The reading level for this article is Expert
Boosting Google’s PageRank to benefit your bottom line.
Google’s proprietary PageRank system is used to determine how relevant your site is. First, to view your sites PageRank, download the Google Toolbar, and visit your site. Make sure you enable the pop up blocker, the PageRank and the page info tool. With the info tool you can view cached copies of the Web page. Be sure to have encoded your site so that the current date is viewable within the site someplace in the header or footer near the copyright. This way when you view the cached, or saved, copy of the Web pages via the Google toolbar, you will see the date of the page when Google captured it last and you learn how often Google spiders particular pages.
Your site’s PageRank is almost completely dependent upon links to your site from other Web pages, including your own, using the desirable key-phrases within the title of the link. The impact is lessened, or a smaller PageRank is passed along, when there are more pages linked to from the page. A link to your site will have the highest amount of impact on your PageRank if it has a high PageRank and less links to other sites.
Another contributing factor to your sites Google ranking is the IR score. This score relates the relevance of the search query to the actual text in the linking page and your site. One of IR factors is the anchor text, or the text in the link to your page. According to a Google’s creator, “Anchors often provide more accurate descriptions of web pages.” Thus, for sites that allow you to add URL’s be sure to put a link title with descriptive keywords. Google also uses your page title, font sizes, formatting, keyword positions, and proximity.
Remember, computers determine the search results, but humans make the decision to click or not to click. So be sure titles and descriptions, containing key-phrases, are pertinent and logical. Also, the key-phrase should match in links, page titles, meta tags, Web page content and Web addresses. A dozen or more Web addresses will be part of an efficient Web marketing strategy.
Meticulous selection of key-phrases, and descriptions utilizing these key-phrases, are crucial to a successful Web marketing campaign. The final piece, probably the most important, is a tracking system to inform business managers if the clicks generated sales. Although a high click through rate is very likely indicative of increased sales, there’s nothing better than proof.
