What is a search engine?

The World Wide Web consists of billions of pages of information on countless subjects. When you have a website designed, you want people to be able to find it. The world’s best website is of little value if your potential market doesn’t know that it exists.

The idea behind search engines is to enable people who are trying to find information on a specific subject to be able to type in a word or a phrase (keywords) to find web sites that relate to the topic that they are seeking. There are literally thousands of search engines, however most people are only familiar with the most popular ones such as Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL.

Not too many years ago it used to be fairly simple to be listed in a search engine. That was because there were only a small fraction of the number of websites that there are today. But, as the Web has grown, many thousands of new sites are developed daily, many of which get submitted to the search engines. Classifying these websites into massive indexes is a major task. Even the search engines that use computer programs rather than an editorial staff to analyze submissions become overwhelmed.

Even when websites get catalogued by some of the search engines, it can still be difficult to find them. Because search engines often return dozens of pages of listings of websites that meet the criteria for the keywords, most visitors to the web rarely go beyond the first page of listings. So, if your website is listed on, say, page 20 of the listings, it will probably never be found by people doing a search.

How to be found

There are several different things that can be done to enhance your chances of being listed in a search engine and to increase your chances of being “ranked” higher, but with one exception, there are no guarantees of placement. We’ll talk about that exception farther down in this section.

1. Better website design – The various search engines use differing techniques for including and ranking your website. Some use human reviewers, while others use computer programs that analyze website content. In either case, items such as keywords, descriptions, actual wording, page titles, menus, cross linkage, alternate image text, secondary pages and more can effect whether or not your site gets included and, if so, where in the search engine results listing it appears. InterWeb Designs, Inc. has spent considerable time analyzing the techniques used by many of the search engines to ensure that we include as many features as reasonable to improve your listing chances.
    
2. Submission to multiple search engines – Some of the search engines continually scan the World Wide Web looking for websites to catalog. Others require that you submit your website address to them. In either case, it is obvious that the more search engines that list your site, the better the chances are that potential visitors will find you. To that end, InterWeb Designs, Inc. offers a service wherein we submit information about your website to scores of search engines every three months. Our database of search engines is continually being updated as new search engines become known.
    
3. Pay-Per-Click – You can guarantee your placement at or near the top of some of the most popular search engines by paying a fee for that service. InterWeb Designs, Inc. will put together a campaign for you by choosing a number of appropriate keywords that you will use to drive traffic to your site. You “bid” to determine how high you want to be in the rankings based upon what others with the same keywords are willing to pay. Any visits to your website that result from this enhanced ranking are charged to your account balance with the pay-per-click provider. InterWeb Designs, Inc. charges a management fee for setting up and maintaining this valuable service.
    
4. Your own efforts – While InterWeb Designs, Inc. provides services to help you get noticed, a lot of the responsibility falls on your shoulders. Your web address should continuously be provided to the public. This includes, in part, broadcast and print media, promotional materials (pens, pencils, golf tees, key chains, notepads, etc.), business cards, invoices, store windows, building signs, shirts, ball caps, vehicles, etc. Don’t keep your web address a secret!