Search Engine Optimization

It got late here in Missouri with only 20% or so of California precincts having reported. I left the completely captivating  TV coverage to get my daughter in bed. It's a school night.

A couple of hours later, naturally, I want an update. So I drop [ election results ] into the search box to see what Google thinks I need to see. This is what I get from the search engine providing the most relevant search results you can get. Look closely. We'll compare this to Yahoo! in just a minute. Then, you can tell me what YOU think.

Page Rank is a Stanford University trademark. The Page Rank sytem, developed at Stanford by Larry Page became the fundamental measuring algorithm for the Google search engine.

As one of Google's major measuring deveices, it is used in combination with numerous other factors when determining the return order for a group of related documents (based on search criteria).

How important is it to get a great PR score? Ha! Not nearly as important as listing as high as possible for your keywords.

You're familiar with these two terms, right?

• Search Engine Optimization
• Search Marketing

Often used interchangeably, these two terms are not at all the same thing.

Most Search Marketers will tell you that Search Marketing has to do with the creation of and management of Pay-Per-Click campaigns. And, that can be a part of it... a big part, depending on the market you're in, the strength of the competition for your keywords and your prospects for success with organic listings.

You've heard about Page Rank, you've suffered through the technical details of how crawlers see your web pages, and you've read perhaps hundreds of different descriptions about the relationship between your content and your meta data.

You've heard all of that and more, I'm sure, if you've been trying to figure out SEO for any length of time. But, here's something you probably weren't told:

Your SEO guy doesn't know Google's algorithm... or Yahoo's, or MSN's.