Search Engine Optimization - I need your help

[Mike1]

This explanation is going to be broken down into a few posts, because it LOOKS as if there is a lot of information to take in, when there really isn't. So, I am going to try to explain all of this in very simple terms.

Have you ever used a search engine to locate something on the Web?

That's a silly question, isn't it? We all use search engines at one time or another. If we're looking for a site about kilts, we go to Yahoo, or MSNSearch or the G and type in 'kilts'.

I just Goobered (pardon my irreverence, I'm not a fan of the big G) 'kilts' and on page three, I saw a link to this Web site. Goober knows this site contains information about kilts. (remember that page number, there will be a quiz)

How does Goober know this site is about kilts? I didn't tell them, did you?

If you look at the What's Going On? module, on the forum home page, you will see a block that lists all the guests we've seen in the last 24 hours. And look at all those spiders and bots! 2519 Yahoo Slurpies, alone!

OK, but what is a spider?

A spider or a bot (short for robot) is a script written by the programmers at the various search engines. These scripts, or spiders as I typically refer to them, visit Web sites and they crawl all of the available files on that site. They are "reading" the files, looking for keywords. And yes, they are programmed to almost "read" the files, just like you and I would read them.

They typically start at the top of a file and work their way down to the bottom. If they "see" a word being used often (in this site's case, the word 'kilt' occasionally pops up ), then the spiders make note of that word. What is interesting is that the spiders will "see" words in bigger fonts easier than words in smaller fonts. They're a bit like me, getting up there in years and losing my sight.

Anyway, when these spiders report back to Search Engine Central about this site, they say, "Whew, that site is all about kilts." So, the search engine associates the word 'kilts' with this site.

And that is how Goober comes to know X Marks the Scot is about kilts.

(Now just watch - someone who has read Aaron Wall is going to point out that I've left out a tremendous amount of detail. That's OK, really, it will be alright.)

So, what we want to do is make the job easier for the spiders. Some of the changes you've seen around here are to accomplish that goal.

Someone pointed out all of those numbers appearing at the bottoms of each page. They're forum links, that is all. It lets the spiders move from page to page in a more efficient manner. If you visit X Marks and you land on the CMPS page, but you want to read the Off Topic forum, you have to click on the forum link to get to the forum home page. Then you have to scroll down to the Off Topic forum. Two steps to get there. With those numbers in place, the spiders eliminate one step, they can drive straight to the forum, bypassing the forum home page entirely. And that's OK, because the content I want to spiders to "read" is in the forums, not on the home page.

We've added a couple of new scripts, in our continuing effort to dangle a carrot in front of the spiders. (Do spiders even eat carrots? ) One of them is running in the back room, whatever it is that Panache calls it, and you won't have to worry about it, in the least. (I've already got a couple of hours invested in it, and I'm less than 1/2 way home, but I'll muddle through.)

The other script is one that I'm going to ask each one of you to help me with. It's called Thread Tags.

[Mike1]

Panache just jumped up and asked the question - What are thread tags? If he would be so kind as to sit down and be quiet, I'll try to explain. I'm even going to use pictures, to make it simple.

When you start a new thread (in most of the forums, not all), you are going to notice something a bit different.


See that new box, over the text entry window?

It is a place for you to enter some keywords about your new thread. Panache, SIT DOWN, I'm about to explain what keywords are.

Let's imagine I am going to submit a new thread about Simple Simon, with the following text (remember this oldies but goodies?) -

Simple Simon met a pieman going to the fair;
Said Simple Simon to the pieman "Let me taste your ware"
Said the pieman to Simple Simon "Show me first your penny"
Said Simple Simon to the pieman "Sir, I have not any!"

Simple Simon went a-fishing for to catch a whale;
All the water he had got was in his mother's pail.
Simple Simon went to look if plums grew on a thistle;
He pricked his fingers very much which made poor Simon whistle.
He went for water in a sieve but soon it all fell through;
And now poor Simple Simon bids you all "Adieu"

Here are some keywords for that post, shown exactly as I would enter them in that Tags box -

simple simon,pieman,fair,penny,whale,pail,plums,whistle

See how simple it was to tag that thread? I didn't need to capitalize anything, nor did I even have to leave spaces between the words.

Now Riverkilt is breathing again, because he was afraid this was going to be too technical for him. Pour1Malt is getting ready to complain, but I'm going to keep moving so he can't get a word in edgewise.

Panache, will you PLEASE return to your seat? What's that? Why are we tagging thread with keywords, you ask? If you will display a modicum of patience, I was just about to get to that.

[Mike1]

OK, so you've just seen how simple it is to tag a thread with keywords, but you want to know why we should do that.

Remember those spiders? The spiders that are "reading" this site, looking for keywords? If you will take the time to tag your new threads, those spiders will have an easier time locating the keywords, because they will appear like this -


I have slipped around the forum and have tagged a couple of posts. See the tags, appearing right under this post? A couple of keywords from The Wizard's thread about the X Marks tartan would be, well, x marks and tartan. Go figure, eh?

Now the spiders will "see" those keywords in the post, to be sure. But what I've done is pull those keywords out of the post and displayed them in a separate table, to make them even easier to find. And it gets those words in front of the spiders, yet again.

(Spiders are rather like me, they need reminders on occasion.)

PANACHE, why are you waving your hand about like that? What? No, this is not the only place the tagged keywords are going to appear and if you will please remain calm, I'll get on with the explanation.

