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Frequently Asked QuestionsSITE SUBMISSION QUESTIONS What is Search Engine Submission, and why can't I do it myself? SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION QUESTIONS What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? LINK BUILDER QUESTIONS What is Link Popularity? GOOGLE AND DIRECTORY QUESTIONS Why do you mention Google so often? MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS Some SEO companies guarantee #1 Search Engine Rankings,
why don't you promise that?
What is Search Engine Submission, and why can't I do it myself?Search Engine Submission is the act of telling the Search Engines about your website rather than simply waiting for them to find you on their own. You can perform Search Engine Submission on your own. The question is, do you want to spend the significant amount time it takes to do it right? Submitting a site properly involves more than a simple notification to the Search Engines and sitting back to wait for success. Our Search Engine Submission and Ranking Reports Service ensures that all of your pages get listed while you get monthly reports on your top Keywords and Key Phrases, broken down by engine and page.
Why does my site need to be Submitted to the Major Search Engines?Submission is a shortcut that helps the Search Engines find your site faster, without waiting for them to find it on their own. Once they know about your site, they will schedule it to be looked at during their next cycle of updates.
How often does my site need to be re-submitted?Typically, once your site is first submitted and you are sure that the Search Engines know where to find it, re-submissions are required only when changes such as the addition of new pages, significant changes to an existing page, etc. are made on the site. Submitting a site too frequently could even have negative consequences (see the questions concerning penalizing and banning of sites).
What are Keywords and Key Phrases?Keywords and Key Phrases are the individual words (or combinations of words) that people are most likely to search for when looking for the products and/or services offered by a web site. For example, if your site sells blue widgets, a significant Keyword might be "widgets" and a significant Key Phrase might be "blue widgets". By targeting those terms properly through Search Engine Optimization, your site's rankings can rise to the top of the search rankings for the Major Search Engines.
How can I know how well my targeted Keywords and Key Phrases are ranking in the Search Engines?There are two ways to check your rankings for all of the Keywords and Key Phrases you are targeting. The first is to go to each of the Search Engines and search for each and every one of the terms and see where they are ranked in the list - unfortunately, they don't all use numbering systems, so you sometimes have to do a manual count. The second is to have it done for you. Our Search Engine Submission and Ranking Reports Service ensures that all of your pages get listed while you automatically get monthly reports on your top Keywords and Key Phrases, broken down by engine and page.
Why don't you promise to submit my site to hundreds, even hundreds of thousands of Search Engines?Because the secret that other Search Engine companies don't want you to know is that there are only 4 Actual Search Engines that provide close to 99% of the results for all searches performed. Almost all of the rest of the so-called Engines are merely Portals that use the 4 Major Search Engines to retrieve results of a search performed on their pages. There are 14 "big dogs" in the overall scheme of things that need to be submitted to to cover all of the bases. That includes the 4 Actual Search Engines and 10 Portals. An example of a Portal that is often referred to as a Search Engine is Excite which gets results from the Fast Search Engine. Because some of the more prominent Portals do have certain quirks about how they manipulate the display of results from a search on their pages, it is worthwhile to submit to those Portals as well as the 4 Actual Search Engines. Most of the "hundreds of thousands" of sites are nothing more than e-mail farms that harvest your valid e-mail addresses to be used by Web marketers so they can flood your inbox with spam mail. Even worse, sites listed on these sites are often banned from the real search engines as spam. There are various very specialized Search Engines that do their own searches; however, those engines are typically designed to filter out searches that are not relevant to their field of interest. For example, using a true search engine that was designed for scientific searches to search for "automobile insurance" would likely produce no results at all. Submission of your web site to those specialized types of engines would obviously be a waste of time on the part of the submitter, and mostly just annoy the people receiving your submission.
Won't Search Engines find my site without any outside help?Most Search Engines do find sites on their own. Search Engine Submission guarantees that they will find your web site by giving the Search Engines a "heads up" as to where to look for it. When Search Engines crawl the Internet (see the question about Search Engine Spiders) for existing (and new) web sites, they look at billions of servers around the world. If the server hosting your site is down for maintenance, overloaded, or otherwise unavailable at the time the Search Engine tries to access it, your site's Keywords and Key Phrases may miss being indexed. While the Search Engines typically try again, why take the chance of having to wait until the next crawl (up to a month for some of the Major Search Engines) for your site to be stumbled upon? Submission can get your site scheduled to be crawled, greatly increasing the likelihood that the Search Engine will try harder to find out just what your site is about.
