The Google Age

A great deal to think about from this temporary roadside sign. Not too long ago, the sign would have carried a couple of phone numbers, now they are reliant on a search engine. Adding their website address would be a further possibility, although they decided to make a statement, "Come and find us, we're part of the modern world." There are other search engines but Google currently account for 87% of search in the UK and a similar stranglehold in other Western countries. Equally, most ways of working with Google, apply to all the main search engines. If website owners and developers make an effort to communicate with them, their reward can be measured by the flow of new business.

The reason to keep Google informed, is to ensure they offer your website the best possible place in search returns. There are other reasons, a website can vanish from the index, you may have problems with your site being copied, or come across a dangerous website cloaked behind normality. Direct channels exist for these situations but for search rankings, you also need to send more subtle messages. Free listings in search engines are often called organic listings and the name fits well. Clean, sustained growth, along with an attractiveness to consumers are exactly what search engines look for. They measure these factors through elements in website code, the value of content, regularity of new information, popularity with visitors, and high on the list, which other websites link to yours.

The foundation of Google's system for measuring the relative value of web pages, came from the practice in academic documents, of citing information from another useful source. In website terms, these citations appear as a link to other websites and are viewed as votes for those sites. The more authorative and relevant the site that casts the vote, the more weight this carries. Over time, the way links are analysed has progressed, to counter abuse, or improve search results. More subtle factors have also been woven into search engine algorithms, helpful to them in returning good search results and to those promoting websites. Balancing these facets well is a constantly developing art, although there are core areas:

• Building websites in a way that provides a solid, search engine friendly foundation.
• Creating website text to communicate equally well with visitors and search robots.
• Forming website code which gives search engines "behind the scenes" information.
• Website development tools that send information and help you see a robot's view.

We hope you find the pages listed above helpful. You are welcome to contact us at any time, the success of your website in search engine indexes is important.

Search engines are fine creations and Google probably the best but don't let that stop you promoting your website in other ways.

Your website address should be on every piece of stationery, publicity material and items you give away. This should also be prominent in press releases, articles and training material, Your URL is your online trading name.

On this page, we mention the need for other sites to link with yours. Try to avoid the temptation to achieve this too quickly, or easily. There is evidence that search engines, not least Google, respond better to a gradual increase in the number of external links. The relavence of a link is equally important.

Spending hours posting a URL in every directory, blog, or forum you can find may not help much and could be a problem. Be patient, concentrate on a smaller number of strategic links.