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Example of Keyword Placement Affecting Rank
To know what kinds of keyword placement or other keyword factors can affect a Web site's ranking is to know how to shuffle the elements that make up your Web site so as to outrank any other site on the Web.
Consider this final series of examples. Which of the following word paintings (representing hypothetical Web sites) would rank higher in a hypothetical search engine for a search on the keyword VanGogh? (HTML is omitted or included as necessary to improve the clarity of the illustration):
Web site #1:
word word, word, word, word, word VanGogh, word, word word, word word, word, word, word, word, word VanGogh, word word, word, word, word, word word word, word, word, word, word VanGogh word word,
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Web site #2:
word word, word, word, VanGogh word, word, word, word word, word word, word, word, word, VanGogh word, word, word word, word, word, word, VanGogh word word word, word, word, word, word word, word, word, word word word, word, word, word, word.
Answer: Probably Web site #2, as the occurrences of "VanGogh" are more prominent - they occur earlier or closer to the beginning
of document.
Now, consider another more complicated situation, also two
Web sites that might be returned for a search on the keyword "VanGogh":
Web site #3:
<TITLE> VanGogh's life and early work</
TITLE>
word word, word, word, word, word VanGogh, word, word
word, word word, word, word, word, VanGogh word, word,
word word, word, word, word, word word word, word, word, word,
word word, word, word, word VanGogh word word, word,
word, word, word
Web site #4:
<TITLE> VanGogh</ TITLE>
word word, word, word, word, word VanGogh, word, word
word, word word, word, word, word, VanGogh
Answer: There is no definitive answer because each search
engine uses a slightly different ranking system, but we believe
that Web site #4 would win more often. "How can that be?!"
you might ask in shock and amazement, because "Web site #3
has four occurrences of the keyword "VanGogh" and the first
three have an equal prominence - they are the same distance
from the
beginning of the document!"
It was the keyword weight (the number of times that the keyword
"VanGogh" appears on the page as a percentage of the total)
that could help Web site #4 outrank #3.
The point is that while not all situations are as clear as
the example presented, most ranking problems can be diagnosed
by evaluating the same keyword placement variables. Once you
understand how to evaluate the variables, you can optimize your website to achieve top rankings.
Caution: Simply because you determine how to and then
achieve a high ranking for a particular keyword, does not
mean that you will maintain this rank consistently. Every
day, thousands of new Web sites are being built and registered
in search engines. Search engines continually refine their
search algorithms, and sometimes they affect a fundamental
change in methodology in pursuit of more accurate searches
for visitors.
WebCrawler recently scrapped its entire ranking algorithm
and replaced it with Excite's software and search algorithm.
Many sites that were ranked well in WebCrawler suddenly needed
redesigned pages to achieve similar rankings under this new
system.
Nonetheless, your best bet for achieving high rankings is
to optimize your pages in the ways described in this guide.
Now it's time to learn the techniques and how to implement
them on your Web pages.
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