Kalena Jordan of Ask Kalena was recently asked this question:

Why do older unoptimized sites sometimes rank better than younger optimized ones?

It’s a good question and I like the way she answered it. I’m going to give my own answer now even though she and I are in agreement.

The search engines have well over 100 criteria that they judge when deciding which sites rank for specific keyword phrases. The algorithms are such that no criteria is weighted so heavily that it dominates all other criteria. On-page optimization is just one ranking factor. Other ranking factors that influence where websites fall in the line up include:

• Age of the domain
• Relevance of inbound links to the domain
• Quality of inbound links to the domain
• Server neighborhood of the domain
• Registration history and future of the domain
• Web page load time
• Code to text ratio
• Link attributes and graphic alt tags
• Many, many more

There is more to website optimization than merely choosing the right keywords and placing them a number of times within your content. Internal links are important, site navigation is important, and there are a ton of off site optimization techniques that are looked at. If an older non-optimized site in your niche is outranking you, it is likely because it is doing enough things right that the one ranking factor (on-page optimization) simply isn’t enough to push it down and push you up.

The good news: Over time, if you keep doing enough of the right things, you should be able to bridge the gap.

Find out the 3 essential elements to ranking a web site well in any search engine.

One restaurant owner in Arizona drove to pick up a customer who had been involved in an automobile accident and was in danger of missing his reservation. Now that’s customer service! And it got such word of mouth buzz that the restaurant attracted press stories - and not just in its home town.

The story is the perfect illustration of how exceptional service can lead to word of mouth buzz. It’s uncommon and this type of service doesn’t happen every day, which is what makes it worth talking about. And if you perform that kind of service for your customers then you’ll be talked about too.

Never deny the power of word of mouth advertising. It’s cheap advertising, but by cheap I don’t mean non-valuable. The value is immeasurable. It’s inexpensive because you don’t have to shell out dollars and hope it works. It is costly, however, because exceptional service requires some level of risk that must be managed. Still, it’s worth every ounce of it. There is no substitute for word of mouth buzz, even for a small business.

If you like to fish then you understand the importance of bait. You take something that fish like, put it on the end of a hook, and throw your line in the water. When they bite, you snag them and reel them in. Link bait works much the same way.

What you do is create some kind of content that others will find attractive to link to. You are “baiting” their links. But not just any link bait will do. The No. 1 rule for link bait is to make it relevant.

You want the people who link to your site to be people within your niche. They will be people who own websites or blogs about your topic. Your link bait will attract their links and that translates into a higher PageRank and eventually higher rankings for you. Sounds simple, right?

Well, it is simple enough to understand. The hard part is creating the content. You have to predict what people will like, which requires having some understanding of human nature and what people within your industry want. If you can nail that down, you can create some awesome link bait.

Talking to some friends the other day I had someone say to me, “Don’t you have to pay to be on page 1 of Google?” My chin dropped.

It dawned on me that the typical user of the Internet who has no interest in running a business online and who may never run a business online has no idea how to get their website ranked in the search engines. They, first off, probably have no interest since they aren’t running a business. I guess that’s just the way it is.

But if you do run a business and you do want to establish a Web presence, the first myth you need to get out of your mind is that you have to pay to be listed in the search engines. You don’t.

We live a pay your way world. You have to pay for all your basic needs - food, shelter, clothing - well, I guess you don’t have to pay for self actualization. But some people do. They have therapists to help them get there. Others just take up yoga.

Online, however, the economy is different. You don’t have to pay to be No. 1. You just have to learn how search engines work and build a website that does all the right things. But that’s not as easy as it sounds. It does take work. Like mowing the lawn. It’s virtually free. You pay for the gas in your mower, but if you do it yourself your only expense is your time. Or you can pay the kid down the block $25 to do it for you.

When it comes to making sure that you achieve respectable rankings for your website, you can do it yourself - if you have the time. Or you can pay someone to guide you. But Google doesn’t need your money.

I stumbled across this website called www.dontclick.it. Of course, the concept is intriguing, but the thought crossed my mind, How would this concept affect SEO if it were to roll out across the entire Web?

First, the site is designed entirely in Flash. In order for it to do very well in the search engines at all, Flash would have to move beyond its current state of interest and the search engines would need to capability of crawling them. That’s already happening to some degree. But Google would have to to do better than that in order for Flash sites to be indexed the same way that HTML sites are now. That’s for starters.

Another thing that I think would happen if the entire Web looked this way is meta tags would go out of fashion completely. There’d be no need for them. If the search engines could crawl the Flash files and read the text and images for indexing purposes then there’d be no need for meta tags whatsoever. They’d completely disappear.

The most obvious issues related to search engine spiders would be the links. Since we’re talking about mouseover effects inside of Flash, there might be an issue with the search engines being able to crawl those links - at least at their present stage of development. Google has been known, however, to find solutions for its algorithms based on new developments in design so it is not entirely impossible that Google couldn’t figure that out. And what Google does the other search engines are sure to follow.

