QUESTION FOR THE GROUP

#1

Hi All,

All things being equal, will Google rank a site above another if the page
rank is higher?

What I mean is if two sites are almost identical on-page, but one has a P/R
of 7/10 and the other 6/10, will Google place teh first one above the second
in SERPS?

#2

On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 05:46:30 GMT, "James"
<james.taylor (AT) aicNOomSPpaAMny (DOT) com> wrote:

Quote:

Hi All,

All things being equal, will Google rank a site above another if the page
rank is higher?

What I mean is if two sites are almost identical on-page, but one has a P/R
of 7/10 and the other 6/10, will Google place teh first one above the second
in SERPS?

Not always.

Think since it's a question for the group we should turn it into a
quiz, so how many here think they know why?? (assuming you agree with
me of course).

Here's the quiz-

Two identical pages located on separate servers. Page A has enough
incoming links to make it PR5. Page B has enough incoming links to
make it PR6. We know nothing about the links to the sites, only that
they result in different PRs.

Ignoring potential duplicate content problems under what circumstances
can Page A rank above Page B in Google (assuming you believe it can)?

Possible answers.
------------------------

A. Google likes messing with people like us and PR is a made up
figure, so either page could show up, it's mostly random.

B. If a site is hosted in the US it receives a boost, if page A is
hosted in the US it may be enough to beat page B.

C. Google gives a boost for any keywords in the URL and directory
names. If the search phrase is part of the domain name in a hyphenated
form (keyword1-keyword2) for page A, but not for page B
(keyword1keyword2) it may be enough of a boost for page A to rank
higher.

D. Google penalises/filters the results for domains that have a
Adwords account so the owners have to spend more money to obtain
Google traffic. If page B is on a domain that's got a Adwords account,
but page A isn't, page A may rank higher (technically it's page B
ranking lower).

E. Since Google gives old pages (those that have been on the site for
years) a boost relative to new pages, if page A is much older than
page B it could perform better in the SERPs.

F. Google considers anchor text as important. If the anchor text used
to link to the two pages is different it should affect which keywords
the pages rank well for.

G. Google considers the directory structure as important. If page A is
located in the root of the domain and page B is located several
folders deep it may be enough of a boost to take the SERP.

H. Sites that are linked to from DMOZ are given a boost in Google,
especially if the search phrase is part of the sites DMOZ description.
If page B lacks a DMOZ link that page A has it may be enough to rank
higher.

I. Google uses theming to help rank pages on a domain. If the
domain/site is primarily about one subject, pages related to that
subject will receive a boost. If page B is about a search phrase not
related to the rest of the site, but page A is highly themed, it may
be enough of a boost to take the lead.

J. None of the above.

K. All of the above.

L. Insert your theory here.

Please select one or more of the options above____________

That was quite a challenge making up some of those, sad thing is I
could of added more :-)) think that's worth a page on my site.

I'll post what I believe to be the correct options later.

David replace SP@AM with @ to email me direct.
_
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ooar123...-optimization/ Free
SEO Tips (01/01/2004)
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ooar123.../seo-help.html
hire SEO Dave
http://www.bdsm-lingerie.com Sexy Lingerie and BDSM Products Shop

#3

On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 09:00:44 +0000, SEO Dave
<ooar123SP (AT) AMntlworld (DOT) com> wrote:

Quote:

Here's the quiz-

Two identical pages located on separate servers. Page A has enough
incoming links to make it PR5. Page B has enough incoming links to
make it PR6. We know nothing about the links to the sites, only that
they result in different PRs.

Ignoring potential duplicate content problems under what circumstances
can Page A rank above Page B in Google (assuming you believe it can)?

Possible answers.
------------------------

A. Google likes messing with people like us and PR is a made up
figure, so either page could show up, it's mostly random.

