Google Search Engine Optimization 101 My list.

How would you rank the most important elements?

[Widestrides]

Google Search Engine Optimization 101
Ranked by order of importance. (My best guess. Results of course will vary, as will the algo.)
Comments welcomed.
What have I missed?
What have I listed that is not at all important?
What would be YOUR order of importance?

1. Keyword in Title Meta tag
2. Keyword in Description Meta tag
3. Keyword in Body text
4. Keyword density - 1-7%(?) - No more, no less. Results will vary. 5. Page Rank/Links - best if from related sites with higher PRs
6. Sufficient Content (Google seems to like bigger sites, more content)
7. Keyword in incoming links
8. Keyword in incoming link text
9. Keyword in text surrounding incoming link text
10. Keyword in <H1> tags
11. Keyword in outgoing links - best if to related sites with higher PRs
12. Keyword in outgoing link text
13. Keyword in text surrounding outgoing link text
14. Keyword in alt image tags
15. Keyword in bold
16. Keyword in italics
17. Keyword in domain or sub domain name
18. Keyword in keywords Meta tag

[percentages]

God will help you.....search for him/her...and then see how it is done.....it is simple really.....but if you don't look you won't see the light!

[TellyTubby]

If you mean the same thing as me then nice one Percentages, like the whippet!

[Widestrides]

Does Google care about keywords in the text of OUTGOING links?

[ogletree]

It was pointed out to me the problem with the whole description thing. Almost all the time you will get a snippet. You may get your description when you do a site:domain.com -asdf but not many other times. It seems that you might want to put some good text after the first instance of the keyword. Maybe even have keyword sales text keyword to make sure that you get some sales copy in there. You can be number 1 and have a jumble of keywords in the snippet but how does that sell you.

[Arnett]

Only when you have all of the above in good order should you worry about things like keyword density.

I agree completely. The point of good SERP position is to gain traffic and sales. A lot of the SEO types seem to focus on gaining position for clients in order to justify the fees that they charge.

There's an "old" saying on the web that "content is king". This is not a SEO perspective. It is a search engine user view. Using keyword placement and densitiy to "trick" search engine visitors into visiting a site may increase the number of visits but it will not help sales,downloads, intra-site traffic or whatever it is that you are building your site to generate. It is position for its own sake.

The more that I study Google the more convinced I am that the system rewards what Google considers "good page design". If you want to know what Google thinks is "good page design" look at their own SERPs (which they obviously LOVE). The more you examine the way that the SERPS are constructed the better job you will be able to do constructing pages that will rank well. Just remember to stick to whatever your site goal is and use your content to target the vistor that you want to attract and retain.

[ogletree]

Adding keyword density is not always spammy. I went to my site the other day and added more keywords in the content. It was not hard. It might look a little redundant but it still works. Whenever I referred to the keyword before I just added the keyword.

example. kw= rubber ducks

Before
Rubber ducks are great to have in the bathtub. They keep you company when you are alone. Buy one today.

After
Rubber ducks are great to have in the bathtub. Rubber Ducks keep you company when you are alone. Buy a Rubber Duck today and your Rubber Duck will be your friend. We can help with all your Rubber Duck needs because we are the Rubber Duck specialists.

[gstewart]

Ogletree,

I certainly agree with the principle of what you suggest, but as a visitor to your site, I'd rather read the "before" version than the revised one!

[Arnett]

My personal ranking criteria for pages that I design for Google?

AllInText
AllInTitle
AllInAnchor
AllInUrl

[Wired Suzanne]

Trillianjedi,

Explain:

5. H1
6. H3
7. H2

Is H3 more important dan H2? Wow, this is new for me. I always expected it to go in order.

And Arnett,
I'm #1 for AllInText, AllInTitle, AllInAnchor
The keyword is not exactly in my URL (single/plural) And my position is now #9. I think AllInUrl is underestimated.

[the_nerd]

After reading all your rankings of what's most important to seo pages, I'm still looking for the big picture.

In other words, what is Google's idea of a good and relevant site? And will this picture change over time?

Affiliate Sites? No way.
Commercial sites? Probably better served with adwords :)

What's left?

A university teacher's research report about a specific topic, with many incoming links from his collegues all over the world.

I tried a few examples that obviuosly haven't been seo'ed for:

septic ulcer --> Harvard University
appendix surgery --> NYU medical center

One thing is tweaking the algs to keep over-enthusiastic seos out, but will they go out of their way when it comes to the basic principles? In other words, the two sites should be stable against alg-tweaking.

