Internet Marketers assign names to these updates much the same way the weather service names hurricanes. Last October it was Jagger, before that we had the infamous Florida Update in late 2003, and Austin in early 2004.

Each update is designed to improve search results by either doing a better job of identifying high-quality content on the Internet, or by doing a better job of suppressing low-quality content.

Over the last two or three weeks, many website owners have seen traffic to their sites from Google fluctuate quite a bit. This is normal for algorithm updates as the index is updated on one data center, a site will change positions. The fluctuations occur because the index in the new data center is not completely built, and therefore a site may be placed artificially high or low until all the data is brought into equilibrium.

A few days ago, Google completed a major overhaul of its algorithm this one dubbed BigDaddy and in the world of search engine updates its a category 5 hurricane; well, sort of.

You see, after all the turmoil of the past three weeks or so, most marketers are probably seeing their websites ranked more or less where they were about a month ago. This is unusual. Usually major algorithm changes result in significant changes in site rankings for virtually all sites on the Internet. Both the Florida and Jagger updates changed the landscape of Googles Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) dramatically.

So, Whats the Big Deal About BigDaddy?

At first glance, the BigDaddy update seems to be much ado about nothing. However, there are some welcome changes that have been included in this update that should make Google a much friendlier place for those of us who build valuable content-rich websites.

* Increasing size and scope of the index One of the purposes of this latest update was to increase the size of the index itself. This will allow Google to dig deeper into your site and catalog even more of your content (HTML, JavaScripts, Flash, etc).
* URL Canonicalization Yes, its a scary word, but its actually quite simple. Essentially, canonicalization is determining which URL is the most appropriate for a given page. For example, the following URLs are all valid ways of reaching the homepage of SomeWebsite.com:
– http://www.somewebsite.com
– http://somewebsite.com
– http://www.somewebsite.com/index.asp
– http://somewebsite.com/index.asp
By improving URL Canonicalization, Google is attempting to make sure your site gets credit even though the URLs might be spelled differently on different websites.
* No More Page Hijacking Although not a common problem, there are unscrupulous jerks out there who will find a popular site and hijack its content by using 302 redirects. Google is attempting to eliminated the ability to do this effectively hopefully they are succeeding.
* New Spider You will also see a new Google spider called Mozilla Bot instead of the old familiar GoogleBot. If you are into looking at server logs, the new agent is Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google.com/bot.html)
* Less Search Engine Spam continuing with the recent trends, Google seems hell-bent on eliminating the effectiveness of purchased keywords and link farms. If you are still employing these black-hat techniques, then you probably just found out about the BigDaddy update the hard way. If you didnt, then you will probably be hearing from BigDaddy soon.

BigDaddy Foretells More Changes To Come

In the immediate aftermath of a major update like BigDaddy, there are a number of things you can expect to happen.

The first is that your websites PageRank (PR) will probably change over the next few weeks. If youve been doing the things that Google likes, then you will likely see your PR improve, if you are engaged in unscrupulous (by Googles standards) activities, then you can expect your PR to go down. To see a list of what Google likes visit http://www.google.com/webmasters/.
In addition, some of your sites older content will be re-crawled and older, unlinked content will probably be removed from the index.
Over the next few months, there will also likely be a series of smaller updates that will take advantage of the new infrastructure provided by the BigDaddy update. Flash-heavy sites that were held artificially low may move up in the rankings while sites that rely heavily on reciprocal linking will likely go down.

BigDaddy Not Such A Big Deal
In short, as long as you are not engaged in Black-hat Birmingham SEO, BigDaddy itself is probably no cause for alarm. If your site has recently bounced around in Googles results, then you will notice that things have probably returned to normal in the last week or so, and your rankings have probably improved a little bit.

Moving forward, in the next few weeks you can expect changes to your PageRank, and perhaps deeper crawls by Googles new spider, Mozilla Bot. In the next few months there will likely be a number of smaller updates, mostly pertaining to issues like Flash content and niche-specific algorithm changes.

As with all algorithm changes, there is no reason to panic just because “BigDaddy” blew through town. Like hurricanes in the real world, algo changes blow a lot of loose material around; but if your website’s foundation is sound, you will weather the storm and be ready for business once the storm has passed.

