We are all looking to find favor with the Google Gods, right?  The article below will teach you how find your Google Index and will outline the metrics that are truly important in evaluating your success on the web. 

What?
Whoa, let’s back up just a step - what is Google’s index anyway?  Google’s index is all of the unique pages on all of the websites and blogs out there that Google knows about and has explored (with Googlebot or its "web spiders").  Would you believe that there are 1 trillion unique URLs out there?  And, that’s only the URLs that Google has found so far. 

The Right Questions
So why do we care about Google’s index?  Good question.  Finding out the number of pages that Google knows about and has spidered on your own sites will you how many pages Google has indexed for you.  Unfortunately that is all it tells you.  While this is good to know - the number of pages you have indexed is no magic number by any means.  Does having more pages indexed equate to Google recommending those sites to searchers more often?  While perhaps this seems logical the answer in my opinion is likely not.  A case could certainly be made for the opposite viewpoint, but to my knowledge there is no evidential proof for this position.  It is important to note that not being found in the index at all is not good.  This means Google does not know your site exists and therefore cannot recommend you to searchers.  If you have a concern about this, please visit Google’s Help Center on the subject.   

Let’s Be Logical
Think about the following scenario… Website A contains only 10 pages in total.  Website B on the other hand contains 1,000 pages in total.  It follows that website B will have many more pages in Google’s index simply because more pages exist right?  Right.  Now let’s talk about what those two websites contain.  Website A contains 10 comprehensive pages that are updated regularly about protected sea turtles in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico.  Website B contains one page about the same subject that has not changed in over a year and 999 pages about real estate, travel, vacationing, recreating, rentals, airports, govt policy and everything else you might want to know about Mexico.  Website A is a well respected educational resource and is linked to often, website B is not.  Despite website Bs sheer volume of additional pages which site do you think Google will recommend for those searching for information about endangered sea turtles in the Sea of Cortez?  The site with lots of pages and little relevant information or the site with few pages and lots of valuable and current information?

Quality Not Quantity
Finding Google’s favor has a lot less to do with how many pages are in your index (and thus existing in your website or blog) and more to do with how good those pages actually are.  Are they fresh, on topic, and chocked full of value?  Excellent - then you have a good chance of getting them recommended.  While having a large Google index might feel like something to brag about - take a step back and ask yourself if those pages are bringing you a return of value.  This is a game of quality, not necessarily quantity.  Just because you have lots of pages indexed for a particular site does not automatically mean the site is any more valuable to you than your other sites with fewer pages in the index.  I will say however that if you have lots of good quality content, more seems to be more in the game of search.  Quality first though - always! 

Tread Carefully
Be wary of sales tactics that use a scenario where a large index = smashing success.  Many systems can auto generate lots and lots of pages that offer little human value and therefore won’t add to helping you get recommended for the keywords and keyphrases that are important to your business.  The real metrics you should be concerned with are much more tangible: how many visitors does your site get, how many terms are the search engines recommending you for, what pages within your site are getting you noticed, how many leads is your site generating, how sticky is the site (how long do visitors stay), etc.  These are the metrics that will help you measure the business success of your site.  Ask yourself where the real value is - in tangible results, or in subjective statistics?

Finding Your Index
In the event any of you would like to know what your index looks like for your website or blog (it is nice to know - you may find pages on your sites that are old and need to be deleted or cleaned up, you may find that your meta data needs some work or you may find that you don’t exist - yikes!), you can find out by doing the following:

• Go to Google
• In the search field enter site:url.com where the url is your blog or website

There are a few specifics you should know about, for instance (also - no spaces, important!):

• site:abc.com will include every page on abc.com including anything in any of your subdomains (such as blog.abc.com)
• site:www.abc.com will include only those pages on your www
• site:blog.abc.com will include only those pages on this subdomain

Here is a bit more information about advanced operators from Google for those of you wishing to learn more.

Most importantly - it’s not an exact science by any means!  Google does the best it can to give you the facts and they don’t always add up exactly.  That’s right, nobody is truly perfect 

Did you know that when you search Google [standard] you are actually searching all forms of content?

