Hi there,
First of all, a disclaimer of sorts.... Google Answers is completely
separate from the Google search engine. The researchers here are
independent contractors, and our answers should not be seen as an
official Google response. The only official information for webmasters
is here:
://www.google.com/webmasters/
Having said that, I have been involved in the search engine industry
for years and have search engine optimization experience. Here goes
with some things you should and shouldn't do, to get a high ranking
for the keyword "diamonds".
Google Ranking
--------------
There are many factors to be considered when ranking search results.
These include:
- Does the keyword appear in the title, heading tags, and URL?
- How many times does the keyword appear in the general text of the
page?
- Does the keyword appear in or around incoming links to the page?
- Are there any indications that the site is trying to trick search
engines?
- Is the content of the page related to the keyword?
The exciting extra factor that Google came up with, and the main
reason for its highly relevant search results, is PageRank. PageRank
(PR) is a rating given to every page in Google's index, and basically
reflects the popularity of the page - how many other pages link this
one. Google looks at the number of incoming links, and their quality.
By using the Google Toolbar, webmasters can see an approximation of a
page's PR. Generally speaking, a PR of 4 is pretty good, 6 is
excellent, 7 brilliant and anything higher than that is extraordinary.
You say that your site is "better than any other diamond site on the
web". Google's way of making such a determination is via PageRank.
Your site has a PR of 4 for the home page. While that is enough to get
a top 10 position for an unusual keyword, it is usually not enough to
do well for a keyword like "diamonds". You could optmize your site to
perfection and still not get on the first page of results. Quite
simply, you need a higher PageRank.
Why did they get in the Top 10?
-------------------------------
1. http://www.diamonds-diamond.net (PR4)
This site has done some things quite well. A page ranks better if the
Title is an exact match with the search keyword. The home page appears
to be a deliberate attempt to have the word diamonds appear a certain
number of times. They have chosen to pay $299 a year to be in the
Yahoo directory:
http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Shopping_and_Services/Jewelry/Gemstones/Diamonds/
But the main reason they got to #1 is because they are cheating. It is
against Google guidelines to use a reciprocal linking scheme, as they
are doing here:
http://www.diamonds-diamond.net/links/jewelryindex.html
Google say:
"Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule
of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable explaining what you've done
to a website that competes with you. Another useful test is to ask,
"Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't
exist?"
Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's
ranking or PageRank."
://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html
They might get away with it for a while, but sooner of later they
should expect to receive a penalty and drop in the rankings.
2. http://www.diamonds.net/ (PR6)
3. http://www.diamonds.com/ (PR4)
5. http://www.diamonds.be/ (PR4)
The domain name of these sites is an exact match with the search
keyword. This really helps.
4. http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/diamonds/ (PR6)
6. http://www.adiamondisforever.com/ (PR6)
7. http://www.thediamondsfc.com/ (PR5)
8. http://www.cooldiamonds.com (PR5)
9. http://www.doggiediamonds.com/ (PR4)
10, http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/diamond.html (PR6)
There is a powerful common denominator that every site in the Top 10
shares - they are listed in either the Open Directory (Google uses it
for the Google Directory) or Yahoo Directory. Getting listed at either
or both is extremely important, and doing so should increase your
PageRank to at least a PR5.
Why didn't these?
-----------------
Here are some sites quite similar to yours. They are well made, have a
good PR, and rank very poorly for "diamonds", ranking worst than
400th.
http://www.diamondsonweb.com/ (PR4)
Problem: not in Yahoo or Open Directory
http://diamonds-diamonds-diamonds.com/ (PR5)
Problem: not in Yahoo or Open Directory
Problem: no text on the home page
Quality of Incoming Links
-------------------------
Look at these categories and all of the sites that are competing with
yours for search engine glory - they have an advantage that your site
does not:
http://directory.google.com/Top/Home/Consumer_Information/Jewelry_and_Gemstones
http://directory.google.com/Top/Shopping/Jewelry/
http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Shopping_and_Services/Jewelry/Gemstones/Diamonds/
Your site has a huge number of incoming links. The problem is that
most of them are from your other sites. Google can works this out, and
it will affect your PageRank. It is okay to link to your other sites,
it just a matter of how much. It is a negative if most of the links
are from your sites. No-one aside from Google engineers know exactly
how it works, but a good guess is that for each of your own links,
they invalidate a link from someone else.
Getting a Better Ranking
------------------------
1. Get listed in Open Directory and Yahoo
http://dmoz.org/Shopping/Jewelry/Diamonds/
http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Shopping_and_Services/Jewelry/Gemstones/Diamonds/
Open Directory can take months. Yahoo is quick, but there is no way
around the $299 annual fee
2. Change your Title to a single word: Diamonds
3. Get rid of your link exchange before Google penalizes you for it:
http://www.original-diamonds.com/links_form.php
4. Reduce the amount of linking from your other sites. I recommend a
maximum of one from each other site. AlltheWeb says that there are:
"...35,257 external web pages that link to
"http://www.original-diamonds.com/"
http://www.alltheweb.com/search?q=%2Blink.all%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.original-diamonds.com%2F+-site%3Aoriginal-diamonds.com&c=web&cs=utf-8&o=550&l=any&no=off&co=1
5. Add text to your home page. Ideally something like what they have
done at http://www.diamonds-diamond.net, but make sure what you write
is original. Try to only use the word diamond or diamonds about once
every couple of sentences.
6. Keep this on your homepage...
<span class=big>Instant Diamond Price Quotations</span>
....but instead of using a custom CSS style, redefine the H1 tag and
use H1.
http://www.learnsouthwest.co.uk/Dreamw/css3.htm
7. Remove this site from the web:
http://brilliant-diamonds.com/
When it is gone, submit the URL to Google, and it will be removed from
Google's index. Duplicate content is against Google webmaster
guidelines.
8. Ask other sites to link to yours. This is extremely difficult.
A trick that has worked for me, is something I haven't publicised
much. Look for sites that were similar to yours, but are now dead.
Find all the pages that link to the dead site, send them a polite
email that says something like
"just letting you know about a dead link, feel free to replace it with
a link to my site"
A good way of finding dead sites is looking through Google Directory -
sites at the bottom of the category pages that are missing the green
PageRank bar are often dead.
To see the links to the dead site, enter the site's URL in the search
box of AlltheWeb:
http://alltheweb.com
Google Adwords
--------------
Using the Google Adwords service does not affect your ranking in
search results.
If you would like any of the above explained in more detail, just ask
for a clarification and I'll get back to you.
Best wishes,
robertskelton-ga |
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