Optimizing your site for one search engine doesn’t necessarily mean it’s also optimized for others. But in the world of online marketing, optimizing is vital for getting your auto dealership recognized. Unfortunately, your site could be ranked high with Google but much lower with Yahoo. That’s because each search engine is different, typically looking for different things when ranking sites. Following are some differences and similarities to consider to ensure that both major search engines rank your website as high as possible.

Inbound Linking
With Google, inbound links are the bread and butter of your website. The more websites that link to your website, the higher your website ranks. But there’s more to it than that. The Google spiders look at each website’s Page Rank, too. If you have many inbound links from high-ranking pages, your rank also increases.

Keyword URL
Yahoo places greater emphasis on your website’s URL than Google does. To achieve a higher Yahoo ranking, make sure your keyword phrase appears in your URL. If it doesn’t, make a new page or add a keyword-relevant URL as a new page from your website’s front page. Google also looks for this, but only when other websites link to your page by using strictly the website’s address.

Keyword Density
In addition to using your keyword in the website’s URL, it’s also important to have keywords scattered strategically through a site. The ideal amount of keywords is between 6 and 8 percent. Anything over 8 percent could adversely affect your website’s rank.

Link Building
This is similar to the idea of inbound links that Google focuses on, but it goes a step further by encouraging website owners to build linking relationships with other sites. Ask others to link to your site if you link to theirs. Or you can even offer something free to those who link to your site, such as a complimentary web tool or download. Google spiders like to see this, and it radically improves your chances of getting ranked higher.

Site Maps
Site maps used on your site make the spiders’ jobs much easier, allowing them to quickly search your page. Be sure to keep the maps updated so they continue to offer the latest information to searchers.

It’s extremely difficult to know exactly how the Google and Yahoo ranking systems work, as the algorithms and other procedures are confusing and ever-changing. Following the tips above, however, has increased many website rankings, and these are still the most basic ways to get your website noticed.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 21st, 2008 at 5:04 am and is filed under Search Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.