result accuracies

[dps1]

Can I get a run-down on how to best configure weightings for search result accuracy? I have weighted page titles +5, keywords +4, descriptions +3, and headings +3 for some 5,500 pages. Searches for terms exactly as they appear in the title often produce a list of results where what should have been the highest scoring result can be 5+ down the list.

Example: http://tinyurl.com/sh6r6

[David]

There is no one setting that will produce the highest level of accuracy on all sites. For example we see many web sites that have the same title and meta data on every page. In this case accurate results can only be obtained be ignoring the title or giving it a weighting of -5.

If you taken the effort to create really meaning titles and meta keywords for each page, then go ahead and boost them to +5.

The particular query keywords in your example also happens to appear in the navigation text of every page. On some of your pages you are skipping the menu navigation with <!--ZOOMSTOP--> but on other pages you aren't. So this is probably confusing matters.

Your top 5 results for this search are fairly close in score, so it won't take much to sway it.

Of course you also need to re-index your site and upload the new index files after making any changes to the weightings.

If the weightings don't get exactly the order you want, there are other methods. Like using recomended links, page boosting and keyword stuffing.