Google is a piece of software that does two things: 1) works out what your site is about, and 2) works out how credible your site is.

Yep, that’s my SEO secret! When it comes to SEO everything you do should be about making it obvious to GoogleBot what your site (or page) is about and building credibility in your site. Nothing else matters.

Google’s (and other search engines) main purpose is to return relevant and reputable search results. They do whatever it takes to do this. If people do a search on Google and get rubbish then they would use another search engine. The success of Google is because their results are generally spot-on.

Personally I know that if I search on the right thing in Google then I will typically get what I am looking for in the first page – if I was having to wade through 100s of results to find what I am looking for then I wouldn’t be using Google. While ever Google is giving me relevant results I’m not even going to look at Yahoo or Bing. Google knows this and they know that if I’m not using Google then I’m not clicking on their ads and if I’m not clicking on their ads they don’t make money.

So remember, Google isn’t a person who can get a feeling for your site – it looks for specific things and then using a formula works out how to rank your site. Sure this formula can be tricked however chances are that the team at Google will tweak the rules to negate the “trick” once it becomes abused.

So make sure that your SEO efforts are sound – don’t spend time in implementing some SEO trick that may become a complete waste of your time in the future.

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Firstly, PageRank is actually named after Larry Page, co-founder of Google Inc. So the “page” part of PageRank doesn’t refer to a web page but its creator. I think this is where most people get confused – PageRank is not actually an indication of a pages ranking, it is just a small part of it.

PageRank is essentially a score assigned to a web page based on the links to it. It is used by Google as one of more than 200 considerations when ranking search results.

The idea behind PageRank is that a link to a page is a vote for the page’s credibility. The more links a page has the more credible the page is likely to be. It doesn’t stop there – if a highly credible page links to a page then its natural that it’s vote should be worth more than a less credible page.

The PageRank calculation doesn’t take in to consideration any other factors other than a page’s links – it doesn’t look at your code, your title tag, or anything else. It’s based solely on links. Your code, your title tag, your page’s name and so forth are some of the other 200+ considerations used by Google when ranking the results.

It’s because of all those other factors that PageRank shouldn’t be your sole focus and is the reason why Google have now removed it from the Google Webmaster tools and continues to recommend webmasters don’t fixate on it.

It’s completely normal for a page from a PR0 site to appear higher in a search result then a much high PR site because of those other factors. Thank goodness!

Google’s argument is that you should concentrate on your site’s content and attract links because people like your content – which makes sense.

The issue I feel is that because Google is so secretive about its algorithms, people fixate on PageRank because it is one of the rare ways you get an indication of what Google thinks of your site.

It is important to have a PageRank however remember that it’s only 1 of 200+ considerations and spend your efforts accordingly.

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Google looks at three things to determine your relevance to specific countries:

• IP address of your web server
• domain extension (eg. .com.au)
• your settings within Google Webmaster Tools

Each of these three things provide Google with information about your geographic market. You will be still included in the results for other countries however you will be given preference within your local results.

The following video by Matt Cutts discusses this in more detail.

Although the message from the video is to “experiment” that’s about as definate as anything you will get from Google about how to rank better.

So although it’s not essential, having your server based on an Australian based IP address could definitely assist in your Google.com.AU rankings.

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We do ask that you do not redistribute this list. We have spent a great deal of time finding and visiting all these sites, should you wish to share this list, please provide them with it’s URL here at Webmaster Blog.

Enjoy!

Note: Click on the column headings to sort.

