Google continues to change the SEO game by introducing algorithm changes every few months. Sites that were once ranked in the top 10 results are now bumped to the top 20 results due to Google’s attempt to achieve the highest quality search results.

Google is rewarding sites with high-quality content and sites that people are interested in. So, how does Google determine this? With customized algorithms that not many people can understand, of course!

With that being said, there are very specific aspects of your site that you can improve upon to ensure it meets Google’s standards and no penalties are enforced on your site by the Google Internet Police. Google is the most powerful search engine and if you want your site to succeed, you must learn to play by Google’s rules.

Relevance

Relevancy is very important to Google and its rankings. Google ranks websites based on importance to the user and how many times a website is linked to another site. Google uses a specialised algorithm to calculate each site’s relevance. The algorithm determines the number of links directing people to the site, as well as the importance of the site doing the linking. This concept is known as Google’s “PageRank;” the higher the PageRank, the higher ranked the site will be on the search engine’s rankings.

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It is nearly impossible for a website to be successful without a top search engine rank, which allows for high visibility among users. To ensure proper search engine optimization many webmasters turn to the help of rank checkers. Rank checkers check the website rank instantly. There is a plethora of rank checkers available for download but it is important to review the top checkers and decide which provides the best results and features needed for your site.

FireFox Rank Checker

The FireFox Rank Checker plug-in is a popular choice among webmasters. The free plug-in provides up-to-date, instant rankings and has all of the tools a webmaster may need in regard to tracking web rankings. Rank Checker allows you to check multiple keywords on different search engines all in one check. Rank Checker allows users to save or upload a specific keyword list. Rank Checker offers users sortable columns, compatibility with all new Google updates and updates to Google changes within 24-hours.

The downfall to the FireFox Rank Checker is that it only works with FireFox and the plug-in does not automatically store rank history. Tests also show that FireFox Rank Checker is a bit less reliable with accuracy than other paid competitors are. It takes a little over a minute for the plug-in to check 10 keywords, which is a bit slower than paid plug-ins. Overall, for a free rank checker, this program ranks among the best freebies.

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“Going live with a fresh website design without considering the SEO implications first is like building a beautiful new house with no drive, no front gate and no front door! In other words no one will find it or be able to get in when they do!” 

SEO optimisation can be an incredibly daunting prospect for a small business. Creating a clean attractive site, putting it online and presuming your customers will find it is simply not enough. You’re competing with the rest of the world out there. Google “family restaurant” and you’ll find over 70 million results. Google “family dentist” and you’ll find over 27 million.

Even if your business is local and specialised, you must, I repeat must be in the first page of search results for your site’s keywords. Ninety percent of searchers don’t even visit page two of a results page. If you’re not following SEO rules correctly you can even end up on page three.

Wow. What a sobering though. Does anyone ever end up on page three?

Even the smallest mistakes on your website can cause big problems when it comes to SEO. Failing to rank highly on a search engine such as Google or Yahoo means one thing for your business: missed opportunities for revenue. Lost traffic results in lost money.

But enough of the doom and gloom and more of the practical advice. Below are some of the most common but deadly search engine optimisation killers. The good news is that simply being aware of these killers and tweaking your site slightly so it avoids them, can reap mammoth results. So what are you waiting for? Get reading and get tweaking. (more…)