Have you ever noticed a nonsensical word in a link and wondered what was up with that? Well, I will tell you what is up with that.
There is a strong chance that you landed on this page as the result of clicking on a link that had some nonsensical term in the link pointing to this page.
Most SEO practitioners learn what they know about search engine optimization by testing new concepts, trying them out, and measuring the results.
I have always said that when Google sees several links to the same URL from the same page, then Google will only attribute the anchor text from the first link to the destination web page. But, I recently learned that I could be wrong on this count, so I needed to set up a test to validate how Google would actually handle this occurrence.
It was just a few weeks ago when I saw a conversation in which Matt Cutts of Google fame participated.
A participant in the thread asked about this very topic, and Cutts did respond, but in a way that I found interesting. The fact is that Cutts answered with a non-answer - or more to the point - a challenge. Cutts did not say that this point of view is right, nor did he say that it was wrong. Instead, Cutts challenged the person to test it for him or herself to learn the answer.
So today is my first chance to put together a scientific test structure to figure it out - for sure- once and for all.
The only links to this web page are from this website and any website that might be running the RSS feed from this website.
Since it is possible that other sites might have links to this page, I will not detail the nonsensical anchor text keywords that I am using to link to this page. However, those links only appear on one page… on the post that precedes this one.
Although that page is a new post from yesterday, it is a post that has several links pointing to it. I wrote that post and turned it into a distribution article. And from the article itself, a note is made that the article was originally posted on the previous page, with a link to the previous post on this blog.
As a result, the page that links to this page with the target nonsensical anchor text keywords will have some link popularity to support the procurement of good test results.
All of the relevant nonsensical anchor text keywords have been checked with Google prior to the rollout of this test. There are a few results in Google now for the targeted nonsensical keywords, due to spelling errors and the such, but the number of results in every case is less than eight results, so all were deemed to be worthy for this test.
If only the first nonsensical anchor text ends up in Google’s search results in relation to this web page, then the outcome will be as suspected. If all three nonsensical anchor text keywords end up in Google’s search results in relation to this web page, then you and I will have learned something new, and I will have learned that I have been wrong on this point for a number of years.
So, let the reindeer games begin…
Bill Platt - owner of Kama SEO
Tags: anchor text, google, google search results, keywords, linking, links, matt cutts, nonsensical anchor text, reindeer games, seo, seo test
For years, it has been well known that Google’s search algorithm is driven by the number and quality of links pointing to a particular URL. And as a result, it was all the rage for some time to buy links on web pages that had a high Google PageRank (PR).
But in March of 2007, Google’s mouthpiece Matt Cutts declared that Google was going to fight back against Paid Links. Google put a shot across the bow of many online marketers, letting them know that the days of easily buying links from high PageRank pages in order to influence a website’s ranking in Google were over.
The Shot Heard Around The World
With Matt Cutts declaration, a world full of online marketers began to cry foul. It was said that “They can’t do that!”
But the truth was and is that the Google Search Algorithm is Google’s intellectual property, and therefore, Google can do anything they want within their algorithms - no matter who those changes might hurt or help.
By the end of the Summer of 2007, the people crying foul had quieted down a bit and got back to the business of trying to find new ways to manipulate their website’s rankings inside of the Google search results. That is the way it has always been and always will be.
The summer of 2007 was just such an oddity… For me, it has always been exciting to challenge the brains at Google to get my websites to rank well within Google’s search algorithms. But for some reason, at that moment in time, many of those who held the top rankings in Google felt as if it was their God-given right to be at the top of Google’s search results, and how dare Google oppose God’s decree in this matter.
Yep, I know I am going to catch flak for that statement - comparing a few webmasters to religious zealots - but that is how I roll sometimes.
For me, Matt Cutts was telling people to work harder to actually “earn” what they have been given. For me, it was a chance to rededicate myself to the goal of ranking well in Google for competitive keywords. For me, I did not have to change anything I was already doing, because I have never gained a single ranking in Google by paying for a link from any web page. (wink)
Google’s Search Engineers Are Not Foolish
Matt Cutts has said time and again that Google does not want to attack any problem in their search algorithms by manually deleting any participant in the Google search ranking game.