If you treat all pages the same, it would be easy to outrank NYU for appendix surgery (at least for some of us in here). What can the SE do against this?

Maybe adding a time factor? The page was good 3 months ago and didn't change? Give it a bonus. The opposite seems to happen: new content is blown to the top by freshbot.

If I worked at Google I would try to implement a filter that checks if a page is too good to be true (more than X out of the 25 possible things to do that were mentioned earlier in this thread. The Professor would maybe put "septic ulcer" in the title, and in the <h1> but he'll definitely not clutter his paper with 20% keywords density. He'll link to others and get links with the keywords, but then that's it probably.

What do you think is the big picture / model for a perfect page?

[alex_cross]

Domain Name is one of the two most important.

[John_Caius]

Separate the effect of domain name and incoming link anchor text for me and I'll believe you! :)

[alex_cross]

I have seen lots and had sites with no page rank and no link popularity make the top 10 on domain alone. In fact, I have had sites that were stil being held by the domain buying site I use get ranked in the top 10.

[HyperGeek]

"...use css to position your most important elements at top..."

I'm almost certain that most spiders look at page in code order, and not the aesthetic order of objects on the page.

[jk3210]

Suzanne

>>Is H3 more important dan H2?<<

I think he's talking about proper page structure, i.e.

H1=most important keyword
H3=normal text
H2=second most important keyword
H3=more normal text.

[HyperGeek]

Does Google care about keywords in the text of OUTGOING links?

I don't believe it will benefit you too much, it's more of a reference point for the URL you are linking to.

It doesn't hurt to anchor to content within your own site using keyword phrases in the link text, but it doesn't really help too much IMHO.

---

And remember that it's not really about GOOGLE or any search engine...

It's creating GOOD WEB SITES with pages that have:

- Clean (validated) code
- Fast loading content
- Intense focus on a particluar theme
- Accessibility to as many users as possible
- The ability to create a mass appeal.

Partnerships, inbound links, high rankings, and everything else will follow if you try to make the BEST WEB SITE that you can instead of trying to make the HIGHEST RANKING web site that you can.

[pageoneresults]

Hmmm, something I've not seen mentioned...

Directory Structure

I've found that the structure of a site also has an influence in the SERPs, especially when it comes to indented listings in Google.

[trillianjedi]

Does Google care about keywords in the text of OUTGOING links?

Yes, it does very much. Think about web site structure and the web itself.

A good resource and authority on "widgets" will contain lots of pages about widgets and have incoming anchor text links ("widgets"). It will also have lots of information about widgets that are off-site and contain outbound anchor text ("widgets").

H1, H2 and H3 - sorry Suzanne, I've only just seen your post.

This is something that I noticed about 3 or 4 months ago and there was a thread on this (can't find it now). My experience has been H3 carries more weight in google than H2. Yes, it is partly about page structure. Although it seems illogical at first, if you sit and think about it, it's quite logical that google would think about it in this way. If indeed they still do.....

TJ

[pageoneresults]

H1=most important keyword
H3=normal text
H2=second most important keyword
H3=more normal text.

It is suggested that you not skip levels within the <h> structure. Going from <h1> to <h3> without an <h2> inbetween is incorrect implementation according to the W3C.

Heading tags are not meant to wrap paragraphs in. Typically the content within the <h1> tag mirrors or mimics what appears in the title element. Content within <h2>, <h3>, etc. will reflect what follows it in a logical way. Headings are just that. They are meant to be brief and succinct.

I'm not too certain that Google gives more relevance to <h3> tags over <h2>. That would be an incorrect interpretation of the W3C guidelines. Their order of importance is just as they are numbered with <h1> being the most relevant and <h6> being the least relevant.

It is also suggested that there always be an <h1> before any other <h> elements.

[SlyOldDog]

>>Does Google care about keywords in the text of OUTGOING links?

>>>>I don't believe it will benefit you too much, it's more of a reference point for the URL you are linking to.

Just a real life experience here. We have a page linking to another page with a single link and even though the linking page is much less relevant for the keywords (the link is the only time the keywords appear on the page), it ranks just above the page being linked to.

[instand1]

Does Google care about keywords in the text of OUTGOING links?

I don't believe it will benefit you too much, it's more of a reference point for the URL you are linking to.

It doesn't hurt to anchor to content within your own site using keyword phrases in the link text, but it doesn't really help too much IMHO.

