How Does Google Rank my Pages?
Google uses two systems to define your page ranking - PageRank and text-matching.
PageRank uses page links from other sites as an indicator of your page's rank value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. Google will also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important."
Google also uses Text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to the search. Google will increase your rank if the searched word match (in order of priority) your ...
- domain name
- page title
- page text
- page description
- page keywords (not used anymore by the main search engines).
We must be careful not to get carried away with excessive seeding our keywords on our page. Google sees this as biasing - and will reduce the ranking of your site if you go overboard. Google will see that you are deliberately tampering to get higher rankings and they can penalise you for that.
As a general guide, try to write naturally and provide as much information as possible on your pages.
What to do to get a higher Ranking
When we design your page we need to know up front what keywords you would like to promote your site with. We try to seed the text content with these keywords so that Google can find the page.
After your webpage is designed, it is then up to you to promote your site. Let me emphasise that...
- Promote!
- Promote!
- Promote!
The task is to get as many sites as you can to link to your site. Get in touch with other sites and ask them to include a link to your site. Participate online in the Internet community and use forums and Blogs - and don't forget to mention your site. Try to get your site mentioned in online articles by talking to bloggers or issuing press releases. The more links to your site that you can get, the better Google will rank your site. Also you are opening up additional avenues for customers to find you.
But you need to be careful of the site you are linked to. If some of these sites are blacklisted by Google - then your rankings could be reduced.
If you use any other online service (Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Email Signatures) - don't forget to include your website address. This is very important.
Put your website address on your business cards and any signage.
If you write an article for a magazine or newspaper - include your linked website address.
Adwords
Google does not sell ranking within the results themselves (i.e., no one can buy a particular or higher placement). However, you can buy advertisement space in the Sponsored Links section of Google - above and next to the search results. This is called ADWORDS.
With Adwords, you pay per click. When somebody clicks on your advert, you get charged a small amount by Google. You set the charge - the higher the charge, the higher up the list your advert will be.
For more information, visit http://adwords.google.com.au/support/bin/topic.py?hl=en-au&topic=70
We can further assist you with this if you like.
Beware of Online Marketing scams
There are many "snake-oil" salesman out there who claim that they can get you top rankings for a fee. They use methods against the Google philosophy of unbiased free searching, and Google are regularly installing filters and measures to block these unethical companies and the sites associated with them. If you get caught, your site rankings will be reduced.
At Bottomup Web Designs, we already write our pages to optimise search engine results in an ethical way. You don't need to commission a third party to do so.