I know that Google gives a lot of preference to the link popularity of a site. However, even though my site has only a couple of sites linking to it, it is ranked very well in Google for many of the keywords. I am not complaining of course, but can you give me an idea as to how my site managed to rank well in Google?

Peter Wiley


Answer:

Hi Peter,

Having other sites linking to you becomes important in Google for the more competitive keywords. Hence, the reason your site is ranked well in Google even though you do not have too many sites linking to you is that the keywords you are targeting are not very competitive, i.e. there aren't too many other sites which are competing with you to get the top positions for the same keywords. For such less competitive keywords, all that is generally required in order to get a good ranking in Google is to ensure that you create a keyword rich page targeting that keyword, and that your site is listed in the Open Directory and/or Yahoo!. Once you do that, it becomes very simple to get a good ranking for the keyword in Google.

However, as the competitiveness of the keywords you are targeting increases, so does the importance of having lots of sites linking to you. For such competitive keywords, merely creating keyword rich pages and getting your site listed in the Open Directory and/or Yahoo! won't help - you will need many sites linking to you.

You may be wondering why I mentioned that your site needs to be listed in the Open Directory and/or Yahoo!. This is because if a site has very few links from other sites, Google will often not spider the site if it is not listed in the Open Directory and/or Yahoo!, even if you submit the site to Google.

Here are a few related articles you may find useful:

Creating keyword rich pages

Improving the link popularity of your site

Registering your site with the Open Directory

Registering your site with Yahoo!


QUESTION 2:

I had successfully listed my site in the Open Directory. Then, a few days ago, I found that my site had been de-listed. What can I do to list my site back again?

Jill Preston


Answer:

Hi Jill,

Firstly, what you should do is to re-submit your site to the Open Directory in the category in which it was earlier listed and using the same description that you had used. Wait for 3 weeks to see if you are listed again.

If you are not, try to locate another category which is applicable for your site. If you manage to locate such a category and if the editor of the category is not the same as the editor of the category in which you were listed (you will find the name of the editor at the bottom of the category), submit your site to this category. Again, wait for 3 weeks to see if you are listed.

If you are still not listed, then it is time to find out the reason as to why your site was de-listed. Are you sure your site is eligible to be listed in the Open Directory? For instance, if your site is full of affiliate links and nothing else, or if it is under construction, then the editor who initially evaluated your site may have accidentally overlooked this and listed your site but another editor may have evaluated your site and decided that your site should not be listed. If your site is full of affiliate links, you need to add a lot of quality content to it first and then re-submit your site. If your site has missing graphics, links leading to missing or non-existent pages, or under-construction symbols, you need to fix these problems before you re-submit.

If you are sure that your site does not have these problems, then it is time to dig deeper. Send a very polite email to the editor of the category in which you were listed and ask the person the reasons for which your site was dropped. Wait for a couple of weeks to see if you get any response.

If you don't get any response from the editor, try writing to a higher level editor, i.e. an editor who edits a higher level category than the category in which your site was listed. Again, wait for 2 weeks to see if you get any response.

If all these methods fail, it is time to up the ante a bit. What you should do is to become an editor of the Open Directory. You can learn how to do this by reading my article on this topic.

Whenever any site is removed from the Open Directory, the editor who is removing the site has to provide a reason as to why he/she is removing the site. The reason put forward by this editor is visible to all editors of the Open Directory. Thus, if you manage to become an editor of the Open Directory, you will be able to find out why your site was de-listed. You should then correct the problems because of which your site was de-listed, and then submit the site again.


QUESTION 3:

Can you recommend some good books on search engine positioning?

Gail Williams


Answer:

Hi Gail,

I may not be the right person to answer this question because (believe it or not) I haven't read any book on search engine positioning. As far as search engine positioning is concerned, I am self-taught. Whatever I know of search engine positioning has come through countless hours of experimentation and trial and error. So, while I am sure there might be some good books on this topic, it is just that I have never had a chance to read any, and hence, can't recommend any.

Frankly, though, with the wealth of free information available on the Internet regarding this topic, I honestly don't see why anyone would want to buy a book. Here are a few sites you might consider going through to learn more about search engine optimization:

http://www.1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?1310&articles.htm (of course :-))
http://www.searchenginewatch.com
http://www.searchengineguide.com
http://www.searchengines.com
http://www.spider-food.net

Another useful resource is WebPosition Gold's help file. If you don't have a copy of WebPosition Gold with you, you can read my review of it and download a free trial version from my site.

If you go through all these resources thoroughly, I don't see any reason why you would need to buy a book. The only advantage of a book may be that the information would be presented in a more organized format than in any of the above sites. However, on the other hand, no book can ever contain the amount of pertinent and timely information present in these sites combined.