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Different engines, different rankings
Every search engine uses its own unique formula, called an algorithm, to index and score web sites. Search engines' algorithms weigh various factors, such as a page's design and links, to rank pages in their search results. By constantly refining and improving their algorithms, search engines hope to give their visitors the most relevant results.
Many search engines form partnerships and buy technologies to improve their algorithms. They combine many factors and place different weight on each one.
Webmasters who want their sites to achieve a Top 20 position spend a lot of time studying different algorithms. Even when several search engines rely on similar factors in composing their rankings, they may still rank the same site differently. For example, imagine two search engines both use meta tags and keyword frequency as their only ranking factors. If the first one weights meta tags as 70% of a site's value and keyword frequency as 30%, and the second one does the opposite, their results will be completely different.
Understanding ranking factors
Before you can understand how each search engine scores web sites, you need to understand the various factors they consider. These factors can be divided into two categories: page-related and outside.
Page-related factors are concerned with keywords and their placement in the HTML. These factors include:
Format, placement and content of the title tag
Keyword frequency, weight, prominence and proximity
Use of the meta description tag
Use of ALT tags
Use of comment tags
Use of keywords in URL names
Alphabetical placement
Outside factors are not related to the content of your HTML. They include:
Link popularity
Click popularity
Themes
Overall site design
Achieve results
You can improve most of the above factors to achieve higher rankings. Pay attention to what your competition is doing. Analyze their high-scoring pages and use their techniques.
by Yelena Shapiro with Etelka Lehoczky
http://www.searchengines.com/rankingfactors.html
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