June 11th, 2010 // No Comments
Here is page 1 right of out my ebook Blog SEO Zen.
Let’s begin with how a page ends up in the top 10 for a specific search on Google. “Google” and “search engines” are used interchangeably because Google captures an overwhelming 72% of searches and a page ranking in Google should also rank well in other engines.
A user searches a phrase such as “San Diego wedding photographer” or “Ritz Hotel San Diego wedding.” Google finds pages that talk about that topic. It knows that pages are about that topic by reading code of the page (including title, URL, text) and reading the text of links that point to the page. If you link to my page and the link says ebook, then Google thinks my site is about ebook because your link said so. Thus a pre-requisite for ranking well is to use phrases (and links where possible) on your page similar to phrases that users are typing into Google search queries.
For a competitive phrase like San Diego wedding photographer, Google has a lot of pages on that topic to choose from. How does it decide which to rank in the top 10? A small part of it is how well the phrase is used in key positions on the page like the title, URL, first paragraph, and alternate text of images. Since everyone does this and it can easily be manipulated by the site owner, Google turns to an outside source for the majority of its ranking process. The quantity and quality of links pointing to a page tell Google how important everyone else thinks the page is. If 100 sites link to page A and 10 sites link to page B, then page A must be more important and should be ranked higher. In essence, each link is kind of like a user review for a blog site, and more incoming links push it to the top.
For specific phrases like “Ritz Hotel San Diego wedding,” there are fewer pages about this exact topic. Google has fewer pages to compare links for, so the number of links needed is also fewer. Perhaps no links are needed to that specific page if many links are already established to other places on the website. In this case you have already established link equity (trust) with Google and new posts can rank without needing links that point directly to them (but it would help).
Don’t freak. I’m here to teach you how to find phrases, where to use them, and how to get links. It’s all good.
The blog platform like WordPress, Blogger, or Typepad play a huge role in the ability for a blog to rank well in search. Next lesson: read my post on Recommended Photography Blog WordPress Themes.
