The Lang Web Design team utilizes design techniques that optimize the placement of your site in search engines and directories. We offer you the following information and tips to help you understand the search engine and directory submission process.

Your web site ranking in a search query will vary depending on which search engine or directory you use. Search engines and directories use different methods to rank your site. Some search engines place primary emphasis on text within title tags and/or meta tags while others place emphasis on main ideas presented in all the text on a single web page. How and where your text is placed affects your ranking.

Search engines use programs that search web pages for specified keywords and return a list of documents. Search engines have two parts, a spider and an indexer. The spider program fetches documents, the indexer reads documents and creates catalogs or databases based on keywords or ideas contained in the documents. Some of the major search engines are: Alta Vista, Excite, Google, Infoseek, Inktomi, HotBot, Go, Lycos, Northern Light and WebCrawler.

Directories (such as Yahoo, frequently mistaken for a search engine) depend on actual people to approve and list your web pages. A directory does not make use of a spider. You must select the correct category and write a concise and accurate description that already resembles descriptions in the targeted directory. Some of the most visited directories are Yahoo, Looksmart, About.com and Open Directory. You should consider industry specific directories also. Go to: www.webplaces.com, www.searchengineguide.com, www.searchenginewatch.com/links/, http://selfpromotion.com/sitelist.t for lists of numerous search engines.

General Considerations

Keyword Selection
It is difficult if not impossible to get high rankings based on key words alone. Instead, you need to think about key phrases.
Selecting the right key phrases is of primary importance and requires research.

	Write thorough, accurate descriptions using varied keyphrases/concepts based on your web page topics.
	Examine your company's printed materials. What word phrases are used over and over?
	What questions do new customers/clients frequently ask when you speak with them?
	Survey your current customers/clients. How would they find you on the internet?
	Go to a major search engine and/or directory, type in your keyphrases and then look at the source code of the web sites that appear in the top 20(click on view in the tool bar, then click source). Examine their keywords for comparison and make adjustments to yours if necessary.

Keyword Placement and Keyword Frequency
Keywords need to appear frequently on your web pages. If they appear too frequently your site will be penalized for "spamming the index" and risks permanent removal from the index. Some search engines ignore meta-tags which means that keywords need to be placed strategically throughout the entire site.

Content
Increasing traffic to your web site is great, but people must like what they see, see what they want and be given an incentive to stay and/or bookmark your site. Visitors can quickly click off your web site just as quickly as they clicked on to it. You need a site that is easy to read, easy to navigate through and downloads quickly. It should have an attractive design with visual impact and consistent design and layout.