Keywords and Search Engines
- A Winning Combination or Waste of Time?

Frankly, I think most people spend too much time worrying about their "placement" on search engines. Instead of trying to jockey for position they should give it up!

What? Am I insane? And why would this article be carried in this newsletter if this is the case?

Let me explain.

I believe the desire to place in the top 20 in the Search Engines and the strategies used are beneficial, if done PROPERLY. The problem is, most people screw up the fundamental task of keywords. Or, if they do a good job with their initial keywords, they stop.

I know, you're saying, "But, we put the best keywords in the file. So, I don't understand what you mean." I'll assume that you've already done the necessary work to create your keywords and that you are listed with the various search engines.

Now what you have to do is basic detective work. I'll explain why you should do this and then how to do it.

What You Can Learn:

Would it be worth it to learn that a "minor" keyword is actually the main reason people visit your site? Or, what if you discovered that people add an extra keyword to your top keyword? You may rank #1 for your top keyword, but since people are adding a word, you only rank #34 with that combination.

Here's a practical example.

This is for Brien's page at: http://www.webtread.com/engine/secrets.htm

From looking at the logfiles Brien learned that InfoSeek was his second highest source of hits.

Using Rank This! located at http://www.rankthis.com, I saw that depending on the keywords used Brien ranged from No. 1 (Good Job!) to not ranking in the top 200.

Here are the results:

KEYWORDS: POSITION:

Search Engine Secrets Ranking: 1

search engine secrets Ranking: 6

search engine positioning Ranking: 12

Search Engine positioning Ranking: 24

search engine Ranking: 66

search engine listing Ranking: 5

Search Engine Listing Ranking: Not in top 200

In this example you can see that by simply not capitalizing the words, you could go from #5 to not being ranked in the top 200. In this case, it may be that no one would capitalize the first letters for those words. But, in other cases, you simply don't know.


What if, in your case, you could increase your position not being ranked in the top 200 to a #5 ranking for that word. Would that increase traffic to your site?

Sure it would. That's why I say most people spend too much time with the search engines. They are spending their time on keywords that they hope produce results. When you analyze your logfiles, you will learn exactly what people are querying the search engine for.

Here are some examples from my site. The first one is listed in it's entirety. The other listings are edited.

1: http://www.infoseek.com/Titles?qt=%2B%27information+systems for+strategies+advantage%27&cat=RES&oq=information+systems+ for+ strategies+advantage&lk=noframes&st=10

2: qt=%22Gary+Halbert%22&oq=%22Gary+Cochran%22&

3: qt=%2Bgary+%2Bhalbert (a perfect example of a request that you would think would be capitalized, but isn't)

4: qt=Building++advantage+through+business+on-line

5:http://search.onramp.net/ns.cgi?query=unfair+advantage

6: qt=%22jay+abraham%22 (another example of a request that you would think would be capitalized, but isn't)

This is just a sampling so I'll explain some of the things that you could learn from looking at all the data.

1. People are finding the site on search engines for one main reason. You may discover that reason is a minor point of your site. So you may want to highlight that portion more.

2. People will use phrases that you've never considered. You can then incorporate those phrases into your keywordsand make it even more relevant. (I've found that "information systems" comes up often. I know that I would have never thought of that phrase.)

3. You'll learn which search engine produces the most visitors. Reason three will let you do two things.

a. Spend more time on the other major search engines to increase your hits from them.

and / or

b. Make sure you spend the bulk of your time on the search engine which gives you the most hits. Now that you know why you should track this information, let's look at how to do it.

STEPS TO FOLLOW:

I'm assuming that you've done the necessary work and set up the most relevant keywords you can think of.

Now the required programs / scripts are installed on yourcomputer. I know you're wondering, "How do I do this?" What follows is technical. If you're a marketer and not a "techie", then jump to <TECHNICAL EXPLANATION ENDS>.

Have someone set it up for you and explain the operation to you. OK, lets continue.

Technical Requirements:

1. You must have permission to run custom cgi scripts.

2. You must have access to extended logs or be able to execute SSIs (Server Side Includes)

What If I Don't Have Extended Logs?:

If you don't have extended logs you MUST have the abilityto execute SSIs. If you can execute SSIs then you should go to http://www.cgi-resources.com/Programs_and_Scripts/Perl/ Logging_Accesses_and_Statist ics/

Some that I would recommend looking at first are:

1: http://awsd.com/scripts/logtools/counterlog.txt

2: http://www.xav.com/scripts/axs/index.html

3: http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/dano.shtml

These scripts will give you the information that is included in the extended logs.

What If I Don't Have CGI scripts?

If you don't have the ability to run your own scripts, and are serious about marketing as effectively as you can, then you only have one option. You must get an ISP that will give you those capabilities. You should be able to find one for $19.95 to $29.95 / month. If you can't find one, email me at unfairadvantage@pobox.com.

How To Analyze The Logfiles:

In the beginning, you can simply look at the logfiles with a text program. I'd recommend once you start to get traffic, that you use a log analyzer. You can find Log Analyzers at http://www.tucows.com or at http://www.cgi-resources.com/Programs_and_Scripts/Perl/Log ging_Accesses_and_Statistics/

You start to look at your logs and you notice keywords that you didn't think of. Or you notice certain variations are asked for most often. You would then do your competitive intelligence and incorporate those new keywords into your site. For this step, you would refer to Brien's report.

Since your logfile will also tell you where people are coming from, you should visit those links for more information on the type of site that is producing the visit.

You can also do some preliminary checking of this sort by using Altavista. This will tell you who is linked to you, but that's all. You won't be able to determine which link is producing the most hits.

By having proper data and analyzing your logfles you are properly prepared to do your search engine jockeying. The advantage is, you are doing it with relevant keywords and with the most valuable search engines.

Doing it this way is, in my opinion, A Winning Combination!