Understanding search engine optimization from Google's point of view

2007-04-17T06:53:00.000-07:00

Ever been frustrated that in spite of your best efforts, your site simply does not rank well in Google results ? You have tried every trick in the trade but have failed to catch on to that one thing you need to come up in Google results. What is that one thing which your competitor has but you don't? Is it technology, money or something else ? Not at all. It is nothing but Google's trust.

You need to understand clearly that Google tries to replicate human behaviour in ranking a website.

It will rank a website well for quite the same reasons as a human being would who thinks a particular site or topic is of importance or of high quality. Whatever reasoning makes a human being think that a site or topic is of importance is the same reasoning that will be used by Google to judge you.

So think about why you would buy a certain shoe or car in day to day life and you will come to know Google's point of view.

Would you buy a car just because a majority of people in one block or locality said it was good ? ( Local presence )

Would you not like to get a recommendation from just about everybody ?

What would you think about a car dealer if he sets up shop in a cosmetics store ? (Wrong category )

Would you think that a particular car is top of the line if it is located somewhere at the back of 50 cars and not on the front line of display ? ( 50th page )

Would you think that a particular car is good without smashing looks ? ( Bold and right at the top)

What would you do if you found out that your car dealer told you that Tom Hanks bought the latest model from him but you find out that it wasn’t Tom Hanks but some milk vendor who bought it ? ( Not true facts )

Would you buy a car from a dealer who has a display sign that he is selling imported cars but in actuality he is just selling pre-owned local cars ? (Title )

Would you buy it if somebody recommended it to you through somebody else without having first hand info ? ( Redirects )

Would you say a salesman has knowledge about top of the line cars if he recommends you buy them from local garages?
(Outbound links)

Would you buy a car if it is recommended by a bunch of cobblers ? ( Inbound links )

Or a street side mechanic who has just started out ? ( Page Rank )

Can an actor get an Oscar without their jury considering nominations from every country ? ( No follow )

Would you buy a car just because it has been given a greater shine than a new car with a good engine? ( Graphics without content )

Would you buy it if the dealer refused to give his phone number and address ? (Authenticity )

Would you buy it if the dealer has been in the business for only a few days ? (Domain age)

Would you not like to wait for sometime before you get recommendation from some people that the dealer is indeed good and can be trusted? ( Sandbox and aging delay )

And finally would you buy the car if you walk into a complex and you find the cobbler recommends cosmetics stores and the car dealer, the cosmetics stores recommends the cobbler and the car dealer and the car dealer recommends the cobbler and the cosmetics stores ? ( Link farms )

Successful search engine optimization depends a lot not on trying every trick in the trade but understanding why a product sells well in real life. It has more to do with looking at things from the people's point of view than useless code.

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This article cannot be copied or reproduced anywhere either in print, electronic or other media without the author's that is my express permission.

10 tips on link building

2007-04-14T04:39:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our blog ! Find the latest articles, tools, interviews on search engine optimization and link building and also our commentary on the subject here. Some of these are posted from our own website on link popularity.

Go through our blog and have a nice time ! Please be sure to leave your feedback for the benefit of everybody.

10 things to look out for while building links

Quality. That is the right word. If your site's SEO has been taken care of well and you have been in the business for quite sometime there is no reason why you should not rank well if you have backlinks from high PR directories.

But again there are so many other factors that go along with directory submissions like the amount of competition that you have on the net, your content, age of the directory, the amount of trust Google has in your site as well as the particular directory etc. etc. that it might not happen to your site.

Wherever you get the links from , it is important they be 'followed' by Google. A 'no follow' link does not fetch you a gain in SERPs. There are some directories where your link is hosted on a ' no follow basis '.

There are others where instead of giving you a direct link you are given a redirect. Redirects don't serve your purpose.

And some give you jump links which again aren't useful.

There are directories where you are listed somewhere on the 50th page ! That might not be useful unless it is easily reachable from the homepage or your category.

It is important to be listed in the right category. If not you are simply sending the wrong signals.

Even if you are in the right category, half formed words in the title or anchor text wont do you any good. The title is restricted to about 50 characters in a lot of directories. An automated submission wont be able to check these things apart from spellings. Since the essence of link building is SEO and Google wont be able to make out half formed keywords, the effect of link building will be lost.

Some directories allow you to submit to them and list you on a entirely new directory that they want links for ! Watch out for them.

Most importantly stay clear of link farms.

Submit to directories having a PR 3 and above.

Stay clean , get professional SEO help, offer valuable updated content to your visitors - your site should take off . There is what is known as the Google sandbox and aging delay. So it takes sometime.

But on the other side do you think Hotmail resorted to SEO when it was first introduced? They got thousands of users in two days !

Content is the 'key' word.

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This article cannot be copied or reproduced anywhere either in print, electronic or other media without the author's that is my express permission.

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Understanding search engine optimization from Google's point of view

10 tips on link building