The Good and the Bad of SEO – From Googles Mouth!
I recently had the opportunity to ask questions of some Google staffers. There were some questions I felt I needed to get verification on, so when I had the opportunity via a conference call I took it.
In this article I highlight some of the points made during the call so you know what Google thinks.
You know its bad when you take time from your holidays to come into work to attend a conference call. But that’s what I did a few weeks ago. You see I had to because I was going to have the opportunity to ask some Google employees specific questions on things that I’d been pretty sure about, but wanted to hear it right from the horses mouth.
The call lasted less than an hour, but in that time I found that there were many things I figured were indeed true. So lets start with the most obvious:
Is PageRank still important?
The short answer is yes – PageRank has always been important to Google. Naturally they couldn’t go into details but it is as I suspected. Google still uses the algorithm to help determine rankings. Where it falls in the algo mix, though, is up for speculation. My feeling however is that they’ve simply moved where the PageRank value is applied in the grand scheme of things. If you want to know what I think, be sure to read this article.
Are dynamic URLs bad?
Google says that a dynamic URL with 2 parameters “should” get indexed. When we pressed a bit on the issue we also found that URLs themselves don’t contribute too much to the overall ranking algorithms. In other words, a page named Page1.asp will likely perform as well as Keyword.asp.
The whole variable thing shouldn’t come as a surprise. It is true that Google will indeed index dynamic URLs and I’ve seen sites with as many as 4 variables get indexed. The difference however is that in almost all cases I’ve seen the static URLs outrank the dynamic URLs especially in highly competitive or even moderately competitive keyword spaces.
Is URL rewriting OK in Google’s eyes?
Again, the answer is yes, provided the URLs aren’t too long. While the length of the URL isn’t necessarily an issue, if they get extremely long they can cause problems.
In my experience, long rewritten URLs perform just fine. The important thing is the content on the page.
That was a common theme throughout the call – content is king. Sure optimized meta tags, effective interlinking and externalizing JavaScript all help, but in the end if the content isn’t there the site won’t do well.
Do you need to use the Google Sitemap tool?
If your site is already getting crawled effectively by Google you do not need to use the Google sitemap submission tool.
The sitemap submission tool was created by Google to provide a way for sites which normally do not get crawled effectively to now become indexed by Google.
My feeling here is that if you MUST use the Google sitemap to get your site indexed then you have some serious architectural issues to solve.
In other words, just because your pages get indexed via the sitemap doesn’t mean they will rank. In fact I’d bet you that they won’t rank because of those technical issues I mentioned above.
Here I’d recommend getting a free tool like Xenu and spider your site yourself. If Xenu has problems then you can almost be assured of Googlebot crawling problems. The nice thing with Xenu is that it can help you find those problems, such as broken links, so that you can fix them.
Once your site becomes fully crawlable by Xenu I can almost guarantee you that it will be crawlable and indexable by the major search engine spiders.
Does clean code make that much of a difference?
Again, the answer is yes. By externalizing any code you can and cleaning up things like tables you can greatly improve your site.
First, externalizing JavaScript and CSS helps reduce code bloat which makes the visible text more important. Your keyword density goes up which makes the page more authoritative.
Similarly, minimizing the use of tables also helps reduce the HTML to text ratio, making the text that much more important.
Also, as a tip, your visible text should appear as close to the top of your HTML code as possible. Sometimes this is difficult, however, as elements like top and left navigation appear first in the HTML. If this is the case, consider using CSS to reposition the text and those elements appropriately.
Do Keywords in the domain name harm or help you?
The short answer is neither. However too many keywords in a domain can set off flags for review. In other words blue-widgets.com won’t hurt you but discount-and-cheap-blue-and-red-widgets.com will likely raise flags and trigger a review.
Page naming follows similar rules – while you can use keywords as page names, it doesn’t necessarily help (as I mentioned above) further, long names can cause reviews which will delay indexing.
How many links should you have on your sitemap?
Google recommends 100 links per page.
