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Search engines scan each page of your site looking for content that tells it what the page is about. Once the engine understands the subject of the page, it compares your pages to similar ones on the web. Individual pages within the site will then be ranked in the search results based on the "scores" the engines attribute to each. Content Optimization includes items like keywords, title tags, content freshness (how often is the page updated), links within each page, and relevancy of all items to the subject of the page.
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| Search Engines place high value on the use of Keywords within technical building blocks of websites and WebPages. These building blocks are known as "tags". Keywords used in these tags are given higher value than other content within the page. |
Score [9/27]
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| Search Engines value the integrity of the links within sites. Links within the site must work properly, be appropriately placed on the page and within content, use anchor text related to its destination, and be relative to the content on the page the link points to. |
Score [12/24]
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| Search Engines use keywords to understand the subject of your site and its individual pages. They will only rank specific pages of your site if they understand the subject being conveyed in a manner superior to similar sites in their index. The use of excessive Keywords or Phrases, as determined by each Search Engine, typically results in penalties or complete removal of your site from the search engine results. |
Score [14/30]
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| Search Engines consider many factors to gauge relevancy of a site. Titles, content, keywords, links; everything on a page should be relevant to the subject of that page and the site overall. Also, a site that hasn't been updated since the Clinton administration won't typically rank as well as a site that gets refreshed every so often with revised content, updated images, or new pages. |
Score [12/19]
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Links are a critical element in the success of your organic optimization efforts. Search engines give prominence to sites that balance quality links with overall quantity of links. You can achieve success by having a large number of mediocre sites link to yours, or you can succeed by having just a handful of links from powerful and popular websites. Note - the goal is to get links pointing to your website. Its better if you do not reciprocate the links back to these sites. High Value Links includes links from directories, bookmarking and social networking sites, blogs, and user generated sites and portals.
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| Search Engines tend to give prominence to sites with links from social bookmarking sites like Technorati, Digg, and others. These bookmarking sites carry a great deal of weight. They are sometimes difficult to gain links from, but it's well worth the effort. Bookmarking sites change frequently though, so a link may only be valuable for a short time. A persistent effort is required to stay on these sites. |
Score [20/20]
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| A finite list of websites is seen as higher value than others. These valuable links help build your online credibility in the eyes of the Search Engine. These links are typically from specific directories, government sites, and education portals. They do not need to be within your industry to gain value from these links. |
Score [5/40]
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| Most businesses understand the importance of networking. It's the same online. Social network sites like MySpace, Linked in, and numerous others are powerful tools when trying to gain organic search rankings. The more your site is talked about in these social settings, the more interested search engines will be to rank your site above similar ones. This is especially important for local listings. |
Score [0/10]
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| Search Engines are more apt to rank a site that is determined to be interesting to site visitors. Stickiness is used to evaluate how long a visitor might stay on your site, or how often they return. Interactive sites or those that are popular on the blog scene are more likely to succeed with stickiness. |
Score [6/20]
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| Allowing users to create content (reviews, questions, etc.) creates a trust with the consumer, which translates into conversions. Search Engines also see this as increased credibility to a site, and give preferential treatment to sites that are linked to by user generated content (think YouTube). |
Score [5/10]
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Having a sound website, built on a search engine friendly foundation, is important. Though most technical elements are behind the scenes, they are important none the less. Search engines review the code of the site, note if elements are broken or coding languages conflict, and verify that the site is properly structured to give a user (site visitor) a good browsing experience. The “score” on these technical issues will factor in to the overall ranking potential of your site. Technical Quality includes items like valid code structure, robot and sitemap file inclusion, proper use of tags and language (code) compliance, and image and page load times.
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| Search Engines have identified technical best practices utilized in critiquing a site. Search engines prefer to rank sites that use proper coding structure, and compatible programming languages. Proper file inclusion and format is also reviewed. |
Score [38/38]
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| Search Engines look for proper use of standards. Sites that comply with these standards are treated well. Sites that break the rules, are not compliant, or do not use standards appropriately are typically penalized and held down from first page organic ranking results. |
Score [15/42]
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| The technical performance of a website affects the user experience. Search Engines are focused on delivering results that improve a visitor’s overall experience. Since visitors prefer sites that load quickly, are easy to read and understand, and are easy to navigate - search engines are more likely to rank such a site in their results. |
Score [15/20]
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Like any business, it's good to be seen. Search engines are more likely to rank a site that is well exposed than one that is hidden. There are many places your site may be found; search engines, directories, partner sites, blogs and social sites, and sponsored advertising. The more exposure your site has, the more visitors it will likely acquire. The more visitors your site gets, the more likely your site will be linked to from others, and the more the major search engines will pay attention to it. Visibility includes search engine exposure items such as recognized back links, number of indexed pages, keyword recognition in search results, and traffic ranking based on number of visitors to your site compared to other sites on the web.
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| A well-rounded site, as seen by search engines, will typically have links pointing outside of their own site. Be it affiliations, partners, or educational sources, search engines seem to prefer sites that have a small ratio of links pointing to other sites. |
Score [26/30]
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| When a page is indexed by a search engine it means that the search engine is reviewing the page within their system. Though there's no correlation between simply being indexed and gaining high ranking, a site can not show up in the results until it is indexed. The goal is to have every customer-facing page on your site indexed and ranked. |
Score [17/23]
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| Customers use specific terms or phrases when searching for your services. Of course if they know you they will look for your business name. If they don't know your brand they will search for terms related to your product or service. It's important that your site shows up in this search. Keyword Recognition looks at how often your site shows up in searches using your industry key terms and phrases. |
Score [36/36]
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| A number of Internet-based companies rank websites using various criteria, such as quantity of visitors, quality of links pointing to the site, or how one site compares to others on the web. These rankings are looked at by some Search Engines as a way to validate the significance of a website. |
Score [9/11]
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