Making sure potential customers can find your Web site is a critical component to building a site correctly. Search engines play a key role in drawing the traffic you want from existing and potential customers.

Search engines are one of the primary ways Internet users find Web sites, and a site with good search engine listings likely will see a dramatic increase in traffic.

Most Web site managers may not realize that simply putting a site on the Web is not enough to ensure it will turn up in search engine queries. Specific actions like registering your site with various search engines and coding your site appropriately can greatly increase your chances for showing up in user searches.

How do search engines work?

Each search engine, from Google to Yahoo, has its own protocols and algorithms that determine how searches work on that site. Crawler-based search engines like Google create listings by creating programs that “crawl” or “spider” the Web to come up with a list of sites that match the entered search terms. The list is ranked in order of how relevant the sites are to the search terms.

Listings in human-powered directories, like LookSmart, rely on active human management. These directories are based on submitted descriptions of Web sites from site managers, as well as sites reviewed by the directory’s editor. When a person uses one of these directories for searches, matches only come up with descriptions that have been submitted.

A third category of search engines blends the crawler-based listings with human-powered ones. For example, MSN Search presents both human-powered listings from LookSmart as well as crawler-based results, especially for more obscure queries.

Search engine submission v. search engine optimization

While the terms “search engine submission” and “search engine optimization” are sometimes used interchangeably, there is a big difference between the two.

Search engine submission involves registering your site with different search engines to let them know your site exists.

Search engine optimization, on the other hand, refers to the actual changes you make to your site to improve its chances of ranking well for particular search terms.

One example used to highlight the difference between the two is the lottery ticket analogy. Search engine submission is like buying a lottery ticket: it doesn’t guarantee you’ll win, but you need one to have a chance.

Protocols vary widely between search engines and change regularly. If turning up high on key searches is important to your Web site strategy, your Web manager must make it a point to stay abreast of shifting protocols and make appropriate changes to how your site is coded.

Chose your keywords carefully

Before you do any coding to your site, you first must choose appropriate key words that describe your business while being specific enough to increase your chances of turning up high in searches. Put yourself in your customers’ and potential customers’ shoes: What key words are they likely to type in when looking for your type of business? Chances are, they’re not typing in “Hank’s Cobbler Shop” but rather “shoe repair and Main Street.”

The words you imagine them typing into the search box are your target keywords. By making sure those words appear frequently on your site, you improve your chances of having your page turn up in the top-ranked results.

Each page on your site should have different keywords to reflect each page's content. For example, Hank’s site may have one page with the pages with keywords “women’s shoes” and another with “leather refinishing.” Be careful about choosing single keywords that are too broad. “Shoes” would turn up thousands of listings with Hank’s site probably somewhere near the bottom. Choosing keywords, or phrases, with at least two words (like “leather refinishing”) can help you narrow the field.

Place keywords strategically in your site

While every search engine has different criteria and protocol, certain features of your Web site must be submitted to every directory where you want your site registered. How frequently your keywords appear in each of the following features will directly affect how well your site shows up in searches for those keywords:

• Page Title - The page title is displayed at the top of the browser above the menu and is specified between the <title> tags in HTML. This is the page’s single most important element in terms of indexing, and sites with a given word in their title will rank higher than those where the word appears only in the body. 
   
• Keyword Density – This is the percentage of words in the body of your site (that which appears between <body> tags in HTML) that are keywords or keyword phrases. Search engines look for keyword density between body tags, and the higher the percentage of keywords, the greater the keyword density. For example, if the words “guitar strings” appears frequently on your Web site, a search with the words “guitar strings” will be more likely to turn up your site than if the words only appear once.
   
• Meta-tags - Meta-tags are HTML tags that contain information about page content for search engines. While few search engines use meta-tags, those that do include popular engines like Alta Vista.
   
• URL – Your URL, or your site’s address, not only needs to be memorable for your customers; it also affects your site’s performance in searches. The closer a keyword is to the beginning of your URL, the better it is for ranking. For example, a search for “flowers” will turn up "www.flowersbysusie.com" before it turns up "www.susiesflowers.com."

While placing key words strategically is an important part of getting listed well on search engines, don’t try to outsmart the system by “spamming” key words, or plastering key words all over your site inappropriately. Most search engines are automatically programmed to reject such sites altogether.
  
Submit key pages manually

Most search engines will index “internal” pages of your Web site by following links from the home page you submit to them. However, it can still be a good idea to submit the top two or three pages that best summarize your Web site since this does not always happen as quickly or regularly as you’d like, and not all search engines will list every page from your site. By submitting your site’s most important pages manually, you ensure they get listed with major search engines.

Finally, remember that these tips do not so much guarantee a high placement for your site in search engines as they do outline the minimum elements that must exist in a page to make it search engine friendly. Search engine optimization is a complex process, and it takes time and commitment to keep your site up to date with numerous search engine protocols.

If you find that executing the different search engine strategies are more time consuming than effective, redirect your efforts to more productive areas. Word-of-mouth, traditional advertising, traditional media and links from other sites are all still effective ways to drive traffic to your site and should not be overlooked in the rush for search engine optimization.