Forum Moderators: open
For those of you who are new to the Google News Forum here at WebmasterWorld, we'd like to extend a welcome to you, and encourage you to first read through the Forum Charter [webmasterworld.com] before posting to enhance your time spent with us now that you've joined us and become part of our community.
You'll find that we have many levels of members here, all the way from highly advanced to brand new and all variations in between. There has been an exhaustive quantity of information posted, so that anyone who diligently reads, studies and researches can succeed with Google. Finding it all, however, can sometimes be a little difficult, particularly for those new to the board and to Google.
GoogleGuy has on many occasions posted telling us: "Just do a good site and you'll do well with Google." While that's true, and a good site also generally does well with site visitors, for those new to web development and search engine optimization it can sometimes be a little difficult to know where to start.
For the benefit of those new to Google optimization or might want a quick easy refresher, what follows is a brief check-list, in outline form, of some of the key points that should be a help in using the site search to find specific topics, and to also serve as a roadmap to get a quick, easy start.
General Overview
Using the Board and the Google News Forum
Basic Fundamentals for a Successful Site
Help from Google
Site-Wide Factors
Keyword Research, Evaluation & Selection
On-Page Optimization Elements
Head Section
Relational Elements
This is not the "Secret Sauce" of Google Optimization, it's meant simply to be a short, simple check-list. We'll be having posts from time to time that expand on the concepts, to help us all broaden our knowledge and increase our understanding. We encourage your participation and would like to express appreciation for your contributions to our collective knowledge.
[edited by: Marcia at 4:11 am (utc) on May 29, 2003]
Page Rank Factors
Actually, I was thinking about a multi-parter for this, and originally left the "Relational" section out to keep the focus off what we hear about every day, 365 a year (Page Rank & links, ad infinitum) to focus first on what goes into creating a site from scratch or going in to optimize one that already exists. I took your suggestion and added it back in. :-)
People have different methods and procedures, but I personally see the process of optimization as being multi-phased, whichever way it is - designing or optimizing a site, following a systematic approach, and like some people, use a step by step approach to keep it simple. Thus the format:
1. General Overview (broad outline without details)
2. Site_wide Optimization - the overall structure of the site, including navigation and some of the other items mentioned.
3. On_the_page factors - what we look at when we're looking at an individual page by itself, which we sometimes do, especially in the case of site maintenance when we want rankings improved.
4. Relational factors - the things that bring a site into relationship with other sites out there on the internet.
There's a lot of over-lapping of factors among the groupings, some of it very important, but breaking it down seems to simplify the process, especially in cases where an initial site evaluation and analysis is done - which happens a lot.
coosblues:
Considering what Google has or has not changed in its algo, I wonder how many of these "Optimization Basics" still hold true?
coosblues, sometimes we have to take our eyes off spammers or SERPs, and take a look at our own sites and focus on just on that. Algorithms always change, no matter which search engine it is, and there can only be so many factors taken into consideration. The basics are the basics.
Sometimes certain things are given more or less weight than others, and then it can reverse and some time in the future revert back again. Also, with Google, changes can happen related to the way in and out links are done, shifts in weight of PR, etc. - but we have no control over it when search engines do that. We adapt the best we can when that happens, but it still always goes back to double-checking and keeping our eyes on our own sites.
What we have most control over on a consistent time-frame is our own sites, and if they're based on a solid foundation of quality construction and optimization, regardless of how links come and go when we gain or lose some, or we face PR going up and down, and algorithm shifts come that can shift again at any time, they'll stand firm over time if we're in it for the long haul.
Sure, we have to keep up with changes, which we do, but if we stay with what's solid we may lose a little ground here and there but we stand less of a chance of losing our footing altogether in the long run.
Great stuff for a newbie like me to help find information.
EW
this may be a no-brainer for some, but for a newbie like me (and fan of webmasterworld) it really helps just to have a couple of links to the information here.
there is so much good info sometimes we can get lost.
thx
So, what is considered to be the minimum page size?
And, what is the optimum text to HTML ratio?
WBF