NO

Quote:

B. If a site is hosted in the US it receives a boost, if page A is
hosted in the US it may be enough to beat page B.

In this care surely Page B will be treated exactly the same as page A
as long as there are armed sky marshals at all four corners.. ;-)

[Read about the problems caused by differring attitutes towards having
armed guards on each side of the pond in the British press if you
don't understand this joke. ]

(NO)

Quote:

C. Google gives a boost for any keywords in the URL and directory
names. If the search phrase is part of the domain name in a hyphenated
form (keyword1-keyword2) for page A, but not for page B
(keyword1keyword2) it may be enough of a boost for page A to rank
higher.

for pre-florida serps and post-florida for less popular key phrases
YES
for popular (many adwords) keyphrases this may (in combination with
other factors) cause page A to be excluded entirely from top 1000
results. -> NO

Quote:

D. Google penalises/filters the results for domains that have a
Adwords account so the owners have to spend more money to obtain
Google traffic. If page B is on a domain that's got a Adwords account,
but page A isn't, page A may rank higher (technically it's page B
ranking lower).

YES ?

Quote:

E. Since Google gives old pages (those that have been on the site for
years) a boost relative to new pages, if page A is much older than
page B it could perform better in the SERPs.

YES

Quote:

F. Google considers anchor text as important. If the anchor text used
to link to the two pages is different it should affect which keywords
the pages rank well for.

YES

Quote:

G. Google considers the directory structure as important. If page A is
located in the root of the domain and page B is located several
folders deep it may be enough of a boost to take the SERP.

YES

Quote:

H. Sites that are linked to from DMOZ are given a boost in Google,
especially if the search phrase is part of the sites DMOZ description.
If page B lacks a DMOZ link that page A has it may be enough to rank
higher.

YES

Quote:

I. Google uses theming to help rank pages on a domain. If the
domain/site is primarily about one subject, pages related to that
subject will receive a boost. If page B is about a search phrase not
related to the rest of the site, but page A is highly themed, it may
be enough of a boost to take the lead.

YES ?

Quote:

J. None of the above.

K. All of the above.

L. Insert your theory here.

If site B (any page from same domain assuming it is not a big name
page provider - geocities etc) links to a google-blacklisted site
anywhere page B may be penalise or banned BUT ONLY for keywords that
are selected by google as popular..

If some complex conditiion (think complex algebraic expression) based
on all the data google has about all pages on a site is satisfied for
page B , page B may be penalised or banned BUT ONLY for keywords that
are selected by google as popular.

David.

Software author. (please edit my email addr. to prove you're not a dumb 'bot)
Web Log Analyzer by Search Term http://www.1keytools.com/wlabstfeatures.htm
Kybie GetEmAll - Make IE an offline browser http://www.1keytools.com/offline_browser.htm

#4

On Wed, 7 Jan 2004 22:16:37 +0100, "Martin Hagstrøm"
<mha (AT) NOSPAM (DOT) altavista.net> wrote:

Quote:

L9. Sam has been at site B and filled the guestbook with his pornographic
SPAM.

ROFLOL

Quote:

I'll post what I believe to be the correct options later.

What do we win? A Google T-shirt :-)

I don't think Google will give me a T-Shirt to send the winner :-))

Tell you what, the first 5 who matches my answers exactly will get a
link to a site of their choice of a new page I'll be making soon
(within a week) that will host this SEO quiz.

And you can have two tries each.

The link will include your choice of anchor text and will pass on PR
etc... (so it will give your site a boost).. I'll leave the link on
the page until at least May 19th (my birthday), so 5 months of
benefit. Based on the PR of pages already on my mini SEO site it's
likely to be PR5 or PR6, so a new domain would likely be PR5 or PR4
with just this link.

Obviously I won't link to every type of sites, so if I think it's
iffy, not suitable for 16 year olds or illegal I won't link to it
(usual sort of stuff you do when looking at reciprocal links). But as
long as you can offer a suitable site you'll get a link.

No rush to answer I'll post my answers after the weekend, give those
new to SEO a chance to do some research :-) You'll more than likely
find the answer (my answers) in my old posts to this newsgroup.

