Frequently Asked Questions

Hopefully, we can answer your search engine marketing, web design or other questions with answers to these frequently asked questions. If not, please fill out our contact form to ask your question, and we will do our best to answer your question.

What is Search Engine Marketing?

Why are the search engines important?

What's the difference between a search engine and a search directory?

What is involved in search engine marketing?

Should I pay to be included in a search engine or directory?

How long will it take for my site/pages to show up in the search engines?

Why should I select Look Sharp Designs for my search engine marketing needs?

What is cloaking?

Does Look Sharp Designs use cloaking?

Why do we ask clients for content?

Why does the content we request need to be 300-800 words per keyword phrase?
As mentioned in the previous question, search engines need content in order to effectively index and rank web pages. We get best results with pages that contain between 300 and 800 words of content on them, concentrated around the theme of the keyword phrase. It used to be that you could just put your keywords in the title and meta tags on your web page and you could get decent rankings in the search engines, but the search engines have gotten much more sophisticated in the way they rank pages. Therefore, content is now very important.

Why aren't the keyword phrases in the meta tags?
Several search engines don't consider meta tags for relevance any more. Too many webmasters have exploited them and used them for spamming purposes. We will usually put a few of the more important keyword phrases in the meta tags, because while most search engines don't use them for scoring, some still use them for the description you see on the search results pages. For certain search engines we may leave meta tags out altogether.

What does the various reports tell me?
The Page/Keyword Report tells you where your site/page is ranked in the particular search engine for the corresponding keyword phrase. It also tells you what the rank was the last time the report was generated as well as if the site went up, down or stayed the same, and which page your site shows up on in the rankings. NA means that there was no previous data for that particular entry. You will see NA when a page was not included on the previous report, or if we added new keywords for which to search. The Concise Summary Report shows your rankings, or lack thereof, for every keyword for which we monitor rankings. Also included on the Concise Summary Report is the Visibility Report. This report gives you an overall view of how your search engine marketing campaign is progressing. View sample search engine ranking reports here...

How often are the various ranking reports posted?
The carious ranking reports are compiled, generated, and posted or e-mailed once a month. View sample search engine ranking reports here...

I've been a client for a while now, but, according to the positioning report, my site isn't showing up very well in the search engines. How come?
Most search engines take six to eight weeks to spider a site, index it, and add it to the database. Also, you must wait for the search engine to refresh the database and make it available online. Exception: if you pay for inclusion into the search engines, you will normally see results much faster than by using the free submission services. Rest assured that we are following your results closely. However, also note that we traditionally will not make adjustments to your site for search engine marketing purposes for a minimum of two months after the initial search engine marketing effort has been completed. This is done to allow your site a sufficient amount of time to be indexed and ranked. If results are less than acceptable at this time, we will re-optimize and edit your pages as much and as often as we must to achieve acceptable rankings for you.

You sent me an e-mail telling me that my site was accepted in Yahoo. How come it isn't showing up in the ranking report?
When we submit your site to a search directory such as Yahoo, we suggest to the editor a title and description using a keyword phrase or two for them to use in the directory listings. However, often the editors change the title and description to something different. Sometimes, the editor removes the keyword phrases from the title and description. When this happens, as it often does, our software may not pick up your listing in the directory. Occasionally, we will appeal to the editor to change the description to something that more accurately describes the web site, but the editors rarely act on a request of this sort. So, we try to check the description that the editor used when he or she added your site so that we can add something into our reporting software so that it will show up for a keyword phrase in the ranking report.

Why do pages, keyword phrases, and/or search engines drop in rankings or off of the report completely?
There are a couple of reasons why this may happen:

Sometimes the connection may be bad, the search engine may send improper results, or the search engine may take too long to send results when the software we use to compile the reports queries the search engine. When this happens, the pages, keyword phrases, and/or search engines may drop off of the report entirely. If this was the case, then it should show up on the next report.

When other sites are added by a search engine to its database, there is a chance that your site may drop in rankings for that given keyword because of the new competition.

Sometimes sites and pages get dropped from search engines for no apparent reason. The search engine may have updated its database recently and "cleaned house." If the dropped pages ranked well previously, they should reappear in a few weeks.

If the site/pages do not reappear within a reasonable amount of time, we will resubmit the affected pages to those search engines.

What does the "NA" mean in the "Last Position" and "Change" columns on the ranking report?
IF "NA" appears in these two columns, then that page likely increased in ranking in that particular search engine for that keyword phrase so that it now appears on the ranking report. Another reason may be that we saw that people were using that phrase to find your site. We added it to the ranking report to pass along this information to you. In either case, congratulations!

How much do your search engine marketing services cost?
Our search engine marketing services start at $750, which includes site analysis, keyword research, page optimization, and submissions. For detailed information, please visit our search engine marketing services section. We normally require a 50% non-refundable deposit prior to starting the project, with the final 50% due when submissions have made to the search engines. For large projects with a cost of more than $1500, we will set up a payment schedule and lower the initial deposit.