Still, the biggest downfall of a Flash-dominated Web would be the interlinking. Would webmasters still want to link out using mouseover links? Today, if you want to leave a website to get to another, you have to click a link and that takes a conscious effort. What about if you simply had to mouseover it?

You could make the mouseover require an action like swiveling the mouse in order to activate the link, or add a timer, but each method has some drawbacks. No matter, there would still be some SEO ramifications to any of these solutions. Would link building still have the same effect that it has today?

I realize some of this may be over the heads of readers who are new to the Web development and are still trying to figure out why linking matters at all. But eventually these questions will have to be answered. I see Flash becoming a more important part of the Web, but just how important remains to be seen. And, of course, like any new development, there will be adjustments. But the SEO part of the equation is one that I find intriguing and am somewhat concerned. Does anyone else share that concern?

This is a timeless question: Are links or keywords more important?

Before I answer it, I want to discuss briefly the importance of each one and tell why I think they are each individually important.

Keywords are content. Content is king. Without content on your blog or website, you cannot hope to rank in the search engines. Keywords are definitely what make that happen. But can you do it on keywords alone?

It seems that it is becoming much more difficult to rely on content alone to achieve great rankings. It’s not that it can’t be done - it can, and still is done by people who know how to write excellent website content. But it takes longer now than it used to and there is usually more competition, but that depends on your niche. Nevertheless, keywords and content are the first step to achieving rankings.

But what about links? Can you achieve high rankings without links? Yes, you can. But should you? No, probably not.

While links to a content with no website might temporarily get you a listing, once the search engines discover that your site has no content then you will likely lose your rankings. Inbound links have been known to influence rankings in uncanny ways. Link bombs and various other linking schemes have been used to artificially boost web pages so I wouldn’t recommend those approaches. But a good, solid link building campaign can take a well-optimized website and give it a boost. Think of a fast car with a fuel projection system. You may not need the fuel projection system to go fast, but if you have a fast car and add the jet fuel projector then you’ll certainly get a boost on the freeway.

That’s what true SEO should look like. Your job as webmaster of your site is to write excellent content that uses keywords well enough to get you good rankings on their own, then add the fuel projection system of link building to the equation and watch your site do even better.

Learn more about SEO copywriting from Small Business Mavericks.

Google has announced that it has improved its ability to crawl and index Flash files. Specifically, Google can now index any kind of text within Flash files, Flash gadgets, and self-contained Flash websites. So does that mean you should run out and find the best Flash developer you can find and build the coolest Flash website on the Web? Not so fast, buckaroo.

Flash is still a very information-intensive program. It will slow down your load time and that’s every bit as important as being indexed. When you take a look at Google’s algorithms, they include all sorts of criteria, few of which are more important than any others. While Google may be able to read and index the text inside of your Flash files, my bet is it will still be better to have actual text outside of the files than to rely solely on text within the files. SEO doesn’t change just because Google adds a new development.

And you’ve also got to keep in mind that Google isn’t the Internet. They may have the lion’s share of searchers looking for information in their search engine, but Yahoo! and MSN Live are still players. You still have AOL, Ask.com, Dogpile, and a host of other search engines that don’t read Flash files. While I wouldn’t build a business model on Ask.com, I wouldn’t ignore it either. You’ve got to develop a website that feeds all the spiders, not just one.

All of that aside, however, can Flash be useful? You bet. Include it in your web development plans. Just don’t let it take over.

An article at Inside CRM lists 15 websites that can influence your business for good or bad, but the article is rather flawed. Here are the 15 sites the article lists that are influential enough to make or break your company:

• Google
• YouTube
• Amazon.com
• Wikipedia
• Facebook
• MySpace
• Digg
• TechCrunch
• Colbert Nation
• Valleywag
• Twitter
• The Smoking Gun
• Oprah
• The Consumerist
• The Huffington Post

The problem with this list is that most of these websites don’t give a hoot about your small business enough to pay it one iota of attention, let alone boost it on a pedestal or drag it through the mud. Of this list, most small business owners need only consider 4 of them, maybe 5, as potential websites to concern themselves with in protecting their brand.

Those 5 sites are:

• Google
• YouTube
• Facebook
• MySpace
• Twitter (wild card)

Google, of course, is the most popular search engine today. They really don’t care about your site. An impartial source, Google algorithms do all the work. It’s up to you really how well, or how poorly, you are perceived through Google’s lenses. Google does nothing; you do everything. They catalog information; you present it. But you can build a solid business online without being listed in Google (though I wouldn’t recommend it).

YouTube is a video sharing site. Yes, you can have videos go viral. Many have. But look at the odds. Seriously, millions of videos uploaded, only thousands with a record of success. Possible, but don’t bet money on it. Just build your brand honestly, create and upload videos if they’ll benefit you, and just do good business. To be honest, YouTube isn’t for everyone, but for those that it will benefit it has potential.

Facebook is one of the best ways you can build your brand. Like Google, it does nothing. You do everything. These sites provide the opportunity; it’s up to you to take advantage of it. Network, network, network.

MySpace is for teens. Does your business cater to teens? Use it. If not, forget about it.