David replace SP@AM with @ to email me direct.
_
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ooar123...-optimization/ Free
SEO Tips (01/01/2004)
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ooar123.../seo-help.html
hire SEO Dave
http://www.bdsm-lingerie.com Sexy Lingerie and BDSM Products Shop

#5

"SEO Dave" <ooar123SP (AT) AMntlworld (DOT) com> wrote

Quote:

On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 05:46:30 GMT, "James"
james.taylor (AT) aicNOomSPpaAMny (DOT) com> wrote:

Hi All,

All things being equal, will Google rank a site above another if the page
rank is higher?

What I mean is if two sites are almost identical on-page, but one has a
P/R
of 7/10 and the other 6/10, will Google place teh first one above the
second
in SERPS?

Not always.

Think since it's a question for the group we should turn it into a
quiz, so how many here think they know why?? (assuming you agree with
me of course).

Here's the quiz-

Two identical pages located on separate servers. Page A has enough
incoming links to make it PR5. Page B has enough incoming links to
make it PR6. We know nothing about the links to the sites, only that
they result in different PRs.

Ignoring potential duplicate content problems under what circumstances
can Page A rank above Page B in Google (assuming you believe it can)?

Possible answers.
------------------------

A. Google likes messing with people like us and PR is a made up
figure, so either page could show up, it's mostly random.

Not Likely. Page Rank is pretty clearly defined and calculatable on your
site if you wish.

Quote:

B. If a site is hosted in the US it receives a boost, if page A is
hosted in the US it may be enough to beat page B.

I do think that Google has Geo-positioning worked into it's algorithm.
By country only at this time. I have seen not evidence of them breaking it
down more than that yet.

Quote:

C. Google gives a boost for any keywords in the URL and directory
names. If the search phrase is part of the domain name in a hyphenated
form (keyword1-keyword2) for page A, but not for page B
(keyword1keyword2) it may be enough of a boost for page A to rank
higher.

I don't see evidence of this, in a repeatable way. Many seem to indicate
that a hyphenated keyword, rich URL will help but I read this wekend on
Bruce Clay's site that any more than two hyphens, in a domain total, will
hurt your chances. So www.keyword1-keword2.com is ok but you might run into
trouble if you do your file names that way as
well...www.keyword1-keword2.com/keyword3-keyword4.htm could be a problem..
Perhaps for the shorter keyword phrases, it helps a bit, just not sure.

I also think you will run into branding problems down the road. McDonalds
will want their name, not "fast food, hamburgers, fries, shakes and 25 lbs
on your fat butt by Christmas" (I know this keyword phrase from experience,
it happend to me!). If you are just starting a website, this could be an
acceptable strategy. If you are doing SEO professionally, it will usually
not be a viable option.

Quote:

D. Google penalises/filters the results for domains that have a
Adwords account so the owners have to spend more money to obtain
Google traffic. If page B is on a domain that's got a Adwords account,
but page A isn't, page A may rank higher (technically it's page B
ranking lower).

Nope, not likely since Google is shooting for an IPO and companies are
closely scrutinized a year B4 and a year or so after. Adwords accounts do
not afffect your ranking in general...although, I have one client who got a
free banner ad accross the top of their related page onceu they started an
AdWords campaign, Google was cool enough to comp them. I have another
client right now who knows one of the guys who developed Google's algorithm
and he gives them a banner for free in their category.

Quote:

E. Since Google gives old pages (those that have been on the site for
years) a boost relative to new pages, if page A is much older than
page B it could perform better in the SERPs.

Older pages tend to have more links and PR through natural attraction.
Although, I have to say that all of my old stuff resides inthe majors as
well as DMOZ but the newer stuff either costs to be submitted or can take ye
ars (DMOZ). I atribute this to many of the Search Engines having combined
over the years and having already had my content, they just "grandfathered"
the sites and their content in.

Quote:

F. Google considers anchor text as important. If the anchor text used
to link to the two pages is different it should affect which keywords
the pages rank well for.

Right on...although in my inial scenario, I intended to indicate that the
link text was pretty equal. I did not mention that and because of that slip
up, this would be the answer I would assume would make the most difference
based upon the choices above.

Quote:

G. Google considers the directory structure as important. If page A is
located in the root of the domain and page B is located several
folders deep it may be enough of a boost to take the SERP.

