The Axandra newsletter archive

14 May 2002

Welcome to the new issue of Weekly Search Engine Facts! Again, we'll draw conclusions from the biggest search engine study ever conducted. In the study, we analyzed more than 103,320 top 10 Web pages to discover why they have top rankings. This weekly newsletter tells you about some of our findings.

After a long period of beta testing, the new search engine Teoma was released on April 2, 2002.

When we conducted our search engine ranking study, we included Teoma because some news sites called it the next "Google killer".

This Web page describes how Teoma ranks in general:

http://static.wc.teoma.com/docs/teoma/about/searchWithAuthority.html

As the above article makes clear, link popularity is important for the ranking on Teoma result pages. Our study confirms it. 64.29% of the #1 Web pages on Teoma have links from all three major directories Yahoo, LookSmart and Open Directory Project.

However, link popularity isn't everything. Teoma says that it also "utilizes existing search techniques". This must be the reason why 10.59% of the #1 Web pages on Teoma don't have any major reciprocal links at all.

Source: Search Engine Ranking Studies Q2/2002

Google says that it uses not only link popularity but more than 100 other techniques to rank Web sites. So even for Google and Teoma, link popularity is not the only factor. That's why our study is so important.

We examined 103,260 top 10 Web pages on Google, AltaVista, iWon/Inktomi, AllTheWeb, Teoma and Wisenut, making it the most comprehensive search engine ranking study available today. The results cover 140 topics, from link popularity, Meta tags, inbound/outbound links, to keyword density and document types.

The reports have 140 color diagrams on more than 300 pages and are available as PDF documents. They help you to understand what it takes to get a good ranking on search engines.

http://www.axandra.com/search-engine-studies/index.htm

Is your Web site not getting listed in search engines? Is your Web site listed but it's not getting top rankings? In our series we tell you the 19 common mistakes for low or no ranking and what you can do about it.

Reason #2: You are using a lot of pictures on your Web site but very little text

Search engines need text to index your Web site. They cannot know what's written on your GIF or JPEG images. If you use a lot of images on your Web site, you should also create some Web pages that have a lot of text.

Some Web site promotion consultants will tell you to create so-called doorway pages. A doorway page is a Web page that contains plain text and a link to your main Web page. On that doorway page, you should describe the content of your Web site in many sentences that contain many keywords that are important for your Web site.

However, some search engines only lists Web pages if at least one remote Web page is linking to it. In that case, a doorway page will not work. Don't use doorway pages for search engine spamming! Only use doorways that have something to do with the content of your Web pages.

Note that many search engines already ignore doorway pages. For that reason, try to give your real Web site as much content (text) as possible. Fresh, continuously updated content is one of the best ways to ensure that your visitors will return again and again.

Here are 3 tips for building and distributing your content:

1. Build one page of quality content per day. Write timely, topical articles with about 250-500 words. If you aren't sure what you can write about, look in your log files which search phrases have been used to come to your site. Or use Overture's keyword suggestion tool at

http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

and find the core set of keywords for your topic area. Those are your subject starters.

2. Stay abreast of developments in your sector. If the big site "ABC" is coming out with product "XYZ" in autumn, then write about the product or the product sector in general and have it ready in June so that search engines can index it early. For example, all the Nintendo GameCube sites you can find in Google today - those have been submitted 3-4 months ago.

3. Syndicate your content (along with your name and Web site URL)! Other webmasters will gladly incorporate your articles into their Web sites. Just search for "syndicate your articles", "syndicate your content" and "submit your article" on Google.

* How popular is your Web site?

Link Popularity Check is a Windows program that finds out how popular your Web site is. It's freeware! http://www.CheckYourLinkPopularity.com

* ARELIS - Axandra's Reciprocal Links Solution

"In the beginning I was a little sceptical but now I would say that ARELIS may be the greatest website promotional tool I ever tried." says Ivan Pantchev of SeekIndex.com.

What is ARELIS? It's the first software program that provides a serious, spam-free reciprocal links solution for professional webmasters. Reciprocal links can get you a lot of targeted traffic and they improve the link popularity of your Web site in the search engines. Free download:

http://www.Axandra.com/download.htm

* Did you know?

Our two-tier affiliate program pays you 35% + 10% for the sale of our products:
http://www.Axandra.com/affiliates.htm

* Marketing Web sites we recommend

http://www.axandra.com/webmaster-resources/index.htm

If you're receiving this issue as a forward, and would like to get your own free subscription, visit

http://www.Axandra.com/subscribe.htm


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