Natural Search

Natural or algorithmic search is a term for the primary search results that are returned on a search results page. There is both a science and an art to achieving a high rank in natural search. A high ranking is elusive; you can't buy it and you're never guaranteed of achieving or maintaining it. However, there are steps we can take to increase the probability that pages on Keen will achieve a higher rank in natural search. It takes time, but it doesn't necessarily cost anything. This is the area in which we think we can be most successful together as a community, and it is what we'll explore in the rest of this document.

We've put together some recommended steps that you may want to consider in order to further optimize your home page and listing(s) on Keen for the search engines. As you consider any modifications to your own home page and listings, we must stress that you should always first consider what your customers want when they visit your home page and listings. Nothing is more important than your customers, and your listings should speak to your customers first. The following tips for search engine optimization should not interfere with the elements of your listings that enhance your customer relationships.

Tips to Improve Your Natural Search Results

These tips focus on making your Keen member home page and listings more friendly to major search engine crawlers (e.g. Google and Yahoo), but can certainly be used on your website and blog if you have one.

1. Keywords in your listing title and description - Identify a set of relevant words and phrases that best represent you and your service offering. One way to think about this is "I would want someone to find my listing when they search on _______". Once you're satisfied with your list, try to include as many of these words and phrases in your listing title and description. We've created a partial list of terms below that are frequently searched, and many of you already include these in your listings:

   astrology, astrology readings, free psychic readings, psychic readings, free tarot readings, tarot readings, horoscopes, Keen, love and relationship advice, online psychic readings, psychic, tarot, your member name

   This list is by no means comprehensive, and you might have a unique set of terms that will work best for you.
   
   
2. Member name and the category in which your listing resides - Mention your member name and incorporate the keywords of the category on Keen in which your listing resides. For instance, if your listing is located in Psychics & Astrology > Love & Relationships, you should try to use these words in your listing content as this makes your listing more relevant to search engine spiders and crawlers.
   
   
3. Location and frequency of keywords - Search engines will check to see if the keywords appear near the top of the web page, such as the headline or in the first few sentences/paragraphs of the text. Search engines are looking for content. The more content your page has on a specific topic, the more likely it may be deemed as relevant to a search for that topic. You should create detailed listings with extensive text content. Also, text that appears more often, or in slightly larger font at or near the top of the page is considered more relevant.
   
   Click the link below to view an example that incorporates the above 3 tips:
   
   http://www.keen.com/MarketingTeam
   
   This listing is a good example of being search engine optimized. The listing incorporates relevant keywords early and often, and repeats category in which the listing lives making it relevant to the page, and uses text inline (discussed below) that is crawlable as opposed to text embedded in an image. It incorporates all these things while still using images and pictures to give it a unique flair.
   
   Again, you are the expert at knowing your customers, and your listings should speak to your customers first. Be sure to convey your style and uniqueness in your listings. The simple point here is: use relevant keywords often to describe your offerings.
   
   
4. Use text inline instead of embedded text in images - Major search engines (e.g. Google and Yahoo) crawl content that is viewable on your pages; the actual text of your listings and home page. We recommend using text inline when describing your services and not using embedded text in images. Search engine crawlers cannot read/crawl any text that is embedded in an image, so your listing will not be categorized as relevant for those keywords listed in the image. A good example would be a listing that looks like this because all the text is inline and not part of a large image:
   
   http://www.keen.com/categories/categorylist_expand.asp?sid=5324285
   
   A good test to see how your page will look to search engines is to highlight your homepage or listing, copy and paste it into a notepad document. This is what will be visible to the search engines.
   
   Keep in mind that customers like to see images in listings including photographs of you. We recommend that you use an effective combination of text and images on your listing or home page. Basically, if you want your listing or advisor home page to be friendly to search engines, you should not use one large image for your listing description.
   
   
5. Use relevant keywords when linking to your Keen listings.
   As we'll describe in the next Section 6, linking from web sites other than keen.com to your listings on Keen can benefit your ranking on search. When and if you link to your listings on Keen, there are essentially 3 ways you can do it:
   1. text only: http://www.keen.com/MarketingTeam
   2. html only: http://www.keen.com/MarketingTeam
   3. relevant key word: Love and Relationship advice
      
      
   Example A is the least effective way to link in terms of search engine optimization. Example C is the best way to link because search engines not only look at the url as relevant but the key words that are associated to the link too.
   
   
6. Links to your listings on Keen - Maintaining a blog and/or web site (or other presence) off of keen.com for your business can also be effective for search engine optimization (and other reasons that we'll explore in a future newsletter). Search engines will measure the relevance of your listing on Keen based on the quantity of links it has to it from other places on the Internet. You can link to your listing on Keen in different ways including:
   
   
   1. Your website and/or blog - Whether you have a personal web site and/or blog or plan to in future, these are examples of web sites you control on which you can place as many links back to your home page and listings on Keen as desirable.
      
      
   2. Craigslist - Craigslist is a local community classifieds and forums. Go to www.craigslist.org to list your offering. Here are some placement suggestions:
      1. For Advisors on Keen - Under "Services" - Therapeutic
      
      
   3. GoogleBase - Google Base is a place where you can easily submit all types of online and offline content that they'll host and make searchable online. You have multiple listings to your Keen homepage and listings, your blog and your website. Go to www.googlebase.com to list your offering.
      
      
   4. Ebay - You may want to consider creating a listing on www.ebay.com.
      
      
   5. Directories and More - There are other places on the Internet where you can list or link to your business. Some require a payment and others are free. We don't have a comprehensive list, but we urge you to explore and be creative. Options to consider include Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org), general online directories such as Yahoo Directories (payment required) and dmoz.org, and even niche directories like Ufo Seek. We'd love to hear from you if you have other suggestions.

If you choose to update your listings on Keen, please keep in mind Play Fair Policies found here: http://www.keen.com/documents/help/pfbasics.asp

Research and Explore

These are just a few practical ideas that we think you should consider in order to increase the likelihood that potential customers can find your business when they use the search engines. Search engine marketing is a dynamic field, and we encourage you to do your own research and explore ways in which you can use search to benefit your business. Here are a few sites that we think provide comprehensive information on the search landscape today and may serve as good resources.

http://www.webmasterworld.com/
http://searchenginewatch.com/
http://www.pandia.com/index.html