SEO Search Engine Optimization Tips: Google Ranking Secrets August 16, 2007

by acbuddy

Google is by far the most important search engine on the net. To rise to the top of their search engine, you need to improve your link popularity and you need to understand how they measure your link popularity (over 50% of all search engine traffic comes from Google, and if you can rise to the top, you will likely rise to the top of all the other search engines as well).

Link popularity is defined as the number of sites that are linking to your site. Some websites have thousands or even millions of sites linking to them, while others might have only a few. The search engines use the number of inbound links your site has as a measure of how important your site is, which translates into your search engine ranking.

The actual number of links to your site is not the only variable used to calculate your link popularity. The search engines also examine the relevance of the links to the subject matter of your site. For example, if a website that sells vitamins has 4,000 inbound links, but the source of most of the links are websites that have nothing to do with vitamins, then the algorithm that search engines use to determine link popularity will take that into account, and the link popularity score will not be very good.

It is possible for a website with a relatively small number of quality inbound links to be ranked higher than a site with a bunch of irrelevant or insignificant links. If I have a website that offers quotes for auto insurance, and I have 800 quality inbound links, then I might receive a much higher search engine ranking than another mortgage site that has 3,000 links that stem from link farms or Free For All (FFA) pages.

If you try to acquire inbound by using link farms or FFA pages, not only will it hurt your search engine ranking, but you might get permanently removed from the search engine listings. Links farms are sites where you can instantly exchange links with all the sites listed in that directory. FFA pages are pointless link directories. The search engines usually discount any links that come from either of these sources.

Now that we understand what link popularity is and how it works, we need to look specifically at how Google measures it. They use a number of variables in their algorithm to calculate your overall link score. The higher your score, the higher you will be ranked in the search listings.

One factor that Google uses in their algorithm, obviously, is the total number of sites linking to you. The more links you have, the higher your score will be. However, their algorithm is a little more complicated than that, and it is possible for a website with fewer links to be ranked higher than a website that has more links.

The reason for this is because Google also measures the quality of your links. If your website is about vitamins, and the site linking to you is a video game site, then that is not considered a quality link. The link still helps your score, but the link would help your score much more if it were from a website whose subject matter is the same as yours.

Also, Google gives a higher score to a link if it comes from a page that has actual content that relates to your keywords. For example, if your site is about jewelry, and another jewelry website has posted a link to your site on their links page, that link is not as valuable as a link to your site coming from a blog or a message board where a lot of information about jewelry is being written or discussed.

Also, they give an even higher score to a link if it contains anchor text that matches one of the keywords that describes your site. For example, if I have a site that sells lawnmowers, and a blog about lawnmowers has posted a link to my site, it helps my score even more if the link text (also known as anchor text) is LAWNMOWERS. To learn more about anchor text, go to a search engine and look up ANCHOR TEXT and you will be able to learn about it.

Another factor used by Google to score your link popularity is the diversity of keywords contained on sites linking to you. For example, if you have a site that sells handbags, and all the links to your site are from other sites that contain nothing but the keyword HANDBAGS, Google considers that to be abnormal. To get a higher score, you need to have links coming from sites that contain a variety of keywords related to handbags, such as BUY HANDBAGS, LEATHER HANDBAGS, etc.

It is difficult to increase your link popularity, but now that you understand how your score is calculated, you can devise a plan to improve your score. You might want to consider posting to forums and blogs that contain information that is related to your site, and when you post, include a link to your site.

About the Author
Jim Pretin is the owner of http://www.forms4free.com, a service that helps programmers make an HTML form
Article Source: Content for Reprint

Soul Oyster Web Studios offers SEO Search Engine Optimization programs for every budget.

Web Designers’ Interviews: Soul Oyster Web Studios March 17, 2007

 

 

Posted at http://www.designinterviews.com/
03, 14th, 2007

 

JENN MARCELAIS of Souloyster.com

In my quest for excellent webdesign values I visit many designer websites. One that has impressed me, both in webdesign and in portfolio, is SoulOyster.com.