What is a Search Engine "Spider" and what does it do?Since it's often referred to as the web, what better way for Search Engines to find your web site than send out a spider to crawl the Internet looking for them? A Search Engine Spider is a software program that is run on a regular basis (determined by each of the Major Search Engines) to seek out new and existing web sites. Whenever it finds a new site that it doesn't know about, it takes note of it and schedules it for an extensive crawl at a later time (Submission can speed up this process). When a Spider does an extensive crawl through a web site's pages, it looks at them very thoroughly to decide what the site is about and how important the site is in comparison to other sites it has found with similar content. For example, if your site sells blue widgets and there are 300,000 other sites that also sell widgets of various types, the Spider tells the Search Engine it represents how best to rank your site against those other sites. Search Engine Optimization and Link Popularity (see the questions about SEO and link popularity) give your site an advantage over other sites that rely on only the Spider's opinion solely based on the Content of the web site (please see the question about content).
What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?Search Engine Optimization (SEO for short) is the process of properly preparing a web site for the different Search Engine Spiders. There are two major steps that are taken to be sure that this is done correctly.
The key to both of the above steps is doing it the right way. Making the wrong changes or building the targeted Keyword/Key Phrase pages incorrectly can actually result in lower rankings (see the questions about being penalized and even banned by Search Engines).
Can I perform SEO on my own?Yes, of course. Doing it according to the irregularly changing rules of the Major Search Engines, however, is the ongoing challenge. We discussed this in a recent Topsail Topics Newsletter. In November of 2003, Google sprung its "Florida Update" on everyone. Suddenly, without warning, many web sites dropped out of Google search engine results entirely for their most important phrases. Search Engines do not share their philosophies or algorithm details when it comes to how they rank your site's pages. They also do not share in advance any changes in their philosophy or algorithm. That information is obtained, after the fact, by various companies and individuals who are constantly studying and refining their research into how the Search Engines operate. TC SEO subscribes to various resources to keep up with the current practices of the Search Engines. When changes are made, we react to them in a timely manner to ensure the ongoing success of the sites on which we perform new SEO and on sites that we have contracted to maintain. There are more than 50 areas on every page that you must check before you first make a successful submission of your site to the Major Search Engines. We are well versed in those areas and know how to tweak them to make their best impression on the Search Engine Spiders.
What is meant when you talk about "Content" on a web site?The content of a web site is the text contained within the sentences and paragraphs appearing on its pages. The Search Engine Spiders look at the words and combinations of words within the content to see what the site is about. Content is extremely important to the spiders as they determine how to rank one site against another with similar content.
Are Meta Tag Keywords still important?In the early days of the Internet, Meta Tags were the primary source for Search Engines to know what a site was all about. The way to get a good ranking for a site was to put all of the relevant words and combinations of words (Keywords and Key Phrases) in the Meta Tag Keywords section. Unfortunately, too many people in the past (and even today) tried to fool the Search Engines by putting Keywords in the Meta Tags that had nothing whatsoever to do with their site. Unscrupulous web site designers would use Keywords that were at the top of the frequently searched for list of words in order to get a high ranking for those words and attract "hits" to their site, in the hopes that once there the visitor would like what they saw and stay. Of course, the visitor was usually just ticked off that they had wasted their time and left, immediately. Meta Tag Keywords and Key Phrases are relevant to only a very few of the Search Engines these days, so they can't be ignored entirely. The smarter ones however, Google's Spider, for example, got tired of being fooled and don't even glance at them anymore. They look at content instead. If a company that performs SEO tells you that they focus heavily on Meta Tag Keywords, run! They're stuck back in the 20th Century somewhere.
What is Link Popularity?Link Popularity is simply the number of links to a web site from outside sources (other web sites). Depending on where those links originate, they can help or hinder a web site's reputation.
What is meant by a web site's Popularity?The more links pointing to a web site (from other, relevant sites), the higher a web site's "Popularity" is with the Search Engines. In many cases, especially at Google, this popularity is affected, in turn, by the popularity of the site doing the linking. The methods ("algorithms") used for this, such as PageRank™, are highly proprietary.
What is meant by a web site's Reputation?The types of sites which link to a given site and the way those sites talk about that site determines its "Reputation." The Search Engine Spiders look at the relevancy of the external links in relation to the web site it is examining and use the result as a part of their algorithms to determine rankings. For example, a Spider will give higher credibility to an incoming link from a site selling handheld computers to a site selling electronic devices. It will give lower credibility to an incoming link from a site selling handheld computers to a site selling building supplies. link farm incoming links can actually penalize a web site's ranking!
