July 27th, 2005

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Internet
2 Comments »

How Google Thinks

I have a journeyman’s understanding of the intricacies of SEO. However, Capulet isn’t an SEO company, and beyond some general recommendations, I refer SEO-related enquiries elsewhere. SEO has traditionally been a black art and a moving target, and requires constant attention. Attention we’re not particularly interested in paying.

That said, here’s a good-as-any ranking of the top 10 things that Google cares about. What’s number one on the list?

Keyword in URL and domain name
Nonetheless many traditional search engine marketers experts have been very reluctant in admitting and acknowledging this factor, it is almost self-evident that it does have tangible influence in boosting relevance in Google search engine results. Keywords in URL indicate that relevant keywords are used in the actual file name of the page published. The same applies to the overall domain name of the site. The more “tuned” to the effective content it provides, the better.

Robin Good extracted this list from this colourful but informative non-weighted set of Google likes and dislikes.

Comments: 2 Responses so far

Derek
July 27th, 2005
12:23 pm

I’ve found that the most effective SEO is simply publishing useful material that people like. Understanding how Google works can help, of course, but that should be secondary to providing a good site. Indeed, treating Google as an incredibly voracious blind Internet user is an effective philosophy.

And besides, if you have all the SEO in the world and lousy content, people might come to your site, but they won’t stay.

[Reply]

Darren James Harkness
July 28th, 2005
12:50 pm

I prefer to think of SEO as the snakeoil of the Internet generation. Of course, I’ve had very bad experiences with an SEO through a previous job.

Like Derek says in his comment, the key to good SEO is to have good, relevant content that updates regularly, while not losing its keywords. Frankly, just having good content is enough.

I also believe that search should not be the biggest driver for your business’ website. Traffic should be driven to your site through traditional marketing strategies, such as advertising, branding (including your URL on any media you send out) and word of mouth.

[Reply]

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