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Since the
vast majority of Internet users rely on search
engines and online directories to find informative resources,
each of these information portals must have a way to list,
in order of importance, links to online sites containing
informative content. The process in which an engine or directory
lists its records is referred to as ranking. Therefore,
the higher ranking you are able to achieve, the more prominently
your site will be listed. The higher you are listed, the
more traffic you can expect.
Achieving the highest ranking is critical
if your web site or online resources will rely on search
engines and online directories as a primary source of traffic.
A very strong optimization plan is strongly encouraged to
receive the best rankings against your competition. While
each search engine and informative directory handles ranking
a little differently than the next, it is vital to understand
the basics that are employed in each.
Determining Web Site Ranking
As was touched upon in the Spiders, Bots, And Crawlers section
of this web site, ranking is determined by a reporting agent
that has been sent out to your web site to review your site's
information and contents. Algorithms, or a type of computer
logic that analyzes records to assign a value based upon
keywords, phrases, and informative based themes determines
the sites that are presented in a ranked order to those
searching the engines and directories. Arguably the most
critical method in achieving a well-ranked listing relies
on the location and frequency of which keywords are used
on any given page in your web site. One of the main rules
in a ranking algorithm involves the location and frequency
of keywords as they are used. Therefore, the more prominent
your keywords are used, and the more they are repeated in
the content of the page, the better your chances are of
scoring a high ranking. Often, ranking systems look for
keyword information to base a ranking on by examining the
various tags described in our HTML Tag section. While the
order of importance and impact of those tags could be argued,
just keep in mind that all are important for one reason
or another. Spiders, Bots and Crawlers will also check to
see if there are keywords that appear near the top of a
web site document. Including targeted keywords in headlines
or in the first few paragraphs of text is sure to assist
these agents when they report back to their database records.
The frequency, or number of times keywords
appear is another determining factor of a well-positioned
ranking. This allows the reporting agents to determine that
your information is on topic and relevant to the main subjects
that you have indicated in the titles and headings of your
page. The results of keywords being repeated throughout
content allows the agents to prioritize a web page based
on how often keywords appear in relation to other words
in a web page.
META Tags Myths
For years many companies have offered services claiming
that they will come in and optimize your web site. And sadly,
they may believe that META tags are in fact the best, and
quite often the only way to go. While META tags may have
been the way to go 3 or 4 years ago, the so-called "secret"
method of achieving great rankings was quickly exploited.
So the emphasis on your META tag contents have been on the
decline for quite some time, and will most likely continue
on this trend. They still do provide some databases with
useful information, but do be aware that many of the larger
and more frequently used engines are aware of the ability
to exploit these tags.
The Best Approach for Search Engine Ranking
Quite possibly the best approach to take on if you are looking
to have your site rank well is to do one of two things.
Either work on your site yourself, or trust it to the professionals.
If you are going on your own, research the exact market
you want your web site to be presented to, and hone in on
the trends employed by surfers interested in these subject
matters. Over time, you may just be able to achieve what
you want - high ranking results.
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