Methods that manipulate the relevancy or prominence of resources indexed by a search engine, usually in a manner inconsistent with the purpose of the indexing system is called Spamdexing.

The sheer amount of information available on the internet is mind-boggling. In 2000 a study indicated that the internet’s search engines where only capable of indexing approximately sixteen percent of available pages. That sixteen percent adds up to pages and pages of potential hits. There are typically ten hits per page. The average internet user never goes farther then the first set of ten. Webmasters use a variety of techniques to increase their ranking. The art and science of making web pages attractive to the search engines is called search engine optimization.

The importance of a high search engine ranking started driving webmasters to use a variety of tricks to improve their ranking the middle of the 1990’s. On May 22, 1996 The Boston Herald printed an article written by Eric Convey titled “Porn Sneaks Way Back on Web.” It is the first time the term spamdexing was used. The word spamdexing is the merging of the word spam, the internets term for unsolicited information, and indexing.

There are two types of spamdexing. The terms are content spam and link spam.

Content spam is the use of techniques that alter the search engines view of the pages content. Some methods of content spam include the use of hidden text, keyword stuffing, Meta tag stuffing, doorway pages, and scraper sites.

Taking advantage of link-based ranking algorithms which in turn gives a higher ranking to a website is called link spam. Link spam methods include link farms, hidden links, Sybil attack, wiki spam, spam blogs (also referred to as splogs), page hijacking, buying expired domains, and referrer log spamming.

Some people consider spamdexing a black hat method of internet search engine classification.

Key word stuffing is a favorite type of content spamdexing. Key word stuffing is including a key word hundred of times on a single webpage. Given the sheer volume of the word the search engine automatically gives that particular webpage a higher ranking then one that might use the word legitimately. Most websites that employ keyword stuffing place the words at the bottom of the page or write it with text that the person surfing the web can’t see. Some search engines try to discourage key word stuffing by ranking websites with an excessive number of keywords at the bottom of the ranking.

Some web masters like to include the name of a famous person on their site as a keyword. The name attracts the attention of search engines and web surfers even though the web site has nothing to do with the person.

Some websites try to steal web surfers from their competitors by including their name as a keyword in the body text and meta tags. By doing this the webmaster has guaranteed that the search engines with index it accurately. Using the name of a competitor in the body of a website is normally a direct violation of the copyright law.

A Popular New Trend that Breaks from Search Engine Optimization

Social media optimization is similar to search engine media optimization. The goal of social media optimization is to drive huge amounts of people to a specific website. Social media optimization can also be used to determine whether or not a startup website will be successful or whether it will fall flat with the consumers. Social media optimization uses new to encourage traffic to a website.

Social media optimization was a name created by Rohit Bharagava, the vice president of Interactive marketing.

Social media optimization is online tools and platforms that can be used to share opinions, insights, and perspectives. It cant take many forms such as text, images, audio, and video. Popular forms of social media optimization are currently blogs, pod casts, message boards, vlogs, and wikis. Social media optimization is anything that builds a community where people can rendezvous. Social media optimization normally includes websites that can be used as a platform to send out a marketing message.

Social media optimization is not something that can be forced. It is considered a type of pull marketing; it only works if people are drawn to it. Search engine optimization has clear goals. Webmasters who use search engine optimization want to have a website that ranks well with the search engines.

The goals of webmasters who are trying to use social media optimization are; an increase in linkabilty, easy book marking, mash-up, inbound links, and helping content travel.

The rules webmasters who are using social media optimization need to live by are, rewarding valuable (helpful) users, and they need to make sure they are a user resource.

Webmasters who are using a social media optimization technique should make sure they participate with their users. You need to be a part of the blogs and the message boards.

Webmasters that are employing a social media optimization technique must know their target audience. You need to know what appeals to that particular group of people. It is important to remember that not everybody will love you.

