Getting Listed on Search Engines
"My site was just finished. Why can't I find it on Google?"

Unfortunately, search engine placement does not happen automatically with the creation of a web site. Without being intentional about the process (or paying for it), a site will take several months to appear on search engines. This is because search engines like Google have automated software programs that crawl the internet looking for new sites, and it may take a while for them to find you.

As with many things, the question is do you want search placement to happen fast or free? There are several options which are free, and several that are fast, but none that are both fast and free.

The FREE options:

There are two things that we think really influence search engine placement:

1. Relevant content - In other words, the page content matches its title and the link. The site does what it says it would do. Search engines will score that higher, since many people will put unrelated links on their site in an effort to generate traffic. A good web page speaks for itself, because its content will match its title and the links to that page.
2. Link "Popularity" - Links that point to your site from other sites. This is probably one of the most important elements. Google will rank sites based on the number of other sites that have links pointing to it. Build your link popularity by getting other sites to create relevent links to your site.
   Other things you can do for free:
3. Register your site with Search Engines - for example you can register with Google at: http://www.google.com/addurl.html
4. Register with Directories - Look for directories that relate to your industry and request a listing for your site.
5. Participate on newsgroup discussions - This is a good way to gain link popularity IF you are actually posting good info in newsgroups. The key is to make sure that your "signature" includes a link to your website. Newsgroups are indexed by search engines, so every time you post it's considered a new link to your site. Be careful not to just bombard newsgroups with irrelevant ads for your site. People will hate you for it and it won't help your search engine rankings.
6. Join a web ring - Directories of similar web sites, web rings are all topically based and they provide good (and again, relevent) links back to your site.

COST Based Solutions:

1. META tags - These are keywords that are hidden in the code of the web page. They aren't given a lot of weight by the search engines (because people will put meaningless meta tags on their sites just to get more traffic), but they help. Adding META tags happens during the design phase of a web site, and can be rather nominal in cost.
2. Build an opt-in mailing list - It doesn't help with search engines, but it helps with site marketing and growth. Allow people to sign up for periodic newsletters containing related information. If you wanted to maintain a database of potential clients, we can develop and maintain a newsletter and e-mail system for you.
3. Pay someone to manage the content of the web site's pages. There is a large industry of people who claim to be able to influence rankings and site traffic by changing the wording of text and placement of information on pages. It's hard to measure someone's actual expertise in this area, so some people think this is more like voodoo than actual marketing science.
4. Buy keywords directly from a search engine like Google (adwords), or use a service like Overture.com to buy keywords on other search engines. Basically, you bid on specific keywords and pay per click - every time someone clicks through to your site from the search engine, you pay the bid amount, which can range from $.05 to $$$ big money for high demand keywords (like "computer software"). The good news here is that you can set a limit on spending, so your listing drops when your account hits its monthly limit. This sort of search engine marketing you can manage yourself, or you can have the SX Web Solutions do it on your behalf.