[Mike1]

Ah, I see you're beginning to catch the method to my madness. Why yes, the reason I moved some links off the NavBar and into the Quick Links dropdown, was so I could fit some more links into their place.


See that new link, called Tags?

If you were to click on that link, you would be whisked away (almost as if by magic) to a new page -


This is the tags page and located in the center is a tag cloud.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Will the other members of the Mod Squad please confine Panache to his seat? And stuff a piece of tartan in his mouth, so he'll not be interrupting again!

See the keywords in the tag cloud? As I mentioned earlier, I tagged a handful of posts. Someone was getting a new kilt in Ancient Cameron of Erracht tartan from the Frugal Corner. In another thread, someone was talking about sgian dubhs. In yet another, The Wizard was talking about X Marks tartan and making kilts.

The Thread Tags script could see that I only entered the word 'sgian dubh' once, so that font is rather small. The phrase is a keyword, but it doesn't have much "weight"

Now look at the words 'kilt' and 'x marks'. They have been tagged in a couple of threads, so that font is larger and the words carry more "weight".

And the word 'tartan' was tagged in 3 or 4 threads, so it is even heavier yet.

(Before I forget, in my tyrannical, jack-booted omnipotence, I can sometimes see some things on the forum that mere mortals cannot see. When you look at the tag cloud, you will not see all those X's. I have the incredicle power to smite keywords that are inappropriate, by clicking on the X next to a word.)

OK, someone please loosen Panache's gag, he's going to choke to death, laughing the way he is.

Now, it's time to start pulling all this together.

[mddock58]

I think Mike is going slightly mad....................



................Stop that Panache, I know that evil laugh!

[Colin]

I would help hold Panache down, but the Loud MacLeod kilt is affecting my vision.

[Panache]

(Panache still gagged and bound in the back row of the classroom)

"Mmmmummmmmbbbmmmmbbbbllnffffffllllllffled???"

[Rampant Lion]

I think all manuals should be written like this! haha.

[Mike1]

When we were discussing the addition of the Thread Tag system, Panache asked what the real bonus would be. I used the analogy of a gold prospector.

If you want to prospect gold, you have some options. You can go to a likely river and start panning for dust and maybe even a small speck nugget. Or, you can go to a gold mine, with an exposed vein of gold ore and start cutting out what you want.

Which option will provide the most benefit in the least amount of time?

The search engine spiders visit this forum, prospecting keywords. They can sift through each and every word in each and every file, trying to find like words to assign keyword "weight". Or, we can take them to a keyword goldmine, a.k.a the tag cloud, where they can spend their time devouring words that thread authors have specifically identified as being keywords.

Here is one page of the tag cloud on one of my own forums -


And this is one page from a forum with 1/10th the number of posts we have here at X Marks.

1. The tag cloud provides one-stop shopping for the keyword-hungry spiders.

2. The tags are all links, which we can use to locate threads containing those keywords. In the example above, if you were to click on the trossachs tag, you would see the thread/s that have been tagged with that keyword. So we humans can benefit from all of these tag links as well.

3. The more times we can get these tagged keywords in front of the search engine spiders, the faster the words will be indexed. If someone mentions an obscure word in a post and it is tagged, that keyword will have a much better chance of appearing in the search engine results with a link back to this forum.

Remember back in that first post, when I said to remember what Goober page this forum appeared on, whilst searching for the word 'kilt'? What page was it?

Yes, yes, yes, Panache, you are correct, it was page three.

Now let me ask you - don't you believe this is the largest and more authoritative kilt site on the Web? Then why are we hidden all the way back on page three? Aren't we worthy of something more like page one?

Fact - when the average individual uses a search engine, the odds are that he will never journey any deeper into the SERPS than that first page. (SERPS - search engine results pages) If someone Goobers 'kilts', the odds are they will never locate us by that method, as we are listed waaaaaay back there on page three.

Forums grow when people find them and register. And we want this forum to grow. So we want to make ourselves easier to find.

So, I'm asking for your help. You can show your support for your forum community by simply adding some keyword tags to all of your new posts. It doesn't cost a thing and you can enter a half-dozen words in two shakes of a puppy dog's tail. But I want to make on point very clear -

Entering tags on your threads is ENTIRELY OPTIONAL.

You will not be required to ever enter a single tag. Ever.

Before you go, let me tell you about the forum staff members. We care about this forum and we want to see it grow and become even better than it already is. We're not complacent and we're not resting on any laurels. We all smiled and offered congratulations to one another when we reached the 250,000 post mark. Then, we rolled our sleeves up and went back to work, because we have our eyes on much bigger numbers than that.

If you prefer not to tag a new threads, you certainly don't have to do it. But I want to tell you the forum staff will be adding tags to un-tagged threads. It would sure make like a bit easier for us, if we can count on you to pull on this oar with us. We're looking for partners to help us grow this forum. Your forum.

We would like you to tag your new threads. We're already some 17,700+ threads behind you. Yes, there is a lot of rich content in those old posts, so we'll be digging through those and tagging them.

Thanks for taking the time to read these posts. I know they were long-winded, but we wanted the explanation to be as simple as we could make it.

Besides, Panache got confused when I told him we could more efficiently SEO the forum with deeper indexing and produce better SERPS by doing this.

[Mike1]

You know, if we can keep growing this forum, there just might be some more positive changes coming.

Not to say there are definite changes on the horizon, but neither is it an outright denial of the same.

You'll just have to stay tuned.