Archive for SEO + More
March 15, 2009 at 9:27 pm · Filed under SEO + More
Page Rank (PR) is a specific value for a website page given by Google. It is Google’s measure of the importance of a certain site page. The scale is between 1-10. Google gives your website high PR if it is popular. It’s based on the number of votes other websites give for your website.
Those websites give votes to your site by putting a link to it on their websites. When you link your site to another website, that means you vote for it.
From this information, if you want your site to have a high PR, then you have to get as many votes as possible from other websites. In other words, make as many links as possible to your site and you will have higher PR!
This is important because PR is one of the many factors that Google takes into account when ranking websites.
If you want to find out your site’s PR (and others’ too), you must download and install Google’s Toolbar to your browser. Go here to download the toolbar for free: http://toolbar.Google.com
After installation, then you will see a small white and green bar. That is the Page Rank indicator. If you run your mouse pointer over it, you can see the PR of the current page you are opening. A PR of 6 is considered good for a website.
Copyright 2005 Farid Aziz.
Farid Aziz is the author of “How to Make Money Onine with Your Hobby”. Visit http://Internet-Marketer.blogspot.com to grab your FREE copy of “Internet-Business-In-A-Box”, a kit worth US$ 497.00.
March 10, 2009 at 10:27 pm · Filed under SEO + More
Link popularity is the single most influential factor for determining how well a web site will perform in search engine rankings. A web site’s link popularity is computed from the number and more importantly, the quality of links pointing to a web site.
Link Popularity history
To gain a better understanding of link popularity it is useful to know why it became so crucial for search engine rankings. In the past a web page’s ranking was determined, amongst other factors, by the number of keyword occurences within ‘on-page’ elements i.e. in page text, META tags, title tag.
When web developers learned that they could trick a search engine to return their web pages by cramming keywords into their pages the search engines had to get a bit smarter. They were using ‘on-page’ elements to determine relevance so it was only natural that they would look to elements out of direct control of the web page creator i.e. ‘off-page’ elements. Search engines made the assumption that the greater the number of links from other sites pointing to a web site, the more popular the web site is and therefore a more quality resource. This worked nicely in theory but in practice it was also to be abused.
Web site owners figured out many ways to get links pointing to their web sites one example of which was through the use of link farms, pages the contained nothing more than a collection of links, Quantity of links was being abused so the search engines made use of the old saying “quality not quantity” and began to assign a quality factor to each of the links pointing to a web site. Now web sites that had a higher number of high quality links were looked upon favourably by the search engines. Building link popularity became a science in itself and today is still the most time-consuming and frustrating activity for a search engine optimizer.
Main classes of links
Note: In the following examples SiteA is our web site and SiteB is an outside site (i.e. a web site under a different domain name than SiteA).
Inbound links:
Inbound links to a web site are links that originate from an outside web site. An example would be a link on SiteB pointing into a page on SiteA.
SiteA (—– SiteB
Outbound links:
Outbound links from a web site are links pointing to a page on an outside web site. An example would be a link on SiteA pointing out to a page on SiteB.
SiteA —–) SiteB
There are two further classifications of links:
Reciprocal links:
An example of a reciprocal link is when SiteA links to SiteB AND SiteB links to SiteA, the link is reciprocated by both parties.
SiteA —–) SiteB
AND
SiteA (—– SiteB
To achieve a high link popularity the type of links to build are inbound one-way links. This simulates how natural links are created i.e. links that people create to point to your site because they found it worth linking to.
For outbound links it is natural to assume that they might decrease link popularity of a web site but this is not true. You do not give away your link popularity when you link to another site. They do not add to your link popularity though.
Reciprocal links can add to your link popularity if the web site that you exchange links with has a higher link popularity than your site. However they are not as powerful as inbound, one-way links as they are quite artificial in nature i.e. most probably created by communication between the owners of both sites.
How to build link popularity
So it is quite obvious that to help build up a nice link popularity many inbound, one-way links need to be created. This can be achieved in a number of different (and most importantly, legal) ways:
Directories:
Directories are categorized listings of links from around the web. Many, many directories exist and vary in their methods of getting your link posted on them. They provide a great source of quality inbound, one-way links. Getting listed in quality directories such as DMOZ or Yahoo can be more beneficial for your link popularity than a lot of links from smaller, newer directories.
Great site content:
The most powerful way to get inbound, one-way links is to have great site content that other web sites will want to link to. This allows you to get links from sites other than directories, which can definitely be better. The best thing about this is that it requires no communication on your part, it just happens naturally. If your site has poor content then others sites may not link, including the directories. Most of the top ranking web sites today got to the top because of great content. Writing interesting and informative articles for your web site is a good way of getting these kind of links.
