What does it mean when /Directory/link.html ranks higher than /

[smn2]

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Hi,

As part of my damage assessment regards the Google Jagger
update, I was wondering... What does it 'mean' if a search
for a generic term that relates to my site returns
this page first

www.mySiteName/directory/link.html

rather than what I'd prefer, which is

www.MySiteName/

Any ideas?

Steve

[tobyt]

Put simply it means that the page that comes up first for that search phrase is better optimised for that search phrase than your front page ...at least according to the algo of whichever SE you are finding this on.

Now all you've got to do is sit down and work out all the factors that have worked out for that better ranking page and then apply that formula to all your other pages for other search terms...... and of course that is where the hard work comes in.

[pricethat]

I think thats an important thing to realise about search engines is that its not what you prefer or what you want that is of issue. Because there is so many people trying to optimise their sites and some of them very good that it means the search engine results are at the mercy of outside users, not google or others themselves.

These updates i believe are a reflection of that, it come down to what you offer and i know i will be grilled a lot for this but theres so many affiliates that are chained to the idea that they offer something unique to the user, which in a lot of cases they dont, theyre just repeat spins on what other sites are doing, often as a middle man.

You cant manipulate search engines any more and even if you can the updates like jagger will sort you out, the best thing to do is just make extremely good content, perhaps balanced so that a search engine doesnt think your too spammy.

What page ranks for what is a nightmare, just being grateful that you get ranked is enough and to me it doesnt matter what page people come in on, if they like what they see then they will have a poke around to see if its what they want.

One thing i have noticed is that a lot of my pages on some of my sites rank really well for terms that i didnt even work on them for, and yet others i did dont, its all down to them, but the one thing that differs between sites i get good converting and traffic from and the multi billion page website i have now is that the small 32 page on had nothing but perfectly unique content on it and relevant, i got ranked well number 1 and 2 on some search engines but not for the pages i intended.

I know that maybe the bit about content and things wasnt quite in relation to what you were asking but i thought that might cover things if it was part of the story and also let other people reading this thread also understand as well