During this week’s SEO course we covered two of the more popular misconceptions about Google.
The trouble with the SEO industry in general is that there is so much misinformation out there spread around blogs, forums and other public areas from so called “experts” and “gurus”.
Google does not go to much effort to refute this information because it is in their commercial interest to keep their ranking formula secret so it is much harder for people to game the system.
If you ask me the Google ranking formula has got dumber over the last three years. There is a finite limit to the processing capacity of the Google data centres and with the internet growing at such a breathtaking rate , I believe it is impossible for Google to make the complex calculations that people assume.
Just because Google has a patent for an idea doesn’t mean they have implemented the idea.
Here are two common half-truths that you will read on a lot of SEO forums:
MYTH 1- Google uses domain age as a major factor in ranking a web site
This is a half-truth. Age alone has no bearing on Google rankings. BUT, an old domain is more likely to have more incoming links through random internet activity than a brand new domain. So what’s the solution?
When you register a new domain and build a new web site, go out and get a bunch of links. It doesn’t really matter where you get them from. Buy them, beg for them, exchange them or steal them. You must have quality incoming links to your web pages to rank well. The number and quality of incoming links is the key factor in ranking a web page.
MYTH 2- You can’t make a one page web site rank well in Google
This is another half truth. And again, it’s all about links. A brand new one page web site on a new domain will have zero incoming links. Compare this to a brand new 100 page web site on a new domain that has 99 incoming links to the home page due to the menu navigation. Yes, they are links from the internal pages to the home page, but those links do count (a little). Even an internal link between pages on a site is better than no links at all.
Bottom line: if you want a one page web site to rank well. Go and get some external links.
