Why did this page become popular?

[ami_iss]

To test the efficacy of various SEO recommendations and techniques, I did an experiment. I created two sets of 5 pages each. Each of the five pages was about the same topic, with the same title in the link, and the same number of links to it from my Web set and supporting sites. One page in each set had a meaningless file name. The rest had file names including the keyword but with no Another had a meaningful file name and nothing else. Another had a title tag, another had a description and title tag with keyword and some graphics, while the best optimized page had "works" - description, title tag, keywords tag graphics with tags, <H1>(Title) and <H2> headings. Each had the same number of words approximately and the same density for the keyword.

As we might expect, the two pages with the meaningless file names got vary few page views, but the pages with the meaningful file names but nothing else didn't do much better. All the rest got a small number of page views a week for quite a while. But one page climbed to 2nd place in google for a keyword combination. That one page gets about 80 times as many page views as any of the others and is now the most popular page on the Web site. It is the one that had the title and description only, with none of the other bells and whistles recommended for SEO. In the second set of pages, the one with title and description only is also #1. Does this mean that keywords or use of <H1> <H2> heads etc. HURT? I doubt it, because after the page became poplar, I put in all the bells and whistles, and it became even more popular. It is still listed ahead of the other pages in Google.
The H2 and H2 headings were in graded order of keyword density - H1 is 100% keyword while H2 is less.
Questions:
1- Why don't the extra bells and whistles help? Can a keywords tag in the header HURT?
2- Is this page popular because of Google ranking or perhaps for some other reason?
3- Why does Google rank the "description only" page ahead of the one with all the extra goodies in it?

[alhefner]

I would suggest further experimentation! That "bare bones" page with just the title and description that did wo well would make a great platform to see just what changes will decrease it's ranking. Just change one thing at a time and note the effects that each change brought.

This could be a very valuable learning tool for you.

[Peter (IMC)]

To test the efficacy of various SEO recommendations and techniques, I did an experiment. I created two sets of 5 pages each. Each of the five pages was about the same topic, with the same title in the link, and the same number of links to it from my Web set and supporting sites. One page in each set had a meaningless file name. The rest had file names including the keyword but with no Another had a meaningful file name and nothing else. Another had a title tag, another had a description and title tag with keyword and some graphics, while the best optimized page had "works" - description, title tag, keywords tag graphics with tags, <H1>(Title) and <H2> headings. Each had the same number of words approximately and the same density for the keyword.

As we might expect, the two pages with the meaningless file names got vary few page views, but the pages with the meaningful file names but nothing else didn't do much better. All the rest got a small number of page views a week for quite a while. But one page climbed to 2nd place in google for a keyword combination. That one page gets about 80 times as many page views as any of the others and is now the most popular page on the Web site. It is the one that had the title and description only, with none of the other bells and whistles recommended for SEO. In the second set of pages, the one with title and description only is also #1. Does this mean that keywords or use of <H1> <H2> heads etc. HURT? I doubt it, because after the page became poplar, I put in all the bells and whistles, and it became even more popular. It is still listed ahead of the other pages in Google.
The H2 and H2 headings were in graded order of keyword density - H1 is 100% keyword while H2 is less.
Questions:
1- Why don't the extra bells and whistles help? Can a keywords tag in the header HURT?
2- Is this page popular because of Google ranking or perhaps for some other reason?
3- Why does Google rank the "description only" page ahead of the one with all the extra goodies in it?

Often the answer to a question can be found in the question it self.. :)

"after the page became poplar, I put in all the bells and whistles, and it became even more popular."

So doing it all is the best thing to do.


1- Yes the keywords tag can hurt if you don't use it correctly.

2- That page got the best rankings and you wonder if that's why it gets so many visitors?

3- Some goodies have more value than others. Best is of course to make sure all goodies are there and in the right combinations.