Google is emphatically the world’s largest and best traffic pushing search engine. For most internet companies, being ranked highly in Google is the difference between being highly profitable and highly bankrupt.

The secret behind Google’s success is their ‘top secret’ algorithm - their system of ranking pages. A major fundamental difference between Google and most internet companies is that they didn’t achieve their popularity from marketing skill, they won their market share by the quality of their search results and do less active marketing than everyone else.

SEO companies want you to believe that getting ranked highly in Google is nearly impossible. They will lead you to believe that you need some secret, master blueprint that only they have. They tell you that Google’s algorithm changes constantly, and by doing your own SEO you will eventually lose.

The truth is that Google’s algorithm isn’t as top secret as they want you to believe. It doesn’t change as much as they want you to believe. It isn’t as hard to get ranked well as they want you to believe. Google optimization is actually fairly simple - making it complicated is what makes people lose.

The most important parts of Google’s ranking system are so vital to search quality, they will likely not change very much.

Google’s Ranking System:

• Finding pages that match the keywords in question. Note: I said ‘find pages’ and not ‘find sites’. Google ranks pages, not sites. It is fairly common to have one page of your site come up on one page of Google, and another page of your site come up on another page of Google for the same keyword search. Google ranks pages.
• Rating on-page factors like keyword visibility, placement, repetition, etc.
• Calculating off-page factors like link quality and quantity, relevant anchor text, and PageRank. (PageRank can be influenced by some on-page factors, but is mainly calculated by looking at the sites that are linking to the page in question.)
• Displaying pages in order.

Finding Pages That Match The Keywords In Question

Google uses two primary methods to identify pages that match the keywords that people search for:

1. Looking directly at the content, which is the words found on the pages.
2. Looking at links pointing to individuals pages.

Looking Directly At The Content
It makes sense that Google would include pages on which they find the keywords in question. In the early days of search engines this was the primary method of finding pages, and since the ranking systems were so primitive the results could easily be manipulated. Google still uses the method to find pages, but uses other factors to rank all the pages that are found.

Looking At Links Pointing To Pages
Google also uses the anchor text in links to find pages that match keywords. If I linked to my ‘About’ page using ‘the funniest looking internet marketer of all time‘ as my anchor text, my ‘About’ page would be included in Google’s search results that are returned when people search for ‘the funniest looking internet marketer of all time’, even though those words aren’t found on my ‘About’ page anywhere.

On-Page Ranking Factors (Google On-Site Optimization)

Google’s on-page rating system is state of the art, and trying to manipulate it will do a lot more harm than good. There are millions of ‘dead’ pages on the internet that were banned for using shady techniques (that used to be really effective).

Shady Techniques That Will Get You Banned

• Repeating keywords relentlessly on pages. In extreme cases webmasters would make pages that consisted solely of thousands of keywords on a page.
• Creating hidden text and loading it with keywords. It used to be very effective - you would make the text the same color as the background, or you would make it 1 pixel tall.
• Manipulating keyword density to match exactly what the search engine looked for.

Although these techniques were very effective at one time, they were never good techniques. Good techniques help you to get ranked now, and protect your future. Never do anything that could damage your future, even if it helps you to get ranked now. If you stick to safe techniques you don’t have to worry about an algorithm change getting you kicked out of Google.

