Thanks for asking!
I've researched easynews.com vs. the sites which now appear above it
in Google search results. I'll outline my methods and findings, and
offer some suggestions that will hopefully increase your ranking. As
mentioned in the comment below, Google Answers Researchers do not
speak "officially" for Google, however, some of us are
more-than-typically knowledgeable in the subject of search engine
rankings, and can provide insight, analysis, advice and suggestions
geared specifically to your own web site.
On the surface, EasyNews.com seems to "have it all" including high
page rank. An in depth look is needed in order to determine what's
happening behind that seemingly rosy picture. The prime competitors
for your keyword appear to be a Cold Fusion web application, and a PHP
script, both with the same name. Both of these applications are
mentioned and linked on a number of highly ranked websites besides
their own.
With Google user preferences set to English only, the top search
result for "easynews" -is- a review of EasyNews.com as a Usenet
Service Provider, and result #10 is a similar review from another
source. Both provide useful referrals, but let's look closer to see if
there are ways you can raise your own site's ranking.
SEE YOUR SITE THROUGH THE EYES OF A SEARCH ENGINE SPIDER
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The first step in figuring out keyword difficulties is to see your
site as the Googlebot does. Let's take a look using the Search Engine
Spider Simulator at Search Engine World:
http://www.searchengineworld.com/cgi-bin/sim_spider.cgi
The initial submission of your URL and analysis of the homepage to the
Spider Simulator shows that you use the Page Title: EasyNews ®, which
is the your keyword term. The page title is one of the most useful
tools for enhancing findability, and you -are- following the company
line, however, I believe you can increase findability by adding a
small bit of description to your title. I'm sure that your own
marketing people can come up with a more efficient description than
mine, I'm using it only as an example:
EasyNews - Usenet EasyNews Service or
EasyNews - Usenet Made Easy
This sort of phrasing can double the keyword density in the title, if
EasyNews is reused, plus provides a description of the service,
increasing the likelihood of appearing in the search results when a
potential customer searches for Usenet services. Additionally, using
the Registered Trademark symbol may actually be diluting the keyword
relevancy. The symbol is counted as a separate word in the title.
Compare www.microsoft.com. Microsoft is well-known for aggressive use
of their Registered Trademark, yet it does not appear in the title of
their web pages.
Other META Tags
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You aren't using either a Meta Description or Keywords. Though as a
developer, I occasionally choose this route, it's a risky proposition
unless your page copy is specifically written for the search engine,
rather than human readers, and that's a very tricky balance. It's
nearly impossible to sell to both with the same words. Using a
well-written Meta Description allows full control of what users will
read to entice them to click through the search engine result to your
site.
Various search engines include differing amounts of title text in
their own descriptions. The first 150 characters (about one sentence)
should be used to provide descriptive information about what users
will find at your website. Optionally, you can add another 100
characters or so to explain why your site or product is beneficial.
Again, brevity (and absence of hype) is best.
Keywords - No, Google doesn't use Meta Keywords to determine the
ranking of your site. However, including this Meta tag can increase
the chances of ranking higher in Google. Other search engines and
directories -do- use Meta Keywords. The ranking of your listings
within those results can contribute to better page rank in Google. The
relevancy or rank of your listing at search engines and directories
with high page rank themselves helps your Google listing. Many of
those entities use Meta Keywords to help determine relevancy, ergo,
use of those keywords is still useful.
KEYWORD DENSITY
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Let's move to the Keyword Density Analyzer, to try get to the bottom
of the mystery. I'll give you an overview of the process for your
homepage, and provide summaries based on the same method for the
inside pages. Click on the Keyword Density icon next to your homepage
URL (http://www.easynews.com) to read along.
On your homepage the term "Easynews" -- out of 312 words -- is used
five times, with a number of words appearing more frequently. On the
homepage it's density is 1.6. To use an example given in the comment
below, for the search terms "news.easynews.com" has a keyword density
of 6.52, and therefore, your site, using a keyword analysis, would
more likely be found using that search phrase, rather than "easynews"
alone, which is, indeed the case.
For the site as a whole, the keyword density of "easynews" averages
1.652% The competition (sites that rank above EasyNews.com) have
higher keyword and keyword phrase densities. Some, including
easynews.de also share the advantage of having the easynews keyword in
their URL.
Keyword density is a rather complex, ever-changing field. To learn the
background, plus the latest strategies, I always recommend RankWrite
Roundtable and High Rankings Advisor as excellent, reputable sources
of information on keyword densities and copywriting for Internet
search engines. Both the archived information available at RankWrite
and its successor newsletter, High Rankings Advisor provide no-bull
tips and advice for optimizing your copy for keyword density. Learning
and applying this skill is one of the most effective methods - a key
element -- of achieving high ranking search results.
RankWrite Roundtable
http://www.rankwrite.com/
High Rankings Advisor
http://www.highrankings.com/advisor.htm
Keyword density strategies can also be a part of your ALT and TITLE
tags. By labeling images and links (appropriately) with keywords,
you'll be able to increase the density without forcing awkward
constructions in your main copy. Webmonkey offers an excellent ALT
tags tutorial that is just as applicable to search engine optimization
as it is to accessibility.
