Are URL's or Titles what Google looks for?

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   Sinea Piesposted 12 years ago

   To get recognized on Google, does it search your URL or Title or both?  How does that work?

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      tritrainposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      The domain and title carries more weight than the long URL.
      
      The three most important factors of on-page SEO are Title, Intro (first 100 characters or so) and domain.
      
      We have no control over the domain here, so we focus on keywords in the Hub.  But especially in the titles and intro.

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         Baileybearposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         so not a problem if we change our title?

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            Garrett Mickleyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            It's encouraged to change your titles every so often to try different things and see what works.

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               Baileybearposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               is it also a good idea to change links?

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                  Ultimate Hubberposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  No

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      Ultimate Hubberposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Google primarily looks for title.
      Some other things that count in ranking your hubs are: keywords in domain or URL, keywords in anchor text of links pointing to your page.

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         tritrainposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         The domain is a primary factor in ranking.
         
         The remainder of the url used to matter, but does not appear to matter as much any more.
         
         Title does matter.  There is debate as to whether or not changing the title AFTER being indexed would be good or bad. From my experience, it does not matter if you change it.
         
         Keyword usage is very important. With respect to on-page SEO, using a reasonable amount and variety (synonyms) of keywords, without keyword stuffing. 
         
         Length of your Hub also helps to increase the "value" placed on the Hub ranking, as long as it stays on topic.
         
         External SEO alt-text backlinks of the keywords are very important, including being from similar sites/pages (contextual) as the Hub itself. This is tied for the biggest factor of external SEO influencing a Hub's ranking.
         
         There are other factors, but I don't want to write a novel.

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            Ultimate Hubberposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            The question was: "What Google looks for?"
            
            It looks for titles while ranking.
            
            The domain http://news.com won't rank for the keyword "news" unless they have this particular keyword in their title. However, if they have this keyword in their title, they can outrank many other news websites by proper backlinking and SEO. Again anyone can beat news.com for the keyword 'news' with more backlinks etc.

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               tritrainposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               That's not true.
               
               The domain keywords ranks with or without the keywords in the title.

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                  Ultimate Hubberposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  How many domains have you ranked for keywords that get some traffic?
                  I am sure none at all.

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                     Ultimate Hubberposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     While you have never ranked a domain high in Google, your accolades show that your hubs haven't even got 100,000 views in 2 years and still you speak about SEO.

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            Sinea Piesposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Tritain, you lost me at this paragraph: External SEO alt-text backlinks of the keywords are very important, including being from similar sites/pages (contextual) as the Hub itself. This is tied for the biggest factor of external SEO influencing a Hub's ranking.
            
            Can you explain it for a somewhat-newbie?

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               BRIAN SLATERposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Sinea type in "alt text backlinks" in the search bar at the top of the page. Tritrain has a hub on this topic.

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               tritrainposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Backlinks that point to your pages, which are text-based (using alt-text and other html code) and that are contextually related to your site/page, are at the top of the list for value.  Google places extra emphasis on these types of links, how often they are clicked, time spent on the page,....etc.  These would differ from a clickable image, for example.  A javascript button isn't as well liked as a simple text link.  Especially if the text link was a headline, bolded or similarly emphasized.
               
               Equally high would be to get backlinks from "authority sites", such as respected sites in the topic and/or respected general sites, such as Wikipedia.
               
               Here's more on the alt attribute:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt_attribute

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      BRIAN SLATERposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Definitely the title, the domain also matters but on hps's you can't alter that. The url should contain your main keyword(s), but this takes on less importance than the title.
      
      Next important is the first paragraph. This should contain your kw(s) but do not over cram it. Google will penalise you for it.
      
      One of the main reasons why many writers started off here is because HP's used to have such a good PR ranking and the domain name carried a lot of weight. This got many new writers onto the first pages of google without really doing a lot, apart from good kw research. This is less so now since Panda, but we live in hope.

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         tritrainposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Very true!

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   Richieb799posted 12 years ago

   I don't get why pages sometimes rank different in my different browsers? lol

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      Ultimate Hubberposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      This can be because you were signed in to Google while checking in Chrome and Signed out while checking in Firefox.

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         Richieb799posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I was gonna say..I wasn't signed into my Google. Although when Ive been signed into Google my site appeared first result one time but this time theres a variation of about 3 spots, unless the one browser hasn't updated which is what my guess is.

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            Ultimate Hubberposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Richie, here is what I found:
            
            http://forums.seochat.com/google-optimi … 14458.html

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               kafsoaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Good information. Thanks for sharing Ultimate:) It was something I wonder too. Forums are good support

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         WriteAngledposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Why does being signed into Google make a difference to search results?
         
         I find the concept rather worrying. Does this mean Google decides what I am allowed to see on the basis of some assumptions made from the content of my email?
         
         It sounds too much "Big Brother is watching you" for my liking.

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            Ultimate Hubberposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            It is not a matter of what you are allowed to see. Instead, Google alter the results a bit according to your preferences.
            And yes, the Big Brother is watching you but its not like they peep into your kitchens and bedrooms.

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            tritrainposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            If you are signed into Google, then you will see personalized results, based upon what Google knows about you.

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            tritrainposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Also, to further complicate the search results, it looks at where you are located and changes the search results accordingly (and the advertisements).
            
            Each Google data center could display very different results from one another, as well.

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               BRIAN SLATERposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               True, but not just where you live, but google also sends you replies/answers/ advertisers based on your previous searches.

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   Peter Hogganposted 12 years ago

   tritrain, what do mean by alt link text?

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