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Let Google's Algorithm Show You The Traffic
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2007

Recently Rand Fishkin of Seomoz.org brought together 37 of
the world's Top SEO experts to tackle Google's Algorithm,
the complex formula and methods Google uses to rank web
pages. This ranking formula is extremely important to
webmasters because finding which factors Google uses to
rank their index is often considered the Holy Grail of site
optimization.

Google's ranking factors affect how and where you are
listed in their search engine results or SERPs. Since
obtaining top positions for your targeted keywords often
spells success for your site, knowing Google's ranking
factors can be very beneficial.

Every experienced webmaster will know Google is the main
supplier of search engine traffic on the web, getting
listed on the first page or anywhere in the top 10
positions for popular keywords will result in plenty of
free quality targeted traffic.

Briefly listed below are some of the main ranking factors
you should be optimizing your web pages for in your
marketing. The majority of these ranking factors will be
very familiar to most webmasters who take full advantage of
any and every SEO tactic which will give their site an edge
over their competition.

Here are some of the main ranking factors to consider:

1. Keywords In Your Title And On Your Page

Place your keyword or keyword phrase in the title of your
page and also in your copy. Many webmasters use variations
of their keywords on this page and also include it in the
H1 headline.

2. Keywords In Your URL

Keep your page on topic and place your keyword in the URL.
Use your keyword in the H2, H3... headlines. Place it in
the description and meta tags, place it in bold/strong
tags, but keep your content readable and useful. Be aware
of the text surrounding your keywords, search engines will
become more semantic in the coming years so context is
important.

3. Create High Quality Relevant Content

Have high quality relevant content on your pages. Your
content should be related to the topic of your site and
updated regularly depending on the nature of your site.

4. Internal Onsite Linking

Internal linking is important to your overall ranking. Make
sure your linking structure is easy for the spiders to
crawl. Most suggest a simple hierarchy with links no more
than three clicks away from your home/index page.

Creating traffic modes or clusters of related links within
a section on your site has proven very effective for many
webmasters, including this one. For example, creating a
simple online guide on a subject related to your site's
topic can prove very beneficial. Keep all the links
connected and closely related in subject matter and don't
forget to have occasional external 'anchor keyworded' links
coming to these internal links on your site instead of to
your homepage. Deep build your links.

5. Only Linking To High Quality Related Sites

Don't forget to link to high quality PR related sites.
Linking to high quality sites shows the search engines your
site is very useful to your visitors. Build relationships
within communities on the topic of your site. Be extremely
careful not to link to bad neighborhoods, link farms and
spam sites... when in doubt, don't link out!

Unless your site has been around for years and is well
established and trusted by Google, this factor will have an
adverse effect on your site's overall ranking. Linking only
to high quality content sites will give your site an edge
over your competition.

6. Global Linking Popularity

One of the major ranking factors is the Global Linking
Popularity of your site. You should try to build plenty of
inbound links from quality sites. One simple and effective
way to do this is through writing articles and submitting
them to the online article directories. Only related sites
will pick up and display your articles with your anchor
text links back to your site. These are often ONE-WAY-LINKS.

But don't just write articles to get links, write quality
content that will help the reader first and the links will
come naturally. Also remember an article is an extremely
good way of pre-selling your products and gaining trust
with your potential customers.

7. Anchor Text Is Very Important

Anchor text is an important factor your must not forget to
use. Perhaps more importantly these inbound links should be
related or relevant to your site's topic, which will play
an important role in your rankings.  Don't ignore the text
surrounding your links and use different anchor text links
to avoid keyword spamming.

Keep in mind, as search engines become more semantic, the
whole text of your article will probably be considered your
anchor text, thus making articles even more important to
your rankings.

8.  Number And Quality Of Your Inbound Links

Your inbound links should also come from related high
Global Link Popular sites. The more links your have from
these popular related sites the higher rankings you will
get. Many SEO experts suggest you should have a steady
stream of new sites (inbound links) added each month to
keep your rankings growing. These links will age and
increase your rankings after 4 or 5 months. Both quality
and quantity is important.

9. Reliable Server And Service

Like any business, Google is only serving up a product
(SERPs) to its customers, this service must be continuous
and available at all times. Make sure you have a good
reliable server because any extended downtime when your
site is inaccessible to the Bots may be detrimental to your
rankings. If it is down for over 48 hours, you could be
dropped from the index. Ouch!

10. Duplicate Content Is A NO NO!

Make certain you don't place duplicate content on your
site. This may affect your rankings and get your pages
thrown into the supplemental index. Be careful not to use
duplicate title or mega tags on your pages as this will
lower and disburse your internal page rankings, resulting
in poor optimization.

Your overall SEO strategy should be to provide valuable
relevant content and links for your visitors and the search
engines. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, be extremely
careful who you link out to from your site. Avoid spam
sites, link farms or selling links. Although it is a bit
outdated, using the Google Toolbar will still give you a
general overview of a site's PR or Page Rank.

These are some of the most common and important ranking
factors Google uses to rank and display their search engine
results. Optimizing your site or keywords for these factors
can prove very beneficial and rewarding.

There are many more factors so you should use the link in
the resource box below to get all the gory details. For any
novice or experienced webmaster it makes for a fascinating
read and is extremely helpful in tackling Google's complex
ranking system or algorithm. Conquer it and an endless
supply of free organic traffic is yours for the taking.
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The author is a full-time online marketer. For the most
effective web marketing tools try his main PR6 site:
http://www.bizwaremagic.com . Make sure you check out
Seomoz.org for the complete list of ranking factors:
http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors#f41 .
2007 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed
if this resource box stays attached.
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