How does Ken Rockwell manage to do this?

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WhiteLight

Senior Member
Well this ain't a KW bashing thread.
Nor is it about the content of the site...

My question is this-
How does Ken Rockwell manage to end up as the first search result for any photography related search?

There are tons of specialists of SEO who for sure can beat the ranking.. but it doesn't seem to happen?

Is he the best SEO dude out there? Is it as simple as that or is there something else?
If there is something that others can emulate to help take their page ranking up, it would be great
 
AC016

AC016

Senior Member
lol, that is a good question. I guess he must have mastered SEO. He has been managing his website for 10 years now. Keep in mind, it is his full time job. If someone does the same thing everyday, for ten years, they become pretty freaken good at it. All I can say is, good for him! Just a side note: the more people bash him, the more known he becomes.... just think on that for a second ;)
 
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Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
A lot of it is KEy Words used in his site. Look at how many times he uses the words you searched for. Like if you searched for Nikon D5100 he not only had that in the heading but also peppers it around through out the entire article. SEO now is more about content and key words than it used to be.
 
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Dave_W

The Dude
It's simple, he sold his soul down by the crossroads. It seems to happen a lot there....not really sure why, though.
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Google's main algorithm prioritizes its returns based on how many other sites it can find that link to the "hit" in question. So, in short, the more people that link to Ken's site, or anything ON his site, the higher his Google return (how close he is to being the #1 "hit). The higher his Google return, the more his site will be linked to... And a cycle is thus put into motion.
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
AC016 said:
So, is Google essentially looking for a webpage that has your search word mentioned the most?
Click to expand...


No, in fact, excessive repetition of keywords can be a negative in search engine rankings (prevents people from cooking the results falsely).

Google is not specific about their methods (close mouthed), and they keep making changes, but the overall big picture is that sites that have many links from other sites have very high ranking, and appear at the top of search for any triggering key words. And if a high ranking site linked to a site, that second site picks up more ranking from that important linking site. So it is both number and quality of the sites links that affect their rating.

Google search cannot evalute the content (just a dumb computer looking for key words), but it can count really well. The philosophy is a site that very many other sites like to as reference with links, esp other high ranking sites, must be pretty significant, and deserves to be at the top of the search results. That is why we like Google, it shows us what we are looking for.

So pure and simple, Rockwell has tons of sites linking to his.
1/2 million links from sites, shown here:
https://www.google.com/search?q=link:+kenrockewell.com
 
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Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
WayneF said:
No, in fact, excessive repetition of keywords can be a negative in search engine rankings (prevents people from cooking the results falsely).

Google is not specific about their methods (close mouthed), and they keep making changes, but the overall big picture is that sites that have many links from other sites have very high ranking, and appear at the top of search for any triggering key words. And if a high ranking site linked to a site, that second site picks up more ranking from that important linking site. So it is both number and quality of the sites links that affect their rating.

Google search cannot evalute the content (just a dumb computer looking for key words), but it can count really well. The philosophy is a site that very many other sites like to as reference with links, esp other high ranking sites, must be pretty significant, and deserves to be at the top of the search results. That is why we like Google, it shows us what we are looking for.

So pure and simple, Rockwell has tons of sites linking to his.
1/2 million links from sites, shown here:
https://www.google.com/search?q=link%3A+kenrockewell.com
Click to expand...

There is a very fine line in not enough and too much. Links to the site are being phased out some now from what I here on the rumor mill. Wvery SEO expert out there has a different interpretation on hot to get ranking. And you can't buy position unless you buy a add and then it is placed about the results.

Do a Google search of my last name Kuykendall

out of About 1,630,000 results look at number 1. That is my site. Been there for about 5 years now

If you think it is there because of the URL then check my wife's last name neuffer

a much smaller group About 516,000 results but I am #5 in that search.


It is all because of content. I have very few links leading to my site and I do not advertising or buying ads
 
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WhiteLight

Senior Member
Tracsoft - Don Kuykendall said:
Every SEO expert out there has a different interpretation on hot to get ranking. And you can't buy position unless you buy a add and then it is placed about the results.
Click to expand...

Exactly.
When there is so much ambiguity, how has this Mr managed to stay on top...
Not that he pays for being on top, cos that would just pop in the 'sponsored links' and not in the regular search
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
WhiteLight said:
Exactly.
When there is so much ambiguity, how has this Mr managed to stay on top...
Not that he pays for being on top, cos that would just pop in the 'sponsored links' and not in the regular search
Click to expand...

It is always about content of course, but search engines can't evaluate content or usefulness. But visitors find it and read content, and then their sites link to it. Maybe to remember it, or praise it, or condemn it, but they link to it.
 
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Epoc

Senior Member
One unmentioned aspect to good SEO is Google likes changes and additions to your site. They believe new or changed content is king. So if you build a site and do nothing to it, doesn't matter how many links or what content it has, it will slip away. Do constant updates and refresh the content and it will rise to the top.
 
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JudeIscariot

Senior Member
AC016 said:
Not being webmasters or anything, were we supposed to? lol:confused:
Click to expand...

There are even services that will do it for you. It's pretty ridiculous.

We had this one guy calling my primary job for months, always trying to talk to the manager when he wasn't here... He had a long spiel about how he would get us on the front page of Google and in the top 3 results or we'd get our money back, blah blah blah. I'm not sure how they do it or planned on doing it, but the guy talked a good talk.
 
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