The Mother of All Migraines, aka Optimizing for Google

Personal Opinion by Gaystoryman

Copyright © 2007 ◊ All Rights Reserved

Ever heard of the Bellevue Mental Hospital in NYC? Most people have, well they have a brand new wing opened up, which houses once sane webmasters. These are the many who believed they could Master the Google Algo, thus putting them & their sites, at the top of the Google Index. Silly humans, don’t they know the human mind is no match for the evil genius of Google?

Despite the growing number of victims, there are tens of thousands rushing to fill their empty chairs in the corridors known as the Google Supplemental Index, and you could be one of those ‘lucky’ thousands.

To begin with, Mastering Google is a guessing game. Like any ‘game’ it has rules of what you can do, what you can’t do. Yet there are thousands who ignore those rules, who play by other rules, and yes, they do indeed succeed, at times. But when they do, a few things happen.

1. They do get caught. It just isn’t the next day, but while it can take years, they do get caught. The penalties are severe if you cross the Google Police.
2. It screws it up for the rest of us. Google is constantly looking for ways to combat the Rule Breakers, the Cheats, and in that never ending quest, it gets taken out on us who do play by the rules.

So if you think you are smarter than Google, think you have a sure fire way to beat the system, then don’t bother reading any further. This won’t help you, and frankly I’d hate to want to help a moron like you.

Yes, I said Moron, because your cheating, your ignoring of the Rules, winds up costing me money, and worse than that, it costs me time. Time to learn the latest changes that drop a person’s rankings because you tried to scam Google. Time, in reading the whining and bitching of others. The time to try and think of what is changed, of how it has changed.

That is due to Your moronic drive to be a Cheat. So frig off, if you don’t want to play by the Rules. Google is not yours or mine, we didn’t develop it, we just use it. So it is not our RIGHT to claim some special privilege that lets us ignore the rules.

Rant done, now if you want to understand Google, listen up because there really isn’t any magic to the whole game. What it comes down to is really simple. You need to have good ‘exclusive’ content on each and every page, and you need links coming to those pages from other sites. Do that well, and you will Rule the Google Index.

And you thought it was going to be hard.

Well you are right, because all that is, is the basis for having a properly ‘optimized’ site or page. There are a ton of other factors, each one weighing differently into the calculations that Google uses to determine where you will be listed in their Index. Exactly what those factors are, how much each contributes is unknown. See why it’s a guessing game?

Put two Search Engine Optimizing gurus into a locked room, and you’ll have umpteen answers on how Google rates any given page. Fact is, none of us know. We guess, so take everything said about Optimization with a huge dose of Salt, because when it comes right down to it, your guess is as good as mine.

If you have a few weeks, I’d be happy to keep on going, but this is just a quick think piece so bear with me as I do a bit of rambling, a bit of pontificating. Fact is, for everything I tell you here, someone else will say that I am wrong. Someone else will say they and I, are both wrong, and have a different answer or opinion. That is the true nature of trying to win at the game of Google Top Dog.

However there is majority agreement on some basics, which is what I will try to discuss here.

Content: If it is all over the place, it is not going to make your site rank any higher. So the more that is different, that is Unique, the better your chances are.

It is one reason why I do not sell more than one copy of my stories. I do not want them all over the Internet, because they are FOOD for Google. Each one is Unique, is filled with text in a natural flowing order, and that is what Google Loves.

There isn’t much argument on that score, what there is argument on, is how much per page. If you have a page with say 100 words on it, how much HAS TO BE UNIQUE? That is where everyone and their dog has an answer. Truth is, no one truly knows. I have seen pages where 10% is Unique, rank well while pages that 100% Unique suck big time.

The answer lies that other factors come into play too. If you meet all the other factors, you could skate by the need for optimal Unique content. Note the word ‘COULD’ because there is no guarantee, nor can anyone tell you exactly what all those other variables are.

Images are not read by GBot (Googles web crawler) so don’t figure on that as being ‘Content’. It isn’t as far as Google is concerned. What is, is ‘Text’. The stuff you reading right now is Content, good GBot content, because it is rich in text and sans the pictures.

But what about all that ‘text’ one adds when they stuff the ‘alt’ ‘title’ tag of an Image?

A slippery slope of scamming poor misunderstood Google. Yes, it helps, if you do indeed use the ‘alt’ tag and to some lesser degree the ‘title’ tag in an Image. However, caution here because some who think they are smart, will STUFF those tags. GBot hates that, and so wham you get hit with a penalty, at best. The purpose of those tags is to help those with accessibility issues. In short it should be a ‘brief’ description of what the image is.

