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The truth about achieving better search engine rankings

ERIN PHEIL
ERIN PHEIL
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I wish the truth could be a bit more pleasant. Gone are the days when one could simply submit her website to multiple search engines (or pay a company to take care of such work) and feel confident that she did everything in her power to achieve good rankings.The guidelines related to search engine rankings are more convoluted and confusing than they’ve ever been – yet at the same time they’re far less set in stone. Frustratingly, following all the rules can’t guarantee high rankings for your website; in fact that’s rule No. 1 in the search engine ranking industry: there are no guarantees. Unfortunately, a large number of individuals and companies claiming to be search engine specialists make gobs of money by feeding off innocent and naive business owners.Remember, if a company approaches you touting its search engine ranking services and you see any of the following warning signs, simply say, “No, thank you,” and walk the other way.

— The company guarantees you top 10 rankings (for something other than a ridiculously obscure phrase). As I said before: In this industry, there are no guarantees.– The company sends you an e-mail out of nowhere, explaining that they saw your website but that you’re not listed in any of the major search engines. These e-mails are nothing more than spam, just like all those Rolex watch and breast enhancement e-mails.– They require you put a link to their website on your website.– They won’t explain clearly exactly where all your money is going. Some companies will use your money to simply place you high in the advertising sections of search engines. Temporary advertising is very, very different than permanent inclusion.

Another way to goInstead of using one of these scam-companies, you may wish to try focusing on what you can do to your website to make it more search-engine friendly.First off, remember that search engines just love text. They can’t tell that the big picture of the elephant of your homepage is, in fact an elephant.One of the few ways they can discern that your website is about elephants is if you actually discuss elephants in your text. Makes sense though, eh?Also keep in mind that incoming links are important in achieving good rankings.



If no one out there on the web is linking to your website, then your site is essentially an island, and search engines won’t be able to find you.Placing yourself in reputable online directories, such as http://www.summitdirectory.com and http://www.coloradolinks.net are great ways to get started. (Both of these are free and easy to use.) Though certainly not true in all cases, sites with larger numbers of incoming links often rank higher than comparable competitor’s sites with fewer incoming links.Remember, stay away from those search engine ranking companies that promise you the world, and instead roll out the red carpet for the search engines yourself and focus on the steps you can take in achieving better rankings.eRin pheiL is the owner of timeforcake (www.timeforcake.com). Based in Frisco, timeforcake is a creative web and graphic design firm. eRin can be reached at (970) 668-0709 or info@timeforcake.com.


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