Webmasters and The Future Of Search Technology: Using Alternative Search Engines

The major search engines that are discussed today are Google, Yahoo and MSN. However, there is more to search engine technology than the most popular search engines than many webmasters realize. Today there is a new breed of search engines making their presence known. There are many experts that are beginning to look seriously at open source search engines as the future of search technology.

The open source search technology movement has been growing for several years. In 2006, several search engines begin using the open source code with modest success. Currently there are only a few search engines which are using the “Nutch” algorithm such as MozDex which is rapidly gaining popularity and working through a variety of technical problems. Read the rest of this entry »

What’s Next For Webmasters? – How Block Link Analysis Will Affect Your Website

Webmasters have to keep track of the various ways that the search engine companies recommend for optimizing web sites. All of the efforts that the webmaster employs to research and analyze the right key words, use unique page titles, provides keyword rich content that is informational and engaging for visitors are done specifically to give the search engine robots the information they require in the format they prefer.

The data that is collected is used in measurement systems to calculate popularity, page rank and web sites placements in the search engine index. The PageRank system used by Google and the Hyperlinked Induced Topic Search are two of the most popular algorithms that are currently in place which both have shortcomings. Read the rest of this entry »

Website Submission as a First Step to Website Marketing

No one knows about a new website that first goes online. Once the website is all together, the objective then is to get the word out. One method of doing this is through a process known as website submission and it is critical to website marketing. In fact, it is usually the first step in website marketing. Search engine optimization consultants and web design firms will many times offer website submission as a service part of their website marketing strategy. Here is some helpful information concerning website submission:

A Word of Warning on Automated Submissions

Of course the idea behind website submissions in website marketing is to get your new site submitted to as many directories as quickly as possible. Some web design and search engine companies will claim that they can submit your site via an automated process to hundreds of directories instantly. These claims should be viewed with much skepticism. Remember that each directory will have its own rules for submission. They will each have a different strategy for each site. There is no way to possibly write a software application to handle the quirks of each submission site. Not only that, many have security words that must be answered by other than an automated process. Read the rest of this entry »

Website Marketing is Crucial to a Site’s Success

You have a brand new killer web site and want it to get top exposure. However, just like a new storefront, no one knows of it when it first goes online. This is why an effective website marketing campaign is crucial to your sites success. People have to know it is there and the way this is done is through website marketing.

Announce Your Site on the Day It Is Published

Never attempt to announce your site before it is actually published. You do not want to risk driving away potential customers who visit a half-finished site as it will destroy your website marketing campaign. Search engine crawlers do not like half-finished sites either and they will have a difficult time classifying them. You can announce your site by submitting it to directories like the Open Directory Project at www.dmoz.org. There are many website submission directories. Some may review and submit your site while others may take some time to do so. Of course, if you pay for the submission, it goes much faster but beware that some pay submissions do not guarantee your site will get listed and have no refund policies. Just know the facts before you pay. Read the rest of this entry »

Website Marketing Depends on Link Popularity

Part of website marketing is search engine optimization or SEO and part of SEO is a concept known as link popularity. Link popularity is a very important aspect of the overall optimization process that determines if your site is in fact popular. Remember that popular sites are the ones that will have higher rankings when it comes to results returned from search engine queries. And there are several ways to achieve link popularity. We define a link as an HTML link that when you click on it, it will take you to a website. Some link popularity strategies in website marketing are honest ways and others are unethical ways or ways to fool the search engine searchbot. So here are some concepts of link popularity which SEO consultants base their strategies on:

Higher Quality Links are Related Links

Let’s say you have a website that sells gardening equipment. Another business named Joe’s Ski Supplies calls you and asks if you could put their link on your website. You have a good relationship with Joe and want to gladly help him out in his website marketing campaign so you say yes. Your web designer places Joe’s link on your homepage for gardening equipment. To further increase the changes of the popularity of Joe’s link, your web designer uses the anchor text “Joe’s Ski Supplies.” When the searchbots find this link, they tally one more in determining the popularity of Joe’s site. Read the rest of this entry »