Thank God that Google only does its dance once a month. I don't think I could manage to get anything done if Google was re-shuffling its listings every day of the month. The urge to continually check Google 1, 2 and 3 when the dance is on is almost impossible to resist and I ruin my nails as I watch my page one listings come and go and come again while Google makes up its mind about things. In truth I'm not that bad, well not since I joined
Googleholics Anonymous.
Seriously though, lots of webmasters wonder why so much focus is placed on good search engine placement and on Google in particular. Let me put it in numerical terms for you. The difference in hits between a page one listing on Google and a page three listing on Google for a good search term can often be measured in the thousands each month. Multiply that by twelve and you begin to see some very big numbers. When you factor in a rough conversion ratios for your sponsors, those numbers can generate some decent dollar signs.
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"Don't stuff the text on your page with key words and phrases." |
The other thing that makes Google so important is that other search engines take their listings from Google. Yahoo is a prime example. Even though Google suggests otherwise, the page listings seem to be almost identical. So with a good listing on Google your site can attract a lot of hits including traffic from other search engines as well. On top of all that, a good listing with Google is absolutely free which makes every dollar you earn from a good listing on Google even sweeter.
You would think that if Google were so popular with webmasters there would be no confusion on how to achieve a good listing. Unfortunately there is more plain rubbish and misinformation published about Google than I would have thought possible. The fact is that achieving a good ranking on Google is not a mysterious art even though some people might like to suggest otherwise.
I have seen some amazing misinformation spread across webmaster boards about how Google looks at a web page. When I have challenged some of these flights of fancy I've been accused of being clueless and ignorant, I was branded as a moron and howled down by people who were unable to back their claims with positive proof.
That's ok by me because ultimately, if my partner and I are doing it right, we will continue to achieve page one listings for good search engine terms. We have already achieved them in some cases because we have taken the time to read what Google says about itself and have applied it to our sites.
What Google says about itself is often completely different to what some would-be experts suggest. If you want to read what Google has to say about the matter, hop on over to:
If you are serious about achieving good search engine placement then you really do need to know the basics that Google applies when it looks at your site. So read what Google has to say and then let's also look at some of the myths that you will see peddled as indisputable facts around the boards.
Probably the best one is that Google reads meta tags so you have to make sure that you stuff your keyword tag full with every conceivable word. The plain fact is that the only meta tag that Google will read is the title tag. Only two search engines currently use the keyword tag and those are Inktomi and Teoma.
Google looks for keywords in the body of the page and the level of importance that it assigns to those keywords depends on where those words appear on the page. The further down the page the word appears the less importance Google assigns to it. Google also assigns more importance to words in bigger fonts than it does for words in smaller fonts. That means that stuffing keywords into the bottom of a page in very small fonts is just a waste of time. Stuffing a page with keywords in the same color as the page background is more than a waste of time, it is a sure fire way to get Google to devalue your page.
When Google says that it does not read the meta tags that means that you can get a good listing with Google without having one single meta tag. In fact I've done just that, Google absolutely loves a full-page ad I built some time ago and lists it on page one for a well searched for term. The term that this full page ad gets its ranking for appears only in one place on the page and that is the heading where it sits between H1 tags. The particular term does not appear in the keyword tag because of the simple reason that I actually don't have a keyword tag on that page at all.
However, as in all rules everywhere, there is an exception. If your page is full of graphics Google will go back and read the metas but that is the only time. How do I know? Google says so.
Another good myth is that Google will give your page a better listing if your page links back to Google. That is the stuff that fairy tales are made of. At the moment Google assesses a page on the keywords Google finds in the body of the page and partially on the importance it assigns to the pages that link to you. That kind of shoots a hole in the theory that Google rewards you for linking to it.
There are many more myths about Google peddled all over the place. The best way to know for sure would be to compare what others have to say with what Google says.
So, if you want a good listing, make sure that you use the words and phrases that you are targeting well up in the body of the page. I often use text ads instead of banners at the top of the page and include the targeted phrases in those ads so that Google will find those terms. Don't stuff the text on your page with key words and phrases. However, make sure that you use them and in a context that makes sense to the surfer.
Getting good search engine placement for your page is not a black art and does not require a degree to achieve solid results. All you need to do is to read and believe what Google says about itself. Other good sources of search engine information are:
Read and absorb all you can about Google and other search engines and your listings will improve. Maybe someday, you too can be a cozy candidate for Googleholics Anonymous.
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