Today, Dan Wegner launched the SEO Rank Calculator at www.danwegner.com. The tool provides an accurate and objective ranking for a given search term and base url (e.g. www.mysite.com). The tool calculates SEO Rank by assigning weight to the top five search engines according to overall U.S. search volume and returns a number between one and 100. Dan Wegner is also giving away the source code when you register for free at the site. The SEO Rank Calculator tool and an explanation of the calculation can be found at http://www.danwegner.com/content/view/69/31/.
You're probably thinking "I really doubt Google needs my help." And you're right. Google will do fine without you. But if you choose to partner in Google's success, Google will reward you with traffic. How do you partner in Google's success? You begin by aligning yourself with Google's goals. One of Google's main goals is to provide useful search results. The better their search results, the more likely the Internet user base that provides Google with 53% of Web searches will keep coming back and using their tool. Then Google can continue to deliver ads to those people and generate humongous amounts of money - like the $2.7 billion they generated last quarter.
So drop the sneaky SEO crap like cloaking (they'll find out anyway and then say goodbye to seeing that site in Google for a long time), link spamming (it's loosing it's effectiveness), keyword stuffing (it so 2005!), and the like. Instead you need to start creating real value. Identify your core value or find an under-represented niche (use this KEI Calculator. KEI calculates the ratio of search results to number of searches [note: KEI itself is intended only as a starting point]) and start writing useful content or find someone to write it for you (try elance.com or IdeaMarketers.com). Now make sure your page title, meta tags and headers accurately portray your focus on your chosen niche. And finally, don't forget to link to other useful information and add new content regularly. This is not "pie in the sky" suggestions. I did this for a couple of months and see how I rank in Google for SEO Video against a whole lot of competition. You can do it too by following this simple strategy of seeing Google as a partner.
This is from the first Internet Marketing Conference 12 years ago. Hindsight is 20/20 but it's amazing how insightful these guys are. If you want to know what's going to happen in the future, I'd talk to these guys.
