Search Engine Visibility FAQ
How does Search Engine Visibility help me optimize my Website?
Search Engine Visibility is an Internet-based search engine optimization and submission tool that guides users to optimize their website. Search Engine Visibility shows users how to improve internal and external aspects of their website. Doing this increases the visibility of the website in search engines via the "natural," or unpaid, search results.
Search engines rely on proprietary ranking algorithms and use that technology to look for various elements of the Web page, their organization, page content and how popular the Web page is. The absence of certain attributes, or the over-prevalence of other attributes, can seriously impact your ranking success. Search Engine Visibility shows you which Website elements are particularly important to the various engines and helps you position your website for those engines' ranking criteria.
Search Engine Visibility helps you analyze, optimize, and submit your Web page(s) to key Internet search engines and directories.
Will my website be ranked high in search engines if I use Search Engine Visibility?
Search Engine Visibility does not guarantee search engine listings or higher rankings. Search Engine Visibility also cannot provide any exact timeline for the fruition of your search engine optimization efforts.
Because competition can be fierce, and search engines use proprietary ranking algorithms, there is no guarantee that your URL will attain a high rank with a particular search engine. The ultimate decision lies entirely with the search engine.
But, search engines do reward Websites that are optimized, well-composed, and feature unique and/or meaningful content. That's where Search Engine Visibility comes in handy.
You can use Search Engine Visibility's SEO Checklist to identify optimization opportunities in your Website content. Optimizing your Website significan'tly improves your chances of achieving higher rankings with the search engines. For more information, see Using the SEO Checklist Report.
Once refined, use Search Engine Visibility's Website submission options to submit your Website, correct any submission issues, and track number of pages indexed by various search engines.
Can I Pay to Guarantee a Search Engine Listing?
In some cases, yes. A number of search engines support paid-inclusion models for Web content. Paid inclusion generally guarantees a shorter turnaround time for submitted pages and in some cases also provides guaranteed inclusion.
What are keywords and why do I need them?
Search engines use keywords when they include your website in their search results. Keywords can make or break your search engine ranking. Adding keywords to the content of your website can improve its ranking, but overusing them can cause your Website to be banned for spamming.
When identifying keywords, select words and phrases in the content of your website that someone is most likely to use when searching for your online business or website.
Each of your Web pages should have keywords that include phrases found throughout the page content, title tag, headings, attributes, and link text. If you have words and phrases that occur often, rearrange the order to keep each tag unique. We don't recommend using the same string of keywords on all of your pages because it could hamper your SEO.
You can use the Keyword Ranking report in Search Engine Visibility to see where your Website ranks on search engines for specific keyword searches. Search Engine Visibility shows you the ranking information for saved keywords on your home page keywords, as well as keywords shared throughout the Website.
Can I change the domain name in Search Engine Visibility?
Yes, but you can only change the domain name once per Search Engine Visibility account. Changing your website URL deletes all existing data for the old Website, including:
- Keywords
- Tags
- Crawl rules
- Sitemap customization
To Change the Domain Name in Search Engine Visibility
- Log in to your Account Manager.
- Click Search Engine Visibility.
- Click Launch for the account you want to work with.
- Click Settings, and then click Change URL.
- Click Modify URL, and then enter in the new URL for the Search Engine Visibility account.
- Click OK.
How often should I submit my Websitemap?
To optimize your website in Search Engine Visibility, you should submit your Websitemap anytime you make changes to your Website. Website changes can include any of the following:
- Adding new pages or URLs
- Adding new content
- Editing page URLs
- Removing pages or URLs
- Removing old content
NOTE: Generally, you should only submit your Websitemap once every 24 hours. However, it's a best practice to submit your Websitemap only if your Website is updated or you change content.
What's the difference between robots.txt and Meta Tags?
There are several types of Meta Tags, including Title, Description, Keywords. You place Meta Tags in the "head" section of your Web pages HTML to provide information that helps control robots and crawlers searching your website. The information in Meta Tags is not viewable by Website visitors unless they view the page's source.
A robots.txt file specifies which parts of your Web page robots or crawlers can access. While some can ignore your robots.txt file, many search engines will find it and follow the specified protocol. You create and place a robots.txt file in the top-level directory of your Web server.
While both a robots.txt file and a Meta Tag communicate the preferences of your website to search engines attempting to crawl and collect information, using a robots.txt file is recommended. The robots.txt file allows for more flexibility and control over what gets searched. It should be uploaded to the hosted Website's root directory.
Does Search Engine Visibility optimize my Website for me?
No. Search Engine Visibility offers you insight on how to optimize your Website. But, you still need to implement the recommendations for your Website to be optimized.
Once you activate Search Engine Visibility, the tool crawls your Website similar to how a search engine would. After analyzing your content, Search Engine Visibility displays issues your Website might have with search engine optimization, and then offers suggestions on how to fix the errors.
It might help to do additional search engine optimization research, to assist you with fixing the errors.What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving internal and external aspects of a website, or Web page, to increase its organic visibility for search engines. SEO involves editing the website's HTML code and content to make it more search engine friendly, and then promoting the Website to increase its relevance on the Web.
Once search engines are alerted to your website's presence, they scan the code and content of your Website and index the information. Search engines analyze the website content to determine when and where your website displays on a search-engine result page.
The page content (text displaying on a Web page) should be inviting, comprehensive, and — within reasonable limits — contain as many of the Website's keywords as possible.
Some search engines, including Google®, pay particular attention to the number of websites linking to your website when determining the importance and ranking of your Website. These external links are called back links.
Why should I care about SEO?
You've heard the phrase "Location, location, location!" and its importance when shopping for business real estate. The same applies to the placement of your website on search engine result pages. According to research, the higher your Website is listed as a search result, the more traffic you're going to get.
Quality traffic means increased revenue and more publicity. Search engine traffic can lead to an organization’s success or failure.
The goal of SEO is to land your website in the top few pages of search engine’s results page. This is not easy. It takes a lot of time and constant tweaking to increase your search engine rankings.
To assist you with the process, Search Engine Visibility guides you through optimizing your website for search engine inclusion. Search Engine Visibility analyzes your Website by applying various rules based on what search engines see when they visit your Website. Search Engine Visibility reports the results of the analysis, and suggests measures you can take to improve the optimization of your Website.