How To Understand Google's Ranking Algorithm In 90 Seconds

Paul Hancox · 09-09-2009, 05:51 PM

OK, remember the following 3 words, because they sum up how Google works:

RELEVANCE, AUTHORITY and POPULARITY.

Google want to serve up results that are RELEVANT, so if you type in dog training, sites like...

dogtraining.com

Pages like...

howtotrainyourdog.com/dog-training.html

... and articles like...

"Dog Training - How To Train Your Dog In 3 Easy Steps"

... are probably relevant, especially if the page itself also contains the keywords.

But now, who can they trust? Google invented PageRank (PR), which basically tells Google how much they trust a site, on a scale from 0 to 10.

So in a purely two horse race between...

dogtraining1.com (PageRank 4)
dogtraining2.com (PageRank 6)

The higher PR site would win with Google. AUTHORITY.

But, but, but... Google also want to deliver pages that are POPULAR. People "vote" for a page by linking back to it (backlinks)!

So back to our horserace. If we found...

dogtraining1.com (PageRank 4 with 1,000 backlinks)
dogtraining2.com (PageRank 6 with 10 backlinks)

Google will think... "hmm... people seem to be voting for dogtraining1.com more... maybe we should put it before dogtraining2.com!)"

But then, spanner in the works... if the second site's 10 backlinks are RELEVANT (i.e. the linking text says "dog training") and carry AUTHORITY (i.e. CNN, BBC). and the first site's 1,000 backlinks don't have relevance or authority, the 10 backlinks could carry more weight!

Bottom line?

Everything... and I mean everything about Google's system can be summed up in the three words...

RELEVANCE, AUTHORITY and POPULARITY.

Most of the sites in the Top 10 for a popular keyword will usually have at least two of these working for them.

So a low PR site (low AUTHORITY) can outrank others if it can get more RELEVANCE and POPULARITY.

Sometimes a page can dominate because of the domain's AUTHORITY and POPULARITY, even if it is a little less RELEVANT.

And that's as much as I can say in 90 seconds.

Just remember, it's pretty much all about those three words: RELEVANCE, AUTHORITY and POPULARITY.

Click here to retweet this on Twitter.

Intrepreneur · 09-09-2009, 06:11 PM

The start of All-IN-Cencsored By Allen SEO, thread?

Great post, and so true.

The "how to train a dog" doesn't need to be in the title, it can be content on the homepage, that's my contribution, to this super easy to understand understanding of the big G!

Mark

Paul Hancox · 09-09-2009, 06:31 PM

Thanks Mark.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Intrepreneur

The "how to train a dog" doesn't need to be in the title, it can be content on the homepage, that's my contribution, to this super easy to understand understanding of the big G!

It doesn't need to be if you want to be in Google, but if you intend to rank in the Top 3 it will help (for popular terms anyway)

I just did a Google search for that term:

#1:

How To Train A Dog, dog training tips and techniques for home ...
Discover how to train a dog the right way yourself at home. Learn about clicker dog training, dog whispering, puppy house training and more dog training ...
www .dog-obedience-training-review.com/ -

(PR: 4, Yahoo! Page Links: 3,340)

#2:

How To Train A Puppy | Puppy Training | Potty & House Training ...
Discover how to train a puppy the right way yourself, at home. Including puppy house training, crate training, basic obedience, potty training and clicker ...
www. dog-obedience-training-review.com/how-to-train-a-puppy.html

(PR: 3, Yahoo! Page Links: 180)

#3:

HowStuffWorks "How to Train a Dog: Tips and Guidelines"
Training your dog will make life better for both you and your pet. Find out how to train a dog.
animals.howstuffworks.com/pets/how-to-train-a-dog.htm

(PR: 3, Yahoo! Page Links: 12)

So positions #1 and #3 had "how to train a dog" in the title. I wonder if they'd be in those positions without the phrase in the title.

(What's strange was #2, "How To Train A Puppy"

)

Incidentally, #8 had more backlinks (1,250 according to Yahoo!) but it's title was:

"Aggressive Puppy Dog Training|Stop Barking Biting Digging Chewing ..."

