Great Site Ranking in Google The Secrets Out

How many years did you register your domain name for? If it was only one then Google could hold that against you.

Why?

Because the majority of Spam websites only register a domain name for one year. A domain name registered for a longer period implies that the owner is more likely to be legitimate and serious about their web site.

This is just one of the unusual factors possibly considered by Google when indexing and ranking a website. Factors you could never even have guessed at in some cases.

How do I know this?

Google have recently made public, March 31 2005, the contents of their filing of United States Patent Application 20050071741.

In which many of the search giants secret ranking criteria is revealed and it makes very interesting reading. You must read this if you are serious about ranking well in Google. The days of Spaming Google are drawing to a close. With this patent they reveal just how hard they're coming down on Spam sites. You Do Not want to get caught out.

Listed below you will find the hard facts, I recommend you bookmark this page now. You will need to reference it each time you optimize a new site.

? Links.

It's common knowledge that Google relies heavily on inbound relevant links to rank a site. Now they explain exactly how it works.

As well as the number, quality and anchor text factors of a link. Google seems to also consider historical factors. Apparently the Google 'sandbox' or aging delay begins count down the minute links to a new site are discovered.

Google record the discovery of a link, link changes over time, the speed at which a site gains links and the link life span.

With this in mind fast link acquisition may be a strong indicator of potential search engine Spam.

Gone are the days of pages and pages full of links. You must grow your links slowly to stay below the radar and be careful who you exchange links with. That means no more buying hundreds of links at once or other underhand tactics.

PR is now very valuable.

Your link anchor text should vary but remain consistent with your site content. No more using your main keywords on every link exchange you gain. That's 'anchor Spam'. Instead vary them around your top five to ten keywords.

Link exchanges are still very important but you must work and utilize them ethically. If you don't and you get caught the recovery from a ban can be months in coming and your host and IP may also be recorded.

Softly softly seems to be the message. The fact is fewer but better quality links will benefit you more anyway and they will be much more likely to long-term which is good to.

? Site click through rates (CTR)

CTR may now be monitored through cache, temporary files, bookmarks and favorites via the Google toolbar or desktop tools. Many have suspected for some time that sites are reward for good CTR with a raise in ranking. Similar to how Adwords works.

CTR is monitored to see if fresh or stale content is preferred for a search result.

CTR is also analyzed for increases or decreases relating to trends or seasons.

? Web page rankings are recorded and monitored for changes.

? The traffic to a web page is recorded and monitored over time.

? Sites can be ranked seasonally. A ski site may rank higher in the winter than in the summer. Google can monitor and rank pages by recording CTR changes by season.

? Bookmarks and favorites could be monitored for changes, deletions or additions.

? User behavior in general could be monitored.

As Google is capable of tracking traffic to your site you should closely monitor the small amount of copy returned in search results. Ideally you want to integrate a call to action in there to increase your listings CTR.

Clicks away from your site back to the search results are also monitored. Make your site as sticky as possible to keep visitors there longer. As mentioned above it may also help if you could get your visitors to bookmark you.

? The frequency and amount of page updates is monitored and recorded as is the number of pages.

Mass updates of hundreds of files will see you pop up on the radar.

On the other hand few or small updates to your site could see your rankings slide. Unless your CTR is good. A stale page that receives good traffic may hold it's own and not require an update. So don't update for the sake of it.

Depending on your market fresh content may not be a requirement. If the information your pages contain does not go out of date then updating may not be necessary. If your market is more news based for example then changes regularly are a must. In general changes don't necessarily have to mean fresh content. They could involve simple edits to current content.

A further indicator that Google is really cracking down on Spam is made clear in the following extract from the Patent. Mention is made of changing the focus of multiple pages at once.

Here's the quote - "A significant change over time in the set of topics associated with a document may indicate that the document has changed owners and previous document indicators, such as score, anchor text, etc., are no longer reliable.

Similarly, a spike in the number of topics could indicate Spam. For example, if a particular document is associated with a set of one or more topics over what may be considered a 'stable' period of time and then a (sudden) spike occurs in the number of topics associated with the document, this may be an indication that the document has been taken over as a 'doorway' document.

Another indication may include the sudden disappearance of the original topics associated with the document. If one or more of these situations are detected, then [Google] may reduce the relative score of such documents and/or the links, anchor text, or other data associated the document."

There's still more to look out for:-

? Changes in on page keyword density is monitored and recorded as are changes to anchor text.

? The domain name owner address is considered, most likely to help in a local search result.

? The technical and admin contact details are checked for consistency. These are often falsified for Spam domains.

? Your hosts IP address. If you are on a shared server it's possible somebody else on that server is using dirty tactics or Spaming. If so your site will suffer since you share the same IP.

