I think most people working at building the web have figured these things out, but there are a lot of details I never knew of when reading Michael Bluejay’s article on Websitehelpers.com, such as putting the most relevant parameters in a GET method first, for the search engines to find them faster. The article is rather dated, but still interesting or useful if you’re starting out with this stuff.
Instead of focusing on building a quality site with good, useful information, I should try to find some “trick” to make my site rank well.
FACT: Focusing on tricks is a waste of time. Build a quality site and they will come. There is no magic bullet which will rocket you to the top of the SERPs. There is no way Google could rank eight billion web pages by using only one criterion. There are reportedly hundreds of different factors in Google’s ranking algorithm. Thus your chances of dominating the SERPs by making one specific change are slim.
A search engine’s algorithm is the formula it uses to match websites with a search term. Naturally, the engines keep the details of their algorithm a secret. The algorithm isn’t a simple formula, it’s likely more complicated than most of us would expect — or could even understand. Google’s algorithm reportedly contains hundreds of factors, and Google has dozens of Ph.D’s on staff who constantly tinker with it. They have to, in order to be able to return relevant, high quality sites when there are so many junk sites trying to trick their way to the top of the SERPs. Changes to the algorithm don’t just involve adding or deleting criteria, but also weighting the criteria — figuring out how much each factor should count in the ultimate ranking. It likely goes further than that: Rather than deciding how much weight, say, they <TITLE> tag should carry, the algorithm likely says that when certain criteria are met then the <TITLE> tag should be evaluated a certain way, and when other criteria are met the <TITLE> tag should be evaluated in a different way. The engines could also easily add a randomizing element to the mix to make decoding their formulas virtually impossible.
It’s pointless to try to figure out the details of an algorithm because:
-You probably can’t. The algorithim is too complicated, and it’s extremely difficult to test your assumptions because it’s nearly impossible to correlate cause and effect.
-Even if you figured out some of it, it’s going to change soon anyway.
-Even if you figured out some of it, there’s no guarantee that your strategies would work well for the other engines. Each engine uses its own proprietary algorithm.
-It’s easier — and more rewarding — to focus on building a good site rather than worrying about what the algorithm du jour is.
-Nevertheless, many webmasters try to figure out the details of the algorithms and tailor their sites to what they think they’ve discovered. Such webmasters are known as algorithm-chasers.
There have been certain tricks that people have discovered over the years, but as soon as they exploited them the engines closed the loopholes. The engines aren’t stupid, and they’re not going to stand by while a bunch of webmasters try to game the system. Any trick you might be lucky enough to discover will have a short shelf life. It’s not a long-term strategy.
It’s a good idea to make my keywords invisible, such as by having white letters on a white background.
FACT: The engines are not stupid. But stupid tricks like invisible text can get your site penalized by some engines. Focusing on tricks is a waste of time.
Trading links with any site which will link to mine is a good idea.
FACT: Trading links with anyone is silly. If you have standards in real life (and you should), then you should have standards on the web, too. Don’t associate with useless websites. Choose your friends carefully.
