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Automated search engine robots, sometimes called "spiders" or "crawlers", are the seekers of web pages. How do they work? What is it they really do? Why are they important?

You'd think with all the fuss about indexing web pages to add to search engine databases, that robots would be great and powerful beings. Wrong. Search engine robots have only basic functionality like that of early browsers in terms of what they can understand in a web page. Like early browsers, robots just can't do certain things. Robots don't understand frames, Flash movies, images or JavaScript. They can't enter password protected areas and they can't click all those buttons you have on your website. They can be stopped cold while indexing a dynamically generated URL and slowed to a stop with JavaScript navigation.

How Do Search Engine Robots Work?

Think of search engine robots as automated data retrieval programs, traveling the web to find information and links.

When you submit a web page to a search engine at the "Submit a URL" page, the new URL is added to the robot's queue of websites to visit on its next foray out onto the web. Even if you don't directly submit a page, many robots will find your site because of links from other sites that point back to yours. This is one of the reasons why it is important to build your link popularity and to get links from other topical sites back to yours.

When arriving at your website, the automated robots first check to see if you have a robots.txt file. This file is used to tell robots which areas of your site are off-limits to them. Typically these may be directories containing only binaries or other files the robot doesn't need to concern itself with.

Robots collect links from each page they visit, and later follow those links through to other pages. In this way, they essentially follow the links from one page to another. The entire World Wide Web is made up of links, the original idea being that you could follow links from one place to another. This is how robots get around.

The "smarts" about indexing pages online comes from the search engine engineers, who devise the methods used to evaluate the information the search engine robots retrieve. When introduced into the search engine database, the information is available for searchers querying the search engine. When a search engine user enters their query into the search engine, there are a number of quick calculations done to make sure that the search engine presents just the right set of results to give their visitor the most relevant response to their query.

You can see which pages on your site the search engine robots have visited by looking at your server logs or the results from your log statistics program. Identifying the robots will show you when they visited your website, which pages they visited and how often they visit. Some robots are readily identifiable by their user agent names, like Google's "Googlebot"; others are bit more obscure, like Inktomi's "Slurp". Still other robots may be listed in your logs that you cannot readily identify; some of them may even appear to be human-powered browsers.

Along with identifying individual robots and counting the number of their visits, the statistics can also show you aggressive bandwidth-grabbing robots or robots you may not want visiting your website. In the resources section of the end of this article, you will find sites that list names and IP addresses of search engine robots to help you identify them.

How Do They Read The Pages On Your Website?

When the search engine robot visits your page, it looks at the visible text on the page, the content of the various tags in your page's source code (title tag, meta tags, etc.), and the hyperlinks on your page. From the words and the links that the robot finds, the search engine decides what your page is about. There are many factors used to figure out what "matters" and each search engine has its own algorithm in order to evaluate and process the information. Depending on how the robot is set up through the search engine, the information is indexed and then delivered to the search engine's database.

The information delivered to the databases then becomes part of the search engine and directory ranking process. When the search engine visitor submits their query, the search engine digs through its database to give the final listing that is displayed on the results page.

The search engine databases update at varying times. Once you are in the search engine databases, the robots keep visiting you periodically, to pick up any changes to your pages, and to make sure they have the latest info. The number of times you are visited depends on how the search engine sets up its visits, which can vary per search engine.

Sometimes visiting robots are unable to access the website they are visiting. If your site is down, or you are experiencing huge amounts of traffic, the robot may not be able to access your site. When this happens, the website may not be re-indexed, depending on the frequency of the robot visits to your website. In most cases, robots that cannot access your pages will try again later, hoping that your site will be accessible then.

Resources

*SpiderSpotting - Search Engine Watch

http://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/spiders.html

*Robotstxt.org

List of robots and protocols for setting up a robots.txt file.

http://www.robotstxt.org/

*Spider-Food

Tutorials, forums and articles about Search Engine spiders and Search Engine Marketing.

http://spider-food.net/

*Spiderhunter.com

Articles and resources about tracking Search Engine spiders.

http://www.spiderhunter.com/

*Sim Spider Search Engine Robot Simulator

Search Engine World has a spider that simulates what the Search Engine robots read from your website.

http://www.searchengineworld.com/cgi-bin/sim_spider.cgi

Daria Goetsch is the founder and Search Engine Marketing Consultant for Search Innovation Marketing, a Search Engine Optimization company serving small businesses. She has specialized in Search Engine Promotion since 1998, including three years as the Search Engine Specialist for O'Reilly Media, Inc., a technical book publishing company.