The impression I get here is that Google have learned from the Spam 'attack' they suffered in early 2004 and they are determined to eradicate it from their listing results.

So what do you do?

There's a lot to take onboard here and consider. But you can't go far wrong with your SEO if you try to grow your site as organically as possible.

If you know what you are doing you can take short cuts. Carry on with link exchanges but consider each site carefully and slow down in your gathering of them. Vary your anchor text. Add small amounts of good quality content to your site regularly. Check your search engine listings and edit your site to include a call to action in them if possible. Make your site more 'sticky' to encourage visitors to stay a while. Encourage visitors to Bookmark your site. Oh and register new domain names for at least two years.

Before you do anything remember to reference the above info first. It may just save you months of misery as your site gets banned and 'Sand boxed'.

Overall keep it ethical and you can't go far wrong. Do not be tempted to Spam. Stick to the guidelines above and you are much more likely to outlast and out rank your competition.

About the Author
Darren Yates is owner of How-to-make-money-online.info a site focused on Making Money Online and Internet Marketing, listing the many and varied ways of making money online. Featuring, resources, thousands of Internet Marketing articles and useful links.

This article comes with reprint rights. You are free to reprint and distribute it as you like. All that we ask is that you do not make any changes, that this resource text is include, and that the link above is intact.

---

Content Is King

Over the past few years, there have been many debates... Read More

How to Get Non-stop Free Traffic to Your Website

Yet the simple truth is that without traffic a website... Read More

Getting One Way SEO Links - The Easy and FREE Way

What we are hunting for?Unique Domains,One Way Links,Text Link copy... Read More

Can Google Really Deliver Country Specific Searching?

This is a serious matter, can Google really deliver top... Read More

Keyword Research And Overture

Many of us who build websites get in the habit... Read More

What Is Search Engine Marketing?

It's in our genes, we're driven to seek. We 'hunt'... Read More

Page Rank - A Quick Overview for Beginners

Page Rank (PR) is a specific value for a website... Read More

Search Engine Optimization - Free Tips and Help - Part One - The Title Tag

Search Engine Optimization is a widely misunderstood industry. Many webmasters,... Read More

Search Engine Marketing Hype Killing Small Businesses

Think about the first thing you ever heard about "marketing... Read More

Reciprocal Links to Boost Link Popularity ?

Link popularity means the number of incoming links pointing to... Read More

Niche Marketing - Why Keyword Research Come First

A good portion of my business involves spending hours and... Read More

Going To Market: Keywords and Backlinks, Part 1

As I waded into the 'Make Money Online' waters on... Read More

10 Quick Ways To Kick-Start Your Profit Pulling Keywords

First, you must realize that targeting the right keywords or... Read More

Increase Your Search Engine Ranking

There are methods to increase your search engine rankings which... Read More

Creative Search Engine Optimization ? A Case Study

Search engine optimization this and search engine optimization that. You... Read More

SEO Help: Dont Try to Fool the Search Engines

Writing articles is all the rage these days on the... Read More

Search Engine Optimization SEO Made Easy

SEO is a never ending battle! So is SEO... Read More

Search Engine Copywriting: Focus on One Topic

Perhaps the simplest of all the lessons I have learned... Read More

How Search Engines Connect Sellers and Buyers

Maggie knows how to find what she wants. She lets... Read More

Search Engine Optimization and Web Site Usability

Build a Web site and the people will come.Ha! If... Read More

Does Javascript Affect Ranking?

Almost all SEO's agree that using too much javascript can... Read More

Is New MSN Search More Precise? Just Ask Google

MSN finally unleashed its new search technology to the world... Read More

How to Avoid the Google Duplicate Content Filter?

More and more webmasters are building websites with publicly available... Read More

Link Exchange Tips, No Tricks

Use text links, avoid image links. Anyhow, if you... Read More

Monitor Your Visibility in Google, MSN, and Yahoo with these DIY SEO Tools

This is the second part of an article series in... Read More

Googles PR System Explained

The complexities of Google's PR (Page Ranking) System have grown... Read More

Get Personal With Google

Anyone who's been on the net any time at all... Read More

Got Spiders?

Many internet marketers blow mountains of start-up cash on their... Read More

How to Make a Title Tag that Search Engines Will Love

Making the following changes to your title tag can help... Read More

Search Engines 101 - Search Engines Explained

What Are Search Engines?A search engine is a database system... Read More

How To Get Listed in Yahoo!

Getting listed in Yahoo! (The Very Top Search Engine/Index) is... Read More

Buzzwords vs Effective SEO Keywords

Ever see a website that seems to speak a foreign... Read More

Dealing With Search Engine Stress In A Home-Based Business

As a member of several search engine optimization forums, I... Read More