Lets take a look at the benefits that webmasters derive from web directories:

1. Some webmasters might wonder why they should bother to submit to web directories when 80% of all website traffic comes from search engines. The answer is simple when you consider the following: what about the other 20%? When you are attempting to maximize the traffic that comes to your website, every little bit of promotion helps and web directories can help you gain a big chuck of that 20% of web traffic you have been missing out on.

2. Did you know that a key factor in the ranking algorithm of search engines is link popularity? By using web directories you will be creating more links that point directly to your site and the higher your ranking becomes in various search engines across the Internet. Further, everyone knows that a higher search engine ranking is equivalent to easier accessibility and easier accessibility equals more traffic for your website.

3. The first way to increase your link popularity is to include keywords in your hyperlinks. When you submit to web directories, the links you submit should not only lead to your site, but also should possess themed keywords within the links. The themed keywords will not only make your site easier to find, it will also increase the rating of your links in various search enginesagain getting more, free web traffic for you.

4. Links that are created within web directories are votes for a site and they use your keywords within your hyperlinks to associate your link with certain key phrases. As such, the keywords you select are extremely important because they determine how often your links will be pulled up whenever a key phrase is associated with your created links. Therefore, It is a good idea to research the most popular keywords associated with your website theme before submitting your website to various web directories: the most popular keywords can make all of the difference in the world.

5. If you are submitting to various web directories, there are a few things that you need to consider. First, for a directory to be valuable, the pages you submit your listings to must, at minimum, be listed in various search engines. For instance, if you submit your links to a web directory that doesnt appear in any search engines, chances are web visitors will not only have difficulty finding your website, but they will also have extreme difficulty finding the web directory you have listed your site in. In such cases, the listing in the web directory is a fruitless endeavor. Conversely, if you list your web site in several popular web directories and you utilize keywords in your hyperlink and short website description, you greatly increase the visibility and accessibility of your website.

6. The second consideration you must keep in mind when submitting to web directories is that when you are submitting your hyperlinks, you will derive the most benefit from submitting to directory pages that have a comparable theme to your website. For instance, if you have a website that is based on credit cards you will find that you get more web traffic from a web directory page that focuses on credit cards. Thus, when searching for web directories, look for web directories with topics that parallel the central focus of your website.

7. Heres a quick tip for you that can help you derive the most benefit from listing your hyperlink in web directories: watch out for Google Adwords as these are a good indicator of how Google at least categorizes the page. In other words, if you mirror your hyperlinks and descriptions to appear much like those seen in Google ads, you will more than likely increase your search engine ranking as well as your listing in various web directories.

8. In order to be successfully listed in any web directory, you will need to conform to the terms and conditions of the directory. Typically, web directories list a series of specific listing regulations that you must adhere to and it would pay for you to adhere to them. In addition, to improve the chances of your listing being accepted you should try to avoid promotional language and you should choose a category that is as close to your website theme as possible.

9. Webmasters have much to look forward to in terms of web directory posting. In fact, the next generations of web directories are now appearing that allows business card type pages. Not only do webmasters get the opportunity to post a short description of there website, but now they are afforded the opportunity to display their logo and contact information as well. Such offerings prove to be particularly appealing because eye catching logos and easy contact information will make a Webmasters website that much more appealing.

10. In the end, web directories are a valuable part of your web promotional program and should not be overlooked in terms of their value. Along with the use of search engines, and article databases, a Webmaster will be pleasantly surprised at the free advertising available on the Internet. Finally, the increase in web traffic that webmasters will reap is truly astonishing indeed.

Your websites theme is very important to its success. When your site is indexed by search engines, they actually review your sites theme as well as other content. The theme must be carefully planned. Here are some tips for developing a proper web site theme that will make search engines happy as well.

Choose a design that revolves around keywords and keyword phrases. For example, if your sites keywords are sporting goods, choose design elements that are associated with sporting goods. Use bright colors such as red and yellow. Use elements that are high impact and exciting, similar to thoughts associated with sporting goods.

