Weekly SEO news: 14 July 2009
Welcome to the latest issue of the Search Engine Facts newsletter.

This week, we're taking a look at how to outrank websites that have more backlinks than you on Google.

In the news: many new search engine statistics, information about Google's operating system, Google might have its Microsoft moment 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 outrank websites that have more backlinks than your website

If you want to get high rankings on Google, it is necessary that many other websites link to your website. This is something that most webmasters know. What many webmasters still don't know is that a website that has only a few inbound links can outrank a website that has many inbound links.

Why many backlinks alone are not enough

If a website has a high number of inbound links, it does not automatically rank highly for any keyword.

Google specifies the position of a website in its search results by on-page factors and off-page factors. On-page factors are all factors that can be found on your web pages:

  • Did you optimize the web page for the targeted keyword?
  • Can search engines find all pages of your website through the links on your website?
  • Is the HTML code of your web pages error free so that search engine spiders can easily parse your pages?
  • Does your robots.txt file allow search engine spiders to visit your web pages?
  • Are your web pages free of all spam elements (no hidden text, no sneaky redirects, no keyword stuffing, cloaking, etc.?

Off-page factors are the factors that cannot be found on your web pages:

  • How many websites link to your site?
  • Are these links from related high quality pages?
  • Do social bookmark websites link to your site?
  • Do the links to your website include the keywords for which you want to be ranked highly?

All of these factors are important if you want to get high rankings on Google, Yahoo and Bing.

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How to meet Google's requirements

If you want to get high rankings for a special keyword, you must optimize one of your web pages for that keyword. If one of your web pages has been optimized for a keyword, then Google will return it in the search results.

Unfortunately, there are many websites that target the same keywords as your website. If more than one website has been optimized for a keyword then Google will list the web pages with the best inbound links in the top 10 results.

For example, if 20 websites have been optimized for the keyword "green widgets" then the website that has the most inbound links that use the text "green widgets" as the link text will get the best position on Google.

If your website meets all on-page requirements and has the right kind of links (which does not mean that it must have the most links) then Google will list your website on the first result page.

There are many ranking elements that influence the position of your website in Google's search results. The more elements meet Google's requirements, the more likely it is that your website will be listed on Google's first result page.

To get an overview over all factors that are relevant to the position of your website in Google, analyze your website with IBP's top 10 optimizer. The optimizer will show you in detail, which elements of your web page you have to change and it will tell you how to change your web pages exactly so that your website will be listed on Google's first result page.

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2. Search engine news and articles of the week

Market share
Google passes 74% market share

"Google accounted for 74.04 percent of all U.S. searches conducted in the four weeks ending June 27, 2009. Yahoo! Search, Bing and Ask.com received 16.19 percent, 5.25 percent and 3.15 percent, respectively. The remaining 48 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool accounted for 1.36 percent of U.S. searches."



Introducing the Google Chrome OS

"Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010."

Related articles: Why Google is stealing Apple's ideas, Google operating system raises Apple antitrust issues



MicrosoftGoogle's Microsoft moment

"This is the point when the difference between their internal conception of the company starts to diverge just a bit too far from the public perception of the company, and even starts to diverge from reality. [...]

There are some notable trends going on across Google today that could cause the company to compromise its stated values and that will certainly cause people to think Google is being evil, if not corrected."



June search market share: Bing shines in a rough June for search

"Bing has raised Microsoft’s search market share by 0.3pts to 6.5%. Bing yielded 80% more 'paid clicks' last month than MSN/Live did in May. Given this fact, it’s highly likely that Bing will raise Microsoft’s overall search revenue, even though revenue per paid click may go down. [...] The overall search market fell by 1.7% and Google lost 0.9% query volume."



Bing leapfrogs Yahoo Search… again

"According to the new data, Bing took 12.9% of the US market like comScore had earlier measured. With the strong jump, Bing comes out ahead of Yahoo Search (10.15%), while Mountain View remains the undisputed king of the mountain with a US market share of 75%."



Search engine newslets

  • Sun Valley: Schmidt didn't want to build Chrome initially.
  • Google adds photos to some local search results.
  • Bing at month one.
  • Yahoo! protects user privacy — and gets fined?
  • The long term plans for Google world domination.
  • Bing now bigger than Digg, Twitter and CNN.

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3. Success stories

Philip Tory"I have several websites in the top 10 on Google."

"Thank you for this wonderful software - I have been using it regularly for years. IBP helped me to get my own business into profit, and it has helped my customers' businesses grow from borderline survival to financial success.

I now run several websites, some my own, some for customers, that all get into the Top Ten on Google for their main key phrases."
Philip Tory, www.authorgraphic.co.uk




200,000 readers will see YOUR website

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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