Getting to the Top (of Google)

Every business owner wants the same thing: free advertising provided by Google search results. Where your website falls within the search results depends on two things: 1. How relevant your site is to the search query, and 2. How high Google ranks your site (known as Pagerank).

1. Site Relevance. Google needs to know what your site is all about if it's going to list your site for a query. For example, if I type "web design in Arizona" into the search engine, Google will look for sites that feature content about web design and Arizona. Since Google uses software programs called "bots" or "spiders" to read websites, many sites are miscategorized by Google. This is because all Google can do is read the code and text that's available and interpret it based on their algorithm. Sites can definitely be optimized so that Google can easily figure out how to index them. This is a process of cleaning up the code and text to better reflect the keywords you may be targeting.

Your URL, or domain name is one of the biggest factors Google uses, and the name "webdesigninarizona.com" would get huge preference from Google for the query "web design in Arizona" because it's a dotcom address that exactly matches the query. This is the reason why simple domain names, such as "marketing.com" are so valuable. They get preference for all of the millions of queries for the keyword "marketing."

2. Pagerank. Pagerank is mainly determined by external links and time. Older sites get preference and there is a lag between the time you've optimized your site and the time that Google decides to recognize these changes. Other websites linking to your site will bring your Pagerank up if they are relevant and reputable. If your site is about web design and marketing in Arizona, the majority of the links to your site should also be about web design and marketing or Arizona. A low-ranking site about landscaping in Alabama linking to your site about web design in Arizona would do little or nothing to help your Pagerank. Also, unrelated links may confuse the Googlebots and they may miscategorize your site. You definitely want good links that are high ranking sites with content related to yours.

Knowing this, many site administrators work hard to set up link exchanges with other site owners. These quid pro quo setups are easily identified by Google and the links often cancel each other out. Google is actually looking for sites that are so awesome and so informative that everyone wants to link to them, without any form of incentivation. In other words, the best way to achieve a great Pagerank is through building an awesome site with tons of great content that everyone wants to link their blogs to.

Final Analysis: If you want free advertising from Google, you have to give Google something worth advertising -- an awesome site with many loyal users.