I asked "Google Answers" the reason for this success.
Question
Subject: 8 #1 Google Rankings: Why?
Category: Computers -- Internet
Asked by: doxeyman-ga
List Price: $15.00 Posted: 08 Nov 2003 16:58 PST
Expires: 08 Dec 2003 16:58 PST
Question ID: 273971
I have hand-coded 8 websites, and they have all gone immediately to
Rank #1 in Google. I'm not complaining, but would like to know just
what I have done right. URLs, descriptions and keywords can be found
at: http://www.eyemead.com. One site is very big (1,300 pages) one
average (50 pages) and the rest small (5 pages or less). Is the reason
that all the websites are about rather obscure subjects? Or perhaps
that the big one (Wirksworth) links to all the others? Or that they
are hand-coded? Or that I have used META tags carefully? Or that I
have my own domain names? Or some reason I don't know about?
Answer
Subject: Re: 8 #1 Google Rankings: Why?
Answered By: robertskelton-ga on 09 Nov 2003 21:26 PST
Hi there,
There are three reasons why your pages are ranking well - your website
is popular, the keywords are in the best places and the search terms
are reasonably rare.
Site Popularity
---------------
The reason Google is such a good search engine is that it uses link
popularity to help determine the ranking of results.
http://www.google.com/technology/
There are many sites that link to Wirksworth.org, each effectively
giving a vote for your site:
http://www.google.com/search?q=link%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.wirksworth.org.uk
One of the most important links you can get is a listing in Open
Directory. Google's software gives higher ranking to sites listed in
Open Directory and Yahoo.
http://dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/United_Kingdom/England/Derbyshire/Wirksworth/
Combined with the factors mentioned below, this is the reason why you
are at #1 for "wirksworth"
Rare keywords
-------------
Some of the keywords you rank well for are very uncommon:
"eye mead" has 11 results
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22eye+mead%22
"One Place Studies" = 191
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22One+Place+Studies%22
"Stonecrop Wood" = 12
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Stonecrop+Wood%22
"Bear Mead" = 23
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Bear+Mead%22
"Eye Mead" = 11
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Eye+Mead%22
"Oak Wood Dorset" = 1!
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Oak+Wood+Dorset%22
Note: I have searched for the above as phrases. Google gives higher
ranking when the search keywords are found as a phrase, as they are on
your sites. Without the quotes "one place studies" returns 7 million
sites...
Keyword Locations
-----------------
Google gives added ranking to a page if the search keywords are found
in places other than general text. You have the keywords in all the
correct places:
-Title
-H1 tags
-Links to the page
Google virtually ignores Meta Keyword tags and many web designers have
stopped using them. They have no effect on your ranking.
Hand Coding
-----------
Makes no difference to Google. As long as the code is clean enough to
allow the page to fully load, it doesn't matter whether it was written
by hand or by using software like Dreamweaver.
Own Domain Name
---------------
In my experience Google seems to give websites that use services like
Geocities and Tripod a lower ranking. Having your own domain can also
help if it has keywords in it - that will be a factor in ranking well
for "wirksworth"
If you have any more questions on this topic, just ask for a
clarification and I'll get back to you.
Best wishes,
robertskelton-ga
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