Over 50 calculations go into every search engine. It is the sum of all these factors which determines your position in the rankings.
Most engines include things like page title, keyword density, keyword proximity, word stemming, semantics, link popularity, link reputation, linking community, citing page relevance and more. Google throws in their proprietary Hubs, Authorities, TrustRank and PageRank into the mix.
Sheesh! How can one ever keep up?
You don’t… And here’s why.
If you’re chasing the algo, you’re chasing shadows. It’s a snapshot of the past. It’s not where the engine is now, or where it will be tomorrow. The real secret is to focus on besting the competition, not the search engine.
In the old days, search engines used a “one-size-fits-all” approach to ranking pages and we could gather engine intelligence outside our industry. With the addition of semantics and the advent of NLA (natural language analysis) our intel must be topic sensitive.
Be aware that the only thing separating you and the site in the third spot, could be a single high-quality backlink from a directory. The only thing stopping you from grabbing fifth spot could be two semantically related keywords in Headline tags at the top of your page.
So stop competing against the search engine and compete against your competition instead. And the beauty of it is, every keyword phrase is different.
If you can’t snag your favorite phrase, try another. With all other factors being equal what separates you from the top ranking page, might be as simple as a single link, or a few semantically related keywords.
SEO is getting easier, not harder, when you keep in mind that it’s the sum of all ranking factors which determines your position. It’s topic sensitive. And each keyword phrase is its own level playing field of individual pages.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
“So stop competing against the search engine and compete against your competition instead.” Nice words, and this should be taken into consideration by those who targets the search engines, as if its between them and the search engine. The content nailed it, and allowed me to rethink too some of our strategies on how to get more attention online.
Wouldn’t it be great to work for google and know exactly how the ranks are broken down?
I find it frustrating to not know exactly what is keeping my page just below my competitors.