I often receive emails from directories who are asking me to pay a fee to list my company.  Highly ranked directories can not only drive traffic to your site, but can help your rankings on search engines.  However, pick the wrong Directory and it can actually lower you rankings with Google and other search sites.  Below are a few tools you can use to determine the quality of a website before you place links or advertise with them.

I recently found a fantastic social networking site (www.bigTreetop.com) focused on small businesses located south of Boston.   I’m considering enrolling as a company, but wanted to do some research first.  I’ve outlined some of the steps I’ve taken to learn more about this website.

Google PageRank

Google ranks all web pages on a 1 – 10 scale.  An average website has a 2 or 3 ranking, a good website has a 4 to 6 ranking, and larger, well-developed sites have rankings over 6 (few websites get rankings over 6).  www.eBay.com, for example, has a google PageRank of 8, and a well-known local website like www.wikedlocal.com has a Google PageRank of 5. 

BigTreetop.com has a ranking of 3, which is a good ranking for a fairly new website that focuses on a niche local market.  Our website, www.sinatraco.com has a PageRank of 4 probably because we’ve been around a little longer (I would suspect that BigTreetop will have a higher PageRank in the next year or so).  Our higher PageRank has moved us to the #3 spot on Google for “South of Boston Web Design” and #4 for “South of Boston Marketing.” 

What plays into this ranking is the number of quality sites (PageRank of 3 or higher) that link to your site as well as the age of a URL.  Also, the number of outbound links to high quality sites (PageRank of 6 or better) will also play into this ranking (I often link to www.wikipeida.com to provide more information on specific terms and ideas).  There are many other criteria that play into this rank, but these are key factors. 

If you want to see Google PageRanks go to www.Google.com and download their toolbar.  Once loaded, you’ll see a little green bar that shows the rank of each page in which you visit.  You will also be able to see all the linked sites that figure into the PageRank by putting “link:” before any URL in the Google Search Box. 

For example, you can see the inbound links for www.bigtreetop.com by putting “link:http://www.bigtreetop.com” in the Google search box.  While there may be dozens of inbound links to a site, Google will only track the highly rated sites.

Keep this in mind when a company solicits your business to advertise on their site.  If it’s not a highly ranked site it will not even show up on the Google links page.  Importantly, if it ranks 0 – 1 it may even hurt your ranking on Google and other search engines.  Be very leery of anyone who asks you to put links to your site all over the Internet on free directories.  Being linked to a handful of good quality, relevant sites is far better than being linked to thousands of sites with low rankings. 

Another way to learn more about a web site is via a DNS lookup.  This will tell you if a site has been around for a while, which has a strong weighting on Google Search results and PageRank.  It will also tell you if it’s only been around a short time and you can often see the owner of the URL. 

If you look at www.BigTreetop.com, for example, in a DNS lookup (via www.dnsstuff.com), we found that the site is owned by the CEO of BigTreetop and that it has been around for many years.  These are both positive indications that this is a solid website. 

The last tool I’ll share is fun to use.  It’s called the “wayback machine” and allows you to see what a web address looked like in years’ past.  Simply go to http://www.archive.org/web/web.php and type in a web address.  I typed in www.bigtreetop.com and found out that they’ve been working with a social media concept since as early as 2007.  I also learned that this is was the only usage of this web address.   

This tool is also helpful if you’re picking a URL so you can make sure a previous owner of the URL did not use it in negative ways.

Overall, I learned that www.bigtreetop.com is a reputable website, has some positive momentum in terms of increasing their PageRank, and they’ve been working in the social media space for several years (which is a fairly “new” industry). 

In the atmosphere of full disclosure, we also have a fairly new website, www.AnAffordableWebsite.com that provides free websites for small businesses, which has a PageRank of 1.  This is likely due to the age of the site (it’s fairly new), there are few outbound links (we don’t have a blog on this site), and few inbound links (we do mostly Google Ads rather than linking to promote the site).  While we have not done any “search engine optimization” on this site yet, our intent is to move this page rank up in the months to come. 
    

It’s amazing how quickly search engines respond to new content.  A few years ago it would take months to get listed anywhere.  I remember submitting my site to Yahoo! and it took 3+ months to see the site anywhere.  Also, changes to the site would take weeks to get re-cataloged.  Technology has come a long way in a very short period of time.  The algorithms used by search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and MSN are incredibly sophisticated these days. 

In fact, it’s my understanding that part of the reason Google is digitizing so many classic books is so they have a massive sample of quality content on which to test algorithms in order to identify strong content.  As these search engine algorithms become more sophisticated it will be far more difficult to “trick” them into getting web sites listed higher.  For example, when the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) industry began you could put hundreds of your key words at the bottom of each page and make them the same color as the background – they would not be seen by visitors, but search engine spiders would catalog them and your ranking would skyrocket. 

Those days are long gone – thank goodness!  Try that “trick” today and you’ll quickly be banned and penalized and your ranking will drop.  Now, it’s more about being a good Internet citizen as I recently discussed in a post.  