So maybe that's why it's #8, instead of #1, #2 or #3.

I'd suggest that for fairly popular terms, the exact phrase (or something very similar) in the title will HELP a lot... but decent backlinks will also help a lot

Intrepreneur · 09-09-2009, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Hancox

I'd suggest that for fairly popular terms, the exact phrase (or something very similar) in the title will HELP a lot... but decent backlinks will also help a lot

Certainly Paul,

Having the main keyword is important in the title, very important, although you pointed out the importance of "how to" and that's exactly what Google's algorythm will be hunting for when someone searches the words dog training. Google is very smart, but in 90 seconds we can be just as!

You know my first blog, I went after that niche, it is now ranking up in the 2nd and 3rd page for the keywords how to train a dog.

I have started on creation of an ecourse as a source of income from it, but one thing I can't get right is not having a ghost town of a forum which will ultimately determine it's success rate)..

I tried quite a bit to get it active, except cheating!

Mark

Easy Cash · 09-09-2009, 10:28 PM

Great post - easy to read and very informative.

Thanks.

All I can add is - if your a newbie - read this 20 times.........

snvservices · 09-10-2009, 12:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Hancox

Thanks Mark.

It doesn't need to be if you want to be in Google, but if you intend to rank in the Top 3 it will help (for popular terms anyway)

I just did a Google search for that term:

#1:

How To Train A Dog, dog training tips and techniques for home ...
Discover how to train a dog the right way yourself at home. Learn about clicker dog training, dog whispering, puppy house training and more dog training ...
www .dog-obedience-training-review.com/ -

(PR: 4, Yahoo! Page Links: 3,340)

#2:

How To Train A Puppy | Puppy Training | Potty & House Training ...
Discover how to train a puppy the right way yourself, at home. Including puppy house training, crate training, basic obedience, potty training and clicker ...
www. dog-obedience-training-review.com/how-to-train-a-puppy.html

(PR: 3, Yahoo! Page Links: 180)

#3:

HowStuffWorks "How to Train a Dog: Tips and Guidelines"
Training your dog will make life better for both you and your pet. Find out how to train a dog.
animals.howstuffworks.com/pets/how-to-train-a-dog.htm

(PR: 3, Yahoo! Page Links: 12)

So positions #1 and #3 had "how to train a dog" in the title. I wonder if they'd be in those positions without the phrase in the title.

(What's strange was #2, "How To Train A Puppy"

)

Incidentally, #8 had more backlinks (1,250 according to Yahoo!) but it's title was:

"Aggressive Puppy Dog Training|Stop Barking Biting Digging Chewing ..."

So maybe that's why it's #8, instead of #1, #2 or #3.

I'd suggest that for fairly popular terms, the exact phrase (or something very similar) in the title will HELP a lot... but decent backlinks will also help a lot

Hi,

Decent backlinks will work if they are relevant, coz relevancy is very important in terms of SEO, and it works for you everytime.

These, backlinks will rank your site well, in SERPS in a good position with good PR.

Thanks!!

webpromoterservice · 09-10-2009, 02:39 AM

thanks for the info.You have raised a very important point that a site with a low PR can outrank high PR site based on Relevance and Popularity

rimam1 · 09-10-2009, 01:51 PM

Impressive... thanks for sharing.

AlexTampa · 09-10-2009, 02:21 PM

Authority has nothing to do with page rank.

Fernando Veloso · 09-10-2009, 02:35 PM

Paul,

Some lower PR sites keep #1 and #2 spots for years. Keep that in mind in the discussion

Great Post - The 3 golden words: RELEVANCE, AUTHORITY and POPULARITY.

