Last edit: 3-30-08
The Ins and Outs
The Odds and Ends
Online Resources for the Digital Age

SE = Search Engine
SEO = Search Engine Optimization.
Keyword = keyphrase

Keywords in Meta Tags

If search engines looked at an unlimited list of keywords in the meta tags the strategy to increase traffic to your site would be to insert every word in the dictionary. You can add all the words to the dictionary but Search Engines only look a a limited amount. So knowing this what is the best strategy to use to maximize your keyword visibility.

Notes: On the meta tag key words use the plural as search engines only look at a limited or set number of key words. To maximize the power of your keywords use the plural of a case as this covers both the singular and the plural SE look at the text for keywords.

It may be that key words inserted in meta tags are words that are not included in the website text. For instance in my website albrite.com I may want get some of my competitors business so I will add the keyword "Gumsolution" a competitors product. I know people that search for gumsolution may also be interested  in my products. I do not not want to alert my potential costumers about my competitors products so I do not add the word "Gumsolution" in the text that can be seen by all. This would be important to find out if the search engines use words in the meta tags even though the words are not included in the visible text of the site.

Search Engine Algorithms

Due to the fact that search engines only look at a set amount of words in the metatags algorithms are not used to enforce which words are allowed or disallowed. Legitimate companies in the process of doing business online may have a weird set of keywords.

These seemingly unrelated terms have legitimate sites: alaska coral ancient mars belize gums desk. So search engines do not use algorithms to determine if a set of keywords are legitimate. Enter these or any weird set of key words and you will see that search engines do not use algorithms to determine the legitimacy of these unlikely key words. After all there are companies that do business relating to these key words. 

How to Pick a Search Engine Optimization Firm

To improve your keyword ranking I suggest to pick a firm that specializes in Search Engine Optimization. Look in Google or Live.com and enter the search term "search engine optimization" or similar terms. If a firm is good at SEO their firm should be on the first page. Correct? So it this firm can get themselves on the first page of a very completive search phrase then there is a good chance that they can get you on the first page using your important key word or phrase. Does this make sense to you?

Chasing Keywords

I suggest the if you sell books that you may be better off not pursuing books as your main key word in Google. Try to be number one in a less competitive keyword. The main keywords are pursued by professional SEO experts who are difficult to beat.

Often it is better to be on the first page of multi-word phase than the second or beyond page of a major keyword or phrase. Searchers this days have become more sophisticated and now use multiple words to search. Some massage the search engines with sophistication using various keyword combinations to succeed in their search.

My Online Sales of www.Albrite.com

In 1998 I managed to get my main key word "gum disease" in Yahoo as high as five on the first page. Later I was equally successful in Google keeping that position for several years. This high ranking changed when in 2003 Google integrated the "Florida" algorithmic update, introducing extensive changes adversely effecting my ranking position. I have not recovered the high ranking since then.

In the early days it took less expertise to get your site to rank high. Now days the Search engines have became more sophisticated and the competition for profits derived from high ranking have squeezed out the less aggressive firms. Strategies have changed and now more people are aware of SEO and devote time to improve their ranking. I on the other hand have been spending less time on SEO and as a consequence my site albrite.com has lost some ground. Possibly the best solution it to hire an expert in SEO.

In 2007:
85% of my internet sales come from Google.
9% from Yahoo
6% from Dogpile, AOL, ask etc.

In Google I am no longer rank high on "gum disease" (2,150,000 pages listed) and this has cost me many sales. I however rank high on several important key words.
avoid gum surgery 1 of 1,080,000
alternative gum surgery 1 of 1,480,000
gum surgery 9 of 2,140,000
antiseptics gums disease 1 of 75,000 (here both my sites Albrite.com and gum-disease-teeth-oral-ada.com were at the top.

Check Your Guru

Always check what the Gurus are saying. If one professes to tell you how to make a press release check to see if their press releases got wide distribution. If one tells you that they can show you how to make money online check to see if they are successful in making money in the same method they are teaching. If they promise to get you on top of search engine ranking see if their site is ranked high.

