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Factors for Better Search Engine Rankings
When an Internet user visits a search engine, inputs keywords into a search box, and receives a long list of websites (usually in groups of ten) that satisfy the query, there are many factors that determine the order of the returned results.
Every search engine's unique formula weighs a myriad of criteria to position relevant websites in a distinct order. These algorithms are continually honed and improved in an attempt to provide users with the best possible results. Because different search engines use different algorithms, a well-constructed website will most probably experience different rankings - sometimes high in a listing, sometimes low.
For human-compiled directories, a submitted website must meet the high standards of the particular reviewing company in order to be accepted in their listings. Editors will only accept well-designed sites containing pertinent, up-to-date content, well-written text, navigationally sound links, and cropped graphics. Sites must load quickly, be viewed properly in all browsers and resolutions, should not contain profanity, and should not have pages that are under construction. In short, the editors of most directories will only accept professional-quality websites.
It should also be noted that in today's competitive marketplace, "pay-for-placement" agreements and "sponsored links" place websites at the top of many search listings. Major search sites accept financial compensation from website owners in exchange for prime ranking position. Many leading search sites will also optimize the websites of paying clients to ensure better rankings.
For "robot," "crawler," or "spider-driven" search engines, some of the important factors that determine a website's ranking include frequency of keywords, placement of keywords, use of keywords in URLs, themes, use of meta tags, HTML coding, link popularity, and click popularity.
A closer look at each of these factors is listed below:
Keywords
Keywords are perhaps the most important factor in leading search engine users to websites. Most search engines will index the entire text of a page and generally look for a minimum of at least 100 words. A page will receive a higher ranking if keywords are placed at the top of the page. Keyword frequency is also a critical factor. Algorithm logic determines that if keyword is repeated a number of times, especially at the top of a page, then the page must be extremely relevant to the keyword topic.
Some search engines will also give high ranking to pages that contain keywords that are positioned close to each other, a concept known as keyword proximity. The relationship of keywords to the other text on the page, known as keyword density, is also important. Pages with approximately 3-7 keywords per every 100 words have a better chance of receiving a high ranking. Web page designers who try to insert multiple keywords by using "invisible text" (example: white text on a white background) will most likely have their sites rejected by search engines that will detect this illegal "spamming" technique.
Some search engines now give higher ranking to websites that have keywords in the site's address (URL). For example, Google would give higher priority to the keyword 'basketball' to a site with the URL of www.basketball.com. Sites with keywords in their filenames (such as basketball.htm) also receive higher ranking priority.
HTML Coding
Web page designers construct their pages using Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). How a web page is coded is a major determinant of how the page is ranked by search engines. Most search engine algorithms determine that keywords included in page titles, headings, alternative text, and comments, must mean the page is extremely relevant to the keyword topic.
All search engines look at a page's title first, so targeted keywords placed between the <TITLE> and </TITLE> tags (in the <HEAD> section) will give the site a higher ranking. Titles should be limited to about 80 characters and should be placed first for best placement results. The contents between the <TITLE> tags will also appear in the search engine's results and in bookmark titles.
Keywords placed in heading tags, such as <H1></H1>, <H2></H2>, <H3></H3>, will also help a website in the quest for better rankings. Heading tags are placed in the <BODY> section of a page, where all text and images must be placed in order to be displayed on a web browser.
Search engines cannot read images on web pages, so the use of ALT tags (meaning alternative text) containing keywords can help rankings. ALT tags basically describe the image textually, so using them can enhance keyword frequency. Using keywords in comment tags, which are hidden programming notes that are not seen on web browsers, is another technique that will help keyword frequency.
Meta Tags
Web designers can include meta tags in the HTML source code of a web page. Meta tags are important because certain search engines support them and give higher ranking priority to sites that include them. Keywords that are placed in the "meta description" tag describe the contents of the site and will also be visible in the top line of a web browser. Keywords that are placed in the "meta keywords" tag will add to the keyword frequency of the page. Meta tags are placed in the <HEAD> section of a page and are invisible to the reader on the web page itself, but not to the spider-programs of the search engines that recognize the tags. Keywords should not be repeated more than 7 times in the meta tags, or search engines could consider the repetition as spamming and reject the site.
Themes
Search engine leaders Google, Yahoo, LIVE.com, and many others, use a sophisticated technology in their algorithms that determines the "theme" of a website's contents. Based on the importance of keywords, spiders index an entire site and analyze HTML factors such as title, headings, meta tags, links, and text. Concepts such as keyword weighting, extrapolation, and root stemming help the search engine determine the common topic (theme) of the site. The search engine will then use the theme as an important ranking factor. Theme technology results in listings that are more focused to the search term topics entered by users.
Link Popularity
When indexing the contents of a particular website, many search engines take into consideration the number of links from other popular websites that lead to the site. The more links that point to a site, the higher ranking the site will receive. Also, the site will receive the side benefit of more traffic being driven to it. Search engines will also give a higher priority to incoming links that are relevant to the topic of the page being indexed, thus link popularity measures the quality of incoming links, not simply the number of incoming links.
Click Popularity
About two dozen of the top search engines use the concepts of click popularity and "stickiness" to rank websites. Click popularity counts the number of clicks received by each site in a search engine's results page. This click-tracking technology will determine that a site receiving a high amount of clicks must be more relevant than the other top sites in the list. Thus, the site with more clicks will receive a higher ranking.
Stickiness, on the other hand, measures the length of time a user spends at a website. Stickiness is measured according to the amount of time between each click on a search engine's results page. Simply put, if a user visits three sites from a list on a results page and spends 4 minutes on the first site, 10 minutes on the second site, and 1 minute on the third site, the second site will be assumed to be the most relevant and will receive a higher ranking.