Jenn Marcelais is the owner of Soul Oyster Web Studios for Web Design, Web Development, Graphic & Flash Design, Internet & Web Marketing, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Have a look at Jenn’s website. I interviewed Jenn, happily the very first interview published on Design Interviews Blog.

How did you get into web design? “I was working as an office manager for a small company and the owner wanted a new website, but didn’t want to have to pay someone else to do it. Already having a background in Graphic Design, I picked up a book and taught myself html.”

You are doing a lot of Search Engine Optimization, is this a specialization for you? “I’ve been studying SEO techniques and website promotion for the last 6 years. In that time I’ve gained a lot of knowledge on what works and what doesn’t and developed that into an extensive program that gets results for my clients. Fromwhat I’ve learned about SEO plus being a web developer that knows how to code the back end of a site, the websites I construct are very optimized from the beginning and tend to rank well in search engines with little work required.”

Where do you get your art for your webpages? “I do all the design work myself. I like using lots of photographs and have subscriptions to a few stock photo agencies including PhotosToGo.com and IStockPhoto.com.”

What do you think will be the next big development in webpage design? “I think designing for smaller screens will make a resurgence with Apple’s IPhone. Plus Web 2.0 will just continue to grow and expand.”

Have you ever worked with website templates? “Yes, I’ve had a few clients purchase templates then had me customize it for them.”

What do you think about Flash technology? “I think Flash is great for expressing more emotion through your websites, plus giving it some life. But you should only use Flash in small doses or at least allow people to escape them if it’s a larger movie. It’s easy to overdo it and not realize your audience may just not care.”

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Flash? “SEO-wise, they’re a nightmare, plus they can weigh down the speed of your pages. Some visitors find them distracting. But they can give your users some pretty cool interaction with your site and create an overall experience for them.”

What are your sources of inspiration? “All over, from other websites to art, architecture, other graphics or even a single photograph.”

What was the toughest project or customer situation you’ve encountered? “When a customer doesn’t understand the process or has an unrealistic vision of what the internet is and how it works. I try to educate my clients as much as possible and point them in directions where they can find even more information and educatethemselves.”

What are your interests and dislikes in webpage design? “It’s a tough business. You have to constantly keep up on the latest trends and educate yourself. But it can be very rewarding and I like that my clients are so diverse. It keeps things interesting.”

Thankyou Jenn. It is always a pleasure to interview a designer with understanding and an eye for esthetics.

March Madness is Here!! – Let the Hoops Begin!!
Arthur Browning

Soul Oyster Web Studios, Web & Design February 9, 2007

Soul Oyster Web Studios offers an ocean of web site design, graphic design, web development, internet marketing, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) & web promotion services. From initial concept, to design & development, to search engine optimization & submission, keyword research & analysis reports, we can provide you with everything you need to succeed.

We work with any budget and offer many design and promotion packages for you to choose from offering affordable complete web sites, redesigns, updates and additions. We custom-build new features, sections & applications to enhance your user’s experience & offer them new benefits. We can also give you a new fresh design to update your site using your original content and structure.

We stay on top of existing & emerging web promotion methods, search engines & directories to provide you with the most up-to-date service to benefit your web site marketing campaign and research the most relevant target market & marketing partnerships that will drive the most traffic to your web site.

Is your website getting found online by your target market? Your site won’t be found or visited automatically just by putting up a website. In fact, if that’s all you do it won’t be found at all. You have to build a road to your website for visitors to follow, which includes incoming links. We can drive traffic to your site by promoting your website through other web sites and online articles and get you ranking highly in the major search engines for keywords related to your business. We understand the search engine optimization process and have many resources to get your site found by your target market.

Creating a successful Web site is much more complex than just finding someone who knows the basic skills. A Web site must be visually appealing, optimized for search engines, and function correctly across multiple user scenarios. You need a web design to stand out from the crowd of millions.

Visit http://www.souloyster.com for more information on web design, SEO and more services.