Name	PR	Restrictions/Niche	Lowest Cost	Signup
searchZone	6	Australian and New Zealand web sites only	Free	Submit
Come On Aussie	6	For sites about Australia and run by businesses with an Australian contact address. Must subscribe to an email list to remain listed.	Free	Submit
Only Melbourne	6	Complimentary listings for businesses based in Melbourne	Free	Submit
Australian Agriculture Directory	5	Australian-based or provide services in Australia and be relevant to farmers, rural communities or agribusiness	Contact for pricing	Submit
Hot Frog	5	Australian businesses	Free	Submit
Black Stump	5	Non-commercial	Not mentioned - appears to require reciprocal	Submit
Streets of Perth	5		$220/yr	Submit
Enterprise Search	5	Australian businesses	Free	Submit
iti	5	Australian businesses	Free, $199.95+GST for rapid	Submit
ANZ Directory	5	Australian & New Zealand Websites	Free	Submit
AdventurePro Australia & New Zealand	5	Outdoors and adventure in Australia and New Zealand	Free	Submit
WebWombat Business Directory	5		$137.50/yr	Submit
Manly Australia	5	Businesses based in Manly (Sydney)	$99/yr	Submit
Ozebiz Index	5		$10/yr or $18/2yrs	Submit
Ezilon	5		$69/yr or $199 once only	Submit
Possum Pages	4	-	Free(?)	Submit
Streets of Sydney	4		$220/yr	Submit
Aussie Now	4		$249.95/yr +GST	Submit
Aus Everything	4		Free (3m delay), reciprocal (14d delay), $39 once off (72hrs)	Submit
Directory Australia	4		Free	Submit
A to Z pages	4		Free	Submit
Web Directory Australia	4	General web directory for Australian sites	Free for non-commercial, otherwise $29.50 one time fee	Submit
Laton Australian Business Directory	4	Australian businesses	Free	Submit
Site Review	4	Must be Australian based	Free	Submit
Aistralia Online Advertising	4		Free	Submit
Surf Pacific	4		Free (no link), US$365/yr with link	Submit
AusDirectory	4		Free (with reciprocal)	Submit
Australian Dating Guide	4	Australian owned sites related to dating, relationships or personals	Free	Submit
Brisby	4	Australian businesses, also has section for Brisbane area	Free (with reciprocal), $60 (without reciprocal)	Submit
Cooee	3		Free (with reciprocal), $19.95 (no reciprocal)	Submit
IT services directory	3	Specialises in IT services including Internet Marketing, Web Design/Hosting/Directories, ISPs, IT Support, etc.	Free	Submit
Find A Site	3		Free	Submit
Sydney Business Directory	3	Businesses located in Sydney or service Sydney directly.	Free (with reciprocal)	Submit
Company Directory	3		Free (with reciprocal), $3.95 (no reciprocal)	Submit
Lend It To Me	3	Australian financial services sites	Free (with reciprocal	Submit
List-Directory	3		$19.95 once off, free for Not-for-profit	Submit
DW infoServer	3		Free	Submit
Sydney Info Link	3		Free (6m listing)	Submit
Streets of Brisbane	3		$220/yr	Submit
AusPage	3		Free (with reciprocal), $19.95/yr (without reciprocal)	Submit
Australian Music Directory	3	Music related sites	Free	Submit
Streets of Melbourne	3		$220/yr	Submit
Byron Bay Directory	3		Free (no link), $99/yr (with link)	Submit
Streets of Hobart	3		$220/yr	Submit
Streets of Darwin	3		$220/yr	Submit
Streets of Adelaide	3		$220/yr	Submit
Streets of Brisbane	3		$220/yr	Submit
Aussie Directory	2	Only Australian websites (i.e. com.au, net.au, etc), websites with Australian related content	Free (with reciprocal), $7.99/yr (without reciprocal)	Submit
WebDirectory.net.au	2		Free (with reciprocal), $4.95 (without reciprocal)	Submit
WebSiteLink	2		Free	Submit
Again Directory	2	Sites that are either Australian owned or will be of interest to Australians.	Free (with reciprocal), $2 (without reciprocal)	Submit
Directory.com.au	2		Free	Submit
Australian Businesses Directory	2		$9.95 (once only)	Submit
DeeStress Directory Australia	2	Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth Directory	Free (with reciprocal)	Submit
My Local Guide	2	Hills, Parramatta & Blacktown Area	$99/yr	Submit
Absolutely Australia	2	Travel and Business Directory. Ownership must be within Australia, and content pertaining to Australia	$5	Submit
Choxy	2	Perth business directory	Free (with reciprocal), $5 (without reciprocal)	Submit
Smartlocal	1		Free (no link), $400-660/yr with link	Submit
AustraliaDirectory.net	1		Free (with reciprocal/NOFOLLOW), $10 (without reciprocal)	Submit
I Need to...	1		Free (no link), $25 with link	Submit
MyHealthReporter	0	Health, medical & lifestyle related websites providing products and services to Australians.	$19.95	Submit
Oz Adverts	0		Free (ask for reciprocal)	Submit
Aussie B2B	0		Free (reciprocal optional)	Submit
Jadoo	0		Free	Submit
My Local Signmaker	0	Signwriters	Free (no link), $90-180/yr	Submit
OzFind	0	Only Australian web sites are allowed - .com.au,.net.au etc	Free (with reciprocal), $9.95 (without reciprocal)	Submit
Guide Australia	0		Free (with reciprocal), $19.95/yr (without reciprocal)	Submit
Down Under Index	0	Only Australian owned and themed websites will be listed.	Free (reciprocal optional)	Submit
Australia5com	0		Free (with reciprocal), $19.95/yr (without reciprocal)	Submit
Furniture Webs	-		Free (with reciprocal)	Submit
Property & Business Directory	-	Real estate and home owners industry	Free	Submit
Australian Bed & Breakfast Booking	-	Bed and breakfasts, guesthouses and farmstays in Australia	Free (with reciprocal)	Submit
GoNzOz	-	Australia & NZ directory	Free (with reciprocal)	Submit
The Gift Avenue	-	Gift sites	Free (with reciprocal)	Submit
FreeWebLinks	-		Free (reciprocal optional)	Submit
Ozebiz Index	-		$10/yr or $18/2yrs	Submit
Australian Biz Directory	-		Free (no link), $60/3m, $99/6m, $155/yr	Submit

Should you find any errors with any of the above information, please contact us show we may update the list.

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