Tool Box
Issue No. 8 - December/ 2002/january
Lost in Cyberspace
Basics of search engines and optimising web site traffic
by Stuart Wilsdon
Whether you are just about to build a website or already have one, one of the most important questions you should ask yourself is: “how will people find my site?” After all, your site is just one of 160 million sites on the web containing some one hundred billion pages. This is very much like being a single star in the Milky Way galaxy and hoping that someone will notice you.
In order to get more people to visit your site, consider first how most people navigate their way through the millions and millions of sites on the web. Though people find websites via word of mouth, television ads, links from other sites and even guessing, the most popular way of finding information on the World Wide Web is via search engines.
Over 80% of Internet users use search engines to find sites. In fact, 85% of all web sessions include some use of a search engine. So, resolution number one is to ensure that you are listed on all of the major search engines, which capture 90% of all searches made.
Unlike the early days, when search engines automatically found and indexed your site, you now generally need to submit your site for inclusion into a search engine’s indexing list and pay for the honour of doing so, much like the Yellow Pages. Yahoo now charges $600 to be listed in its index, more if your site contains adult-only content. Once you have registered, which can take several months, your site will be regularly visited by small programs which will add the content of your site into the search engine’s index system.
It is probably worth pointing out at this point that there are actually two distinct styles of search engines: Automated Search Engines and Directories. Automated Search Engines use small pieces of software, often referred to as spiders or robots, to automatically find and then index sites. These pieces of software automatically traverse the World Wide Web, following links within and between sites. Google and Alta Vista...