Copyright © 2002-2005 Search Innovation Marketing.

http://www.searchinnovation.com All Rights Reserved.

Permission to reprint this article is granted if the article is reproduced in its entirety, without editing, including the bio information. Please include a hyperlink to http://www.searchinnovation.com when using this article in newsletters or online.

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Body jewelry and body piercing practices have been observed by various groups of people all over the world throughout the centuries. For some tribes it is a rite of passage, for others it is an indicator of social status. For many, body jewelry is used to enhance personal beauty and as devices to rise above the rest of the pack. Today's celebrities have been at the forefront in making body jewelry much more mainstream and acceptable - even desirable.

"What's a little pain if it'll make me look hip" seems to be the prevalent thought among the young and the old who are turning out in increasing numbers to participate in the body jewelry trend. Not so long ago, only punk rockers and those with 'bad boy' images, such as former NBA star Dennis Rodman, were seen sporting body piercings in mainstream media. Today, body jewelry is endorsed by pop celebrities with mass followings, including Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Fiona Apple and Lenny Kravitz. Britney Spears has an extensive collection of navel rings, and Christina Aguilera is said to wear the most interesting body jewelry in areas that are covered by her clothing.

Some celebrities with an otherwise 'serious' image are nevertheless fans of body art. Actress Camryn Manheim of the television drama 'The Firm' sports multiple earrings on the cartilage of one ear. Gillian Anderson, who played the cynical and skeptical FBI agent Dana Scully in the television series 'The X Files,' has a pierced belly button. Performers with tongue piercings include former Spice Girl Melanie Brown (Scary Spice) and dancer Jimmy Gulzar, while supermodels Christy Turlington and James King are proud of their piercings. Some sports celebrities also wear body jewelry, including WWE wrestlers A-Train and Billy Gunn, as well as football player Ricky Williams.

Body jewelry has also been used throughout the ages to enhance sensation, and by extension, sexuality and sexual performance. Genital and nipple piercing in both men and women, while not as widespread as nose, ear, tongue, navel and eyebrow piercing, still has its own following. Singer Janet Jackson has stated on the Oprah Winfrey talk show that she likes the sensation that her pierced nipples give her. Other celebrities with pierced nipples include rock musicians Axl Rose and Tommy Lee, Icelandic singer Bjork and rapper Lil Kim. Pop princess Britney Spears likewise has a pierced nipple.

Celebrities, whether they like it or not, are oftentimes looked up to as role models and the influence they wield over their fans is considerable. Fans emulate their idols' preferences: from clothing, mannerism, even to the wearing of body jewelry. More and more, they are playing a leading role not only in the direction of today's fashion trends but also in the shaping of modern pop culture.

Sam Serio is an Internet Marketer, musician and a writer on the subject of jewelry and gemstones. For more information on jewelry and gemstones, we cordially invite you to visit http://www.morninglightjewelry.com to pick up your FREE copy of "How To Buy Jewelry And Gemstones Without Being Ripped Off." This concise, informative special report reveals almost everything you ever wanted to know about jewelry and gemstones, but were afraid to ask. Get your FREE report at http://www.morninglightjewelry.com

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A canoe trip is a great way to appreciate Nature!

A well-planned canoe trip is always filled with fun and adventure. If you love cruising the sea or the beautiful lake areas then a canoe trip would be a great choice for you. You can spend hours paddling about on a canoe trip and have plenty of time to enjoy the scenic beauty as it unfolds around you.

There are many such canoe trips available through canoe outfitters and trip coordinators worldwide. Depending on where you are situated, you can plan a canoe trip as part of your family holiday enjoyment or alternatively as part of a group outing.

A canoe trip is a popular choice for many people as it provides all the beauty associated with nature while the canoe itself is not that difficult to maneuver. The canoe used in modern day canoe trips is a relatively small and rigid craft. Depending on the size of the canoe used on your canoe trip, it is paddled along by one or more people sitting and facing the direction of travel.

