Search engines use mathematical formulas to determine the rank of a web page. These mathematical formulas are called ranking algorithms. All major search engines use the same principle to rank websites. The exact algorithms differ from search engine to search engine and are never revealed but the principle is the same. Google have confirmed that they have over 200 ranking factors and we know that they change these often.
This is Google’s explanation of their ranking algorithm found on their company pages:
“Traditional search engines rely heavily on how often a word appears on a web page. Google uses PageRank™ to examine the entire link structure of the web and determine which pages are most important.
It then conducts hypertext-matching analysis to determine which pages are relevant to the specific search being conducted. By combining overall importance and query-specific relevance, Google is able to put the most relevant and reliable results first.”
As mentioned in the quote, Google uses Pagerank and hypertext-matching analysis to rank your web pages. What does this actually mean?
1. You need good links
To get good results for the Pagerank factor, you need great links from related pages that point to your site. It’s a very simple principle: if page ‘A’ links to page ‘B’ then it is a recommendation from page ‘A’ to page ‘B’. The more links that point to your website, the better your rankings will be. The better quality the link then the better still. Link building is a time consuming and difficult business that we at Ice Online count as one of our core skills.
2. You need optimised web page content
While the linking concept is easy to understand, the hypertext-matching analysis factor is more complicated. This is Google’s explanation of hypertext-matching:
“Hypertext-Matching Analysis: Google’s search engine also analyses page content. However, instead of simply scanning for page-based text (which can be manipulated by site publishers through -tags), Google’s technology analyses the full content of a page and factors in fonts, subdivisions and the precise location of each word.
Google also analyses the content of neighbouring web pages to ensure the results returned are the most relevant to a user’s query.”
What this means is that Google looks at every aspect of your pages and that you need to optimise the full content of your web pages.
The best way to attack this is firstly to conduct keyword research and then run a SEO report for your web pages before ammending the same and commencing link building.
Needless to say that Ice Online Marketing will do all the above and integrate it into a complete online marketing strategy for you.
Check out this video from Matt Cutts on How Search Works:
For brand design, website development, website design and online marketing specialists, get in contact with ICE Innovation today.