Make sure you have created content. One of the words typically associated with social media optimization is mashup. The origins of the word, mashup, gets it start in the pop music world. Mashup is a website of application that works to combine content from more then one source into an integrated experience. A mashup is sometimes created as a way to gather feedback on an existing project or body of work. Most companies use a third party via public interface. Google, Amazon, Yahoos! APIs, eBay, AOL, and Windows Live are some of the companies currently experimenting with mashups.

Despite the fact that social media optimization is a relatively new concept, some people believe that social media optimization will be one of the top seven marketing trends of 20007 along with; sharing corporate personalities, widget marketing, auto tagging, human filtered searches, content casting, and online identity shifting.

Social media optimization is something that encourages a fun social environment. Enjoy it.

The terms web crawler, automatic indexers, bots, worms, web spiders, and web robots are programs or automated scripts with browse the World Wide Web in a methodical, automated manner. The term web crawler is the most commonly used term.

Web crawlers are a tool used for search engine optimization.

Search engines use web crawlers to provide up to date data and information. Web crawlers provide the requested information by creating copies of web pages that the search engine later processes. Once the information has been processed the search engines indexes the pages and are able to quickly download the pages during a search. The process of web crawling is a key factor in search engine optimization. Search engine optimization is the art and science of making web pages attractive to search engines. Computer people call the process of using a web crawler to rank a website spidering.

Some search engines use web crawlers for maintenance tasks. Web crawlers can also be used for harvesting e-mail addresses. The internet is a gaping ocean of information. In 2000, Lawrence and Giles manufactured a study that indicated the internet search engines have only indexed approximately sixteen percent of the Web. Web crawlers are designed to only download a tiny amount of the available pages. A miniscule sample of what the internet has to offer.

Search engines use web crawlers because they can fetch and sort data faster than a human could ever hope to. In an effort to maximize the download speed while decreasing the amount of times a webpage is repeated search engines use parallel web crawlers. Parallel web crawlers require a policy for reassigning new URLs. There are two ways to assign URLs. A dynamic assignment is what happens when a web crawler assigns a new URL dynamically. If there is a fixed rule stated from the beginning of the crawl that defines how to assign new URLs to the crawls it is called static assignment.

In order to operate at peak efficiency web crawlers have to have a highly optimized architecture.

URL nominalization is the process of modifying and standardizing a URL in a consistent manner. URL nomalization is sometimes called URL canonicalzation. Web crawlers usually use URL nomilization to avoid multiple crawling of a source.

In an attempt to attract the attention of web crawlers, and subsequently highly ranked, webmasters are constantly redesigning their websites. Many webmasters rely on key word searches. Web crawlers look for the location of keywords, the amount of keywords, and links.

If you are in the process of creating a website try to avoid frames. Some search engines have web crawlers that can not follow frames. Another thing some search engine are unable to read are pages via CGI or database -delivery, if possible try creating static pages and save the database for updates. Symbols in the URL can also confuse web crawlers. You can have the best website in the world and if a web crawler can’t read it probably won’t get the recognition and ranking it deserves.

For arguments sake let’s say that you own a successful bed and breakfast in the middle of Idaho. Currently you rely mainly on word of mouth and repeat customers. You can’t help wandering if creating a website won’t help attract more attention to your little business.

A quick internet search has you rethinking your plans. There are a lot of bed and breakfast’s with web pages. You can’t help but wonder what you could possibly do to get your webpage noticed.

The key to a successful webpage is search engine optimization.

Search engine optimization is the art and science of making your website attractive to the internets search engines. The more attractive your website is the search engines the higher they will rank your little bed and breakfast. The higher your website ranks the more people, hopefully, will check your website out.

The first step towards a successful website is getting it submitted to a search engine. Search engine submission is the act of getting your website listed with the search engines. Search engine submission can also be referred to as search engine registration.