Safe On-Page Optimization Techniques

• Adding keywords to HTML titles of pages. If you’re a blogger this means placing keywords in the titles of your posts - posts titles are used to create your HTML title tags automatically. If you’re a regular webmaster you will have to set the HTML title tags manually. The HTML title is the text that is shown at the top of your browser. If you’re using Internet Explorer or Firefox, look at the blue bar at the top of the browser. The text in there is the HTML title of this page.
• Adding keywords to the URLs of pages. Again, if you’re a blogger the URLs are created by using your posts titles - make sure you get them in there. Make sure you have permalinks enabled. If you’re a webmaster that designs each page, the URL is created by the filename you choose to use.
• Making the keyword bold when you use it in your text. This makes it easier for your readers to find. If it’s good for your readers, it’s good for Google. Don’t go ballistic with this one, only make the keyword bold once.
• Using a domain name that has the keyword in it. This is a highly effective method of getting ranked well for a keyword, but has to be weighed against the positive and negative effects on your branding.
• Using the keyword a few times on the page. This means 3-4 times, not 20 times. The more times you repeat, the higher your risk of getting banned by Google.
• Linking to other pages that rank well for the keyword. This might seem counter productive - I assure you that it isn’t. Linking to relevant, authoritative resources can really help you to rank well for your keywords.
• Using H1 and H2 tags around your keyword. If you’re a blogger, you’re theme is what determines where your H1 and H2 tags appear. In order to ensure that your theme is set up properly, I would advise using an SEO friendly theme.

Off-Page Ranking Factors (Off-Site Google Optimization)

• Quality of sites linking to the pages in question.
• Quantity of sites linking to the pages in question.
• Relevance of links pointing to the pages.
• PageRank
• Site age and history.

Quality Of Sites Linking To The Pages In Question
This will likely always be the biggest factor that determines who is ranked in the highest locations. Most of the sites that are ranked in the highest locations have links from other sites that rank well in search results. Sites that rank exceptionally well are known as ‘authority sites’. To properly understand what an authority site is, let’s take a look at the news industry.

If we do a search in Google for news, Google will return 1.6 billion results. The site that comes up first is CNN.com, which has definitely earned to right to be called authoritative. Getting a link from CNN.com would be highly beneficial to any site, but would be especially beneficial to a site that covered news.

No matter what industry or niche your site is in, there are sites that are authorities. The sites that come up in the top of the search engine rankings while searching for your keywords will be the most beneficial to get links from.

The quality of sites that have links pointing to your site will be one of the biggest factors Google uses to rank your pages.

Quantity Of Sites Linking To The Pages In Question
Many people have disagreed with me over this issue. They say that quantity doesn’t make a difference. Quantity does make a difference. Think about it this way: If you got a link from CNN.com, and I got links from CNN.com, FoxNews.com, MSNBC.com, and USAToday.com, I would definitely rank better than you would, assuming that all of our other factors were equal. Quantity alone isn’t enough, but it is a fairly significant factor in the equation.

Link Relevance
The relevance of links is also a major factor in Google’s ranking algorithm. There are several factors that Google uses to determine link relevance:

• Subject material of the site giving the link.
• Subject material of the page giving the link.
• Anchor text of the link.
• Authority of the site on the subject.

Let’s use some examples to show how each of these is important. To put these in context, we’re going to assume that we’re on a team trying to get ranked for a news related keyword.

Example 1 - We get a link from CNN.com on a page about exercise. CNN.com uses our domain as the anchor text, in other words they made a link that looked like this: CourtneyTuttle.com. This would be a really good link, because it’s from CNN.com. The other examples will show how it could be better.

Example 2 - We get a link from Newsday.com on a page about news. Newsday.com also uses our domain name to make the link. This would be a really good link as well. Newsday.com isn’t as authoritative as CNN.com, but it would help that they linked to us from a page about news.

Example 3 - We get a link from CNN.com on a page about the news industry. They use the anchor text Premier News Site to make the link. This would be the holy grail of links if we were going for the keyword ‘premier news site’. CNN.com is the most authoritative site in the news industry, and linked to us from a relevant page, with the exact anchor text we wanted.

Example 4 - We get a link from a local newspaper on a page about charities. This link wouldn’t be as beneficial as the above 3, but would still be highly beneficial.

Example 5 - We get a link from MasterMartialArts.com. This link would provide very little benefit since it isn’t relevant in any way. Note that little benefit is still some benefit.