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Frequently Asked Questions Hopefully, we can answer your search engine marketing, web design or other questions with answers to these frequently asked questions. If not, please fill out our contact form to ask your question, and we will do our best to answer your question. What is Search Engine Marketing? Why are the search engines important? What's the difference between a search engine and a search directory? What is involved in search engine marketing? Should I pay to be included in a search engine or directory? How long will it take for my site/pages to show up in the search engines? Why should I select Look Sharp Designs for my search engine marketing needs? What is cloaking? Does Look Sharp Designs use cloaking? Why do we ask clients for content? Why does the content we request need to be 300-800 words per keyword phrase? As mentioned in the previous question, search engines need content in order to effectively index and rank web pages. We get best results with pages that contain between 300 and 800 words of content on them, concentrated around the theme of the keyword phrase. It used to be that you could just put your keywords in the title and meta tags on your web page and you could get decent rankings in the search engines, but the search engines have gotten much more sophisticated in the way they rank pages. Therefore, content is now very important. Why aren't the keyword phrases in the meta tags? Several search engines don't consider meta tags for relevance any more. Too many webmasters have exploited them and used them for spamming purposes. We will usually put a few of the more important keyword phrases in the meta tags, because while most search engines don't use them for scoring, some still use them for the description you see on the search results pages. For certain search engines we may leave meta tags out altogether. What does the various reports tell me? The Page/Keyword Report tells you where your site/page is ranked in the particular search engine for the corresponding keyword phrase. It also tells you what the rank was the last time the report was generated as well as if the site went up, down or stayed the same, and which page your site shows up on in the rankings. NA means that there was no previous data for that particular entry. You will see NA when a page was not included on the previous report, or if we added new keywords for which to search. The Concise Summary Report shows your rankings, or lack thereof, for every keyword for which we monitor rankings. Also included on the Concise Summary Report is the Visibility Report. This report gives you an overall view of how your search engine marketing campaign is progressing. View sample search engine ranking reports here... How often are the various ranking reports posted? The carious ranking reports are compiled, generated, and posted or e-mailed once a month. View sample search engine ranking reports here... I've been a client for a while now, but, according to the positioning report, my site isn't showing up very well in the search engines. How come? Most search engines take six to eight weeks to spider a site, index it, and add it to the database. Also, you must wait for the search engine to refresh the database and make it available online. Exception: if you pay for inclusion into the search engines, you will normally see results much faster than by using the free submission services. Rest assured that we are following your results closely. However, also note that we traditionally will not make adjustments to your site for search engine marketing purposes for a minimum of two months after the initial search engine marketing effort has been completed. This is done to allow your site a sufficient amount of time to be indexed and ranked. If results are less than acceptable at this time, we will re-optimize and edit your pages as much and as often as we must to achieve acceptable rankings for you. You sent me an e-mail telling me that my site was accepted in Yahoo. How come it isn't showing up in the ranking report? When we submit your site to a search directory such as Yahoo, we suggest to the editor a title and description using a keyword phrase or two for them to use in the directory listings. However, often the editors change the title and description to something different. Sometimes, the editor removes the keyword phrases from the title and description. When this happens, as it often does, our software may not pick up your listing in the directory. Occasionally, we will appeal to the editor to change the description to something that more accurately describes the web site, but the editors rarely act on a request of this sort. So, we try to check the description that the editor used when he or she added your site so that we can add something into our reporting software so that it will show up for a keyword phrase in the ranking report. Why do pages, keyword phrases, and/or search engines drop in rankings or off of the report completely? There are a couple of reasons why this may happen: Sometimes the connection may be bad, the search engine may send improper results, or the search engine may take too long to send results when the software we use to compile the reports queries the search engine. When this happens, the pages, keyword phrases, and/or search engines may drop off of the report entirely. If this was the case, then it should show up on the next report. When other sites are added by a search engine to its database, there is a chance that your site may drop in rankings for that given keyword because of the new competition. Sometimes sites and pages get dropped from search engines for no apparent reason. The search engine may have updated its database recently and "cleaned house." If the dropped pages ranked well previously, they should reappear in a few weeks. If the site/pages do not reappear within a reasonable amount of time, we will resubmit the affected pages to those search engines. What does the "NA" mean in the "Last Position" and "Change" columns on the ranking report? IF "NA" appears in these two columns, then that page likely increased in ranking in that particular search engine for that keyword phrase so that it now appears on the ranking report. Another reason may be that we saw that people were using that phrase to find your site. We added it to the ranking report to pass along this information to you. In either case, congratulations! How much do your search engine marketing services cost? Our search engine marketing services start at $750, which includes site analysis, keyword research, page optimization, and submissions. For detailed information, please visit our search engine marketing services section. We normally require a 50% non-refundable deposit prior to starting the project, with the final 50% due when submissions have made to the search engines. For large projects with a cost of more than $1500, we will set up a payment schedule and lower the initial deposit.	Guarantees Privacy Policy Terms of Use Get targeted global traffic with SEO Copyright © 2002 Look Sharp Designs. All rights reserved.

Frequently Asked Questions

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