Some frequently asked questions about the
Internet
One of the most
common questions has to be...
Search Engines, questions and answers
Ask the specialist...
What is an Internet Service Provider?
An Internet Service Provider (ISP) provides a connection
to the Internet for browsing the World Wide Web and communicating
via email. Typically they provide ancillary services like web
site hosting, domain name registration, etc. Examples include
Demon, America Online (AOL) and British Telecom.
Back to top
Can Dudley Gateway Project recommend an ISP?
Choice of an ISP depends on the individual requirements.
For a single PC connection via a modem, one of the 'free' providers
is perfectly adequate, although most are not truly free as they
either use a 0845 number at local call rates or an un-metered
0800 number and charge a monthly free. For more sophisticated
connectivity, such as ADSL or leased lines (permanent high bandwidth
connections) and for more complex email requirements via SMTP
and mail forwarding, one of the larger telecoms providers is more
suitable.
For more sophisticated connectivity, such as ADSL or leased lines
(permanent high bandwidth connections) and for more complex email
requirements via SMTP and mail forwarding, one of the larger telecoms
providers is more suitable.
Back to top
Why does the cost of registering domains vary so much?
In the early days of the Internet in the UK the cost of registering
a domain was over �100. This was a non-negotiable fee payable
to the organisation responsible for the administration of domain
names in the UK. As these fees dropped some ISPs chose to maintain
existing charges and expand the associated services provided.
A number of organisations now offer very low cost domain name
registration but these ones are likely to charge for web hosting,
mail facilities and for transferring the name to another ISP.
Back to top
Are domain names purchased for life?
When a domain name is registered, it is then owned by the
purchaser as long as they continue to meet their obligations to
their ISP. In most cases, this will be the payment of an annual
fee payable from the second anniversary of the original registration
date.
Back to top
What is email forwarding?
When a domain name (e.g. splat.com) is purchased, it can
be used as both a web site address and as an email address. Email
sent to [email protected] can then be forwarded to any email account.
The principal advantage is that if email accounts are moved from
one provider to another, the published email address on business
cards, for example, need not be changed as long as the ISP who
hosts the domain name is notified of the change.
Back to top
What is HTML?
HTML stands for hypertext mark-up language. It is the computer
coding language used for writing web sites. Some software packages,
like Microsoft Word, can convert standard text into html although
it is important that web designers have the ability to use raw
html code.
Back to top
How do search engines work?
The generic term 'search engine' often refers to both true search
engines and directories. The difference between these is in the
how the listings are created. The search engines (e.g. HotBot)
trawl the web on their own, before allowing people to search through
what they have found. The directories (e.g. Yahoo!) often use
people to manually input and manage the information. When people
search directories, a search only looks for the matches in the
descriptions submitted.
In technical terms, there are three main parts to a search engine.
Firstly, spider (or crawler) which visits pages and follows the
links (and also monitors change). Secondly, an index which is
a database containing copies of all pages visited. This index
is updated as the web changes over time. Lastly, the ranking software
is used to determine matches to the search criteria and lists
the entries in the order it believes you want to see them.
Back to top
What are meta tags?
Meta tags are html markup tags, which specify information
about web pages to browsers, applications and search engines.
The pair of tags are within the web page code, and you can often
view what is contained within them by selecting "View | Source"
from your browser.
The most common use of Meta tags is to specify keywords and a
description for search engines to associate with your pages. The
ranking software used by search engines may use these to determine
relevancy, but no two search engines do this in exactly the same
way.
You will find that search engines give a boost to those sites
that they perceive to contain good relevancy, however Meta tags
alone are not a panacea in getting to the top of the ranking,
and some search engines such as Lycos do not make use of them
at all.
Back to top
Is the Internet safe ?
With a few simple precautions - yes! The two main concerns
are hackers and viruses.
Small businesses and home users are of little concern to hackers,
they are more interested in criminal activities for profit by
attacking banks and financial institutions or maximum mischief
by attacking ISPs. If hacking is a real concern, the simple solution
is to buy firewall software, which can monitor and control traffic
to/from a PC or network.