Twitter, I’ve never used it. I’ve heard it’s great. It probably is. Many people use it and say sweet things. If you want to give it a go I see no reason why you shouldn’t.

But what about the rest of these sites? Amazon.com is an online book store and product retailer. Do you sell through them? Is it a place that you could sell through? Then by all means it could help you. If you’re not a retailer then Amazon likely won’t be much good for you.

Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia. Most of us don’t need to be listed there. Have you made any significant accomplishments? Maybe they deserve a mention. But don’t expect a flood of business just because your friend Biff went up and told the world that you won the Blue Ribbon Award for Dog Grooming in Nantucket, Illinois (Is there a Nantucket in Illinois?).

TechCrunch, Valleywag, The Smoking Gun, The Consumerist, and The Huffington Post are all news sites. If you aren’t newsworthy then you likely won’t be mentioned on any of these. TechCrunch and Valleywag only deal with technology so if you aren’t a technology company then don’t count on it. The Smoking Gun destroys reputations. Sound inviting? The Huffington Post is a political site. The Consumerist is The Smoking Gun of the marketplace, but if you aren’t a big brand worth talking about then they likely won’t care that you ticked off Bongo the Clown because you didn’t have any red balloons.

That leaves Oprah, Colbert Nation, and Digg. Oprah is very influential. But you have to work your soles off to get on her show and it’s a task. Unless you have something that has a very wide and potentially popular appeal, don’t waste a lot of time chasing Oprah.

Stephen Colbert is a funny guy. Why would he care about your small business? Only Colbert knows.

And Digg, hmmm. Interesting site. Can help you get a lot of traffic. But if you look like you are trying to get publicity through Digg then you’ll get blasted by the in crowd at Digg. They either like you or they don’t and they generally don’t like marketers. But you can get some traffic here. Personally, I think you’re better off with StumbleUpon and a few other social sites. The most popular isn’t always the best.

Honestly, Yahoo and MSN Live can do you better service than some of these sites. As a small business, just stick to the basics and you’ll do fine.

Do you have a small business Internet marketing blueprint?

When it comes to link popularity there are two types of link popularity you should concern yourself with. The first type is pretty well known and most webmasters already know about it. The entire SEO community has built itself around this type of link popularity and many SEO businesses have survived as a result of it. It’s the type of link popularity that involves building inbound links from other websites back into yours. There are various methods of doing this and they’ve been covered to great depth on this blog and everywhere else, so I’m not going to talk about that type of link popularity today.

The second type of link popularity gets less airplay, but it’s not any less important. In fact, it’s equally important. This type of link popularity doesn’t have anything to do with inbound links or links from other websites and you have a lot more control over it as the webmaster of your company website. It’s internal link popularity.

What I’m referring to is the link popularity of the internal pages of your website as related to the link structure of your website as a whole. In other words, which pages and how many pages link to each page of your website? It’s important to think about this, not just for now but for the future as well.

Of course, it’s a lot easier to think about internal link popularity for a small site than it is for a large site. The way link juice works is like this: Your PageRank is divided among the pages that a particular page links out to. So if a page links out to 100 web pages and has a PR 5 then the link juice attributed to that link is divided among those 100 web pages. That means a page that links to 100 other web pages passes less link juice to each page than a web page that links to only 10 other web pages, no matter what the PR is. This is very important to keep in mind for your internal link structure.

Let’s say you have a web page that is rather old and has built up quite a bit of authority. Let’s say its PR6 is at least one point ahead of every other page on your website. You need to think carefully about which other pages you want that page to link to. You probably don’t want it to link to every other page on your website. You’ll want to be selective.

Here are a few tips to help you think about your internal link structure and decide which pages should link to which other pages on your site:

• Include a nofollow attribute on links pointing to your About and Contact Us pages
• Don’t include every page on your site navigation bar
• Break your site down into tiers and only include tier 1 and 2 pages on the Nav Bar
• Consider building separate navigation bars for sections of your website if those sections appeal to different target markets or if it makes sense to do so
• Use in-text links to point to pages that might be relevant
• Don’t link to every page from your index page and don’t include in-text links on your home page
• Don’t overload your pages with too many links; this will create an effect of diminishing returns for all of your links

Internal link popularity is just as important as external link popularity. Use links judiciously and don’t just superfluously link to pages on your site thinking that will benefit you. It could hinder you.

I’m going to hit you with an analogy. Your SEO fork has three prongs on it. Break one off and your fork can’t function properly. Here they are in a nutshell:

• Content (keywords)
• Meta Tags
• Links

These are the three things you MUST do well as a webmaster to rank well in the search engines. All of them are important, but it starts with Content, the primary prong on your SEO fork. I have put together a two-part video series that discusses the 3 prongs of your SEO fork and how you can effectively incorporate them into your web strategy to promote your business. Feel free to take the time and watch these two videos. Here they are, parts 1 and 2:

Part 1

Part 2

For more great videos on SEO and Internet marketing topics, feel free to visit the Small Business Mavericks video page.