Seo articles

Results of Google Experimentation - Only the First Anchor Text Counts

2008-04-07T04:06:00.000-07:00

Before I was inundated with the responsibilities of running a company and managing a few hundred emails a day, I used to spend a lot of time testing theories about how the search engines handled certain elements on a site or page. I'd test the engines to find answers to questions like:

Does a keyword perform better or worse if it's higher up in the code of a page? (better)
What's better, bold or strong tags? (used to be strong, now they appear equal)
Does a link with exact anchor text for a query perform better than one that has other words in the anchor text? (exact appears to be better)
NOTE: My tests on these are more than a year old, so things may have changed.

Obviously, to test the answers to questions like these, you need a very tightly controlled environment, and even then, your tests might reveal answers, but not the relative levels of impact. Sure, having a keyword on a page in strong tags is better than not, but by how much? If one link from the crappiest PR1 page gives more of a boost, is it really worthwhile?

I've talked about this testing phenomenon in the past in a Sphinn thread, about whether nofollow sculpting has any impact (I've copied the relevant bit below):

Step 1: Register a new domain (preferably one with a domain name that has no results in Google - like yorkfabuzapeloh.com or such)

Step 2: Link to that domain's homepage from some social media profiles or pages you control (but make sure they're very obscure and hard to find so no one else discovers and links to it - this is pretty easy to do)

Step 3: Create 6 pages on the site, the homepage (A) with two links to pages (B) and (C), pages (D) and (E) - both linked to by page (B) - and page (F) linked to from page (C). It's important to make sure that (B) is the first link on the homepage (A) and (C) is the second link.

Step 4: Target a nonsense keyword on pages (D) and (F), which are linked to by pages (B) and (C) respectively.

Step 5: Wait until Google has indexed all the pages (usually only a couple days if you link to them from a few sources), then run a search for the nonsense keyword you targeted on (D) and (F). Page (F) will rank first, because there's more link juice pointing to it than to (D), as (D) is only getting half the link weight provided by page (B) while (D) is getting all of (C)'s link weight.

Step 6: Add a nofollow to the link from page (B) to page (E), which we haven't done anything with until now. Wait until Google respiders, then check the results again. (D) should now be ranking in front of (F), because it's receiving the same link weight as (F) but the original link from the homepage (A) to (B) is higher up on the page, which gives it a tiny bit more weight.

We've replicated this experiment as have several others, and certainly any global link weighting system similar to the original PageRank formula would lead you to this conclusion as well.

And I used another test we've performed internally at last week's SEMpdx conference, which created a bit of confusion, and is, ultimately, the reason for this blog post.

Directly following my keynote, a question was asked in which link placement on a page became relevant. I commented that it was important to note that only the first anchor text to a given target page would be counted by Google (we haven't yet tested Yahoo!/MSN), but there were a great number of audience members who came up to me during the day asking for clarification -- even Rebecca! And thus, even though we usually keep this kind of information internal (Jane's planning to release a PRO guide with lots of these tests later this year), I figured the beans had already been spilled, so it's my responsibility to clean up the mess.

SUO: Search and User Optimization

2008-04-07T04:04:00.000-07:00

Being biased towards usability, I have to admit that I've always been a little skeptical about the world of search engine optimization (SEO). Of course, a lot of this skepticism goes back to having worked in the internet industry since the mid-90's. In the pre-Google days, SEO was little more than an arms race, a contest to see who could trick the search engines most effectively for the top spot. Claims of getting people to the top of search results for $19.95 were common, and many of these tricks, like keyword-loading a page, often led to lousy content and all but unusable sites.

Times have changed, though, and I've been rediscovering the world of search engine optimization and marketing over the past six months. It started when I attended the Search Engine Strategies Conference in Chicago last winter. In addition to being one of the most educational events I've been to in quite a while, SES really helped me to see that the search engines have matured. Search spiders are being built to mimic human link-following, and crude measures of importance, like how many times a keyword appears on a page, are being replaced by complex algorithms that attempt to measure popularity, usefulness and authority.

I've also been surprised to discover how helpful the SEO community has become, with more and more people taking a holistic approach to web design and willing to share information with other professionals. Armed with some of my newfound search knowledge, I set to work using it on a major client redesign, and quickly discovered something that will change the way I approach website development: search engine optimization best practices have come to share a lot in common with usability best practices.

