“Hey Jenny, I created a web page about 2 years ago but Google doesn’t list me as #1…or even on page #1! What’s wrong with your server configuration?”

Ahh…serious? My server configuration?

I’m not a guru in web analytics but I can tell you a few things that might help you get a higher rank.

Write. Update. Contribute. Link. Reciprocate. Did I mention write?

I actually found a handout written by Niki Stanley from the University of Missouri that highlights some of the simple things site owners can do to make their site more relevant. Here’s the link to the 11 page PDF file: http://webcom.missouri.edu/downloads/Google-search.pdf

  • Ranks sites on importance and relevancy
  • Works like a democracy
  • A link from Page A to Page B counts as a vote for Page B by Page A. (importance)
  • Also examines page content to see if it matches the search query. (relevancy)
  • Important, high-quality sites receive a higher PageRank.

Of course there are some geeky coding things you can do as well such as to use headers (h1, h2, h3), use relevant descriptions in the title tag, use snippets with meaningful text, use the ALT tag for images, use keywords, and so on. Google has a help center that provides pointers in getting higher page ranks. But keep in mind that Sergey and Larry have made their fortune by keeping page ranking an elusive chase! http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769