Organic Ranking Factors

You already know if you’re an experienced SEO guy, or if you’re a newbie in SEO they you should know that search engines use complicated secret formulas popularly known as algorithms. These algorithms resolve the order of search engine ranking results. Caffeine Updates is the new Google algorithm for the year 2010. The algorithm prefers and given more importance on Website loading time. Search engines always give preference to users rather than websites or site owners.

What does search engines most care about to determine the order of their results?

There are completely different opinions within the SEO community about what works and what’s important to follow to get top place in Search engine result pages (SERP). I have collected what I believe to be the best-of-the-best as per my experience and knowledge. Here I lowdown on the important factors:

1. HTML page title (I consider and give point 2 out of 10)
2. Link Popularity-quality and quantity (2 out of 10)
3. The main body text (1 out of 10)
4. Site loading time (1 out of 10)
5. Domain name and age(1 out of 10)
6. Keyword prominence (1 out of 10)
7. Heading tag (0.5 out of 10)
8. Keyword proximity (0.5 out of 10)
9. Bold and Italic (0.3 out of 10)
10. Folders and files name (0.3 out of 10)
11. Meta Description (0.2 out of 10)
12. Alt tag (0.1 out of 10)
13. Title Attribute (0.05 out of 10)
14. Meta Keywords (0.05 out of 10)

Above all are the key factors and think about how much attention you’ve given to each of them on your own site or on client projects. As you think what matters to the search engines, I specially suggest you to keep this in mind that means each and every page is an should optimize for the following:

HTML page title: HTML page title describes a page of a website; it helps search engines to better understand what the webpage is about. It is one of those activities that will quickly affect the ways your listings look in the search engines. It plays the role of an anchor text in SERPs, which brings a link to your home page or your landing page. Write a unique and appealing title, incorporated with you main keywords phrase. This could help a flash file also to gain top page rank in SERPs.

Visible HTML text on the page: Many SEO professionals insist that you need 250 or 1000 words on a page with 5-10% of keyword density. In order to rank well for a particular set of keywords, you site should contain them. You should use as many keywords as you need to state your message clearly to the visitors and as many opportunities to insert your targeted keywords as make sense within the realm of quality writing.

Inbound links-quality and quantity: Why are inbound links are so important in search engine ranking algorithm? The answer is that they can a page’s popularity, quality and status on the web. Inbound links development is an off-page factor. Inbound links form a home/index page with high page rank, gives more boosting power rather than form pages deep within the site. The same quality factors hold true for links coming from within your site. The anchor text (Text link that directs to your site from other sites) plays a vital role in search engine ranking. The anchor text must contain your primary keywords in the phrase. Combining this keyword-rich anchor text with relevant text surrounding the link can amplify good effect.

If you pursue the above points, while doing optimization of your website, this will help you to get better ranking and visibility of your website on top search engine result pages.

Directory Submission Guidelines

Many website owners and webmasters get one-way links by submitting their websites to hundreds of web directories with out proper documentation. They use free directory submission software to save their precious time. In my view they are not saving their precious time but wasting their precious time. I always suggest to submit your website manually to directories, but before that you’ve to prepare a documentation for your submission work.

Following are the top points should be use while doing directory submission.

• Title for Directory Submission: Choose your primary keyword phrases as a title, for example if you’re in jewelry business and your primary keyword phrase is “quality jewelry” then write a title that must have your primary keyword in it like [quality jewelry work for your beloved ones]. The primary keyword phrase should be at the first of the title, this title plays as an anchor text / link text that directs to your site. As the title text has the primary keyword in it, search engines consider it as your anchor text if it finds the keyword both in your page title and directory submission title. This would help your site ranking in search engine result pages. Select 2 or 3 keywords and write 3 or 4 good titles with these keywords incorporated in it.

• Write your URL: Write your URL as http://www.yourdomainnamexyz.com do not write its as www.yourdomainnamexyz.com or http://www.yourdomainnamexyz.com/index.html. If you follow the first one both directories and search engines will accept it and would help for better indexing.

• Description for directory submission: Submitting description of your site is optional in many directories, still better to submit it. This would help the visitors to better understand about your business/products/services. Write to different descriptions this helps search engines that you’re not doing any spam tactics. Better to copy to some content form the first paragraph of your website body text.

• Category and sub-categories: You have to select the right category and sub-categories as per your business/services/products while submitting in directories. Unrelated category submission may harm your search engine rankings and may not get approval for listings in directories. Select the right category while doing directory submission.

• Keywords for directory submission: Maximum directories have optional keywords submission, and some good page rank directories have compulsory keywords inclusion option that has to be implemented. Write a good keywords list it would help your site visited by keyword search.

• Email Address: Include your email address in the document; it’s mandatory in directory submission. Once you submit your website with all the information, you will receive an email, some directories ask email conformations. Once you’re site is approved you’ll get an email about your submission approval, with the link that shows the page where your website link is uploaded in the directory.

• Your Name for directory submission: It’s also a mandatory field while doing directory submission.

• Recommendations: I always do manual directory submission, this help me to get a clear idea that what keywords I am using in the title, that plays as an anchor text to my site, I would come to know how the directory is, what is its page rank, is the directory uses any spam tactics that would effect my site in future. You can take more initiatives to make your site safe for search engine results. If you use automated directory submission software that won’t provider about the page rank, the quality of the directory and if the directory uses any spam tactics, these software provides bulk submissions.

Use Roboform, download it from search engines and fill in with the details to make speed manual directory submissions.

Top quality directories list for directory submission – coming soon!