Referred to nowadays as ‘Universal Search’ Google search results may include the website or blog text links you are accustomed too and then also [assuming there are any to index], picture images, video and audio files. "The goal", says Google’s Bailey, "is to present balanced results based on the search term and move away from the heavy emphasis on only textual Web links that existed prior to the switch to universal search in May 2007."

As a search marketer/ advertiser, the question you should be asking yourself here is, "have I helped Google to understand my business blog pictures?" In fact, Google is so interested in indexing more pictures they have created Image Labeler. The purpose, in lieu of depending on average human web publishing, is to recruit anyone’s help in the development of better technology for understanding pictures.

Note: The Google spider or crawler cannot read the text contained on/ in an image as shown above; however, it can read any alt tags that have been added, only visible to the human eye when a cursor is rolled over the picture. It also reads and follows an embedded link to any other site or page. Clearly, most alternative content [i.e. a picture] is published to the web without any description.

So if Google is looking to index all pictures, if you can index [alternative] content where most haven’t and if some of your purpose online is search findability… why not start immediately? In fact, consider going back into your blog and adding text descriptions or ‘alt tags’ to all its’ pictures.

Typically referred to as ‘alt tags’ or ‘alternative text tags’, your pictures can be labeled easily for search engine indexing and, as a result, consumer findability. Again, Google can’t see text on/ in an image; however, depending on the content editor you have, there should be an icon for uploading pictures. When clicked you should see a pop up window appear with tabs for 1) picture file upload, 2) add ‘alt tag’ data entry [shown above], and 3) add link [also shown above] areas. Sometimes the ‘alt tag’ data entry will be referred to as ‘alternative text’, ‘image info’ or ‘tool tips’, but I’m certain you get the picture.

In summary, knowing that Google actually wants to understand, to index and to include your picture images in consumer search result pages should do nothing less than heighten your sense of opportunity! Why? Because, if not already, all of your picture images are an immediate chance to get a leg up on the competition. Use alt tags and you may generate more consumer findability in the search engines!*

• Introduction to Google Ranking - The Official Google Blog
• Technologies behind Google ranking - The Official Google Blog
• The Evil Side of Google? Exploring Google’s User Data Collection - SEOmoz Blog
• Writing for Buyers vs Writing for Cynics - SEOBOOK Blog
• When Your Site Doesn’t Rank No Matter What - SEO Diva Blog

And then some other useful knowledge from our sister blog [apologize, but some may find these useful  ]:

• Real Estate Blogging Success Story: Two months, 25 posts, 1st page in Google and new business for Phoenix AZ Realtor®
• Top Real Estate Education from the Stars!: STAR POWER® Annual Conference Orlando 2008
• Real Estate Blog URLs - Should I Use a Subdomain?
• Real Estate Blog URLs as they relate to SEO

Spiders, Web Pages and Crawling

For starters, it may help to define what a crawl and what spiders are. To find and organize information on the web in what has become hundreds of millions of pages, a search engine deploys software typically referred to as a spider [or a crawler or a bot.] By using spiders to crawl web pages on the world wide web [of pages] search engines are able to build lists of keywords and key phrases from what they identify and consume. Note: we didn’t mention websites or business blogs so much as we did *web pages.* Google applies rank consideration to every single web page and not just to a site domain or home page. It’s important to understand this because *Google wants to index everything and that means you want to place emphasis on your content as a whole*, making all your important keywords and key phrases obvious and available!

Rebuilding the Index

According to Google, its’ spiders regularly crawl the world wide web in order to rebuild their index of web pages, topics, keywords and key phrases. Note: Google says it wants to *rebuild* its index, meaning it wants your most timely knowledge. It’s important because many people think they can set up a static website and be done with it; however, in this day and age search engines demand much much more. They are constantly rebuilding their indexes meaning *you want to be sharing your most current knowledge [placing on emphasis on targeted topics, keywords & key phrases] all the time.* In a competitive world for traffic and for leads, search engine rank/ relevance is NO static exercise. So long as you have well built technology and you’re updating your web presence with ‘what’s new’ you’ve got as good a chance as anyone to turn up in consumer searches.

