The Association for Interactive Marketing (AIM), a subsidiary of the Direct Marketing Association, has released a series of technical guidelines for marketers seeking to take advantage of search engines to draw attention to their Web pages. The document is a companion piece to "Search Marketing Demystified: A Marketer's Ultimate How-to Handbook for Prime Positions and Conversion," which was published last year.
The new guidelines include tips on:
*Designing Web sites to enhance positioning on search engines such as cutting down the use of frames.
*Increasing the odds that Web pages aren't missed by search engine "spiders," or automated functions that bring pages to search engine's attention.
*Correcting flaws that would damp a site's chances to be appropriately listed within search engines.
*Avoiding practices that are viewed as search-engine "spam," such as hiding a series of popular—but unrelated—terms within the site.
"In an era where consumers increasingly are in control of what they see, and when they want to see it, [AIM's Search Engine Marketing Council] is helping to educate marketers about how to do search-engine marketing right, and with maximum results," said Michael Faulkner, senior vice president of segments and affiliates for the DMA.
The document, "Search Engine Marketing Technical White Paper," is available free of charge at http://www.interactivemarketing.org.
