Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization is very important in order to get your Website noticed and out there. When you are creating your site you would use keywords in your title of your site or in your code. The more keywords you use the better chance you have of getting searched more.

You also want to self promote your website after it is launched and there are several great ways to do that. I think the most effective way to promote your website would be to use a Social Networking site. The top 10 Social Networking sites are http://social-networking-websites-review.toptenreviews.com/.

The top Social Networking site is http://www.facebook.com/ You can use the site by to creating your own group or posting a comment about your new website on your own page and on all of your friends' pages. You can also create your own free Ads http://www.facebook.com/advertising/?src=advf2#/advertising/?src=advf2 that will be displayed on the right side of the pages. The ads are displayed depending on what you list as your targeted audience. You can list keywords and really narrow your target audience.

Another good tool would be to use a Social Bookmarking site like http://delicious.com/help/learn by bookmarking my website so other people can add the link to their bookmarks.

Do all of these things and I think you will be well on your way to getting noticed! :)

Bing Status Search

This new feature of real-time status updates on the Bing search engine is a bit much. People already have to be cautious about what they put out on social networking site today pertaining to current or potential employers and this is just another reason to delete your profile. Not to mention most statuses are random and not really worth putting them on a search engine. Then some people may get the wrong impression from a status (you can't hear voice or tone in text).

If you take a look at status updates our your friends on these sites do you think these people would want this information tagged to them for the whole world to see? These websites such as Twitter and Facebook are supposed to be a way to communicate, have fun and act silly with your friends. Now that employers, colleges and other notable institutions do "background checks" on these sites it really makes you question who is watching you.

Bing vs. Google: Search Engine wars continued

Given that “real-time” search has been on Microsoft’s and Google’s agendas for a while, the recent announcement about Bing’s partnership with Facebook and Tweeter that promises to integrate real-time status updates and tweets into search results is not surprising. In fact, Twitter was in independent discussions with both companies earlier and Larry Page, Google’s co-founder, talked about the importance of real-time search not long ago:

“I have always thought we needed to index the web every second to allow real time search. At first, my team laughed and did not believe me. Now they know they have to do it. Not everybody needs sub-second indexing but people are getting pretty excited about realtime.”

Real time data could enhance a search engine by identifying current hot topics, improving search results and delivering more targeted advertising. While Twitter and Facebook both have talked to Google about similar arrangements, Microsoft was first to announce the deal. Microsoft finally had something Google did not have. However, that did not last long. Just a few hours later Google was back in the game. The company announced a nonexclusive deal with Twitter to include updates on its search engine (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/rt-google-tweets-and-updates-and-search.html ).

Microsoft might get an advantage since its Tweeter search feature in beta has already gone live while Google's Vice President of Search Products and User Experience Marissa Mayer said: “we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months”. I think that even if Bing will gain an advantage, it will be short-term. Rather sooner than later Google will launch a search service that would index content from Twitter and I believe it will do it better than Bing does now. In a long run, Microsoft's deal will not have any significant impact on Google's market share.

Twitter and Facebook will certainly get some benefits from the deal. First of all, potentially Bing or Google can do a much better job at searching tweets and Facebook status updates than the sites’ own engines. Twitter’s search engine, for example, is slow and search results are hard to navigate. In addition, the two sites will gain even more attention and popularity. Finally, the companies get an undisclosed amount of money in exchange for their data.

As a website manager I would follow the trends and if possible incorporate real-time data into my websites. I would also add "Follow Us on Twitter" and Facebook links.