Back to the reason I posted these comments:  the speed and dynamic nature of local search placement.  After I realized we dropped in our Google ranking, I decided to do some more research and post more content.  Here’s the amazing part of the story – within 20 minutes Google already cataloged the page and the new post was listed in the Search results.  Our ranking for ”South of Boston Web Design” jumped to #11, and we were back to #2 for “South of Boston Marketing.”  I find it breathtaking how far search technology has come in such a short period of time. 

My recommendation to any company South of Boston is to find a way to add valuable content to your web site (perhaps use a blog like we have done here), partner with other businesses (cross link between web sites as much as possible), and don’t let your web site become static.  If it does, you’ll drop in the search rankings, but more importantly, you’ll become less relevant to those visiting your web site.  The Internet is dynamic and alive, so use your web site as a tool, not a brochure.
  

www.SEObook.com

I liked it because it’s honest – there are so many “tips and tricks” out there related to SEO and most of it is trash.  It’s similar in nature to my post about this subject, but takes the idea light years.  Aaron Wall really does know his stuff and I’ve enjoyed every word of his book.

Note: this is not an affiliate link, it’s simply an honest recommendation - I will not earn any fees for sharing this link.

If you have any questions about south of Boston web design or marketing feel free to request a free consultation from our corporate site:  www.sinatraco.com

The foundation on which the Internet is built is information – digitized ideas spread to the world.  Being a good Internet citizen is about sharing good quality information with no stings attached.  It’s about being a part of the conversation without an ulterior motive.  It’s about profitability, but only to the degree you add value.  It’s about the best, most imaginative ideas rising to the surface – the cream rising to the top. 

As you begin to build your Internet strategy, think about what your business (or you) can share to make the Internet a better place.  Everyone has something valuable to share, a life experience that can benefit others, a unique perspective about your specific industry. 

The “magic pill” of Internet marketing is simply taking the time to share valuable ideas with others.  Google and other search engines use sophisticated algorithms to find the the web sites that provide the most value to the people using their search tool.  These tools are are designed to target good Internet citizens.  So, instead of trying to figure out what those mathematical formulas may be, start by being a good Internet citizen with valuable content and an easy to navigate web site.  

To me, a good quality blog is the way to provide this information, as I’ve shared in previous posts. It’s a tool that is perfect for the web and it should be no surprise that search engines are increasingly ranking blog posts high on their lists.

If you have any questions about south of Boston web design or marketing feel free to request a free consultation from our corporate site:  www.sinatraco.com 
 

Getting listed high on Google, the number 1 search engine, on a local search phrase can be valuable – it brings credibility as well as potential clients to your web site.  It took us 30 days to get to #2 on Google for “South of Boston Marketing” and #6 for “South of Boston Web Design.” 

There where two main components of this strategy:

1. Links from other “search engine friendly” web sites
2. Rich, valuable content

Links

We’ve placed about 500 links on search engine friendly web sites.  This takes a great deal of work, but it’s well worth the effort.  The only advice I’d offer on linking is to be very careful how you get these links placed.  There are hundreds of companies who’ve automated this process and can place links to your company on thousands of web sites for $50 or less. 

These links could actually undermine your position because Google and other search engines do not just count the number of links to your site, but the QUALITY of those links.  Be very careful about the links you put out on the Internet that link back to your site – always do the linking manually by visiting each site and entering your information.  Beware of any kind of automated search engine optimization package – if you’re going to work with a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) marketing firm be sure to ask them specifically how they intend to market your site.

Quality Content

I think high quality content is one of the most important aspects of being listed high in the search engines.  I also believe a blog is one of the most effective ways to do it.  The main reason is because you become a part of the online community.  To me, getting listed high in Google is simply the outcome of being a participant in the online conversation. 

If you’re an honest contributor to making the web a better place, you’ll likely find yourself moving up the rankings.  I have no idea what the algorithms for search are (how Google and others determine who is placed were on their sites).  In fact, you could spend years trying to figure out the nuances of search engine placement.  What I do know, however, is that if you’re a good Internet citizen and use some basic tools to share your knowledge, you’ll likely be successful.     

The nice thing about a blog, is there’s a ready-made network to share your content, and increase the number of high quality links back to your site.  I’ve covered a basic strategy for blogging in a previous post, so I will not go in to too much detail here.  However, I will share a fantastic tool that will get your good quality content spread throughout the ”blogospehere“ with a click of a button. 

It’s called Ping-o-Matic, a free tool that allows you to “ping” all the key blog indexing sites on the web.  Simply put in your blog information, hit enter, and you’ve sent out an invitation to dozens of sites to come and look for new content on your blog.  These sites will then pull some of your content into the engines with a link back to your site.  This is a very powerful tool I’ve used with great success not only on our web site but others as well.

One last comment about blogging:  make sure you add links to your content that go to other good quality sites.  While links away from your site may seem counterproductive (why send visitors to other sites?), they’re an important part of being a “good Internet citizen” and, not surprisingly, it helps in Internet search rankings.

In conclusion, don’t try to find the “magic pill” of Internet marketing because there isn’t one.  Internet marketing is more about being a part of a community and sharing your expertise in an honest and open way.  This is especially true for local Internet communities that are beginning to grow and blossom.  Share what you know with no strings attached, open source your knowledge, and you’ll soon find yourself linked throughout the Internet and moving up the search engine rankings.