SEOTops

Search Engine Results Position or SERP in short has become too vulnerable in the recent past and any constant observer can notice the changes very easily. SERP has never been completely predictable even in the past, but off late it has created a lot flurry and hence is turning things topsy-turvy. While trying to scrutinize the major contributors in Google ranking one finds the major contributors in SERP are Link building, Keyword density, Internal Linking, back links and image links. There are some other factors as well, though NOT that significant enough as it may be noted that one has to play the optimum balance between all these factors.

If a site has a good amount of back links, which is basically anchor based, but internal linking is significantly less, then the chances of scoring high rank comes down. Likewise, if keyword density comes down below 1%, then perhaps search engine does not bother much about your pages.

Our common perception is that if a website has got a reasonable number of links it has a fair chance of holding the higher rung. Having studied some sites, which rank higher based on keyword specific search depending upon keyword density, we maintain it as per the standard rule of 1%, wherein other sites also has a similar keyword density.

On proper scrutinizing, we have found that the other side has got much more image links with proper ALT tags than us. Do search engines give more priority to the image links! It is also worthy mentioned that a proper internal linking within the site have also found to be highly effective in SERP. So, if your web pages have got a balanced and structured internal links, distributed evenly over the pages, search engines value them even more. At times, they are given almost equivalent weightage of back links.

We all know search engine algorithm are never revealed and the challenge lies in breaking the secret and mostly by trial and error, but the vulnerability shown by search engines in the recent past in case of SERP has beaten all past experience.

In my time doing SEO, I’ve come across many characters who believe they’ve got the basics of SEO down and one of the greatest advice these people hear is ANCHOR TEXT, put your link under anchor text to help you rank higher for those words in the search engines- that’s pretty basic info you think how could someone mess that up right? WRONG! Now I’ve had clients with keywords like handbags,shoes, purses and watches all in one link which begs the question- Does anyone actually search for that except you? Who in thier right mind goes to google and types in handbags, shoes,purses and watches and then heads over to the keyboard and presses ENTER- that’s right noone.

Basic lesson- This is a sentence- Handbags,purses, lipstick, bags,bentley, shoes and watches.
This is a keyword- Handbags or Gucci Handbags maybe even Brown Gucci Handbags you know words that actual living human beings search for not aliens.

Lesson of the day- Before you start link building please for your sake and mine do keyword research, find out what people are truly searching for before you waste 10,000 links with the anchor text,bags,shoes,purses,lipstick,hotdog,fries,bentley and watches.

Why is Keyword Research so important?
If your site is targeting the wrong keywords, your customers may never find you, resulting in lost income and meaningless rankings, How many people spend 2 months building great links for some words that noone actually searches for, they get to the top of the search engine and can’t understand why their traffic levels haven’t improved. With keyword tools so readily available, there should be no reason why anyone should be in competition crazy keywords but everyday people are fighting each other off to get to the top of some crazy keywords that only they would search for.