Viruses come from two sources - downloaded software and email
attachments. The first can be avoided by downloading software
only from reputable sites and always virus checking it before
opening or executing. Email attachments should be virus checked
and great care should be taken with unexpected or unsolicited
attachments.
Back to top
What is shopping basket software?
The analogy to a physical shopping basket is about right.
When ordering/purchasing items on-line, the software allows the
buyer to collect items together rather than purchasing each item
separately. Before committing to a purchase, items can be removed
from the shopping basket and quantities changed.
Back to top
How can you investigate if your web site is being listed by
the search engines?
This is more difficult than you may think. You can go into the
popular search engines such as Google.co.uk, Alltheweb.com, Northernlight.com
or Altavista.com and search for your domain name. In Alta Vista
type in host:yourdomain and in Google type in keyword site:yourdomain.
To save time, there are tools that can search multiple engines
at the same time, known as Metasearch agents, such as Copernic
(free to download from www.copernic.com) or www.dogpile.com. If
you have a counter, another angle is to check the hit statistics
for your site, as they give you important clues of what visitors
you are getting. The statistics should certainly tell you what
search engines you are receiving referrals from.
Back to top
What are key words/ phases?
These are hidden in the code of your web site and they should
be those words/phrases that you wish your site to be found by.
You can check the key words/phrase of any page by looking in the
code. In your browser menu, select 'View' then 'Source' and you
should see the code. <meta name="keywords" content="…………...">
Also note the <title>……..</title> and<meta
name="description" content="…">
Back to top
Are key words/ phrases important?
Yes. There is software that is constantly scanning the web,
commonly known as robots or spiders. They check the code of web
pages and the links from within that page. If your pages suit
their criteria, the address will be added to a database for search
engines to call upon, when a search is requested. Because they
only look at the code, it is vital that you have relevant keywords,
relevant page titles, a relevant page description and lastly relevant
content. In addition there are people manually checking out web
sites to create directories such as Yahoo.
Back to top
How do you select the best key words/ phrases?
Difficult. You need to put yourself in the shoes of a person looking
for your products and services. If your company is in a niche
market you have a better chance of showing up and the keywords/phrases
are not difficult to identify. However most companies are in a
large market and even if your site has been successfully scanned
by the robots and been added to the database, you may still be
number 3,000 in the search results with Google.com. Think carefully,
for example, about what your valuable visitors are going to be
searching with. These are known as your 6 to10 strategic keywords/phrases.
You can get these words checked to see how often people search
for them on www.wordtracker.com
Back to top
I have the right keywords, but now what do I do?
If you are in a niche market of selling 'Parrot speech training
aids' then you may need to go no further than having those keywords
come up in your page titles, description and in the content and
links. However for most other companies, this is where the challenge
begins. You can create separate pages that are optimised for certain
search engines or even for certain keywords/phrases. Having links
to other relevant sites can increase the likelihood of the robots
visiting your site. There are other tweaks to make your site more
search engine friendly, such as, updating and refreshing your
pages or you can even pay some of them to increase your ranking!
Back to top
How important is it to regularly re-submit your site to the
search engines?
In fact there are thousands of search engines, but the value
comes from the most used/ well known ones. Sites can be found
by the robots without submissions ever being made. However, monthly
submissions increase your chance of being listed. Beware that
over-submission could work against you, and even get your site
black listed.
Back to top
I hear that sites can get black-listed?
Yes, because there are more websites than the search engines
can possibly list, the search engines have to apply criteria for
them to be listed. These rules, are designed to give users the
most relevant search results. However in an attempt for people
to reach the top of the listings, web owners/developers have tried
to beat the rules, known as search engine spamming. This may succeed
for a while, but as soon as the search engines realise this, they
will increase the rules and punish those sites by blacklisting.
In extreme cases this can mean that that site is never listed
again. Spamming can include overuse of keywords, improper keywords,
invisible text, over submission…etc
Back to top
If you have read this far you are probably interested in the subject.
How can you find out more?
- Research yourself by looking for your
site on different search engines.
- Enquire about a training
course at Dudley Gateway Project.
- You can contact
us to discuss a strategy to improve your search engine positioning
