Search Rankings

While the algorithms used by each search engine are different and some factors hidden, there are similarities that are shared by all search engines and that may be used to improve rankings.

 

Keyword Location & Frequency

One of the the main rules in any ranking algorithm involves the location and frequency of "keywords" on a web page. Search engines will check to see if the search "keywords" appear near the top of a web page, such as in the headline or in the first few paragraphs of text. They assume that any page relevant to the topic will mention those words right from the beginning.

Frequency is another major factor in how search engines determine ranking. A search engine will analyze how often "keywords" appear in relation to other words in a web page. Those with a higher frequency are considered more relevant.

As you may have already guessed the goal is to select the "keywords" that are most often used by searchers and incorporate them into your pages in strategic areas.

Link Analysis

While the location and frequency of keywords is a major factor other off page factors also contribute to ranking.

By analyzing how pages link to each other, a search engine can determine what a page is about and whether it is important, thus deserving of a higher ranking.

Search engines also have techniques to screen out attempts by webmasters to build artificial links designed to boost their rankings. For this reason links should only be exchanged with relevant and legitimate link partners.

Clickthrough Measurement

Clickthrough measurement means that a search engine may watch what results someone selects for a particular search, then eventually drop high-ranking pages that aren't attracting clicks, while promoting lower-ranking pages that do pull in visitors. As with link analysis, techniques are used to identify artificial links generated by webmasters.

Google PageRank

PageRank is one of the methods Google uses to determine a page's relevance or importance. It is a mathematical formula used by Google to determining the importance of a web site for the purpose of search engine ranking. The bottom line is: the higher your PageRank, the higher you will likely be in a Google Search result for a related keyword.

Learn more about PageRank from Google:

• What is PageRank?
• How do improve my web sites PageRank?

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