Crawls, Deeper and More Often

The search indexes are in constant motion… in fact, they are kinetic Google crawls the Web at varying depths and on several different schedules. You may have heard of the deep crawl and/ or a fresh crawl. If not, they’re meant to distinguish comprehensive crawls [i.e. deep crawls], which are believed to occur every month, versus the common intermediate or random crawl [i.e. fresh crawls] which occur more often but index less content. Some folks refer to the constant motion of the indexes as ‘the Google Dance’, but the fact is new information is always being crawled, consumed and indexed by thousands of servers. Sites will raise their chances for being crawled deeper and more often [more topic, keyword and key phrase indexing] by changing their content frequently. Google’s spider is capable of comparing previous crawls to the current one at light speed. If it identifies that new content is added frequently, it will revisit your site or blog more often. Think of it as your web presence is being judged on each visit. *It would be highly inefficient for Google to crawl you often if you’re not producing new information.* Remember, there is only so much crawl bandwidth and they’re trying to succeed by satisfying searchers. In order to satisfy searchers, they must have the most timely and accurate information possible. Note: due to the Google dance and constant reevaluation there’s no guarantee your keyword and/ or key phrase will be in the same position tomorrow as it is today.

Cooperate with Google: Business Blog!

In all, your site, your blog and/or every one of your web pages will be reevaluated over and over. Like anything else in life worth having, your topic, keyword and key phrase ranking must be earned. You need to be consistent and you need to be on- topic with your knowledge. And while you need well built technology, don’t focus on tech’ advantages so much as content because that’s what Google wants and it’s highly unlikely anyone is outsmarting Google. If you are a Vail/ Beaver Creek CO vacation and travel firm, you need to be writing less about global warming & politics and more about Vail/ Beaver Creek CO vacation and travel.

And folks, Business Blog Solutions are far and away the most cost efficient and simple way to meet this challenge of 1) sharing knowledge and 2) optimizing your topical presence for a web full of consumers

Our ‘direct to the point’ Business Blogging series on how, what and why folks are leveraging Business Blog Solutions as core advertising, direct communication and public relations tools:

Kinetic: "John, "Why do you [Real Estate] Business Blog?"

Poltrock: "The reason I blog is both business oriented and a bit selfish. I’ve always loved writing even in school, and blogging gives me a medium to do it in. That’s the selfish reason. The business oriented reason is to get more leads, and thus clients. It’s for SEO purposes and also to provide prospects and clients a wealth of knowledge they can’t find any where else. Everyone Googles to find information - I do it all the time. If I can return the favor in my business, I feel it will pay off for myself and for consumers."

Kinetic: "What do you focus on mostly when you Business Blog?"

Poltrock: “ My largest focus is information - relaying information on the real estate industry and processes. I certainly do use it to put listings and developments out there, but I push the stats of the markets, "how-to’s" for clients, and educate them on how "things are done in the mountains" because we are  so different from what most people are used to.”

Kinetic: “ What have you achieved as a result of the effort?”

Poltrock: “ Folks have affirmed their awareness of our efforts to share information; we’re generating direct subscribers; we have developed good Google findability and we have a really good lead or two. We’re committed because we know how important this real estate blogging effort is for our business.”

Kinetic: “ Has it been a good business decision to pay for a blog solution & service versus going the free route?”

Poltrock: “ There’s no doubt about it. Versus free, it has been a very good decision! Service and education are so important to our learning curve. Also, prospects tend to appreciate the resources I am providing via the blog and they acknowledge it! All the information we post is unique to my market… and most agents just aren’t putting it out there.”

