How to Get Listed in Google and Improve Your Ranking
Google
can bring you tons of web traffic if you have good rankings. Not
sure how to do this? Here is how.
Google - 4 Keys for Success
by: Tim Schroeder
To get a top ranking in Google, here are my 4 keys to success.
1. Link Popularity
Link Popularity is more than just about how many sites link to
you. It's how and whom you link with that also plays a factor.
The more links you can get to your site, the better. But I would
rather have less links on more popular and relevant sites than
tons of links on FFA pages .
Try
and link with related sites. When the Google spider visits your
site from a site you have exchanged links with, it analyzes this
process. What do I mean by that? For example, lets say you have
a webmaster site and you have links on a bunch of game sites.
When Google follows these links from game sites they are looking
for some kind of a theme. What in the world does a game site have
to do with a webmaster resources site? Not much. Therefore, while
you might get a small boost, it does not help as much as if you
do the following: When you link to related sites, Google can see
some kind of theme. If you have a webmaster site and Google finds
that a bunch of other webmaster sites have linked to you, then
guess what!? They are thinking you must have a relevant site about
Webmaster stuff! Make since?
I prefer text links. When other web sites use words in the link
that points to your site, the google spider reads them. So, if
sites linking to you use keywords in their link text, Google may
increase your ranking for those words. As an example, I will use
a made up site called 123FWS.com which is about free webmaster
stuff. When sites exchange links with mine, I would prefer them
to use Free Webmaster Stuff in the links text pointing to the
URL 123FWS.com. The other less desirable way would be both 123FWS.com
in the link text and URL. This is just a small way to boost your
relevance and theme, but every little bit can help.
Lastly, A listing in the Yahoo directory and DMOZ.com (the Open
Directory) will give you a big boost. I have personally seen greatly
increased rankings after a listing in DMOZ for some of my sites.
2. Site Title
Use keywords in your title and keywords that people are searching
for. From the example above, If your site is called 123FWS.com
don't just put that in your title. What is your site all about
and what would people search for to find it? On this site I use
"Free Webmaster Tools and Resources" for the title.
I recommend keeping it to 6 words or under. To find out what keywords
people are searching for, try the GoTo.com keyword suggestion
wizard found here:
https://inventory.goto.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
3. Domain Name
While some people dispute this claim, I find your domain name
to be important in Google and a number of other search engines
and directories. Did you find my site via Yahoo while doing a
search for "webmaster tools," free webmaster tools,"
or "free webmaster resources?" Well it's because of
my domain name (used as the title). I won't get into Yahoo here,
so back to Google I go....
I myself try and buy a domain name that contains keywords that
people are searching for. As an example, I bought the domain name
"Free-Games-Online.net" as kind of a gateway page to
my other game site 4EverGames.com. Even though this site has almost
no link popularity, it is ranked number 11 out of about 2,280,000
sites. Not bad huh?
4. Keyword Placement
Use your top keywords (particularly the ones used in your
title) towards the top of the page. Continue to use these keywords
throughout the page, in your link text, and URLs (don't overdo
it)
Other Tips:
Use your top keywords throughout your site to help build that
"theme" which I was talking about above. Google does
not use
keyword "tags," although a couple search engines still
use them,
so I use them anyway on some pages. Links farms do not work, and
may get you banned. Have content: Following the tips above, but
only having a sentence or two on your site will not get you good
listings.
If you follow the steps above, I am confident your rankings in
Google will improve. Remember, good rankings don't happen over
night and may require some work and time, but the payoff can be
great! So, it's time to get Googled! Good Luck.
This
article is ©2002 by Free-Webmaster-Tools.com/Published
Perfection. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any form is prohibited.
Print
this article.
Return
to Webmaster Tips and Articles Index
---------------------------------------------------------------
Article Copyright © 2001-2002 by Tim Schroeder of:
|