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How
Google Ranks Your Web Page
Google is perhaps the Internet's most important search
engine. In addition, to being a top search in itself,
it powers the search engine components of AOL and
Yahoo to name just a few. So if you haven't figured
it out already, you'd better have some understanding
how Google indexes and ranks your web page.
This article does not strive to provide all the answers
to Google rankings. It could take volumes and even
then, search engines like to keep some things secret
as they are intent on discouraging cheaters. This
is not a technical document - it just provides you
with tips on improving your Google rankings.
What Google looks at:
1. Link Popularity
The idea is that site A votes for
site B by placing a link to site B on site A. Despite
popular belief, simply exchanging links with a whole
bunch of sites isn't necessarily going to increase
your link popularity. The Google search engine analyzes
the importance of the sites providing the links to
your site. Focus on linking with sites with good rankings.
You can see that Google does not index all the links
to your site. Find out which links Google indexes
by searching for your site "http://www.yourdomain.com"
on Google. Then below your link, you'll see the option
"Find web pages that link to http://www.yourdomain.com".
There you'll find the pages that Google has found
that link to your site. You'll notice that many of
these links may be your own pages. Be sure to link
all your pages together as this can help increase
link popularity.
Link popularity is calculated on all the pages in
your web site. You should generate links to all your
important pages, not just your home page.
Google considers your Title and ALT Meta Tags when
indexing your page. It does not consider your Description
Meta Tags or Keyword Meta Tags. **
For an introductory article on Keywords & Meta
Tags, see: http://www.internetbasedmoms.com/keywords.htm
- please read this article if you need to understand
the difference between keyword meta tags and keywords
that are entered into a search engine.
a. Title Tags: Title tags play heavily in
your ranking for a search on Google. Title tags
with just your company name on every page are not
going to cut it. Or are you a victim of "new
page 1" title tags because you forgot to name
your pages? If so, go fix your Title tags right
now!
The Title tag is what appears at the top of a Google
search result, so it should describe what your business
is all about and should include keywords people
would use to find your site. Google will read about
59 characters (including spaces) in a Title.
b. ALT Tags: Google also reads the ALT tags
that are attached to your graphics. They are a good
way to include more keywords in your web page. They
are also the words that appear when you move your
mouse over a graphic (For more information on ALT
Tags, see http://www.internetbasedmoms.com/alt_tags.htm).
Although Google does read your ALT tags, it is not
clear to me what importance these tags have in returning
results to someone performing a search on Google.
Google searches the content on your site to return
relevant search results. Be sure to include relevant
keywords in the text of all your pages. Also, try
to keep them near the top of your pages - Google
may not crawl all the way down your page.
For example, if someone would search for your site
with the keywords "cloth diapers" - be
sure to include those words in your Title tag and
near the top of your web page.
Having your keywords in your domain
name may boost your ranking. Google seems to favor
sites with keywords in their domain.
For example, if you search for "diaper"
on Google, the top results have the word "diaper"
in the domain name.
Those are just a few basics to Google rankings. Incorporate
some of these suggestions into your web page, wait
for Google to update in a few weeks and see the difference.
Determine what works and what doesn't and continually
improve your site based on what you discover.
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