“This Is Possibly the Biggest Misconception About Ranking Well In The Search Engines…”
In previous lessons I’ve taught you different optimization strategies. I’ve taught you the difference between onpage search engine optimization and offpage search engine optimization.
Quick Review:
Onpage search engine optimization are things that you can change ON your webpage.
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Offpage search engine optimization comes down to basically 1 thing, which websites are linking to your wesbite and how they’re doing it. These things include:
- Anchor text uses in your link
- The title of the page your link is on
- The page rank of the page your link is on
- The “theme” of the website your link is on
- The age of the website linking to you
- And the list goes on and on…
By now, I’m hoping you see that it’s the offpage search engine optimization factors that will get your website to the top of the search engines. NOT the onpage optimization factors like bolding text etc. Again, the onpage factors are things you SHOULD do, but are not nearly as important as the offpage factors.
Ok… Let me show you why.
| Let’s analyze a website! |
In this example I’m going to analyze the #1 ranked website on Google for the search term “click here”.
First, let’s go to Google and enter “click here”.
You’ll notice that the #1 ranked website is www.adobe.com. That’s interesting…
Now, why would adobe.com rank #1 for that search term? I would think adobe.com would rank well for terms like:
- graphic design programs
- create printable documents
- web design programs
- and other keywords related to what they sell…
| A few things you should notice while looking at the picture above. |
If we looks at the Google listing, you’ll notice that:
1. The word “click here” isn’t in the page title
2. The word “click here” isn’t in the URL of the website.
3. The word “click here” isn’t even in the description listed by Google!
Now, let’s click on the listing in Google and check out the actual webpage.
Now, get this… The words “click here” aren’t even on the webpage, anywhere!
If all of those onpage optimization techniques that many SEO companies talk about were true, then don’t you think a different website would rank #1 for this term? Heck yeah!
Onpage optimization factors like:
- keyword density
- keyword prominence
- keyword proximity
- bolding, italicizing, underlining
- etc.
are NOT critical to worry about when trying to rank well for a search term.
Yes, you should spinkle your keyword throughout the webpage and do the other onpage optimization techniques I’ve taught you in previous lessons, but again, I really want to drill this into your head. It is the offpage optimization that will increase your rankings in the search engines; specifically Google, Yahoo, and MSN.
| Then why exactly does adobe.com rank #1 on Google for the term “click here”? |
Let’s open up SEO Elite and have a quick look…
1. First, we’ll select radio button 1.
2. Next, we’ll enter the URL from Google into step 2.
(http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html)
3. Next, we’ll select Google from the list of search engines.
4. Finally, click “ok” to run SEO Elite.
When it’s finished running, let’s click on the “report view” tab to view some of the results.
The first thing you should notice is the Google Page Rank of all of the pages linking to adobe.com. If you click the column heading within SEO Elite labeled “Google PR”, it will sort the column in descending order.
You can see that the pages linking to adobe.com have an extremely high Page Rank. Any website with a Page Rank of 6 or higher are VERY high page ranks. Look at all the PR8 websites linking to them!
You’ll also notice that there are TONS of websites with a .edu or a .gov extension linking to adobe.com. Google and other search engines give much more weight to websites with .edu or .gov extensions. So, if you can get one of those websites to link to your website, it will REALLY help improve your ranking.
Next, let’s click the “analysis view” tab.
If we click the column heading titled “anchor text”, it will sort this column in descending order. We can quickly see that the words “click” and “here” are within the top 10 words listed in the left hand column.
Remember, the anchor text column will show you the number of times the word in the “Word” column appears in the actual anchor text of the link pointing to adobe.com
So, by looking at the analysis above, we can see that the word “click” appeared in 6 of the links pointing to adobe.com and 4.5% of the total links pointing to adobe.com contained the keyword “click”. The keyword “here” was found in 11 links pointing to adobe.com and appeared 8.3% of the time.
Now, let’s do something fun. Go to Google and enter different combinations of the words listed at the top of the screenshot above. Words like “reader, adobe, acrobat, and download”. So, you’d go to Google and enter things like (Or just click the links beow)
and so on… and check out what webstie appears #1. It’s the links AND the anchor text being used in those links, that helps a website rank highly 
| Reason adobe.com is ranked #1 |
The main two reasons that adobe.com is ranked #1 for the keyword “click here” is because:
- The websites linking to adobe.com are very quality (have a high Page Rank and come from trusted, aged websites like .edu and .gov websites)
- The websites linking to adobe.com used the keywords “click” and “here” many times in the anchor text of the links linking to adobe.com
There are a few other offpage optimization factors that help adobe.com to rank #1, but those are the main two reasons. After reading this lesson, I hope you can clearly see the power of offpage optimization (linking).
