Weekly SEO news: 12 May 2009
Welcome to the latest issue of the Search Engine Facts newsletter.

This week, we're taking a look at things you can do to show Google that they can trust your website. Trust is important if you want to get high rankings on Google.

In the news: Google's anti-spam engineer Matt Cutts uses his own website to test Google's way to handle 302 redirects, does a link still count after it has been removed from a website and more.

Table of contents:

We hope that you enjoy this newsletter and that it helps you to get more out of your website. Please pass this newsletter on to your friends.

Best regards,
Andre Voget, Johannes Selbach, Axandra CEO

1. How to create trust for high Google rankings

Trust is a major factor in Google's ranking algorithm. Some websites can get high rankings on Google for nearly any content they publish while other websites cannot get high rankings at all although they have optimized web page content.

A high trust level is crucial if you want to get high Google rankings

The reason why some websites do better than others is trust. Some websites have managed to reach a very high trust level with Google. That helps them to get higher rankings on search engines than you do.

Google doesn't want to list spam sites in the search results. For that reason, it is important to show Google that your website is for real, that you're not a spammer and that you plan to stay in business for a long time.

trusted

Here are some things you can do to show Google's algorithm that it can trust your website.

1. Things you should consider about your domain name

The age of a domain is important to Google. When you start a new online business, consider buying an old domain name if a suitable name is available.

If you start with a new domain, buy it with a renewal period of two years and more. You show Google that your domain is not a throwaway domain by doing so.

Check your WHOIS records and make sure that the contact information is correct. Do not use exotic top level domains. If you are in the USA, use .com, .net or .org. If you're in another country, use the official top level domain of your country.

Don't overuse hyphens in your URL. For example, www.keyword-keyword1-keyword2-keyword3-keyword4-keyword5.com might look spammy.

2. Things you should consider about your website content

Make your contact information easy to find on your website. List a full address and not only your email address on your website. The more information about your company can be found on your website, the more likely it is that it will be considered a real business.

Your website should have a privacy policy and terms and conditions (if applicable). Both should be linked from your sitemap.

Don't use doorway pages. They annoy search engine spiders and website visitors. Doorway pages are a clear indicator of a low quality website.

If possible, keep the HTML code of your web pages below 100 KB so that search engine spiders can crawl it easily. Regularly update your web pages to show Google that your website is alive.

3. Things you should consider about your links

Do not participate in automated linking schemes. If your website gets 2000 inbound links on a single day then Google might think that you try to game the algorithm with a link system.

The links to your website should contain your keywords but they should not all contain exactly the same link text. If all links to your website used exactly the same link text then this would be a red flag for Google.

Do not use paid links. Google does not like paid links and they might penalize your website if use them.

If Google trusts your website then it will be much easier to get high rankings. Of course, your website still needs optimized web page content and good inbound links. IBP can help you to get both.

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2. Search engine news and articles of the week

Derby
Google's Matt Cutts uses his blog to test 302 redirects

"Why do I suspect some ultra-secret Google we get 302s right test is going on? [...]

My site makes the perfect guinea pig. I laughed when Greg Boser got everyone to link to mattcutts.com instead of http://www.mattcutts.com. He was trying to mess me up and cause duplicate content hijinks, but little did he know that I was the guinea pig for the www/non-www setting in the webmaster console."



Discussion: How long does the juice flow after a link is removed?

"A friend of mine had this exact situation. His site got a 'cool site' type of link from someone's PR9 home page that lasted for a few weeks. Once the link was gone there was no residual effect that we could discern, although the PR6 link from the archives was a nice addition to the mix.

Alas, that company was bought out, and their site went off the air, archives and all. Lesson learned: high PR links are nice while they last but a backlink profile with lots and lots of small links will be more stable."

Editor's note: You can use this tool to create a stable link profile.



Financial TimesFinancial Times: Gagging on Google

"Google is to privacy and respect for intellectual property rights what the Taliban are to women’s rights and civil liberties: a daunting threat that must be fought relentlessly by all those who value privacy and the right to exercise, within the limits of the law, control over the uses made by others of their intellectual property. [...]

Google promotes copyright theft and voyeurism and lays the foundations for corporate or even official Big Brotherism."



Google improves Google News

"We launched a new format for story pages on Google News. These are the pages you see when you click the 'all news articles' link of each cluster of articles which cover the same news event - or 'story,' as we say on the Google News team. [...]

Our new story page enables us to highlight more sources and provide our users with more ways to experience the news."



Hackers temporarily seize control of Google Morocco domain name

"Google.co.ma, the domain name for Google Morocco’s search portal, was taken hostage by hackers earlier today reportedly for several hours before the problem got fixed (it’s working fine again now).

We got a bunch of tips about it, and the situation lasted long enough for lots of people to take screenshots of the website the domain name briefly pointed to due to the hack."



Search engine newslets

  • New search tool aims at answering tough queries, but not at taking on Google.
  • MSN City Guides gets a facelift with Live Search.
  • Watch out Google, Obama's antitrust chief is looking to make an example.
  • Yahoo data center planned for New York.
  • Google talking to New York Times, Washington Post about… something.
  • Google plans space exploration gadget to help mobile phone users study night skies.

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3. Success stories

"I have achieved 8 first page rankings."

"I have many websites on the Internet and use IBP many times although I get lost in obtaining links and linking but that is another story.

Many of my websites are in the number 1 Google spot for the keywords I use by optimizing them with my IBP tool. [...]

What a fantastic tool. It was this IBP tool that I give high credits for leading me in the correct search engine optimizing procedures to make this possible. I am beating the search engine placement odds by leaps and bounds.

Thank you IBP for showing me how to accomplish this impossible task with the odds so great against me. Happy customer of IBP."
John Torpy, GlobalActive Marketing





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Let us know how IBP has helped you to improve your website and we might publish your success story with a link to your website in this newsletter. The more detailed your story is, the better.

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4. Previous articles

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