Search Engine Optimization Tutorial

What is Google PageRank, and how does it affect search engine rankings?

In Google, PageRank is the measure of how "valuable" your site is to the internet. This is measured by the number and quality of the links linking to your site.

The theory goes that if lots of people are linking to your site, then there must be something valuable on your site that would warrant that many people linking to you. It also goes that if a very popular site (one that has many links linking to it) thinks that you are good enough to link to, then you must have good content as well.

Therefore the number AND the quality of the links linking to your site is important. You can determine the quality of the links linking to you by how many sites are linking to them.

Here is an example to illustrate how Google uses PageRank to determine it's results. Say there were two almost identical pages about surf boards. Their content and search engine optimisation (where keywords are put on the page, and other factors) being the same, which will rank higher for the keyword phrase "surf boards"? The answer is: The one with the higher PageRank, of course. Google has determined that the one with the higher PageRank must have better content because more people are linking to it.

This answers the question, "I optimized my entire site, but I'm still on the 5th page. Why?"

How can you tell what PageRank you have, and how many people are linking to your site?

Google provides a search toolbar, and it will display the PageRank of the site you are currently looking at on it.
Click here to download the Google Toolbar

Google also has published an explanation of its PageRank technology.
Here it is: PageRank Explained by Google

A Common Misconception: Sites have pagerank. Sites actually don't have pagerank. Individual pages do. Therefore your main page could have a pagerank of 6, and a subpage could only have a pagerank of 4.

Search Engine Optimization Tips

• Optimize your site for your keywords.
  The only way search engines can tell what your site is about is by the text you write in it. If this text has the keywords that the user is searching for, odds are that your site will be included in the results. The odds are a lot better if the keywords occur more on the page than less, and the page has a high pagerank.
  
  Here is a great tutorial on how to optimize your site for the search engines.
  
  
• Don't do things that search engines don't like, because they will "blacklist" you.
  In the past, a popular method of search engine optimisation was to create hidden text with the desired keywords in it. The webmaster would make the text the same color as the background, rendering it invisible to the user, but visible to the search engines. Eventually search engines wised up to this tactic and largely discount it, and in some instances punish the site by ranking it lower than normal. I have seen it work on occasion, however. As a general rule, any tactic that decieves the Search Engines is a bad idea. If they haven't caught yet, they soon will.
  
  
• Provide actual content that would be valuable to viewers.
  While search engine algorithms and strategies are changing all the time, the underlying purpose for search engines will never change. Search engines strive to find the best content for their users. If you provide good content, search engines will be trying to find your site rather than weed it out from the rest of the results.

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