Can't I get Reciprocal Links and Inbound-Only Links on my own?Yes, you can. First, you need to carefully research sites that are ranked well and are complementary to yours (but not in direct competition, of course). You have to be sure that the Search Engines don't consider them link farms, and that they don't have links to objectionable sites. Then, you must contact them with an offer to link to their site, and ask them to place a link to your site on their site, being careful to have them utilize the proper type of link. Finally, you have to follow through and be sure that the link actually appears on their site. Over time, you'll need to visit their site to ensure that the link to your site still exists. It's much harder to get Inbound-Only Links from complementary sites (links established without providing a reciprocal outgoing link to that site). The other site usually wants something in return. Negotiation of that "something" can be a challenge. TC SEO uses software and personal inspection of potential partner sites to target the best sites for incoming links. We search the Internet thoroughly to find sites that have Google Page Rankings of the level you choose and that are complementary to the products and/or services you offer. We contact potential sites without "spamming" them, the result being quality incoming links in the number contracted for.
What are "Link Farms" and are they good or bad?The answer to the last part, in relation to Search Engine rankings, is that they are very bad. Link Farms consist of nothing but hundreds or even hundreds of thousands of outgoing links to (usually unrelated) web sites. These are typically either paid for by the owner of the web site or obtained by "registering" with an e-mail address. Either way, this is a sure way to get lots of e-mail spam and a good bet to get in trouble with the Search Engines. The Search Engines recognize these sites for what they are and usually do one of two things: they either ignore the sites completely, or they penalize sites for being listed in them. Link Farms are not directories, and no one with any sense ever goes to a Link Farm looking for links to your site or anyone else's. If you find that you are linked to by a Link Farm, you should notify them immediately to remove the link to your site.
Why do you mention Google so often?Google is by far the Search Engine that is used the most. The other Search Engines are also very important, and we pay close attention to their requirements. We talk about Google frequently because they have such a large influence on people who search for your site.
What is Google's PageRank™?Who better to explain than Google themselves? Click to open the window on Google's site.
What are Directories?There are two principal directories (the Yahoo! Directory, and the Open Directory Project) and many lesser directories, that are not link farms, which can provide all important incoming links to a web site. The Yahoo! Directory charges a $299 non refundable fee for a commercial web site to be considered for listing (personal sites can be submitted for free). For your fee, the Yahoo! Directory only guarantees to look at your site within 7 days and decide whether or not they will include it within their Directory Listings. The "Catch-22" of the Yahoo! Directory is that unless your site is already fairly popular to start with (with a decent Google Page Rank, for instance), you run a pretty good chance of being turned down. If, however, you wait until your Google Page Rank goes up, there is some question as to why you would want to pay $299 for a listing. The Yahoo! Directory listing could still boost your Page Rank by a point or two, and might help your ranking position a bit. There is a fine line in making the decision as to when and whether or not to submit to Yahoo! The Open Directory Project (ODP at dmoz.org) is free and is used extensively by Google to determine a web site's importance. Because ODP is a free service run by unpaid individuals, it has unfortunately proven to be somewhat sporadic in its posting of sites in the recent past. Submission doesn't guarantee a listing and it can take many months to actually get listed on their site. While it is a very important part of obtaining higher Search Engine Rankings, ODP cannot always be relied upon to deliver as promised. If you wish, TC SEO will submit your site to ODP if you should choose to use our services, or you may do it yourself. The other various directories range from free to over $100. Because some of them are specialized, submission should be only to directories that complement the products and/or services you offer and that do not link to objectionable sites.
Do you offer to list my web site in any Directories?If you wish, TC SEO will submit your site to the Open Directory Project (ODP) at no charge if we are contracted for SEO services. We cannot guarantee that your site will be listed in the Directory. We will submit your site to the Yahoo! Directory for a fee of $349 (includes the $299 non-refundable fee). We will time our submission at a time that we feel your site is most likely to be accepted by Yahoo! We cannot guarantee that your site will be listed in the Directory. If you wish for TCSEO to submit your site to any of the lesser directories, there would be a fee, plus the submission cost charged by the directory, for each directory. We cannot guarantee that your site will be listed in any Directory.