Basically I’d keep the words down to five or so. To add more is a risk, and if you are using the ‘title’ tag as well, well GBot might record it as a spam. Then don’t forget, if the image is linked to something, the ‘title’ tag in the link will also add to that perception.

The hardest part of using these tags, is keeping them all on topic, on theme, and Unique. [bet you were thinking you could use the same phrases in the alt tags, didn’t you?]

That leads us to META TAGS.

Again an issue where there is some discourse. Some think it is still very important to fill in the ‘meta tag’s in the ‘head’ section of your page. (If you haven’t a clue what I mean, then you need to brush up on some HTML first, before you think of tackling Google Optimization.)

There are some important tags that should be filled out. Basically below is what I use in my pages.

<head>

<title>Untitled Document</title>

<meta name=”Description” content=”DESCRIPTION HERE” />

<meta name=”Keywords” content=”gay fiction, ” />

<meta name=”Classification” content=”Restricted, Adult, Fiction”>

<META http-equiv=”copyright” content=”Ian Kovnats”>

<meta name=”ROBOTS” content=”all”>

<meta name=”DISTRIBUTION” content=”global”>

<meta http-equiv=”Content-Type” content=”text/html; charset=iso-8859-1″>

<link href=”/0-css/site.css” rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css”>

<link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”/0-blank/favicon.ico” />

</head>

Let’s tackle this one at a time. Right off is what I believe is one of the single most important ‘meta tag’ that SHOULD always be filled out. The <title> tag which is what will show up on the top of all browsers.

It is the one tag that most ignore, of if they do use it, they put their bloody domain name in it, and leave it. In fact, it is what many do, or they stuff it with nonsense. Myself, I look at it as a marketing phrase that should help someone who sees it on the Index want to click it. Whether it is number 1 or number 500, it could be the difference between a click or not.

Also, look at the Index. It is also HIGHLIGHTED when it is displayed in the Google Index. So why fill it with crap, or nonsense? The surfer IS NOT STUPID. They want to find something, so why not tell them what you have?

Again, don’t make the mistake of being a scammer. Stuffing it with nonsensical keywords will not help, but could hinder. Each <title> tag on each page, should be DIFFERENT.

Here is where some will part company with me. I firmly believe that there is a natural progression that Google takes in defining a web, and how they then rank it. It has a checklist, and goes down that list one by one, not in a random order. First up is the <title> tag.

Here is the hard part, choosing the keyword or keyword phrase that you will use for each page. Why, because that should be used in your <title> tag, as well as other tags. Problem is, it should be used in different ways, not in a repeating mantra.

Just as you filter traffic, you need to filter the surfer and GBot in how it reads the page. I write Custom Gay Erotic Fiction, so here is just one variable for a title tag.

<title>Gay Fiction tailored for Your Specific Needs.</title>

Google loves to harp that one should build their web pages for the surfer, not for it;s Index. This type of title does that. It also pleases GBot, because it has some good keywords it can highlight. In my way of thinking, it will pick ‘gay’ ‘fiction’ ‘tailored’ ‘specific’ as choices, then it will move on down, adding to its list of what the page is about.

Next comes the ‘description’ tag. Again, some will argue that it isn’t that important, but if your lacking in ‘text content’ it could be the difference between listing and not. Google will use this tag, if there is nothing else for it to use, and even if there is. That sort of helps make me think that there is indeed a natural progression to how Google sees a site.

<meta name=”Description” content=”ENTER DESCRIPTION HERE” />

Sometimes you can overdo this tag as well. I often find myself adding too much, but then I guess that is the writer in me. Basically this tag should explain the page, in two to three short sentences. Something I have a lot of trouble doing, keeping things short. (just look at how long this short article is.)

You want to work in your keyword, keyword phrase into the description. However, you don’t want it be exactly like in your <title> tag, or GBot might think something fishy is up. Here is what I’d write.

<meta name=”Description” content=”I write Custom Fiction for Gay Webmasters. Each erotic fiction is tailored to the site being promoted.” />

I am using the words differently, but am keeping them still in the mix. I am also adding other variations to that mix, expanding my possible listings. GBot is going to pick out the same mix it did from the <title> tag which is what you hope for.

Anyone need a toity break? I do, so I am going to cut this article off here. There is a lot more to cover, but hey, this is free, so you will just have to be patient and wait till I write the next saga in how my Migraine Headaches starts and ends with Google.