While I’ve seen pages with more links get indexed, it appears that it takes much longer. In other words, the first 100 links will get indexed right away, however it can take a few more months for Google to identify and follow any links greater than 100.
If your site is larger than 100 pages (as many are today) consider splitting up your sitemap into multiple pages which interlink with each other, or create a directory structure within your sitemap. This way you can have multiple sitemaps that are logically organized and will allow for complete indexing of your site.
Can Googlebot follow links in Flash or JavaScript
While Googlebot can identify links in JavaScript, it cannot follow those links. Nor can it follow links in Flash.
Therefore I recommend having your links elsewhere on the page. It is OK to have links in flash or JavaScript but you need to account for the crawlers not finding them. Therefore the use of a sitemap can help get those links found and crawled.
As alternatives I know there are menus which use JavaScript and CSS to output a very similar looking navigation system to what you commonly see with JavaScript navigation yet uses static hyperlinks which crawlers can follow. Therefore do a little research and you should be able to find a spiderable alternative to whatever type of navigation your site currently has.
Overall, while I didn’t learn anything earth shattering, it was good to get validation “from the horses mouth” so to speak.
I guess it just goes to show you that there is enough information out there on the forums and blogs. The question becomes determine which of that information is valid and which isn’t. But that, I’m afraid, usually comes with time and experience.
Showing posts with label SEO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SEO. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
"7 Secrets To Top Search Engine Rankings (Yes, Even #1 Positions!) For SEO Dummies"
There's hope for the 'little guys' in the search engine ranking game, even if they
can't tell the difference between the title and keyword meta tag!
You can achieve high rankings for important keywords simply by applying certain rules
that stand the test of time and even technology...and the number one rule is
really to help the search engines provide relevant search results!
How do you do this? I'll reveal the 'secrets' soon.
While I'm far from being an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) expert and am just
sharing experiences here, I've achieved some phenomenal results by following these
basic rules and without resorting to 'tricks'. Importantly, these are rankings
that last.
I'm not suggesting you shouldn't learn about SEO or use genuine software that
helps, in fact you should.
To learn about SEO, some sites you can check out:
How to I achieve such incredible rankings without being some SEO guru or even
obsessively optimizing site?
Recall the number one rule? It's to help the search engines provide relevant search
results.
Now I honestly believe there are only two MAIN things which support this rule and in
the process, reward your website with the high rankings you desire.
These two things are Keyword Rich Content and Targeted Back Links which we'll talk
about later...
Here then are 7 powerful secrets you can use to model your website after to explode
your high search engine rankings!
Step 1: Determine Highly Searched Keywords Determine highly searched and targeted
keywords/keyword phrases related to your site and put them into a list. Here're the
tools to use:
http://instantmarketingsecrets.com/keyword.htm : compares results of keyword searches
from Overture and Wordtracker and displays them side by side.
http://smtek.info/cgi-bin/keywordtool.cgi : allows you to find relevant hot keywords
with a single click...very cool very useful.
http://www.goodkeywords.com : excellent software to find targeted keywords in
Overture and various other engines.
Step 2: Register Keyword Rich Domain Names
While there've been contrasting arguments about whether having keywords in your
domain helps, I strongly feel it does. The same goes for dashes between words in the
domain.
Use these to source for domain name ideas:
http://www.nameboy.com
http://www.deleteddomains.com
You can also register your domains for peanuts per year here:
http://www.namecheap.com
http://www.registerfly.com
Step 3: Use Your Targeted Keywords In Your Copy
Use the list of keywords in step 1 within your website copy, especially in the title,
headline and first paragraph. The important thing is to make them flow smoothly within
the context of the copy so prospects will not find it weird.
Step 4: Insert Keyword Rich Relevant Content
Next, build up your site's content with relevant topics containing your keywords.