09-09-2009, 05:51 PM	#1
Paul Hancox Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 1,629 Blog Entries: 2 Thanks: 165 Thanked 221 Times in 103 Posts Social Networking	How To Understand Google's Ranking Algorithm In 90 Seconds OK, remember the following 3 words, because they sum up how Google works: RELEVANCE, AUTHORITY and POPULARITY. Google want to serve up results that are RELEVANT, so if you type in dog training, sites like... dogtraining.com Pages like... howtotrainyourdog.com/dog-training.html ... and articles like... "Dog Training - How To Train Your Dog In 3 Easy Steps" ... are probably relevant, especially if the page itself also contains the keywords. But now, who can they trust? Google invented PageRank (PR), which basically tells Google how much they trust a site, on a scale from 0 to 10. So in a purely two horse race between... dogtraining1.com (PageRank 4) dogtraining2.com (PageRank 6) The higher PR site would win with Google. AUTHORITY. But, but, but... Google also want to deliver pages that are POPULAR. People "vote" for a page by linking back to it (backlinks)! So back to our horserace. If we found... dogtraining1.com (PageRank 4 with 1,000 backlinks) dogtraining2.com (PageRank 6 with 10 backlinks) Google will think... "hmm... people seem to be voting for dogtraining1.com more... maybe we should put it before dogtraining2.com!)" But then, spanner in the works... if the second site's 10 backlinks are RELEVANT (i.e. the linking text says "dog training") and carry AUTHORITY (i.e. CNN, BBC). and the first site's 1,000 backlinks don't have relevance or authority, the 10 backlinks could carry more weight! Bottom line? Everything... and I mean everything about Google's system can be summed up in the three words... RELEVANCE, AUTHORITY and POPULARITY. Most of the sites in the Top 10 for a popular keyword will usually have at least two of these working for them. So a low PR site (low AUTHORITY) can outrank others if it can get more RELEVANCE and POPULARITY. Sometimes a page can dominate because of the domain's AUTHORITY and POPULARITY, even if it is a little less RELEVANT. And that's as much as I can say in 90 seconds. Just remember, it's pretty much all about those three words: RELEVANCE, AUTHORITY and POPULARITY. Click here to retweet this on Twitter.
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09-09-2009, 06:11 PM	#2
Intrepreneur Bum Marketer War Room Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 1,515 Blog Entries: 3 Thanks: 300 Thanked 108 Times in 90 Posts	Re: How To Understand Google's Ranking Algorithm In 90 Seconds The start of All-IN-Cencsored By Allen SEO, thread? Great post, and so true. The "how to train a dog" doesn't need to be in the title, it can be content on the homepage, that's my contribution, to this super easy to understand understanding of the big G! Mark
	The entrepreneur builds an enterprise; the technician builds a job." Michael Gerber

09-09-2009, 10:28 PM	#5
Easy Cash Gerry Walter War Room Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Brisbane, Australia. Posts: 1,065 Blog Entries: 99 Thanks: 70 Thanked 53 Times in 42 Posts Social Networking	Re: How To Understand Google's Ranking Algorithm In 90 Seconds Great post - easy to read and very informative. Thanks. All I can add is - if your a newbie - read this 20 times.........
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09-10-2009, 02:39 AM	#7
webpromoterservice HyperActive Warrior Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 100 Thanks: 3 Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts	Re: How To Understand Google's Ranking Algorithm In 90 Seconds thanks for the info.You have raised a very important point that a site with a low PR can outrank high PR site based on Relevance and Popularity
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09-10-2009, 01:51 PM	#8
rimam1 HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 114 Thanks: 27 Thanked 44 Times in 9 Posts	Re: How To Understand Google's Ranking Algorithm In 90 Seconds Impressive... thanks for sharing.
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09-10-2009, 02:21 PM	#9
AlexTampa Active Warrior Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 67 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: How To Understand Google's Ranking Algorithm In 90 Seconds Authority has nothing to do with page rank.

09-10-2009, 02:35 PM	#10
Fernando Veloso Portuguese Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Good Old Europe Posts: 1,094 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 348 Thanked 130 Times in 92 Posts Social Networking	Re: How To Understand Google's Ranking Algorithm In 90 Seconds Paul, Some lower PR sites keep #1 and #2 spots for years. Keep that in mind in the discussion Great Post - The 3 golden words: RELEVANCE, AUTHORITY and POPULARITY.
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