As long as the site is easily spiderable, this does not matter. ALTHOUGH,
freshbot doesn't go very deep and you might end up waiting a while to get
your site fully spiderd if you have many nested sub-directories. Sub
domains can help though since Google seems to see them as different sites
(i.e. www.keyword1.com and http://keyword2.keword1.com are seen as different
sites in Google).

Quote:

H. Sites that are linked to from DMOZ are given a boost in Google,
especially if the search phrase is part of the sites DMOZ description.
If page B lacks a DMOZ link that page A has it may be enough to rank
higher.

This seems to be true, but I think it is only as a result of the fact that
DMOZ content sites usually have pretty good Page Rank. DMOZ fills some
pretty big shoes by providing its directory content to quite a few other
directories.

Quote:

I. Google uses theming to help rank pages on a domain. If the
domain/site is primarily about one subject, pages related to that
subject will receive a boost. If page B is about a search phrase not
related to the rest of the site, but page A is highly themed, it may
be enough of a boost to take the lead.

Ahh, this is the subject of debate after Florida. Prior to Florida, this
was not the case, anythign pretty much went if you had enough in-bound
links. Now, I believe Google has theming implemented to some degree, in
their algorithm change. This would be my second answer if the IBL text were
the same.

Quote:

J. None of the above.

K. All of the above.

L. Insert your theory here.

Please select one or more of the options above____________

I'll post what I believe to be the correct options later.

David replace SP@AM with @ to email me direct.
_
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ooar123...-optimization/ Free
SEO Tips (01/01/2004)

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ooar123.../seo-help.html
hire SEO Dave
http://www.bdsm-lingerie.com Sexy Lingerie and BDSM Products Shop

--
James Taylor
http://www.AICompany.com
http://www.SEO-highrankings.com

#6

"SEO Dave" <ooar123SP (AT) AMntlworld (DOT) com> wrote

Quote:

Think since it's a question for the group we should turn it into a
quiz, so how many here think they know why?? (assuming you agree with
me of course).

Here's the quiz-

Two identical pages located on separate servers. Page A has enough
incoming links to make it PR5. Page B has enough incoming links to
make it PR6. We know nothing about the links to the sites, only that
they result in different PRs.

Ignoring potential duplicate content problems under what circumstances
can Page A rank above Page B in Google (assuming you believe it can)?

Possible answers.
------------------------

A. Google likes messing with people like us and PR is a made up
figure, so either page could show up, it's mostly random.

No

Quote:

B. If a site is hosted in the US it receives a boost, if page A is
hosted in the US it may be enough to beat page B.

Yes. Google determines country by IP-block as well as file extension, according
to Googleguy.

Quote:

C. Google gives a boost for any keywords in the URL and directory
names. If the search phrase is part of the domain name in a hyphenated
form (keyword1-keyword2) for page A, but not for page B
(keyword1keyword2) it may be enough of a boost for page A to rank
higher.

Yes, this can give a slight boost.

Quote:

D. Google penalises/filters the results for domains that have a
Adwords account so the owners have to spend more money to obtain
Google traffic. If page B is on a domain that's got a Adwords account,
but page A isn't, page A may rank higher (technically it's page B
ranking lower).

No.

Quote:

E. Since Google gives old pages (those that have been on the site for
years) a boost relative to new pages, if page A is much older than
page B it could perform better in the SERPs.

No. If the older page hasn't been updated in a while it won't be spidered as
often, although I haven't seen evidence that this will make it lose rank.

Quote:

F. Google considers anchor text as important. If the anchor text used
to link to the two pages is different it should affect which keywords
the pages rank well for.

Yes. Even if the keywords are the same, their order in anchor text makes a big
difference.

Quote:

G. Google considers the directory structure as important. If page A is
located in the root of the domain and page B is located several
folders deep it may be enough of a boost to take the SERP.

Nope.

Quote:

H. Sites that are linked to from DMOZ are given a boost in Google,
especially if the search phrase is part of the sites DMOZ description.
If page B lacks a DMOZ link that page A has it may be enough to rank
higher.

Again, no. A single DMOZ listing can lead to hundreds of other backlinks of
lesser value so it's easy to see how people come to this conclusion.