Don't worry, here are some ways to get instant content:
- Posting suitable articles that contain
your keywords. These can either be your own or from article directories like
http://www.ezinearticle.com,
http://www.goarticles.com or
http://webpronews.com
- Posting newsletter issues in an archive online if you write any
- Do reviews and commentaries on related products and services in your market as
content
Step 5: Aggressively Acquire Targeted Back Links
This is the second most important (some say it's the first) factor to note after
targeted and relevant content. Get as many good quality incoming links
from other sites as you can, believe me, this will really make a huge difference to
your rankings. These links should come from sites in your market and preferably those
with high PageRanks of 5 and above.
Use http://www.webmasterbrain.com/prog/ to search for sites with top rankings in
Google for your specified keyword/keyword phrases. It also reveals their individual
PageRanks next to their listings.
An excellent resource to check PageRank can
also be found at http://rankwhere.com.
Alternatively, you can download Alexa toolbar from http://ww.alexa.com as it also
shows Alexa traffic ranking for any site. This is very useful for seeking high
traffic link partners.
If you are looking for mind-blowing linking strategies and tricks, the best guide I've
ever seen must be "Power Linking 2: Evolution" at: http://www.turnkeymoney.com/powerlink.htm
Step 6: Hand Submit Your Site To The Top Directories and Search Engines
There's no point in using those 'submit to millions' services as only a few search
engines really matter.
Using those services may actually cause your site to be penalized by these major
engines.
In fact if you've done enough important reciprocal linkings, you don't even need to
submit your sites as spiders which crawl your link partner sites (already indexed)
will pick up your link easily.
However, if you must submit, do it by hand at these directories and search engines
here:
Ask Jeeves: http://tinyurl.com/467y
LookSmart/Zeal: http://tinyurl.com/2uzan
Mama: http://tinyurl.com/38gdb
Open Directory: http://tinyurl.com/2jk82
Google: http://tinyurl.com/hlzz
Yahoo: http://tinyurl.com/fq32
All The Web: http://tinyurl.com/2hq24
Inktomi: http://tinyurl.com/26cgu
Step 7: Tune Your Site For Maximum Optimization
The final step would be to constantly monitor and analyze your website traffic
against rankings. This is so you can review and tweak for further improvement in your
rankings.
I hope this article will prove highly useful to you. Do not be scare away by SEO,
it's simple once you follow the above system. While these steps are not
everything you can do, it'll be enough to get your site ranked very well for the
targeted keywords you chose.
Again, remember the number one rule of giving relevant content and establishing
good back links. Help the search engines provide relevant results for their
customers and your rankings will automatically skyrocket to the top!
can't tell the difference between the title and keyword meta tag!
You can achieve high rankings for important keywords simply by applying certain rules
that stand the test of time and even technology...and the number one rule is
really to help the search engines provide relevant search results!
How do you do this? I'll reveal the 'secrets' soon.
While I'm far from being an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) expert and am just
sharing experiences here, I've achieved some phenomenal results by following these
basic rules and without resorting to 'tricks'. Importantly, these are rankings
that last.
I'm not suggesting you shouldn't learn about SEO or use genuine software that
helps, in fact you should.
To learn about SEO, some sites you can check out:
How to I achieve such incredible rankings without being some SEO guru or even
obsessively optimizing site?
Recall the number one rule? It's to help the search engines provide relevant search
results.
Now I honestly believe there are only two MAIN things which support this rule and in
the process, reward your website with the high rankings you desire.
These two things are Keyword Rich Content and Targeted Back Links which we'll talk
about later...
Here then are 7 powerful secrets you can use to model your website after to explode
your high search engine rankings!
Step 1: Determine Highly Searched Keywords Determine highly searched and targeted
keywords/keyword phrases related to your site and put them into a list. Here're the
tools to use:
http://instantmarketingsecrets.com/keyword.htm : compares results of keyword searches
from Overture and Wordtracker and displays them side by side.
http://smtek.info/cgi-bin/keywordtool.cgi : allows you to find relevant hot keywords
with a single click...very cool very useful.
http://www.goodkeywords.com : excellent software to find targeted keywords in
Overture and various other engines.