The craft is propelled through the water by the use of single blade paddles and thus the speed reached while on a canoe trip is controlled and maintained by the paddlers. The canoe that you utilize for a canoe trip will probably be open on top and have a pointed area at each end.

Of course, a canoe trip is not the only way to enjoy a canoe. Competitive canoeing is enjoyed worldwide and features sprint canoeing (racing) and slalom as part of its many aspects. A slalom canoe is closed like a kayak to afford protection from the water and this kind of craft is not generally used for a casual canoe trip. The aim of slalom canoeing, vastly different from a canoe trip, is to navigate a canoe or kayak through a course of gates placed among river rapids, at the fastest possible speed!

Competitors are timed as they complete a descent of the rapids while passing through the different colored gates at an incredibly high speed, a far cry from the peaceful paddling of a Sunday afternoon canoe trip! Still, if excitement is your game, you can still pursue it by enjoying a canoe trip through fast moving waters, as the experience earned by paddling and maneuvering your craft will stand you in good stead should you do it competitively.

There is also another sport that offers excitement to any competitive canoe trip enthusiast. It is the game of canoe polo and is not for any faint-hearted casual canoe trip paddlers. This is a competitive sport played between 2 teams of five players each. Each team is seated in a canoe and must try and get the ball into their opponent's goal area, the winners being the team who score the most goals. The best way to work out in preparation to playing canoe polo is to take part in vigorous canoe trips as often as possible. This canoe trip training will help to increase strength levels while also increasing the paddlers ability to control the craft.

It's always exciting to travel and camp while on a canoe trip. Large distances can easily be covered on a canoe trip and the canoe can transport bulky loads with ease. A canoe trip offers a vastly different experience than does backpacking and allows for observation of aquatic life and wildlife typically found near the shore.

Any fishing you might intend as part of your vacation plan is easily accomplished while on a canoe trip. Remember when planning a canoe trip that the USA and Canada boast the most beautiful lakes and canoe trip vacation areas. Almost one quarter of the worlds freshwater lakes abound in Canada, so you can be sure of a huge available choice for your canoe trip. Not only are day trips available for canoe trip enthusiasts but long excursions of 3 weeks or more are often also available.

There are also weekend courses on the water, which will help you to spruce up your canoe trip skills, an important consideration before embarking on any canoe trip, however short it might be! Safety whilst enjoying a canoe trip should be everyone's top priority and some canoeing skills will go a long way to enhancing your whole canoe trip experience!

Copyright 2005

More on Canoe Trips

article source: adzines.com

Having a home based business can be overwhelming. When you work at home, there is a lot to do for both your home based business, your home and you family. The key to making a home based business work is managing your time wisely. When you work at home, other tasks can interfere with what you want to accomplish, so it is important to keep in mind the goals of your home based business.

Make lists each day of what you want to accomplish with your home based business, as well as all the things you need to do that day like taking you child to piano lessons and cutting the grass. Use those lists to keep yourself focused on the daily tasks of your home based business.

Prioritize the tasks of your work at home business. It is not necessary to spend hours on the little tasks of your home based business. Decide what are the most important things to be done with your home based business and do them. Allot smaller amounts to time to the less important tasks.

Keep good records for your home based business. Not only will this help you stay out of trouble at tax time, but it will show your customers that you are organized and can run a home based business efficiently. Just because you work at home does not mean that you can be sloppy. Find ways to organize yourself, your life and your home based business that work for you.

Set regular work at home hours for yourself. A home based business does not run itself and you need to put in the time and effort to make it successful. This does not mean you can't adjust your schedule, it just means that you generally have to have time set aside to work at home without interruptions.

Take a break every once in while. Sitting in front of your computer running your home based business and never taking time out to enjoy yourself defeats the whole purpose of having a work at home job in the first place. Most of us decided to work at home so that we could have more time with our families. So take that treasured time with your family. Your home based business will run better if your frame of mind is positive.

Hopefully this articles has proven useful to you.

