LYCOS

According to this source HotBot does not look at keywords in ALT tags nor keywords contained in hidden form tags. HotBot does consider keywords in comment tags, and a good keyword weight scores a page higher in their index.

When we asked him why it seemed that short pages with some graphics and very few words on the page seemed to score higher, he wouldn't provide an exact reason, but he thought it would likely be due to HotBot's keyword weight ranking.

HotBot penalizes a variety of spam techniques including: stuffing of keywords in text, same color text on same color background and stuffing keywords in the title tag (when they're repeated next to one another). Pages that trigger these spam penalties will be assigned zero weightings in the HotBot index - those spammed words will not count toward HotBot's relevancy assessment. HotBot will only count a keyword once, even if it finds the keyword repeated.

HotBot's ranking algorithm is attuned to unnatural word patterns. Our contact said that HotBot uses in-house grammar-checking software. He offered the following examples of unnatural repeated keyword word patterns that are most common:
"Computer hard drive, Computer hard drive"
"computer disk, computer modem, computer disk, computer, computer modem"

When we asked if people using one doorway page per keyword would set off spam detection, we were told that such a moderate approach would not be penalized. However, when a site is detected as submitting dozens of duplicate pages for the same keyword these pages will not be listed - HotBot will list just one page and on occasion, present the others as alternative pages. HotBot has no lifetime ban for spamming at this time.

Our Own Experience and Observations

WARNING! HotBot changes its relevancy scoring criteria often, a fact that is maddening to those of us trying to achieve a high ranking. However, the good news is that HotBot does this in response to user input and surveys, which usually result in better overall results to queries that can only help you if you run a good site.

HotBot will index your entire site. Just submit your main URL.

Step 1:

Build a series of doorway pages for HotBot. HotBot seems to rank shorter pages with less copy higher than longer pages. Multiple doorway pages will be effective so long as you limit each doorway page to two or three keywords - achieving a good keyword weight for multiple keywords can be tricky. It's best to use several doorway pages. The keyword weight ranking will bite you if you get greedy and chase 5 or 10 keywords per doorway page.

Step 2:

Include a gif or jpg graphic on your doorway pages.
Perhaps make the graphic an arrow and a graphic word next to it that states, "continue." Activate the graphic as a hypertext link that sends people to your main site. The purpose of this is to
reduce total copy on these pages and score strong keyword weight ratings.

Step 3:

Create keyword and description META tags and lead with your most important keyword.
HotBot also rewards uncommon words (i. e. words not found as often on the Internet as a whole). Do not repeat keywords in your META tags, it does not help you.

Step 4:

Alter your use of capitalization of important keywords for an extra boost.

Step 5:

Increase your keyword frequency. Measure your total number of keywords in the body as compared to the pages ranked ahead of you. HotBot rewards keyword frequency as well as keyword weight. In general, HotBot ranks slightly shorter pages with higher keyword weight higher than similar but longer pages.

Step 6:

Register a new domain name that includes your most important keyword. Lately, we've noticed that HotBot cares a lot about keywords in the URL. As we've suggested in other sections of this report, consider investing the $70 to register an iteration of your domain name such as www. keyword-domain. com.

Step 7:

Add a single pixel gif with an ALT tag. If you need to add more keywords consider the "single pixel gif" trick, as HotBot does index and score keywords found in ALT tags.

Need more power? Consider the following tips:

1. Focus on keywords and keyword phrases included as activated links to other internal pages and less on keywords in the title tag. Add your targeted keyword in the link text on the viewable page.

2. HotBot favors Web pages with keywords at the top of the page AND at the bottom of the page. Work toward a keyword theme in your pages.

3. Include the plural form of your keywords since HotBot will not automatically return pages for keyword synonyms.

4. In consideration of Direct Hit's technology, do what you can to query your own Web page, and then visit it often and encourage others in your company or circle of friends to do the same. It may, over time, influence the Direct Hit algorithm.

How Your Domain Name Can Influence Your Score

Obtaining a domain name with your keyword in it can significantly improve your score in HotBot. For example, if you have a domain of: http:// www. mycompany. com you should strongly consider purchasing additional domains that include your most important keywords within the domain name. If you sold widgets, pages on the following domain should score higher in HotBot, with all other things being equal:

www. widgets. com
For multi-word phrases, be sure to separate them with dashes as follows:
www. blue-widgets. com

Including the keyword in a sub-directory name or page name can also help, although not to the same extent as the domain name. Consider purchasing secondary domain names for this purpose if you've been unsuccessful in ranking well in HotBot for your keywords. Other engines now appear to add additional weight to domain names with keywords in them, so this may help you elsewhere as well.