At the end of the day, both search engines and users want sites that are well-organized, rich in content, and easy to navigate. These days, both processes also tend to be evolutionary. The old worlds of SEO and usability often meant arriving at the end of the development process and making a laundry list of flaws. By it's very definition, though, "optimization" refers to a process of taking something that may or may not already be good and constantly working to make it better.

So, in that spirit, I propose a new term: SUO, Search & User Optimization. Designing sites for search engines and users is a process that needs to happen early and often, constantly optimizing websites to reach the right people and deliver what they want. In many ways, too, search is the begining of any site's user experience, and understanding how your site is represented on search engines and reaches search users is an integral part of good usability.

Usability and SEO. Which comes First?

2008-04-07T04:03:00.000-07:00

There is an incredibly strong link between Usability and SEO. First, you have to start with the knowledge that the business of the search engines is enhanced by having the most relevant results in their index (the ones that do in fact answer the user's question quickly), and this means that usability matters to them. Therefore it is in their strategic interest to develop an understanding of a site's usability.

There are many ways that the search engines can collect basic usability data. For example, do users bookmark your site at major sites such as del.icio.us? Do you have a high bounce rate (people who view only one page, or who don't stay long on the site)? These are just a couple of basic things that a search engine can look at to measure usability.

Second, usabilty is a key factor in driving the acquisition of high value links. Trying to get a major university or a government site to link to yours? What do they see when they come to the page you are trying to get them to link to? Do they understand it right away? Or does it confuse them?

At an architectural level, having a clean site hierarchy and an easily understood navigation structure also benefits both usability and SEO. This means things like a logically thought through hierarchy that matches up with the nature of the content you are providing in an easy to understand way. It means having a consistent global navigation structure, and a breadcrumb bar.

There are many great resources on usability. For example, there is Jakob Nielsen's usetit.com and Kim Krause Berg's Cre8PC that delve into the specifics of good usability then I will attempt to do here.

What I want to emphasize here is one key point: Usability comes first, and SEO comes second. Don't get me wrong, I am not short selling SEO here. I think it's incredibly important (well, OK, it's a key part of how I make my living). But when you are looking at a new site design, or are re-evaluating an existing site, you need to start with some basic questions. Here are some examples:

What is the purpose of the site? There are many good answers to this, such as generate leads, sell products, reduce support costs, or sell advertising. Understanding the answer to this question is where it all starts. Fulfilling this purpose can be thought of as a conversion.
What types of visitors do you want to attract to the site? Who are the people you can bring to your site that might convert, either in the short term or the long term? For many sites, there are many distinct groups of visitors. They can be divided into groups such as repeat visitors and first time visitors, visitors from different geographies, shoppers and researchers, etc.
For each group of visitors, think about the types of information and products and services they want to see on your site. What would make it useful to them? What are their goals, and how can you help them meet them?
For each group of visitors, now that you know what they are looking for, what will their experience be like when they arrive at your site? Will they know where to find what they are looking for? Or will it they arrive at your site, be one click away from converting, and simply leave because they don't see what they are looking for?
These are some of the most basic questions that every site owner needs to consider. Advanced companies do usability design and analysis, including live usablity testing with real users on their sites. Some companies get more sophisticated still, and incorporate the use of eye tracking gear, to really get down to the nitty gritty details of how people see their web pages.

While you may not be in a position to take your pursuit of usability quite that far (although you should if you can), you need to be thinking about it. Getting tons of search engine visitors and a low rate of conversion will not help you much. In addition, if the search engines have their way, a low rate of conversions (then sites in comparable markets) will also lead them to lower the amount of traffic they send you.

25 Ways To Improve Your Site Today

2008-04-07T04:02:00.000-07:00

Yes, the title may look like this post should be on an amateur blog and that it will be full of references to clip art and animated gifs, but this is serious. I’ve compiled a list of what I think are 25 ways to improve your website in as little time as possible. All can be done in a matter of minutes. Now, a website is hard work and usually there are no quick fixes but this list should provide you with a few pointers to make some updates today. If you like, it can also be used as a basis for a quality check document.

Usability/Accessibility
Because it matters. If people can’t use your site, they won’t stay.

