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Subject:Re: HTML keywords & search engines (LONG) From:Matt Ion <soundy -at- MAIL -dot- BC -dot- ROGERS -dot- WAVE -dot- CA> Date:Mon, 13 Oct 1997 11:08:49 -0800
On Mon, 13 Oct 1997 09:51:23 -0600, Eric J. Ray wrote:
>Trick Question: How many sites are likely to be able to get top
>10 placement on the phrase "technical communication"?
Oo, I know, I know! Pick me, teach! Umm... TEN?
>What's the answer? Describe your page thoroughly, accurately, and
>completely. Use the META tags, make sure you have a good and
>punchy title, and include all the relevant info you can on the page.
>Then, assume that potential readers will eventually learn to search
>effectively.
In fact, AltaVista and most other search engines will recommend, when you
get a significantly large number of hits, that you use additional
keywords to narrow the search. The more relevant keywords you have in
your code, the better the chance that it'll float toward the top of a
narrowed search.
Using complete phrases will help when people search using phrases or
concepts as well; for example, someone may look up "how to get started in
technical writing". A search on this phrase yields no matches in
AltaVista, so if this were the focus of your page, and you included it as
part of your METAs, you'd be the only one listed... as opposed to one of
37,000 hits on "technical writing".
Your friend and mine,
Matt
<insert standard disclaimer here>
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