Dear Sumantra:

I have a question regarding how Netscape ranks sites from the Open Directory. I have what I believed was a very good listing in the Open Directory. The most important keyword for my site is present in both the Title and Description of my site's listing in the Open Directory. Because of this, I have been able to get a very good ranking in AOL for that keyword. However, for some reason, I have never been ranked well in Netscape for that keyword, even though both AOL and Netscape take their results from the Open Directory. Can you explain this?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Greg Snyder

Answer:

Hi Greg,

The way Netscape ranks sites from the Open Directory is somewhat different from the way AOL does it. Briefly, what Netscape first does is to determine which categories in the Open Directory are relevant for the keyword. It uses two factors in determining which categories are relevant:

i) The presence of the keyword in the name of a category. Other things remaining the same, a category which contains the keyword in its name will be considered more relevant than a category without the keyword in its name.

ii) The number of sites in a category that contain the keyword in their descriptions. Other things remaining the same, a category that contains more sites which have the keyword in their descriptions will be considered more relevant than another category that has fewer sites which contain the keyword in their descriptions.

Using a combination of these two factors, Netscape first ranks all the categories in the Open Directory in order of relevancy. It then displays the most relevant sites from these categories. In order to determine the sites which are relevant, it looks for the presence of the keyword in the Title and Description of the sites.

Hence, the main difference between how AOL and Netscape ranks sites from the Open Directory is that Netscape first tries to determine the categories which are relevant and then tries to determine the sites which are relevant in these categories, whereas AOL does not care about which categories are relevant - it only looks at which sites are relevant.

The reason you find that you are ranked well in AOL but not in Netscape is that the category in which your site is listed was not considered relevant by Netscape, either because the category does not contain the keyword in its name (and there are other categories in the Open Directory which contain the keyword in their names) and/or because apart from your site, there aren't too many sites in this category which contain the keyword in their descriptions. Hence, even though your site contains the keyword in the Title and Description, Netscape doesn't rank your site well because it does not consider the category in which you are listed to be all that relevant.

So, what should you do in order to get a high ranking in Netscape? The only thing that you can do is to submit your site again to another category which is applicable for your site, and which Netscape also considers to be relevant. There is no guarantee that you are going to be listed in this category (since you are already listed in another category) - however, you can give it a shot. Just submit your site once, wait for 2 - 3 weeks and see if you can get listed. If you are not listed, submit your site once more. If you still can't get listed, write a very polite note to the editor of the category (or the editor of a higher level category if that category does not have an editor), explaining why you believe that you should also be listed in this category. Don't tell him/her that getting your site listed in this category will improve your rankings in Netscape - the editor is not concerned about how your site ranks in Netscape. Instead, try to explain how that category will benefit by listing your site.

For more information on how you can submit sites to the Open Directory, see my article on this topic at http://www.1stsearchranking.net/open-directory.htm

QUESTION 2:

I have a question concerning the difference between a web page and a web site. My daughter and I put together a website to advertise two vacation condos that I own in Marco Island, FL. We submitted the site and it comes up first if you click on Web Pages in AOL, but it is not in the Web Site portion, which is the one that we would like to be listed in since that is the one that comes to the screen when you search AOL for Marco Island Beachfront Rentals. If people don't click on the Web Pages tab, they never see our site.

Lorraine Innes

Answer:

Hi Lorraine,

The difference between AOL's Web Sites and Web Pages is similar to the difference between Yahoo!'s Web Sites and Web Pages. Yahoo!'s Web Sites section contain sites which are present in the Yahoo! directory. Yahoo!'s Web Pages section come from Google.

Similarly, AOL's Web Sites are taken from the Open Directory and AOL's Web Pages are taken from Inktomi. You are ranked #1 in Inktomi for that keyword - that's the reason you come up at the top of AOL's Web Pages section. However, you may not be listed in the Open Directory, or, if you are, AOL's algorithm for sites from the Open Directory hasn't ranked you well. That's the reason you are not ranked well in the Web Sites section. If you are not yet listed in the Open Directory, submit your site to it, and see whether you can get a high ranking in the Web Sites section.

I have one word of advice for you. You need to review the keyword that you are targeting. While Marco Island Beachfront Rentals is applicable for your site, it is not the best keyword for you because it is not at all popular. If you go to GoTo's Suggestions Tool or WordTracker, you will find that this keyword is just not popular among users. In order to select more popular keywords for your site, just type in "marco island" in either of these tools and see the keywords that come up. For a detailed look at how you can select the keywords for your site, have a look at my article on this topic at http://www.1stsearchranking.net/keywords.htm

QUESTION 3:

Hello Sumantra,

I have been reading of late that Google does not like sites which become members of the various link exchange services on the Internet in order to boost their link popularity and that it is banning sites which it believes are trying to boost their link popularity in this manner. Is this true? I am a member of such a service. What should I do in order to not get banned by Google?

Pauline Fairbrother

Answer:

Hi Pauline,

Yes, I believe it is true. From Google's point of view, it's perfectly logical for it to frown upon sites which try to boost their link popularity in this manner. Google's algorithm gives a large amount of weightage to link popularity. The main logic behind using link popularity as a factor in ranking sites is that a site which has lots of links from other related sites must be an "important" site in that field - otherwise, it wouldn't have managed to obtain so many links. Now, if web sites started boosting their link popularity by joining these link exchange services, it would mean that the basis rationale behind using link popularity would disappear as even "unimportant" sites would have high link popularity. That's the reason Google doesn't like these link exchange services.

My advice would be to immediately stop your membership of the link exchange service. Inform the administrator of this service that you no longer want to be a member. Remove the pages containing the links to the other members of this link exchange service from your site. Then, just keep your fingers crossed and wait. Most of these link exchange services give out regular updates of the pages containing the links to their members. In the next update, your site will be removed from these pages since you are no longer a member. Hopefully, Google won't ban your site before that.

You really don't need to use any of the link exchange services in order to boost your link popularity. There are other more effective and less risky ways of doing that. For a complete list of such methods, see my article on this topic at http://www.1stsearchranking.net/link-popularity.htm