Brief Note

Google patent - Topic extraction

HOT

Keyword in URL

First word is best, second is second best, etc.

HOT

Keyword in domain name

Same as in page-name-with-hyphens

Keywords - Header

HOT

Keyword in title tag

Keyword in Title tag - close to beginning
Title tag 10 - 60 characters, no special characters
The Florida Update EVEN penalized for this,
as part of the OOP. That was absurd, but effective.

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Keyword in description meta tag

Shows theme - less than 200 chars.
(Was part of Google Florida OOP)
Google no longer relies upon this tag, but frequently uses it.

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Keyword in keyword metatag

Shows theme - less than 10 words.
(Was part of Google Florida OOP)
Every word in this tag MUST appear somewhere in the body.
If not, it will be penalized for irrelevance.
NO single word should appear more than twice.
If not, it is considered spam. Google purportedly no longer values this tag, but others do.

Keywords - Body

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Keyword density in body text

5 - 20% - (all keywords/ total words)
Some report topic sensitivity - the keyword spamming threshold varies with the topic?

-

Individual keyword density

1 - 6% - (each keyword/ total words)

HOT

Keyword in H1, H2 and H3

Use H1 font style
(Was part of Google Florida OOP)

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Keyword font size

In strong, bold, italic, etc.

-

Keyword proximity (for 2+ keywords)

Adjacent is best

-

Keyword phrase order

Does order in the page match order in the query?
Anticipate query - match word order.

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Keyword prominence (how early in page/tag)

Most important at top of page, in bold, in large font

Keywords - Other

-

Keyword in alt text

Should describe graphic - Do NOT fill with spam
(Was part of Google Florida OOP - tripped a threshold - may still be in effect to some degree as a red flag, when summed with all other on-page optimizations).

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Keyword in links to site pages (anchor text)

Links out anchor text use keyword?

NAVIGATION - INTERNAL LINKS

SITE

To internal pages- keywords?

Link should contain keywords.
The filename "linked to" should contain the keywords.
Use hyphenated filenames, but not long ones.

SITE

All internal links valid?

Validate all links to all pages on site.

SITE

Efficient - tree-like structure

Two clicks to any page - no page deeper than 4 clicks

SITE

Intra-site linking

Appropriate links between lower-level pages

NAVIGATION - OUTGOING LINKS

19

To external pages- keywords?

Google patent - Link only to good sites. Do not link to link farms.

20

Outgoing link Anchor Text

Google patent - Should be on topic, descriptive

21

Link stability over time

Google patent - Avoid "Link Churn"

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All external links valid?

Validate all links periodically.

-

Less than 100 links out total

Google says limit to 100,
but readily accepts 2-3 times that number. ref 2k

OTHER ON-Page Factors

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Domain Name Class

.edu seem to be given the highest status
.org sites seem to be given high status
.com sites excel in encompassing all the spam/ crud sites, resulting in the need for the highest scrutiny/ action by Google.
Perhaps one would do well with the new .info domain class.

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File Size

Absolutely do not exceed 100K page size.
Small files preferred <40K (lots of them).

Hyphens in URL

Preferred method for indicating a space, where there can be no actual space
One or two= excellent for separating keywords
Four or more= BAD, starts to look spammy
Ten = Spammer for sure, demotion probable?

27

Freshness of Pages

Google patent - Changes over time
Newer the better - if news, retail or auction!
Google likes fresh pages. So do I.

28

Freshness - Amount of Content Change

New pages - Ratio of old pages to new pages

29

Freshness of Links

Google patent - May be good or bad

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Frequency of Updates

Frequent updates = frequent spidering

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Page Theming

Page exhibit theme? General consistency?

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Keyword stemming

Stem, stems, stemmed, stemmer,
stemming, stemmist, stemification

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Applied Semantics

Synonyms, CIRCA whitepaper

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LSI

Latent Semantic Indexing - Speculation, no proof

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URL length

Keep it minimized - use somewhat less than the 2,000 characters allowed by IE - less than 100 is good, less even better

OTHER ON-SITE Factors

36

Site Size - Google likes big sites

Larger sites are presumed to be better funded, better organized, better constructed, and therefore better sites. Google likes LARGE sites, for various reasons, not all positive. This has resulted in the advent of machine-generated 10,000-page spam sites - size for the sake of size.

37

Site Age

Google patent - Old is best.

38

Age of page vs. age of site

Age of page vs. age of other pages on site

Brief Note

Text presented in graphics form only
No ACTUAL body text on the page

Text represented graphically is invisible to search engines.

Affiliate site?

