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The Science and Strategy of Search Engine Optimization By Laura L. Smith, M.A., and William G. Huffman, M.B.A., M.C.S.E. In June 1993, the World Wide Web was home to a whopping 130 websites.1 Approximately 1.5 percent of these sites were registered with .com extensions. Thus, the competitive environment for business-oriented websites eight years ago consisted of, in essence, two sites. In what is perhaps one of the most phenomenal growth stories of mankind’s history, over a period of less than a decade the World Wide Web has exploded into mainstream business culture, becoming one of the most widely used and promising new tools of marketing and commerce. As of May 2, 2001, the total number of registered website domains was 35,486,533.2 This number increases by the thousands every day. On the same date, domains registered with .com extensions numbered 22,373,0972, accounting for 63 percent of the total number of registered domains. Obviously, marketing a website to ensure it is visible in this highly competitive landscape is a serious challenge. Given the astonishing growth in the number of business-oriented websites, it’s safe to say that the models for effective Internet marketing have changed tremendously in recent years. Gone are the days when simply having a web presence was proof of forward-thinking web marketing. Today, site developers and web merchants must employ aggressive, technologically sophisticated tactics to ensure their web pages are consistently found by their target audience. One of the most effective and economic methods of achieving this goal is the science of strategic search engine optimization. Optimization Search engine optimization (SEO), loosely defined, is the process of creating, or changing, specific elements of web pages to enable them to achieve higher placement in search engine result listings. To fully understand the value in such a process, a basic understanding of the mechanics of search engine is necessary. Most web surfers today find the information they're looking for online through either a search engine or a human-powered directory. Search engines deploy special software to search the web and compile indexed summaries of millions of web pages. These software programs are often referred to as "spiders" or "crawlers." Some of the most popular search engines in use today include Alta Vista, Lycos, WebCrawler, HotBot, GO and Excite. When a visitor to a search engine site types in a keyword or keyphrase, the search engine looks through its index for websites that contain any or all of the search words. Each indexed page is assigned a relevancy score in the search engine's database, based on criteria such as keyword density (the ratio of keywords or keyphrases to other words or phrases in body text), keyword prominence and a number of other algorithms unique to each search engine. Pages with higher relevancy scores are ranked higher in search engine result listings. In order for a spider to index the information contained in a given web page, the page must be submitted to the search engine for indexing, or the page must be linked to another indexed site on the web. A spider may eventually find a non-submitted site by following links from other websites, but this method is very uncertain -- it may take a very long time for the spider to find the page with this method, if it ever finds it at all. The best method of ensuring that a web page's content is indexed by a search engine spider is to submit the page to the search engine and then check the search engine regularly to be sure the site's content has been indexed. Unlike search engines, which rely on software to index content, search directories, including Yahoo!, are human-compiled databases of web pages. These databases are typically grouped into categories, much like a traditional directory (the Yellow Pages, for example). Directory databases are painstakingly compiled, one entry at a time, by editors who review each page submitted to the directory and make decisions about its relevance. For the purposes of this article, the term "search engine optimization" will apply to the science of optimizing web pages for both search engines and human-powered directories. Strategies for achieving a high position in both search engine and directory databases are complex. There are many factors at play when it comes to optimizing a web page for a given search engine or directory, and each search engine or directory has unique algorithms that must be met in order to achieve a high ranking. It's clear that the chances of achieving a high ranking in listing results are increased with a strong knowledge base in search engine and directory optimization. Keyword Research In the context of site development and search engine optimization, the terms "keywords" and "keyphrases" refer to words or phrases that succinctly describe the content of a given web page. These are the terms that a web surfer is likely to enter into a search field when looking for information on a given topic. Insightful, careful keyword generation is arguably the most important search engine optimization tactic to date. Most Internet marketers and web merchants are probably able to identify the key phrases that are most commonly associated with their particular product or service. But few are aware of the critical importance of researched keywords in the context of search engine optimization. Keyword research includes systematic testing of potential keywords in various search engines, canvassing of the source code of competitive sites to check performance of keywords, and market testing of potential keywords among focus groups and representatives of the target audience. Keyword research and analysis should take place prior to drafting copy for websites. These researched keywords should then be used throughout the copy in order to achieve higher keyword recognition by search engines. Copywriting Skilled, professional copywriting is one of the cornerstones of effective search engine optimization. Writing for search engine optimization is a difficult and exacting task. The copy must be rich in keywords and keyphrases, but must also read well and be appealing and informative from a marketing perspective. Web-specialist copywriters understand that writing for the web is not the same as writing for print media. Users of the Web and other interactive media tend to read copy differently from readers of print media. For example:
