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Great advice, Brett... and what it boils down to, for the most part, is "create a good site with lots of stuff that people can find and use." The fact that Google's algorithm rewards sites with these characteristics is no doubt one reason for Google's success.
I set up a site following many of these points six months ago, and it has crept up in Google to some very respectable rankings against players with 5 and 6 figure link totals. It's interesting to note that the objective was to create a content-rich site that would be very easy to use, and Google appeal was a secondary factor - but there were no big compromises required to satisfy both objectives. One big factor in this site's success to date: a couple of the site owners are authors, who had plenty of content to begin with and continue to add it. I just installed a blog-based system (got the idea here :) ) to let them easily add more articles without technical assistance.
I have also been looking for some theory on the benifit of "outgoing links" (as asked by me earlier in this thread).
From what i have found the idea came from an (internet)old article (approx 1998) from Jon Kleinberg (it has been posted in this forum frequently i thought). His article; "Authoritative sources in a Hyperlinked Environment"
This is Jon Kleingberg's homepage:
[cs.cornell.edu...] you can choose which format to view there.
If you take the pdf format read through pages 4 to 11 (chapter 2). If you can swim through the eigenvectors, its all about being part of the root set of authorities. If you are not in the top (e.g. 200) SERP's of a query topic, you better link to one of the top set to be considered Authoritative. The article also classifies Hubs and Authorities.
It has a nice logic in it, however who knows which search engines actually use or will use this method?
Have you looked at Teoma's "Expert Links [teoma.com]"? It's the only place I can think of just now that seems to look at forward links.
Calum
Same theory applies to websites, you are who you link to.
It's unclear how Teoma does it. Indentify expert links I mean.
Initally my site (sub) was actually in their database but not as a expert link. I remember writing an email to Teoma just for the fun of it, suggesting my site as a expert link for a particular keyword.
I got no response and forgot about it for a while, but it seems that it's now listed as a expert site.
No idea if it was the email that did the trick..
Can anyone recommend a UK host. I have a free host at the moment but I need to get into cgi scripts in order to add the features my rivals websites offer.
Is my free host likely to be what you call a virtual host ?
Also
>>>>Go external with scripting languages if you must have them -
Please explain how to go external...
We try to stay away from hosting questions as it brings out the affiliate and hosting "advertisers" (eg: expert level forum spammers/url droppers. Honestly, trust little of what you read on the net about hosting. This is one area, where you have to make the decisions by yourself and through trusted friends).
>Inbound links
They can be used any number of ways to "define" a site. If a site has 2k inbound links and 1500 of them are from known auto sites, then it is a fair bet the site is about "cars" too. The text of the link is also critical to subdefine what is being linked too.
The level that se's are using this 'theme tech' is debatable. WiseNut is the only se to admit doing so (read their White Paper). I believe Teoma is also using link context. Although I don't think Google is using it directly at this time, it is a direction that all quality se's are going to move to sooner or later.
>likely to be what you call a virtual host ?
Ask them if there are other sites hosted on the same IP address as yours.
sanity
excellant post Brett, it's took me nearly a year to understand and thematically conceptualize the one keyphrase per page idea. which makes sites a lot more deeper, considerably larger, and at the end of the day search engine friendly, and hence delivering referrals, precise on topic content. Money !
My partner does more of the low level coding (our toolkit and content management solution) while I do most of the HTML, UI work, site design, etc.
I've been doing a lot of research into user interfaces, information architecture, and SEO. I'm very happy with what I have learned.
They are all the same.
It's amazing. Our primary client is about 80% of our business, and we made a few SEO assumptions, predominantly from a few paid services that I got) that I no longer think matter much.
We fought with the client's marketers about getting some space at the top of the site for keyword placement. We did okay in the engines (400-500 visits a day now) but nothing spectacular. We bought other domain names for getting Yahoo submissions, everything.
Now, the pyramids got me thinking of doing everything as a directory. User interfaces suggest a shallow hierarchy where you link to your good stuff from the top. Information architecture requires placing things in logic placement. Market research suggests making a product that people want (pages that match keywords that people use).
I now have my primary clients understanding that they will need content. The next revision of our software, toolkit, and their site is taking this holistic view to site development. Sure we'll pay some attention to keyword density and placement, but we're mostly focussing on building a flexible database that stores things (and presents them to the users/robots) in a logical framework. We have great expectations, and it's really nice to get the same suggestions from SEO people, the UI people, and the IA people.
Thanks guys, this forum rocks,
Alex
I suppose I have one quibble with the idea of writing a page of content every day. There are certain types of assumptions that tend to be made about the "whole lifestyle" people need to lead to be successful in a certain field. Are you assuming that everyone will want to live the same lifestyle you do? Are you basically addressing an audience of relatively youthful, obsessed webmasters, who will not blink when they're told they need to pump out content every day? What does this advice mean to the local rock pit owner, or the manager at a medium sized company who has had his budget for site promotion strictly controlled by his superiors, without any budget for additional copywriting? (You can't tell HIM to write articles - he's no good at it and doesn't have time.)
The fact is that most adults will not dream of organizing their lives such that they pour everything into their venture to the point of sleeping in cubicles, tweaking a site, writing free articles daily, etc. For many businesspeople a web site is a means to an end. Our job is to give people a push to remind them of some of the extra work they need to do, but I can't preach to a grown woman raising two kids, running a business, and doing 100 other things that she should be authoring new articles on a daily basis. I might get her to write five new articles a YEAR.
