^#306

“If you build it...they will come”

It may have worked in the magical corn fields of Iowa for Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones and some baseball players long since passed, but it doesn’t quite work that way with websites and search engines. 

Once your website is online it doesn’t automatically pop up in search engines such as Google or Yahoo.  It doesn’t instantly become an authority site on the Internet.  It has to be worthy of attention, and then it has to be indexed in search engines; and that, again, is not automatic. 

A common misconception about search engines is that they are a directory of everything that’s out there; that it’s some sort of automated ‘phone book’ listing.  When you get a phone number from the phone company, you generally have to pay to have the number unlisted.  So for many of you, search engines may seem backwards.  The truth is, it’s quite the competition to rank in a noticeable position within search engine results. 

So what do you need to do to get search engines to notice your website, include it in their index, and then fight for a good position?  Phew...there’s a lot to that, but for starters we have a good list on our website to help you.  The key is to do all of this step by step...it’s less likely to be overwhelming if you just accept that this takes time, and each step is a step in the right direction. 

Today we’re going to focus on one aspect of getting noticed by search engines...your website title and website description.  These are part of your “meta tags”. 

Your website home page title (meta title) 

Your website title indicates to search engines the general subject matter of your site.  Your title tells the search engines the main search phrases you want to rank well for in the search engines.  When your website is first created, we include the first two cities you gave us and your main county, and then your name for your website title.  Many of our clients through the years have asked for their name to be included even though we feel it isn’t best for search engine optimization.  What’s your website title?  While on your website, you can locate the title in the top left of your browser window to check it out. 

How can I make it even better for search engines?
For those of you who wish to change your title, we have listed some guidelines based on what research has shown to be the current search engine preference. 

Guidelines for your optimized title:

• Your title should be 50 to 60 characters long
• It should include your top 2 keyword phrases that you are trying to rank for in the search engines separated by a hyphen.  Generally you would be trying to rank for your area plus the words ‘real estate’.  Example: if your main areas are Anaheim and Yorba Linda then you can use ‘Anaheim Real Estate – Yorba Linda Real Estate’ as your title.  However, if you do business in an area that has a well known county that is used in searches (like Orange County in California) then you may want to use ‘Anaheim Real Estate – Orange County Real Estate’ as your title.
• It is best not to include your name, telephone number, address or other such information in your title; that is not indicative of the general subject matter of the site, and will not be the best way to achieve higher rankings in search engines.  This is not the place to “see your name in lights”.

Where can I change it?
For your home page meta title, login to your Virtual Office and click on Design Center, then Keyword Manager.  You are most likely in our ‘Basic Mode’.  If you would like to change your website title, you need to click on ‘Advanced Mode’.  (We recommend that you do not click on ‘Custom Mode’ unless you are experienced with writing meta tags from scratch).  In ‘Advanced Mode’ your meta tags will remain intact, as they were in ‘Basic Mode’ but you will now be able to edit them further.  Edit the title for your site in the ‘Meta Title’ section. 

Your website home page description (meta description) 

Your website description is a short and sweet description of what can be found on your site.  The description also indicates to search engines the general subject matter of your site but goes into greater detail than the title.  In the past search engines used the meta description as the description for your site on the search engine results pages.  Most search engines no longer use your description, but create their own from excerpts of your website. 

Guidelines for your optimized description:

• Your description should be 200 to 250 characters long
• It should start with your main keyword phrase (which would be the first part of your title as well).
• Keep it short, sweet, and to the point about what your site offers.
• Should be lacking opinion.  Phrases like, “this is the best resource for Anaheim Real Estate” or “Anaheim is the best area to live in” are not beneficial to your placement.  Search engines do not generally display your description to users so it’s not an effective place for marketing text.
• Mention actual tools and features that can be found on your site such as homes for sale, MLS search, Free Reports, etc.

Where can I change it?
For your home page meta description, login to your Virtual Office and click on Design Center, then Keyword Manager.  You will follow the same instructions as listed above for your meta title.  Edit the description for your site in the ‘Meta Description’ section. 

What about your other pages? 

Now, that’s just your main website; your home page.  What about your other pages, your interior pages?  The meta titles and meta descriptions on these pages are very important and can make or break the success of those specific pages within a search engine.  And of course, what happens with your interior pages will affect the success your home page as well. 

To change your meta title and description for your interior pages, login to your Virtual Office and click on Design Center, then Header Manager.  Here you will see your editable website pages.  Click on the ‘edit’ link next to the page for which you would like to customize the meta tags.  Next, find the section that says, ‘Meta Text Options’.  Select the ‘Custom Meta Text’ option, then click on the ‘Click Here for Example Meta Text’ link.  Click the ‘Use’ link in that box. 

Once you click on the ‘Use’ link that will insert the code for the meta tags into your ‘Meta Text Options’ section.  It will look like this: 

<title>YOUR PAGE TITLE GOES HERE</title>
<meta HTTP-EQUIV="expires" CONTENT="0">
<meta HTTP-EQUIV="Content-type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
<meta NAME="description" CONTENT="TYPE IN A SHORT DESCRIPTION HERE">
<meta NAME="keywords" CONTENT="TYPE IN YOUR KEYWORDS INTO THIS SECTION AND SEPARATE EACH KEYWORD WITH A COMMA">

There are some sections you will not edit in what’s inserted. You can simply leave those sections as-is. Be sure to leave the quotation marks provided intact.

Replace the “YOUR PAGE TITLE GOES HERE” with your custom title. The title for your interior page should follow the same guidelines as listed for your home page but should be specific to that page itself. So if your page has tips for first time buyers and you live in Orange County, you may want the title to be 'Orange County first time homebuyer tips'.

Replace the “TYPE IN A SHORT DESCRIPTION HERE” with your custom description.  The description for your page should follow the same guidelines we talked about for your home page but should also be specific to the page itself.  Continuing with the first time buyer tips page example, you would want to create a description that tells search engines exactly what that page is about, for example, “First Time Home Buyer Tips - Information for first time homebuyers to make the process quicker and easier. Get tips on Homebuying, professional advice, and everything else you will need to make your first Home purchase.”

We didn’t talk much about the keywords section of your meta tags.  These are not given a lot of weight by search engines any longer because many website owners abused them by ‘keyword stuffing’ to try and fool search engines to get better results.  There are many differing opinions about the need for these keywords.  We recommend that you still keep something in that section as it may not help you, but if you use them properly, it can’t hurt.  You can feel free to replace the “TYPE IN YOUR KEYWORDS INTO THIS SECTION AND SEPARATE EACH KEYWORD WITH A COMMA” section with some keywords specific to your page.  Remember not to “stuff” the section with tons of unrelated phrases or multiple variations of the same words and phrases.  Just list a few that are actually related to your page.

Think of your meta tags as your chance to communicate with search engines.  It’s your way of letting them know what sort of content they will find when reading your page.  When your content and your meta tags “match” better, your page has a greater chance of being indexed and placed well in a search engine.

Remember, if you have any questions, please contact our Customer Support Team at 866-518-1571 Monday thru Friday 7 AM to 6 PM Pacific and Saturday and Sunday 7 AM to 4 PM Pacific.  Just starting out with search engines?  Check out our new ‘Search Engine Beginners’ section in our Advanced Access Forums for more help.

For anyone who may have missed the reference to the movie, our Marketing Tip title this week was adapted from the original line, “If you build it, he will come” from the movie Field of Dreams starring Kevin Costner.

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