Step 2: Register Keyword Rich Domain Names
While there've been contrasting arguments about whether having keywords in your
domain helps, I strongly feel it does. The same goes for dashes between words in the
domain.
Use these to source for domain name ideas:
http://www.nameboy.com
http://www.deleteddomains.com
You can also register your domains for peanuts per year here:
http://www.namecheap.com
http://www.registerfly.com
Step 3: Use Your Targeted Keywords In Your Copy
Use the list of keywords in step 1 within your website copy, especially in the title,
headline and first paragraph. The important thing is to make them flow smoothly within
the context of the copy so prospects will not find it weird.
Step 4: Insert Keyword Rich Relevant Content
Next, build up your site's content with relevant topics containing your keywords.
Don't worry, here are some ways to get instant content:
- Posting suitable articles that contain
your keywords. These can either be your own or from article directories like
http://www.ezinearticle.com,
http://www.goarticles.com or
http://webpronews.com
- Posting newsletter issues in an archive online if you write any
- Do reviews and commentaries on related products and services in your market as
content
Step 5: Aggressively Acquire Targeted Back Links
This is the second most important (some say it's the first) factor to note after
targeted and relevant content. Get as many good quality incoming links
from other sites as you can, believe me, this will really make a huge difference to
your rankings. These links should come from sites in your market and preferably those
with high PageRanks of 5 and above.
Use http://www.webmasterbrain.com/prog/ to search for sites with top rankings in
Google for your specified keyword/keyword phrases. It also reveals their individual
PageRanks next to their listings.
An excellent resource to check PageRank can
also be found at http://rankwhere.com.
Alternatively, you can download Alexa toolbar from http://ww.alexa.com as it also
shows Alexa traffic ranking for any site. This is very useful for seeking high
traffic link partners.
If you are looking for mind-blowing linking strategies and tricks, the best guide I've
ever seen must be "Power Linking 2: Evolution" at: http://www.turnkeymoney.com/powerlink.htm
Step 6: Hand Submit Your Site To The Top Directories and Search Engines
There's no point in using those 'submit to millions' services as only a few search
engines really matter.
Using those services may actually cause your site to be penalized by these major
engines.
In fact if you've done enough important reciprocal linkings, you don't even need to
submit your sites as spiders which crawl your link partner sites (already indexed)
will pick up your link easily.
However, if you must submit, do it by hand at these directories and search engines
here:
Ask Jeeves: http://tinyurl.com/467y
LookSmart/Zeal: http://tinyurl.com/2uzan
Mama: http://tinyurl.com/38gdb
Open Directory: http://tinyurl.com/2jk82
Google: http://tinyurl.com/hlzz
Yahoo: http://tinyurl.com/fq32
All The Web: http://tinyurl.com/2hq24
Inktomi: http://tinyurl.com/26cgu
Step 7: Tune Your Site For Maximum Optimization
The final step would be to constantly monitor and analyze your website traffic
against rankings. This is so you can review and tweak for further improvement in your
rankings.
I hope this article will prove highly useful to you. Do not be scare away by SEO,
it's simple once you follow the above system. While these steps are not
everything you can do, it'll be enough to get your site ranked very well for the
targeted keywords you chose.
Again, remember the number one rule of giving relevant content and establishing
good back links. Help the search engines provide relevant results for their
customers and your rankings will automatically skyrocket to the top!
5 Steps to Get Top 10 Website Search Engine Rank
1. Step One: Select right keyword for web SEO Optimization.
You must choose your keywords carefully. This is the most important step of the SEO. Wrong or ineffective keywords mean invalid keyword optimization. You should find popular keywords and phrases related to your business, then know search popularity and competition number of every keywords. The keywords with more popularity and less competition will be your targeted keyword phrases.
Resources:
Best Promotion Keywords - http://www.websitepromotionsoft.com/bestpromotionkeyword.html
Overture - http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
Google - https://adwords.google.com/select/main?cmd=KeywordSandbox
2. Step Two: Optimize your website ranking factors.
Once you have finished keyword analysis and selected specified keywords, you should optimize your web site to improve search engine position. The important ranking factors including website title tags, description tags, meta keyword tags, heading text, link url, link text, image alt, comment and web page body text.