Today keywords in outgoing links helps more than a few month ago. I have seen recently more and more directory pages with PR 2 or 3 beating pages from other sources with higher PR. Quite often I find the directories with my wording in the snipets of Google ranking higher than my page. (It seems to be Google's weapon against Googlebombs: Point the finger at the source of a rumor.)

[Wired Suzanne]

jk3210,

Do you use H3 for the text or P? And does it make any difference?

HyperGeek,

You rightabout Ranking vs Quality. I see so many sites ranking high, that I leave immediately. I wonder if those sites are profitable.

[ogletree]

Why do you guys have to overcomplcate things. Right now if you have anchor text and at least a PR4 page with your keyword in the title you will be number one. High PR and lots of anchor text coming in will win every time. I stopped wasting time with all this stuff and followed those simple rules and everything is comeing up rosey. Even after I am number one I am still trying to get anchor text and PR because I don't want to let anybody catch up. H1 for the main heading is the only one I use because I always do that anyhow so people know what the page is about. It is just good web development.

PS ignore my previous post in this thread. I don't do that anymore.

[alex_cross]

"Why do you guys have to overcomplcate things. Right now if you have anchor text and at least a PR4 page with your keyword in the title you will be number one."

If that were the case, no one on WebmasterWorld would even bother having this discussion. Next, all of my major competitors have the keyword in the title and a PR of 4. So, if everyone, is the same, who is #1. I am pretty sure that no one can guarantee a #1 ranking just on the above criteria.

[ogletree]

The person with the most anchor text and PR wins. Please read my post more carefully. All you need is the keyword in the Title and then the race is on for the most anchor text and PR. You can win with a ton of PR or a ton of anchor text or a combination of the 2. Actually if you have enough anchor text you can win without the word on your page anywhere. I beat all kinds of sites that follow all the nit picky rules mentioned here with anchor text and PR. You could spend all kinds of time worrying about things that don't matter that much. Yes you can use a spoon to dig a hole but give me a backhoe any day.

[alex_cross]

I'm glad that you simplified a company as large as GOOGLE so that anyone can be number one by following two simple rules. You have just simplified GOOGLE for everyone.

I'm not agreeing with you and I am not saying that your points are not valid, but what happens to link popularity and increasing page rank when you have 2,000 products and twice as many keywords?

[ogletree]

Probably a lot of work. I guess in that case title and PR are your friend. All you got to do is rise above your competiters. If they are playing the PR anchor text game you have to as well. I have to compete against a lot of high PR government sites so anchor text is what I need. The thing is finding out what your compeiters are doing and do just one more thing than they do.

This of course is only true until Google changes things.

[Liane]

Boy oh boy ... producing a great web site is not magic ... just hard work!

Build the most informative site you possibly can. Write, write, write ... and then write some more! If you aren't bored to death with the subject you are writing about ... then you haven't written nearly enough!

Be sure each and every page (of importance) is optimized to the hilt. These should be "sub directory" pages and those which tell your prospective client the meat and potatos of where he/she wants to go next.

Pay a tremendous amount of attention to the ease of navigating your entire site. Can your client get to where they want to go whenever they want? Do they have to hit the back button to do it? Then you did it wrong! Start over!

Answer every bloody question about your product(s) you possibly can. Then answer some you "think" nobody will ever ask!

Use keywords in page titles and make certain that the page deals with "that" subject. Keyword count DOES matter! (No, I won't tell you the formula I use. Every industry is different! There have to be some trade secrets! ) :)

Don't worry too much about meta tags. Do everything "as if" meta tags, content, alt tags, anchor text, etc. really matters. (It never hurts to cover your ass-ets)

Only use H1, H2 tags when they actually mean something. Overuse constitutes abuse.

Use photos or pictorials whenever possible and be sure your site is pleasing to the eye. The customer (not the search engine) is the one you need to impress!

Keep your customer in mind every time you make any major changes to your site.

Reap the rewards of a well written, attractive and informative site which produces sales!

[rfgdxm1]

>I have seen lots and had sites with no page rank and no link popularity make the top 10 on domain alone. In fact, I have had sites that were stil being held by the domain buying site I use get ranked in the top 10.

This is consistent with my observations. I have no doubt that Google gives a significant boost in the algo for keyword in domain name. Makes good sense too. Who registers keyword.TLD unless that keyword is highly relevant to the site? Maybe in cases of domain names with 5 hyphens they tend to usually be spam. However, not so with domain names with no or one hyphen.

[alex_cross]

Can GOOGLE weed out long domain names with keywords in them and no hyphen?