One thing about free content is... well, it's free! Maybe it will help you sell something on your site, but what if it doesn't? A lot of people would like to eventually find out how they can start charging for their content. So there's another problem. The days of giving everything away are rapidly dwindling as people get tired of eating Kraft Dinner and living on hopes and dreams. They need real business models. What do I really care if someone comes to my site to read an article, other than the "glorification of my massive ego" and "brand recognition" and other intangibles (which wear thin over time when there is no real revenue model to justify the devotion)?
I can't preach to the owner of the sheet metal manufacturing company that he needs to have 400 pages of content on his site. He may be induced to add 5 or 6 on top of the 5 or 6 he already has, but in that part of the economy, the concerns of webmasters and writers and young new economy people only matter a little bit. People know it matters, and if they have a budget are willing to sub this stuff out to someone who can "take care of it for them." What they are not willing to do is to change their whole lives to become writers, editors, webmasters, or whatever. What they are also not willing to do is to hire a copywriter at $50 an hour or an ad agency or even an SEO consultant on a monthly basis who is constantly taking up their time and asking them to make changes to their web site.
So if a client is resistant to your suggestions, understand that not everyone shares the same priorities. If there are ways to use money or someone else's LOW PAID time to accomplish the same goals, expect clients to seek them. It's only good business, they may feel that they've gotten to a place in life where they've earned the right not to sweat over every detail.
Again, I agree with everything you said. I built my own site by doing a lot of the things you mentioned. But that was as a total enthusiast, with no children, with not a huge number of other business or personal responsibilities. Hell, now that I have a car and a cat to go along with the wife, I have to spend at least six hours a day just caring for, feeding, and grooming them, so I'm running out of writing hours myself!
For a lot of people, that "total devotion" to what has often begun as a hobby or a brochureware site concept will wear thin as other demands and priorities grow more important. I think we do need to be sensitive and compromise with site owners who may have other priorities, while of course being clear with them that the only way to get guaranteed search engine traffic to a site with little content is to pay for advertising / clicks.
Regardless of this small quibble, your summary of how to please Google was right on the money.
The fact is that most adults will not dream of organizing their lives such that they pour everything into their venture to the point of sleeping in cubicles, tweaking a site, writing free articles daily
Does it really take that much effort? So many businesses don't look past the initial launch of their site....a good site is continually expanding and improving, just like a business.
Maybe it will help you sell something on your site, but what if it doesn't?
The idea is to get people to your site and build credibility with this free content. I think every bit of free info can somehow contribute to a sale...you have to think outside the box. The #1 thing I am working on this very minute is adding a lot more "free" content. Believe me, it pays off.
I can't preach to the owner of the sheet metal manufacturing company that he needs to have 400 pages of content on his site.
Just make sure you are one up on your competition, that is all you need.
So if a client is resistant to your suggestions, understand that not everyone shares the same priorities.
Which priorities? Ranking well on search engines? If they don't have that priority, I think something is wrong, don't you?
The more you know your industry, the faster you can write content. If you have templates ready and waiting, just fill them every day with a couple of paragraphs (maybe weekly if there isn't that much news in your industry, just stay ahead of your competitors). I understand your point, but I have dealt with a lot of thick headed marketing reps that wanted all the rankings yet wanted to do none of the work or follow any of the suggestions. A word to the wise is sufficient.
Admittedly a novice, I was intrigued by your suggestion of linking Off of every page to a higher ranking site than your own. Where I work, we are selling sewing machines and vacuum cleaners online --- honestly without knowing what we were doing -- having the luxury of a brick store making money, and a boss who said, at least break even, I would daily submit to faa's, that sorta stuff, got into web position gold etc.. -- and we have grown... a person who works ebay completes our component.
Now that we are at least profitable, I'm wanting to learn how to do it better. If I understand your suggestion, if we have a page selling White sewing machines, and the White sewing machine company itself ranks high for some keywords we target, having a link to the White company Off of that page will help to raise our ranking in the long run. Obviously we do not want to link to our competitors where they outshine us -- goes against the grain, but your input there as well would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Stephen Wick
What I do is often link to things like:
- Appropriate Directory categories such as the ODP.
- Googles ODP cat pages (especially if you have good rankings). Although I've always considered it risky to put a link to a search engine on your site. If you were an se, would you link to a page that links to your competition?
- Topical news stories. News sites are usually not competitors.
Can anyone think of any others?
You could link to other language sites. It all depends on if search engines can group different languages into one theme/topic.
Trisha
Alot of the .edu and .gov sites have high PRs and usually rank rather well......a link from one or a few would definitely help.
If you are a lawyer, link to the ABA. Most industries have some sort of organization designed to help or regulate them.
And if they don't - well then you should make one.
Question: You said submit and forget. Let six months go by. Is it best to submit every page, or just the index, and let the bots deep crawl if they choose to do so?
Also posted the original article here:
[searchengineworld.com...]
Tankman, I've recently gotten some good (top 3) rankings in Google, MSN, and AOL with pages that have 50+ characters in the subdirectory and file name together. Total URl length is about 80 some, including the [....] Also, taking some advice from elsewhere, the keywords in the directory and file names were hyphenated, and that's worked great. The home page even showed up on the second page in the MSN results for a phrase that was found only in the file name for a link on the page.
