Who is not familiar with the term “SEO”? Almost half the time I get a new client for internet web site design the person will have heard the term but often has a poor understanding of what this involves. The following are some questions that come up with people I talk to.
Do I need to have a high PageRank to get onto the first page of the search engines?
Yes and No. Each of the search engines has different criteria when it comes to listing your website on the first page. It is possible that you could have a PageRank of 0 and get the first listing. However, this would most likely be only on a non-competitive keyword. If the keyword you are trying to get high rankings on highly competitive, usually the highest spots go to relevant sites that have the most PR.
As the PageRank formula is an algorithm, how many links from a PR4 webpage equal one link from a PR5?
The answer to this is kept secret by Google, but many SEO services experts predict that you would need between 8-10. So it would take from 64-100 PR3 links to equal 1 PR5 link based on PR alone. However, this is just a basic guideline because that PR5 link could be more or less valuable depending on: how many pages it is already linking to, it’s relevance to your website theme, and other hidden factors.
How do I get onto the first page of Google?
Getting onto the 1st page of Google (and the other search engines) for a certain keyword or keyword phrase depends on 3 factors:
? Content – what your webpage says it’s about by its contents in relation to the particular keyword.
? Link Reputation – what other sites “say” your webpage is about (based on the words in and around the links that point to your website) and the determined quality and authority of those web-pages.
? Authority – how important your website is decided to be based on the amount of links that point to your site and the quality of those links (PageRank)
The placement that your site will get depends on the ’score’ that it receives based on this criteria. Remember that this ’score’ is always in relation to a particular keyword.
If your website is about “bird watching”, your website can achieve rankings related to this keyword. You won’t be able to rank for “bird watching tours” or “bird watching hikes” unless you have that content in your website. When hiring a web site design firm that performs seo, make sure that you are aware of the exact keywords they are getting you to rank for.