Focus on the types of products, services, and information you seek to promote. You are selling sporting goods, not bedding. Focus on sporting goods and stay on that approach. Dont get side tracked with a certain color theme you favor. Make your keywords the main focus of your theme. Make them bigger, and make them stand out against all the other content.

Search engine spiders review website theme as to how it relates to keywords. It is a complicated algorithm, but it takes into consideration the use of keywords and links. Search engines look for lots of content related to the main theme throughout the site, so its a good idea to have lots of information written for your site.

Lots of work should go into choosing the perfect theme for your site. Make sure you are truly representing what you wish to provide. If you get bogged down with too many keywords or keyword phrases, you may need to consider additional websites that focus around this theme, instead of flooding your own site with too many products.

Remember, the theme of the website should be appealing to users as well as the search engines. Once a theme is finalized, there are many more steps to make your site optimized for search engines. A theme is only the beginning. But it should be a strong foundation from which your site will grow and develop.

This article will guide you the importance of directories submissions in launching a new site, or ranking an existing one. I am going to review 6 important areas.

Directories are the brand new site best friend.
Since every new domain gets put in the Google TrustBox, since they favor links from trusted sites. This is a part of the “TrustRank” equation within the algorithm. Directories play a very important roll in getting good quality inbound links that help your site to get out. As they pass PageRank and reputation with Google, your site will greatly benefit from its inclusion in these directories, especially in the launching phase of its life cycle. So, finding solid directories to get your site listed is the key.

The viable alternative to link buying… and safer.
Directories provide one-way inbound links to your site, and drive traffic to your site through direct referrals. By doing this, they boost your link popularity and ultimately improve your search rankings. All this done naturally, and cost free in many cases.

Paid vs. free: the differences and the similarities.
Paid directories quickly list your site, were free ones may take several weeks or even months to review it. On the other hand, some paid directories charge expensive listing fees for the link they provide, and that is not cost effective. If you work on a limited budget for your site, you may want to submit to a handful of paid directories but a few hundred of free ones. Of these last ones, prioritize one-ways preferably. Whatever directories you submit to, paid or free or a combination of both types, the quality of the directory itself should be the biggest consideration in your decision.

The directory page that counts is were the link is.
When doing a directory submission, not only look at the PageRank of the homepage, but also of the subpage, where your link will be. While it may seem like a benefit to have your site listed on a PR7 directory, this is less effective when you realize that the internal page where your link is actually only a PR3, when you expected more.

Pagerank is not the only factor of directory quality.
A low PR directory is not necessarily a bad one. New directories fall in this category. These directories do review and list sites quicker. Also, when they become more popular, so will your listing. Again, base your decision based on the quality of the directory. And keep in mind whether or not the directory is search engine friendly. When checking the structure of the link to your site, make sure it is not dynamic.

Directories links shouldnt be more than 10%.
You shouldnt have more than this percentage in your overall inbound links count. Dont rely on directories alone as your link source. Diversify them for your benefit.
Please refer to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Basics – Part 2 for more sources.

By Dedicated SEO Consultant Jose Nunez

The Internet was built upon links. Sites link to one another to guide users through relevant information. Since these links basically mean, theres relevant information on this site, each link pointing towards your site counts as a vote towards it. These votes help improve your natural ranking, especially when coupled with a well-built Birmingham SEO friendly site. The big question is, of course, how do I go about getting other sites to link mine? Fortunately, the answer is an easy one, because there are many well run search engine friendly directories that would be more than happy to link to your site as part of their directory.

But the most popular directories receive thousands of applications to review. As such, they develop rules and guidelines for your submission. These rules are put in place to ensure that the submission and approval process can flow as smoothly as possible, as well as to help the directory select only the sites that are, in fact, relevant. And so the question returns: how do I ensure that my site gets accepted into the high-quality, top web directories?

It is very easy to adhere to the rules of a web directory with very little effort. In addition, because the editors of any directory are really looking for the same things, the rules from web directory to web directory tend to be very similar.