Instead, Google in every case wants to program a solution to address a particular bad practice.
I guess it might be easier for me to understand since I am also a computer programmer. It is a hobby I really enjoy, and I exercise my mind with computer programming anytime I want to improve my own websites or to build a new website. I keep my brain sharp by solving problems in computer code.
So, whenever I see Google making moves in one direction or another, I try to visualize how I would solve their algorithm problems in computer code.
In my mind, solving the paid links issue was a super-easy solution. Just look at the pages linking to a particular website, and then do a cross-comparison of the PageRank of all of those linking pages. If all of the pages linking to a particular URL have a PageRank of Four or higher, then chances are that those links were artificially created, through some kind of paid linking system.
Let me explain this in an example, where all of the sample web pages have 100 inbound links each:
If Site A has all of its 100 links on pages that have a PageRank of 4 or higher, then that is unnatural and therefore suspect.
If Site B has all of its 100 links on pages that have a PageRank of 0, then those links offer no value to the Internet community as a whole, and therefore Site B should not measured as a quality search result.
If Site C has a mix of PageRank 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 links, then that is more natural in its structure and it also shows that some of the links are considered to have value in the Internet community as a whole. Therefore, Site C has proven itself worthy above Site A and Site B in Google’s search results.
This example should show in no uncertain terms how easy it was for Google to properly address the issue of paid links and to put a stop to people using paid links to manipulate their websites’ ranking in Google’s search algorithms.
Publication Standards
A couple years back, I wrote another article discussing this concept in relationship to article marketing. You can read that article with third-party commentary by Chris McElroy, a.k.a. NameCritic, on the Article Content Provider Blog.
In a nutshell, I was discussing the role of article directories in the article marketing industry. Again, this solution came to me from my programming mind. The simple way for Google to have dealt with all of the junk articles that have been written for the purpose of building links to a website is to look at the article in the context of where that article is published.
The article marketing carpet bombers send their articles to hundreds of article directories to get hundreds of links pointing to their website. But the role of the article directory has always been to be a repository where newsletter publishers and webmasters could go to find articles that they would like to reprint in their own newsletters and on their own websites.
Some article directory managers bring a commitment to providing publishers with only quality articles. Other article directory managers approve anything and everything sent to them.
Through computer programming, it is relatively easy to identify which websites are article directories and which ones are not.
If an article is of good quality, then niche website publishers will find the article and put it on their own website. If the article is a crap article, then the only websites that will accept it are those article directories that publish anything and everything given to them.
As a result, it is easy for Google to look at the Linking Portfolio (list of publishing websites) of a single article and to see which articles were considered worthy of reprint by human reviewers. If the article only exists on article directory websites, then the article must not provide any real value to other people. But if the article is of good quality, the article will be able to be located on article directories AND on niche websites.
This concept very elegantly feeds into Google’s overall strategy of determining which web pages people recommend to others. After all, if you look at Google’s PageRank, it is very simply a system which measures how many people have voted on the quality or value of a particular web page.
Expanding On Google’s PageRank Formula
Google loves any system that they can conceive to measure how much value the overall Internet community gives to a particular web page.
Google naturally treats links found in the Yahoo! Business Directory and the Open Directory as higher value links, because the search engineers at Google understand that links in these directories are all approved by a human being.
Google also gives extra value to social bookmarking websites, because the concept behind social bookmarking is that individuals “bookmark” a web page when they find that web page to offer good value to its readers.
Google openly dislikes paid links and can easily identify those paid links, without having to jump through too many hoops. (This should not be confused with paying for a service that will help you increase your rankings in Google. Paying a service provider to provide services to you is very different than just paying for links on high PageRank web pages.)
Google also appreciates reprint articles that have a Linking Portfolio beyond the article directories. Once again, Google appreciates reprint articles that are shown to provide real value to individuals in the greater Internet community.
When you take a close look at the original premise of Google’s PageRank, it has always been about creating systems that measure the value of a web pages to find which web pages will best answer a searcher’s question. Rightfully so, Google believes that the best way to ensure that they are able to give their users good quality search results is to look at what web pages others have already deemed useful.
