Are Search Engine Robots Useful?

Search engine ‘spiders’ are robots that seek out webpages to display in search engines. Below we’ll discuss how they work and why they’re important.

Robots actually have the same basic functionality that earlier browsers had. Just like these early browsers, search engine robots do not have the ability to do certain things. Robots cannot get past password protected areas. They do not understand frames, Flash movies, nor Images or JavaScript. Even if you use a robot, you have to click the buttons on your website. They can cease to function while using JavaScript navigation or when indexing a dynamically generated URL. A search engine robot retrieves data and finds information and links on the web.

The ‘submit url’ function places the url into a list of urls the robots are going to explore. Even without submitting your url directly, robots will try to find your site by following links. That’s why building visibility through a web of links is important.

Submitting a new URL to a search engine adds this URL to the queue which the spiders are due to ‘crawl’ or visit. However, even if a URL isn’t submitted directly, the spiders usually find it through links from other websites. If you build link popularity, this will help the spiders find you faster. When the robots arrive, they’ll check your site for a file called ‘robots.txt,’ which will tell them what areas of the website they are not allowed to visit. Off-limits files may include things like binaries or other information that the spiders need not report back.

Once the spider has gathered all the information it needs, and based on how the spider is set up in the search engine, it will index the site information and send it to the search engine database.

Once in the database, the information becomes part of the search engine directory and ranking process. Indexing is based on how the search engine engineers have decided to evaluate information returned by the spiders. When you enter a query into a search engine, it uses several calculations behind the scenes to determine which results you’re most likely looking for, out of the sites the spiders have returned. The database selects the best matches and displays them. The database is constantly updated by spiders crawling websites over and over again, to make sure that the most up-to-date information is available.

The search engine sorts the information that has been delivered to the databases which has become a part of the search engine and directory ranking process. This allows it to display the results. Databases are updated periodically. Robots visit you regularly to find any changes to your pages so that the latest information will be available. The way in which the search engine is set up determines how the number of visits you get is calculated. This can vary with different search engines. If your website is down or experiencing a large amount of traffic, the robot may not be able to access the page they are trying to visit. The website may not be re-indexed when this occurs. This depends on how frequently your site is visited by the robot. In the hope that your site will be accessible again, the robot will re-visit your site to see if it has become accessible.

Justin Harrison is an internationally recognised Internet Marketing expert who provides world class Search Engine Optimization to website owners. For more information visit: http://www.seorankings.co.za

SEO vs SEM: What Is It And Why Is It Important to Know?

SEO and SEM; familiar with these terms? If you?re a webmaster, you certainly are. If you spend a lot of time with a webmaster, you?ll hear the two terms tossed around so frequently they will probably seam as if the two terms are interchangeable. However, that view would be wrong, as there is a difference between the meanings of the two words.

Search Engine Optimization is what is known as SEO, while SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. When referring to SEO, the webmaster is doing things to a webpage to make the page search engine friendly. By contrast, if the webmaster is doing things to a webpage so that its URL is optimized to get high ranks within search engines, this is SEM at work.

It?s important to know the difference between the two terms; make sure you ask for all information if your unsure before going and spending money on a SEO or SEM package. For example, a company offers you a package, if you don?t ask and get all the information, you might be buying into a package that merely is the company submitting your website URL to a few search engines, something you can easily do yourself.

Information that would be good to gain would be what they plan on doing to increase traffic to your website. So they are submitting your URL to search engines? Which ones? Have them give you a list of those search engines. What about the use of keywords? Ask about keyword optimization of the website. Ask about META and ALT tags.

Finally, it doesn’t really matter what services are offered, as long as the company uses “SEO” or “SEM”. Although, SEM will be more valuable than SEO, because SEM includes SEO as well as other marketing strategies. Even though im sure not all companies are the same in packages. Just simply put, the company could just be charging you for what you could do yourself. If shopping, look for websites with noteable backgroundsand ask about all services offered. Eventually, when you feel your research is sufficient and you know you will get the best value for your money, you can proudly make a efficiently wise decision.

Toolbar Sponsorships with Unique Placement: Avoid SEM Scams

You see them all the time – the ads promising top search engine placement. “Buy This Course That All the Top Online Marketers Don’t Want You to See.” Here’s another one – “This e-book Will Solve All Your SEO Problems.”

If all the claims by the search engine gurus promising top placement were true, would there ever be any hope outside of them and their services? And even if we employ them, we’re still going to be at the mercy of flying blind to some degree – Google isn’t going to publish there ranking formula any time soon and there’s only so much room at the top.

And Pay Per Click? You can pay top dollar with PPC but, from the experience of many, it’s hit and miss when it comes to success. Sometimes it works and then other times it fails to provide good ROI. All the while your bank balance erodes at increasing speeds.

Here’s a big PPC expense that you may already be aware of: Did you know that all one of your competitors has to do is just sit there and click away on your ad – or ever more dastardly, pay some to do it for them – and your cost will go through the roof? PPC is Pay Per Click not Pay Per Visit. You think this doesn’t happen? Think again

So what’s a good alternative? One alternative is to use Unique Placement toolbar networks to guarantee your position and traffic at a fixed cost. Reportedly, Unique Placement provides top search traffic at a fraction of PPC costs.

Unique Placement markets sponsorships on various toolbar networks that enable advertisers to dominate fractions of the marketplace by inserting their company below the toolbar but above the Google, Yahoo, and MSN top search results – essentially creating a visual number one position – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The sponsorships, by design, are limited to toolbar users who enjoy enhanced search features and appealing tools not available on most standard Yahoo and Google toolbars, however, these toolbars are able to provide top positions on Google, Yahoo, and MSN (as well as others) at a fraction of the higher paid sponsorships.

In one recent case study, a Realtor who was paying an average of $2.50 per click to acquire a site visitor, found a far better cost for visitors to their web site using toolbar sponsorships. By leveraging Unique Placements toolbar network, they were able to lower CPV (cost per visitor) substantially.

Leveraging toolbar networks is one way that you can get featured on the top of major search engines without breaking the bank.

What’s in it for you? Why allocate some advertising and marketing dollars to toolbar sponsorships? By doing so, it allows you to not only get a guaranteed traffic and position on Google, but focus on what you do best and growing your business. You can follow up on leads instead of trying to generate them.

Don’t fall victim to all the so called SEO/PPC gurus that promise the world but rather cost you a fortune. There is an easier and more affordable way.