PR(A) = (1-d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + ... + PR(Tn)/C(Tn))
The original Google PageRank Algorithm.

Search Engines

Search Engine Optimization ("SEO" - getting sites to the top of the editorial search engine listings) and Search Engine Marketing ("SEM"- placing advertising on search engines) has from the inception of internet search engines been one of the most effective online marketing techniques. As such it is normally a main focus of the marketing programs Aderit executes. See our case studies for examples.

A huge portion of website visits begin with making a search in a search engine. Users input some words describing what they are looking for and the search engine responds with a list of sites it calculates are most relevant for those words.

By analogy, keywords are to search engines as subscribers are to magazines. If one advertises in magazines, one picks magazines that have many subscribers who are likely to be interested in what one sells. If one wishes to be present in web searches, one picks keywords that are frequently used by searchers who are likely to be interested in what one sells.

When people use search engines to find out about products and services, the words they use in their searches are often surprisingly different from the words the managers of those businesses would use themselves, or even expect others to use.

As an example, a dentist once asked us why almost nobody found his site in search engines short of using specific names (name of the practice, name of the dentist). It turned out that nowhere on the site was the word "dentist" to be found. It was always "dental" or "dentistry". But people don't enter "town name dentistry" into search engines, they enter "town name dentist". His site could not be found in the most common and obviously appropriate web search.

For a complicated business, the missing terms become ever more complicated.

And it's not just about including terms on the site, but how those terms are used on the site. If one knew what terms were most frequently used in the web searches conducted by prospective customers, then one can adjust the site so that search engines conclude that the site is important for those terms.

Unfortunately, the world of SEO and SEM is full of dubious business practices. We won't name names, but we would advise any business owner to be suspicious of any of the following offers and practices:

• Submission Services

Getting top rankings in the search engines has nothing to do with repeatedly submitting sites to thousands of search engines. (It does, however, have a lot to do with submitting to directories.) Submitting a site to "thousands" of search engines over and over is, at best, a waste of time.


• Meta Tags

Meta tags were a nice idea one upon a time when the internet was a genteel place for academics. Now that the internet has been commercialized, they became ineffective. Their influence on search results is presently almost nothing.


• Hidden Text

There are various ways to hide text on a webpage. Hiding text may work for some sites for some time, but we feel it is a death wish marketing approach. Sooner or later the search engines will figure out you are tricking them, and revenge will be theirs.


• "Doorway Pages"

"Doorway pages" are pages specifically designed to trick the search engines to get search rankings but serving no other purpose and not otherwise public. The important issue here is about tricking. Designing pages that are user-oriented gateways to your site can be a useful technique for serving users better so they spend more time on your site and are more likely to convert.


• Cloaking

Cloaking is a technique for serving one page to the search engines and another to regular users.


• Browser-Based Keywords

Some firms have assembled tiny user bases where users can input their search terms directly into their browser's address bar and have advertisers' ads show up. For this service, these firms want large fees.

For additional useful advice on this subject see:

• Webmaster Guidelines from Google.com.
• Search Engine Optimization and Submission Services FAQs from SEOPros.org.
• Advice for choosing an SEO from the SEO Consultants Directory.
• Hiring a Professional SEO from About.com.