Google Optimization Myths and Truths

Original article by Jon Leger

There's a great thread going on at WebmasterWorld about what Google really does and does not focus on in their search algorithms.

There is, of course, much being debated, but also there is some consensus:

1. Google evaluates the content section of a page differently from the rest of the template (Truth).
The general consensus is that Google's algorithm puts less emphasis on links coming from the borders around the actual content of the page, and more on links within the content body itself. So when trying to get links into your site from other sites, see if you can get them to link to you from inside one of their articles or pages.
2. Using a dedicated IP address helps in ranking (Myth).

It's long been a rumor that having a dedicated IP address is better for your rankings. I've never seen that to be true, and apparently few of the webmasters at WMW see it as being true.
3. Having non W3C compliant code will harm your site (Myth).

Your HTML doesn't need to be W3C compliant, though it does need to be error-free. I like to use the W3.org HTML Validator to check my pages.

Here's my favorite Truth that has come out of that discussion:

Google takes up far too much of our time and resources (Truth)

Focusing too much of your time and attention on one source of traffic whose algorithm is continually changing is a bad idea. Put most of your time into having a great site and getting a lot of links into your site, and good rankings and traffic will follow.