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Copyright © John
Krycek
You've just built a website and can't wait to
start popping up in the top listings of search engines. After all,
you've paid this company even more money to create "optimized, search
engine friendly pages, start building links and add lots of fresh
content." If it takes weeks and months for the search engines to notice
me, do I have to wait that long to see if the money was worth it?
No! It's true that it takes time…weeks,
even months to build up your web presence, but there are ways to follow
your progress. It's important to note that if you already have an
established Internet presence and wish to further optimize your site,
it usually happens much faster than a site that is brand new with a
brand new domain.
If you are already listed in various directories
and your existing website has been up and running long enough the
search engines have probably already indexed your site and those
linking to it. (to see if your site is indexed with a particular
engine, in the search field type "site:www.yourdomain.com").
As you modify your pages and add new content the process of moving up
in search rank is much swifter than starting from a brand new,
un-indexed site. ? The ranking process has an inherent unchangeable
variable of time. Sponsored search listings are one of a few ways
around this hurdle to get you to the top instantly while the search
spiders dig through your new site. But for the long haul, while you
wait for that big chuck of cash you just paid your SEO to start
returning, here are some ways to tell if he or she did you justice.
Ways to keep tabs on your progress:
Monitor Search Engine Positions
If you're a brand new domain name the first step
is to watch for yourself to be indexed. Chances are that your optimizer
submitted your site to the most prominent search engines at the very
least. While the search crawlers will ultimately find you on their own,
there is some merit in submitting your site manually. It may take some
weeks before a check of site:www.yourdomain.com
reveals any activity though. Take care not to be over anxious and
resubmit your site. That will only hurt your efforts.
Once you find yourself being listed by particular
keywords in a search engine, monitor how your rank moves every week or
so. (Frequently, the more you add fresh content, the sooner the
crawlers will return to your site.) Change the preference settings in
search engines to speed up your research efforts.
Google will display up to 100 results per page,
MSN up to 50 in "advanced search." This makes it much easier to find
yourself if your down in the 300th position. Don't be discouraged
though! Being listed even at 300 is an accomplishment. And as you
optimize you will see your listing move up in the ranks.
Visitor Tracking
The best, and easiest way to see who is reaching
your site by search engine and particular keyword phrase is to
implement some sort visitor tracking system. These are not complicated
and can cost only a few dollars a month. Take a look at a company like www.webstat.com
for example.
A small piece of code is placed on each page you
want to track. When you log into the online service, you can tell the
exact word and phrase someone used to reach you and from what search
engine... not to mention scores of other useful data about your site
traffic. This quickly gives you a snapshot of which keyword phrases are
most successful and in which engines. This data is invaluable to
further optimize your pages.
Are your top search engine rankings on par with
the industry percentages?
Again using visitor tracking you can see if the
people reaching you by Google are close to the percentage of people
that use Google compared to MSN or AOL. If the industry shows that
overall 25% of searchers are using MSN and 5% Lycos, your results
should be similar. If they're not, it's a sign that some modifications
might be in order.
Monitoring these processes will show you that
there's actually quite a lot of activity. And there's nothing more
exciting than watching that 300th position search climb to the first
page!
About the Author:
John Krycek is the owner and creative director of http://www.themouseworks.ca.
Read more articles at http://www.themouseworks.ca/html/website_articles_indx.html
on the insights and secrets of website design and development and
search engine optimization in easy, non-technical, up front English!
peter@themouseworks.ca
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