One of the first things you want to consider is how much you are willing to spend to submit your website to a search engine. It is possible to have your site listed for free; paying for the service will generate more traffic to your website. The cost of submitting your website to Yahoo’s search engine is about three hundred dollars a year. The three hundred dollars pays for Yahoo’s human compiled directory. The humans help influence web crawlers to your website. If you can’t afford the three hundred dollars for the human compiled directory try to list your website and see if any of the search engine crawlers locate it. You can go back in a few months time and pay for a human compiled search engine later.

There businesses that, for a fee, can help you design a website that will attract web crawlers to your website. Many of these businesses charge different prices for different search engine optimization packages. Types of search engine optimization services some of these companies offer include naming convention, keyword density/syntax, blog implementation, vertical affiliates, and third-party posting. When looking for a business or search engine consultant looks for reciprocal links, keyword strategies, knowledge of HTML, language skills, knowledge of search engine optimization boosters, submission strategies, and submission tracking,

If you decide to use a search engine optimization company take your time and shop around. Ask questions. Avoid any companies that guarantee instant success, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Try to find a search engine optimization company that will work to build the targeted content of your website. Look for a company that offers interactive features that create documents that will lead web crawlers to your website.

When it comes to the cost of search engine submission and search engine optimization spending less simply means it might take a little longer to realize your goals. The more you are able to spend the faster your website will gain attention.

Everyone and anyone who has ever used an internet search engine knows the value and frustration of the searches and search engine optimization, it doesn’t matter if you are someone trying to use a search engine to identify a specific piece of information or if you are a business person trying to break into the global ecommerce market, we all have some sort of complaint about internet searches.

These days when we need information we no longer go to the local library and throw ourselves at the reference librarian. Now when we need information we boot up our personal computers, connect to the internet, and access our favorite search engine and type in the keywords that should access the necessary information. Thrilled, we scan the long list of potential hits, it looks like its going to be an easy research project. Cheerfully, you click on the link for the first website, and then the second, and then the third. Each website is filled with gobbely gook that bears little resemblance to the information you are looking for. Taking a deep breath you return to the search engine’s homepage and reenter your keywords, jumbling the order of the words, thinking that maybe this time you’ll get a hit. Once again you get nothing but a bunch of gobbely gook. You run search after search after search. You try a variety of search engines, other then a few advertisements you get very little information about what you’re looking for.

Resisting the urge to throw your computer out the window, you grab your car keys and wallet and head to the local library.

You have just been a victim of spamdexing.

Spamdexing is a problem that drives everyone from the college student trying to write a research paper, to the businessperson trying to make a go of their business related website, to the powers that be at the search engines insane.

Spamdexing is the use of various methods that manipulate the relevancy or prominence of resources indexed by a search engine, usually in a manner that is inconsistent with the indexing systems guidelines. The word spamdexing was first coined by Eric Convey in an article he wrote for The Boston Herald in 1996. The article was called “Porn sneaks way back on Web.”

Spamdexers are webmasters that take complete advantage of search engines, completely ignoring respected forms of search engine optimization. Spamdexers use a variety of techniques to make sure their websites are in the listed in the fertile first two pages of search results, many times the pages bear little if any resemblance to the original search.

Search engines powers that be understand the frustration spamdexers bring out in people struggling to run legitimate internet searchers. They know that spamdexing can add hours of time and mind-numbing frustration to what should be a simple internet search. Its cliché but they really do feel your pain and are trying to eliminate the problem. On January 25, 2007 Google took an active role in trying to stop the spamdexers on its search engine by going after websites that specialized in Google bombing. Several of the major search engines have rewritten their web crawler’s algorithms to make keyword stuffing difficult, rejecting any websites that simply made lists of keywords.

Most search engines would like internet users to report websites that they suspect of spamdexing.

Chances are good that at some point in your life you ran a search on an online search engine and instead of one hit you received pages and pages of possible hits. Have you ever wondered if the order the websites appear on search was just a random grouping or if they had been placed in a specific order that just appeared disorderly to you? The answer is that there is a very elaborate system used to determine where a website appears during an internet search. The process is something called search engine optimization.

