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Search Engines use a variety of on page factors to determine their ranking on
their search engine results page (SERPs). Search engines use complex and
proprietary algorithms, specific criteria to determine rankings. However, they keep
their algorithms secret for competitive reasons and to prevent people from trying to
Spam them.
What are some criteria SE's use for determining your high search engine ranking?
- Prominence of the keyword searched in the viewable text
- Frequency of the keyword searched in the viewable text
- Site popularity; how many other sites link to a particular page
- "Weight" of the keywords: the % of keywords to the total # of words
- Proximity of keywords to each other
- Prominence & frequency of keywords in the <TITLE> tag(s)
- Prominence & frequency of keywords in the <META
NAME="DESCRIPTION">
- Prominence & frequency of keywords in the <META
NAME="KEYWORD">
- Keywords in the first full sentence of the page with more weight given to a
<H1> tag
- Keywords in the <A HREF="http://www.yourcompany.com/page.htm">
link tags
- Keywords in ALT tags (Make sure they accurately describe the graphic or it's
spamming!)
- Keywords contained in the URL or site address, e.g., http://www.keyword.com/keyword.html
- Grammatical correctness and natural-sounding word patterns
- Use of formatting, repetition, and word arrangement that could be considered
as spam
Each engine has lower and upper limits for each variable and criteria. This
protects it against spammers, and it's why simply repeating keywords will not work!
Other factors that influence high search engine ranking:
- SE's have different agreements with directories and other programs that affect
your ranking. And, some Web sites use techniques that are not acceptable to
search engines but still get a higher ranking for their sites
- Overture and a few others place sites according to your bid
- Some SE's rank sites higher that are in Open Directory Project, LookSmart and
Yahoo
- Serving a special page to the engine and a separate page to the viewers
(cloaking) is considered spamming a search engine and could get your site banned
from their search engine.
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