Increase your rank in search results
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Every time I need something, I search for it online. It doesn’t really matter what it is, who it is or if there is a better way to get the information I need. Search for me as a consumer, holds the key to all things.
Apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks this way. Search has become a science. When we’re not searching, we’re looking to be found on search engine results.
The BT Tradespace team recently attended a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) workshop and picked up a few tips that we thought would be worth sharing with you. But first, some hard and fast facts -
•It seems we are the most active Internet users in Europe. 63 percent of Britons are online and one million are searching everyday. So promoting your business on sites like BT Tradespace isn’t a fad, it’s a long term strategy.
•72 percent of Google searchers prefer organic (natural) search results. So the likelihood of a searcher clicking on your Tradespace result is higher than a paid listing. So making sure your Tradespace is top notch and up to date suddenly jumps up the priority list.
•Page Rank is part of Google’s algorithm for ranking pages in its search results. It’s distilled into a score out of ten and is visible to the public. BT.com for example, has a page rank of 8 and BT Tradespace, 5. The higher your page rank, the more customers will find you. The more they find you, the more business you get. Simple.
We analysed a few Tradespacers to see how they ranked on Google and what drove their results and here’s some of the things we discovered:
•Your content contributes 30 percent to your weighting in terms of search visibility. Useful, rich content will take you further up the rankings – no doubt about it. So when it comes to writing relevant blogs, adding new photos, doing videos – it’s worth the effort.
•Adversely, the more spam your content has, the lower the value of your Tradespace.
•Universal search is not a myth. Google’s results are increasingly becoming a blend of news, video, photos – the lot. So, the richer the mix of content, the higher the vote from search engines. Users search for content irrespective of whether format. Your message in different formats pulls a greater punch.
•Linking or being linked to is crucial to increasing your page rank. Tradespacers using the ‘Businesses we like’ feature to link between themselves are ranking higher. Think linking, think coverage. You wouldn’t produce a flyer and expect people to come find it. You’d hand it out to as many people. Tip: link to businesses you like and get them to do the same.
•The more content you have on your Tradespace, (if you’re a Contact customer for example) the more visible you become.
Final word? Search is constant. You may go away on holiday but customers are still searching for your products or services. Using your Tradespace to show your best self off is really laying down the red carpet to your business. Are you making sure you’re giving your customers the best welcome in town?
Some of our Tradespacers and their current ranking
http://pinewoodassetfinance.bttradespace.com/ – page rank 4
http://envelopes.bttradespace.com/ – page rank 3
http://spottiedottie.bttradespace.com/ – page rank 3
http://hedgepig.bttradespace.com/ - page rank 3
http://antiques-et-cetera.bttradespace.com/ – page rank 3
This entry was posted by Bian Salins on 16 Sep 2008 at 09:38 and is filed under Promoting your site. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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5 Responses to “Increase your rank in search results”
Reply from malcolm coles on 19 Sep 2008 at 22:29
How about removing the nofollows on your blog then … That would also help with the pagerank.
Reply from st albans business centre on 19 Sep 2008 at 22:37
Erm, don’t you use nofollow on tradespace? So you don’t pass pagerank to our actual sites just our bt tradespace ones? Isn’t this post a bit disingenuous? You use nofollow on the blogs and everywhere.
Reply from avrilchatten on 20 Sep 2008 at 15:31
I have been told by other buisness folk that the only search engine its worth being with is Google, comments please
Reply from Evon on 24 Sep 2008 at 19:13
Google does seem to be the biggest search engine, however yahoo search imo is better and does still have alot of people using it. When checking out where I am on search engines I try both google and yahoo.
Reply from Bian Salins on 29 Sep 2008 at 09:42
Hi, I know a few of you have raise a few questions on the page rank article. Please find my answers below:
In reponse to the no follows comments:
Thanks for your comments. Yes, we do use ‘nofollow’ on our BT Tradespace blog but the reason we do this is because it’s purely down to managing spam and other misuse of the comments functionality. It’s in both ours as well as our Tradespacers’ interest if we encourage best practice on our website and using ‘nofollow’ will separate links that are incidental from links that are intentional and should pass through page rank.
We’re not alone in doing this – it’s common industry practice for social networks to use no follows to prevent misuse. Ultimately, we still want our Tradespacers sites to do well in search and the purpose of the article was to encourage our users to optimise their Tradespaces so they have the best possible chance of gaining visibility.
In response to the query on Google:
Thanks for your question. Even though Google has a major share in the market, search engines will pick up any website that’s been optimised. If you regularly update your Tradespace with good content and follow the advice in the article, it won’t be just Google that picks up on your Tradespace. The more search engine results you feature on, the further your reach and more possibility of getting new business – so think big!