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Google Ranks Pages – Not Websites

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“Google ranks pages –not websites” is a powerful statement. It explains how a city page with custom content outranks a more extensive website.

But which has more weight: individual pages or a website? Many website owners would say the whole package is more important.

But Google disagrees.

How Does Google Rank Pages?

Let’s look at what Google wants first.

Per Google’s mission statement, Google wants to provide the best answer to a searcher’s question.

To do this, Google reviews each web page for:

  • Custom content – Is your content original or a copy (a total no-no)?
  • Depth of coverage – Does your web page cover the topic well?
  • Readability – Is your writing style easy for anyone to read?
  • Format – Does your web page have the signals Google needs to rank it well?
  • Coding – Is your code easy for the bots to crawl?
  • Links – What kind of links do you have? Are they a natural fit?

Using their bots (aka spiders), Google is constantly searching the web for new content. Once found, the bots or spider crawls the code and content to bring it back to Google’s servers. Once back at Google, the information gets cataloged.

When Google gets a search question, it recommends web pages (not websites) as an answer. All potential solutions get ranked according to what Google “thinks” is the best answer to the worst answer.

“A home page is not a website. It is your main page. It happens to have the same website address as your domain name.”

Since each page stands independently, it does not matter which domain it lives in. Google will treat it in the same way.

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One Bad Page Does Not Affect Your Whole Website

What happens if you have a bad page or a page with “copied and pasted” content?

Since each page gets ranked separately, its neighboring pages don’t get dragged down. It also means that the bad page will not get ranked, and you will miss out on a potential sale.

The question is, why waste your money on cheap, lousy content?

Types of bad content include:

  • Duplicated content
  • Pages that don’t offer any value to a searcher. Its sole purpose is to take up space to appease “Google” like some sacrifice to a heathen god.
  • Canned content – Repetitive content organized in a different way
  • Plagiarism – Intellectual theft you can get sued for

Heads up! Google’s August 28, 2022, update stated that duplicate and canned content are no-nos.

Internal Links are Page Strengthening Tools

Imagine each page on your website is a tree with a tree house in a neighborhood of tree houses.

When you create a bridge between each tree house, you have more room. If you connect enough of them, you have a community of tree houses. The community offers greater strength, variety, and flexibility.

The same goes for a website. The more you connect the pages, the stronger the group’s relevancy and overall message are. These groupings are called content clusters.

How Can I Get That For My Website?

Blue Crocus Solutions is a stickler for customized content. Our clients want to be recognized as unique as the services they provide. The best way to do that is through branded writing.

No two clients are the same. Neither is their content.

If your content is not customized to you, call us at (216) 284-6208. For those in Canada, please get in touch with us at (506) 496-1022.

If we cannot answer the phone, we will call you back within 24 hours.

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