SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION:
How to Get Your Site in the Top Ten Listings of the Most Popular Search Engines

By Staff Writer Why Are Search Engines Important to Your Site?

You can improve your ranking and drive traffic to your Web site using several core optimization techniques.

Most people looking for a particular type of Web site find it using a search engine or search directory such as Google™, Yahoo!® or MSN™. In fact, research indicates that over 85% of Internet users throughout the world use search engines to find goods and services. With 57% of Web users searching the Internet on a regular basis, "searching" has become the second most popular Internet-based activity—second only to sending and receiving email. If you want to capitalize on all that traffic, you must list your site with the most popular search engines. But is it enough just to have your site listed?

Consider, for example, an Internet user who types "golf equipment" in his search engine. The result is likely to return hundreds, if not thousands, of different Web sites pertaining to golf equipment. With an average of twenty listings per page, the searcher may have to go through page after page of similar entries before happening upon your sporting goods site. The typical user only scans the first page or two of search results; so if your site is listed on page nine, it's highly unlikely potential visitors will ever find it.

If your Web site needs to be in the top two pages of results to get steady traffic, how do you get it there? Are you destined to languish in oblivion with a 245 ranking, waiting for a miracle?

Absolutely not! You can improve your ranking and drive traffic to your Web site using several core optimization techniques. Follow the steps in this article to learn how to successfully market your site on search engines and improve your ranking.