There are "over 200 SEO factors" that Google uses to rank pages in the Google search results (SERPs). What are the search engine optimization rules? Here is the speculation - educated guesses by SEO webmasters on top webmaster forums. Should you wish to achieve a high ranking, the various confirmed and suspected Google Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Rules are listed below.

Google patent - Topic extraction
For keyword selection,
try Google Ad Words - Google Trends

HOT

Keyword in URL

First word is best, second is second best, etc.

HOT

Keyword in Domain name

Same as in page-name-with-hyphens

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Keywords - Header

HOT

Keyword in Title tag

Keyword in Title tag - close to beginning
Title tag 10 - 60 characters, no special characters.

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Keyword in Description meta tag

Shows theme - less than 200 chars.
Google no longer "relies" upon this tag, but will often use it.

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Keyword in Keyword metatag

Shows theme - less than 10 words.
Every word in this tag MUST appear somewhere in the body text. If not, it can be penalized for irrelevance.
No single word should appear more than twice.
If not, it may be considered spam. Google purportedly no longer uses this tag, but others do.

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Keywords - Body

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Keyword density in body text

5 - 20% - (all keywords/ total words)
Some report topic sensitivity - the keyword spamming threshold % varies with the topic.

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Individual keyword density

1 - 6% - (each keyword/ total words)

HOT

Keyword in H1, H2 and H3

Use Hx font style tags appropriately

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Keyword font size

"Strong is treated the same as bold, italic is treated the same as emphasis" . . . Matt Cutts July 2006

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Keyword proximity (for 2+ keywords)

Directly adjacent is best

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Keyword phrase order

Does word order in the page match word order in the query?
Try to anticipate query, and match word order.

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Keyword prominence (how early in page/tag)

Can be important at top of page, in bold, in large font

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Keywords - Other

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Keyword in alt text

Should describe graphic - Do NOT fill with spam
(Was part of Google Florida OOP - tripped a threshold - may still be in effect to some degree as a red flag, when summed with all other on-page optimization - total page optimization score - TPOS).

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Keyword in links to site pages (anchor text)

Links out anchor text use keyword?

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NAVIGATION - INTERNAL LINKS

SITE

To internal pages- keywords?

Link should contain keywords.
The filename "linked to" should contain the keywords.
Use hyphenated filenames, but not long ones - two or three hyphens only.

SITE

All Internal links valid?

Validate all links to all pages on site.
Use a free link checker. I like this one.

SITE

Efficient - tree-like structure

TRY FOR two clicks to any page - no page deeper than 4 clicks

SITE

Intra-site linking

Appropriate links between lower-level pages

NAVIGATION - OUTGOING LINKS

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All External links valid?

Validate all links periodically.

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Less than 100 links out total

Google says limit to 100,
but readily accepts 2-3 times that number. ref 2k

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OTHER ON-Page Factors

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Domain Name Extension
Top Level Domain - TLD

.gov sites seem to be the highest status
.edu sites seem to be given a high status
.org sites seem to be given a high status
.com sites excel in encompassing all the spam/ crud sites, resulting in the need for the highest scrutiny/ action by Google.
Perhaps one would do well with the new .info domain class.<update> - Nope. Spammers jumped all over it - no safe haven there. Not so much, now - .info sites can rank highly.

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File Size

Try not to exceed 100K page size (however, some subject matter, such as this page, requires larger file sizes).
Smaller files are preferred <40K (lots of them).

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Hyphens in URL

Preferred method for indicating a space, where there can be no actual space
One or two= excellent for separating keywords (i.e., pet-smart, pets-mart)
Four or more= BAD, starts to look spammy
Ten = Spammer for sure, demotion probable?

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Frequency of Updates

Frequent updates = frequent spidering = newer cache

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Page Theming

Page exhibit theme? General consistency?

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Keyword stemming

Stem, stems, stemmed, stemmer,
stemming, stemmist, stemification

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Applied Semantics

Synonyms, CIRCA white paper

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LSI

Latent Semantic Indexing - Speculation, no proof

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URL length

Keep it minimized - use somewhat less than the 2,000 characters allowed by IE - less than 100 is good, less is even better

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OTHER ON-SITE Factors

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Note: For ALL the POSITIVE On-Page factors listed above,
PAGE RANK can OVERRIDE them all. So can Google-Bombing.

top of page

Text presented in graphics form only
No ACTUAL body text on the page

Text represented graphically is invisible to search engines.

Affiliate site?

The Florida update went after affiliates with a vengeance - flower and travel affiliates were hit hard - cookie-cutter sites with massive inter-linking, but little unique content. Subsequent updates have also targeted affiliates.