Emailing web site owners:
If you come across a listing of links on a web site other than a directory e.g. a links page on a somebody’s personal web site, it can do no harm to write the web site owner a polite email requesting a link to your site from their page. They may request a reciprocal link in return but sometimes they do not and you can get a quality inbound, one-way link for your efforts. I have got many links in the past using this method. In my email I always ask them to visit my site first before making a decision to link and I personalise each email with a comment or two about their site.
Summary
The best and most effective way of increasing your search engine rankings is working to improve your web site’s link popularity. This can be achieved by getting as many inbound, one-way links as you can from quality sites such as directories. Other ways to get these links are having great content on your site and requesting a link to your site from other web sites.
Increasing link popularity is a time-consuming and sometimes frustrating process but is definitely worth the time and effort when you see a dramatic increase in traffic.
Frank Kilkelly is a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Expert and Webmaster at http://www.seo-ireland.com/, a complete search engine optimization resource. The highlight of the site is an SEO forum http://www.seo-ireland.com/forum/ for discussion of the latest techniques and tips to improve the ranking of your web site.
October 8, 2008 at 7:40 pm · Filed under SEO + More
The new MSN Search is quickly gaining popularity among internet search engine users. Google still being the #1 search engine with Yahoo in #2, and MSN in a strong #3. Each of the three major search engines has their own unique algorithm, and MSN is no different. Over the past several months I have had amazing success with MSN. With a few tweaks and tricks I have all of my sites ranked top 3 (mostly #1’s) with my targeted key words. This article will give you a quick look at how I have managed to rank so high so often.
Choose Your Key Words
In order to fully succeed with msn, you have to target your key words carefully. For example, if you have a forum which is targeting video gamers, you would likely target a key word phrase such as “video game forum.” By targeting a specific key word, or phrase, you give your site direction, which will make ranking on search engines much easier. If you are unsure of which key word(s) to target check out this key word suggestion tool from Digital Point.
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/?keywords=fgfgf
Add key Words To Your Title
As it stands right now, MSN is putting a great deal of weight on titles. What I have found to be extremely successful is using the following as a sort of title template. “Site Title - key word target”
Below is an example of how your title should look using this template.
GamesForum.ca - Video Games Forum
Since MSN does not currently use meta tags as a source for your sites description, having your key words in you title is extremely vital. It not only gives your site a better chance at ranking high with the search engines, but gives your site identification to those using the search engines.
Backlinks
Like Google and Yahoo, MSN puts a great deal of priority on backlinks. Basically a backlink is a link pointing from one website to another. Without links, your website will more than likely go unnoticed. So how should you accumulate these links? Backlinks can come from many sources. A couple of my favorites include
Articles
Directories
Forums
Link exchanges with relevant sites
And coop networks
For more detail on how to acquire quality backlinks check out another article I wrote found on my blog
Anchor Text
Part of targeting the key words you choose is by using anchor text with backlinks. The anchor text is the text you see with a standard text link. So when you add your URL to directories, forums, articles other sites or wherever, instead of using http :www.gamesforum.ca, use your key word(s) as your link title. Depending on where you are submitting your site, the link should look something like the following
[url=http://www.gamesforum.ca]video game forum[/url]
It has been shown that the major search engines, including MSN give links with anchor higher weight compared to a standard URL link. For this reason alone, using anchor links are worth the time and effort.
The Importance of a Relevant URL
I believe your domains URL has a significant impact on ranking well with MSN. It is by no means as important as title, backlinks, or anchor, but still can seriously effect your overall ranking. For example if you have a website discussing how hot Britney spears is, it’s far more effective to have a u URL which has relevant key word text in it. For example:
www. britneyspearsishot.info
Is far more effective ss opposed to a URL such as
www.jimbubbles.net
Of course, you can still rank well if you target the right key words, but having an appropriate URL with good key word text, will make it much easier and faster to reach the top
Conclusion
The new MSN search engine is unique. To rank high you have to clearly target specific key words. Once you know your key words, develop your site with focus on title, backlinks with anchor text, and a relevant URL. Of course there are many other factors to take into consideration as well, but if you follow my advice, you will notice significant improvement in overall ranking.
Ron is the CTO for Dice Ventures Inc an internet holdings and development company. Some current projects include a Investment forum and a Linux forum
October 7, 2008 at 4:17 pm · Filed under SEO + More
In the early days of the World Wide Web, when things were just getting started many geek speak terms were jockeying for position to be the standards for years to come. I used to drive by a California-based company every day that had named itself YKK and think, “What a pity.”
