February 2002 Newsletter
***** Quick Links
Great article that expands on this newsletter about Google Page Ranks
ClickZ [link no longer available
Google Toolbar - to see the Page Rank system in operation, download the Google Toolbar:
[No longer Available]
Google Explanation about Page Ranks. This explains why Google provides excellent search results:
[Link no longer works]
What does a search engine see when it visits your website. An interesting site. Use this to look at your website and see what the search engines see:
[link no longer works]
***** The 4specs Perspective
This month's newsletter concludes our look at search engine marketing with ideas on how to improve your position with the #1 search engine Google. Google dominates the search engines today with an estimated 40% of all searches.
Virtually every manufacturer I have spoken with has agreed that Google is the leading referrer to their website. (This excludes typed-in names and bookmarks, which should be the predominate source.) In my opinion Google is more important to construction product websites than the 40% usage would indicate. I think there is a greater percentage of construction professionals using Google than the average percentage would indicate.
A search engine has two parts - the database of web pages and key words and the selection criteria to prioritize or rank the pages. Google's database includes over 2 BILLION web pages.
The selection criteria determines which pages are listed first. Google ranks websites and pages by how many other websites point to the website combined with the importance of the other website. This is why Google provides such great results on searches.
Bad news - Google only counts straight links to your website, not redirected links such as the ones on 4specs and other publications. 4specs uses redirected links to be able to track the number of referrals to your website. Look at the links on 4specs - most links contain a redirection similar to goto.php?http://www.newurl.com. PHP is a language designed for web pages. It is similar to the Microsoft ASP page, but for UNIX and Apache servers. [We changed the tracking system in March 2005 and our links are now direct and count in your back link analysis]
Hint - when getting a listing in a directory with paid advertising or with a tradeshow exhibit, try and get a straight link, not a redirected link. The publisher will want to count the referrals, you want the link to be added to your Google Page Rank.
Good news - here are some ideas on how to improve your Page Rank:
1. Get listed in Look Smart, Open Directory and Yahoo. One thing for sure is listings here will greatly improve your chances for a high ranking in Google. Major directory listings count a lot towards your PageRank and your overall credibility.
2. Get listed with straight links in every directory you can.
3. Swap links with your dealers and distributors and subcontractors where appropriate. Swap links with companies where your materials contact theirs. For example, a caulk manufacturer could link with a eifs manufacturer. This will probably work better with smaller companies than Fortune 500 companies.
4. Check out the Page Rank of your competitors and get listed where they are listed. If you type the competitors URL using in the Google window "link:" you can find all the direct links:
link:www.monoglass.com
5. Use Google to find all the places that refer to your competitors' website. Try using a phrase search with quotation marks such as "Pabco Roofing Products" which will limit the results to web pages with the exact phrase used.
Let me know if there any questions. I think most manufacturers can get a Page Rank of 4 or 5 with a bit of effort and link swapping. I noticed that one advertiser has a Page Rank of 6 and I know they have put a lot of work into link swapping. You may also have to redesign the first few pages of your website to be more search engine friendly. See some of the past newsletters for ideas.
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Colin Gilboy
Publisher - 4specs
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