designing for search engines
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Designing for Search Engines. MIS 314 Professor Sandvig. Overview. Why Design for Search Engines What users want from a search engine Google Market share How Google Works PageRank Search Engine spamming Design features to Avoid. Why Design for Search Engines. E-commerce - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Designing for Search Engines
MIS 314Professor Sandvig
Overview
Why Design for Search Engines What users want from a search engine Google
Market shareHow Google WorksPageRank
Search Engine spamming Design features to Avoid
Why Design for Search Engines
E-commerceTraffic = Sales = $$$Free!!!
Effective DesignBest to be in top 10Few users look past first page of results
US Market Share
68%Google19%Bing10%Yahoo2% ASK1% AOL
2014SearchEngineWatch.com
What Users Want from a Search
1. Comprehensive index2. Relevant ranking of results
Millions of pages containing keywords Which get listed first?
How Google Works
1. Relevance Page contains some or all of keywords
Number of times keywords used More is better
Location of keywords in page Page title URL Headings Depth Font size etc.
Example: Bellingham Real Estate
How Google Works
How Google Works
2. Page AuthorityInbound links
Measure of a page’s “authority”Each incoming link adds authorityAmount added:
Authority of linking page(s)
Importance
Page Authority
Google used to publish “PageRank”Measure of authorityToo much focus by SEOStopped publishing in 2014
Page Authority
Several alternatives to PageRankMoz Domain AuthorityMajestic’s Citation FlowTrust Flow
All attempt to predict Google’s ranking
How to Be Well Ranked
Keyword placement:Prominent locations
Page title – very important!HeadingsNear top
Use frequentlyKeywords in domain nameMeta tags?
How to Be Well Ranked
Selecting keywordsNeed to be relevant to siteTry to use specific and/or unusual
phrasesModel names, numbers, ISBN, etc.
Maximize AuthorityDevelop incoming linksAvoid leaking PageRank to other sites
How to be well ranked
New – April 21, 2015
Mobile friendly siteHigher search ranking Searches from mobile devices
How to Be Well Ranked
Human sacrifice
Search Engine Spamming Trying to “trick” search engine for higher page rank
Many techniques Gateway pages Copied content Auto-redirects Hidden links Google’s Webmaster Guidelines
Risk Search engines will ban site from index Difficult to get back in Google Punishes JC Penny for Gaming Search
Google Bombing
Tricking Google’s indexExamples (Sept. 2006):
miserable failureWeapons of Mass Destruction
How: couple dozen peopleLinks on web page
Distinctive phrase: “miserable failure”SRC: official Bush bio.
Additional Information
SearchEngineWatch.comSurveys, statistics, tips
WebmasterWorld.comSearch News
Google’s Webmaster Academy
Summary
Search engines want relevant contentGain customers
Effective designsUse key words effectivelyBuild Authority
Inbound links