Thanks very much John

Murphy NC Real Estate Blog

Murphy NC Real Estate Website

Related Posts:

St Petersburg FL Realtor Sharon Simms on why she Business Blogs

The Marketing Opportunity

Why in the world wouldn’t we think of our Business Blog as trade related media? In case you haven’t noticed, the landscape for reaching our marketplace[s] has changed. Here at Kinetic we see it as this giant opportunity to make marketing, advertising & public relations not only simple but cost- effective for our business. Sure, because of the Internet, Search and ’Really Simple Syndication’ [RSS] consumers have the luxury of unlimited information. And sure, the empowerment to have whatever they want, however much they want and exactly at the time they want it can seem intimidating; however and versus what we’ve been accustomed too, why not meet this challenge head on? Why not become the source of ’trade specific information’ that is being searched, subscribed, consumed… and that is needed?

"The blog… it’s the absolute cheapest and most effective way to get top search engine optimization fast [see my blog.bryanbomba.com on 1st page in Google for hinsdale il real estate.]" Bryan Bomba

Versus Traditional Marketing

Very unlike traditional media, where time and space for an advertising message is limited, Business Blogs do away with limits to how much we can share. Search & subscribe means there are no longer limits to the distribution of our information. The more content we blog the more topics we index with the search engines and the more likely we’ll attract direct subscription. The message is always there, seven days a week and 24 hours a day. To a degree, advertising in the traditional sense is fading as noise where a consumers’ ability to research is only limited by how much we [the marketer] put out there. Sure, we should still hunt for our next client, but making ourselves available to them when they’re searching for what we have just makes sense. And don”t just focus on the obvious either because having more specific search phrases indexed [i.e. Santa Barbara CA Oceanfront Home For Sale] demonstrates an interest in serving specific objectives. More specific indexing positions oneself to capture more qualified buyers

Search doesn’t intrude, so it doesn’t look or feel like advertising. The development of trust just isn’t possible with [soundbite] advertisements. As business bloggers we can demonstrate genuine knowledge and enthusiasm for our trade. Consumers don’t want to be told what to do, how to think and [now] they demand respect for their point of view. Demonstrate sincerity and the empowered consumer will find you! 

"I’m convinced our commitment to sharing lots of good local information via the blog allows for people to find us and develop a comfort level and more importantly to see if we would mesh with their personality type. The visibility in search engines is only part of the equation. People want flesh and blood." Santa Clarita Real Estate Connor MacIVOR Santa Clarita CA Real Estate Blog

"I’ve found that blogging is an excellent way to develop relationships with potential clients, real estate agents, developers, journalists, and people in the community. It’s a way to demonstrate my knowledge and expertise and to develop trust." Sharon Simms St Petersburg FL Real Estate Blog
 
Modern Day Marketing Success

But how do we meet this challenge? Is it difficult or expensive? NO not at all because Business Blogging in is not only simple but the development of an independent brand shouldn’t cost much either. Rather than an environment limiting us [the advertiser] to interruptions while people consume good media, we can become an available and timely source of it: no longer an interruption, but a valuable source for product & service consumer research. We can do it by sharing all the useful and timely information we have, demonstrating our sincere sense of service. Business Blog what you see, hear, know and have to offer… simple! After all, Google readily says it intends to "organize and make the worlds’ information universally accessible and useful." If they can successfully connect ALL searching consumers with the fresh, relevant and unbiased answers they want than why wouldn’t we give Google all the answers we have?

"More than 95% of our new business comes from the Internet, and it’s coming from blogs rather than websites. The bottom line of value is not comments or hits - it’s closed business that came because you blogged. Blogging has also raised my visibility and credibility in the community." Sharon Simms St Petersburg FL Real Estate Blog

"Since we got started blogging we actually have 15 new clients, 10 relocations from other states. I have a few traditional websites, but we don’t use a lead vendor and we discontinued Yahoo & Google Pay-Per Click a couple months ago. In each case, they volunteered that they had found us on the web and that they read our Blog." Connor MacIVOR Santa Clarita CA Real Estate Blog 
 
Blogs have reduced the cost for content creation and distribution to a negligible low. Very much like our consumer we’re empowered, but with the opportunity to be prepared for them… every day. The barriers between our daily knowledge and those who want it have been broken… So as marketers, we should not only see ourselves as but we should be trade media!

