Search Engine Results Part 2
Link Development
To achieve great search engine results, off the page factors must also be taken into considerations. These off the page factors are the links which point to your website. Search engines are interested in the number and quality of sites that link to yours, the more relevant the content of the linking site and the greater its online presence the better.
Firstly, submit your site to online directories. Be sure to submit your site to important directories such as Yahoo!, the Open Directory Project, and About.com, as well as smaller directories and especially the industry specific directories. Your listing on these directories will help your ranking with the major search engines.
Once you have achieved this, try and gain recipricol links between your sites and other sites in a similar field, this will mean you'd have a links page on your site listing their website address, but it will be worth it as it will help your positioning in search engine results.
Monitoring Search Engine Rankings
Search engines use different parameters when calculating what is relevant when considering the order in which they display search engine results, thats why your website will be in a different position on the different search engines. Also, search engine calculations change over time (as do competitor websites), that's why your position in the search engine results (or search engine ranking) can significantly change in a short space of time.
You need to monitor your search engine rankings, at least monthly.
You can do this by visiting the main search engines, typing in your keyword and checking whether your site is in the top 10, 20 or 30 of the search engine results (repeat process for next keyword, etc., then repeat whole process for next search engine). As this can be a long drawn out process and you are too busy there are ways of automating this process and having a rankings report for your website emailed to you every month.
Search Engine Re-optimisation
As previously mentioned, search engine calculations change, your website changes and your competitor's change. At some point your rankings will probably go down.
To continually have good search engine results, when you notice your rankings are dropping, it maybe time to initiate a search engine re-optimisation of your website. This may include one or all of the following; re-analyse keywords, reflect latest business products and services, ensure new webpages are properly optimised and tweak the old webpages (to counter search engines calculation changes).
Search engine results are critical to your business.
It is recommended to obtain professional advice (no obligation)