In this third article, we continue to dig into the patent application of Google regarding the method used to rank sites in search results. Interestingly, Google asserts in the application that it “might” consider user data as a factor in organizing search results.

What Is User Data?

Without being rude, you should already know what user data is as part of your site evaluation. Any owner of a site on the web should be constantly looking at user data found on site servers.

The site server should have an administrative program telling you what searches are being used to reach the site, better known as “search strings.” The program should also be telling you how many pages the user looks at on each visit and where in the site they go. By reviewing these statistics, you can identify the sections of your site that appeal to potential customers. If clients are leaving after visiting only one or two pages, such statistics should tell you that you have an abandonment problem. The new information from the Google patent should motivate you to closely monitor your site.

Essentially, Google is also looking at your server statistics to determine the value of your content and factoring it into the rankings. Specifically, Google claims in the patent application that it tracks the amount of time that users spend accessing a page on your site. Having filed a few patent applications in my time, what this really means is Google is looking at how long a user spends on your site and how “deep” they go into it.

Expanding on this subject, Google details an additional factor. As with the Adwords program, Google is monitoring the click through rate on search results. The more click-throughs to your site from its listings in Google, the higher it will be moved in the search results.

Every Little Bit Helps

Google claims that it looks at what sites users are bookmarking. The apparent jist is that Google considers a site with a lot of bookmarks to be “worthy” of a higher ranking. In short, get out there and bookmark your sites!

Conclusion

The effort of Google to look for depth in a site should be commended. There is nothing worse then clicking onto a promising search result to find one crappy page full of links. With this new policy, Google rewards sites with healthy amounts of relevant pages. In short, content is king again.

Google has the most traffic of all search engines, which means any optimization campaign must focus on it. This raises the issue of Google meta tags.

Google Meta Tags

Two years ago I would have prattled on and on about tweaking meta tags for Google. Oh, the obnoxiously opinionated views I could have given on the subject. You would have fallen to your knees to back in my glory. Alas, Google had to go and ruin everything!

Meta tag manipulation was long considered the path to high search engine ranking salvation on Google. No more. Google has moved beyond meta tags, which means they are not nearly as important as they used to be. Instead, it is the text of your page which makes or breaks the day.

In truth, Google meta tags still carry some weight and you need to make an effort to get them correct. When it comes to meta tags, there are three you have to focus on – meta titles, meta keywords and meta descriptions. Let’s take a look at how they apply to Google rankings.

We will start with the easiest meta tag – keywords. Simply put, Google doesn’t appear to place any value on meta keyword tags. None. Nada. Zippo. I still include them in case the other search engines show any interest, but they are not an issue with Google.

The meta title is something Google considers. Historically, search engine gurus suggest you put 10 to 15 words in the meta title. I have abandoned this theory. Since Google now looks at the meta tags and page as a whole, I try to keep very focused on my primary keyword phrase. Regardless of the number of words in the phrase, I use only that phrase in the title. The meta title I am using for this page, as an example, is “Google Meta Tags.” This works well for me across the search engines.

The meta description is also important when it comes to Google rankings. A lot of people would argue with me on this, but testing has shown this to be the case. The meta description should be no more than 45 words in length and should incorporate your keyword phrase one or two times. Don’t overdue it. I’ve had great success getting high rankings using this approach.

Google meta tags are a controversial subject. Nearly everyone agrees that meta keywords are useless, but opinions vary on title and descriptions. I think they are important and my rankings certainly prove as much. If nothing else, they are important for getting rankings on Yahoo and MSN.