If you are an aspiring webmaster, you will learn that search engine traffic is the holy grain of a profitable website. Once you learn this, you can then start to implement techniques to squeeze traffic from the search engines with proven methods.
Search Engine Spiders
Search engines work by spidering the web. A spider is simply a bot (computer) that follows links on the web and reads the content on each page. The spiders then report the data back for processing. The search engine positioning process factors in keywords and incoming links when deciding which pages rank high and which rank low.
Site Maps
Since search engine spiders follow links to find webpages, it is essential to have a simple yet concise link structure on your webpage. Each and every article or page on your website should be accessible from a static link so search engine spiders can locate your page. A page that has no links pointing to it will site in cyberspace and never be picked up by the search engines.
There are two common practices used to direct search engine spiders to your pages. One is with a site map which can be setup through Google's webmaster tools. The second is to have a static sitemap which has links to every page on your website. Many sites have both as a precaution.
Privacy Policy
This issue is overlooked often, but attention should be paid. Google's webpage guidelines conclude that every website should contain a privacy policy which should include information about cookies, scripting, and how users information will be used. Sites without a privacy policy tend to have lower rankings and can lead to trouble in the future.
Static Content
Google and many other search engines have difficulty following dynamic content. You can usually tell the difference between static and dynamic pages if the url has a ? (question mark) in it. Dynamic content usually changes per users preferences, so a search engine will not follow each individual page. Aside from search engine traffic, static pages load faster and usually take less server resources.
Original Content
Probably the most important point is original content. If you want to dominate your market, you will need original content (and lots of it). It makes no difference is the content is purchased, submitted, or written yourself. Unfortunately, no one will care more about your site than you, so the best option is usually to write it yourself. Most search engines penalize sites for too much duplicate content. These engines usually understand that some content will be copied, but the majority should really be original pieces.
Following these simple points will ensure that you have the base foundation for growth. There is much more involved in scoring massive traffic returns, but this guide covers the absolute essentials.
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