The Ultimate Search Engine Strategy

Search engine optimisation is big business. Ezines and websites litter the Internet with strategies to boost your search engine ranking. Search engine specialists charge large amounts of money to apply their strategies to your website and will go so far as to guarantee you top listings in the webs' major search engines.

And, in my opinion, they are all frauds.

Strategy is defined as a long-term plan. So, if these search engine specialists have the ideal strategy, why do the techniques and approach constantly change. Forgive me, but that isn't strategy. That is a last line of defence that is hastily patched up when the latest changes to the rules punch holes in it.

In "Alice through the Looking-Glass" the red queen said Alice had to run as fast as she could just to stay in one place. This impractical and short-sighted view is ludicrous, but is practiced by search engine optimists world-wide. These companies tweak and tweak and tweak, constantly changing their approach in a bid to keep those top spots. Google's latest dance showed that, at any point, your efforts can be reduced to nothing leaving you with no choice but to start again.

The reason for this rat race is that most, if not all, of these specialists neglect to tell us one simple fact.

Search engines are there for the searchers, not for the searched.

Google, Yahoo, MSN. These weren't set up to send you traffic. They were set up to help people find information on the terms they are searching for.

Search engines spend a fortune developing spidering techniques that will help them put the most useful and beneficial websites at the top of their listings only to forced into changing their approach when the search engine specialists hijack the listings.

Think I'm exaggerating? Are you really so arrogant that you believe your website should be in the top ten just because you spent the last twelve months building a thousand reciprocal links that no-one clicks on?

Ask yourself this question. If you do a search in Google, which website would you like to see at number one?

a) A website with genuinely useful and original information.

or

b) A website with perfectly optimised keyword density that doesn't answer your questions.

In truth, if you are a multi-million dollar company, then you need the search engine specialists, just so that you can keep up with all the other multi-million companies intent on damaging Search Engines for the rest of us. How else are you going to be able to afford that second porsche?

For the rest of you, give it up. Stop wasting your time tweaking your site EVERY time a new trick is circulated. Once the Search Engine cottons on to the trick, they will change their format and you'll be back to square one.

Reciprocal linking is a good case in point. Google ranked you high if you had plenty of sites pointing to you as this was a good indication of quality. Then it became a matter of, the more reciprocal links you had, the higher you ranked on Google. Everyone started linking with everyone. Software was released dedicated to helping you build page upon page of reciprocal links.

Somehow Google found out and started discounting reciprocal links. Months of work down the toilet? You'd better believe it.

Now people are starting from scratch.

"You link to my site A on your site B and I'll link to your site C on my site A."

How long before Google start dismissing links in their scoring process altogether?

And don't forget. Even if you were capable of following every scrap of advice perfectly, do you think you would be the only one? If a thousand people optimise their site perfectly, will they all get a top ten spot?

So here it is then. The ultimate search engine strategy that will never need to be changed, no matter how many times Google dances, Yahoo jiggles and MSN sits in the corner getting drunk.

Make sure your meta tags are properly formatted, contain ONLY the words pertinent to your content, and that your TITLE tag actually describes the page you've produced.

Ensure your homepage doesn't use frames and contains a brief description of what you do. It could just be a single line, but it needs to be on there.

Add, and keep adding, more and more original and useful content to your site. Don't plagiarise and don't copy and paste from other sites.

Only accept reciprocal links from sites you believe may be of interest to your regular users. Make sure you have at least one link to your website from a site that is already listed in Google, Yahoo and MSN.

Make sure search engines can see all of your pages, by linking to them from the homepage. If you have a lot of pages, have a site map page linked to your homepage instead.

Make sure you have a homepage link on EVERY page. If your content is good and abundant, visitors will enter your site through deeper pages. If they like what they see, they will want to visit your homepage to see what else you do.

Stop trying to incorporate every search engine "strategy" you hear. Instead spend time focussing on step 3.

Google seems to reward sites that stick around, but its probably because time affords you more inbound links, more pages to spider and a greater pagerank. You might not get the top positions from following these steps, but you will get traffic from search engines. And you will have a site that people want to visit.

So, patience is needed. To build up a really good site with lots of decent content can take years.

If you don't have patience, try Pay-Per-Click instead.

Dylan Campbell has been quietly making a living on the Internet since 2000. He has a unique, and often controversial, view of the industry.

Dylan Campbell writes exclusively for the nettle ezine.

move in cleaning service Mundelein ..
In The News:

