How many years did you register your domain name for If it was only one then Google could hold that against you.
Why
Because the majority of Spam websites only register a domain name for one year. A domain name registered for a longer period implies that the owner is more likely to be legitimate and serious about their web site.
This is just one of the unusual factors possibly considered by Google when indexing and ranking a website. Factors you could never even have guessed at in some cases.
How do I know this
Google have recently made public the contents of their filing of United States Patent
Application 20050071741 on March 31 2005.
In which many of the search giants secret ranking criteria is revealed and it makes very interesting reading. You must read this if you are serious about ranking well in Google. The
days of Spaming Google are drawing to a close. With this patent they reveal just how hard theyre coming down on Spam sites. You Do Not want to get caught out.
Here are the facts.
Links.
Its common knowledge that Google relies heavily on inbound relevant links to rank a site. Now they explain exactly how it works.
As well as the number, quality and anchor text factors of a link. Google seems to also consider historical factors. Apparently the Google sandbox or aging delay begins count down the minute links to a new site are discovered.
Google records the discovery of a link, link changes over time, the speed at which a site gains links and the link life span. With this in mind fast link acquisition may be a strong indicator of potential search engine Spam.
Gone are the days of pages and pages full of links. You must grow your links slowly to stay below the radar and be careful who you exchange links with. That means no more buying hundreds of links at once or other underhand tactics.
PR is now very valuable.
Your link anchor text should vary but remain consistent with your site content. No more using your main keywords on every link exchange you gain. Thats anchor Spam. Instead vary them around your top five to ten keywords.
Link exchanges are still very important but you must work and utilize them ethically. If you dont and you get caught the recovery from a ban can be months in coming and your host and IP may also be recorded.
Softly softly seems to be the message. The fact is fewer but better quality links will benefit you more anyway and they will be much more likely to be long-term which is also good.
Site click through rates (CTR)
CTR may now be monitored through cache, temporary files, bookmarks and favorites via the Google toolbar or desktop tools. Many have suspected for some time that sites are reward for good CTR with a raise in ranking. Similar to how Adwords works.
CTR is monitored to see if fresh or stale content is preferred for a search result.
CTR is also analyzed for increases or decreases relating to trends or seasons.
Web page rankings are recorded and monitored for changes.
The traffic to a web page is recorded and monitored over time.
Sites can be ranked seasonally. A ski site may rank higher in the winter than in the summer.
Google can monitor and rank pages by recording CTR changes by season.
Bookmarks and favorites could be monitored for changes, deletions or additions.
User behaviour in general could be monitored.
As Google is capable of tracking traffic to your site you should closely monitor the small amount of copy returned in search results. Ideally you want to integrate a call to action in there to increase your listings CTR.
Clicks away from your site back to the search results are also monitored. Make your site as sticky as possible to keep visitors there longer. As mentioned above it may also help if you could get your visitors to bookmark you.
The frequency and amount of page updates is monitored and recorded as is the number of pages.
Mass updates of hundreds of files will see you pop up on the radar.On the other hand few or small updates to your site could see your rankings slide. Unless your CTR is good. A stale page that receives good traffic may hold its own and not require an update. So dont update for the sake of it.
A further indicator that Google is really cracking down on Spam is made clear in the following extract from the Patent. Mention is made of changing the focus of multiple pages at once.
Heres the quote -
A significant change over time in the set of topics associated with a document may indicate that the document has changed owners and previous document indicators, such as score, anchor text, etc., are no longer reliable.
Similarly, a spike in the number of topics could indicate Spam. For example, if a particular document is associated with a set of one or more topics over what may be considered a stable period of time and then a (sudden) spike occurs in the number of topics associated with the document, this may be an indication that the document has been taken over as a doorway document.
Another indication may include the sudden disappearance of the original topics associated with the document. If one or more of these situations are detected, then [Google] may reduce the relative score of such documents and/or the links, anchor text, or other data associated the document.
Theres still more to look out for:-
Changes in on page keyword density is monitored and recorded as are changes to anchor text.
The domain name owner address is considered, most likely to help in a local search result.
The technical and admin contact details are checked for consistency. These are often falsified for Spam domains.
Your hosts IP address. If you are on a shared server its possible somebody else on that server is using dirty tactics or Spaming. If so your site will suffer since you share the same IP.
The impression I get here is that Google have learned from the Spam attack they suffered in early 2004 and they are determined to eradicate it from their listing results.
So what do you do
You cant go far wrong with your SEO if you try to grow your site as organically as possible.Carry on with link exchanges but consider each site carefully and slow down in your gathering of them. Vary your anchor text. Add small amounts of good quality content to your site regularly.
Check your search engine listings and edit your site to include a call to action in them if possible. Make your site more sticky to encourage visitors to stay a while. Encourage visitors to Bookmark your site. Oh and register new domain names for at least two years.
Overall keep it ethical and you cant go far wrong.Stick to the guidelines above and you are much more likely to outlast and out rank your competition.
Darren Yates is the owner of a site featuring, news, tips, resources, thousands of Internet marketing articles and useful links.
This article comes with reprint rights. You are free to reprint and distribute it.
All that we ask is that you do not make any changes, that this resource text is include, and that the link above is intact.
A Search Engine Optimization Company can be an invaluableasset in your Internet marketing campaign. They specializein knowing how to raise your search engine positions,monitoring those positions on the regular basis, andadjusting their strategies to account for undesirableresults in any given month. Since this takes a lot of time,effort, and specialized knowledge, it can be in your bestinterest to go to an outside source rather than try tomaintain high search engine positions on your own.
However, like every business, there are good companies andthere are lemons. Knowing the right questions to ask andthe criteria to look for will help you in choosing anaffordable, effective search engine optimization company.