Site Design and Architecture Many elements of website design influence the position a site will achieve in search engine result listings. These design elements affect the success a search engine spider will have when attempting to extract content and keywords from a web page. In addition, the aesthetic appeal of a site, the presentation of its content and the ease of its navigation are important both to the editors of human-powered directories and to the web surfers who will ultimately visit the site. Search engine spiders employ a systematic search of a website's content to discover keywords and determine the site's relevance to the search engine's database. In general, search engine spiders search the following areas of a website,4: Website designers should be very cognizant of this order of indexing when creating a site, and should create web pages and HTML META tags that allow search engine spiders to find the information they need quickly and efficiently. Placement of researched keywords in each of these places on a site does not guarantee high rankings, however. Certain design elements may actually hinder the ability of a spider to find keywords and assign high relevance to a site. For example, because search engines need keyword-rich text to determine a site's relevance, website designers must allow for the right amount of copy to be placed on the pages, in the right format. Search engines cannot extract information from graphics. They need keyword-rich text. Graphic elements such as image maps, animations, JavaScript or frames should never be allowed to interfere with the spider's task of indexing the text on the page and discovering keywords. Good META tags may help to make up for design elements that impede spiders, but the best solution is a combination of researched META tags and spider-friendly design elements.5 When optimizing a site for top search engine position, it's important to employ a web designer who understands SEO and can create pages that are technically optimized for spiders and aesthetically appealing to directory editors and web surfers. Submission Once a web page has been optimized for high ranking in search engine result listings, it must be systematically and regularly submitted to search engines in order for the search engine spider to be alerted that it must index the site's content. While many search engines require only the site's URL for submission, many directories, including Yahoo! require a more detailed submission entry. Again, a web developer versed in the preferences of each different search engine and directory is a valuable asset in the SEO process. It's very important to customize each submission based on the requirement of the specific search engine or directory. This customization will result in a more timely indexing of the site's content and quite possibly a higher ranking in the search engine result listings. In addition to the most highly-trafficked search engines and directories, an insightful submission process will also include submission to free-traffic-building (FTB) sites, including guides, competitions, announcements, review sites and portals. These FTB sites are free-of-charge websites that can help build traffic and increase visibility of a website.4 Again, each FTB site has specific submission requirements and search algorithms - for maximum results, a solid understanding of the requirements of each FTB site chosen for submission is important. Submission to search engines, directories and other FTB sites is only one step in the complex strategy of SEO. Of equal importance is the process of verifying submissions, analyzing and tracking traffic to the submitted sites, regular resubmissions, and alterations of page design or content to increase ranking. Because search engines continually re-index the web, it's a simple fact that a high position in search engine results one week may not be maintained the next time the search engine's spider indexes the site. Consistent maintenance of a top search engine position requires regular, attentive, thoughtful tracking and resubmission of each topical page in a submitted site. Labor-intensive and time-consuming as this may be, it's the only effective process for achieving, and keeping, a top search engine position and the traffic that comes with it. Conclusion The science and strategy of search engine optimization is a highly complex procedure, capable of yielding remarkable results in search engine results listings. While the web is home to more than 35 million registered domains, only a small fraction of these domains benefit from any systematic SEO strategies. Perhaps in part due to the high-speed growth of the Internet itself, the science of SEO is still in its infancy, yet to be tapped by the vast majority of web developers and Internet marketers. At this writing, any site designed for search engine optimization will reap the rewards of markedly increased web traffic, while those designed with no thought to SEO will most assuredly slumber undetected by search engines, directories and the nearly 400 million6 consumers currently surfing the web. References: 1 Matthew Gray of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Web Growth Summary." http://www.mit.edu/people/mkgray/net/ 2 "Latest Domain Stats." www.domainstats.com 3 Heather Lloyd-Martin. "Successful Online Writing." Rank Write Roundtable - Issue No. 002. www.rankwrite.com. 4 James Kelly, Internet Consultant. "Achieving Top Search Engine Position." Online Educational Seminar. Education To Go. www.ed2go.com 5 Danny Sullivan. "How To Use HTML META Tags." Search Engine Watch. www.searchenginewatch.com. December, 2000. 6 Global Internet Statistics. www.euromktg.com/globstats/. March 2001. 
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