Navigation: Ensure that your navigation is easy to use and consistent. You may be able to use it, but could a newcomer find the information they desire?
Search: If you don’t have a search box, then why not? Sometimes navigation isn’t enough. It may not be a 5 minute job to add a custom search facility, but it is extremely quick to add a third party search like Google’s.
Click here: Why? Change this phrase everywhere on your site. It doesn’t make sense out of context. The user has to read the whole paragraph (which they probably won’t) to understand why they should click there. Consider phrases like “Download the profit/loss graph” or “Listen to the podcast entitled food for thought.”
Title & Alt Attributes: Use them how they are supposed to be used. If you haven’t used any at all, then a quick fix will be to start adding them to navigation and other elements on every page.
General: If you’ve got any code snippets that could annoy the user, like resizing browser windows or opening new pages in a new window, then remove them. Just because you like something a particular way, your users may not. Don’t take over their desktop.
Search Engine Optimisation - SEO
Because you want to be found. (On-page tips only here)

Titles: Add consistent, relevant but different titles (title tag) to every page in your site. If you already have titles, check that they are short and describe the content of the page.
Link around: Internal links to your pages (I’m thinking from the body copy here) are just as important as external links. Besides the usability gain, you have the unique opportunity of specifying your link and title text.
Strengthen keywords: Probably the quickest thing you can do. Highlight some keywords and phrases and add a strong tag (bold) around them. This shouldn’t be overused but can provide some positive results if used sparingly.
Headers: The correct use of headers (in a semantic, logical manner) can produce fantastic results. The H1 tag is the most important - try using some keywords in there.
Overkill: It seems whenever I speak to someone about SEO and give them some tips, they go way overboard. This can really ruin all the hard work you’ve done for the user. So remember, optimise with the user in mind. And stay away from dodgy SEO stuff - every time you use black-hat SEO, a kitten steps on broken glass.
Design/Development Process
Design is our passion. Let it show.

Images: By all means create beautiful images, but don’t forget to optimise them for the web. You may have a quick connection - not everybody does.
Design comes from scratch(pad): Don’t necessarily fire up your graphics editor before thinking about the design. It can only take 10 minutes to draw (you know - pencil and paper) various layouts and wireframe the design. Doing this will make you think more about placement of elements and less about the aesthetics.
Contrast/Text-size: Ensure that contrast levels and text sizes are ‘acceptable’ - There are no golden figures (although recommendations are available) to aim for but at least check with other people using different setups. Just because you have perfect 20:20 vision doesn’t mean that anyone can read your site.
Consistency: There’s nothing worse (OK - an exaggeration, yes) than a website that doesn’t function consistently. A user can find it hard enough to learn how a website is put together without having to remember all the little quirks and foibles on your site.
Testing: Check (or get others to check) the site under as many conditions as possible. Try to do this every time the site has a significant update. It’s worth it as it only takes a minute or two.
Content
That’s why people visit the site.

Text/Whitespace: There’s a big trap that often people fall into. Whitespace. How many times have you heard “we need to fill that space and cram the text in a bit more” ? More text in a single area isn’t a good thing. It can make it harder and less enjoyable to read the content. It you had a shop would you cram as many products in as possible? No. You’d let them have space so they get noticed. Do the same with your text.
Write for your audience: Can people understand your text? Think about your audience and reword those confusing sentences.
Corporate Boasting: Which is more useful ~ “We provide 200 megaunits of wobble-sprockets to our worldwide, global markets” ~ or ~ “We can provide a wobble-sprocket to you anywhere in the world.” Speak to the reader and engage them. Don’t waffle.
Use interest: If someone has read an article or item of content, then it is fair to assume that they were interested. Instead of leaving them high-and-dry after an article, point them somewhere related, whether it be another article or a product perhaps.
Objectives: When writing content, make a little mental note of what your goal is for the page (e.g. encourage registration) and try to guess what the users goal is (e.g. to get at information.) Match the two (e.g. “to find this information simply sign up”) and you’re golden.
Off-Site
Because it’s not all about you.