Quote:

I. Google uses theming to help rank pages on a domain. If the
domain/site is primarily about one subject, pages related to that
subject will receive a boost. If page B is about a search phrase not
related to the rest of the site, but page A is highly themed, it may
be enough of a boost to take the lead.

I've seen no evidence of theming yet.

Quote:

J. None of the above.

K. All of the above.

L. Insert your theory here.

Please select one or more of the options above

___B,C, and F

--
Alice Woolley
http://www.insidethebubble.co.uk/
Inside the Bubble - autism information

#7

Hey Dave,

You gonna keep us in limbo or are you going to share your opinions this
week?

--

James Taylor

http://www.aicompany.com
http://www.seo-highrankings.com
"Foxglove54321" <foxglove54321 (AT) aol (DOT) compost.net> wrote

Quote:

"SEO Dave" <ooar123SP (AT) AMntlworld (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:16invvcrt0gkv1ea2tunkh08k9a6ebcco7 (AT) 4ax (DOT) com...

Think since it's a question for the group we should turn it into a
quiz, so how many here think they know why?? (assuming you agree with
me of course).

Here's the quiz-

Two identical pages located on separate servers. Page A has enough
incoming links to make it PR5. Page B has enough incoming links to
make it PR6. We know nothing about the links to the sites, only that
they result in different PRs.

Ignoring potential duplicate content problems under what circumstances
can Page A rank above Page B in Google (assuming you believe it can)?

Possible answers.
------------------------

A. Google likes messing with people like us and PR is a made up
figure, so either page could show up, it's mostly random.

No

B. If a site is hosted in the US it receives a boost, if page A is
hosted in the US it may be enough to beat page B.

Yes. Google determines country by IP-block as well as file extension,
according
to Googleguy.

C. Google gives a boost for any keywords in the URL and directory
names. If the search phrase is part of the domain name in a hyphenated
form (keyword1-keyword2) for page A, but not for page B
(keyword1keyword2) it may be enough of a boost for page A to rank
higher.

Yes, this can give a slight boost.

D. Google penalises/filters the results for domains that have a
Adwords account so the owners have to spend more money to obtain
Google traffic. If page B is on a domain that's got a Adwords account,
but page A isn't, page A may rank higher (technically it's page B
ranking lower).

No.

E. Since Google gives old pages (those that have been on the site for
years) a boost relative to new pages, if page A is much older than
page B it could perform better in the SERPs.

No. If the older page hasn't been updated in a while it won't be spidered
as
often, although I haven't seen evidence that this will make it lose rank.

F. Google considers anchor text as important. If the anchor text used
to link to the two pages is different it should affect which keywords
the pages rank well for.

Yes. Even if the keywords are the same, their order in anchor text makes a
big
difference.

G. Google considers the directory structure as important. If page A is
located in the root of the domain and page B is located several
folders deep it may be enough of a boost to take the SERP.

Nope.

H. Sites that are linked to from DMOZ are given a boost in Google,
especially if the search phrase is part of the sites DMOZ description.
If page B lacks a DMOZ link that page A has it may be enough to rank
higher.

Again, no. A single DMOZ listing can lead to hundreds of other backlinks
of
lesser value so it's easy to see how people come to this conclusion.

I. Google uses theming to help rank pages on a domain. If the
domain/site is primarily about one subject, pages related to that
subject will receive a boost. If page B is about a search phrase not
related to the rest of the site, but page A is highly themed, it may
be enough of a boost to take the lead.

I've seen no evidence of theming yet.

J. None of the above.

K. All of the above.

L. Insert your theory here.

Please select one or more of the options above

___B,C, and F

--
Alice Woolley
http://www.insidethebubble.co.uk/
Inside the Bubble - autism information

#8

On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 09:00:44 +0000, SEO Dave
<ooar123SP (AT) AMntlworld (DOT) com> wrote:

Quote:

Think since it's a question for the group we should turn it into a
quiz, so how many here think they know why?? (assuming you agree with
me of course).

Here's the quiz-

Here's my answers.

