The digital marketing landscape is vast and varied, but one fact remains consistent across all studies: achieving a high ranking on a top-tier search engine is the most cost-effective way to promote a website. This is because each search represents a potential customer actively seeking what your website offers. However, the process of achieving a high search engine ranking is often misunderstood and is far from straightforward. This article aims to demystify the process and provide actionable steps to improve your website's search engine positioning.
Contrary to popular belief, simply submitting your website's details to a search engine does not guarantee a high ranking. As the owner of Darknight Designs, I am frequently asked by webmasters how they can improve their search engine rankings. The following steps provide a roadmap to enhancing your online marketing campaign.
The first and most crucial step is to optimize your website. This involves ensuring your pages load quickly, your graphics are memory-efficient, your META Tags are properly created, and your website is live and accessible. This step should not be rushed as it forms the foundation of your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.
For instance, your META Tags should look something like this:
<TITLE>Your site's title - try to use some of your main keywords - no more than 6 words</TITLE> <meta http-equiv="keywords" content="keyword1, keyword2, keyword3, keyword4 – try to use no more than 20 words"> <meta http-equiv="description" content="short description of your site using some of your main keywords – no longer than 20 words">
The next step involves creating "doorway pages" or alternate entrances to your site. These pages are keyword-targeted and are designed to rank high due to their specific construction. Each doorway page should focus on one of your main keywords or phrases and incorporate it into the META Tags, Alt Tags, link tags, and main body-text area. The goal is to have a doorway page for every keyword and phrase your website uses.
The final step involves manually submitting each of these new doorway pages to the 12 main search engines, which account for approximately 85% of worldwide searches. It's important to name each doorway page after the keyword it targets and to register each page for its respective keyword.
While these main search engines cover the majority of worldwide searches, it's beneficial to cover the remaining percentage to ensure your site is listed as widely as possible. Aim to have your site linked on as many other sites as possible without any limitations.
We recommend resubmitting your site at least once per month to the major search engines and at least bi-weekly to directories and link pages. This keeps your site active and indexed.
Search engines are the most effective web marketing tool available, so it's crucial to invest time in optimizing your website. Doing it right can save you a significant amount of money and dramatically increase your site traffic. If you lack the time, consider hiring a marketing specialist to improve your chances of ranking highly. Good luck!
