Five SEO factors you cannot neglect

The search engines change their algorithms regularly; by doing this they keep on shifting the goal posts of search engine optimisation. Many website owners find the changing algorithms incredibly frustrating as they feel that as soon as they hit on a winning strategy, it all changes again. This means they have to shift focus again and most people simply wish the search engines will stick to one algorithm and that will be that.

The reasons for the changing algorithms are to be able to bring searchers the most relevant results possible during searches. The search engines continuously try to improve and meet the needs of searchers and in doing this they “force” websites to create content of high value with total relevance.

No-one knows exactly the number of factors the search engines use but it is suggested that there are over 100. Within this huge number of factors there are five that stand out sharply and thus optimisation should focus on them sharply.

Title tag

Having a keyword or keyword phrase in your title tag is an on-page optimisation factor that cannot be neglected under any circumstances. This could be called your flagship keyword opportunity.

Anchor text

Your anchor text is the visible text of a link. Keyword insertion in your anchor text is very important and neglecting to insert a keyword here is missing out on one of the highly important ranking factors.

Popularity of links

Link popularity is an important ranking factor. Inbound links need to be relevant and of high quality, so building links just for numbers is not the answer. The search engine judges your links on how relevant they are to your website and links coming from websites with bad reputations bring far more harm to your own reputation than most people realise.

Diversity of links

The search engines do not only look at the numbers of inbound links that you have. They scrutinize the sources as well as the domains from which those links come very closely. If your inbound links do not show diversity the search engines get the impression that you are not building links the natural way. Link farms are a very bad idea to try and bring up the numbers of your inbound links. Search engines are smart and they know that natural inbound links never all come from the same source.

Trustworthiness

For ranking purposes the search engines look closely at the age of domain names and this is linked to the trust factor for ranking. Very new websites and domains must prove their trustworthiness; trust must be earned, it cannot be gained any other way.

Conclusion

These are obviously not the only ranking factors, but they are hugely important. If the search engines pick up any signs that you are trying to manipulate your ranking you will face penalties. Once you have gained a reputation for unethical SEO or manipulative actions you will have an incredibly hard time clearing your name and regaining the lost trustworthiness. By making yourself guilty of unethical behaviour you undo any benefits you might have gained through your optimisation efforts.

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 5th, 2009 at 2:21 pm and is filed under SEO Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.