Business Blogs Defined

So by now you know that blogs are websites; however, they differ [mostly] because they allow the layperson [or non expert] to publish content to the web *at will.* This is a really big deal for your business because search engines are attracted [more] to active sites then static AND they are set up to identify, consume, organize [or index] and then deliver specific information to wherever it is needed [or searched.] Equally the big deal, RSS allows anyone to subscribe to your blog directly… and most all blogs offer RSS. As a business, you can be the source of ’specific information’ that is being searched, subscribed too and that is needed! YOU are and [now] have the potential to be a source of advertorial trade media

WordPress Business Blog Options

This post takes a general look at WordPress blog software and those that support it. To begin it’s best to know your options, which include:

1) Create a free blog, which would be hosted as a sub domain of WordPress [i.e. http:janedoe.wordpress.com].

2) Download WordPress onto a domain you own using [paid for] host support.

3) Hire an independent programmer/ designer [at an hourly rate] to set WordPress up for you.

4) Hire a comprehensive Business Blogging service offering WordPress for a fixed price.

What follows will offer some context for how WordPress and its’ supporting Open Source Community work together.

Officially there are two versions of WordPress software [WP and WPMU], but there are also a variety of open source variants and forks out there. WordPress is managed by a core development team and it is supported by an international ‘open source community’ of independent programmers & designers. The core development team manages software updates, while the ‘open source community’ mostly builds [design] template themes and plugin features

Open Source Software Defined

Open Source software could be lightly summarized as using the power of many to develop, evolve and improve software. More specifically, software source code is made available by someone [possibly, via a copyright license] permitting collaborative use, change, improvement and modified redistribution. Many believe it’s the future of software development because of how [assuming the programming environment is active] it can enable rapid fixes, improvements and fine tuning. Now, by no means should you throw your proprietary software in the trash. There are potential pitfalls here! For instance, the more people contributing to software code, the sloppier it can become. Like anything, without good management things go wrong and you should know that no one pays the ‘open source community’ to participate. Hang tight and we’ll look at why they participate soon, but versus proprietary software studies have shown that open-source software has a higher, quicker flaw discovery turn around. And let’s face it, even Microsoft and Google have had issues

So, from the core development team you have WordPress software code. You also have periodic updates for that software code. From the ‘open source community’ you have [design] template themes, feature plugins and also the random hack to meet a specific need or goal. The core team allows certain of the ‘open source community’ to see [update- wise] what is coming down the pike. The community is encouraged to offer input and to update their various [design] template themes and plugin features; however, software updates are ultimately in the hands of the core WordPress development team. And by the way, WordPress software is the core team’s day job. They are - very important!! - paid; whereas, the ‘open source community’ may not be. Open Source are talented independent programmers & designers who build [design] template themes and plugin features, partly for the love of WordPress and partly because [if widely accepted] their work may serve as recognition for unique programming and/ or design skill. Other words, they do it to get work and so they can get paid

Business Blogging Requirements

As a business, it’s important to understand this all: there is no formal [open source] template or feature plugin evaluation process. While it is NOT the rule and most certainly the exception, there can be sloppy, insecure or obsolete code coming out of the ‘open source community.’ To demonstrate, consider this recent business scenario: "I’m not familiar with what the protocol is for these matters but…many WP users have installed themes by XYZ. She has stopped updating her themes and her former website is down. I have tried contacting her w/o success. I was wondering whether protocol permits a theme developer adopting her themes and updating them (making them widget-ready for example) for the thousands of WP users who have wonderful themes like A, B & C. Many of us hope these themes won’t be abandoned." The fact is, some programmers/ designers are just learning about WordPress or worse they may not keep up with core software updates. With core code, frequent updates, themes, plugins and the random hack there is a lot to keep up with. While the many themes & plugins seem novel and fun, depending on how you actually manage it all will determine how successful you can be. Let’s face it, it can be a miserably frustrating, if not damaging, experience when something breaks, doesn’t jibe or comes down… and it happens! Business people are often too busy to keep up with the development of software, not to mention an entire supporting community

In the long run it can pay to have experienced WordPress Business Blogging services and/ or help. Based upon our experience with various Blog solutions, we’re convinced [if you have the right people managing it] WordPress is simply the most user and search engine friendly software out there. And by the way, serious companies like CNN and Dow Jones deploy WordPress… and they get good help

I thought this post might be useful to folks who enjoy adding pictures to their business blogs, but that might also appreciate basic information on picture usage, copyright, public domain and the creative commons.

