Today's search engines are hard to fool and if a website attempts to manipulate the results, there's a good chance of being removed from that search index. There are some things you can do to make your site more attractive to search engines, and the main one is making the site more attractive to users.

Forget Search Engine Spiders, Focus On Users

When a web user is searching for a product or service, they will use a search engine, entering a search term related to what they are looking for. If the title page of your web site or the information contained on your site does not include that term, your site will be ignored during that search.

A couple things search engines examine when they index pages is the information on your site and how many other sites link back to you. A link is like a vote for your site and the more votes you have, the higher the opinion the search engine will have of your site. However, if that search term isn't on your site, you will still be ignored.

Focus On Your Site's Visitors

Having quality text-based information can do wonders for your site recognition from search engines. Typically called keywords, articles containing the ones associated with the information on you site will be more recognizable to search engines and have more of a chance of being listed for a particular search term. While there is no magic number of times a keyword should appear on your page, having it appear too many times, a practice known as keyword stuffing, may hinder your efforts of being recognized.

The main idea is to offer quality information on your site, pertaining to the main subject of your site, geared toward user who find your site through a search. If the user can find informative text when they visit your home page, they will be happy. A search engine spider may also find your site and move your name up in the listings. However, gearing your site towards the search engine does not promise anything more than getting you listed. It's the quality of the information on your site that will bring visitors back and increase your sales.