Search engine optimization is the science and art of making web pages attractive to search engines.

Next time you run an internet search look at the bottom of the page. Chances are good that there will be a list of page numbers (normally written in blue) for you to click if you can’t find exactly what you are looking for on the first page. If you actually look farther then the second page you will part of a minority. Studies and research have shown that the average internet user does not look farther then the second page of potential hits. As you can imagine it’s very important to websites to be listed on the first two pages.

Webmasters use a variety of techniques to improve their search engine ranking.

The first thing most webmasters (or website designers) do is check their meta tags. Meta tags are special HTML tags that provide information about a web page. Search engines can easily read Meta tags but they are written with special type of text that is invisible to internet users. Search engines rely on meta tags to accurately index the web sites. Although meta tags are a critical step in search engine optimization they alone are not enough to have a web site receive top ranking.

Search engines rely on a little device called a web crawler to locate and then catalog websites. Web crawlers are computer programs that browse the World Wide Web in a methodical, automated manner. Web crawlers are also sometimes called automatic indexers, web spiders, bots, web robots, and/or worms. Web crawlers locate and go to a website and “crawl” all over it, reading the algorithms and storing the data. Once they have collected all the information from the website they bring it back to the search engine where it is indexed. In addition to collecting information about a web site some search engines use web crawlers to harvest e-mail addresses and for maintenance tasks. Each search engine has their own individual web crawlers and each search engine has variations on how they gather information.

Most webmasters feel that proper use and placement of keywords helps catch the attention of web crawlers and improve their websites ranking. Most webmaster like to design their websites for ultimate search engine optimization immediately but there aren’t any rules that say you can’t go back to your website at any time and make improvements that will make it more attractive to search engines.

Google believes in having a good time. They especially believe in having a good time on April Fools Day. How does a company who runs a search engine celebrate April Fool’s Day? They set up search engine hoaxes. April Fool’s Day hoaxes are fast becoming a Google tradition.

On April 1, 2000, Google announced its brand new form of search technology, a technology they cheerfully named MentalPlex. How did MentalPlex work? Brainwaves, all the searcher had to do was think about what they wanted to search for, this eliminated the need for typing, effectively eliminating the issue of spelling errors.

In 2002, Google openly discussed the genius behind its PageRank system. The secret? Pigeons or rather PigeonRank. Google was very proud of the way they had created a more efficient and cost effective way to rank pages. They were quick to explain that no pigeons were cruelly treated.

April 2004 offered Google employees the opportunity to work at the Google Lunar/Copernicus Center…on the moon. This April Fool’s Day prank made several tongue-in-cheek references to WindowXP’s visual style. They named the operating system Luna/X paying homage to Linux.

Google broke into the beverage industry in 2005 with their Google Gulp. People who drank Google Gulp would be able to get the most out of their Google search engines because they would be increasing their intelligence with every swallow. Google Gulp worked through a series of algorithms that used a real time analysis of the drinkers DNA and made precise adjustments to the brains neurotransmitters. Google Gulp came in a variety of flavors including Google Grape (glutamatic acid), Sero-Tonic Water (serotonin), Sugar-Free Radical (free radicals), and Beta Carroty (beta carotene).

2006 was a time for romance. Google created Google Romance. Google’s catch phrase, which appeared on the main search page was, “Dating is a search problem. Solve it with Google Romance.” Google users were invited to use Soul mate Search which would send them on a Contextual Date. Google invited people to “post multiple profiles with a bulk upload.”

Google has also taken advantage of April Fool’s Day to announce very real changes in the company. The reason they make real offers to consumers on April Fool’s Day is so that the consumers will think that it’s a hoax, joke about it, and then be pleasantly surprised when they find out that its real. Google announced the launch of Gmail, e-mail that was free to the consumer and provided one entire gigabyte of storage (that amount of storage for free was unheard of at the time), on March 31, 2004 (most consumers found out about it on the morning of the first). Exactly one year later they announce that they were increasing the one gigabyte of storage to two gigabytes.