Hang out: For reasons surrounding traffic and respect. Go to forums, blogs and portals within your niche and hang out. Offer advice, link up with people and gain respect. Doing this for 10 minutes a day will improve your image and lead to quality, niche-lead traffic. A bonus. Oh, and don’t spam your community.
Learn: As well as handing out advice, listen. Whether it be listening to colleagues, competition or potential clients you are bound to learn an awful lot just by witnessing other people’s actions.
Encourage viral promotion: Not particularly in a gimmicky-email-newsletter fashion (that takes budget and time) but in a social fashion. Tell your friends and colleagues (and clients if relevant) something unique about you, your company or website and chances are they’ll pass it on. 5 minutes of blabbering could lead to heaps of traffic.
Be yourself: When interacting online, don’t conform to internet stereotypes - just be yourself. Doing this will mean that you are natural when interacting online and more likely to take a similar approach as you would offline. So, take your offline business ways online.
Spam: As in don’t spam. Every time you spam, you are adding disrespect to your own company/site. It’s the real-world equivalent of pushing a leaflet into a potential customer’s mouth.
And there we go. I hope this list is useful and has shown you how easy it is to improve various aspects of your website and its marketing. This isn’t exhaustive by any means - as I said earlier it takes effort and time to really get your site near-perfect. Evolution is the key: tweak, feedback, measure and repeat. Oh, and before you go looking, no, I don’t always practice what I preach!

Buying Text Links

2008-04-07T04:01:00.000-07:00

Buying text links. It's all the rage.
Is it evil? Is it good? Will it help your search engine rankings? Will it get you banned? Will it increase your PageRank? Will it increase your link popularity? Will it bring targeted traffic to your site? Should you do it? Should you hire a broker to do it?
These are the questions on webmasters' and search marketers' minds. What follows is my take on buying text links.

There's nothing wrong with purchasing an ad on a website that links back to your website. Advertising your site is good. Advertising it on popular sites where your target market hangs out is even better. After all, the name of the game is to bring in targeted traffic. Your advertisements on other people's sites are none of the search engines' business and will not get your site banned or penalized. They will not hurt your site in any way. How you market your site is completely up to you, and you don't need to worry about the search engines if you decide to purchase text link ads.

So what's the big deal?

Here's where it gets tricky. A good portion of ads that are bought on websites are not purchased for the targeted traffic they will bring, but as an attempt to artificially inflate the link popularity of the site being advertised. No big news to you, I'm sure, and no big news to the search engines. Since having a popular site can often help with natural search engine rankings, people have been looking for cheap and efficient ways to boost their site's popularity for years.

Ya gotta do what ya gotta do -- but so do search engines.

To the search engines, a link is supposed to mean that someone found a site useful and wanted to tell others about it. This may very well have been true at one point in time many, many years ago. But today a link could mean something completely different. A link might be a simple trade between webmasters, or an ad, or even a vote *against* another site. With no way for a search engine to really know the intent of a link, things have really gotten complicated for them.

Ads used to have tracking links so that webmasters could measure their return on investment; however, today's text linkers often prefer to keep the tracking codes off because their web analytics software no longer needs them. And besides, if you're going to buy an ad, you might as well get the possible link popularity credit that comes with it. That's more likely to happen with a plain old, stripped-down href link.

Unfortunately, this is wreaking havoc with search engine algorithms. On the one hand, they know it's not their place to tell people whether they should or should not advertise on other sites -- especially since most of the engines are advertising companies in their own right. On the other hand, without any way to figure out which links are truly a vote for a site, and which are simply a paid ad, the relevancy of the search results for any given keyword phrase can be skewed towards those who are willing to put their money where their mouth is.

The good news for search engines (and I guess the bad news for link brokers) is that most text link ads and the sites that sell them tend to leave noticeable "footprints" behind in the code. It would be no trouble at all for a search engine to do a little digging into what the latest footprints are, seek out all pages that have them, and simply not allow them to pass any link popularity. This is not a penalty, mind you. It would just be a way for the search engines to count only votes and not ads. Your ads would still be worthwhile for the exposure and direct traffic they bring, but not for providing you with link popularity. So although your site wouldn't technically be penalized, its rankings could drop if it was dependent upon the link popularity of paid links.

For those of you who don't believe the search engines can or would do this, you obviously haven't been paying attention over the years. What do you think every major update at Google has been about? They haven't been specifically about purchased link ads, but they have been about finding a subset of pages that all have similar characteristics and no longer allowing them to count the way they used to count towards rankings. Which means every page using the technique in question suddenly finds their rankings have dropped like a rock.

