note about this list:

1. MySpace owns it. It's pretty remarkable to see just how pervasive MySpace is to the collective mindset of Web users in the U.S. To see that the social networking behemoth takes up half of the top 10 search terms of 2006 is a pretty big feat, and says a lot about the influence and pull that the site has, even outside of the big numbers it posts in terms of viewership and membership.

2. The common Web user in the U.S. seems to need a simple lesson in navigating the Internet. The fact of the matter is that a part of what this list conveys is that Web users are frequently typing in Web site names (and even the actual URL sometimes) into search boxes. This is a bit baffling, since one would think that Web users would be a bit keener to the idea of using the address bar to go to sites whose URLs are already known instead of making more work for themselves by typing it out into a search engine and then clicking on the result. One can only guess at why this is.

"American idol" was the top search term for the Television Category, and "old navy" was the top term for the Fashion Category in 2006.

This list is a different take compared to other popular lists released by the major search engines, but it's interesting to look at nonetheless.

Source: Jason Hahn

Find Unique Gemstone Eyeglass chains, Bookmarks & Worry Stones at Dizzygirl Trading.

Find books, toys, clothing, software, jewelry, beads, pottery and collectibles at the Circle of Stores.

Natural Search Engine Optimization

What is Natural Search?

"Natural" or "organic" search refers to the unpaid search results that appear in search engines like Google, MSN, and Yahoo. There are two main search classifications: Natural Search and Paid Search. While Paid Search refers to paid advertising (such as Google AdWords), Natural Search refers to all unpaid search results and is based on relevance.

Improving your ranking in Natural Search is a terrific way to drive more traffic to your listings, Store, and other pages. In turn, this can lead to improved sales and conversions for you.

How does Natural Search work?

Search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN each have a different algorithm to determine how to rank a page for each search query. If you conduct a search for a product on each of the search engines, you will find that the search results differ. While search engines have different algorithms and methods for ranking pages, there are two things that all search engines deem important:

1) Content
2) Linking & Finding

Regarding CONTENT

• Content is king: The content you have on your page is the key to securing high search engine rankings. Search engine spiders don’t read images, so graphics-heavy pages with little content will not rank well. To make images useful for search engine optimization, use alt tags. With these tags, you can insert keywords and tell spiders what the image is about. Spiders love content and that is the most important element they take back with them to the search engine index.

• Identify keywords that are relevant to your business, and make sure they are part of your content. For instance, if you sell digital cameras, make sure that keywords such as "digital cameras", "digicams", "digital photography", "digital photos" etc. are part of your text copy. Remember: Search engines cannot read text embedded in images.

• Place keywords that define your business in important areas of your page, such as your title. The title tag (the text you see on the blue bar of your browser) is one of the most important areas of your page when it comes to search engine optimization. Search engines give more importance to keywords that are in headline tags.
• Repeat these keywords in your description.

• Use keywords as anchor text: Anchor text is the text that describes a link. Instead of saying "click here to read more", use keywords. For example, your anchor text could be, "Canon Powershot digital camera buying guide".

Regarding LINKING & FINDING

Search engines regard links from other sites to your pages as endorsements. The more quality endorsements you have, the more "popular" your page will be considered. Links also help search engines like Google find your pages. Think of these external links like street signs, helping search engines navigate to your web pages.

Here are some simple ways to increase the number of external links to your pages:

• Get links from partner sites, distributors, associates etc.
• Add URLs to directories like the Open Directory Project, which is free: http://dmoz.org/

How can you create content?

There are many free and easy ways to drive Natural Search traffic. Below are just a few examples:

1) Add keyword-rich content to your listings – Repeat keywords in your listing title and description. For example, if you’re selling a digital camera, be specific and say "Canon PowerShot SD700 6 mega pixel" and use those keywords in your listing to reinforce what your page is about.

2) Create an About Me page – If you don't have one, create one today. About Me pages are free real estate for you to describe yourself, instill trust, and link to your other site pages.

3) Write Reviews & Guides –Write Reviews & Guides about your area of expertise. This gives you the opportunity to demonstrate knowledge, convey trust, and link to your listings and site pages. In other words…contribute to blogs.

4) Add content to your web Store - If you have an web Store, add content about yourself and your listings. Repeat the keywords you want search engines to associate with your page.

5) Add relevant links to your other pages and content – Link your About Me page to your listings, Reviews & Guides, Blogs etc. Cross-linking between your pages will also help search engines to find your pages.

Search engines are democratic

If you have an off site blog or webpage, you can link it to your listings, About Me page and other site pages.

How does this help Natural Search?
One of the most important factors influencing your search engine ranking is link popularity. Link popularity is a score based on the number of external sites providing a link to yours. Typically, the more inbound links you have, the more important search engines will deem your site to be.

