| Google gives Internet searchers what they want.
So, if I go and search for "cat care tips" I get a list
of extremely relevant links and sites.
Maybe this is why Google is valued at almost $1 Billion dollars
today.
Google gives users what they want. They have several algorithms
that block websites that are trying to "fool" their way
to the top. They've been able to forcibly block certain meta tags,
cloaking & spammer scripts, popup windows, and other items they
simply don't like or deem "immoral".
Google has been able to enforce the fact that websites have to
write valid content in order to make it to the top for searches
and categories. Otherwise you have to pay for it.
In turn by giving the users what they want, they've captured 65%
of the search engine market. AND not any 65% but a highly educated
and elitist market. One study shows the following:
"The most predominant demographic for Google users is male
(53.42%) aged 35-44 (25.26%) earning an annual household income
between $60,000 and $100,000."
Source: SearchEngineWatch.com
They've used this 65% market share to their advantage by creating
Google AdWords and making this the primary source of online advertising
available to commercial entities.
Through this grand strategy they've not only been able to separate
out information that purely exists for informational purposes from
commercialism; they've also been able to build a viable business
model. When people start saying "I will Google it..."
you know you've made a significant impact in the landscape.
When the word Google becomes a dictionary term, you know you've
build a solid entity and concept.
When political factions go to Google to see the status of a person
or an entity, you have made an impact.
When people type in words to confirm their spelling, you've made
an impact. In fact, I do this all the time now!
Google makes it easy for people to do searches by giving a suggestion
at the top if you mistype or aren't quite sure of what you are searching
for.
They've added tools that more sophisticated users can incorporate
into their web browser such as the Google search bar. This means
that you don't have to type in www.Google.com but rather just embed
the search bar into your web browser and type directly into that.
Surprizingly, less than 200,000 businesses advertise on Google.
It goes back to Pareto's
80/20 rule. 20% of the potential search engine advertising market
earns Google 80% of its income. The other portion of their income
is derived from an internal
search engine that Google licenses out to corporations.
Google has come out with a rather interesting concept known as
"page rank" or PR. It plays a significant role in how
your web site fairs in searches and search results. It may even
be a part of Google's secret sauce. There is much speculation around
how it works, but the following is known.
The Google page ranking system works on a webpage level and not
a website level. Many people are mislead and believe that it works
on a website level.
Second, the page rank is logarithmic.
So for example, StephanieCota.com has a page rank of 5. This is
for the index.html/main page. This basically means that I am a thousand
times bigger/more important than someone with a page rank of 4,
and a hundred thousand times bigger than someone with a page rank
of 3 and so on. The bigger the page rank number, the larger the
magnitude.
The page rank algorithm works off of a fractional number that is
between 6 and 7.
The scale is 1-10 and of course Google has a page rank of 10...
Probably the only site out there with a page rank of 10.
To find out what your page rank is and those of your competitors,
download and install the Google toolbar. http://toolbar.google.com/
I think you will be surprized at the results.
Lastly, just like PayPal and EBay, thousands of small businesses
are springing up where the business model itself is based on Google.
People are finding they can make a living on the Google business
model and create off-shoots of that.
So here's some tips for increasing your Google ranking. I'll call
this our Top10 Google Tips.
- Register a domain that reflects your catagory. For example if
you in the business of selling clogs (a type of shoe originally
from Europe) then ClogWild.com is a perfect domain.
- Write relevant content for your website. For example, a website
selling clogs can greatly benefit in a natural search result if
they write about how clogs can improve foot health and reduce
stress for people who stand on their feet for long time periods.
- Pay attention to your web page titles. Google looks at the titles
you use in your web pages. Your title is used in the overall search
result.
For example type in "FAQ building a storeloccator". You will see
that my FAQ is the main one out there on this. In fact it is the
first result and you'll see that the other results are not that
relevant to the topic.
Here is a clear example of Google giving it's users what they
want.
- Pay attention to your META DESCRIPTION tag. Google uses
this to also index your website and write the description that
shows up in the search results.
- Crosslink your website to other websites. Google values
this highly because it is one thing you cannot directly influence.
Other people have to modify their website code and add you in
as a link.
- Quality of links and crosslinks does matter. For example,
if the Wall Street Journal links to your website over a less known
newspaper, that link coming from the Wall Street Journal is weighted
more heavily.
- Add alt descriptions to your images so that they are
found in searches. For example, if you have a picture of yourself,
adding a tag that reads alt="Stephanie Cota: e-commerce developer
and expert" is more effective than a blank in that spot or "picture
of me" which is not specific and is something that no one
will type into a search engine.
- Name your website logo or banner by your business name.
For example logo-ClogWild.png will be found in both the Google
natural search and in the Goolge Images directory.
- Don't expose your keywords. Google doesn't look at the
KEYWORD META tag that much anymore. Just put in a short list.
You don't have to put the entire set because your competitors
will go in and just copy them as-is to add to their list. It doesn't
increase your search results overall for Google.
Note: Of course
for this item there are many counter-arguments, so follow at your
own discretion. We've simply found out through much trial and
error with various clients that this method is not the most effective.
- DO NOT USE CLOAKING OR SPAMMING SCRIPTS. Google will
blacklist your website by it's IP and it becomes very hard to
make it back into Google's arms.
Last, please read my rebuttal
to someone who brought up this very issue and article.
Page created October 22, 2004
|
