About search engines

[cybersix]

Hi all, there's a thing I can't understand.. how do search engines work????

I was testing where my site appears.

If I do search for "handcrafted candles" (well I use italian, but I translate just to let you know) I'm in the second page of MSN, but I can't find my site in Google, Yahoo.

Why?

This is a thing I will never understand:rolleyes2

TIA

[RobinInOR]

You are not alone, no one understands it Google is very tough to crack. Each company has their own search algorithms - what they look for in a page, do they look at tags or info on the page - how much they count the links to your page.

Best thing is to keep tweaking your front page - get the keywords you want into descriptive sentences. Make sure your titles on your page reflect what you are selling...

There is a whole industry on SEO (search engine optimization). Do a search for SEO and you'll find bunches of tips.

[cybersix]

Thank you very much Robin, but I started reading something this morning and I'm more confused. And I'm a software developer LOL

I was thinking meta tags would be useful for all engine in the same way!

[RobinInOR]

Some engines *do* use meta tags, but Google I think is getting away from using those and looking at content and links more. They did a major algorithm change about 2 years ago. People were abusing metas.

It's all very artistic, in a way, how to manipulate so many things to get them to notice you Every little bit helps - metas, alternate text on your pictures, titles of pages, links to your site from other sites.

MSN and Google are arch enemies in the search world lol.. well, in the whole world I guess

Did you find this site? http://www.google.com/technology/index.html Google gives you a few hints.

[Lorrie]

Another thing to remember is you may not always be on each search engines right away. Some of them only update every 3-6 months from what I understand. So if you just put your site up that maybe why you are being picked up by one and not another.

HTH

[jaimenic]

I heard but i may be wrong that if you swap links then you head up the chain in search engines if that is true do people want to swap?

[cybersix]

Robin- I will check it right now to see if I already read it

Lorrie - my site is up since january, I didn't know about this "refresh"

Jaime - I read something similar, if you have many sites pointing to yours you should go up in the search.

pheeeewwwwww why there is always be a complication;)

[sudsnwicks]

Not only does each search engine have a different way of performing the search, but their method might also get changed from time to time. It's difficult to guess how they're "thinking" especially when their programs don't always stay the same.

What you should do is to think of what search phrases you want to be found under (e.g. handcrafted candles) and then be sure you have those phrases in your text. These phrases should occur naturally in proper sentences and paragraphs, because some search engines have been designed to be clever enough to place more importance in phrases that occur in normal sentences.

Having other sites link to you also helps, because each link is viewed as a "vote" for you, although some search engines will not give the vote credibility unless the site has similar/related content to yours.

[cybersix]

thanks again. I think I found a little problem (the first) with my site, the introducing phrase on the home page is an image. I did it as an image because I wanted a particular font.

But the title is ok, the meta tags and descriptions are ok, I checked the source code of other candles related site that appears at first places and their tags are not different than mine.

[Crafty1_AJ]

Sabrina, I agree that I tend to get better results with MSN's search engine. I do know that MSN's bots & spiders visit my site WAAAAY more frequently that any other search engine's.