Kodiak Driver autonomous truck achieves perfect 98 safety score, matching top human fleets in groundbreaking AI evaluation by Nauto's VERA system.
New 401k catch-up contribution rules in 2026 will change taxes for high earners over 50. Learn how scammers exploit these changes and protect your retirement savings.
Kurt Knutsson's guide covers social media privacy protection through location settings, account privacy controls and two-factor authentication to prevent scams and data breaches.
Revolutionary retinal implant restores central vision in 80% of patients with advanced macular degeneration, offering hope where treatments once only slowed blindness.
Learn how to use passkeys on Windows and Mac computers without cameras or fingerprint readers. Discover secure authentication methods that replace passwords.
Tesla's FSD v14.1.2 update reintroduces Mad Max mode, enabling higher speeds and more frequent lane changes than the standard Hurry profile setting.
A phishing email scam targeting American Express customers shows how cybercriminals use fake urgent messages to steal personal and financial information.
Facebook's new Meta AI feature analyzes your camera roll photos to create polished collages automatically, but requires cloud processing and raises privacy concerns.
A New Jersey teenager filed a major lawsuit against AI/Robotics Venture Strategy 3 Ltd. over ClothOff, an AI tool that created fake nude images from her social media photos.
Microsoft reports Storm-2657 cybercriminals sent phishing emails to 6,000 addresses at 25 universities to steal payroll credentials and redirect funds.
Astronomers have discovered asteroid 2025 SC79, a skyscraper-sized space rock orbiting the sun in just 128 days. the second-fastest known.
The Fox News AI Newsletter delivers the latest developments form the world of artificial intelligence, including the technology's challenges and opportunities.
A cyberattack on SimonMed Imaging exposed personal information of 1.2 million patients, including medical records, financial details and identity papers.
Spotify's managed accounts for kids under 13 now available in at least seven countries, allowing parents to filter and block explicit content and songs.
Friendly text conversations about BBQs and social events can lead to WEEX gold trading scams that target older adults with fake investment opportunities.
California company Skyeports creates self-healing glass spheres from Moon regolith that generate solar power and support plant growth for sustainable lunar living.
Cleafy researchers discover fake VPN streaming app Mobdro Pro that installs Klopatra banking Trojan, giving attackers full control over Android devices.
Police departments across the U.S. and Canada are adopting virtual reality training to better prepare officers for high-pressure, real-world situations.
House Bill 469 would prevent AI systems from owning property, serving as executives, or gaining legal personhood in Ohio under Representative Thaddeus Claggett's proposal.
Public voter records expose retirees' personal details to election scammers who create targeted cons using names, addresses, and voting history data.
Instead of fearing what comes next with artificial intelligence, think outside the box. Here are high-earning AI jobs that don't require a computer science degree.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says polite words like "please" and "thank you" cost millions annually, while direct prompts may improve ChatGPT accuracy by several points.
Chattee Chat and GiMe Chat exposed intimate conversations and photos, revealing users spent up to $18,000 on AI companions before the breach.
New Instagram parental controls allow families to manage teen screen time and content limits through the Family Center with stricter safety settings.
Third-party security breach at Discord exposes sensitive user information including government IDs, highlighting cybersecurity risks from external service providers.

Time to Tell A Friend

The internet has the capacity, sometimes, to divorce not just... Read More

Discover How To BOOST Your Website

Don't you just hate the process of exchanging web site... Read More

7 Innovative Ways To Advertise Your Web Site

1. Directory Linking Create a directory of web sites on... Read More

Search Engine Friendly Ways to Build Link Popularity

Acquiring relevant backlinks to your website is one of the... Read More

Promoting Your Site Off-Line

The internet is a wonderful source of information and full... Read More

Not Common But Effective Free Marketing

We all know the many "free" traffic producing avenues. We... Read More

Personalized Search Versus Personal Choice

Personalized search is a hot topic especially since Yahoo! and... Read More

How to Set Up Your Own Free Ad-Tracking Links and 7 Reasons Why You Want To!

Any time you use a URL in an Article, Web... Read More

Give Me Quality Over Quantity Every Time

In the early days of developing my home business, I... Read More

Website Promotion: 10 Ingenious Ways To Defeat Your Competition

Business is war.To get to the top, you must fight... Read More

Three Cost Effective Ways to Get Bumper-to-Bumper Traffic Using Your Vehicle

The following traffic generating ideas do not require costly set-up... Read More

Website Submission to Open Directory Project - DMOZ

As an authorative hub a link from a DMOZ directory... Read More

Unique Selling Propositions - USPs

Got one? Two? Three?If you have competitors, then you should... Read More

Website Promotion: 10 Uncommon Bonuses That Can Triple Sales

Website promotion is no longer easy to do.But if you... Read More

Selling To Everyone Means You Sell to No One

1. Selling To Everyone Means You Sell to No OneIf... Read More

Viral Marketing Techniques Every Web Site Should Be Using

Viral marketing can work wonders for any business, web site... Read More

Methods of Website Promotion

Promoting a Website is not an easy task. New Website... Read More

Web Site Promotion: Use Web Site Awards To Increase Your Credibility

Web Site Awards are given from other sites to reward... Read More

Submitting Your Website With Web Promotion Services

Once you have built and uploaded your home business website... Read More

Dont Put All Your Promotion Eggs In The SEO Basket

One of the most frequent questions I get asked by... Read More

Accessibility: Is your website causing you to loose potential clients?

Accessibility: Is your website causing you to loose potential clients?With... Read More

Marketing Tips for Your Web Site

Here are some simple and easy tips on how to... Read More

How To Stop Your Site Disappearing Into The Void

Repetition is the key to getting your adverts and promotion... Read More

The Reality of Linking

On a regular basis I receive e-mail through all my... Read More

How to Increase Traffic When Your Promotion Budget is Tiny

Writing articles for your site and for the use of... Read More

insured cleaning company Highland Park ..