Quote:

Two identical pages located on separate servers. Page A has enough
incoming links to make it PR5. Page B has enough incoming links to
make it PR6. We know nothing about the links to the sites, only that
they result in different PRs.

Ignoring potential duplicate content problems under what circumstances
can Page A rank above Page B in Google (assuming you believe it can)?

Possible answers.
------------------------

A. Google likes messing with people like us and PR is a made up
figure, so either page could show up, it's mostly random.

No

Quote:

B. If a site is hosted in the US it receives a boost, if page A is
hosted in the US it may be enough to beat page B.

No, there is no evidence being hosted in the US gives you a boost at
google.com. Had I of said is a site hosted in the UK may receive a
boost for UK specific searches (when you click the search UK sites
only) on google.co.uk then the answer would be yes.

Quote:

C. Google gives a boost for any keywords in the URL and directory
names. If the search phrase is part of the domain name in a hyphenated
form (keyword1-keyword2) for page A, but not for page B
(keyword1keyword2) it may be enough of a boost for page A to rank
higher.

Yes, keywords in domain names, folder names and file names do count
towards a pages SERPs. So if the keywords are relevant then it will
help.

Quote:

D. Google penalises/filters the results for domains that have a
Adwords account so the owners have to spend more money to obtain
Google traffic. If page B is on a domain that's got a Adwords account,
but page A isn't, page A may rank higher (technically it's page B
ranking lower).

No evidence of this.

Quote:

E. Since Google gives old pages (those that have been on the site for
years) a boost relative to new pages, if page A is much older than
page B it could perform better in the SERPs.

No, there is no evidence to indicate the age of a page in it self has
anything to do with it's ranking. That said the older a page is, more
likely it will gain links/PR etc... to it and those links have been
picked up by google. This is why you do tend to see a fair amount of
old pages high in the SERPs.

Quote:

F. Google considers anchor text as important. If the anchor text used
to link to the two pages is different it should affect which keywords
the pages rank well for.

Big Yes, anchor text alone can get you a very good ranking for the
keywords used in the anchor text. Look up Google Bombs like the
Miserable Failure Google Bomb.

Quote:

G. Google considers the directory structure as important. If page A is
located in the root of the domain and page B is located several
folders deep it may be enough of a boost to take the SERP.

No, in fact with the right directory structure the opposite can be
true.

Quote:

H. Sites that are linked to from DMOZ are given a boost in Google,
especially if the search phrase is part of the sites DMOZ description.
If page B lacks a DMOZ link that page A has it may be enough to rank
higher.

No, a link or links from DMOZ is no more important than a
corresponding link from another site.

Quote:

I. Google uses theming to help rank pages on a domain. If the
domain/site is primarily about one subject, pages related to that
subject will receive a boost. If page B is about a search phrase not
related to the rest of the site, but page A is highly themed, it may
be enough of a boost to take the lead.

No. There is no evidence Google uses theming. As long as the anchor
text of links is relevant the link will produce a direct benefit.

Quote:

J. None of the above.

K. All of the above.

L. Insert your theory here.

I'll post what I believe to be the correct options later.

We had a couple of close ones to my answers (C and F) and some
interesting alternatives, but no winner I'm afraid :-)

David replace SP@AM with @ to email me direct.
_
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ooar123...-optimization/ Free
SEO Tips (01/01/2004)
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ooar123.../seo-help.html
hire SEO Dave
http://www.bdsm-lingerie.com Sexy Lingerie and BDSM Products Shop

#9

"SEO Dave" <ooar123SP (AT) AMntlworld (DOT) com> wrote

Quote:

On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 09:00:44 +0000, SEO Dave
ooar123SP (AT) AMntlworld (DOT) com> wrote:

Think since it's a question for the group we should turn it into a
quiz, so how many here think they know why?? (assuming you agree with
me of course).

Here's the quiz-

Here's my answers.

Two identical pages located on separate servers. Page A has enough
incoming links to make it PR5. Page B has enough incoming links to
make it PR6. We know nothing about the links to the sites, only that
they result in different PRs.

Ignoring potential duplicate content problems under what circumstances
can Page A rank above Page B in Google (assuming you believe it can)?

