Website search results

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There are those that tell me that my old fashioned HTML based site (CERM Church Education Resource Ministries) needs to be upgraded to some blog format like Word Press or something else in order for my hits to increase. While a blogging format has many advantages, the truth is I have so much on my site and can't justify the expense of such a move without a good reason, and not unless I would see results. I am capable of managing my site via Sea Monkey and the old fashioned way just fine.

Doing some key word searches in Google I see that some of my pages rank up towards the top and better than newer designed sites, while others not as high. I think that popularity is a high contributor to search results and this may or may not have anything to do with website format whether it be old fashioned HTML like mine or something newer.

So does anyone know of Google & yahoo's formula for web search results? Thank you.


John
 

chscag

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Can't help you with the search results, but wanted to compliment you on your site. I just added it to my "Christian Folder" in bookmarks. :)
 
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I'm no expert - but there is a thing called Search Engine Optimization - where you setup your pages such that the various search engines will rank your page higher.
Search engine optimization - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Getting found is the first step. The reason why the newer CRMs are better IMHO - is because of interactivity. Like this website for example - contributors write articles and visitors can comment on them. If you want to keep people coming back - you have to engage them.

Wordpress is one of the more popular CMS - but others like Joomla and Drupal are open source - you just need web hosting that supports such things. Beyond the interactivity - these systems are designed to be modular and upgradeable - so instead of you having to worry about every detail of the code - you just put in your Content and use the CMS to give the overall look and feel to your site - and manage the data.
 

Raz0rEdge

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It isn't the software you use that affects your page ranking its the content and how many people link to your site and so on..

If you are fine managing your site as it stands, just look into SEO to make the links more compatible and you should be good..
 
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I'm no expert - but there is a thing called Search Engine Optimization - where you setup your pages such that the various search engines will rank your page higher.
Search engine optimization - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Getting found is the first step. The reason why the newer CRMs are better IMHO - is because of interactivity. Like this website for example - contributors write articles and visitors can comment on them. If you want to keep people coming back - you have to engage them.

Wordpress is one of the more popular CMS - but others like Joomla and Drupal are open source - you just need web hosting that supports such things. Beyond the interactivity - these systems are designed to be modular and upgradeable - so instead of you having to worry about every detail of the code - you just put in your Content and use the CMS to give the overall look and feel to your site - and manage the data.

This does not answer the question as to why SOME of my pages rank better than CMS type sites.
 
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I cannot give you a direct answer - no one really can. The search algorithms are proprietary and it is how the search engines make money. You need to research SEO - and the various search engines - and see what about certain pages make them rank higher. SEO will also help you put content and markers that will help pages that aren't doing well. There are entire businesses built on SEO and if you really want help - search on SEO optimization and find a consultant that will help you - but just because you optimize for search engines does not guarantee a page rank.

The point was - if you want site visits and persistent visitors - interactivity helps that - and that helps search engines as well. But a full comprehensive reason on why your website shows up one way or another - that is something people get paid for. Google SEO consultant to see what I mean.
 

Raz0rEdge

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This does not answer the question as to why SOME of my pages rank better than CMS type sites.

As Ivan said, the actual algorithm that tracks and shows you the results from any search engine is a trade secret and all the players (Google, Bing, Yahoo, whoever else) is very protective about ensuring the credibility of that system. Any gaming of that system usually results in harsh penalties..

Having many links sink to your site (or specific pages) will elevate the entire site or specific pages based on search criteria..

But as Ivan also suggested, it isn't just one thing that make things bubble up, but if you are already showing up fairly high in search results, then that's great..
 
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I have found in web development that a cms site will go up in the rankings quicker than a static page site

Linking is vital but I am guessing that Google counts a WordPress like site as being one that will be more regularly updated so that should be a positive thing

But that's just my personal experience
 

Raz0rEdge

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I have found in web development that a cms site will go up in the rankings quicker than a static page site

Linking is vital but I am guessing that Google counts a WordPress like site as being one that will be more regularly updated so that should be a positive thing

But that's just my personal experience

At the end of the day a CMS is generating a static XHTML/CSS page dynamically from content stored in a database, so technically it should look little different than a static page.

You can use META tags in the HTML header to let the various robots to return to the page often if you really want. Having appropriate search words also helps, and having a "pretty" URL helps even more..
 
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As Ivan said, the actual algorithm that tracks and shows you the results from any search engine is a trade secret and all the players (Google, Bing, Yahoo, whoever else) is very protective about ensuring the credibility of that system. Any gaming of that system usually results in harsh penalties..

Having many links sink to your site (or specific pages) will elevate the entire site or specific pages based on search criteria..

But as Ivan also suggested, it isn't just one thing that make things bubble up, but if you are already showing up fairly high in search results, then that's great..

Some of my pages rank very high and others not as high. I can't afford moving to a CMS site at this time either in cost or in time.
 

RavingMac

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I know nothing absolutely nothing about the entire thing, but is it possible that some pages rank higher because the content has wider interest than the others?

I asked that, because I visited your site and clicked on a few pages. I didn't click all, just the ones that piqued my interest. Is that sort of thing driving the difference you are seeing? If so, it's content rather than page design.
 

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