Question for SEO experts...

1. 69

   GAbaptistposted 14 years ago

   I am trying to learn and understand as much as I can about SEO and page rankings and so forth... I have been researching a niche idea and did some related Google searches which brought up a question:
   
   Why would a particular search term bring up non-ranked pages ahead of pages that have a 3 to 5 or higher ranking?
   
   I thought the whole idea of page ranking was to move a site up when searches are conducted relative to the search terms.
   
   Can anyone help me understand how this works?
   
   Thanks!

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   1. 70

      ThomasEposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      1. Page ranks in the toolbar are not the same as what the google bot are using. They are a minimum of nine months behind the times, and real PR scores are calculated in real time.
      
      2. Page rank is only one of hundreds of factors that affect search position.

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      1. 69

         GAbaptistposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         What are a few of the other major factors?

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   2. 64

      darksideposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      This will get you started:
      Search Engine Results Page and PageRank

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2. 69

   Pearldiverposted 14 years ago

   I've always found that the answers lie in how well the word "Thanks" gets used... But then I am always polite in my sarcasm

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3. 69

   GAbaptistposted 14 years ago

   Thanks for the links Darkside...
   
   What I'm getting from those pages is that your keywords are really what matter in SERP. The page rank comes primarily from backlinks at other higher ranking sites and may or may not really coincide with a relative search result. From the research I was doing regarding the niche site, it would appear that keywords trump page rank, because none of the first three pages had a ranked site, but page 4 had a couple that were ranked 4....
   
   Pearldiver - "Thanks" for your contribution to the discussion.

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   1. 64

      darksideposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I had a site some 5 years ago now that had a PageRank that hit a peak of 8. Traffic was fantastic too, on the first page of results (hovering around number 3) for a very popular keyword.
      
      For a variety of reasons the site plummeted in the SERPs and it went from a regular 5000 unique visitors a day (with regular spikes of 20,000 to 40,000+ unique visitors in a day) to less than 1000. That SE traffic was gold too, they were quality visitors who were giving me fantastic click revenue.
      
      By comparison, the PageRank didn't put money in the bank.
      
      So yes, I agree that Search Engine Placement resulting in quality traffic, does trump PageRank.

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   2. 69

      Pearldiverposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      No worries mate.... I left you a note on this issue that you can add to the rest of the advice you get. Only coz you're a bassist mind you!

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4. 59

   visitmaniacposted 14 years ago

   You will see Google puts much more weight on your on site keyword factors. But there is a fine line between spamming your keyword in your site compared to normal use of it. What you need to get into is putting your main keyword in your title or phrase that you are targeting. From here you need LSI keywords and you can get a list of them right from the big brother himself via the Google Keyword tool. Just type in your phrased keyword and you will see a list of LSI keywords right under it.

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