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SEO, SEM
Section 1: Articles, Tutorials on Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, Page 1
How Search Engines and Search Directories Index, Rank Sites
Within the How Search Engines and Search Directories Rank and Index Web sites section below, you'll find articles and tutorials on how search engines index and rank Web sites in general, 
and how specific search engines rank and index sites, such as Google and Yahoo!
Do you know of some helpful articles or tutorials on how search engines index or rank Web sites? Do you know of some helpful, insightful articles, tutorials, books, or resources related to search, SEO, or SEM? Recommendations are welcome and encouraged!
On this page:
- How Search Engines and Search Directories Index, Rank Sites
- How Google Indexes, Ranks Web Sites
- How Microsoft MSN Search Engine Indexes, Ranks Web Sites
- How Yahoo! Indexes, Ranks Web Sites
Also within Section 1: Articles and Tutorials on SEO, SEM, Conversions and ROI, and Search Engines:
- Page 2: Content, Keyword, Keyphrase Optimization, Writing for Search Engines, and Optimizing Content for SEM, ROI
- Page 3: Design and Development Optimization for Search Engines
- Page 4: Potential Penalties or Banning by Search Engines and Directories
- Page 5: Web Site Link Popularity and Development
- Page 6: Getting Web Sites Indexed - Submitting to Search Engines, Search Directories, and Pay Per Click Search Engines (CPC/PPC)
Also within Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing:
- Section 2: SEO and SEM Newsletters, Web Sites, Other Resources, and Books (1 page)
- Section 3: SEO, SEM Tools - Reference Charts, Tools for Research, Analysis, Tracking, and More (3 pages)
How Search Engines Index, Rank Web Sites
- How Search Engines Rank Web Pages
Fabulous introduction to how search engine rank Web pages. Includes links to more details, resources, too. Fabulous. [Article/tutorial dated 07/31/2003, by Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Watch.] - How Search Engines Work
Good overview of how search engines list and rank a Web site. Links to more articles, info. Helpful info via the public Web site area and much more thorough, detailed info via the paid subscriber area. [Article/tutorial dated 10/14/2002, by Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Watch.] - How Search Engines Work: Search Engine Relevancy Reviewed
Comprehensive articles covers Yahoo! Search, MSN Search, Google, Ask, Vertical Search & Other Search Companies. Starts with a summary for each, then provides indepth explanations. “A comprehensive review of search engine relevancy algorithms, published by Aaron Wall on June 13, 2006. While some of the general details have changed, the major themes referenced in this article were still relevant when I reviewed it a year after publishing it.” [Article/tutorial dated 06/13/2006, by Aaron Wall, SEO Book[*note].] - Search Engine Ranking Factors
An incredibly helpful chart with a breakdown of what top experts find and recommend with search engine rankings. Also includes an estimated ranking importance scale. Covers: most important factors, in-document factors affecting ranking, site factors affecting the value of hosted documents, factors affecting the value of a link, url, technical, hosting & server side factors, detrimental ranking factors. Experts included: Danny Sullivan, Dan Thies, EGOL, Graywolf, Jill Whalen, Donna Fontenot, Michael Martinez, Bill Slawski, Ammon Johns, Scottie Claiborne, 2K, Todd Malicoat, Rand Fishkin. Fantastic resource here. You can also download it for offline reference (Word document). No date when this was done but looks current as of March 2006. [Article/chart by Rand Fishkin, SEOMoz.] - Search Engine Technology
A helpful listing of annotated resources to articles about the technology behind search engines and directories. [Article dated 02/27/2004 by Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Watch.]
How Google Indexes, Ranks Web Sites
- The Google Pagerank Algorithm and How It Works
Excellent whitepaper on how Google's PageRank algorithm works, including how PageRank passes on to other pages at your site, and so much more. [Article/tutorial dated 2002, by Ian Rogers.] - Google's PageRank Explained and how to make the most of it
Very thorough article. Topics covered: What is PageRank? How is PageRank calculated? Internal linking; Dangling links; Inbound links; Outbound links; Toolbar PageRank; Tips; Miscellaneous. [Article/tutorial by Phil Craven, Web Workshop.] - How PageRank Works & Why the Original PR Formula May be Flawed
Fabulous explanation about how pages pass rank to each other, PageRank “leaks,” and more with lots of helpful diagrams. [Article/tutorial dated 11/25/2007, Si Fishkin, for SEOMoz.] - How Google Ranks Pages
FAQ about factors that impact a Web site's rankings with Google, information about PageRank, links to more information. Directly from the source. [FAQ is part of Google's section, Google Information for Webmasters.] - SEO For The New Google
Insight about how the latest changes with Google could impact your site's rankings, such as the history of your Web pages, the way backlinks are counted, site content and structure. [Article/tutorial dated 12/09/2005 by Dave Davies, for evolt.org.]
How Microsoft MSN Search Engine Indexes, Ranks Web Sites
- Microsoft Attacks Click Spam by Looking at Noisy Behavior
As stated in this article, “sites in search results that rank highly while serving visitors only ads are the target of a number of papers by Microsoft, submitted to the SIGIR 2006 conference.” This post includes links to articles and research findings about Microsoft search and how they're changing how they list and rank Web sites. [Article/tutorial dated 08/14/2006, by Bill Slawski, SEW (Search Engine Watch) Blog.]
How Yahoo! Indexes, Ranks Web Sites
- Yahoo! Search Ranking
Information directly from the source about how they rank Web sites, tips on how you can improve your rankings with Yahoo! and more. [FAQ is part of the Yahoo! Search Help section.]
Disclosure Regarding Affiliate Programs
[*note] Links thus marked are to sites for which WebsiteTips.com has signed up for an affiliate program - such as Trellian's Keyword Discovery, Wordtracker, and Aaron Wall's SEO Book.
Since WebsiteTips.com already had links to their sites anyway and because they have strong reputations for being good, worthwhile products, WebsiteTips.com's owner, editor went ahead and signed up for their affiliate programs late summer of 2007.
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- listing these sites at WebsiteTips.com.
- anyone clicking on the affiliate program links.
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- WebsiteTips.com continues to add ONLY quality resources, regardless of the above affiliate programs that comprise only a handful of links out of our 2,500+ resources.
- Like any other helpful resources, Websitetips.com continues to add new annotated resources discovered that we feel would be helpful to visitors, whether or not they are related to our very short list of affiliate programs.
- Affiliate text links anywhere at WebsiteTips.com that aren't otherwise clearly noted as an ad or a sponsor are duly noted with the above [*note] link.
- In addition, effective 04 November, 2007 all affiliate links now permanently include
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For more information on “paid links” and the use of rel="nofollow", see Potential Penalties or Banning by Search Engines and Directories here at WebsiteTips.com.