Over optimization penalty (OOP)

Penalty for over-compliance with well-established, accepted web optimization practices. Too high keyword repetition (keyword stuffing) may get you the OOP. Overuse of H1 tags has been mentioned. Meta-tag stuffing.

Link to a bad neighborhood

Don't link to link farms, FFAs (Free For All's)
Also, don't forget to check the Google status of EVERYONE you link to periodically. A site may go "bad", and you can end up being penalized, even though you did nothing. For instance, some failed real estate sites have been switched to p0rn by unscrupulous webmasters, for the traffic. This is not good for you, if you are linking to the originally legitimate URL.

Redirect thru refresh metatags

Don't immediately send your visitor to another page other than the one he/ she clicked on, using meta refresh.

Vile language - ethnic slur

Including the George Carlin 7 bad words you can't say on TV, plus the 150 or so that followed. Don't shoot yourself right straight in the foot. Also, avoid combinations of normal words, which when used together, become something else entirely - such as the word juice, and the word l0ve. See why I wrote that zero? I don't even want to get a proximity penalty, either. Paranoia, or caution? You decide. I always want to try to put my "best foot forward".

Poison words

The word "Links" in a title tag has been suggested to be a bad idea. Here is my list of Poison Words for Adsense. This penalty has been loosened - many of these words now appear in normal context, with no problems. But watch your step.

Excessive cross-linking

- within the same C block (IP=xxx.xxx.CCC.xxx)
If you have many sites (>10, author's guess) with the same web host, prolific cross-linking can indicate more of a single entity, and less of democratic web voting. Easy to spot, easy to penalize.
"This does not apply to a small number of sites" .. (this author guesses the number 10, JAWG) . . . "hosted on a local server". . Matt Cutts July 2006

Stealing images/ text blocks from another domain

Copyright violation - Google responds strongly
if you are reported. ref egol
File Google DMCA

Keyword stuffing threshold

In body, meta tags, alt text, etc. = demotion

Keyword dilution

Targeting too many unrelated keywords on a page, which would detract from theming, and reduce the importance of your REALLY important keywords.

Dynamic Pages

Problematic - know pitfalls - shorten URLs, reduce variables (". . no more than 2 or 3", M.Cutts July 2006), lose the session IDs

Excessive Javascript

Don't use for redirects, or hiding links

Flash page - NOT

Most (all-?) SE spiders can't read Flash content
Provide an HTML alternative, or experience lower SERP positioning.

Use of Frames

Spidering Problems with Frames - STILL

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Robot exclusion "no index" tag

Intentional self-exclusion

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Single pixel links

A red flag - one reason only - a sneaky link.

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Invisible text

OK - No penalty - Google advises against this.
All over the place - but nothing is ever done. (The text is the same color as the background, and hence cannot be seen by the viewer, but can be visible to the search engine spiders.) I believe Google does penalize for hidden text, since it is an attempt to manipulate rank. Although they don't catch everyone.

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Gateway, doorway page

(I see changes here - not only does the doorway page disappear, but the main page gets pushed down, as well - this is a welcome fix.)

OK - No penalty - Google advises against this.
Google used to reward these pages.
Multiple entrance pages in the top ten SERPs - I see it daily. There they are at #2, with their twin at #5 - 6 months now. Reported numerous times.

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Duplicate content (YOUR'S)
Duplicate content (THEIR'S) below (Highjack)

OK - No penalty - Google advises against this.
Google picks one (usually the oldest), and shoves it to the top, and pushes the second choice down. This has been a big issue with stolen content - the thief usurps your former position with YOUR OWN content.

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HTML code violations
(The big G does not even use DOCTYPE declarations, required for W3C validation.)

Doesn't matter - Google advises against this.
Unless of course, the page is totally FUBAR.
Simple HTML verification is NOT required (but advised, since it could contribute to your page quality factor - PQF).

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Since the above 4 items are so controversial, I would like to add this comment:
There are many things that Google would LIKE to have webmasters do, but that they simply cannot control, due to logistical considerations. Their only alternative is to foment fear and doubt by implying that any violation of their "suggestions" will result in swift and fierce demotion.
(This is somewhat dated - G is fixing these things.)

IN GENERAL, this works pretty well to keep webmasters in line. The fallacy of this is that attentive webmasters can readily observe continuing, blatant exceptions to these official pronouncements.

There are many anecdotes about Goggle "taking care" of a problem. Google states that they do not provide hand-tweaked "boosts", but are silent about hand-tweaked demotions. They occur, for sure. To believe otherwise is naive. Wouldn't YOU swat the most obnoxious flies? I would.

It is becoming easier to determine the best thing to do. Try to avoid any Google penalties or demotions.

