SEO overview

[jmcnealy]

OK. I have read article after article (including John's SEO post) and gone to forum after forum. Now let's see if I understand what this SEO stuff is all about (from a link standpoint):

Get as many links from others a humanly possible (with the keyword in the link).
Make sure that the links are from different domains.
Better still, make sure that the links are from different ip addresses as well.
The higher the page rank of the links the better.
Be careful who you link back to.
The closer to plain html the page is the better.

Is everything above correct? If so, I have other questions:

How hard should you work on page rank? What roll does it play? Still not clear on that one.

About the links having different ip address, are we talking just one number change (example, 66.175.192.33 and 66.175.192.34), or a link from another class C or something.

Are blogs and guestbooks still highly rated in Google? IMHO they shouldn’t be, but oh well.

Anyway, I just wanted to make sure that I understood what I had seen here and else where. Thanks.

[Dave Hawley]

PR is only one, of possibly thousands of elements, that make up SE ranking algos. Their weight, especially with Google, has decreased over the years. However, they still make up the core element as well as bringing targeted traffic.

You only need to be concerened about IP addresses etc if you are cross/inter linking between sites you own. Even then, if the links are on-topic and of use to the site visitors there is likely no problem.

Don't waste time chasing self-serving type links from Blogs, Forum Sigs, Guest Books ect. While they may hold some click value their PR and Anchor text value is little to none.

[jmcnealy]

Originally Posted by Dave Hawley

You only need to be concerened about IP addresses etc if you are cross/inter linking between sites you own. Even then, if the links are on-topic and of use to the site visitors there is likely no problem.

What about crosslinking between virtual domains? As long as the links are on target (on-topic) that is OK? What is to stop someone from getting hundreds of virtual domains and cross linking them (aside from cost)? As long as the sites are of the same topic that is. What about on-topic site wide links (if there is such a thing)?

Thanks.

[Dave Hawley]

There is nothing stopping anyone doing so. However, I would see it very much as a total waste of time....long term. You would be much better off seeking out on-topic links from other sites.

Link ONLY for your site visitors and you are very unlikely to go wrong. If unsure, take Google's advice and ask yourself if you would do the same if SE didn't exist.

Having said all this on links, content is the only true king which has stood the test of time. Keep adding content, then add some more. Not only will this spread the risk, but it will attract natural links from other sites.

There is no true short-cut for a quality site.

[jmcnealy]

Thanks for the info. Your right about content. That is really the only reason that people surf anyway.