Count Those Characters:

One of the big rules imposed by directories has to do with the length of your title, description and keywords. If there were no limit, some people would write an essay for descriptions and cram in every possible keyword. Let me assure you that no directory editor wants to review a site application that could be broken up into chapters! Directories impose restrictions that essentially force you to be straight to the point. You might not be able to say everything about your site, so pick the most important points and go with that. Before you start submitting anywhere, sit back and write a few well-formulated descriptions that span 100, 150, 200, and 250 characters. One of those four levels will generally work in any web directory you come across. Once thats done, most of the hard work is out of the way. Now all you have to do is look for the character requirements, copy and paste your blurb of that length, and youre all set. The same thing holds true for keywords, so prepare a few different options so that, come submission time, its just a matter of picking the right one.

Would You Approve A Spam Filled Site Application?

Do not spam your directory listings. That cant be more clearly stated, yet for some reason, people still do it. You are never going to get listed in any human reviewed directory when you try this tactic. An example of this would be that if you sell widgets, when you submit your information you repeat the word widgets in your title, description, and keywords as many times as possible. Typically comprehension takes a back seat as the focus becomes cramming the word in as many times as possible. Directory editors hate this and its a very easy rejection. If you think that even attempting to spam like this is helpful, you might want to think again. If you spend time submitting to web directories with poorly articulated, spam-filled information, you are going to get rejected. Youve then wasted a lot of your time and gotten absolutely nothing in return.

Choose The Right Category:

Web directories are sorted by topic and editors typically take great pride in ensuring that everything stays well organized. A tiny little bit of effort on your part to choose the right category can vastly improve your chances of being listed without any delay. The reason is simply that if you are an editor and you want to approve a site, you probably only have to click one button. But, if that site chose the wrong category, then you need to edit the application to modify the category (and now the editor has to find the correct category in the hierarchy!), which takes more time. If you are the editor sitting there with thousands of applications to process, its much easier to click the reject button than it is to start fumbling through categories. So, put yourself in their shoes and do them a favor, because ultimately its you and your site that stand to benefit when you are approved.

A successful web directory submission campaign is when you maximize your time so that you get listed in the most directories possible. By following the above tips, you can help ensure you get approved, which goes a long way towards achieving your goal. With everything pre-written and good intentions to play by the rules, youll be flying through your submission campaign in no time.

So what are the things you need to do to have a chance to rank well? As every search engine has a different algorithm (which just means a mathematical rule or procedure for solving a problem) and each algorithm has literally hundreds of inputs this may seem like an impossible question to answer. And to answer it with 100% accuracy is impossible but there are certain things that have a major effect that you must do just to stand a chance.

1. Make sure that your site is technically sound and well built with plain English page titles rather than: sessionid=4D6BE5993FFF956660C27184A2F39E81.TC30a?__frame=_top and with all non HTML code (HTML = Hypertext Markup Language and is the basic language used to write web pages) called in from separate directories.

2. Choose keywords and phrases very carefully. Keywords should be the words that customers actually use to find your site when using a search engine. Amazingly most people just ignore this basic fact and never get any research done on the subject!!! Thats like turning up to the airport with no money, no ticket and no passport and expecting to get on a plane in other words: nuts!

3. Once you know what keywords to use write a page with a relevant page title for each keyword or phrase using simple language with variations of the keyword or phrase to reach a keyword density of about 5 8% and about 500 words per page minimum with paragraphs that use tags in their sub headings. Make sure that your keyword(s) or phrase(s) appear in each of your pages’ “meta tags. Make sure that ll you photos have descriptions.

4. Find a way to build up the relevant links to your site from other sites. Search engines view inbound links as a vote for your site. Therefore, in general, the more incoming links to relevant parts of your site from relevant anchor text (the visible text in a hyperlink you click to go to another page or website) on other sites the higher your page will rank, but the linking sites must be relevant and links from disreputable sites can harm your ranking.

5. Continually add new content. Sites that continually add new content and new pages get better rankings because search engines like new relevant content. Search engines spiders or web crawlers are a program that browses the World Wide Web in a methodical, automated manner. Web crawlers create a copy of all the visited pages for later processing by a search engine that then indexes those pages to provide fast searches. Spiders are always on the lookout for fresh content.

