Too many SEOs focus all their efforts on Google search optimization. While that is bad for the industry overall (it makes us look unprofessional and ineffective), it does leave opportunities for people who want to bring more search referral traffic to their own sites.

2-dimensional SEO is search engine-specific. It doesn’t matter which search engine you’re focusing on (some people do focus on other search engines). You’re being 2-dimensional because your only looking at two vectors: the search engine’s algorithms and the query set for which you have targeted. When you expand your optimization to include more search engines you’re adding a third dimension to your SEO.

Here are a few tips for expanding your search space into 3-dimensions:

Track all the major search engines – Some SEOs do this as a means of looking comprehensive to their clients, but they don’t bother to research queries on more than one search engine. Hence, they often track non-performing queries on other search engines. You have to work with the demographics of each search engine and use its own keyword tools only to analyze its own market. Basing your 3-dimensional SEO on the Google keywords tool is a formula for failure.

Start using Quantcast, Compete, and Alexa services to analyze search engines. Ignore the number of estimated visits. Focus on when their peak periods are, who uses them, and what age/ethnic/income groups those search engines are popular with. If you can focus more of your content toward those groups you haven’t been serving, you should improve your referrals from the “weaker” search engines.

Use multiple tracking methods – Everyone has a favorite search metrics tool. All of them suck and none of them are any better than the others. Get your head out of Google Analytics and start learning some other tracking tools. Especially learn how to analyze server log files. You’ll learn more by using multiple metrics tools than by using one.

Pay special attention to long tail queries. Group them together so you can identify new query spaces that you have not previously optimized for. Break out your search referral data by search engine. And understand that Google Analytics does not accurately track search traffic. If you don’t get the real data from another source, you’re killing yourself.

Add site search from your weakest search engine – People use site search as a secondary navigational tool — on many sites (especially large content sites), people turn to site search first. If your site includes a lot of content in blog or forum posts the built-in search tools are completely inadequate. So put that third- or fourth-ranked search engine that constantly crawls your site to work and use it as a site search tool. Make the tool highly visible and easy to get to. Your referrals from Mr. 4th Place will increase dramatically overnight — literally overnight (unless you’ve foolishly prevented the search engine from indexing your content — many SEOs do make that mistake).

Use weaker search engines to feature query results in your copy – We all occasionally find the need to illustrate a point with search queries. The problem is that when you use the most heavily congested search results to illustrate a point, your point eventually becomes lost in the competitive shuffle. Make it a habit to include example queries in all your copy for your weaker search engines. Show people how visible your content is in search results that are favorable to you. If you’re concerned that they don’t look real because they lack advertising, buy some ads for those queries. The cost should be minimal until your competitors show up.

Leverage your microsites to help weaker search engines – I am not saying you should build microsites to strengthen other search engines. I am saying that — if you are already using microsites for valid marketing purposes — leverage them. Use alternative search engines as site search for the microsites. Embed links to queries on the weaker search engines that favor your content on the microsites. Use your microsites to openly endorse the weaker search engines. Teach people to use other search tools.

You can also leverage microsites by using them to focus on the different search markets. Optimizing a specific microsite for a specific search engine is okay provided you offer unique, relevant content. That is, don’t fall into the doorway site trap and just try to tweak your keywords for each search engine on engine-specific sites. Your microsites should be targeting audiences, not search engines.

In your offline marketing, wherever legal and appropriate, tell people they can use any search engine to find your brand. Your site should rank for your brand on all the major search engines. Mention all the search engines by name. Rotate them in your dialogue until you become comfortable naming any of the major search engines. Do this in your press releases, any interviews you give, any podcasts or broadcasts you participate in, any speeches you give, etc.

If you’re not seeing much traffic from search engines other than Google it’s not because they don’t send traffic to Web sites, it’s because you’re not optimizing for their search results. You have no idea of what you’ve been missing out on until you do it right. When you see that traffic come in, then you’ll understand that, yes, Virginia, there really are other search engines out there.

Written by Michael Martinez

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