Some SEO companies guarantee #1 Search Engine Rankings, why don't you promise that?Many of the web sites that we perform SEO for have obtained multiple #1 rankings in the Search Engines. However, no SEO company can honestly guarantee a #1 Search Engine Ranking, and here are just some of the reasons why:
We don't make promises we can't realistically keep; many of the "promises" made are simply impossible come-on's to get your business. Our promise to our Clients is to comply with the most current rules of the Major Search Engines and to ethically and legally use those rules to obtain as high a ranking as possible for their web site. We also promise to be honest about expectations for rankings on the best Keywords and Key Phrases and to work diligently to obtain the highest rankings possible for those terms.
Can a web site's rankings be penalized if something is done improperly? Yes, and there are many different reasons that a site might be moved down in the rankings or even banned from a Search Engine under extreme circumstances. Without trying to go into too much detail (and there are many nuances and details associated with each Search Engine), some of the more obvious reasons that Search Engines might decide to penalize a web site's rankings are as follow:
I've heard that a web site can get banned from searches on a Search Engine, is that true?In extreme cases, a site may be completely banned by a Search Engine. The Search Engine will no longer list a banned site in its search results. Google will also no long rank a site using its Page Rank™. The only way to have a site's ban lifted is to talk directly to someone at the Search Engine and plead your case.
What is "cloaking"? What is "IP Delivery"?"Cloaking" or "IP Delivery" is a very effective, very high-risk method of attaining high search engine rankings. In simple terms, a site owner maintains (or contracts to maintain) a list of all the computers (via IP addresses) associated with the major search engines. When a request is received from a normal user, one page is delivered. When a request is received from a search engine (an address on the list), a highly optimized (probably much less attractive) page is delivered. This allows a site to offer appealing content to users and optimized content to search engine spiders. This technique has potentially valid (non-deceitful) uses, such as providing search engines with indexable content, when users normally get a Flash™-driven site, for example. However, it is nearly always used to deceive the search engines; the major engines, particularly Google, have placed a high priority on catching and penalizing sites using cloaking. See our cloaking policy.
Do you practice "cloaking" or "IP Delivery"?The short answer: no. In our opinion, cloaking is (was?) the "next big thing." It is actually very easy to detect; all a search engine has to do is set up a few machines to verify that the pages it can retrieve through, say, Internet Explorer, match the ones found by its spider in the critical details. This is very simple, compared with the other types of programming search engines routinely do. It is also in the best interests of the search engines to catch sites attempting to deceive their spiders, as these sites reduce the value of the search engine results. Additionally, those sites which have a "legitimate" reason to use cloaking are simply not well designed; the only "legitimate" reason to use cloaking is to offer up indexable content in place of completely equivalent, non-indexable content, such as Flash™, image maps, Java Applets, etc. Sites using only images for their first page drive traffic away; sites requiring downloads of special players or software for 100% of their content do the same. Such sites should be redesigned, or they will likely be penalized for cloaking, whatever their reason for using it. The long answer: no, but there are other and better ways to solve the problem of providing the search engines with content that can be indexed.
Do you strictly follow the different Search Engines' rules?Yes, we pay close attention to and comply with the rules. We'd be fools not to. That does not mean, however, that we will ignore an advantage that we learn about that doesn't directly break those rules and that doesn't put our client's rankings at risk of being penalized. Some Search Engine Optimizers (SEOs) today use a lot of terms rather loosely; for example, many SEOs label themselves as "ethical" SEOs, implying that anyone not explicitly using that label must be unethical. We are an ethical SEO firm, but rather than debate what that means, let us tell you what we do. We will take advantage of every strategy which can benefit our clients in the long run. We will not take advantage of strategies, no matter how successful, if doing so is likely to get a client's site penalized or banned without warning. We simply don't need to do that! There are many effective, ethical strategies for getting to the top, so we would be doing you a disservice by charging you for a high ranking that will almost certainly vanish in a few months, especially if you got banned from a major engine! That's just not right. So, the answer is: yes, we follow the rules because that's in your best interest, but we take every advantage possible for your long term success. Above all, we promise to work for you and your site's success.
Why would I need to have the SEO and Link Building for my site be monitored (maintained) after it's completed?There are two very good reasons you may want to consider having your site's SEO and Link Building under a maintenance contract by an SEO professional.
TC SEO's SEO and Link Maintenance Contracts offer the peace of mind that any significant drops in your site's rankings due to changes in a Search Engine's rules and/or algorithms, or loss of reciprocal or inbound-only links will be caught and corrected with a minimum amount of time passing.
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