The quality of inbound links also matter. A link from an authoritative industry portal will count for more than a link from an unknown site. A link from a site that has high PageRank will weigh more than a link from a site that has low PageRank.

Here are some simple ways to increase the number of links to your pages:

• Get links from partner sites, distributors, associates etc.

• Include your URL site in member directories of industry associations.
It is important to remember that search engine optimization is a slow process. If you are a new site, expect a couple of months for your page to show up on search engine results. A little patience can be richly rewarding in the long-run.

Find Unique Gemstone Bracelets, Earrings and Necklaces at Dizzygirl Jewelry.

Find books, toys, clothing, software, jewelry, beads, pottery and collectibles at the Circle of Stores.

Some More Tips on Keywords

An important point about keywords is to give the search engines something to read. Look at your web pages and see if there is any text on the page. Text that the search engines can read is really important.

Tip #1

Replace images with real text. Text that is imbedded in images can’t be crawled. If the search engine can’t read it then it can’t be indexed. Is it real text or an image? Try selecting the text. If you can, then you’re OK. If you can’t then you’re probably dealing with and image.

Try highlighting the text in this picture. Are the words imbedded in the picture or are they free-standing text? Will this image get crawled by the search engines, or will it get ignored?

Use your Browser’s View Source command to look at the HTML for the page and see if you can find the words in the text. To do this, right click on a blank spot on the page. A menu will appear. Select “View Page Source” and this will show you all the coding for the page. Look for the words in question.

Tip #2

• Use more keywords if you have light content (meaning not a lot of text) and better still, use the right keywords in the right place.
• Use the most important keywords near the top of the page.
• Place keywords into Heading tags.<> keyword.
  
• Use bold and italic keywords. The search engines take note of this.
• Put keywords into bulleted lists. Search engines also notice this.
• Use keywords multiple times on a page, but don’t go crazy. You don’t want a whole page that says “dinnerware”. That’s considered keyword spamming and search engines will ignore you.
• When you create links, include keywords in the links whenever possible. So for example, “To find the best selection of Spode china pieces go to the Spode china pieces page.

Find books, toys, clothing, jewelry, beads, pottery and collectibles at the Circle of Stores.

Search Engine Optimization

The concept of SEO is very simple. Number one: you want the search engines to find your site and index it so that it shows up on the Internet. Number two: you want to have your site show up at the beginning of the search returns, not the end. The big question is “How do I do this?” I will be posting some tips and tricks to improve your web site placement.

To begin. There are only 5 search directories that you need to submit your website to. Some cost money and others are free. The five directories are:

Google.com – it also feeds Yahoo and AOL

Yahoo.com – it’s worth paying the money for Yahoo if you can. Even though Google supplies Yahoo, it’s like putting your store in 2 categories instead of one. There is a link however for free submission to Yahoo as well.

MSN.com – It creates it’s own index.

Ask.com – This is a much smaller directory but it supplies info to sites like Ask Jeeves.

Open Directory Project – This is the meta directory of all the directories. It feeds all the other directories. Follow their instructions to the letter. You may or may not get indexed, but it’s worth trying.

Links

Google: www.google.com/addurl.html

Yahoo: http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html

MSN: http://search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx

ODP: www.dmoz.org

How to Tell if You’ve Been Indexed

I’ll give the instructions on how to do this without the Google toolbar.
It’s very easy. Go to Google.com and type in site:domain.com. You just put your domain name after site. You do not use the www for this. It will show you immediately if you’ve been indexed and how many pages that have been indexed. You can use the same format for MSN and Yahoo. You don’t have to worry about Ask.com because it’s fed from Google.

Tips

Search-bots, the tools used to examine the website, cannot see or read javascript. They cannot read or crawl pictures and they don’t like flash. They only read content.

To get the search-bots to crawl all your web site pages and index them you can do a couple of simple things.

One – Create more text links throughout the site. Many web sites have a main navigation structure and then duplicate the structure by using simple text links at the bottom of the page. You should do the same. Example: Find lots of mystery, fiction, non-fiction and romance books at BlueRidge Meadows. This should appear at the bottom of your description on all your pages in your wagglepop store. If you have your own website you can insert this at the bottom of every page.

Two – Add a sitemap page to your site. This page contains the links to most or all of your pages on your website. Of course you want to link to the sitemap page from those little links at the bottom of your homepage. Check back here to learn about adding a sitemap to your site.

Picking good Keywords

Getting search engines to recognize and index your website can be a problem. You need to know what search terms or keywords people are using. Go to this site and type in a keyword you think people might be using. http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/rc/srch/. The tool returns a list of keywords, showing you how often that term and related terms are used by people searching on Yahoo! and partner sites. There will be more on Keywords later.

Find books, toys, clothing, jewelry, beads, pottery and collectibles at the Circle of Stores.