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SEO - Get a Number
One Google Ranking With This Simple Technique
BY: Yaro
Starak
You probably do this already - complete regular searches in Google
for your key phrases and see how high you rank. It's well known
that the first three results are far and away the sites that get
the most clicks. If you can get one of the top three results in
your key terms then you will have more targeted visitors coming
to your site. If you can get the first result, well that is even
better. Of course all your competitors want to do the same.
One of the great things about Google is that is updates quite frequently.
That little GoogleBot is busy 24/7 indexing the web to make sure
everyone gets the best answers to their search questions. I've recently
been playing with a technique that I thought might be worth testing
and because Google has updated so quickly I've been able to get
a result within a few weeks, and I got the perfect result - a number
one ranking for one of the key phrases I was after. In fact this
technique worked so well that I got the number one result for a
related search phrase too!
A Quick and Easy Google SEO Trick
The technique I used was to place an ad in a particularly highly
ranked classified site. In this case it was the famous site Craigslist.org
for London (http://london.craigslist.org/). This site is the original
free classifieds trading community that has become a world wide
phenomenon driven by word of mouth. But that's not important. What
is important is that Craigslist is very popular and has a high PageRank,
and most importantly you can place a free ad on the site anytime
you want to. There are restrictions and limitations but it is easy
to do, there is no reason you shouldn't make an ad or two. It's
free promotion for your business that may happen to also help with
your placement in Google SERPs.
Key Term: SERP - Short for Search Engine Results Page, the Web page
that a search engine returns with the results of its search. The
major search engines typically display three kinds of listings on
their SERPs. Listings that have been indexed by the search engine's
spider, listings that have been indexed into the search engine's
directory by a human, and listings that are paid to be listed by
the search engine.
A Practical Test
For testing I was after the search phrase "Thesis Proofreader"
for my business site's thesis proofreading service. I entered the
term into Google and noticed that a Craigslist entry was receiving
a high result, but the subject and keywords were not highly targeted.
However they were good enough to get a third page result in Google
for that term. I went in and created a very simple ad in Craigslist
that directly targeted my keywords and a week or two later I had
the number one result for that term in the Google global SERP. Also
because I had used the term "Essay" in the subject of
the ad I managed to secure the first page result for "Essay
Proofreader" as well. Not bad :).
A Bit Hit and Miss
I was surprised that it worked as well as it did but I know better
than to expect that good a result every time. One important consideration
in my test is that there just isn't much competition for my search
phrase; hence it was easy to get the top result. If your market
is more competitive your result likely won't be as good. Craigslist
deletes ads in 45 days so it's not a permanent result either, you
will need to keep going back to recreate your ad if you want to
keep the result.
You should be sure to check the current results in Google to see
if any free listing sites like Craigslist are pulling up high results
for your terms. If you have some advertising cash to spend, see
if any pay-for-entry directories or classifieds are pulling high
results too. If there are then there is a good chance that if you
create a well targeted ad you will have positive results.
It's important to do search research first so you know which city
listings in Craigslist are pulling the high results. Ideally for
an online business that can service the world you would have a Craigslist
listing for every city, but that just may not be feasible and may
break the Craigslist rules anyway. With search research you determine
which city is pulling the best results for your terms, which could
be caused by a whole number of reasons - backlinks to that particular
Craigslist city, key terms - the amount of variables to consider
are beyond human comprehension, let Google handle that and just
take the results on face value.
Take the time to locate the best city based on current search results
and place your entry in that city at the very least. If your business
is specifically targeted at a geographical area then it is a good
idea to do a comprehensive ad in your Craigslist city (if available)
as well, it certainly won't hurt.
It's also important to note that there is nothing stopping competitors
doing the same thing as you. The SEO war may spread into Craigslist
and muddy the site, which would no doubt prompt a clampdown on commercial
listings in Craigslist. Perhaps this technique is best for those
operating in small or unique industries since it is unlikely that
competitive action will ruin it for everyone.
Also note that Google itself is a completely uncontrollable variable
in this equation. Google may decide that it will no longer count
Craigslist entries. Maybe it will decide to only index for certain
terms. Just accept that you can't control what Google decides to
do, but you can test to see what results you can get. Not trying
guarantees no results.
It's Too Easy Not to Test
There is no good reason not to use this technique. Classified sites
want listings, it's what they do. You may or may not achieve better
search engine results but at the least there is a chance that a
browser may stumble across your ad and come shopping at your business.
It takes very little time and usually is free so get out there and
start creating those free ads. Just remember to use the right keywords
and don't go overboard, you don't want all your incoming links to
come from free directories because in the long run Google may penalise
your results.
About the Author
By Yaro Starak
www.entrepreneurs-journey.com
Do you want to profit from your own successful home based Internet
business?
Learn from Yaro Starak, a young entrepreneur from Australia. Get
your free articles and audio now - visit his Internet Business Blog.
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