Hluska Talks Google Voodoo II
Yesterday, I introduced the topic of search optimization and attempted to illustrate how search engines work with a simple analogy. To learn to think like a search engine, imagine that you are working on a research project in a massive, poorly indexed library. To find the right resources, you would likely look at titles, ask people you trust and flip through books to make sure a particular book is of interest and on topic.
So what does this have to do with search engines?Good titles are incredibly important if you want to have any kind of success with search engines. Of all the html tags (I will talk more about html in a later article), the <title> tag is by far the most powerful tool in a search marketer’s arsenal. That makes sense though, doesn’t it? Would you look for a chocolate chip cookie recipe in a book entitled, “The Quantum Universe”?
Search engines are also remarkably democratic – if a good site links to your site, search engines will determine that your site is good too. In that way, links are like votes, though the votes are not necessarily evenly distributed. Again though, this makes sense. Let’s say that you were really interested in learning about chocolate chip cookies. Whose opinion would you trust more? A master chef’s, or a guy named Greg’s? If an authority in your field links to your site, search engines take that as an endorsement.
Finally, comes the content. Content is something of a double edged sword. First, research suggests that search engines (especially Google) have some very advanced semantic analysis software which actually grades content based upon words used, reading difficulty, and various other patterns. The theory is that sites that follow the patterns set out by trusted sites are more likely to be trusted (and thus ranked higher). Second, if you write consistently good content, people will link to you and more links always equal higher search engine results!
That concludes the second article in my series on Google Voodoo – keep watching this spot or subscribe to our RSS feed to keep reading. And remember, if you like this article, the biggest compliment you can pay me is to link to it. (or comment)
Peace.G
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About Greg: Greg Hluska is an early 30s Regina guy. By day, he works in User Experience in a technology company and by night, he is an avid reader/writer who helps publish the Regina Streets Magazine. |
[...] web site marketing. I tried to teach you how a search engine ‘thinks’, showed you the basic tools you can use to drive search traffic to your site, and wrote an article on some tools you can use to research various [...]