SEO: Search Engine Optimization Bible

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Optimization for Major Search Engines

Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines dozens of aspects of the

page’s content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it’s a good match for your query.”

In other words, a PageRank is based on a ballot system that compares your site to all the other pages

on the Web that are related. The comparison allows the algorithm to determine which pages are most

relevant to a search query based on numerous elements of the page. A hyperlink to a page counts as

a vote of support. The PageRank of a page is defined recursively, or in comparison to the other pages

that Google is also ranking, and depends on the number and PageRank metric of all pages that link to

it. A page that is linked to by many pages with high PageRank receives a high rank itself. If there are

no links to a web page, there is no support for that page.

Google assigns a numeric weighting for each web page on the Internet; this PageRank denotes your

site’s importance according to the PageRank algorithm.

For more information on Google’s PageRank algorithm, see the sidebar in Chapter 13

titled, “Understanding Google’s PageRank.”

So if you want to successfully rank on the Google search engine, you should follow the guidelines that

are laid out in Google’s Webmaster Central (http://www.google.com/intl/en/webmasters/).

There is also a set of tools available in Webmaster Central that allows you to analyze and add to your

site to help make it more Google-friendly. Those tools include the following:.

 Site Status Wizard:Determines if your site is currently being indexed by Google.

 Webmaster Tools: This is a set of tools designed to help you improve the indexing and

ranking of your site. You can also find the Google Sitemap Generator here.

 Content Submission Tools:Use these to submit your site to Google, or to add products

to Google Base or content to Google Book Search.

 Google’s Webmaster Blog:Find tips and strategies for ranking well in Google on this

blog. You’ll also find changes to the Google algorithm and other information that you’ll

need to stay on top of your site rankings.

 Webmaster Discussion Groups:Talk to others about what they’re doing to improve

their Google rankings.

 Webmaster Help Center:If you don’t understand something about Webmaster Central,

here’s where you’ll find an explanation.

Ultimately, if you follow the guidelines laid out in the early parts of this book, and design your

pages for people, not search engines, you’ll rank well in Google. You may need to tweak some of

the inner workings of your site — keywords, links, meta tags — and you’ll need to be patient. But

given time, your ranking with Google will occur naturally. Then all you have to do is continue

improving your offerings for customers and stay on top of maintaining your site, and you should

see your ranking climb gradually.

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