• Newbie Online Marketer Cries Competitor’s Keyword Ranking “Not Fair!” •
• How Can Non-Relevant Sites Out-Rank Your Keyword Focused Site? •

I recently provided a Complimentary 30-minute SEO Consultation to an individual I’ll refer to as “NOM” (newbie online marketer), who is trying to build a website to promote their computer accessory product.

NOM is very much a newbie, and I certainly can understand their frustration with not knowing how to deal with HTML codes, navigation, best-practice linking structure and similar issues. NOM was doing their best at targeting the few keyword phrases that exactly matched the product they were promoting. They had a few pages of descriptive content that I can say certainly did a good job of explaining the product, how to use it, what it cost, and how to order it.

But one thing NOM said to me was how they could not understand how “junk sites”, those that had absolutely nothing even closely related to the keyword phrases they were ranking for, could out-rank NOM’s website which did indeed sell a very specific product that was 100% related to the keyword phrases in question.

In other words, how come NOM’s Google ranking for “super duper computer accessory” wasn’t even in the top 100 results, but spam sites were ranking in the top-ten?

NOM’s comment, which is the reason I thought I’d share this with those of you who are brand new to online marketing and the reality of how Google determines ranking positions was this:

“I am going to package up my product and send it off to the owners of Google and tell them in a letter that I should be Number One for my keyword phrase “super duper computer accessory”! I actually make and sell a super duper computer accessory. Those others sites don’t!  How come they rank so highly?  They’re nothing but spam sites!”

Send your product with a letter to the owners of Google and demand a #1 ranking? 

No offense to NOM, but it was very hard for me to not break out laughing. (And if this individual is reading this, please … I mean absolutely NO disrespect by my comments nor by this post. I think your belief about rankings is not that unusual for beginners, and others can learn by your statement, and my reply.)

I had to reply that rankings were NOT, unfortunately, handled in that manner. That if sending a letter and your product to the big chiefs at Google was all that was necessary, well … maybe the organic search results would possibly be skewed more in the favor of “legitimate” websites. But yes, sometimes it just doesn’t seem fair at all as to how Google ranks one site above another.

So if you are brand spankin’ new to online marketing, and you are trying to learn (figure out) what “search engine ranking” is all about, here is a very very simplified way to understand it for now:

• your organic search engine ranking has to do with the relevancy of the content on your web page and to the keyword phrase you have determined to be what the content is all about;
• the number of webpages on your site containing quality content is taken into consideration;
• the age of your website is taken into consideration;
• the number of other quality, theme related websites that have a link on their site that points to your website helps your ranking position; and
• your attention to basic on-page SEO techniques is of great importance (please get a copy of my free guide “The SEO Edge” and learn how to write effective Title and Description tags, and content).

But here’s the kicker to everything I’ve just listed, and back to what NOM was angrily complaining about to me … somehow, junky spammy sites can rank above legitimate, quality sites. There can be umpteen reasons for this, of which I wouldn’t be able to answer unless I dug in and started to research each non-relevant website to the keyword phrase in question.

However, without writing a novel on this very subject, which trust me, one could easily do, I can tell you this. No matter how ‘unfair’ keyword ranking positions may be, I’ll bet you good money-$$ that ultimately those sites that right now rank well for keyword phrases which they really ought not to …they will drop-drop-drop down in rankings and soon will be non-existent ranking-wise for all intent puposes.

As my dear Grandma Sadie used to say, “Patience is a virtue.” And sometimes, in the search engine rankings wars … patience truly is a virtue! But in the end … our content rich, keyword targeted sites will  rank well.

• Google’s ‘Local Business Results’ Map Listings Are Great Free Advertising •
• You Can Be Listed In A City Near Your Place Of Business, Too •

This is a quick addition to the post I made the other day about my top rankings for Franklin, Tennessee in Google’s local search map results.

The city my business is located in, and how it is listed with Google is Franklin — just outside of Nashville. To show you the extended benefit of getting your business listed in Google’s free ‘Local Business Results’ map, here’s a screen shot taken today (June 18, 2008) and look! I am #1 in the local map listing for “search engine optimization consultant Nashville Tennessee”.

Note that there are three organic search results, then there is the Google local results map, and then organic rankings continue down below it. Isn’t it interesting that based on Google’s algorithms, the local search result map was placed in what amounts to position #4.

On top of that, I am in the top result on the map. And note that the other firm that is listed is actually a Nashville based firm. Remember … I am technically a Franklin-based SEO business!

Hmmm … I’ve no complaints about that! Guess I do a pretty darn good job when it comes to search engine optimization.

So, here the bottom line is:  don’t ignore the FREE advertising space Google’s ‘Local Business Results’ Map listing provides. Not only may it be of great benefit to you when people are searching for you in the town where your business is actually located, but you just may find yourself in the search results for neighboring towns, too.

• Why Keyword Focused Internal HTML Links In Your Website Are So Important •
• You Might See Your Rankings Bump Up A Notch Or Two! •

You may be aware of the need to have links pointing to your site from other niche-related sites. These types of links are called in-pointing links. They are of value not only in helping you gain new visitors to your site, but also to show the search engines that other sites find your site worthy of linking to.

The more quality in-pointing links you have from related sites, NOT spammy sites, the better. In-pointing links are taken into consideration and affect your organic ranking positions.

However, are you aware of the importance and ranking value internal links (also referred to as contextual internal links) can provide?

What Is Anchor Text and What’s It Got To Do With Internal Links?

Anchor text is the text you use for the internal hyperlinks that link one page within your site to another. It is also very important to use the keyword phrase in the anchor text that is used in the page you are linking to.  (Please don’t use the words “click here”.)  ALWAYS try to use your keyword phrase in the internal link.  Maybe you only need to use the phrase, or maybe you need to add a few more words to make more sense in what you are saying … no matter.  Just utilize the keyword phrase found in the page you LINK TO.  

Keep in mind that you ONLY want to link one page to another page or pages, if it makes sense to do so!  Put your visitor’s experience first and foremost. Inserting internal links haphazardly all over your site not only will do nothing for your organic search engine ranking positions, it will greatly irritate your visitors as well!

OK … here’s an example of a great use of an internal link, and it makes sense for me to use it in this post. I previously wrote about HTML Linking: How To Hyperlink Pages Within Your Website. I gave a great overview of how-tos of internal linking. I am adding a few more thoughts about that post in this post.

So that you know, the keyword phrase I targeted for that post was ”HTML linking”.  Thusly, I’ve made the decision to provide the post’s Title for the internal hyperlink. (I could have made a hyperlink using just a few words.)  Not only does it contain the keyword phrase, but it also gives you, the reader, an idea of what you will be reading in the hyperlinked post.

So, what do you think of this real time internal linking example I’ve just provided? It is 100% relevant to this post, and it makes a lot of sense for me to provide a hyperlink to that post. It’s good for my search engine rankings and it is very helpful for my visitors.

I encourage you to take a good look at how you might be able to improve the internal linking structure of your website or blog. I’ll bet you’ll find more than a few opportunities to add some new keyword focused internal links. (I am assuming you have a content rich site that makes it very easy for you to link amongst your many pages of content.)

It’s not unusual for those well needed tweaks you’ll be doing to help bump up the organic rankings for the pages involved. I like doing whatever I can to help myself fare better in organic rankings. And something like improving the internal linking structure is easy and not difficult to do!

Also, another added benefit to improving your internal linking structure can be that you just might see an improvement in your visitor traffic and even sales. Whether you do want to try and improve your search engines rankings and/or you’re tweaking your site for a better user experience, attention to improving contextual internal links will never be time wasted.