Search engine ranking involves modifying a website to achieve a higher ranking in a search engine. Algorithms determine relevance, and link popularity is a new method used. Webmasters use various techniques, but rankings evolve daily, and cheating the system is no longer possible.
Search engine ranking is the practice of modifying a website, using certain techniques, so that it can achieve a higher ranking in a particular search engine. When a web surfer visits a search engine and types in a search term, he or she is presented with a list of web pages relevant to that search term. How exactly the search engine determines relevance is at the heart of search engine rankings.
Every search engine has a formula it uses to determine which web pages are spit out once a user enters a search term. This formula is known as an algorithm. To say that a search engine algorithm is a trade secret would be a gross understatement. When search engines were first developed, their algorithms depended on the information contained in a web page’s meta tags. The meta tag contains basic information about a web page such as title, description, keywords, copyright information and more. It wasn’t long before some webmasters realized that they could put thousands of keywords, most unrelated to their site, into the meta tag and boost their site’s rankings in the search engine. This is just one of many unscrupulous methods that have been used.
Those were the glory days of search engine rankings. At that time, search engines were still in their infancy. Many webmasters became rich overnight once they learned how to turn web traffic into affiliate money. Like any child, search engines eventually grew up. Once Google and Yahoo changed the way search engine ranking was determined, the rest of the search engines followed suit. This radically changed the way search engine rankings were practiced and a new industry was born.
No longer would a webmaster be able to create a web page, load it with a million keywords and text, and get high search engine rankings overnight. Search engines have developed new algorithms to accommodate their new attitude towards results pages. New algorithms have made it much more difficult for a webmaster to cheat the system. For the first time, it would take real work to achieve a high degree. The idea of having to work drove many amateurs out of town and legitimized the search engine industry.
A new method used by search engines to rank pages is link popularity. Link popularity is a way for the search engine to determine how relevant a web page is to a particular search term. In theory, if Site A links to Site B and Site C links to Site B, then Site B must be more relevant than the others. In response to this new method, webmasters spend countless hours building links to websites that are relevant to their own. One technique used by webmasters is to link to “authority sites,” which are websites that have already achieved high search engine rankings. Having links to authority sites improves a page’s ranking in search engines.
Building link popularity is just one technique webmasters use in research engine rankings, there are countless others. Keyword frequency, headings, titles, alt tags, image descriptions, web addresses with keywords in them, and meta tags are among the many methods used by webmasters to improve their rankings. While a web page’s ranking in search engines is never a sure thing, what is certain is that search engine rankings evolve on a daily basis. Just when webmasters think they have search engines figured out, search engines change their tactics.
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