How do search engines rank pages? 
Search engines use a ranking algorithm to determine the order in which matching web pages are returned on the results page. Each web page is graded on the number of the search terms it contains, where the words are located in the document, and other criteria that changes frequently. 

All search engines have a different method of ranking. That's why you might rank number 1 on one engine and number 25 on another. Robots look for relevance and rank results on a secret ever-changing algorithm. Some look at TITLE, some look at META tags, some look for link popularity. Search engine optimization means optimizing the Web site for the best possible positioning based on the page's keywords and description. 

General tips to get a good ranking. 
1. Create a good site with good content. 
This is critical, especially as search engines grow in sophistication. If your site contains worthwhile material, users will return to your site and will recommend it to others. Other sites will link to you - which will in turn help you by improving your link popularity. 

2. Pick keywords visitors will actually use on a search engine query. 
If you have keywords that are very competitive, consider narrowing your focus to improve results. The keyword "horse" will return thousands of responses and may not place you near the top, while "Appaloosa" is more focused and targeted to a particular query. 

Consider using a keyword phrase instead of just one keyword. Visitors to search engines use phrases to narrow their searches. For example, instead of using a keyword like "horse" that would return too many responses, use a more specific keyword phrase like "Alabama Quarter horse."

Brainstorm a good list of list of keywords. Tap into other people - a fresh perspective can help uncover words you may have missed. This keyword analysis article offers some useful tips on brainstorming.

Don't just guess at which keywords are popular, get quantitative feedback. 

3. Include keywords in your TITLE tag. 
Pages with keywords appearing in the TITLE are assumed to be more relevant to the topic than those without. 

4. Use keywords in META Keyword and Description tags. 
Using META tags will not hurt you in search engines that don't use them, and they can definitely help you in search engines that do index them. While they are not as important as the TITLE tag, META tags can give you the edge over your competition since most web sites don't even use them. 

5. Use your keywords throughout your page. 
Search engines will check to see if the keywords appear near the top of a web page, such as in the headline or in the first few paragraphs of text. They assume that any page relevant to the topic will mention those words right from the beginning. 

6. Have a good keyword density on your page. 
Keyword density is derived by dividing the frequency of that word by the total words on the page. Frequency is a major factor in how search engines determine relevancy. A search engine will analyze how often keywords appear in relation to other words in a web page. Those with a higher frequency are often deemed more relevant than other web pages. This can turn into a balancing act as too high a density can be considered spam by some engines. Usually you are safe if your keyword density falls between 1 - 5 %. 

7. Continually work on improving your link popularity. 
Listings on popular Web sites can increase your traffic significantly. They do this in two ways: 

They give potential visitors multiple paths to your Web site. 
They can increase your ranking in search engines that use link popularity as part of their formula. Most search engines use link popularity as relevance criteria. For example, the Google search engine (not their new directory) is based almost entirely on link popularity.

Note: Search Engine are automated search system as opposed to one that is compiled by human editors. When an internet user types a search phrase into the search box of a search engine, powerful software scans the search engines database for words that match the users query. Each search engine has its own unique criteria for deciding on the relevance of the pages contained in its database to the search query which is the reason why searches for the same query brings different results from each search engine, even though the contents of their databases may be almost identical. Examples of search engines are Google, AltaVista and Lycos.

If you have any questions or comments please call me on 0720390184 or e-mail me on webmaster@webcraft.ws.

Click here to return to the Top.