It's not a matter of *if* this will happen with paid text link ads, but *when*. It could be next week, next month, or next year. Regardless of when the engines decide to lower the boom, you can bet we're going to hear a lot of crying in the forums about it! For now, if you're buying text link ads, or have been thinking about it, I wouldn't really worry about it. Just make a mental note to yourself that whatever boost to your rankings they may provide now could vanish at any time. It's no big deal if you're getting real traffic from your ads, or if you're simply using them to jumpstart your SEO campaign. It's going to be a problem only if your livelihood depends on buying or selling text link ads to boost link popularity.

Common Sense Search Engine Optimization

2008-04-07T04:00:00.000-07:00

For years, when people thought about search engine optimization, in all likelihood, gateway pages, doorway pages or informational pages probably came to mind. If you're a search engine optimization specialist, you've probably had clients requesting that you create these types of pages for them.

They may believe the following statements to be true:

Every search engine has a different algorithm (formula) to determine the ranking of a Web page, and therefore none of their "regular" pages will rank highly in all of the engines.
Keyword-rich copy that the search engines will like is not text they can visibly put on their site where people can see it, especially not on their front page!
Our site needs to be on the cutting edge and use Flash animation and/or lots of graphics. Since the search engines can't index these very well, I have to use gateway pages.
Business sites need to be on the cutting edge and use Flash animation and/or lots of graphics, and they shouldn't have to change this just to please the search engines.
Although there is a grain of truth to each of the above, let's examine each point in more detail so you'll have some ammunition the next time you get this type of request.

Dealing with Differing Algorithms

Yes, it's true, search engine algorithms are varied and do change. There will always be SEOs who spend many hours poring over search engine results and statistics, trying to figure out each search engine's current formula for high rankings. There have been many software programs written over the years to help crack the algorithms and automatically generate high-ranking pages for each engine.

One of the problems with using this method is that as soon as a new algorithm is in place, these carefully crafted gateway pages will often drop out of sight in the rankings. The new algorithm must be cracked again, and new gateway pages must be created. It's truly a never-ending, time-consuming and expensive process that is very much against the best-practice guidelines put forth by the search engines.

The truth is that even though search engines do have slightly different algorithms (and they do change them at times), basically all engines appreciate the same things that real people look for in a Web site:

A simple, cleanly coded design
Well-thought-out, intuitive navigation
Well-written, descriptive copy
Titles and Meta tags that help identify relevant keyword phrases
Links that accurately describe what can be found at the site.
It's really just common sense. Web sites with the above features don't need to crack algorithms. These sites have the potential to achieve high rankings for many keyword phrases in all major search engines for many years, regardless of ever-changing algorithms. And more importantly, they will likely be a hit with their site visitors.

Writing Keyword-rich Copy

Clients (and even some SEOs) often justify the use of doorways and gateways by claiming that there's a difference between good copy for search engines and good copy for their site visitors. That is simply not true. Good marketing copy can be written that sounds great, stresses the benefits to the user and also utilizes keyword phrases. There's definitely an art to it, and you have to be a good copywriter to begin with, but it most definitely can be done. The key is to use a professional copywriter, not an SEO, for that aspect of the job.

Use of Flash Animation and Graphics at the Expense of Content

Over and over again we hear from companies that want high rankings and lots of traffic and sales, yet refuse to forfeit their LUGs (large useless graphics) and Flash animation in favor of good content. Unfortunately, these pages don't give the search engines much to go by when trying to determine what the site is all about. This forces the engines to figure things out solely based on the Title tags and the links. That may be enough in some cases, but the best indicator of what a site is about is through the content on its pages. Now, it's true that some search engines have started reading the content of Flash files, but there's generally not much "meat" contained in the ones I've seen!

Never forget that the ultimate goal of most business Web sites is to sell a product or a service. When you see a Flash presentation on a site, does that make you want to purchase their products or use their services? Sure, it might appear cool the first time you view it, but thereafter it only serves as an annoying distraction and/or waste of time. And if you're on a dial-up modem (yes there are still some left!), you probably don't want to wait around to view it. Besides, you can have your cake and eat it too by simply using small amounts of Flash in appropriate places, along with your great content.