When looking at different companies, begin by consideringthe approach they employ to raise your search enginepositions. Steer clear of companies that use cloaked,doorway, or bridge pages to raise your positions. Thesetechniques violate most search engine policy, and in theworst case scenario, will only get your website severelypenalized, if not removed entirely from a search enginesindex.
A cloaked page is a page that is created which is invisibleto the regular visitor to your website. The cloaked page iscoded to detect a search engine spider and divert them tothis special page, which is set-up to artificially boostyour search engine position. Doorway or bridge pagesutilize the same concept, but often reside on an entirelydifferent server. Google, one of the largest and mostimportant search engine on the Internet, will remove yourwebsite from their index if they detect you have cloakedpages. Never, never employ any company that uses thistechnique!
Another important element is to get a guarantee that thecompany you hire will not work with your competitors whilethey are working for you. Obviously, this would seriouslycompromise the effectiveness of the search engineoptimization campaign. Be aware that some companies willuse the success they achieve for your website to sell theirservices to your competitors. So get your guarantee inwriting, and make sure it is legally binding.
Of course, one of the most important factors you want tocheck out is the companys track record of results.However, dont take the companys word for it. They willundoubtedly be slanting their results in order to selltheir services to you. To go beyond their simple statementof success, ask them a few pertinent questions, and verifytheir answers.
Ask them which engines they have achieved the best resultson. The ones that are important are the most popularengines, and these are the ones you want to see goodresults on. Since the popularity of search engines canchange with the landscape of the overall Internet, checkout the Nielsen Netratings page at Search Engine Watch. Youcan access this athttp://www.searchenginewatch.com/article.php/2156451.
Next, find out what keywords and phrases they are claiminggreat results with. Its easy to get high rankings withunpopular words. For instance, the keyword cat leasheswill get high popularity ranking because no one else wouldthink of using it. What you are looking for is good resultsusing popular keywords. Check out the software Wordtracker,available at www.wordtracker.com. You can order a freetrial, or a subscription ranging from 1 day to 1 year. Thissoftware rates the popularity of keywords and phrases basedon actual search engine use.
Next, look for good results over an entire site that thecompany claims to have successfully worked for. You want tosee a wide range of positions over a number of differentsearch engines using different keywords or phrases for theentire site. Request a report for any client the companyclaims to have done well for. This report should show goodpositions on a number of the most popular search enginesfor a variety of different, popular keywords and phrases.
When you are checking out search engine optimizationcompanies, make sure they have actually done the work theyare claiming to have done. Some companies will use othercompanys results in order to get you to sign on with them.If you are in doubt, call the company they are showing youresults for, and ask for the name of their search engineoptimization company.
Its important to keep in mind that a successful searchengine optimization campaign will result in maximumexposure across a wide range of popular search enginesusing a variety of keywords and phrases. This is theformula for a successful campaign, and you should keep italways in the forefront of your marketing strategy.
Ask the search engine optimization company you areconsidering for a report that shows you rankings across anumber of popular search engines for a period of at leastsix months. Remember: search engine marketing is a processthat is continual, and you need a company that not onlyunderstands this, but keeps constant tabs on your searchengine positions. That company must also be able to adjustits strategy in the event that search engine rankings drop.
Since search engine marketing is an on-going process, yourpositions must be constantly monitored. If you want yoursearch engine optimization company to do this for you,request a sample of a monthly report. It is essential thatthis report should show rankings for the most popularsearch engines. Dont be impressed by a report that onlyshows great results for a limited number of small searchengines. These are fairly easy results to acquire. Alsoconfirm that the popular search engine results they areshowing you are indeed the popular search enginescurrently.
Be sure the sample report the company shows you is in aformat that you can easily understand. For example, itcould be in the form of a chart that covers a period of atleast six months and presents data such as the top 50positions broken down on a monthly basis or the top 5 pageseach month. Then, ascertain that the company you areconsidering actually monitors these positions or pagesevery month, and that the sample report they show youincludes findings and recommendations for the specificsite. This insures that the company will actively monitorand make adjustments to their strategy on a continual basisrather than simply gather statistics on your positions. Youneed a company that is actively participant in your searchengine marketing campaign, not just an informationgatherer.
Obviously, your finances have to figure into your choice ofcompany, but bear in mind that a search engine optimizationcompany is crucial the success of your marketing campaign.It is not just a casual accessory. If you cannot afford acompany that will do a thorough and reliable job for yourwebsite, you might consider waiting until you do have thefinances in place.
If you have to find a company and cant wait for yourfinances to catch up, you may be able to find an affordablecompany that will also be able to supply quality, reliablework, such as a fairly new company. Just remember thatthere are risks involved with using a company without aproven track record - and that risk is your money! Donttake that leap unless the company can supply you with aleast a few references.
References are the most reliable indicator of a goodcompany. Dont use a company that wont show yourreferences because of any reason, confidentiality included.Remember - even doctors will provide references! The firmyou choose should provide you with a minimum of tworeferences, one that is from the past, and one that iscurrent.
When you contact these references, be prepared to askprecise, specific questions so that neither of your time iswasted. Ask them what their experience was like with thecompany, such as their availability to answer questions anddeal with problems and their ability to meet deadlines. Askthe reference to rate the overall performance of thecompany.
Find out if the company requested that the reference makesignificant changes to their web pages that affected thevisitors coming to their site. You are looking for a searchengine optimization company that can balance the needs ofboth search engines and site visitors without compromisingeither.
The most essential question to ask is whether the work ofthe search engine optimization company resulted in higherprofits for the reference. Without profits, it doesntmatter whether your positions are at the top of the list ornot.
Zaak OConan discovers and presents informationon to enhance your site, newsletter, marketing and otherInternet related topics. Youll find his other articles that expand your horizons at