To achieve maximum rankings, you would want to get links from all of the above sources, focusing on the first 4 of course. If you need ideas for getting links, give this article a good read: 102 Ways To Make Your Site A Back-Link Superstar

PageRank
I read all the time that the formula for calculating PageRank is top secret. It isn’t, in fact when Sergey Brin and Lawrence page created Google PageRank, they were students at Stanford, and gave the PageRank formula in a paper corresponding to the project. You can find the original paper where they presented Google to the world here. It’s pretty technical but really interesting. The confusion over the PageRank formula comes from the fact that Google’s exact ranking formula is unknown.

Here’s the formula they created for PageRank:

PR(A) = (1-d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + … + PR(Tn)/C(Tn))

It looks like a mess doesn’t it. Let’s break it down real quick.

• PR= PageRank
• A= The page for which PageRank is being calculated.
• d= A number that Google alters manually to make the PageRank of all pages add up to 1. They have disclosed that they usually set this to 0.85.
• T1= The first page linking to A
• Tn= The last page linking to A
• + … + means that there are pages in between T1 and Tn.
• C= number of links going out from pages T1 through Tn.

Without breaking down hundreds of examples, let me just tell you what is significant and important in the formula. PR(T1) means that the PageRank of the page you get a link from is highly significant. If you had 100,000 links that were entered into the equation you would obviously end up with a higher number, or higher PageRank.

Here’s my interpretation: High Page Rank = Getting linked to from sites that have high PageRank or getting linked to from loads of sites with low PageRank. It will probably be easiest to use a combination of some high PR links and lots of low PR links.

One interesting thing that I learned by going through this equation is that you can create more PageRank simply by adding more pages to your site. Each page starts with a very low PageRank, but passes PageRank to all of your other pages that it’s linked to. Hopefully all of your pages are linked to your home page.

You can also help to pass PageRank to your own pages by controlling the amount of outbound links you’re giving. You can read about that concept here: 3 Easy Ways To Rock The Next PageRank Update.

PageRank is part of Google’s ranking algorithm, but it is only a part! Just because you have a PR6 doesn’t mean that you will rank higher than a PR3. All of the ranking factors have to be considered.

Site Age And History
The age of your site is a fairly significant factor that determines your rankings, especially in the beginning. Sites that have been around longer will have an advantage in this area. You can still beat them by beating them in other areas! Remember that each part of Google’s ranking system is just that - only a part.

Take this as a positive - results that you achieve now will automatically be better in a year, especially if you’re a new site. Sadly, many sites become dead because they don’t stick it out long enough. Don’t give up after a few months, you will be quitting right before you start to overcome this disadvantage!

Your site’s history also has an effect on your rankings. Google records how often you add new content to your site, and how your site grows. If you write 100 posts in the first week, and then don’t right any more, Google will probably assume that the site isn’t being maintained anymore. Their algorithm penalizes sites that aren’t being changed. If you’re a webmaster the same concept applies - you don’t want to add 100 pages and never add again. You will always need to add fresh content to your site - Google keeps track when you do.

One advantage to adding content regularly is that Google crawls and indexes your site accordingly. CourtneyTuttle.com gets crawled and indexed almost every day, because I add content almost every day. This means that new content will get indexed and ranked quickly.

Google Optimization In A Nutshell

• Add keywords to HTML title tags.
• Add keywords to URLs.
• Highlight keywords by making them bold and using them in headings.
• Use keywords in your domain if it works with your branding.
• Link to other pages that rank well for the keyword.
• Use H1 and H2 tags around the keyword, when possible.
• Get links from quality sites in your industry.
• Get a high number of inbound links focusing on getting the links from the most relevant sites.
• Get the sites linking to you to use your keywords in the anchor text of the link.
• Build PageRank by getting links, controlling outbound links, and creating additional pages on your site.
• Enjoy the benefits of your site’s age over time.
• Continue to add new content to ‘make good grades’ on your site’s recorded history.

If you made it this far in the article, well done. You are probably persistent enough to achieve top Google rankings.