Then I think what if the World Wide Web had lost out to the World Wide Subway System (WWSS) or some other less noble term? Then I take it one step further and think, “What if the term search had lost out to seek”? Let’s think about this for a moment. Seek is a good word with a nearly identical meaning to search. In fact, in the Oxford American Dictionary (with the torn off cover and publishing info) it states that seek means “…to make a search or inquiry for, to try to find or obtain or do.”
In Seek Of
What would be the repercussions of using seek speak instead of search? First there would be the seek engines and the seek engine optimizers who would try to get top rankings on these engines. Then you would have specialized seeking going on like local seek, personalized seek and contextual seek. There may be terms bandied about like seek engine specific algorithms, seek options, seek tips, seek tools and seek toolbars. If you’re looking for someone online, this would be people seek. If there is something that you cannot find, you would be seeking high and low. Out in the real world you may conduct a talent seek for the next teen idol.
Heck if you happened to be out and lost in the woods at night, the seek party would come looking for you using their seek lights. If by some chance, you had done something morally reprehensible to a bear or a small woodland creature while you were in the woods, you may wish to do a little soul seeking. If you have a pattern of committing these reprehensible acts and keeping pictures on your home PC, then the police may obtain a seek warrant to bring you to justice.
Search and Ye Shall Find
What if there had also been a backlash to all of this seeking? In the struggle to become the number one term for the same activity, this could happen. The instant messenger service ICQ could have chosen to go another direction and today we would have cumbersome ISEARCH4U. Some of the search engine themselves may now have different names such as WhatUSearch.com, OneSearch.com and ExactSearch.com. Out in the real world, your kids could be playing Hide & Search. And, if the police were closing in on you for the aforementioned reprehensible acts, you may be searching asylum in another country.
Fun of Finding
The goal of seeking or searching is to find. If you find what you need, you’ve had a successful experience. But, what if from the early experiences on the Internet, neither search nor seek were chosen in order to find? We could talk about the Look or Find Engines now, but that’s a whole new subject altogether, my friend. Let’s just leave this one alone.
About The Author
Copyright © 2004 SEO Resource
http://www.seoresource.net
Kevin Kantola head’s up SEO Resource, an Orange County, California search engine optimization company devoted to achieving high rankings.
info@seoresource.net
October 7, 2008 at 1:01 pm · Filed under SEO + More
In part I of our series of how to make your website more successful we already showed you some important tricks to build a more successful website. This time we are going to expand the scope a little to further improve your website and to make it work harder for you on the Internet.
A) Outbound links: Search engines love to see outbound links every once in a while. It proves to a search engine that your website is related to a certain topic and industry. Make sure you use a keyword for the link and not just the plain URL. Linking to http://www.webhostingresourcekit.com is less valuable than linking to the same site as “Web Hosting Help” (with the same link underneath of course). The keywords here are “Web Hosting Help”.
B) Insite Cross Links: We’re not done with linking to other places yet. Insite Cross inks (links from one page of your website to another web page of your website) will be an important part of the future of your website. Imagine article “A” getting high feedback and many external people linking to it. This article page will receive a higher page rank than other pages of your website. This cross link will now share the page rank out to other web pages of your website and therefore eventually boosting the page rank of the page linked to.
C) Submit to Search Engines: You’ve built your website and are ready to go live. How will search engines find your new website? Unless you link to the new website from an existing website you will have to let search engines know about it. Submit the homepage to: Google, Altavista, WiseNut, DirectHit, and Hotbot (and all the others you know). Also submit the website to DMOZ. I’d personally stay away from paid listings unless you think it is needed. Anyway - now comes the tough part - forget about the submissions. It might take a few weeks or months for a site to be spidered.
D) Web Server Logging / Website Tracking: To be able to work properly with your website you will need good logging tools. You want to know how many website visitors you get, where they come from, what pages they look at and how long they stay. A counter on your website does not do it. You need tools like Webalizer, AWStats, Urchin or Webtrends. If your web host does not provide any of the first 3 options (Webtrends is fee-based) you should move to a new web host. Proper log file analysis is important to your success.
This article can be published by anyone as long as a live back link to http://www.smallbusinessland.com is provided. (this note can then be removed)
About the Author
Christoph Puetz is a successful small business owner (Net Services USA LLC) and international author.
Guides, Tutorials, and Articles for small businesses - http://www.smallbusinessland.com