Herein rests the secret to ranking well in Google’s search results. If you can create content that people will find useful, interesting, and valuable to others, then Google’s seach algorithms will look favorably upon your website.
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Bill Platt has written about SEO and article marketing for a number of years.
As the owner of http://www.linksandtraffic.com, Bill has also been providing search engine optimization services to his clients for a number of years. If you are currently spending at least $1000 per month on pay-per-click search advertising, you owe it to yourself to review and consider Bill’s Pay For Ranking SEO Service at: http://linksandtraffic.com/seo-services/search-marketing.html
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To understand the following links, click one of them to read about SEO Reindeer Games.
Tags: Article Marketing, google, google algorithm, google algorithms, google pagerank, google search, google search algorithm, matt cutts, online marketing, pagerank, paid links, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, seo
You know it is funny in a way. Webmasters have learned that the most important thing that they can do to improve the traffic to their website and to attract attention from the search engines is to build links to their website.
But when it comes time to actually start building links to one’s website, people typically pick out the hardest way to accomplish the task and then they get to work.
Working Hard
People have been told about various ways to build links to one’s website, and they go through the process of picking out the method that they would prefer to use. It is kind of ironic that most people pick the method that they believe will be the easiest and least expensive to achieve, and when all is said and done, they will have picked out the hardest, least effective method of building links.
For example, most newcomers to online business choose:
* Reciprocal links;
* Directory submissions.
With Reciprocal Links, people buy a software package that helps them to search out websites that are supposedly “related” to theirs and then they send an email to the person who owns that website, proclaiming the benefits of trading links and asking for the link.
With directory submissions, webmasters can get software that is supposed to help with the process, but it takes hours just to submit one’s website to a few dozen directories. Fortunately, there are service providers who also provide submissions to web directories. Regardless of how you get links submitted to web directories, you generally have to pray that those web directories are approving submissions, since most owners have abandoned their directories.
Beyond the time required setting up links in this fashion, and the frustration of getting very few links for the amount of time spent, the worst part of the equation is that the search engines tend to ignore links gained through these methods, and few humans find and follow those links.
Internet newcomers using these methods frequently spend a lot of time trying to promote their websites, and in the end, they have accomplished nothing more than wasting a lot of their limited time and energy.
Working Smart
What if I could show you a better way? Would you be intrigued enough by my methods to try them for yourself?
My point in sharing this with you is not to annoy you, but to help you get better results in much less time.
When we launch new websites, we ignore reciprocal links and web directories altogether. We consider both to be a complete waste of time, effort and money.
Let me put this into perspective for you by giving you a real life example.
On November 18th, 2008, we bought and built a new niche domain: http://www.shoppingtraveldeals.com/blog/
Today is December 27th, so this site has only been active for just under six weeks.
We purchased the domain on the 18th, had it set up with content on the 19th, and then on the 20th, we started promoting this website. We released our first and second reprint articles, promoting this site on the 20th of November. We released our third article on the 24th and the fourth on the 25th. Then we released our fifth article promoting the website on December 15th.
We also set up bookmarks for the main page of the website in Stumbleupon, Digg and Propeller.
In the 39 days since we bought this domain, our website has seen 520 unique visitors. The site received 86 visitors in November and 434 so far in December.
Now here is where it gets interesting.
We have received traffic from 66 unique web pages, and we have received click-through traffic from Google and Windows Live, with 86% of our search traffic coming from Google.
On our search engine traffic, we have received traffic on 171 unique keyword phrases. In order to better understand this search engine traffic, we ran the top 25 search terms through Google to see where our website ranked in the search results, and this is what we came up with:
* Two #1 listings;
* Ten listings that were ranked from #2 to #4;
* Ten listings that were ranked from #5 to #10;
* Two listings on page two of Google’s search results (#11 to #20);
* One listing on page three of Google’s results (#21 to #30).
