You’ve Got Questions? We’ve Got Answers!
It’s not that you necessarily want to know what we know… it’s that you want to know that we know. We understand. That’s why we’ve taken the time to gather some of the most difficult questions (and some that are admittedly not so difficult) to give you an overview of the complexities that are faced in SEO and to give you the assurance that we know how to handle them!
1. What are the strengths of the TruClick Team?
The TruClick Team is headed up by Brad Edwards, who founded Telebay, LLC. in 2002. Within one year he grew it to become a Top 5 Master Agent for Z-Tel (at the time, Z-Tel had the largest footprint of any local phone carrier spanning 48 states) and a Top 3 Master Agent for VoIP provider 8×8 (formerly known as Packet8, 8×8 is the second most popular broadband phone company in the USA, behind Vonage). Telebay.com consistently had an Alexa ranking between 15 & 35,000 between 2004 and 2007, before Brad moved on to other endeavors.
Brad personally oversees your project and works with other TruClick team members to ensure that your SEO campaign is as successful as possible. Other TruClick Team Members include experts in HTML, CSS and PHP, as well as members with the writing, creative and analytical skills necessary to give your SEO project the edge it needs in today’s competitive marketplace.
2. Could you briefly explain the PageRank algorithm?
First of all, the term PageRank belongs to Google. They coined (actually, trademarked) the name to help explain the process (they also patented the process!) that Google undertakes to determine the relevance (and importance) of an indexed page in relation to the search being performed by the user. The PageRank assigned to a page is comprised of many factors and elements that are determined by Google to be accurate predictors of the page’s relevance.
Google describes PageRank this way:
PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important”.
The “algorithm” behind PageRank is the actual formula that Google uses to assign a numeric value to a page. It is comprised of many complicated factors, but one of these is based upon a page’s popularity (income links from sources of varying quality).
Two forms of PageRank are found in each, the Google Toolbar (a browser plugin allows you to see their ranking of a page on a numeric scale of 1-10, with 10 being the best) and also the Google Directory with uses a scale of 1-8 (as indicated by a green bar).
Theoretically, PageRank can be manipulated by buying links from Sites with a high PageRank. However, this practice can get you penalized by Google… which means that you may be removed from their index altogether (worse case scenario).
3. What do you think of using XML sitemaps?
Sitemaps are actually debated by SEO experts. Some would argue that a well-structed website (with good navigation) doesn’t need a sitemap. We would argue that if Google asks for it, we are going to provide it! All three of the major search engines (Google, Yahoo and MSN) provide a way to submit your sitemap to them so that they can better index each page. We believe, if there are 5 ways to submit your Website to Google, take advantage of all of them!
4. What are your thoughts on the direction of Web 2.0 technologies with regards to SEO?
First, it is important to give some examples of what may be considered Web 2.0 technologies. Here are just a few: javascript, CSS, RSS feeds and XML. These technologies enable the following characteristics that typically define Web 2.0:
• The running of software via a web browser. This would include web-based applications (such as Google Docs and Me.com).
• The empowering of Users to create and own data (such as Blogging sites).
• The facilitation of collaborative user interaction (Basecamp or Digg).
• The social aspect that links users to one another to build friendships or business relationships (MySpace and Facebook).
• The open nature of these platforms typically engenders growth via a community of programmers encouraged to develop add-on applications that further heighten the user experience.
Because of the social aspects of Web 2.0, there are more opportunities than ever before to promote your Site. But, if the question is specifically about the “technology” factor of Web 2.0 (such as javascript and RSS feeds) the answer would be: use javascript sparingly, in such a way that it doesn’t hide data that would benefit your search engine optimization. Technologies such as RSS and XML, however, are a great way to “spread” your Site across the Web. And, regarding CSS, this is important to SEO because it promotes standards in coding and layout that will get your Site noticed by the search engines.