When all is said and done, most people would rather be presented with information on the types of products or services offered in clear, concise language, right on the main page of the site they're visiting. Luckily for us, that's exactly what the search engines want to see as well!

Optimize Your Actual Site

You don't need a second (or third or fourth) site for SEO purposes. Those companies that are willing to create useful content within the pages of their Web site can very often own long-term high rankings. Plus, they won't have to rely on link popularity as much as the low/no-content sites have to.

In years past, convincing companies of this fact was one of the most difficult jobs we had to do. Thankfully, as the Web matures, more and more site owners are discovering that their fancy, cutting-edge sites don't convert as well as the competitor's informational site that gets right down to business. It's usually at that point that they become more receptive to doing what it takes to make their site the best it can be for their visitors as well as the search engines.

Search Engine Optimization and the Bottom-Line

2008-04-07T03:59:00.001-07:00

A question on many Webmaster's minds these days is whether or not they should bother with optimizing their site to rank high in the search engines. We've discussed this in previous articles, and it always seemed to come down to a big "it depends." However, I'm starting to realize that for many clients, good search engine rankings can actually make or break a business.

While putting together my presentation for a conference in Amsterdam back in Jan. 2001, I decided to base my speech around one Web site we had recently worked on for a client. The site in question was the Bariatric Institute of Kentucky in Georgetown, Kentucky. Dr. Randall Bolar performs gastric bypass surgery on morbidly obese patients so they can lose weight and lead happier, healthier lives.

Do you have money to burn?

The work we did for this site lead to a very successful optimization. Dr. Bolar had originally let his Web design firm handle his site submission and, as he put it, he "might as well have taken the $1,000 out of his pocket and lit it on fire!" When we began work on the site, it had nearly no presence in the search engines and directories. After our optimization, it had achieved the desired top-10 results in most of the search engines and directories, for a number of relevant keyword phrases. Traffic had increased substantially, and users were finding the site through the intended keywords. Since those are the metrics I look for when determining our success, this appeared to be quite a successful optimization, indeed!

However, I realized that I had never actually asked Dr. Bolar how effective the Web site had been in attracting new patients to his office, which of course, is the bottom-line. So I dashed off an e-mail to Dr. Bolar, asking if he had received a lot of new inquiries and new patients over the past few months since the rankings had taken hold. Within a half hour, and on a Sunday no less, Dr. Bolar called me to answer my questions. Here's what he told me:

Before their optimization, they were getting approximately 2 - 4 new patients a week through their Web site. Once the rankings kicked in, these numbers jumped to a whopping 50 - 70 new patients a week!

Dr. Bolar told me that he went from having a struggling practice that nearly went bankrupt and closed down, to a thriving practice. He's currently in the process of looking to hire another surgeon. Nearly all of his new patients have found him through the Web site. He even had one patient who drove 7 hours to his office and has gotten numerous other patients from out-of-state. The very next day, in fact, he was seeing 11 new patients, all of whom had found him through the Internet. Dr. Bolar's Internet presence has enabled him to move from being a very small clinic -- Georgetown Surgical Clinic -- to a much larger institution -- the Bariatric Institute of Kentucky!

All I could say was, "Wow!"

Was it just a fluke?

This startling revelation made me wonder how some of our other clients' businesses may have been impacted by being easily found in the search engines, so I dashed off a few more e-mails and eagerly awaited the responses. Again, each one had nothing but great things to say about the effects of good search engine placement for their bottom line.

Joe Tedesco of JE Brown told me that his company had spent thousands of dollars on advertising at the same time they did their optimization. Their results were good, but not compared to their total outlay. They decided to lay off the advertising and re-think their marketing strategy, but when they stopped the advertising, they realized that it had little to no effect on their bottom line. The majority of their visitors were coming through the search engines! Joe says he's a big believer in Search Engine Optimization because of the "little to no work that's involved once the rankings are achieved."

I also heard back from Kathy Drewien, from Atlanta Relocation. Most of Kathy's clients find her services through her Web site, so search engine visibility is extremely important to her. Kathy told me that in1998, before her Web site optimization, she had 14 Internet transactions that grossed $100,000 in commissions. In 1999, after a successful optimization, those numbers increased to 22 transactions for $121,500 in gross commissions. Again in 2000, she had 22 transactions for a total of $165,939 in gross commissions.