So, the next time someone asks you what the proper keyword density is, the proper keyword prominence, the proper number of times you need to bold, italicize, or underline a keyword on your page… You can tell them that onpage optimization is NOT critical when ranking well for a given search term.
Until next time, happy optimizing!
SEO Power Strategies - Day 4 will be coming shortly so stay tuned!
Brad Callen
Professional SEO
SEO Elite: SEO Software
Readers Comments (16)
The site has an absolutely awesome presentation. Nice strategy with the links to other resources.
That said, is there any way you could ad the print button function to save on paper and ink. Many previous lessons that were on a site but had the pdf version made it really easy to print out, save, take notes, etc.
Thanks for all of the really great information you present.
Ayn Elise
( up north from you in South Bend)
Dear,
Your website Search Engine Optimization techniques are awesome. It helped me alot to get good ranking in Google, MSN and Yahoo.
Thanks for giving this lessons free,
Sandeep
Brad Callen,
You always have great content in your copy and these seo lessons are no exception.
I value all of your information knowing that you speak with first hand experience and knowledge.
Thank you for these great information packed lessons.
Janis Searcey
Dear Mr. Callen:
My email address has changed…My old email address that you had been sending to was consumeradvocate@cavtel.net. This is no longer active…
My new email address is….consumers_advocate@comcast.net
Please change your records, as I don’t want to miss anything from you.
Thank you
G’day Brad,
I have just clicked through to download the Directory Submitter and purchased the SEO Elite and Keyword Elite package. I downloaded SEO Elite and then opened the bonus pdf (using a double click in Firefox), saved it and clicked the back button to get back to the download page to get Keyword Submitter. It did not display. Instead I received a 404 error stating I was no longer able to view it. I thought, “I know how to fix this!” returned to my email from you wherein was the link to download the materials, clicked on the link then received the same error message. Gotcha! Phooey!
I then went to the help desk to lodge a ticket but whatever I enter as a user name is rejected, even [p[P[09721Rb! And don’t tell me you already have a user with that name!
So I click to send an email to the site administrator and got this one:
Sorry, we cannot complete your request..
Please review the following message returned by the help desk:
The administrator has disabled error reporting via email, please open a ticket
You may go back and try to correct the problem, or report the problem to the webmaster
I think that translates to Catch 22! So here I am. Hope you can find a path through the puzzle!
Wow… that’s some problems you’re having Tom. Ok… so, do this:
1. Go to http://www.bryxensoftware.com/support/
2. Click the button that says “Create Account”, On the top left.
3. Create an account
4. Then submit a ticket to the “SEO Elite” department.
The desk works, as I just tested it personally, and we get, and answer customer questions by the minute.
If that doesn’t work, let me know what exactly happens and what browser you’re using.
Wow, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out all the onpage optimization stuff.
I’ve done a lot for the off page too, but am not doing that right for sure. Need to figure it out more.
I’m not so interested in getting a high listing in the search engines. But, a higher page rank would really help me to help others who have a link from my site. That is my goal. Is there a way to do this without much cost? Seems like you really have to invest to get started or will be hard to get those links back to your site.
Look forward to your next lesson!
Thanks,
Dan
Good stuff Dan. Thanks mate. I’m just about to go through my pages of links and check what PR they all are and drop all those less than mine and we will see what happens. I’m on the first page for the term “travel deals” and ahead of the people who made me redundant and man, does that make me feel gooood.
HI Brad,
great info thanks. Does SEO lite work on MAC?
M
Brad,
Thanks for the in fo it helps a lot.
Elmerante
Brad,
Thanks for the info it helps a lot and i will do more research on the lessons
That you provided from us.
Elmerante
Hi Brad,
your one of the few people i pay attention to on the internet.I bought Keyword Elite and now am saving for Seo Elite.Your advice is just like your software products.Great!
Billy
great tips, thanks!
Good stuff Brad. Been reading all your lessons and learned a lot. Thanks heaps!
Hi Brad,
You are such a great presenter. No doubt about it ! Unlike many others I have seen, your box wordings are so clear that you can read them easily without having to squint or stress your eyes and that makes learning easy and enjoyable. And not only that. Your information is really great and superb too ! - Terrific !!!
Thanks a lot
William Lew
My dear Brad, Namaste, i read over your articles, you are not doing business, you are just serving the society by saying this valuable secrets, its really a great part of your kindness and affection. After reading your tips and techniques now my website http://www.subhavaastu.com is coming forward and getting hits. It attracts so many customers, now for some keywords its coming as a first one in first page, to be frank this CREDIT goes only to you MR.BRAD.. not mine. You are not expecting any thing from teachings, just u r doing service and not looking for returns this is a great appreciation, i like this personalities, God Bless You. I am from India, where can i get your printed Book Brad. i want to have your total tips and tricks printed book. Thanks Brad. Expecting more from you.
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