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Keywords, Competition And Being Number One- Uncovering The Algorithm |
by:
John Krycek |
By following these steps you will see that most closely guarded secret--search algorithm. Remembermovie "The Matrix?" The Matrix is there, you just can't see it. So issearch algorithm.
It's easy to paySearch Engine Optimizer to give your pages some ranking power. Unfortunately, giveninherent time factor involved in climbingranks, your money may be long gone before you know if you've spent your money well.
THERE IS NO MAGIC PILL
Forget any advertisement you see for instant number one search results or automated this or that. Most are scams, andones that aren't might get you positioned, but it will be very short lived.
Search engine optimization isongoing process. Achieving and maintaininghigh rank, especially on highly competitive keywords, requires constant maintenance. If you do findlegitimate SEO firm, it is well worthmoney to pay their monthly maintenance fee and let them continue to help you afterinitial project. At least for six months oryear as you establish yourself.
In this article we'll look at some ofintricate and complex tasks of optimizingpage for long term ranking power. You will learn how to read betweencode andcontent to find what is necessary to bring you totop. Being number one is easy to say, but is quickly overwhelming when you stare at tens of thousands of pages you want to out rank. So how do you begin?
The starting line onroad to that first page SERP (search engine results page) ranking is not as blurry as you might think. In fact, you can uncoverstarting line,route, and allscenery alongway tofinish line without knowingsearch engine algorithm.
STEP one- YOUR KEYWORDS ARE THE CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT OF GRUELLING DAYS OF WORK
If you have investments instock market you know how much research and thought goes into choosing those securities. Now take that same effort and multiply it by three. That's how much planning and revision your keywords should take.
A simple, broad key phrase like "shoes" could hypothetically bring you up incountless stream of different searches. Women's shoes, baby shoes, sneakers, high heels, etc. If somehow you manage to settle intogood ranking (which would be difficult) you would have more traffic on your site than you could handle. But traffic is worthless is it doesn't get to it's destination. Chances are, you were not that destination.
Your keywords must be focused and precise, specific to what you are selling. Usingkey phrase like "Gucci mens black leather loafer" will bringtargeted lead to your site. You may not reach as many people asmore generalized keyword, butpeople that do come to you havemuch deeper interest inspecific product you are selling.
Therefore you have much greater chance of converting that targeted lead tosale. Your keywords are your magic beans, your winning lotto numbers, your energizer bunnies, your sales force, whatever you want to call them. They must be perfect.
STEP two- WANT TO BE NUMBER ONE? LOOK AT WHO ALREADY IS
Competition Analysis- no SEO book can give you this information.
Now take your keyword list and type them intosearch engine. Who comes up infirst ten results? That company that is number one is because they have most closely matched whatsearch engine algorithm says should be number one. You can learngreat deal from them.
A. INTERNAL FACTORS
Take that number one page, andother top nine pages and study them, look atcode, break them down. You are looking atfirst half of what is needed to rank intop onezero pages for your key phrases on that particular search engine. The list of what to look for is enormous.
StudyingInternal Factors onpage is taking it apart to see how it's put together. Not how it works, but statistical research intoprecise construct and layout of keywords and phrases in relation to each other withinpage.
Start with these areas:
URL address, Page Title, Meta description, Meta Keywords, First sentence onpage, Body copy, Bold or Emphasized Phrases, Hone or other tags, Alt Tags, Navigation system
In each of those sections, look at:
Keyword densities-number of times your phrase and each word in your phrase appears compared totext around it
Where and in how many timessame phrase and words appear in different sections
The word and character position of each phrase in each
The total number of characters
The total number of words
The quality and thought ofcontent
Beginning with these comparisons should keep you quite busy forwhile. A spreadsheet is quite useful. Some commercial products are also available that can make this daunting task much more feasible. Keep looking for other patterns and differences. You want to duplicate them in your own page. NOT copy and steal. You want to mimicpatterns that are bringing that page toposition it is. Then move onto to examiningexternal factors of these pages.
B. EXTERNAL FACTORS
External factors ofweb page deal withlinks to, from and withinweb page, both insidesame site, and out intoweb. This analysis usually takes more time because it involves more dissection of pages beyondone you're trying to optimize.
In this analysis as with Internal Factors, you want to compare and contrast your page versustop onezero competitors, find similarities and differences. Here islist of criteria to get you started.
Number of internal (tosame site) on that page
Number of external links
Number of links pointing TO that page* (see below for details)
The link/anchor text- which keywords are used and where
Google PR value of incoming links
Alexa Rank of incoming links
*To getlisting oflinks that point tosite, typefollowing into Google, MSN and Yahoo searches: "link:www.domainname.com". Google tends to only showsmall portion oflinks back, but MSN and Yahoo will give you much more pertinent data.
Now you want to comparecontent on each of these pages toone they point to. Is it of similar theme, in what context doeslink back appear and where. Subject of much debate,consensus is that Google PR does not mean what it used to. However, if it is in some fashionmeasure of how significant or "important"site is, it is worth looking more closely atsites that link back that are of high page rank.
EVEN A SURGEON USES TOOLS
Now, this is definitelyton of work to do all by hand. There are software programs that can help do some ofdigging and mathematical computations for you, figuring out densities and organizing information.
Tools like this are definitely onesprofessional SEO will have in their arsenal. But remember, these are tools, not miracle workers. It takeshuman being to evaluate and realize connections, similarities, draw conclusions and interpretdata. Then, you have to extrapolate this data.
Remember, you want to do one better than every site you just examined. To do that you have to draw some conclusions and make some educated guesses and link to even better sites.
FINAL THOUGHTS
You have access toinner workings of every page that you want to beat. Learn from them and do one better. This process is notone-time shot. It is ongoing. Check your key phrases every week. Dosame people still rank intop ten?
Some have probably moved. Remember too that they're going to adapt to maintain their positions too. If you wantranks, you have to spendtime, and not just once, or pay someone to do it for you.
Don't ever believe anyone who says they can guarantee any kind of results. And ask them how they will optimize your pages. If they explain to you something likeabove, then you've probably got yourself someone experienced and honest. You money will be well spent and you'll quickly recover it.
Aboutauthor:
John Krycek isowner and creative director of http://www.theMouseworks.caweb design in Toronto. Learn more about search engine optimization and internet marketing in easy, non-technical, up front English!
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