The first rule of understanding Google is that Google is not psychic. It doesn't know where your website or new pages are unless it can find them by following a link from a site already in its index to your new page. (yes, you can ping and submit a sitemap, but direct access from Google is not the same thing as a crawl!) So, now that you get someone else to link to you and Google has found your site, you need Google to crawl, index and begin to trust your site. That means YOU need to link to both other pages on your website and link out to pages on other websites.
Think of Google as the ultimate game of 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Somehow, your website should be connected to other important websites (i.e. websites that Google trusts) in order for Google to discover and begin to trust your site! One of the most critical things you should learn about SEO, is how to think like a search engine. Most people never consider HOW Google crawls the web, and because they never consider HOW- they never assist it in doing so. And that is one key to becoming a FOG (Friend of Google).
How a search engine crawls the web
Basically, a search engine crawls the web to discover new pages by starting with the websites it already knows and trusts and following links on these trusted pages to other pages. Search engines begin their crawl of the web with a list of completely trusted sites (i.e. sites that would never link to spam - we call these "seed sites") These seed sites are the MOST trusted sites in the search engine's index and where it will begin its crawl of the internet (essentially - seed sites are the Kevin Bacon of search - we all are somehow connected to them!)
Google crawls the Trusted Seed Sites first, then starts crawling all the sites these seed sites link to
Trusted Sites: There are a few very trusted domains out there.
Example: DOJ.gov, LLI.org
When these sites link out to other sites they link to:
- 100% quality sites
- 0% spam sites
This second level of sites is called -1 Trust Distance sites. (1 link away from a Trusted Seed site)
After the engine crawls these sites, it then goes out and crawls all the sites they link to
Example: Wall Street Journal, Harvard.edu
When these sites link out to other sites they link to:
- 95% quality sites
- .1% spam sites
This third level of sites is called -2 Trust Distance sites. (2 links away from a Trusted Seed site)
After the engine crawls these sites, it then goes out and crawls all the sites they link to and so on and so on
When these sites link out to other sites they link to:
- 70% quality sites
- 10% spam sites
As you extrapolate that out to -3, -4 Trust Distance, you will see more and more spam sites being linked to and thus the value of the site loses credibility and Trust.
Resource: Trust Rank Algorithm
Read also: Use Trust Distance to avoid the Sandbox, Boost Rankings and Basically Spank the SERPs with your real estate blog
Why do you care about the inner workings of a search engine?
Because when you write for your site, you need to consider how Google is going to keep moving through your site. One of your jobs as a webmaster is to ASSIST a search engine to not just crawl you, but to crawl the rest of the web. You want to make your pages comfortable and reliable for a search engine, giving them plenty of places to move on to other pages on your site and other pages off your site. How do you do this?
- 1. Avoid Creating Orphaned Pages
An orphan page is a page that is not linked to by any other page on your site or on the internet (i.e. that cannot be reached from anywhere on the site or any other page on the internet) and thus cannot be found by a search bot unless it is linked to externally. Basically, this is a page that nobody can find, not even Google! Why? Because GOOGLE ISN'T PSYCHIC.
How to get your orphaned pages adopted by the Angelia Jolie of Search (Google)
EASY SOLUTION: immediately after you write your post - go over to your AR blog and link back to your new post in an old article or use a directory or RSS submission tool to build at least one backlink to your new post.
- 2. Avoid Creating Dead Pages
A dead-end page is the one that has no outgoing links, thus creating a "dead end" for a search engine. Dead pages are unnatural on the web (a web page should be connected to other pages) Most importantly, a dead page leaves both the robot and the visitor no choice but to abandon the site since they have no natural way to get off the page.
Read also: SEO terminology: dead pages
How to breathe new life into dead pages
Just make sure you place at least one link out to another page on the web and one link to another page within your own site. I like to give readers textual or visual cues as to whether I am keeping them on my site by saying "read also" or sending them off the site by saying "resource."
Read also: Formula for a Successful Blog Post
NOTE: do not rely on sidebar or top menu bar navigation for links, Google is not always fond of navigation/site-wide links. You want to make sure in the content of every post you include links out to other site and links into other pages on your own site. Try to link to trusted (meaning Government or Educational or high PageRank sites on the internet- DO NOT CALL ME UP AND TELL ME "I DO LINK OUT TO OTHER SITES - I LINK TO MY WEBSITE FROM MY BLOG IN EVERY ARTICLE." You need to link out to various, related resource sites that have authority with Google - it likes to see you trust other sites it trusts! - (For example, if you write a post n FHA loans - link out to hud.gov as a resource for readers and engines.)
TIP: Never rely on navigation to help Google "discover" your pages, always use links in the body of your posts and content.
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The Real Estate Blogger's Guide to SEO
Mary McKnight
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This seems so simple until I try to digest it. I've learned how to blog better in the past month but I know that I have alot to learn about maximizing the results.