Possible answers.
------------------------

A. Google likes messing with people like us and PR is a made up
figure, so either page could show up, it's mostly random.

No

B. If a site is hosted in the US it receives a boost, if page A is
hosted in the US it may be enough to beat page B.

No, there is no evidence being hosted in the US gives you a boost at
google.com. Had I of said is a site hosted in the UK may receive a
boost for UK specific searches (when you click the search UK sites
only) on google.co.uk then the answer would be yes.

C. Google gives a boost for any keywords in the URL and directory
names. If the search phrase is part of the domain name in a hyphenated
form (keyword1-keyword2) for page A, but not for page B
(keyword1keyword2) it may be enough of a boost for page A to rank
higher.

Yes, keywords in domain names, folder names and file names do count
towards a pages SERPs. So if the keywords are relevant then it will
help.

D. Google penalises/filters the results for domains that have a
Adwords account so the owners have to spend more money to obtain
Google traffic. If page B is on a domain that's got a Adwords account,
but page A isn't, page A may rank higher (technically it's page B
ranking lower).

No evidence of this.

E. Since Google gives old pages (those that have been on the site for
years) a boost relative to new pages, if page A is much older than
page B it could perform better in the SERPs.

No, there is no evidence to indicate the age of a page in it self has
anything to do with it's ranking. That said the older a page is, more
likely it will gain links/PR etc... to it and those links have been
picked up by google. This is why you do tend to see a fair amount of
old pages high in the SERPs.

F. Google considers anchor text as important. If the anchor text used
to link to the two pages is different it should affect which keywords
the pages rank well for.

Big Yes, anchor text alone can get you a very good ranking for the
keywords used in the anchor text. Look up Google Bombs like the
Miserable Failure Google Bomb.

G. Google considers the directory structure as important. If page A is
located in the root of the domain and page B is located several
folders deep it may be enough of a boost to take the SERP.

No, in fact with the right directory structure the opposite can be
true.

H. Sites that are linked to from DMOZ are given a boost in Google,
especially if the search phrase is part of the sites DMOZ description.
If page B lacks a DMOZ link that page A has it may be enough to rank
higher.

No, a link or links from DMOZ is no more important than a
corresponding link from another site.

I. Google uses theming to help rank pages on a domain. If the
domain/site is primarily about one subject, pages related to that
subject will receive a boost. If page B is about a search phrase not
related to the rest of the site, but page A is highly themed, it may
be enough of a boost to take the lead.

No. There is no evidence Google uses theming. As long as the anchor
text of links is relevant the link will produce a direct benefit.

J. None of the above.

K. All of the above.

L. Insert your theory here.

I'll post what I believe to be the correct options later.

We had a couple of close ones to my answers (C and F) and some
interesting alternatives, but no winner I'm afraid :-)

David replace SP@AM with @ to email me direct.
_
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ooar123...-optimization/ Free
SEO Tips (01/01/2004)

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ooar123.../seo-help.html
hire SEO Dave
http://www.bdsm-lingerie.com Sexy Lingerie and BDSM Products Shop

Actually, this was a pretty fun exercise. The question I have is ...does
anyone disagree with Dave's assessment...You NEED PROOF to do it though.

Thanks for your insight and help on this one Dave.

--

James Taylor

http://www.aicompany.com
http://www.seo-highrankings.com

#10

On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 14:56:08 -0800, "James Taylor" <james (AT) nothere (DOT) com>
wrote:

Quote:

Actually, this was a pretty fun exercise. The question I have is ...does
anyone disagree with Dave's assessment...You NEED PROOF to do it though.

Was fun for me making up the other answers based on various SEO
misconceptions.

Always open to being shown I'm wrong since I use this information to
make money, if it's wrong I'm going to make less money :-(

Quote:

Thanks for your insight and help on this one Dave.

No problem.

David replace SP@AM with @ to email me direct.
_
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ooar123...-optimization/ Free
SEO Tips (01/01/2004)
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ooar123.../seo-help.html
hire SEO Dave
http://www.bdsm-lingerie.com Sexy Lingerie and BDSM Products Shop