Is My Search Engine Optimization Working?

You've just built a website and can't wait to start popping up in the top listings of search engines.After all, you've paid this company even more money to create "optimized, search engine friendly pages,start building links and add lots of fresh content." If it takes weeks and months for the search enginesto notice me, do I have to wait that long to see if the money was worth it?

No! It's true that it takes time...weeks, even months to build up your web presence, but there are waysto follow your progress. It's important to note that if you already have an established Internet presenceand wish to further optimize your site, it usually happens much faster than a site that is brand newwith a brand new domain.

If you are already listed in various directories and your existing website has been up and running longenough the search engines have probably already indexed your site and those linking to it. (to see ifyour site is indexed with a particular engine, in the search field type "site:www.yourdomain.com"). Asyou modify your pages and add new content the process of moving up in search rank is much swifter thanstarting from a brand new, un-indexed site. ? The ranking process has an inherent unchangeable variableof time. Sponsored search listings are one of a few ways around this hurdle to get you to the top instantlywhile the search spiders dig through your new site. But for the long haul, while you wait for that bigchuck of cash you just paid your SEO to start returning, here are some ways to tell if he or she didyou justice.

Ways to keep tabs on your progress:

Monitor Search Engine Positions

If you're a brand new domain name the first step is to watch for yourself to be indexed. Chances arethat your optimizer submitted your site to the most prominent search engines at the very least. Whilethe search crawlers will ultimately find you on their own, there is some merit in submitting your sitemanually. It may take some weeks before a check of site:www.yourdomain.com reveals any activity though.Take care not to be over anxious and resubmit your site. That will only hurt your efforts.

Once you find yourself being listed by particular keywords in a search engine, monitor how your rankmoves every week or so. (Frequently, the more you add fresh content, the sooner the crawlers will returnto your site.) Change the preference settings in search engines to speed up your research efforts.

Google will display up to 100 results per page, MSN up to 50 in "advanced search." This makes it mucheasier to find yourself if your down in the 300th position. Don't be discouraged though! Being listedeven at 300 is an accomplishment. And as you optimize you will see your listing move up in the ranks.

Visitor Tracking

The best, and easiest way to see who is reaching your site by search engine and particular keyword phraseis to implement some sort visitor tracking system. These are not complicated and can cost only a fewdollars a month. Take a look at a company like www.webstat.com for example.

A small piece of code is placed on each page you want to track. When you log into the online service,you can tell the exact word and phrase someone used to reach you and from what search engine... not tomention scores of other useful data about your site traffic. This quickly gives you a snapshot of whichkeyword phrases are most successful and in which engines. This data is invaluable to further optimizeyour pages.

Are your top search engine rankings on par with the industry percentages?

Again using visitor tracking you can see if the people reaching you by Google are close to the percentageof people that use Google compared to MSN or AOL. If the industry shows that overall 25% of searchersare using MSN and 5% Lycos, your results should be similar. If they're not, it's a sign that some modificationsmight be in order.

Monitoring these processes will show you that there's actually quite a lot of activity. And there's nothingmore exciting than watching that 300th position search climb to the first page!

Combining Pay Per Click and Search Engine Optimization
There are two ways to get to the top of the search engine listings: using search engine optimization (SEO) to boost your rankings, and buying your way to the top with pay per click (PPC) listings. Which method should you use to promote your web site?
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