Copyright © Charles Fuchs is an established online marketer who specializes in helping people start their very own Home Based Business. He has also created dozens of articles such as Make Money at Home and Earn Money at Home. To receive valuable tips, strategies and techniques designed to grow a successful Home Based Business, subscribe to his newsletter at http://www.charlesfuchs.com

I grant permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way.

article source: adzines.com

Are you having trouble making ends meet? Do you need to find a way to generate some extra income? If so, which way do you go? If you're like me, you decided to explore the internet only to find yourself buried in more material that you could read in eight lifetimes! What now? How do you go about filtering through the masses of come-ons?

I find that ads that tell me I can have a fabulous income with little or no work appeal enormously to the greedy, lazy parts of my humanity. Fortunately, I, like most of you, know that there is no such thing as being paid just for showing up. And you can't afford to be burned. So just how do you proceed? Here's a check list that's sure to point you in the right direction!

1) Make sure you're dealing with a reputable company.

How long has the company been around? Anything less than 2 years is pretty iffy. Is it a member of the Better Business Bureau? This is an excellent sign of integrity. Have any complaints been filed against this company? Let's hope not.

2) What are the start-up costs? How about maintenance costs? If you are being asked to purchase a start-up kit costing several hundred dollars or more, you need to really investigate what it is you'll be receiving for your money. In my experience, you rarely get anything that is worth anywhere near as much as you paid. Also, how much product are you expected to continue to purchase monthly? Do you even use it? Does this leave money in your budget for advertising? Clearly, the best products to promote are ones that you need or would use anyway. Even better would be one that saves you as much money as it costs.

3) Is the product one that you can promote with pride and confidence?

You can only represent a product that you yourself are sold on. If you think that your product is a bit of a rip-off, you won't be able to hide that, no matter what. Also, is your product something that someone would want to buy without participating in your business? In other words, does your product have legitimate value in and of itself?

4) Does your product have global appeal?

Does your product target only one gender or one age group? Is it confined to certain regions or to only one country? Also, if your product is a vanity or luxury item, these are often the first to go when the economy suffers. Obviously, the wider and the more practical the appeal, the better. If your product can be employed by people throughout the world, this is even better.

5) How much overhead does your product eat up?

If your product needs to be manufactured, packaged, warehoused and delivered, these costs cut into profits. A lower profit margin means a lower payout to you, the representative. Products whose value is determined by informational content offer the highest rate of return. Companies that offer valuable informational products are the most generous and the most lucrative for you, the income-seeker. Plus you and your clients enjoy immediate delivery and do not have to foot the bill for shipping and handling costs.

6) How do I know if something is really just a pyramid scheme?

The word pyramid has gotten a really bad rap. Every viable organization takes on the shape of a pyramid. The president at the top has several department heads under him, who each have several managers, who supervise teams of employees, etc.

The problem lies not in the structure, but in the value (or lack thereof!) of the product and the compensation being passed up and down these lines. If the product is non-existent, or promises to be materialized in the future, or is grossly over-priced, then you are dealing with schemers and thieves. If, on the other hand, you are engaged in a business that pays according to a matrix, (be it 2 x 2, 4 x 4, whatever), as long as the product is a good value for the money and each representative is being compensated fairly, then you have a legitimate multi-level marketing (MLM) structure. It's good, old-fashioned, legitimate SALES.

Oops! There I went and said it. The dreaded "s" word. I can hear you already. "But I don't like sales!" "I don't know how to sell!" "I don't want to make a pest of myself!" "I don't want to bug my family and friends!" Believe me, I understand. That brings us to our final point.

7) Does your company supply you with state-of-the-art marketing strategies and ongoing training and support?

If you're like me, you probably shy away from anything that even resembles hard-sell tactics. If that's the case, you will want to look for a business that is fully automated with professional websites and internet tools that do all the promoting and background work for you.

Using internet tools is not difficult, BUT if you have never been shown what to do, why, it's nearly impossible! And nobody likes to be made to feel like an idiot, so it's important to find an organization that takes you from square one, trains you in the basics, and teaches you, step by step, how to become a professional, and never ever abandons you.

Well, I've given you a lot to think about, and I sincerely hope I have helped you. Internet marketing provides us all with a truly wonderful opportunity to realize our dreams. I mean this in the most literal sense. Once you find the right company for you, and get the support you need to go the distance, why, you'll find that there is plenty of wealth out there to go around for everybody. Isn't it high time you stepped up to stake your claim?

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article source: adzines.com