Search Engine Optimization

How Does a Search Engine Work?

Before we can talk about search engine optimization you need to know
and understand the very basics of how a search engine works. While
the process is very mathematical and way more complex than most
people care to know about, I will try and give you a very simple
explanation.


A search engine, such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc… sends a “spider”
to a new website. This spider is simply a bit of code, or a program if
you will, which “crawls” the website. Crawling the website is simply a
matter of copying the pages and then downloading a copy of them to
the search engine’s web server.


Once the site has been crawled by the spider, the search engine then
indexes the information from the pages it now has copies of. The
indexing is all about keywords, tags, and what the site itself is all
about.


When you go to www.google.com and put in a keyword to search for,
your “search results” page is based in the indexed pages from this
process.

So, a search engine basically sends a spider to your pages, crawls
them, copies them down to their own server, indexes the information
on them, and then uses their index when someone does a search. It’s
not really that simplistic of a process, but as far as what most of us
need to know that is basically what happens.

Team Up With Other Bloggers

Teaming up with other bloggers can be a great way to get links to your
blog. You can have a one-way back-link to your website, or you can
have reciprocal links. A reciprocal like is where you link to someone’s
site and they link back to yours in exchange. Search engines prefer
back-links over reciprocal links, but any link is better than none. And,
the more links to your blog, ultimately the better.


Many bloggers have formed what is called a “blogroll.” A blogroll is a
list of links to other blogs with similar topics of interest. This allows
blogs to have back-links to them and also allows you to advertise your
blog to the readers of all of the similar blogs. Blogrolls can be a great
way to get new readers to your blog and to raise your search engine
rankings at the same time.


Another thing bloggers will often do is trade posting message with
another blogger. This trade of message posts is called “guest
blogging.” Suppose for a moment that I have a successful blog on
work at home opportunities. Another blogger who I found online has a
blog on stay at home parents. We could trade posts where I would
allow her guest post on my blog about stay at home parents in
exchange for my guest posting about work at home opportunities on
her blog. We swap “guest” posts and each includes a byline with a link
back to our own blog or website. I have a back-link and she has one
as well.


By teaming up with other bloggers and guest blogging in this way you
can have access to the loyal readers of another blog and they will have
access to your blog. Because, in the example above, our blogs do not
directly compete with each other for readers, we can be an added
service to each other and to our respective readers. We can both build
up our readership and also create some links to our site at the same
time. This is a win-win situation for everyone involved in it.


Finding other bloggers to guest blog with is not difficult. If you take
the time to develop a good blog, with quality content, then other
bloggers with good quality blogs will want to exchange links and posts
with you. The better your blog, the better guest opportunities you will
have!

The Future of Blogging

While no one can know for sure what the future will hold for blogging,
I am pretty secure in thinking that amazing new developments are on
the horizon. With the ability to host audio and video files on your blog
you can make your blog a very personalized and impressive
experience for anyone who visits. You can essentially have your own
television or radio show via your blog. Imagine shooting live footage
of a crime or event and being able to have that footage on your blog
before any news station can get the footage out! And, the best part is
you can do most everything you want with your blog for free or at very
little cost!


Even at this relatively early stage in blogging, there are some people
out there with blogs which are much, much better than traditional
websites in their ability to educate and entertain their visitors. Gone
are the days where it is enough for your business, or even your family,
to put up a simple website and then never change or update it. Web
surfers expect regular updates. They like it even better to see an
actual blog on your site. They know that if you have a blog then they
will be able to read and find out what is new and exciting with your
business or family. If you have a website, you will need to have a
good blog to go with it.


There are many ways today to monetize a blog such as through
Google’s AdSense and affiliate programs. As the times and the web
change there will likely be many, many more ways to monetize your
blog. Companies both large and small understand that people are
reading blogs in large numbers. Companies want nothing more than
to get their advertising dollars spent in areas where people who would
be interested in their business’s goods and services will see them.
Blogs are a great place to find these potential customers. Just as the
original weblogs morphed and changed into today’s blogs, so too will
today’s blogs go through great changes in the years to come. Imagine
how far they have come in this relatively short time and imagine what
they will evolve into in the next five to ten years! Will you be part of
this evolution and the money to be made from it? Will you have a well
established blog and be raking in the big money with it in the future?
We hope that you will!

What Exactly is a Blog? A Bit of Blogging History

As the internet grew to become what it is today, many webmasters
discovered that web surfers wanted to know which websites had
recently been updated and which had new information on them. Web
surfers were looking for new and exciting information and didn’t want
to have to go check websites themselves to see if they had been
updated recently. They wanted somewhere they could go and see just
what was new.


Some smart programmers started posting logs on their own websites
which told the web surfers which websites had recent updates or new
information on them. These weblogs, as they were called at that time,
were like an informal directory of “what’s new” online. These weblogs,
and the technology which powered them, eventually grew and changed
to become the blogs of today.


A blog is simply a website which is written in a friendly news format
which is frequently updated. Rather than be a listing of new or
updated websites, blogs became to be new, always changing, websites
in themselves.


A blog takes the same role online as your local television daily news
program or newspaper do in their respective media types. Blogs are




somewhere you go when you want new and interesting information on
any given topic.


A blog is a website which is always being updated with up to date
information. A blog serves the sole purpose of educating and
entertaining people. Just like a good daily news program, or local
newspaper, good blogs provide you with a nice balance of education
and entertainment. A good blog is one which has a lot of content,
teaches you something new and entertains you a bit in the process.
For your blog to be successful you will want to make sure you
incorporate each of these three things into your own blog as well. The
most successful blogs on the internet do this and do it quite well.


Where a weblog used to be a list of new or changed websites, they
changed over time and exploded in popularity into today’s blogs.
Where a blog used to be something only a programmer had, blogging
now allows anyone, without any programming or HTML (hypertext
mark-up language) skills, to set up their own blog. The weblogs of
yesteryear paved the way to the blogs of today.


With the proliferation of free blog sites such as Google’s Blogger, it is
simple for anyone in the world to have their own blog. Blogger uses
templates and signing up for an account and starting your blog takes
all of about five minutes and you are up and on your way! If you can
e-mail and surf the web, then you can have your own blog. It really is
that easy. And, best of all - it is free!
Today’s blogs are maintained by both companies (large and small) as
well as individuals all over the world. In this day and age even your
grandmother could have her own blog if she wanted to. All she would




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have to do is sign-up for a Blogger account and start typing about her
family, her hobbies, her pets, or whatever else she might want to talk
about. A family blog can be a great way for families who want to stay
in touch with each other.


A blog can simply be an online diary or notebook you use to publish
your thoughts. A blog can also be a more formal website used to
educate people about just about any topic you can think of. Your blog
can be as personal or professional as you want it to be.


Through the use of Blogger’s great templates you can adjust the look
and feel of your own blog to match the type of blog you wish to have.
You are also free to have more than one blog and can have the look
and feel of each separate blog vary depending on their individual
topics. And the best thing is that both a personal or professional blog
can have AdSense on it and make you some money!


Online there are currently blogs on topics ranging from workplace
politics, world politics, relationships, frugal living, sports, religion,
family life, children, family pets, and just about anything else in
between. Chances are if you have an interest in something then there
is a blog out there on the topic. However, if you search and can’t find
a blog on a topic which interests you then that can tell you that it
might be a great idea of a topic for starting your own blog and making
some extra money with it!