Writing to reach search engines

Searchenginewatch recently reported on the way search engines are having an impact on newspaper headlines. The article, referring to changes at the New York Times, illustrates the fact that search engines 'read' differently from human readers, and creators of web sites must take this into account in drafting content for the sites.

"The Times, like most newspapers, has a long-standing tradition of writing compelling headlines that grab human-readers, but that may not literally describe the news story. For example, when the Pope died, Times reporters headlined stories with titles like 'Papacy Change' or 'Pilgrims converge on the Vatican.'

Marshall has now trained many editors and producers to write content friendly to both users and searchers. 'We encouraged them to use 'Pope John Paul dies' and offered a more literal approach based on keyword research and internal metrics,' said Marshall. 'The response has been great. Everyone so far is very excited to reach audiences through search and help users find our content.'"

Compare the headlines as they are traditionally written (by professional communicators who are very good at what they do!) to the headlines written after the emphasis on drafting for search engines. Think about what anyone interested in this particular story might think to use to search for information. The compelling headlines that would have appeared "pre-search engine impact" do not contain phrases that searchers would be likely to use.

As web developers, we have to always remember that the first audience we have to attract is the search engines. They must be able to "understand" what our pages are about, and the way they determine what they are about is by observing the words that are on the page. After finding the words on the page, the search engine will pay attention to the placement and treatment of the words, for example, attribution of more significance to words that appear more frequently on the page, words in the page title, words used in headers on the page, words that are highlighted or set apart with different colors, or words that are used in links.

Understanding that the words that searchers might use to search the web must appear on your web site, and then understanding how to place them to convey their importance to the search engines is the basis of successful search engine optimization.

Chron.com | Google quietly builds sprawling data center

"Google has found that for search engines, every millisecond longer it takes to give users their results leads to lower satisfaction. "

Today's news story about Google focuses on its new data center being developed in The Dalles on the banks of the Columbia River. The line that caught my attention in this story refers to the emphasis that Google places on speed. This is relevant for web developers, because Google is extremely sensitive to speed, and considers load time an important part of its ranking algorithm.

Consider that Google observes differences in user satisfaction based on milliseconds. I often hear the comment that load time is no longer as important as it used to be because of the spread of broadband access throughout the Internet community. This comment in this article directly refutes that position.

When thinking about the value of reducing the load time on your web site, remember the sports metaphor. In the Olympics, and in any other speed competition, the difference between the winners time and the absolute last entry in the event is often only a matter of seconds. The difference between first place and second, third, or fourth place is more often only milliseconds. On the web, you are competing for rank, so milliseconds could determine your rank. How much effort is that worth to you?

Stiffening Competition Ahead for Internet Marketing?

"For those retailers that faced the tsunami of 1998 to 2001, the next few years may feel like a light windstorm, but for the majority, 2006 to 2009 will indeed bring the tumult of a hurricane at the very least. "

Forrester Research has just released some findings from their latest study of Internet commercial activity. Their figures document a continuing increase in business-to-consumer revenues on the web, but they are predicting that the increases from 2006 through 2009 will be even greater.

They are basing this prediction on changes that they see in the structure of businesses and their marketing teams. Online marketing has proven its effectiveness to many businesses so that the online marketers no longer have to justify their existence in order to get part of the marketing budget. Many businesses have integrated their online and offline marketing eforts so that they support one another now. and . finally, many businesses have made investments in online improvements that are only now reaching fruition and the point where they will begin to pay dividends to the companies.

What this means to we small business marketers is that the competition for real estate on the search engines is likely to increase. We still believe that attention to good basic internet marketing principles, and persistence in their application, will continue to pay off in positive results for small businesses.