6. Put up a site map which shows every page on the site and has a link to it. This will help the search engine robots find every page. If you are updating regularly then an XML site map for Google that pings Google about every update should be added too.

7. Make sure you have basic management information about the site how many visitors, where they go, where they leave etc. Arguably this is just as important as the site itself as it allows you to improve it based on actual results.

8. Finally build a site for people that is interesting to people. No point in being at the top of the search engines if people just refuse to stay or buy!!! People generally stay on sites that are relevant to what they are looking for at the time, are easy to navigate, easy to read and easy to buy from. Whilst they like prettily designed sites form tend to be less important than relevance and ease of use.They also like interacting via chat rooms or watching relevant movies.

With the millions and millions of websites in existence today, how do you get yours noticed? The most common way is for it to be high up in the rankings of useful and relevant websites. Google is the most widely used search engine today. When someone keys in a search term on Google, you can only hope that your website comes up in the first ten pages of results. You do not have to sit there and just hope, though. There are a number of things you could do to improve your chances of being noticed.

Google came up with a system to determine how important a website is. Everyday, Googles automated programs called spiders crawl the World Wide Web. The purpose is to index all the existing web pages out there. The information these spiders gather is used as the basis for calculating what Google calls PageRank. This concept was developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Stanford University.

What exactly is PageRank? It is an algorithm which assigns numerical weights to linked pages. The higher the figures, the more important the page is. The PageRank is resultant of how many pages link to your own page. It is of no use to make bogus incoming links to your page though. Google gives more weight to more reputable sites that link to your page. Bogus and paid incoming links can actually be detected. The algorithm takes into account all incoming links both external and internal.

This is where sitemaps come into the picture. As can be gathered from the name, sitemaps are basically a guide to what can be found in your website. It is a page within your site wherein the user can see the overall structure and informational content. It contains links to all the pages in your website.

Will providing a sitemap increase your Google PageRank? The answer is simple: yes it may. As mentioned earlier, the PageRank system also takes into account internal links. The more pages you have in your website, the higher you PageRank. A word of caution is necessary here. Pages should contain original content and not simply be copies of each other. Otherwise, your PageRank may actually decrease. As the spiders follow links to get to web pages, a sitemap will actually facilitate the travel of these spiders within your site. If each of the pages on your web site are interconnected and are easily accessible from one page, then chances are the spiders will find the necessary information faster and easier. Experts suggest that you put only a maximum of 100 links in one page. If you have more than that number of links, you should create different sets of sitemaps. In order for the idea of the sitemap to really work, you need to provide a link to the sitemap on every page on your website.

The keys to increasing your PageRank are fairly simple. Include original content in as many pages as you can. Link your pages together. Create a sitemap to make navigation easier. Provide links to the sitemap for each page. This way, both user and spiders can find all the information that you have to offer.

You may be wondering how search engines arrange the top pages from millions of others. There are calculations involved and you have to work with these to put your site in page one.

How Do Search Engines Work?

There are three important elements that make up the database and finding of relevant material by search engines. From the inputting of words, the search until the hierarchy of results, there is a process that is mathematically formulated and produces the links and sites that suit best.

1. The web crawler. This is also known as a spider or robot which roams the web. It is a program that translates web pages and any existing links relevant to the page. The web crawler begins by looking through the web addresses that are available in its database or index. Any other page on the internet is added to the database should the web crawler consider it relevant to its existing index. Thus, the database continually grows and the web crawler also goes back to the index to check for updates and again search for new available links.

2. The index. The index holds all information of websites and pages that the web crawler has discovered during its frequent web roaming. Whenever any website or page is updated by the owner, the index also updates its stored information thus it continually grows over time.

3. The search engine. A search engine is a software that goes through all the information stored in the index whenever a search is done by a web browser. An algorithm supports the final results according to how relevant the websites found are to the search. The hierarchy of page results is determined by shutting on or off categories that the search engine feels is relevant to the search.

The Goal of Search Engines

The ultimate goal of a search engine is to provide the most relevant and informative web pages to the web browser. The effectiveness of search engines may be tested through search engine optimization. Page results for different search engines may vary depending on the algorithm that they are using. Thus, website owners aim to improve their rank based on the algorithm.

