In my first post on search engine optimization for bloggers, we saw that getting found through organic search is hugely important to professionals who want their blogs to make a difference. In my second post, I talked in some depth about the key factor that determines the number one result for queries on a given topic, namely learning and adapting to the terminology the target audience uses when querying for information on the topic.
Based on the huge volume of search engine log data I examined, we saw that the home page of melanoma.com is the most frequently visited URL from result sets on melanoma-related queries. We saw that the most common melanoma-related query was the single word melanoma. We saw that the overwhelming majority of clicks on the most popular URL came out of result sets coming from submissions of the most popular query, and that the same bias applied to the top four most popular sites. They collectively got more than 90% of their clicks from single-term melanoma queries, and that almost two-thirds of all clicks coming from the most popular query went to these four URLs.
In this post, we'll look at the reasons why the search engine put these four on "page one, above the fold" in response to single-term melanoma queries, focusing on melanoma.com, since it was clearly the 800-pound gorilla, getting more clicks than the next three combined.
Of course melanoma.com is not a blog, but there's still a lot to learn that's relevant to bloggers.