I don’t know about you, but I’d like to add more pictures to my business blog. We spend a lot of time here talking about how to satisfy the search engines, but we must also acknowledge the balance you need in order to satisfy humans. I mean, I’m human… and I like pictures. Don’t you?

Copyright

For starters, we can’t just go grabbing any old picture from the web. I certainly don’t want anyone using my pictures any way they choose. Do you? Copyright law exists to prevent picture copying, including the possibility of civil suits with punitive damages. It exists to protect us all and [ultimately, despite the obvious tempation] that’s a good thing. A little history on the subject: apparently until 1976, creative works such as pictures were not protected by copyright law unless they had a published copyright. If it did not, it was ‘in the public domain.’ Changes to the law occurred in 1976 and again in ‘88, effectively saying that all creative works were automatically copyrighted. The belief being that if there was no ‘copyright by default’ it might undermine the creators’ or an artists’ interest in sharing their work, thereby limiting the public’s’ access to art. In effect, protect art and protect culture.

Copyright law is pretty simple, actually. Any work or picture you or someone else creates is automatically copyrighted. No one really needs to do anything at all to receive protection under copyright law. While one might go to such ends as the Registrar of Copyrights in DC, there isn’t much preventing an owner from exercising rights when someone has blatantly copied their picture.

New Jersey Beach Picture by Jason Burmeister

Now, not to worry because there are good exceptions and opportunities for picture usage on the web including [obviously] those pictures you can take yourself, those in the public domain and then those for use in the Creative Commons.

Public Domain

Public Domain describes any work that is not protected by copyright. For instance, photos are copyrighted unless they’ve given up protection. Explicit permission is one example. Another is if you have a photo on the web, you notice other folks have been using it a bunch and you don’t really do anything to stop it… it’s then in the public domain. Regardless, if the picture is not ours or we don’t have permission the rule of thumb should probably be "don’t use it!" FAIR WARNING: sites that say they have free or public domain pictures may not be reputable… be careful to use good judgement. If the site doesn’t reveal an owner or a means to communicate with one it’s likely not reputable.

Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that has delivered a widely accepted means to share pictures. By using a Creative Commons license, which attaches itself to the work, a picture’s owner is allowing others’ usage. This exists outside standard copyright law, because the Creative Commons’ has no legal ground; however, it has been widely accepted… and that’s meaningful. Many people using Flickr.com offer usage via the Commons, which essentially defines various permission standards. I added the picture of a NJ Beach above partly because it’s summer time and where I’d love to be right now but mostly to demonstrate a Commons Attribution License, which allows for the picture to be in the public domain *if the owner receives credit.* In this example the owner has his due via a picture- based link and then another just beneath.

Anyway, I hope this all helps and then I’ve included some resources for when you need a quick fix… or a picture:

Public Domain

• http://karenswhimsy.com/public-domain-images/
• http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/
• http://www.pdphoto.org/
• or you can just search public domain pictures to find a number of resources

Creative Commons

• http://creativecommons.org/
• http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

Other Free, possibly with restrictions

• http://weblogs.about.com/od/startingablog/tp/FreePhotoSites.htm
• http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

US Copyright

• http://www.copyright.gov/

• Warning: Narcissistic Marketing Can Be Dangerous to Your Business Health - CopyBlogger
• Introduction to Google Search Quality -  The Official Google Blog
• Fresher related search suggestions - The Official Google Blog
• Google Users Spend the Most - SEO Diva Blog
• Smart Speaking, Deep Writing About Shallow Reading, & Great SEO Content - SEO Book Blog
• The Quizzical Duality of Paid Links - SEOmoz Blog

