"Chasing the algorithm" is a common mistake made when trying to get an Internet site well-placed on a search engine listing, as it can misplace the site, says Rob Stokes, MD of e-marketing company Quirk.
Stokes is referring to a common tactic used by Web site developers and those embarking on an e-marketing strategy - working out the algorithm used in building a search engine.
"If you keep chasing the algorithm, you will find that eventually the algorithm will beat you all the way back to the end of the queue," he says.
According to Stokes, Google, probably the world's most popular search engine, recently reformatted its algorithms and sites that were close to the top of a search list found themselves placed far below as they were not able to adapt the new algorithm.
There are two possible answers to ensuring that a Web site is well represented on a search engine and that is either by paying for it, or, as Stokes prefers, the organic method that ensures that content is of a high quality and is relevant to the search engine.
"Ideally one would like to be in the top 30 of a search engine's listing. It is also better to be consistently at, say, number five on the list for a year or more, rather than being placed number two for just a couple of months," Stokes says.
Search engine marketing has risen to new prominence with the announcement that Google will list on either the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq.
According to Stokes, there are more than 500 million individual searches every day on Google and its rivals Yahoo and Microsoft.
"When someone searches, he or she is looking for something specific and it is important for companies to be on the results list and then to reply promptly to queries," he says.
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