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10 Truths About
Obtaining Better Google Rankings
By Kevin Gallagher (c) 2007 |
Introduction
I have read hundreds of articles telling me how to get
better rankings in Google. Some of this advice was very good
and some was not. Here you will find 10 truths about getting
better rankings in Google that I personally have found to be
true after years of research. So let's cut through the fat
and get to the lean meat of the subject.
1. The Quick Fix
First the bad news, unfortunately there are no quick fixes
in creating higher rankings in Google. You have to have a
lot of patience in the search engine optimization game. It
will take months for your efforts to come to fruition.
That's why it's important to get things right from the start
and plan out your strategy.
2. Keywords
Keywords are the most important part of search engine
optimization. You must do your keyword research before
starting your website if you can, because this will form the
basis of all your search engine optimization.
There is no point going for broad keywords such as "website
design" since there is too much competition for those
keywords and you will find it very difficult, if not
impossible, to reach the top spot in Google. You are better
off using long tail niche keywords. They will have a smaller
search volume, but it will be easier to obtain top position.
People are more likely to find what they are looking for
with long tail keywords. For example, if someone needs a
website, they may type "web design" into Google and
visit a few websites. They may then discover they also need
hosting and a domain name and do another search for "website
design hosting and domain name services" and this may
be your niche keyword or key phrase.
How do you find keywords that people are searching for?
Well a good free tool can be found at SeoBook or, if you
want something more professional, you can use wordtracker an
excellent service for finding niche keywords. You should try
and get at least 10 keyword phrases.
Once you have found your keywords, do a search with them
on Google. First of all look at how many results there are.
If it's in the millions, then maybe your keywords are not
that good and would be too competitive.
If you can find keywords with results at about 50,000,
then you could be onto a winner. You should also check out
your competition. Click on the top result for your keyword
in the SERPS (search engine results pages) and check out
their page rank. This will give you a rough idea of what you
need to achieve to get top placement. Also, you should check
to see how many links they have pointing to their website as
this will give you a rough idea of how many links you will
need to get to the top position. To do this, in the search
box type link: www.thedomain.com and you will get a
list of websites that link to that domain, but it's a good
idea to do this in the Yahoo search engine because it
provides a more extensive list of back links. Google will
only show you a percentage of their links, usually page rank
3 or higher.
Remember, these are only rough estimates because every
website is different and less, more relevant links will
achieve better results.
3. Title Tag
Google sees the title tag as the most important and relevant
part of the webpage it retrieves. This is one of the few
things you have any control over in Google's search results.
The title tag is the underlined header for your result in
the SERPS. It also appears at top of your browser window.
Keep this descriptive and readable but at the same time
include your newly found niche keywords. Google will also
highlight the keywords in your title that were included in
the search query.
4. Description Tag
The description tag is the description of the webpage which
resides under the title tag in the results. Again use your
keywords in here, maybe some of the lesser ones you
discovered. This is the only other part of the results you
have any control over. Google will also highlight the
keywords in here that match the search query. Again remember
to keep it descriptive and readable.
5. Domain Names
If you can, try and include your main keywords in your
domain name. Google will highlight them when they match the
search query. This can give your ranking a little boost
because it will show that your website is relevant to the
search query.
6. Content
Content is very important. If you have ever changing fresh,
unique content on your website relating to your topic,
Google will love you for it and other websites will link to
you. In return, this will increase your rankings, but you
should really be doing this anyway. A website with no
changing content is a dead website. Your content should
contain your keywords, but don't sp@m your content with your
keywords. Use them at the start and end of your webpage and
sprinkle them in-between. Also use them in your header text
and even bold a few as this shows Google that these words
bear more importance.
Remember, these are only rough estimates because every
website is different and less, more relevant links will
achieve better results.
3. Title Tag
Google sees the title tag as the most important and relevant
part of the webpage it retrieves. This is one of the few
things you have any control over in Google's search results.
The title tag is the underlined header for your result in
the SERPS. It also appears at top of your browser window.
Keep this descriptive and readable but at the same time
include your newly found niche keywords. Google will also
highlight the keywords in your title that were included in
the search query.
4. Description Tag
The description tag is the description of the webpage which
resides under the title tag in the results. Again use your
keywords in here, maybe some of the lesser ones you
discovered. This is the only other part of the results you
have any control over. Google will also highlight the
keywords in here that match the search query. Again remember
to keep it descriptive and readable.
5. Domain Names
If you can, try and include your main keywords in your
domain name. Google will highlight them when they match the
search query. This can give your ranking a little boost
bcause it will show that your website is relevant to the
search query.
6. Content
Content is very important. If you have ever changing fresh,
unique content on your website relating to your topic,
Google will love you for it and other websites will link to
you. In return, this will increase your rankings, but you
should really be doing this anyway. A website with no
changing content is a dead website. Your content should
contain your keywords, but don't sp@m your content with your
keywords. Use them at the start and end of your webpage and
sprinkle them in-between. Also use them in your header text
and even bold a few as this shows Google that these words
bear more importance.
The only advantage of that green bar that I can see is
for exchanging links. You can get a rough idea of what a
website's ranking is and you can decide whether or not to
exchange links.
8. Linking
One-way links are better than 2 way links, but one-way links
can be harder to obtain. Why should someone put your link on
their website; what's in it for them? You can do this by
writing articles like this one and submitting them to
article websites, social media websites or on your own blog,
but remember to add an author's bio which includes some
links to your website.
Reciprocal links are easier to come by, but in the early
stages, when you don't have a good page rank will be more
difficult to obtain. Once your page rank increases you can
be more selective of the page rank you exchange with.
Don't forget about the guys starting out when your green
bar starts to increase. If they have a website with good
quality content, then you should consider linking with them.
Remember we all need to start somewhere and today's page
rank of 1 is tomorrow's page rank 5. Try to link with
relevant websites because Google likes this, and you will
receive quality traffic from these websites for years to
come.
Also, I have found a great little tool which checks
potential link partners to see if they are linking to bad
neighborhoods. A link exchange with a penalized website
could also result in a Google penalty for your site. The
tool can be found at:
http://www.bad-neighborhood.com/text-link-tool.htm
Editor's Note: The page at the above URL might not
be visible in all web browsers but is visible in Internet
Explorer.
9. The Open Directory (DMOZ)
You should always submit your website to DMOZ since it can
take an age to get listed there and Google uses these
results in its organic results sometimes. I recently wrote
an article discussing this topic and some people commented
on this and said that they haven't submitted to DMOZ and
their rankings are fine. This may be true, but one thing you
should remember is that lots of directory websites use DMOZ
results, which in turn will get you more one-way links.
10. Blogs
Blogs are loved by Google because they have lots of text and
are constantly getting updated; so start your own blog on
your website. Include articles, stories and anything that's
related to your website. If you give people something of
interest, they will come back for more and link to you.
That's all for now, take care and good luck! And
remember, you only get out of something what you put in to
it.
To set up a free, no-pressure
appointment with one of our representatives, call us at:
941.705.1388.
Although we are located in Bradenton, Florida, we will
personally visit customers in Sarasota, Venice, Tampa,
Lakeland, Orlando, Jacksonville, Ellenton, Palmetto, Myakka,
Siesta Key, Bird Key, Lakewood Ranch, Bradenton Beach, Anna
Maria Island, Tidy Island, Cortez and other accompanying
cities. We also boast clients from Chicago, Ukraine, Los
Angeles, Myakka, Sarasota, Ellenton, Braidwood, Joliet,
Longboat Key, Little Rock and Manhattan.
