Tag Archives: SEO

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Webmaster Academy: How Search Works

One of the topics I discuss at my Agency Internet Boot Camp is how search engines actually work. It is an important topic if you want your agency website to appear higher in search results.

First, your site needs to be “discovered” and comprehended by search engines, and understanding the fundamentals of how search works can help. Google has lots of computers that continually visit and analyze Web pages. These computers are collectively known as Googlebot. They give Googlebot an initial set of sites, and then send it out to visit those sites. It scans the content, and then follows links to other sites or pages that it finds. It then repeats the process on each page it lands on, and continues to spider out, hence the term “spidering” or “crawling,” which many use to refer to a search engine’s discovery process.

When Googlebot visits a page, it downloads and stores a copy (called a “cached” page) to their index. It analyzes each page, noting the words and any other relevant content. Googlebot understands some types of content, like text, better than others, like images or Flash (you can find some ways to make these better understood in Webmaster Academy). In order to perform well when customers search for you, it’s important that Googlebot can access and understand the content of your website.

Each time someone searches on Google, ranking algorithms draw up a list of relevant pages from the index of information that Googlebot has saved while “crawling” the web. This list is given back as the Google Search results page. To see if your website is included in Google’s index, you can use the site search operator, restricting search results to your site’s domain. For example a search for [site:youtube.com ] would only show results from the website youtube.com.

For a more visual look at Google Search, check out the How Search Works video below. If you’re interested, there’s a lot more to learn that’ll help you build your online presence at the Webmaster Academy.

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Artizan Internet Services Releases WebEngine 2.0

After months of development, Artizan launched WebEngine 2.0 for the insurance industry. This new engine helps agents improve their Web presence by increasing site traffic and searchability and using the latest tools in Web site design.

“When we first began speaking about this new engine and the whole emphasis of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and social networks, there wasn’t much ‘buzz’ about it,” said Richard Roy, managing partner and president of Artizan. “Agents were still getting their bearings on the Internet and learning what they wanted to do within it. Today, being on the Web is no longer just a cool thing to do; it’s a vital part of conducting business.”

The new WebEngine 2.0 now includes:

  • Search engine optimized sites—All WebEngine 2.0 sites use the latest style-based designs, which increase the “content to code ratio.” Sites with higher content to code ratios are ranked higher by search engines than code-centric sites.
  • Dropdown menus—Dropdown menus are available to use throughout your site, not just on custom home pages. The new dropdown menu system was developed to be highly compatible with search engines.
  • Page-based meta tags—These tags are used by search engines to make decisions regarding keyword prominence and for the description that appears on the search results page. The ability to enter meta description and keyword tags for each page increases the searchability of a site on the Web.
  • Google Analytics integration—Page hits are automatically recorded and reported in WebEngine 2.0. For more in-depth reporting, sign up for a Google Analytics account. The Google code is automatically inserted into each page on your site with your account number.
  • WYSIWYG page editor—The new page editor in WebEngine 2.0 allows you to edit pages in a format that looks like the finished page. Similar to your favorite word processor, buttons exist for bold, italic, and underline text. You can change the font face and size of any text and perform most standard text formatting options easily.
  • Active dictionary—Displayed content will be compared against the site’s insurance terms, and any defined words will appear as links. Mousing over the links will display a dynamic pop-up containing the definition of the term. This feature can be customized to have definitions on all pages, no pages, or only selected pages.
  • Preview before publish—WebEngine 2.0 allows you to preview new pages or updates before publishing them to the live site.
  • Flash video upload—WebEngine 2.0 includes the ability to upload flash videos—similar to YouTube. Each video will appear as a WebEngine page.
  • Page-level security—Access can be restricted/changed for individual pages. This allows agencies to assign the responsibility of updating pages only to the department responsible for the content.
  • Automated sitemaps—XML and HTML sitemaps are created automatically. XML sitemaps are used by search engine spiders to navigate your site. (Spidering is how search engines [i.e. Google] search and catalog a site on a page-by-page basis, making your site easier to find.)
  • Self-updates—WebEngine 2.0 gives agents the ability to sign on and make Web updates themselves. However, if an agent prefers, Artizan offers support services to help with SEO and periodic updates.
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Showing Up On Google

Search Engine Optimization—getting your agency to show up on a Google search result—is more of an art than a science. While there are many complicated and time-consuming steps an agency can take to improve their search result placement, using Google’s Local Business Center is a simple step anyone can take. Doing so will help customers find you using Google Maps.

If you already have a Google account, sign in with your e-mail and password. If you don’t have a Google account, sign up for one and follow the instructions to create a free listing for your agency.

The street address you enter will be shown in the Google and Google Maps search results. Once you’ve submitted your business information, you’ll need to verify the listing before it goes live. A post office box can be used to register. You can verify using a touch-tone phone, SMS, or a PIN that will be sent via regular mail to your business address. Once the listing is verified, your information will normally appear in the Google results. There’s no charge for Local Business Center listings. Google doesn’t accept payment to include listings or sites in their search results.