Keywords not visible on the page

I did a Google search for chlorhexidine
http://www.healthline.com/sw/gsa-halitosis-bad-breath?utm_source=bad%20breath&utm_ad=urls&utm_medium=google&utm_campaign=xxx&utm_term=chlorhexidine%204

Domain Name Ranking

Batteries.com will very likely be number one on the search term "batteries". Google shoes. Google cars. So it pays to have these domain names not only because they are easy to remember but more importantly you get top billing on the search engines. This is true most of the time but not always. Don't believe me. Check it! Everything I say should be checked for accuracy. If you find fault to what I say let me know so that I can correct it.

Does Google Play Favorites?

Not sure why wikipedia.com seems to rank high on so many key words. Either wikipedia is extremely well versed in the ins and outs of Search Engine Optimization or Google plays favorites. In Google enter war, airplanes, Chicago, history etc. It is amazing how often wikipedia appears on the first page. If they are good then it may wise to find the secret to their success. If Google plays favorites there may be a way to get them to favor you.

Search engines give a higher ranking to sites that have many other sites linking to it. The number and quality of the links is entered into algorithms. This is one component and a very important one that determines ranking. I have done some research to see that wikipedia has a high ranking due to this factor but though not conclusive I believe this is not the case.

I March of 208 I was informed that site that regularly edits their text rise in the search engine ranking. This could the reason that wikipedia.com always ranks high. It seems that new or edited text cannot however account for the very high ranking it gets. So I still am looking to discover why wikipedia.com ranks so high.

Google - Judge, Jury and Executioner

Google can do as they please with the algorithms that determine keyword ranking. They are considered by many the judge and jury and I will add executioner. By executioner I  mean firing squad! Your company can die in their hands by a low ranking.

Sometimes one can assume with logic how they do things but at other times you wonder if they use any brains involved in the action they take. Keep in mind their number one aim is to make money for their shareholders. Yes they are human and their perception of reality not reality itself determines their actions. 

One objection I have is that Google and Yahoo use links directed to a site a to determine popularity and thus ranking. So the more links aimed to a site the better chance of a higher ranking. This is a heavily weighed factor included in the algorithms to determine ranking. Google puts too much emphasis on this. To determine ranking it may be better to give more weight how many people click on a site during keyword search after reading the title and the two line summary. Yahoo and Dogpile gather this data but I do not know how it is used. Unfortunately Google does not collect data on the searched link you click on.

Interesting Observation:

I accidentally noticed something odd while visiting the KVR.com forum I belong . One day I saw an item on a post so I wanted to broaden a search so inserted a phrase in quotation marks in Google. What came up was only one hit of the item that was only posted a day ago. Google  somehow favors this forum or perhaps all forums by including  the posts in their searches very quickly.

To find out how well they ranked this post I slowly removed one word at a time from the search phrase until I got to the point that other hits showed up. The post was ranked 5 out 46,700. Wow!

Next phase was to find if I can add a phrase in Albrite.com and get equal treatment by Google. On September 25, 2007 I added test for SE response on one of my pages. Finally on October 6, eleven days later Yahoo found it. Since this was a unique phrase I was the only one on the list. To really test for ranking I searched "for SE response" (removed delete) I was number 4 of 16. 

On October 13, 2007, 18 days later test for SE response was finally found by Google. To really test for ranking in Google I searched "for SE response" (removed delete) I was number 6 out of 189. Upon refresh I was 6 of 10 and later 11 of 20. Not bad for not even trying to rank high. Why did Google decide to give me such a high ranking? My site is in gum disease not SE response.

Also did a for "test for SE" and came out 49 out of 10,100.

If there is a way to get Google to see my site as a forum and receive daily ranking this will allow me to experiment with the text of each page to optimize it to achieve a high keyword ranking.

On 10-19-07 I deleted test for SE response from the page.

With and without www.

Tired of Windows Explorer? As Useful as Windows Explorer is there are perhaps better programs available.