The Challenge of Search Engine Ranking
The web is a vast ocean of information, with over 800 million pages according to a 1999 report by the NEC Research Institute. However, major search engines only index about 10% of these pages. Even if your page gets indexed, it doesn’t guarantee visibility unless it ranks high for your search terms. This is because most users rarely venture beyond the first 30 links returned in a search.
The Solution: Analyzing and Emulating High-Ranking Pages
The key to improving your page’s ranking lies in a careful analysis of the top-ranking pages. By studying the text proportions and arrangements of these pages, you can optimize your own pages to achieve a similar high rank. This technique is widely used by professional webmasters with great success.
Step 1: Analyzing Top-Ranking Pages
Start by identifying the pages that rank at the top for keywords related to your business. Search engines consider various elements of a web page to calculate its rank, including the title, meta tags, body text, links, alt tags, comments, form hidden fields, and headings. By examining the number of words and keywords in each of these sections on a high-ranking page, and applying those statistics to your own pages, you can significantly improve your ranking.
Step 2: Ensuring the Page is Current
When analyzing a top-ranking page, ensure that the page displayed in the search results is the same as the actual page. This can be verified by comparing the file date, file size, and the wording on the title and description on the search engine results and the actual page. If the page has been updated since it was indexed, its ranking may have changed, and using its statistics could lead to poor results for your page.
Step 3: Detailed Inspection of the Page
Inspect the top-ranking page meticulously, counting the total words and keyword frequencies in each element of the page. Some elements may be missing, such as meta tags, but this doesn’t necessarily impact the page’s ranking. Software packages like GRSoftware Keyword Density Analyzer, WebPosition Page Analyzer, and PositionWeaver PRO can simplify this process.
Step 4: Editing Your Pages
The next step is to modify your current pages or create new ones that mirror the statistics of the top-ranking pages. For instance, if the top-ranking page has an 8-word title with the keyword appearing once at the beginning, and your page has a 17-word title with the keyword appearing four times, you should adjust your title accordingly.
Step 5: Submit and Wait
Once you’ve optimized your pages, submit your home page and wait. It may take a few days or weeks for the search engines to index your page, but if done correctly, you should see a significant increase in your site traffic.