5 Factors that affect SERP placement
First of all, SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page. The ideal spot is number one. Google puts ten sites on each page, so in order to get listed on the first SERP for a given keyword, you must be in the top ten sites ranked for that keyword. Here are, basically, the most important things to focus on:
- Domain age. A 5 year old domain has an advantage over a domain name that you bought last week. It already carries some authority. But it’s not a HUGE deal. There are often sites in the top ten (coveted spot) that are new. They optimized well in other areas, obviously.
- Keywords in domain name. This helps a great deal. For example, if my main keyword phrase is “pound dog rescue“, then the ideal domain name is pounddogrescue.com, with no hyphens. Don’t waste your money on a .info domain. Only buy the .org, .net, .us, .me names if 1) the .com version is not available, and 2) it makes sense for your site (as in, don’t get a .org if you are not an organization–it just doesn’t look good).
- Keywords used in other strategic spots. If you are using Firefox, go to your site and hit CTRL+U. This will bring up your source code for the site. You should notice <title> tags, <h1> and <h2> tags, <img> tags, <meta> tags, and each of these is a good spot to use your keyword phrase. Don’t just use your primary keyword phrase, but switch things up every now and then, without being spammy. For example, in the <img> tag, include some alt text, with the word “logo” or “graphic” at the end. The reason for alt text is to tell someone who can’t see the picture, what it is a picture of! This comes in handy for text-only browsers, as well as broken images (the text will appear if the image doesn’t load). So use alt text to your advantage, but remember to create your site to be useful for people, don’t just stuff keywords everywhere tastelessly.
- Inbound links. Perhaps one of the most difficult parts of seo; link building campaigns can be costly and time consuming. But the more inbound links you have (in other words, other websites who are linking TO your page), the better. Again, this is not going to be the sole determining factor, as sometimes the number one site has less inbound links than the other top ten sites for your keyword, but it is still a HUGE help, when other sites link to yours. It helps build your authority, in your chosen niche.
- Relevant link TEXT. Just because you’ve got inbound links, doesn’t mean your work is done. You need to make sure the anchor tags linking to you are also using your keywords. Don’t use the same link text for every inbound link. Use a variety, and again, don’t get spammy. The fewer words, the more weight each word will carry.
Each of these points can be analyzed further. This is meant as a rough starting point to open up questions and discussion. For example, meta tags for description and keywords (SEE #3 above) have really become less important in Google’s eyes, but they are still used by many other search engines to determine how to rank your pages. Or we could start an entire discussion on whether or not to waste your time with reciprocal linking. My opinion: if you truly find a site to be valuable, then link to it. If not, then don’t. As long as your content is strong, you won’t have to beg people for links, they will link to you naturally.
What are YOUR thoughts?
