SEO Ranking Guidelines
AltaVista bases its ranking on both static factors (a computation of the value of page independent of any particular query) and query-dependent factors.
It values:
Long pages, which are rich in meaningful text (not randomly generated letters and words).
Pages that serve as good hubs, with lots of links to pages that that have related content (topic similarity, rather than random meaningless links, such as those generated by link exchange programs or intended to generate a false impression of "popularity").
The connectivity of pages, including not just how many links there are to a page but where the links come from: the number of distinct domains and the "quality" ranking of those particular sites. This is calculated for the site and also for individual pages. A site or a page is "good" if many pages at many different sites point to it, and especially if many "good" sites point to it.
The level of the directory in which the page is found. Higher is considered more important. If a page is buried too deep, and the crawler simply won't go that far and will never find it.
These static factors are recomputed about once a week, and new good pages slowly percolate upward in the rankings. Note that there are advantages to having a simple address and sticking to it, so others can build links to it, and so you know that it's in the index
Query-dependent factors include:
The HTML title.
The first lines of text.
Query words and phrases appearing early in a page rather than late.
Meta tags, which are treated as ordinary words in the text, but like words that appear early in the text (unless the Meta tags are patently unrelated to the content on the page itself, in which case the page will be penalized).
Words mentioned in the "anchor" text associated with hyperlinks to your pages. (E.g., if lots of good sites link to your site with anchor text "breast cancer" and the query is "breast cancer," chances are good that you will appear high in the list of matches.)
AltaVista's policy on doorway pages and cloaking
AltaVista is opposed to doorway pages and cloaking. It considers doorway and cloaked pages to be spam and encourages people to use other avenues to increase the relevancy of their pages. A description of doorway pages and cloaking is given later on in this guide.
Importance Of Meta tags
Though it indexes Meta tags, considering them to be regular text, AltaVista claims it doesn't give them priority over HTML titles and other text. Though you should use meta tags in all your pages, some webmasters that chance doorway pages do claim their doorway pages for AltaVista rank better when they don't use Meta tags. Using <H1> tags possible controlled by Cascading Style Sheets so the text within the <H1> html tag for appearance sake is the best way to have your page heading.
If you do use Meta tags, make your description tag no more than 150 characters and your keywords tag no more than 1,024 characters long.
Using Keywords in the URL and file names
It's generally believed that AltaVista gives some weight to keywords in filenames and URL names. If you're creating a file, try to name it with keywords. I.E. My_Web_Page.html
Using Keywords in the ALT tags
AltaVista indexes ALT tags as do most search engines that provide image searches, so if you use images on your site, make sure to add them. ALT tags should contain more than the image's description. They should include keywords, especially if the image is at the top of the page. ALT tags are explained later but for now, don’t repeat the same alt tag description more than 3 times per page to avoid being penalized.
WebPage Length
There's been some debate about how long doorway pages for AltaVista should be. Some webmasters say short pages rank higher, while others argue that long pages are the way to go. According to AltaVista's help section, it prefers long and informative pages. We've found that pages with 600-900 words are most likely to rank well.
Framed Webpage support
AltaVista has the ability to index frames, but it sometimes indexes and links to pages intended only as navigation. To keep this from happening to you, submit a frame-free site map containing the pages that you want indexed. You may also want to include a "robots.txt" file to prohibit AltaVista from indexing certain pages.
AltaVista’s Search Features
AltaVista offers a wide range of search features. Most of these options are available in its "Advanced Search" section.
Boolean search - Full Boolean Search support. AND (+), OR, AND NOT (-) (instead of NOT) Search terms can be nested.
Phrase - Available. Put quotes around the phrase, such as "New York Times"
Proximity - Available. NEAR operator means within ten words of one another. Can be nested with other tags.
Word Stemming - Available. You can use the wild card (*) at the end or in the middle of a word.
Capitalization - If you search in upper case, AltaVista searches in upper case only. Lower case words and phrases search for upper and lower case, and will therefore yield more results.
<!--[if !supportLists]--> Field Search - The following options are available:
<!--[endif]-->
<!--[if !supportLists]-->Applet: searches for the name of an applet
<!--[endif]-->
<!--[if !supportLists]--> Domain: specifies the domain extension, such as .com
<!--[endif]-->
<!--[if !supportLists]--> Host: searches for pages within a particular site
<!--[endif]-->
<!--[if !supportLists]--> Image: searches for an image name
<!--[endif]-->
<!--[if !supportLists]--> Link: searches for pages that link to the specified site
<!--[endif]-->
<!--[if !supportLists]--> Object: search engines - searches for the name of an object
<!--[endif]-->
<!--[if !supportLists]--> Text: excludes Meta tags information
<!--[endif]-->
<!--[if !supportLists]--> Title: search in the HTML title only
<!--[endif]-->
<!--[if !supportLists]--> URL: searches for sites that have a specified word in the URL
<!--[endif]-->
Date Searching - Available under Advanced Search section.
Search within results - Available. This option is offered after each search.
Media Type searching - Available for Images, Music/MP3, and Video.
Language Searching - AltaVista has very extensive language support. It supports around 30 languages.
- Leon Edward
Learn more about seo search engine optimization from Home Business IT @ http://www.homebusinessit.com/searchengineoptimization.html
Leon Edward helps people to start, build, market and promote internet home business and ways to earn money online at home at http://www.HomeBusinessIT.com Get Your free legitimate internet business kit bonuses and training articles, visit http://www.homebusinessit.com/newsletter/
Visit his Internet Business Ideas Store for Online Business Ideas , Home Business Reviews to Earn Money At Home . Visit his informative websites, Day Trading Made Easy , Facebook Business Applications , Buy and Sell Domain Names , Google Business Solution