How Can I Get on Page-On of Search Engines?

1. Links. Links are small routes leading to your website thus a lot of these will increase your visibility in search engines. When typing in a search, it is possible for your URL to be exposed even if the engine may be revealing another website housing your link.

2. Page Summary. Make your page summary more effective by using meta tag names and using keywords in a balanced manner. Be more flexible in your websites description so that it can stand out even if the search is bound for a different category. This prevents your website from being completely shut out by the search engine.

3. Title. Although the true nature of the fixed algorithm used by search engines is not fully known, it might help to start with titles that begin with the letters A to E. Engines arrange equal scoring websites in alphabetical order.

4. Keywords. Wisely input keywords in your web pages. More is not better when it comes to key words since engines will decrease your value with too much repetition. Four to five keywords per page is the most you may be using to help boost your visibility.

5. URL. Share your URL as much as you can in multi and single-database services to increase your value. You may also put it in blogs, your friends linking addresss and emails.

So, how will searchers find your website? What types of search engines could they use?

Search engines fall into two categories. The first is referred to as natural, organic or standard. The second is called pay-per-click, paid inclusion or paid placement.

Natural, organic and standard are interchangeable terms describing a search engine that bases its search rankings on a ranking algorithm. The algorithms involve a number of criteria and parameters, all relating to the content of the website, the websites size, the number of incoming links to the website, and the contents relevancy. You will hear terms such as keyword relevancy and keyword density to describe various components of the algorithms.

For the standard search engines, you, your webmaster or hired search engine optimization specialist could spend considerable time optimizing your website to achieve top rankings. The goal is for your website to appear on the first or second page of the search engines results when your target user searches keywords or keyword phrases.

The good news is rankings on standard search engines are free. The downside is the tremendous amount of time and effort required to achieve exceptional search engine rankings. Lets confess to each other that top rankings on standard search engines can be tough and timely to achieve!

The interchangeable terms pay-per-click, paid inclusion or paid placement describe a search engine that bases its search rankings on a bid for position basis. Simply stated, you bid a price to be in a specific position of the search rankings for a particular search keyword or keyword phrase. For example, the #1 position on the search phrase pay per click recently required a bid of $3.55 per click, whereas the 15th position required only a bid of 55 cents. As a result, your differential website advertising costs between position #1 and #15 can be considerable.

With pay-per-click search engines, your ability to bid high can dramatically impact your websites search engine ranking when the search results display website domain names or URLs for the search keyword or keyword phrase. The benefit is your website gains visibility with the searcher, but you are not charged the pay-per-click bid until a searcher actually clicks on your website domain name or URL displayed in the search engine results. The selection of your website in the search engine results is called a click-through.

In general, click-through rates range from 1% to 5% of the number of impressions. What is all of this? A click is when a searcher selects or clicks your pay-per-click ad. An impression is one display of your pay-per-click ad on the search engine results. So, the click-through rate is a measure of the total number of ad clicks versus the total number of impressions in a period of time:

Click-Through Rate % = Total Number of Ad Clicks / Total Number of Ad Impressions * 100

Lets do the math for our #1 position bid of $3.55 per click. In September, 2004 there were 21,535 searches for pay per click. First, lets assume a 1% click-through rate. The top bidder spent $764.49 (21,535 * 1% * $3.55). Now, at a 5% click-through rate the top bidder spent $3,822.45 (21,535 * 5% * $3.55). Budgeting and controlling marketing expenses with such a broad range of potential costs could be tough. Plus, such costs could be the tip of the iceberg. We still must consider derivatives of the keyword or keyword phrase. So, was being #1 worthwhile? That depends on your websites cost per visitor, conversion rate and profit margin of your product or service.

From what weve covered so far, you should realize you can achieve a top or high ranking through the pay-per-click search engine. But, a high ranking will cost money and these costs can be volatile. Meanwhile, the standard search engine remains free.

However, pay-per-click offers one significant advantage. It enables you to achieve website visibility with a high ranking instantaneously or overnight. If you want to draw traffic to your website fast for any reason, pay-per-click can make that happen. Remember, maximizing the standard search engine process takes time!

