Algorithm

The big fancy computer gibberish that search engines use to decide if your website is ranked # 1 or # 77,000 in a list of 1 million similar sites.

Technically, an algorithm is an operational programming method. Algorithms are used by search engines to intelligently index content and display search results.

Algorithm has many definitions (it’s used in linguistics, mathematics, and computing…) but in terms of SEO an algorithm is a data processing/computing term. The algorithm used by Google is PageRank. Yahoo SERP's uses similar algorithms, though Yahoo isn’t quite as good at detecting fraudulent or “unnatural” backlinks.

MSN algorithms can be untrustworthy, but new websites can get up on their list fairly quickly if they know how to do it. There are other search engines also—including newcomers like Ask, and dozens of long-established non-US based search engines.

In laymen’s terms, an algorithm is an operational programming rule that determines how a search engine indexes content and displays the results to its users. Search engines have an algorithm (a set of rules/codes) that determine how your website is ranked. Your website could come up # 7 or # 777,000 depending on how well you or your SEO consultant understand these terms.

Although it’s been called “simple” by hard-core programmers, PageRank and other SEO algorithms look like Greek to most of us. That’s Ok. You don’t have to be a mathematician to understand the basic concept.

If you really go in for mathematical stuff, you can see Yahoo’s algorithm by clicking here. “8-Just in case you’re curious, here is Google’s algorithm (PageRank)
PR(A) = (1-d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + ... + PR(Tn)/C(Tn))” Otherwise, just keep reading and we’ll show you why algorithm is so important to your website’s ranking.

Yahoo’s algorithm & ranking index includes the following guidelines:

1-Title of website (it searches the keywords in the title)

2-Page Description (when you’re searching for a website and a list of sites come up, this is the written description that follows the page title.)

3-Category you’re listed under (in the search engine “phone book” Yahoo Web Directory; once again, keywords do count here. If you sell insurance in Des Moines, Iowa, you want to be listed under the categories of health insurance, car insurance, auto insurance, etc.)

4- Page Content (the text, or writing on a page. The words. Not the pictures.)

5-Popularity. How many visitors does your website get per day? Yahoo considers this in its algorithm more than Google does.

6-Backlinks & site-wide linking. If you have a lot of websites pointing to your website, it just makes you look better. Your rankings go up.

7-This seems like an obvious one—but it’s missed a lot… Don’t get banned! Use a qualified website administrator. Get help if you need it. A lot of people accidentally get banned on search engines such as Yahoo by submitting their website 1 page at a time. This tricks the algorithm into thinking you’re spamming it. As a result, many sites get banned for years on search engines—completely by accident! Getting banned from even 1 search engine, like Yahoo, can keep you from 350 million people per month. Needless to say, this is really bad for business.

Guidelines to Google’s algorithms

Natural Links. This is a big thing with Google lately. In the past, search engines have had a problem with illegitimate high rankings. A tiny or unimportant local company, say, has a website. It can makes itself look like a major corporation, say, so this little local company gets tons of traffic. And it annoys the heck out of people who thought it was something else.

SEO experts can manipulate a search engine’s algorithm to make a site rank way higher than it really should. One of the ways people do this is by building 1000’s of irrelevant and “unnatural” backlinks to particular website. Google has built in new algorithms necessitating natural links.

Does this sound complicated? It isn’t really. You won’t accidentally build 1000s of fake websites just to make your SERP higher. Just don’t do anything sneaky, be honest, and you’ll do fine with this one.

Google’s algorithms: PageRank

1-Title of website (algorithms search the keywords in the title)

2-Page Description (good page descriptions are one of your biggest selling tools in the e-commerce world of the Internet. Pay to have page descriptions written well by a SEO Firm or an experienced SEO Copywriter if you can. If you’re doing it on your own, learn what to say and what not to say)

3-Category you’re listed under (in the search engine “phone book” Yahoo Web Directory; once again, it’s the keywords that count here)

4- Natural Links

5- Page Content (words only… the text, or writing on a page. Just the words. Not the pictures. Remember, a search engine is essentially blind. It can’t read a graph that’s an image file. With page content, keywords, again, are important. But they have to be used naturally. This means you don’t write a page of gibberish with nothing but keywords on it and call it a webpage… not if you want high rankings to last anyway.)

6-Popularity. How many visitors does your website get per day? Yahoo considers this in its algorithm more than Google does.

7-Backlinks & site-wide linking. If you have a lot of websites pointing to your website, it just makes you look better. Your rankings go up.

8-Just in case you’re curious, here is Google’s algorithm (PageRank)
PR(A) = (1-d) + d (PR(T1)/C(T1) + ... + PR(Tn)/C(Tn))