And then some useful knowledge from sister blogs [apologize, but we’re biased ]:

• 13 fresh content ideas for your Real Estate Blog! - Real Estate Blog Sites
• WordPress: what you should know about it and your choices for using it - Chris’s [Active Rain] Blog
• Real Estate Ghost Blog- writing Services - Real Estate Blog Sites
• 17 Useful Questions to Consider with a Free Business Blog - Real Estate Blog Sites
• Real Estate Blogging Best Practices around Duplicate Content - Real Estate Blog Sites

What exactly is Google Page Rank?

For those who don’t know, with the Google Tool Bar you can see a ’Page Rank’ between 1 and 10 for your [or any other you’re visiting] website or blog .

According to Google’s definition of Page Rank, "it relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at considerably more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; for example, it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important." Using these and other factors, Google provides its views on pages’ relative importance."

From this we may not only conclude they’re evaluating our link structure on a much more sophisticated level than pure volume, but that they’re interested less in our websites [or blogs] than they are our pages [and posts.]

How much do we really know about our Page Rank?

VP of Search Quality Udi Manber says, “…surprisingly little is known about ranking at Google. This is entirely our fault, and it is by design. We are, to be honest, quite secretive about what we do. There are two reasons for it: competition and abuse…"

Sure there are widely held beliefs, but clearly *no one* can tell you exactly how to compete for rank in Google. What’s more, Google’s engineers aren’t going to allow for link abuse or the gaming of their algorithm. Not when links can be paid for, gathered solely for the purpose of gaming or just plain irrelevant. We can certainly assume they will continue to advance the algorithm, which means that any optimization effort aims at a moving target. Says Google, "We’re constantly experimenting with our algorithm, tuning and tweaking on a weekly basis to come up with more relevant and useful results for our users."

And, by the way, if that Page Rank number is so important, why do I rank higher for so many topics and key phrases than other sites with a higher Page Rank number?

Are there other means used to rank our sites, blogs, pages [and posts]?

How much does that number between 1 and 10 truly count toward our positioning in the Search Engine Results Pages? According to a New York Times piece titled ‘Google Keeps Tweaking Its Search Engine’, "Mr. Singhal [current master of Google’s ranking algorithm] has developed a far more elaborate system for ranking pages, which involves more than 200 types of information, or what Google calls “signals.” Page Rank is but one signal. Some signals are on Web pages — like words, links, images and so on. Some are drawn from the history of how pages have changed over time. Some signals are data patterns uncovered in the trillions of searches that Google has handled over the years.”

So it counts, but how each signal is weighted versus 200+ others in the algorithm leaves one to wonder whether or not focusing on one is a smart idea. Could there ever even be a sustainable search engine optimization strategy? Is it likely someone somewhere could ever game a small army of PHDs determined to deliver the most relevant [links to] answers possible?

In all, it appears the Page Rank signal may be less and less an important indicator of our status.

If very little is known, what can we do to compete?

Consider the search engine business. In order to be successful, search engines require a critical mass of loyal searching so that they can generate [pay per] clicks. According to the New York Times, "It [Google] believes that its ability to decrease the number of times it leaves searchers disappointed is  crucial to fending off ever fiercer attacks from the likes of Yahoo and Microsoft and preserving the tidy advertising gold mine that search represents." Logically, the idea is to attract more, and to keep those who have already been, searching. Says Udi Manber, "The goal is always the same: improve the user experience. This is not the main goal, it is the only goal.”

So rather than obsessing about links and ’Page Rank’, a comitment to the consistent Business Blogging of our useful and subject focused knowledge may be the best long term strategy. With more and more good timely content, we’ll attract more and more visitors, page views, links and [RSS] subscriptions. And with more human interest [or the data those ’signals’ reveal to Google resulting from that interest] we’ll become more relevant for our pages, our posts and the content we blog