Google’s map of the moon was added to Google maps on July 20, 2005. The map of the moon was semi-real, it did show NASA images of a very small section of the moon, but zooming in on the tiny section presented viewers with a photograph of Swiss cheese. There was also the location of all moon landings on the map. The map was Google’s way of celebrating the thirty-sixth anniversary of the first man on the moon but many consumers assumed that it was an extension on the Google Copernicus hoax. Google claims, through something called Google Moon, that in the 2069, Google Local will support all lunar businesses and addresses.

Search engine marketing is a set of marketing methods used to increase the visibility of a website in search engine results pages. Types of search engine marketing include; search engine optimization, pay per click, paid inclusion, and social media optimization. Search engine marketing differs from search engine optimization which is the art and science of making web pages attractive to internet search engines.

Non-profit organizations, universities, political parties, and the government can all benefit from search engine marketing. Businesses that sell products and/or services online can use search engine marketing to help improve their sales figures.

Some of the goals of search engine marketing are to develop a brand, generate media coverage, and enhancing a reputation, and to drive business to a physical location.

If you do not feel confident enough to try your own search engine marketing there are several companies that will be able to help you out for a price. If you decide to go with a search engine marketing company take your time and shop around, find a company that really suits your own businesses search engine marketing needs.

Stay away from companies that promise top rankings. Most companies that promise tope ranking are more interested in your money then they are in keeping your business. Quite often this type of company will charge you top doller, spend a few days making sure your website has a few basic requirements and that is the last you hear from them. This type of search engine marketing company is not really interested in repeat customers.

Tread carefully around companies that promise first page rankings on the major search engines like Google and Yahoo. Make sure these companies are talking about sponsored listings and not just natural listings. Companies that are only after natural listings traditionally charge a large monthly fee, using a small portion of the money on sponsored listings, and pocketing the remainder.

The false promise most commonly used by shady search engine marketing companies is the money back guarantee. Generally if you read the contract very carefully you will lean that these companies have a very strange idea of major search engine. Companies that have a money back guarantee typically don’t deal with the search engine movers and shakers like Google and Yahoo, instead they use small obscure search engines that are hardly ever used.

The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) was created in 2003 to offer the public educational resources about search engine marketing and to also promote search engine marketing. Currently SEMPO represents over 500 global search engine marketing companies. Sempo is happy to offer their resources to the public for free. SEMPO has offers search engine marketing training courses for any and all interested parties who would like to expand their knowledge of search engine marketing. SEMPO’s objectives are to teach search engine marketing strategies, techniques, and successful practices, to increase the availability and quality f its professionals, and to offer training courses that will help to establish a benchmark for search engine marketing. The cost of a SEMPO training course can range anywhere from five hundred dollars for a fundamentals of search marketing class, to over two thousand dollars for an advanced search advertising course.

On October 15, 1881 a baby by the name of Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (Plum to his friends) was born. In 1996, one hundred and fifteen years later, a brand new internet search engine would be named in honor of him, sort of.

P.G. Wodehouse was an extremely popular English writer who had a flair for comedy. Magazines like The Saturday Evening Post and The Strand serialized his novels while he spent time in Hollywood working as a screenwriter. P.G. Wodehouse had an incredibly prolific flair for writing. His writing career officially started in 1902 and ended in 1975. During that time he wrote ninety-six books, several collections of short stories, screenplays, and one musical.

When he was ninety-three years old, P.G. Wodehouse was made a Knight of the British Empire. Two of Mr. Wodehouse’s most famous characters(or perhaps infamous, depending on your point of view), are the bumbling Bertie Wooster and his long suffering valet, Jeeves.

P.G. Wodehouse will always be remembered for his comedic approach to writing.

