Using Meta Tags to focus the search engine spiders on specific products, services and topics is, as I have pointed out, extremely important. But, it is not the end of the road. Mounting evidence is coming to light that the major engines are also weighing, quite heavily, it seems, "link frequency". The thought behind this is that the more links the site has, the more "popular", "relevant", and or "interesting" the site is.

So, how do you do it? How do you, at this stage of the development cycle go about it? Well, there are programs that you can either pay for or relinquish the advertising potential. Personally, however, I tend to shy away from them for the simple reason that I want to control my own pages and save the expense as well.

There are a few linking programs that are set up as a cooperative where members contribute by simply being a member. The best I have seen is by some folks who are definitely experts in the field of search engines; the folks at Search Engine World. Their links, "Buddy Links" are designed to be user and spider friendly. Go to the following address and see for yourself.

http://www.searchengineworld.com/links/index.htm

While you are at it, they are a great resource for search engine strategies and knowledge (better than me? Sadly, yes!).