Every keyword frequency, weight, size, prominence
and proximity all affect the ranking. You should optimize all these factors carefully. The top 10 ranking website content and ranking factors will give your more help.
Resources:
Web Optimization Angel - http://www.websitepromotionsoft.com/weboptimizationangel.html
WebPositionGold - http://www.webposition.com/d2.pl?r=TBI-55EC&FN=download.htm
3. Step Three: Submit url to search engines directories.
After search engine optimization page design, Submiting all your web sites to Google, Yahoo, MSN, DMOZ and the other major engines. Manual free submit url is recommend. At
http://www.websitepromotionsoft.com/submit-url-free.html you can find top 588 search engine list with homepage, submit url address, alexa rank, google page rank, google inbound links and google including site pages.
Resources:
search engine PageRank order list - http://www.websitepromotionsoft.com/search-engine-list-page-rank.html
4 .Step Four: Link Exchange and Manager.
Link popularity is the total number of websites that link to your web site, and is an extremely important method of improving your site's relevancy and position as many engines are using
this information as a ranking criterion. Both the quantity and quality of link popularity is important. The best links are "relevant" links from web pages related to your keyword or topic.
Resources:
External Link Promotion - http://www.websitepromotionsoft.com/external-link-promotion.html
5. Step Five: Monitoring and ReOptimizing.
Often checking your website search engine position of your targeted keywords, if not satisfied with optimization ranking results, you should do more SEO to achieve higher search engines ranking position.
Resources:
Agent Web Ranking - http://www.softwarekey.com/products/info.asp?A=31147
You must choose your keywords carefully. This is the most important step of the SEO. Wrong or ineffective keywords mean invalid keyword optimization. You should find popular keywords and phrases related to your business, then know search popularity and competition number of every keywords. The keywords with more popularity and less competition will be your targeted keyword phrases.
Resources:
Best Promotion Keywords - http://www.websitepromotionsoft.com/bestpromotionkeyword.html
Overture - http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
Google - https://adwords.google.com/select/main?cmd=KeywordSandbox
2. Step Two: Optimize your website ranking factors.
Once you have finished keyword analysis and selected specified keywords, you should optimize your web site to improve search engine position. The important ranking factors including website title tags, description tags, meta keyword tags, heading text, link url, link text, image alt, comment and web page body text.
Every keyword frequency, weight, size, prominence
and proximity all affect the ranking. You should optimize all these factors carefully. The top 10 ranking website content and ranking factors will give your more help.
Resources:
Web Optimization Angel - http://www.websitepromotionsoft.com/weboptimizationangel.html
WebPositionGold - http://www.webposition.com/d2.pl?r=TBI-55EC&FN=download.htm
3. Step Three: Submit url to search engines directories.
After search engine optimization page design, Submiting all your web sites to Google, Yahoo, MSN, DMOZ and the other major engines. Manual free submit url is recommend. At
http://www.websitepromotionsoft.com/submit-url-free.html you can find top 588 search engine list with homepage, submit url address, alexa rank, google page rank, google inbound links and google including site pages.
Resources:
search engine PageRank order list - http://www.websitepromotionsoft.com/search-engine-list-page-rank.html
4 .Step Four: Link Exchange and Manager.
Link popularity is the total number of websites that link to your web site, and is an extremely important method of improving your site's relevancy and position as many engines are using
this information as a ranking criterion. Both the quantity and quality of link popularity is important. The best links are "relevant" links from web pages related to your keyword or topic.
Resources:
External Link Promotion - http://www.websitepromotionsoft.com/external-link-promotion.html
5. Step Five: Monitoring and ReOptimizing.
Often checking your website search engine position of your targeted keywords, if not satisfied with optimization ranking results, you should do more SEO to achieve higher search engines ranking position.
Resources:
Agent Web Ranking - http://www.softwarekey.com/products/info.asp?A=31147
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