How to rank top on AltaVistaWritten by Kevin Hickey
AltaVista recently added a section titled " how AltaVista works". This is a very useful resource and everyone with an interest in obtaining a high ranking on AltaVista should read it carefully. You can find it at http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_haw_index.shtml Here is most important new information they provide in this useful guide: 1) Keywords are only counted twice, so it is very important to have most important keywords in places where they get you most "points". These are title and tags. To find best keyword strings use "search term suggestion" at GOTO.com, at http://goto.com/d/about/advertisers/othertools.jhtml2) Keywords in title tag get you most points, and start of title scores highest. 3) Keywords in "first lines of text" are also very important. The tag may get you more points than text.4) The Metatag "keywords" is not as important to ranking as first lines of text. Hence keywords found here could lower your score if they are also in first lines of text. 5) Links from other relevant sites are very important, this is called "link popularity". The more distinct domains better. Also "good" sites score more highly. So if you can not explain why a site ranks above you when keyword is not in their title, check who links to them ( using +link:sitename.com -host:sitename.com). You will most likely find lots of links from top sites like Yahoo, MSN, Excite etc., or a very large number of links from other sites. 6) Rare words score more than common words. To quote AV - "If someone searches for fruit and pomegranates, pages with word pomegranates will appear at top of list (a technique known as "inverse document frequency")." 7) AV goes to some lengths to explain that they are not a "database", and they store all words on page in order to preserve "phrases". So if you search for " search engine placement" you will get sites with string "search engine placement" listed first, and not sites with same words in a different order. For example try a search for "placement engine search", and compare to results for "search engine placement" 8) Pages at a high level rank higher than pages buried deep into site, so index.htm ranks highest. It is worth registering more domains and using them as "doorway sites". Link these sites back to your main site to get extra "link popularity".
| | How to "GoTo" the Top of the Major Search EnginesWritten by Merle
When it comes to pay per click search engines, GoTo.com is clear leader. Over years, GoTo has established relationships with many of top search engines and directories, including Dogpile, Netscape, Hotbot, MSN, Compuserve, NBCI, American Online, Lycos, AltaVista and CNET. So what does all of this mean to you and how do you use these relationships to your benefit? If you bid on keywords/phrases with GoTo and are listed in one of top three positions, your site will also show up on above engines when someone performs a search for one of your keyphrases. For example: Suppose you've snatched up "London vacations" as a keyphrase in one of GoTo's top three positions. If an AltaVista user types phrase "London vacations" in search box, results page will have your site listed at very top. You'll have similar results at other search engines that are powered with GoTo listings. A nice way to get a top listing, don't you think? According to GoTo, top three bids -- which they call "Premium Listings" --get more than twice number of searches as a regular listing. Let's take a look at just where your site will appear on various search engines /directories when you secure a premium listing. AltaVista: To show up on AltaVista's search results page you need to be in top six bid positions at GoTo. These bids will appearing as "partner listings" on AltaVista's search results page, with top three bids showing up at top of listings and an additional three appearing at very bottom of search results page. America Online: American Online boasts over 2.3 million members. To show up here you'll need to have one of top three bid positions at GoTo. The links are labeled as "Sponsored Links" at top of their results page before other search options are listed. Lycos: The top three listings from GoTo appear under heading "Featured Listings," before Lycos' own search results. There is also a link labeled "More Featured Listings" that leads you to a full page of GoTo results in bid order. Two more GoTo listings show up in first ten results under what Lycos refers to as "Web Sites" section.
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