The Secrets of Search Engine Optimization

As promised in our last writing, this article will discuss how we maintain the search engine results we achieve. 

First, you must look at the current results your site is achieving. To accomplish this, search for acupuncture and your location, i.e. Acupuncture Highlands Ranch.  You will want to check Google, Yahoo, AOL and MSN for starters and any other favorite search engines you may like to use for inquiries. 

How you place in page rankings will give you an idea how the search engines perceive your website.  Ironically, I have discovered websites that have never been indexed by the search engines! So, if you are not placing in the search engines, you will want to make certain that you have been indexed by the major (top 400) search engines.

When we launch a new site, we will submit to search engines manually to sites such as: http://www.buildwebsite4u.com/ and go to tools then free website submission. Another submission site is: http://www.submitexpress.com/list.html.

We submit to Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL individually at their respective sites!  Similar sites exist where we will eventually submit collectively to over 400 search engines. This process will take us approximately four hours per site, but as I said, it is only this time consuming for the initial launch.

Once you are indexed, your site will eventually achieve search engine results based on various criteria. Fortunately, search engines are no longer manipulated by the webmasters, but are trying to provide the most relevant content for the searchers.

I will digress for a moment to share a recent experience with launching two websites on the same day from the same city. One of the acupuncturists immediately put in a plethora of information while the other site had put in the basics. The site that is rich in content has reached position #6 on Page 1 in Yahoo while the second site has not started to show any significant movement. To achieve a page one ranking on a Big Four Search Engine in 60 days is quite astounding! I typically inform customers it may take four months to achieve outstanding results in the major search engines. Content is so important in designing your website.  When we designed our template websites, our main priority of design was to achieve high search engine placement, a result that has proven so beneficial to acupuncturists who utilize AcuWebSites.com and AcuFinder.com as well!

Beside the content, your site must be ROBOT friendly. A Robot crawls your site for HTML (geek speak) and it should initially find relevant information for the main focus of your site. This will be factored by your Page Title, Meta tags, key words and key phrases; however Google does not currently use key words and key phrases. Sound confusing?  It can be somewhat overwhelming, but with a basic understanding, it will be beneficial to your rankings.

The Page Title in HTML should be a description incorporating what the majority of searchers are looking for as well as schmoozing the search engines.  Finesse is needed to appease the search engines and prospective patient simultaneously. Careful choices for the page title html will result in huge rewards.

Once your site content is optimized you must now decide how often to submit to the search engines? Too much and you may be penalized while not submitting often enough could cost in the rankings. It is generally safe to submit whenever you add new content to the index page. AcuWebSites.com utilizes automated systems to track search engine rankings, submittal to search engines and page critic software to compare various sites for content. 

I trust that this information will be helpful in your website maintenance and will help you to decide if your time is best spent in balancing Qi or juggling html for Search Engine Optimization.

If your site is not achieving the results you would prefer, call us for an assessment of options for your existing website. And if you are considering a web presence for your Acupuncture Practice, just look at the first page results produced by AcuFinder.com and AcuWebSites.com! Our success is measured by the success of our clients!

SPECIAL OFFER: For a limited time, AcuWebSites is offering Acufinder subscribers a risk free, three (3) months trial website including Hosting and Search Engine Optimization.

Call 800-581-3511 for details or to discuss any of our web services designed specifically for Acupuncturists. We offer hosting, search engine optimization, blogs and template as well as custom design websites.

Yours in Health & Technology,

Jim Dazet & Tom Campana
Co-Owners of www.AcuWebSites.com