Most people rely on search-engines for people to find their website using keywords, however most also forget that there are a million other companies thinking the same thing. We explain getting your site listed and offer a couple of tips on getting it rated higher.

What are metatags?

Metatags consist of code that is inserted into a web-page, that is not visible when that page is viewed. They are used by search-engines to categorise and classify the content of the page, and webmasters use them for better placement of their pages on search-engines. While they are a useful way of controlling your summary in some engines, they might boost a page's ranking, although this is no guarantee. Metatags should appear in the header of each page, and for frame-pages they should appear on every page, not only the frame-set page.

The three most important types of metatags are:

• Keywords: These are the words that a search-engine will use to associate with your page, and should be clear on what content can be found in your page, highlighting the most important aspects. You should not use too many keywords or repeat them, otherwise the search-engine will see the site as spam and throw it out of their listings entirely.
• Description: This shows the description of what you want for your page that appears in place of what the search-engine would normally create. The description should not be too long, normally one or two sentences.
• Title: The title tag must accurately define the content of the page.

Tips to Optimising your search-engine listings

1. Stick to basics

• Optimise existing pages so that the title, description and keywords all match.
• Focus on building useful research content - the Internet is always being used for research purposes so take advantage of this by creating appealing content.
• Don't use too many graphics without substantial text content - the search-engine will not find anything substantial to look up.
• Customise content for each page, as every URL could be a potential entry point. Keep content in header tags short and to the point.

2. Directories

• Try to list with as many directories as possible, as search-engines often search these first. Many directories charge you for consideration, so make sure that you get your entry correct first time, as it is difficult to change once you have already been listed.
• Search-engines will also rank you higher up if they find multiple listings for you.

3. Keywords

• Know what you want to be found for and incorporate your most important words or phrases into a 25-word description that is clear and to the point.
• Make sure that your pages have good content for the search-engines to pick up.
• Don't pick the wrong words - avoid terms or words that are too general or broad, or you will never be able to rank higher. Try to focus your words to be more specific.
• Develop topical content with unique ideas and keep the visitors in mind, to create pages that will be more in demand.

4. Link Popularity

• Build reciprocal links - search the top terms that you want to be found for and review the sites that come up. Ask those who you are not in competition with if they will swap links with you. Since search-engines have ranked these sites highly, you will by association get better ratings. These sites will also get more visitors, and a link will help them to come from those sites to yours.
• Link your own pages to each other as well.

5. Online Marketing

• Keep your content fresh and useful and try not to be too overt on the marketing side, as visitors become immune to this and prefer genuine content rather than flashy graphics with no content. Start your own newsletter and submit it to search engines - they love text only pages. Newsletters are also a great way of getting your name out there - if it is informative and useful it could get sent on to your customers' customers.
• Make sure that prominent details are displayed on your top scoring pages, and if possible encourage the visitor to do something, such as contacting you or leaving their details for a piece of key information that you leave out (such as a password to open a download).

Remember that search-engines are no guarantee of traffic. You still have the option of paying search-engines to rank you higher, although this could work out costly. Don't rely entirely on search-engines to do your marketing for you - remember to put your web address on all communications, business cards, advertising, etc, for better results, and make use of networking resources where possible. And remember - keep it simple and up to date, and keep trying!

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