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Phrase-based ranking, filters, penalties

Feb. 2007 - Google patent granted. Do not use phrases that have been associated and correlated with known spamming techniques, or you will be penalized. What phrases? Ahh, you tell me.

top of page

March 2004
Edited August 2006

THE GOOGLE SANDBOX
The sandbox is alive and well.
In March 2004, Google implemented a new filter, now referred to as "The Sandbox". This new "effect" took months to notice and quantify.

The sandbox is also referred to as an "aging delay". Two aging delays have been suggested - one for link weight, and one for competitive term ranking.

The sand box only applies to highly COMPETITIVE terms, revolving around money, such as the words attorney, loans, viagra, real estate, etc. The more lucrative the keyword, the longer the wait.

Yahoo has a sandbox, as well. Opinion seems to indicate that the Yahoo aging delay is not quite as long as the Google Aging Delay.
Yahoo does seem to provide an initial boost, that will disappear after about 4 weeks.

MSN appears to have no sandbox. New sites with new pages, targeting competitive terms, can rank well very quickly (weeks) for those terms.

HOW IT WORKS
If you subscribe to the spam reduction theory, Google's thinking was, NO NEW SITES get good ranking, until they prove themselves.
Spammers generate thousands of new pages daily, along with millions of new links to go with them. This penalty is new-site based. Long-standing sites have no trouble ranking new pages.

Link Weight Aging Delay
Google WITHHOLDS "link juice" on new sites, by deprecating the new links, for 2-8 months. If the domain and backlinks have existed for a certain length of time (6 months?), then maybe you are OK, and escape from the sandbox.
Over time, the newly generated links are given weight, and eventually the sandbox effect is lifted.

Competitive Term Aging Delay
Google WITHHOLDS high ranking ability on new sites, for highly commercial keywords, such as loans, real estate, viagra, etc.
Eventually, the new site will rank well for the competitive keywords, and the sandbox effect is lifted. Six months is mentioned most frequently.

SOLUTIONS
Two methods are currently being used to get around the Sandbox penalty for new sites.

One method is to join the Google Ad Words or Adsense program, in which case your pages get spidered in MINUTES. Your site will be checked initially with an algo or human "smell test". If you smell good, you're in. Good rankings will follow (provided of course, that you have good on-page SEO, and a few good backlinks).

I speculate that if you are a Google partner ("approved"), then you are not going to be penalized, unless you subsequently "go bad".

The second method is to buy an old domain, just for it's longevity, and old backlinks. Many have bought up old domain names for this purpose. This may work right now, but the rules will soon change again. They always do.
Good luck!

1

I have tried to summarize the best opinions of many webmaster forum posters.

2

There are no published rules - this is my continuously changing compilation of SEO chatter. This is my semi-annual, one-way technical Google ranking blog, if you will.

3

If your keywords are Rare and Unique, then Page Rank doesn't matter.

4

If your keywords are very Competitive, then Page Rank becomes very important.

5

The fewer incoming links that you have, the more important on-page factors are, for noncompetitive terms.

6

There are a million ifs, ors, buts . . . I am attempting a concise summary.
Exceptions to EACH of the POSITIVE ON-Page factors are frequent and many.
However, I feel that it is important to score highly on as many factors as possible, since factor weight and even factor consideration are changing constantly - CYA. Not to mention the other SEs.

7

A few words about the LANGUAGE used on the Google site -
in a phrase - "soft spoken". We see it everywhere these days.
I am referring to understatement, sometimes even to the point of confusion.
"significant", "may", etc.
For example, when Google states that maybe it might not be a good idea to do a particular thing, what they SOMETIMES really mean is "If you do it, you are history".
Some Google suggestions are actually commands (STRONG HINTS) in disguise.
At some point, you begin to realize this.
Google just can't tell us everything, literally. Sooooooo, take the hints.

8

Become religious. Seek the light. It's there, but you gotta look.
LISTEN UP! Read the rules. Read between the lines. Carefully.
Differentiate. Project. Carefully analyze your own situation.

Webmaster Guidelines
Google Guidelines

Disclaimer
This is NOT A Google, Inc. Site
In no way, did this data come directly from Google, Inc.
This page consists of a compilation of public information, commonly available on the Internet, at multiple sites, as well as public webmaster forums, and found by performing simple manual tests, using an Internet browser.
The opinions stated above are merely the often misguided personal opinions of the author.
I am not privy to any inside information.
This information is continually changing, and may not be relevant when you read it.
Although the author makes every effort to verify the information on this page, no information on this page is guaranteed to be correct, and any data contained herein may be erroneous.

By Vaughn Aubuchon