The Florida update went after affiliates with a vengeance - flower and travel affiliates were hit hard - cookie-cutter sites with massive inter-linking, but little unique content. Subsequent updates have also targeted affiliates.

Over optimization penalty (OOP)

Penalty for over-compliance with well-established, accepted web optimization practices. Since the Florida update, if you simply cannot achieve top position, your only alternative to first page SERP exposure may be Google AdWords (you pay for exposure).

Link to a bad neighborhood

Don't link to link farms, FFAs (Free For Alls)
Don't forget to check the Google status of EVERYONE you link to periodically. A site may go "bad", and you can end up being penalized, even though you did nothing.

Redirect thru refresh metatags

Don't immediately send your visitor to another page other than the one he/ she clicked on.

Vile language - ethnic slur

Including the George Carlin 7 bad words you can't say on TV, plus the 150 or so that followed. Don't shoot yourself right straight in the foot. Also, avoid combinations of normal words, which when used together, become something else entirely - such as the word juice, and the word love.

Poison words

"Links" in title tag, etc. Here is my list of Poison Words for Adsense. This penalty has been loosened - many of these words now appear in normal context, with no problems. But watch your step.

Excessive cross-linking

- within the same C block (IP=xxx.xxx.CCC.xxx)
If you have many sites with the same web host, prolific cross-linking can indicate more of a single entity, and less of democratic web voting. Easy to spot, easy to penalize.

Stealing images/ text blocks from another domain

Copyright violation - Google responds strongly
if you are reported. ref egol
File Google DMCA

Keyword stuffing threshold

In body, meta tags, alt text, etc. = demotion

Keyword dilution

Targeting too many unrelated keywords on a page,
which would detract from theming, and reduce the importance of your REALLY important keywords.

50

Page edit - can reduce consistency

Google patent -
Google is now switching between a "Newer" cache, and an "Older" cache, frequently drawing from BOTH at the same time.
This was implemented to frustrate SEOers. Did your last edit substantially alter your keywords, or theme? Expect noticeable SERP bouncing.

51

Frequency of Content Change

Google patent - Too frequent = bad

52

Freshness of Anchor Text

Google patent - Too frequent = bad

Dynamic Pages

Problematic - know pitfalls - shorten URLs, reduce variables, lose the session IDs

Excessive Javascript

Don't use for redirects, or hiding links

Flash page - NOT

Most (all-?) SE spiders can't read Flash content
Provide an HTML alternative, or lose out.

Use of Frames

Spidering Problems with Frames - STILL

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Robot exclusion "no index" tag

Intentional self-exclusion

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Single pixel links

A red flag - one reason only - a sneaky link.

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Invisible text
(Google is now devaluing some pages)

OK - No penalty - Google advises against this.
All over the place - but nothing is ever done. (The text is the same color as the background, and hence cannot be seen by the viewer, but is visible to the search engine spiders.)

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Gateway, doorway page

(I see changes here - not only does the doorway page disappear, but the main page gets pushed down, as well - this is a welcome fix.)

OK - No penalty - Google advises against this.
Google used to reward these pages.
Multiple entrance pages in the top ten SERPs - I see it daily. There they are at #2, with their twin at #5 - 6 months now. Reported numerous times.

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Duplicate content (YOUR'S)
Duplicate content (THEIR'S) below (Highjack)

OK - No penalty - Google advises against this.
Google picks one (usually the oldest), and shoves it to the top,
and pushes the second choice down. Currently a big issue with stolen content - the thief usurps your former position with YOUR OWN content.

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HTML code violations
(The big G does not even use DOCTYPE declarations, required for W3C validation.)

Doesn't matter - Google advises against this.
Unless of course, the page is totally FUBAR.
Simple HTML verification is NOT required (but advised).

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Since the above 4 items are so controversial, I would like to add this comment:
There are many things that Google would LIKE to have webmasters do, but that they simply cannot control, due to logistical considerations. Their only alternative is to foment fear and doubt by implying that any violation of their "suggestions" will result in swift and fierce demotion.
(This is somewhat dated - G is getting around to fixing these things.)

IN GENERAL, this works pretty well to keep webmasters in line. The fallacy of this is that even the casual observer can readily observe continuing, blatant exceptions to these official pronouncements. SPAM reports elicit no response, unless specific-case, knob-tweaking penalty imposition is authorized. There are many anecdotes about GG "taking care" of a problem. Google states that they do not provide hand-tweaked "boosts", but are silent about hand-tweaked demotions. They occur, fer shure. To believe otherwise is naive. Wouldn't YOU swat the most obnoxious flies? I would. Avoid any Google blacklist which may exist.