Lets summarize the pros and cons of pay-per-click marketing:

Pros

* Improves your websites ranking and traffic quickly.
* Tests the marketability of your product or service swiftly.
* Determines the ability of your web site to convert visitors to a call to action or make a purchase promptly.
* Identifies which keyword phrases will provide the best conversion rate rapidly.
* Provides complete control of the search engine campaign, both position and cost.

Cons

* Cost

Many individuals criticize pay-per-click because of the costs involved. But, have you really thought about the cost issue? Unless you or someone in your organization has expertise in search engine optimization, youll probably pay several thousand dollars in fees to a search engine optimization specialist to improve and optimize your website to achieve higher rankings in the standard search engines. So, my question to you is. Are the standard search engine rankings really free?

At the end of the standard versus pay-per-click search engine debate, its like the old saying, There is no such thing as a free lunch. Or, its like the old commercial, You can pay me now or you can pay me later. The reality of the debate is you must evaluate your specific website situation and utilize the search engine approach that maximizes your website promotion goals and investment.

About the author:
Chet Childers is a successful Internet marketer utilizing both pay-per-click marketing and search engine optimization to increase website traffic. His clients websites promote products such as window treatments, furniture, medical uniforms, swimming pool tiles, capital equipment, computer software and much more.

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To start, lets discuss how search engines work, without boring you with too much computer tech babble. Search engines consist of a number of very sophisticated software programs that gather and organize information from the internet. The first important program is called a robot spider that is used to index, or find pages posted on the internet. The search engine then uses an algorithm, or mathematical equation, to determine how important a web page is in relation to a particular word or phrase (referred to as keywords or keyword phrases.)

Lets use an example to better understand this concept. Say you went to Google.com and entered the words los angeles pizza. The results shown by Google will be shown on your screen. The results are numbered starting with #1; Google is telling you that, based on its very sophisticated mathematical equation, that the number one listing is the most relevant web page for the words los angeles. Hopefully, that # 1 listing will provide you with the information you are looking for.

Now imagine if you were a pizza shop owner in Los Angeles, and your websites home page just so happened to be that # 1 listing on Google. You dont have to be a rocket scientist to see how this listing is an important marketing tool for your pizza business.

Now, before you jump out of your seat, hold on, because it gets better. Another software program the search engines use has the ability to keep track of how many times a word or phrase is being searched. This is where the dynamics of search engine marketing really start to shine.

In traditional marketing, like television or radio, demographics are used to determine what audience you should target your business to. A commercial for a kids cereal would probably be shown during a childrens television show. TV companies would charge more for an ad spot that ran during a show that attracted more viewers for a specific target market. Super Bowl ads are the most expensive because the program attracts the attention a millions of 18-35 year old men who tend to spend quite a bit of money on consumer products, thus the crazy amount of money that is spent of advertising.

With search, however, the information that is collected helps us target our websites (which are a basically commercials that run 24 hours a day) to a more specific audience; we can actually pinpoint roughly how many people searched for the words ford mustang parts. Now if you are someone who sells ford mustang parts, this information is very important to you. Ten years ago, the only way of marketing your business would be to purchase advertising that probably targeted a large number of people, usually in a car trade magazine. You would have a good idea about your audience, but you didnt have any real numbers of how many people were looking for your product. With search engine marketing, its possible to focus marketing campaigns on just people that are actually looking for the products or services you sell, saving you precious time and money that would otherwise be wasted on those not interested in you. This is why search engine marketing is especially important to the small business owner, who usually does not have deep pockets to spend on marketing and advertising to begin with.

Search Engine Marketing has taken the business world by storm, and has propelled search engines like Google to become huge, billion dollar corporations through their advertising revenues. Traditional media has begun to transform as the barriers between television, radio, print, and the internet begin to blur. The internet has introduced a new performance-based marketing and advertising platform that will spill over into these other forms of advertising. Understanding the actual process of marketing your website through these search engines is crucial in understanding how the marketing industry is evolving and changing in the new century.

Eric Hebert
evolvor.com