Google SEO| Google Search Engine Optimisation
Google is the UK's most important search engine, generating an approximate 75% market share of all search engine traffic. Google search engine optimisation (Google SEO) is focused on improving your website's "organic" ranking for key search terms on Google.
Google.co.uk, is Google's local engine for the UK. It is highly sensitive to filtering out what it considers to be non-UK based websites.
Google's Optimisation Factors
Although following similar principles, the Google search engine algorithm - Googlebot - functions in a different way from the other major search engines. This is mainly because it is more "off page" biased than either MSN or Yahoo, the two other major search engines. By "off page", we mean that when Google produces its results, it relies more heavily on information it collects from sources other than the target website. This information is largely collected by analysing the links that point at a website.
1.
Inbound Links - IBLs
Google, like all other search engines measure the number and nature of
inbound links (or IBLs) into a site from other websites. Google places
a greater
emphasis on these links than the other engines. More than any other
factor,
the
number, quality and origination of these links is what determines the
ranking of your site in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
2.
Google PageRank™
Google operates a patented page ranking system called Google
PageRank™.
This
measures the
status of a page in terms of the value or PR of its inbound links.
Values are calculated out of 10. A new page with no inbound links will
be ranked at 0/10. An established, highly authoritative page will be
ranked 10/10. Most established commercial website pages feature in a
range from 3/10 to 5/10. For more detailed information and links on
PageRank go to Wikipedia,
the web's public
encyclopedia.
3.
Anchor Text
Anchor text refers to the highlighted
text
contained within a hyperlink.
Associated with the anchor text is the descriptive text which surrounds
the link. Inbound links to your
website contain
information that Google uses to determine whether your website
matches a specific
search.
4.
Page or Site Content
This is the content or
subject of your page or site. Google determines
the content of your website by looking at three principal
sources.
The title and other meta tags of your website. The page, paragraph and
body text shown on a page. The nature of the inbound links to
a
page.
5. Google Updates
Google periodically goes through updates. These may be minor updates
such as a recalibration of PageRank scores, or they can be quite major
such as the Florida, Jagger and Big Daddy updates. Updates
lead to flurry of activity from the SEO community. But from
experience I'd suggest that a more circumspect approach should be
taken. Updates only seem to have major and permanent impact on the
websites that attempt to spoof the rankings. Solid, and ethical, SEO
has little to fear.
Google Search Engine Optimisation Advice
The Google website has a section on Google webmaster guidelines. In addition there is a specific section advising webmasters on how to go about legitimate search engine optimisation.
Google Webmaster Tools
Google Webmaster Tools is a suite of tools for improving the organic performance of your website. Amongst other things it provides feedback about the standing of your pages and a range of objective performance measures.
Google Sitemaps
Google sitemaps is a way of improving the visibility of your website and helping Google map all of its pages.
Google Advanced Search Operators
Google has a series of advanced search operators. These operators, if placed before a search query, will provide specific information about a site, or restrict a search to using specific information. Examples include Link: to generate information about a website's back links, Site: to see how many pages of a website have been indexed by Google and Allinanchor: to restrict a search to sites with the designated anchor text.
Google search engine optimisation is a rapidly evolving field. Google is constantly tuning its algorithm in order to outfox the SEO community.
