Factors in Search Engine Placement
Search engines use complex and proprietary algorithms to rank web pages based on a variety of rules. The main rules involve the location and frequency of keywords on a web page. This is loosely termed the location/frequency method and is described in the following paragraphs.
Location of a keyword is probably the most important factor in search engine placement. Search engines consider keywords that appear in the title to be the most relevant for that specific web page. The search engines assume that words relevant to the topic of that page will be in the page title, headings and first few sentences of the first paragraph of text on a web page, therefore that is where you should place them.
Frequency is the other major factor in how search engines determine relevancy. A search engine will analyze how often keywords appear in relation to other words in a web page. Those web sites with a higher keyword frequency are often deemed more relevant than others.
The "Link Popularity" factor is described as the number of referral links to your web site that a search engine has in its index. If other sites are linking to your web site the search engine will regard your site as more relevant as compared to those that are not referenced by other web sites. Some search engine directories employ editors to review your site and rate its relevancy to certain keyword criteria. In addition, there are a number of hybrid search engines that have associated directories that give a higher ranking-placement for sites that they have reviewed.
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