Accessible HTML, by Matt Margolin
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/97/11/index4a.html
INBOUND LINKAGE
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Links to your site are also a major factor in determining your site's
Google search result ranking. The goal is to be linked on pages and
sites which rank as high or higher than your own.
A check of incoming links to easynews.com (using Google's reverse link
function for both "link" and "links" produces the following lists:
://www.google.com/search?q=links:+www.easynews.com+-site:easynews.com&num=100&filter=0
://www.google.com/search?q=link:+www.easynews.com+-site:easynews.com&num=100&filter=0
As you may notice as you click through to these sites (with the Google
Toolbar installed, and the Page Rank information function turned on),
many (most) have lower Page Rank than your own.
Google Toolbar
http://toolbar.google.com
By substituting the site URLs for your competitors and their
subsidiary advertisers into the URLs I've given just above, you'll
notice more incoming links, by sites which are also highly ranked.
This suggests that cultivating links to your site, or selective link
exchanges would be beneficial to your search placement.
Linking well is the key. You're judged by the company you keep. Link
farms, or other link schemes aren't the answer. Let's look at a few
places to inquire about linkage, though I am sure that you are much
more familiar with the 'big name' websites in your particular area,
plus a strategy to garner even more linkage with creation of a
reference page.
DMOZ.org and the Google Directory
You're listed in DMOZ (great!) in the <Computers: Usenet: Web Based>
category. Are there additional categories your site (or individual
individual inside pages) could be appropriately listed? Popular wisdom
says that DMOZ will allow additional listings (and deep linking) if
your content or site is category appropriate. The number/total three
has been tossed around in discussions of these listings. This isn't
advice to spam DMOZ, which would get you unlisted faster than
anything, but to carefully examine the Directory and see if there are
additional appropriate listing opportunities.
Additional linking suggestions:
http://cws.internet.com/news.html (Strouds Reviews)
http://livinginternet.com/?u/uw_read.htm (Living Internet)
Sites listed in the top 10 for at least a dozen of the most relevant
Usenet search terms.
One of the best ways to encourage linking is to provide pages that
describe your product or service, and/or special page or pages that
offer full instruction for using it. Not fluff, but helpful reference
information that users and referrers will be happy to link to. Title
the page easynews.html (or other extension you prefer). You may even
choose to store it in an easynews directory of its own, i.e.
easynews.com/easynews/easynews.html. When requesting links tailor your
request by offering both the homepage and the most appropriate inside
page, and by all means, allow inside linkage.
You might consider adding Overture to your site promotion strategy.
--Not-- necessarily for additional traffic, but because Overture
results are propagated to a number of additional search engines.
Again, a high ranking on highly ranked pages strategy. A look at this
Search Engine Relationship Chart can be very enlightening.
Search Engine Relationships - Bruce Clay
http://www.bruceclay.com/searchenginechart.pdf
To recap, the recommended strategies are:
Change your Title Metatag
Add Keyword and Description Metatags
Work on optimal keyword density in website copy
Increase inbound links from site with high Page Rank
Patience is a virtue for increasing your site placement in search
results. It may take as long as three to six months to fully realize
the benefits of changes and additions. You're not penalized for
re-submitting your URL, however, if your site is being crawled by the
Googlebot, and you improve the inbound linkage, the Googlebot will
find you more easily every time it engages in a major crawl. The
process should be ongoing, as well. Stay on top of the hot topics and
sites in the Usenet universe, and update your site to indicate that
information on those topics and sites may be found at EasyNews.
Additional Resources
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Search Engine Placement Tips
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/tips.html
How To Use HTML Meta Tags
http://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/meta.html
Search Engine Watch Webmaster Info
http://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/index.html
Danny Sullivan's Search Engine Watch is highly reputable and
recommended as a prime source of up-to-date search engine news and
information.
Tips from Google on developing a Google-friendly site:
Webmasters Help Directory
://www.google.com/webmasters
Available information includes:
Guidelines: ://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html
Facts/Fiction: ://www.google.com/webmasters/facts.html
SE Optimization: ://www.google.com/webmasters/seo.html
FAQ: ://www.google.com/webmasters/faq.html
You'll also find Google wisdom and advice at:
User Support Discussion Forum
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=google.public.support.general
Google Page Rank Technical information:
The Google Pagerank Algorithm and How It Works
Ian Rogers, IPR Computing Ltd.
http://www.iprcom.com/papers/pagerank/index.html
PageRank Uncovered
Chris Ridings -- Search Engine Optimization Support Forums
http://www.supportforums.org/pagerank
Page Rank Uncovered -- Chris Ridings (Adobe .pdf format)
http://www.supportforums.org/PageRank.pdf
Resources and Forums:
Webmaster World
http://www.webmasterworld.com
Search Engine World
http://www.searchengineworld.com
Search Engine Forums at JimWorld
http://searchengineforums.com/bin/Ultimate.cgi
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My answer was compiled from site research of EasyNews.com and
competitors, as shown by Google searches, from my own bookmarks, and
from knowledge of search engine optimization, earned as webmaster and
web developer, working in tandem with SEO specialists on website
development.
Should you have any questions about the material or links provided,
please, feel free to ask.
-larre |