In 1996, when Garret Gruener and David Warthen needed a name for the internet search engine they created they choose the name of Wodehouse’s fictional valet. The website was called Ask Jeeves. Jeeves remained the search engines mascot until the company retired him on February 27, 2006 a decision they announced on September 23, 2005. Jeeves retirement prompted the internet search engine to create a page titled “Where’s Jeeves”, that listed a variety of creative activities, including growing grapes and space exploration, the valet planned to do during his retirement. With Jeeves retired the search engine simply became Ask.com. During his reign at Ask Jeeves, the valet was always impeccably dressed in a beautifully tailored black suit, shiny shoes, and red tie. Although his posture changed almost yearly on the company logo he always had the same amicable smile.

When it was first created the idea behind Ask.com (back then it was still Ask Jeeves) questions would be posed in regular language and answers would be hunted down and provided. The creators of Ask Jeeves (now Ask.com) hoped that internet users would be drawn to the intuitive, user friendly style.

The growing popularity of keyword search engines like Yahoo! and Google prompted the powers-that-be at Ask Jeeves to overhaul their search engine to include keyword searches in addition to answering questions. Because Ask.com was not as quick to index new websites as some of its competitors its was not bogged down with computer generated linkspam., when users were unable to find usable web pages on the three most popular internet search engines, they turned to Ask.com who still had viable pages readily available.

Today, Ask.com uses the ExpertRank algorithm to provide its users with search results. Ask.com uses link popularity and subject-specific popularity to help determine rankings.

Ask.com has sold technology has been sold to additional corporations including Toshiba and Dell. A variety of web destinations, including country specific, sites such as; Germany, Italy, Excite, Japan, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, IWon.com, Bloglines, and Ask For Kids are owned by Ask.com.

We live in a world where everybody wants the latest and greatest, somewhere along the way we have come to the conclusion that the newer something is the better. If we are buying a CD it has to be the latest release from the new one hit wonder, we don’t care if the song writer couldn’t tell melody from harmony or that the singer is incapable of carrying a tune, all that matters is that it’s new. Each fall hundreds of people scramble to get to car dealerships, frantic to drive the next years models, barely capable of waiting for them to be unloaded off the truck, it doesn’t matter if we are six months behind on car payments on last years model which is in perfect running condition, we’re blinded by all the bells and whistles that the new cars have to offer. People will stand in a long line, overnight, in an electrical storm to simply to spend an unhealthy amount of money on the latest electronic gadget just because it is brand new, we don’t care that in just a few months it will be a fraction of the cost, we have to have it now.

Even internet service suffers from the right now syndrome. For years we were content with dialup service. Sure it was slow but it was that or nothing. Heck we hardly noticed that it took hours to download a simple, days to upload a couple of pictures, download a video… that was practically unheard off. We didn’t know any better. Now that the world has found out about all the new options for internet service we have to have that. It doesn’t matter that it is double the monthly cost or we have to default on are student loans in order to purchase the necessary equipment. If it is cordless, faster, and designed with the latest technology we have to have it…right now.

We don’t care if the old stuff is made with better materials, last longer, and is cheaper. In our minds old equals junk.

Search engine optimization is one spot where we should force ourselves to shed our weird inhibitions about old stuff. When it comes to search engine optimization, age rules over youth.

Search engine optimization is the art and science of making web pages attractive to the search engines. The more attractive a web site appears (search engines are attracted, not to beauty, but to repetitious algorithms) the higher it ranks in the search engines search result. A low ranking could potentially be the kiss of death to an internet based business because studies have shown the internet users seldom look past the second page of hits.

Search engines use web crawlers to determine a websites ranking.

Older websites and the webmasters who manage them have had more time to develop and maintain their algorithms. They are already itemized and ranked by the search engines, in some cases it can take three months for a web crawler to get around to spidering a brand new website that has been submitted to the search engine, old sites are already appearing and gaining customer recognition. If an older site has been around long enough to have earned a loyal customer base, even if a shuffle in the rankings causes the aged web site to be bumped from prime ranking position, loyal customers will still look for it.