Lesson by Lesson Outline for the Advanced Search Engine Marketing Training

The Academy's Advanced Search Engine Marketing Training picks up where the Essential Foundations Training ends and explains in detail how you can get your site ranked high in over 50 major search engines and directories while also outlining more advanced search engine optimization tactics. Are you working with database-generated sites? Frames? Flash? Do you need help in achieving top rankings in Google? Yahoo!? The Advanced training program will help you in these areas, and much more.

The online Advanced Training contains eight comprehensive lessons, a final exam, individual engine exams, and an extensive resource library (see the Table of Contents for a complete listing).

Lesson #1 – Yahoo!; META and Other Tags; and Creating Content-Rich Information Pages

The first lesson in the Advanced Search Engine Marketing Training program discusses the most important search facility out there: Yahoo! What does the pickiest of all directories like? How can you determine which categories are most appropriate for your Web site? How can you gain an edge in this major directory? What if you don't get listed–what should you do? Also covered in Lesson #1 is an extensive outline of where you can use keywords on your pages and how to create content-rich information pages into your site based on the latest developments with the engines.

Lesson #2 – Pay Search Engines; Site Maps and Linking; and Submissions and Resubmissions

Overture provides search results to many of the major engines, including AltaVista, HotBot, Yahoo! directory, and more. What are some strategies for purchasing keywords through the pay engines? Which pay engines are important, and where are their results being shown? We know how important it is for our sites to be found by the search engines. But how can you get your interior pages found? Learn how to create site maps, and discover creative ways of linking back and forth between your pages in order to place those important pages in front of the spiders. Also covered in Lesson #2 are submission and resubmission guidelines. For example, how often should you resubmit your pages? If you submit your pages and they don't get in, should you submit over and over again until they're accepted?

Lesson #3 – Lycos, Fast, and Other Engines; Creating Robots.txt Files; and Theme Search Engines

Fast powers Lycos's main and advanced search results now, but Lycos utilizes theDirectory Project's directory for its category listings. What strategies can you learn that will help your rankings with Lycos? Besides the major engines and directories, what up-and-coming engines and directories are out there that we need to watch? What is a robots.txt file, why would you need to use one, and how do you create it? And, what is all of this talk about theme search engines, and how do you create pages that are destined for success? Learn in Lesson #3.

Lesson #4 – Inktomi-Powered Search Engines, like HotBot, AOL Search and MSN Search; Subdomains and Domains; and Cloaking

HotBot was the first Inktomi-powered search engine, and it continues to be powered by Inktomi. Inktomi also powers AOL Search and provides supplementary results to iWon, Overture, and more. If an engine is Inktomi-powered, will it have the same results as another Inktomi-powered engine? What other engines utilize results from Inktomi? What do Inktomi engines like to see on Web pages? Have you considered having a subdomain created for your Web site? What are the advantages and disadvantages? Even if you never plan to cloak your pages, you still need to have a good understanding of the strategy, which is covered in Lesson #4.

Lesson #5 – AltaVista; Keyword Tips, Pay Inclusion, and Software Tools for Positioners

In Lesson #5, students will dissect AltaVista and learn specific search engine optimization strategies that will boost your placement in the rankings. Besides studying AltaVista, we'll also cover keyword tips that might gain you an edge over your competition. You'll learn about the various pay inclusion programs and advantages or disadvantages to using them. Also, you'll learn of some software tools that might help you as a search engine marketer.

Lesson #6 –Directory Project and LookSmart; Redirections and Problem Strategies

• With the rest of the major directories going to some sort of pay model, theDirectory Project remains free and powered by volunteers. Is your site listed in the ODP? Do you know that the ODP provides directory results to a number of important engines, such as HotBot, Lycos, AOL Search, and Netscape Search? Also in Lesson #6, we'll discuss LookSmart and how to achieve better visibility through the directory, and we'll cover redirections and problem strategies such as Flash, frames, dynamic content, image maps, and more.

Lesson #7 – Ask Jeeves and Teoma; Site Popularity, Referrer Logs, and Analyzing Real Life Examples of Web Sites

• How are Ask Jeeves and Teoma related, and how can you gain a top spot in each engine? We all know the importance of link popularity, but how can you boost the link popularity of your site? Are you utilizing the important information that can be found in referrer logs? One of the best ways of learning what's working with the engines is to study top ranking sites, and we study three such sites in lesson #7.

Lesson #8 – Google and Netscape Search; How to Keep up with Changes in the Industry; and Information for Professional SEO's

• Lesson #8 is devoted to Google and Netscape Search. What tips can get your site indexed with Google, which provides supplemental results to Yahoo!? How can you boost your site's PageRank? The final lesson in the SEM Training also covers ways to keep up with changes in the industry and information for professional SEO's, such as contracts, guarantees, etc.

Addendum

Engine-at-a-Glance Chart

Engine-by-Engine Recap

How the Engines are Related Chart

Checklists for Working with Search Engines and Directories

Step-by-Step Guide to Using WebPosition Gold Software

Over 50 Sections of Additional Search Engine Strategies Material

Additional Benefits

Students of the Academy can download free trial versions of Search Engine Optimizer (SEO) and Keyword Density Analyzer (KDA) to test drive while taking the class.

Academy students can attend chat sessions offered at numerous times every week. Click here for this month's schedule. Transcripts for past chat sessions can be found here.

We frequently offer chat sessions just for professional search engine optimizers, like the contracts session.

Certification Project

In order to earn certification and continuing education units (CEUs), Academy students are required to participate in a certification project. Students are provided with a "dummy" web page that they will optimize and turn in to their Academy SEM expert. Their Academy SEM expert will offer tips for boosting the page's relevancy and ranking, though the page itself won't be submitted to the engines. This project will simply prove that the student has learned the skills needed to optimize a page.

For more information about the Academy and our policies, visit our Frequently Asked Questions page. For specific questions about our search engine SEM Training, contact us.

Take our Search Engine Marketing Training and watch your rankings in the search engines soar!