This entry has been contributed by Creative ReporterM - Darren Yates. Darren is the owner of http://www.how-to-make-money-online.info.

How many years have you registered your domain name for?
Only one? This could raise a flag within the Google Algorithm and damage your search engine ranking.

Why?

Because most Spam websites register a domain name for only one year. A longer-term domain name registration implies that the owner is more likely to be legitimate and serious about their web site.

This is just one of the odd factors that Google may consider when they decide on your websites search engine ranking.

How do I know this?

Earlier this year Google made public the contents of their official filing of United States Patent Application 20050071741 on March 31 2005.

This patent reveals many of Googles secret search engine ranking criteria and it makes very interesting reading. I've broken it down below into the key points. You really must read this if you are serious about a good search engine ranking in Google. The days of Spamming Google are drawing to a close. With this patent they reveal just how hard they're coming down on Spam sites. You Do Not want to get caught by their algorithm.

Here are the facts.

Links

Inbound relevant links to a site play a major part in the search engine ranking of that site. Now they reveal exactly how it works.

Together with the number, quality and anchor text factors of a link Google also seems to consider historical factors. Apparently the Google 'Sandbox' or aging delay begins counting down the minute links to a new site are discovered.

Google records the discovery of a link, the link changes over time, the speed at which a site gains links and the life span of a link. With this in mind fast link acquisition may be a strong indicator of potential search engine Spam.

Gone are the days of pages and pages full of links. You must grow your links slowly to stay below the radar and be careful who you exchange links with. That means no more link farms or buying hundreds of links at once or other underhand tactics.

PR is now very valuable. Your search engine ranking is worth a great deal to potential link partners do not squandar it on link exchanges with poor or spam sites.

Did you know each link outward bound from your site impacts on your search engine ranking? It may be only by a small amount but even so doesn't it then make sense to link only with worthwhile sites?

Another consideration is your link anchor text, this is the text that you add your link to, and it seems now that it should vary but remain consistent with your site content. No more using your main keywords on every link exchange you gain. That's 'anchor Spam'. Instead vary them around your top five to ten keywords.

Link exchanges are still very important but you must work and utilize them ethically. If you don't and you get caught the search engine ranking recovery from a ban can be months in coming and your host and IP may also be recorded.

Softly, softly seems to be the message here. The fact is fewer but better quality links will benefit you more anyway and they will be much more likely to be long-term which is also good.

Site click through rates (CTR)

This is the click through to your site from a search result page on Google. CTR may now be monitored through cache, temporary files, bookmarks and favorites via the Google toolbar or desktop tools.

Many have suspected for a while that sites are rewarded for good CTR with a raise in their search engine ranking. Similar to how Adwords works with a good CTR raising your ads listing.

CTR is monitored to see if fresh or stale content is preferred for a search result.

CTR is also analyzed for increases or decreases relating to trends or seasons. For example a ski related site may rank higher in the winter than in the summer. Google can monitor and reward a site with better search engine ranking by recording CTR changes by season.

� Search engine rankings are recorded and monitored for changes.

� The traffic to a web page is recorded and monitored over time.

� Bookmarks and favorites could be monitored for changes, deletions or additions.

� User behaviour in general could be monitored.

As Google is capable of tracking traffic to your site from theirs you should closely monitor the small amount of copy returned in search results with your listing. Ideally you want to integrate a call to action in there to increase your listings CTR.

When a visitor arrives at your site any click back to the search results is also monitored. Make your site as sticky as possible to keep visitors there longer. As mentioned above it may also help if you could get your visitors to bookmark you.

� The frequency and amount of page updates is monitored and recorded as is the number of pages a site contains.

Mass updates of hundreds of files or the bulk addition of hundreds of pages will see you pop up on the Google radar. On the other hand few or small updates to your site could see your search engine rankings slide unless your CTR is good.

On the other hand a stale page that contains none date sensitive information may receive good traffic and hold it's own and not require an update. So don't update for the sake of it.

A further indicator that Google is really cracking down on Spam is made clear in the following extract from the Patent. Mention is made of changing the focus of multiple pages at once.

Here's the quote -

"A significant change over time in the set of topics associated with a document may indicate that the document has changed owners and previous document indicators, such as score, anchor text, etc., are no longer reliable.

Similarly, a spike in the number of topics could indicate Spam. For example, if a particular document is associated with a set of one or more topics over what may be considered a 'stable' period of time and then a (sudden) spike occurs in the number of topics associated with the document, this may be an indication that the document has been taken over as a 'doorway' document.

Another indication may include the sudden disappearance of the original topics associated with the document. If one or more of these situations are detected, then Google may reduce the relative score of such documents and/or the links, anchor text, or other data associated the document."

There's still more to look out for

� Changes in on page keyword density, this is the number of times a certain keyword appears on a page, is monitored and recorded as are changes to the anchor text.

� The domain name owner address is considered, most likely to help in a local search result. This can be obtained via a whois in most cases.

� The technical and admin contact details are checked for consistency. These are often falsified for Spam domains.

� Your hosts IP address is stored. If you're on a shared server it's possible somebody else on that server is using dirty tactics or Spamming. If that's the case your search engine ranking will suffer because you share the same IP.

The overall impression I get here is that Google have learned from the Spam 'attack' they suffered in early 2004 and they are determined to eradicate all Spam from their listing results.

So how can you protect your sites search engine ranking?

You can't go far wrong with your SEO if you try to grow your site as organically as possible. Carry on with link exchanges but consider each site carefully and slow down in your gathering of them. Vary your anchor text. Add small amounts of good quality content to your site regularly.

Check your search engine listings text and edit your site to include a call to action in them if possible. Make your site more 'sticky' to encourage visitors to stay a while. Encourage visitors to Bookmark your site. Oh and consider registering new domain names for at least two years.

Overall keep it ethical and you will witness an improvement in your search engine ranking.

Stick to the guidelines above and you are much more likely to outlast and out rank your competition and improve your sites overall search engine ranking across all the search engines.