How is this possible?

compuXP · 02-05-2006, 10:34 PM

How in the world are you supposed to optimize a search engine...?
www.ilookup.info

It has nearly no content except for search results.

Any ingenious ideas?

Thanks,
-Matt

bpeh · 02-06-2006, 01:15 AM

back links?

compuXP · 02-08-2006, 05:12 AM

That's all?

munt · 02-08-2006, 05:44 AM

add some more pages/content
even an about us page is good
i would also add something to the front page describing what your site is about or something simaler "ilookup is a search engine that....."
people always say content is king and they are right.. right now a search engine will see pretty much nothing when spidering your site.

also your site looks a bit fuxed up in IE

compuXP · 02-08-2006, 05:45 AM

Google doesn't have text saying "Google is a search engine that..." ....

In IE it looks fine - what are you talking about ...? How come it's messed up on your computer I wonder...

steve · 02-08-2006, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by compuXP

Google doesn't have text saying "Google is a search engine that..." ....

You're right Matt they don't, incidentally they are also only just on the first ranking page for the keyword "search engine" (No. 9). What Google does have is mega amounts of content, look at the various FAQ pages alone. Most of the content points to the index side which gives it value from an internal linking aspect. Google also has the phrase "search engine" in the title which is also good from an SEO standpoint.
That is just a couple of points that springs to mind without giving it serious consideration.

On a slightly different note, I think the site looks excellent, what's with the sql errors though?

Steve

Thomas Holmes · 02-12-2006, 08:44 PM

Hi Matt,

hmmm, optimising a search engine to be found in the search engines... interesting! I'm new here but have a few ideas.

Normally the first step for optimising your site is to do your keyword research. You need to decide exactly what search terms you want to be found under. Just looking at the digital point keyword tool, there are clearly lots of searches for 'search engine' in the search engines - around 45000 searches a day! Realistically you will need to find a niche though. What do you want to be found under?

The next step then is adding these keywords to your page. The first place is usually the Title. At the moment your title is optimised for 'iLookup' only - until your search engine is well known its unlikely there will be many people that find it through this. So you need to find your top two or three keyword phrases and include them in the title.

Next stop is the meta-tags. Although it seems that these have very little importance these days - its still worth putting in a good description that includes your keywords. And throwing them in your meta keywords as well.

Ok, so now we get to your problem area. You've gone for a pretty minimal design which leaves pretty much zero text. You could really do with using some headings (h1 styled with stylesheet) and some text. The search engines like to see some form of structure on pages - headings is an aspect of that. As this is a new search engine, people will need a reason to use it. Why would they change from google or whatever they are currently using and use iLookup instead? So you could use some space on the frontpage to tell people why iLookup is better than the other search engines and why they should use it as their default search engine. And of course this text would be rich with your keywords - maybe even highlighted in bold.

Last stop on the front page would be your copyright message. This could be essentially the same as the text you have in the title - including the keywords you want to be found under.

The next step is to get lots and lots of high quality backlinks. Just looking at the keyword results, there are nearly 2000 searches a day on 'search engine list' so there are most likely a lot of good sites serving this niche. You need to get a really good listing on all those sites. And again you need your keywords in the anchor text, or the text of the link that comes back to you.

You can control the links on your site that link back to your homepage - again these need to include your keywords. At the moment you are mostly using images - some text links would help.

Another suggestion would be to build some static pages - the more pages you have rich in keywords the more chance of getting search engine traffic. You could for instance build some static pages based on some of the most popular search results. Just to give the search engines more to bite on. When you are doing this the backlinks on these pages become very important.

I was going to suggest that you could get the search engine added to firefox's default search engines - but then I saw the results are actually supplied by Google so they're unlikely to add it.

It would be great to have an easy to install search box that people can install on their own website - the more ways into your site the better. You could do some sort of partnerships with other sites to get your search on their site.

I'm sure there are loads of other things you can do...

Anyway, I hope you guys don't mind me jumping in like this - on my first post - incredible cheek - but i saw the post and thought i might be able to make some suggestions.

xpertcoder · 02-19-2006, 07:17 PM

If you are planning on using no text at all then atleast use "search egine" as an anchor text is your back links.
Similarly you should have atlease a "FAQ" and "How your search engine is better than others" information links on the homepage.
The design that you have is extremely nice but it would help if it was more user friendly. For instance the search box needs to have a darker bg or atleast a good border to highlight it.
You should try using a alt tags in your image. (I think this wont help as you only have a sinble background image)
Try writing an article about search engines and their usabilitym provide a link to your search engine with the appropriate anchor text in it.

munt · 02-20-2006, 12:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve

You're right Matt they don't, incidentally they are also only just on the first ranking page for the keyword "search engine" (No. 9). What Google does have is mega amounts of content, look at the various FAQ pages alone. Most of the content points to the index side which gives it value from an internal linking aspect. Google also has the phrase "search engine" in the title which is also good from an SEO standpoint.
That is just a couple of points that springs to mind without giving it serious consideration.

