Designing for Search Engines MIS 424 MIS 424 Professor Sandvig Professor Sandvig

Overview Why to Design for Search Engines Why to Design for Search Engines Google’s Magic Formula Google’s Magic Formula How to be well ranked How to be well ranked What to avoid What to avoid

Why Design for Search Engines E-commerce E-commerce Traffic = Sales = $$$ Traffic = Sales = $$$ Very effective marketing method Very effective marketing method Free!!! Free!!! Effective Design Effective Design First page of results First page of results Few users look past first page of results Few users look past first page of results

Market Share

What Users Want from a Search 1. Comprehensive index 2. Relevant ranking of results Millions of pages containing keywords Millions of pages containing keywords Which get listed first? Which get listed first?

Google’s Magic Formula Early search engines: Early search engines: Rank on keywords Rank on keywords Frequency Frequency Position Position Limitations: Limitations: no measure of page “importance” no measure of page “importance” Easily gamed Easily gamed

Google’s Magic Formula PageRank PageRank Measure of site popularity Measure of site popularity Based upon: Based upon: Number of inbound links Number of inbound links Importance of linking sites Importance of linking sites

How Google Ranks Results 1. Relevance Page contains keywords Page contains keywords Location & frequency of keywords in page Location & frequency of keywords in page 2. Importance PageRank PageRank Based upon number of inbound links Based upon number of inbound links Importance of linking sites Importance of linking sites Difficult to game Difficult to game

How Google Works 1. Relevance Page contains some or all of keywords Page contains some or all of keywords Number of times keywords used Number of times keywords used More is better More is better Location of keywords in page Location of keywords in page Page title Page title URL URL Headings Headings Depth Depth Font size Font size etc. etc. Example: SQL Example: SQL

How Google Works Google: sql Google: sql

How to Be Well Ranked Keyword placement: Keyword placement: Prominent locations Prominent locations Page title – very important! Page title – very important! Headings Headings Near top Near top Use frequently Use frequently Keywords in domain name Keywords in domain name Meta tags? Meta tags?

How to Be Well Ranked Selecting keywords Selecting keywords Relevant to site Relevant to site Try to use specific and/or unusual phrases Try to use specific and/or unusual phrases Model names, numbers, ISBN, etc. Model names, numbers, ISBN, etc. eg. MIS 424, eg. MIS 424, Maximize PageRank Maximize PageRank Develop incoming links Develop incoming links Avoid leaking PageRank to other sites Avoid leaking PageRank to other sites rel=“nofollow” rel=“nofollow”

How to Be Well Ranked Human sacrifice Human sacrifice

How to be Well Ranked Analytics: Analytics: Webmaster Tools Webmaster Tools Webmaster Tools Webmaster Tools Google Analytics Google Analytics Open Site Explorer (pay) Open Site Explorer (pay)

Search Engine Spamming Trying to “trick” search engine for higher page rank Trying to “trick” search engine for higher page rank Many techniques Many techniques Paid links (JCPenny caught) Paid links (JCPenny caught)JCPenny Repeat words many times Repeat words many times Use popular but irrelevant words Use popular but irrelevant words sex, Brittany Spears, … sex, Brittany Spears, … Text same color as background Text same color as background Gateway pages (BMW banned) Gateway pages (BMW banned)banned Auto-redirects Auto-redirects Hidden links Hidden links Risk Risk Search engines will ban site from index ( Search engines will ban site from index ( Difficult to get back in Difficult to get back in Wordpress banned by Google Wordpress banned by Google Wordpress banned by Google Wordpress banned by Google

Google Bombing Tricking Google’s index Tricking Google’s index Examples Examples miserable failure miserable failure miserable failure miserable failure Weapons of Mass Destruction Weapons of Mass Destruction Weapons of Mass Destruction Weapons of Mass Destruction How: How: Couple dozen links: Couple dozen links: Distinctive phrase: “miserable failure” Distinctive phrase: “miserable failure” Link to official Bush bio. Link to official Bush bio. Also: Santorum, Romney Also: Santorum, RomneySantorum

Design features to Avoid Can cause problems: Can cause problems: Forms Forms Google’s spiders attempt to submit forms Google’s spiders attempt to submit forms Don’t count on it Don’t count on it Frames Frames Flash Flash Images without alt tags Images without alt tags JavaScript redirects JavaScript redirects Near identical pages Near identical pages

Additional Information SearchEngineWatch.com SearchEngineWatch.com Surveys, statistics, tips Surveys, statistics, tips WebmasterWorld.com WebmasterWorld.com Webmaster Guidelines (by Google) Webmaster Guidelines (by Google) Webmaster Guidelines Webmaster Guidelines Observation Observation Do some searches Do some searches Look at design features of top ranking sites Look at design features of top ranking sites

Summary Search engines want relevant content Search engines want relevant content Gain customers Gain customers Effective designs Effective designs Keyword usage Keyword usage Build PageRank Build PageRank