We built this website with the express intent of earning affiliate commissions in the travel industry. The prognosis is good, as we have already started earning money from this website, and in terms of our current earnings, we expect to be in the black against our initial investment into this website, within about three months.
More About Reprint Articles
The concept of the reprint article is to write an article and give it to other webmasters to use in their websites and newsletters, in exchange for a link back to your website.
Those articles that seek to teach something of value typically get published more frequently than those articles geared to sell a product or service. It is our fervent belief that the Author’s resource box - the paragraph that follows the article - is the only place where a writer should try to sell his or her wares. The goal of the resource box is to get a reader to your website, and your website is where the real selling should take place.
Reprint articles offer good value to the people who use them wisely. But the online marketer must first be willing to invest the required time or money to have appropriate articles written and/or distributed.
While it is true that I work for an article distribution company, it is important to note that our guiding principle is that each article distribution company will reach a different and unique audience. As such, we always use our own service to distribute articles and occasionally we use our competitors’ article distribution companies as well.
We distribute ALL of our own articles through our own company, because we know that our service does provide real value. But for some articles, we do go to some of our competitors to increase our reach and to reach new audiences.
We actually learned to do this from some of our more successful customers, who suggest that there are certain publishers that only we can reach, while my competitors also have certain publishers that only they are able to reach. As a result, many of our customers use two or three article distribution companies, and we do too.
Working Smarter
While reprint articles is a tool that we consistently utilize to build links and to grow traffic to our websites, there remains a more long-term, yet more valuable approach to building links for our websites.
Link Bait is an idea where you create a resource that people find so useful that they feel compelled to link to it from their own websites.
Look at it this way. With reprint articles, we have to write the article, and then distribute it through the sources we choose to use to get it into circulation. All told, we will invest several hours into writing, and then we will invest another hour to distribute the article.
All told, we will have spent four to five hours to write and distribute this article. In turn, we will receive dozens or hundreds of links from related web pages (the links are from “related web pages”, because we designed the article content to look like what we are trying to promote). Writing and distributing articles typically creates a great return of value for our businesses.
But consider this. Last week, we created a resource page on one of our websites (http://www.techcentralpublishing.com/more-article-directories.php). This page is a list of the +1200 article directories we know to exist on the Internet. We were not the first website to offer such a list, but we may be the first to give the Internet community an easy method to add new sites and to flag bad sites, automatically from the page where the list is displayed.
If you are able to create a page such as this that people find extremely useful, then people are more inclined to link to your page, without you even asking them to do so. The beauty about building pages like this on the Internet is that all you have to do is to let people know it is there, and then the links will roll in steadily.
One Link Bait page we built on May 1st, 2004 has been used by the public more than 38,000 times according to its built-in counter. And according to a Yahoo search, it has more than 10,000 inbound links from third-party websites.
We built the page (http://www.thephantomwriters.com/link-builder.pl) in a day, wrote one article to let people know it was there, and then we left the page alone for more than four-and-a-half years.
Do you see how it is much easier to build one link bait, notify the world, and then to let people link to your web page for you? The time invested in our Text To Hyperlink Converter was less than 12 hours, yet it has attracted +10,000 links with almost no promotion on our part. And this article will generate +100 links in exchange for five hours of our time.
In Conclusion
We are working smart when we write and distribute articles to promote a website. The Shopping Travel Deals site attests to the value of reprint articles to build links and traffic to a new website quickly.
But we are working smarter, when we invest the additional time to build a link bait web page that people will appreciate and link to for us, without any additional effort on our part.
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Trey Pennewell is part of http://www.thephantomwriters.com and http://www.linksandtraffic.com support staff.
In the quest to bring more effective Internet promotion tools to their customers, The Phantom Writers is proud to announce that in conjunction with professional video editors and voice-over personalities, they now offer professional Video Creation Services. It has been made possible for online marketers to easily convert their promotional articles to Video Articles. Explore the unlimited possibilities of Video Marketing at: http://thephantomwriters.com/video-article-marketing.html
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This article was originally posted here.
Tags: Article Marketing, attract links, building links, inbound links, internet marketing, internet promotion, link bait, link baiting, link building, online marketing, online promotion