On a slightly different note, I think the site looks excellent, what's with the sql errors though?

Steve

yeah thats what i was meaning

i would also change your meta keywords and description to more specific keywords or phrases your looking to target, the description now is basicly just another keyword tag..
to me now it looks spammy

xpertcoder · 02-20-2006, 02:25 AM

Without content the keyword tags are ineffective

02-05-2006, 10:34 PM	#1
compuXP Retired Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 139	How is this possible? How in the world are you supposed to optimize a search engine...? www.ilookup.info It has nearly no content except for search results. Any ingenious ideas? Thanks, -Matt __________________ Retired Moderator/Member/Friend/Helper - it was great working with all of you!

02-06-2006, 01:15 AM	#2
bpeh Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Australia Posts: 41	Re: How is this possible? back links? __________________ Website Reviews, Web Design Ideas, Internet Articles, Directory

02-08-2006, 05:12 AM	#3
compuXP Retired Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 139	Re: How is this possible? That's all? __________________ Retired Moderator/Member/Friend/Helper - it was great working with all of you!

02-08-2006, 05:45 AM	#5
compuXP Retired Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 139	Re: How is this possible? Google doesn't have text saying "Google is a search engine that..." .... In IE it looks fine - what are you talking about ...? How come it's messed up on your computer I wonder... __________________ Retired Moderator/Member/Friend/Helper - it was great working with all of you!

02-12-2006, 08:44 PM	#7
Thomas Holmes Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Montpellier France atm Posts: 21	Re: How is this possible? Hi Matt, hmmm, optimising a search engine to be found in the search engines... interesting! I'm new here but have a few ideas. Normally the first step for optimising your site is to do your keyword research. You need to decide exactly what search terms you want to be found under. Just looking at the digital point keyword tool, there are clearly lots of searches for 'search engine' in the search engines - around 45000 searches a day! Realistically you will need to find a niche though. What do you want to be found under? The next step then is adding these keywords to your page. The first place is usually the Title. At the moment your title is optimised for 'iLookup' only - until your search engine is well known its unlikely there will be many people that find it through this. So you need to find your top two or three keyword phrases and include them in the title. Next stop is the meta-tags. Although it seems that these have very little importance these days - its still worth putting in a good description that includes your keywords. And throwing them in your meta keywords as well. Ok, so now we get to your problem area. You've gone for a pretty minimal design which leaves pretty much zero text. You could really do with using some headings (h1 styled with stylesheet) and some text. The search engines like to see some form of structure on pages - headings is an aspect of that. As this is a new search engine, people will need a reason to use it. Why would they change from google or whatever they are currently using and use iLookup instead? So you could use some space on the frontpage to tell people why iLookup is better than the other search engines and why they should use it as their default search engine. And of course this text would be rich with your keywords - maybe even highlighted in bold. Last stop on the front page would be your copyright message. This could be essentially the same as the text you have in the title - including the keywords you want to be found under. The next step is to get lots and lots of high quality backlinks. Just looking at the keyword results, there are nearly 2000 searches a day on 'search engine list' so there are most likely a lot of good sites serving this niche. You need to get a really good listing on all those sites. And again you need your keywords in the anchor text, or the text of the link that comes back to you. You can control the links on your site that link back to your homepage - again these need to include your keywords. At the moment you are mostly using images - some text links would help. Another suggestion would be to build some static pages - the more pages you have rich in keywords the more chance of getting search engine traffic. You could for instance build some static pages based on some of the most popular search results. Just to give the search engines more to bite on. When you are doing this the backlinks on these pages become very important. I was going to suggest that you could get the search engine added to firefox's default search engines - but then I saw the results are actually supplied by Google so they're unlikely to add it. It would be great to have an easy to install search box that people can install on their own website - the more ways into your site the better. You could do some sort of partnerships with other sites to get your search on their site. I'm sure there are loads of other things you can do... Anyway, I hope you guys don't mind me jumping in like this - on my first post - incredible cheek - but i saw the post and thought i might be able to make some suggestions. __________________ What would happen your website traffic and sales if you were using SEO Elite?

02-19-2006, 07:17 PM	#8
xpertcoder Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: India Posts: 38	Re: How is this possible? If you are planning on using no text at all then atleast use "search egine" as an anchor text is your back links. Similarly you should have atlease a "FAQ" and "How your search engine is better than others" information links on the homepage. The design that you have is extremely nice but it would help if it was more user friendly. For instance the search box needs to have a darker bg or atleast a good border to highlight it. You should try using a alt tags in your image. (I think this wont help as you only have a sinble background image) Try writing an article about search engines and their usabilitym provide a link to your search engine with the appropriate anchor text in it. __________________ max pain make money online :p Make money before getting too old. outsourcing projects The best outsourcing website

02-20-2006, 02:25 AM	#10
xpertcoder Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: India Posts: 38	Re: How is this possible? Without content the keyword tags are ineffective __________________ max pain make money online :p Make money before getting too old. outsourcing projects The best outsourcing website

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