Content is still king

It's important to note that simply being found in the engines isn't always enough. Once found, your Web site still has to sell its products or services. I believe that a big reason why our optimized sites end up getting so much new business is because we increase the overall appeal of a Web site when we work on it. That is, we write great, professional marketing text, and suggest other changes that may give the site a more professional appearance. These things are just as important to the bottom line, as getting the High Rankings® in the first place.

It's true that not all businesses will achieve the same kinds of return on investment from a successful optimization as the sites discussed here. However, when you consider the low cost of SEO compared to other forms of marketing, your bottom line may increase substantially. Just make sure you find the right specialist for your needs. All Search Engine Optimization consultants are NOT created equal!

Letting Your Search Engine Optimization Expert Do Their Job

2008-04-07T03:58:00.001-07:00

I just don't get it. Why do some companies pay lots of money to have an expert do a job for them and then not let them do it?

Before I sign on the dotted line with any new search engine optimization client, I always make sure they understand that the visible text copy on their current Web site will *have to* change in order to achieve maximum success.

That's right, the visible text copy...the stuff that people see and read when they visit your site.

Can't You Just Change the Meta Tags?

"What?" they often ask incredulously. "Can't you just change the Meta tags?" "What if we make the new copy invisible?" "My nephew told me that there are ways to do all this in the background."

Isn't There Any Other Way?

Sure, there may be other ways, but like any successful professional, I use methods that have been proven to work for me: adding professionally written, keyword-rich marketing copy to the important pages of the site and optimizing them accordingly. This SEO method worked for me back in 1995, and it continues to work in 2002. Judging from the amount of email I receive from my long-time readers, it works for them also!

Why Do Search Engines Exist?

Think about it for a moment: search engines exist to guide people to pages that are relevant to their searches. What could be more relevant than a page that "discusses" the very keywords the person is looking for?

Once I explain it like that to potential clients, most will agree that perhaps their fancy Flash splash page should be moved off their front page. The bulk of them also agree that perhaps a rewrite of their copy with keyword phrases in mind is actually a good idea. And very often, once they see that the new keyword-rich copy not only helps them get high search engine rankings, but also enhances their visitors' experience, they are very happy campers.

There's One in Every Crowd

Unfortunately, every now and then I run across one of *those* clients. You know the type. They appear to "get it" and happily go along with all the necessary site changes. They participate in the copywriting, they make suggestions and edits and they even comment on how great their site is turning out. Everything is 100% perfect and you know that it's only a matter of time before the rankings will be pouring in.

UNTIL...

A few weeks later, a look at the client's site shows that all of the new text you worked so hard to create is gone! All that remains of your carefully crafted optimization are the Title and Meta tags. Even Alt tags were not spared the delete key!

If you think this could never happen, think again! Unfortunately, this happens to SEO consultants all the time.

Brainwashed By Meta Tag Hype

I've never quite figured out why some clients ask for help and then don't follow through with it. One theory I have is that because so much is written about Meta tags and the like, there are still a lot of people who have been brainwashed into believing that Meta tags are the be-all, end-all to high rankings.

Perhaps these clients are simply looking for some professionally created Meta tags, and just go along with text changes to get what they want. If so, the joke's on them because they'll soon find out that their Meta tags were created for their site based solely upon the keyword-rich copy. The two must go hand in hand; without the matching copy, the tags will be useless. (Which is also why stealing a high-ranking page's Meta tags will rarely do any good.)

SEOs: Spell it Out in Your Contract

You can't stop rogue clients from changing their site against your best advice. However, you can protect yourself and your company by having a smart contract at the outset.

If you're an SEO doing work for clients' sites, be sure to clearly state the changes you will be making to their site in your contract, before any work has begun. If you don't have a contract, get one now! Specifically state that the client must not change or delete the new copy and HTML coding for at least three months. If they sign up for continued monitoring services, ask to review any copy or design changes to ensure that they won't affect the search engine rankings. If you really want to cover yourself, specifically state that you take no responsibility for the rankings if they change the pages without your knowledge and approval.

Clients: Trust Your SEO!

If you're going to hire an expert to do something for you, whether it be search engine optimization or building a house, you've got to trust them to do their job correctly. Professionals do not make specific recommendations just for the heck of it. They have tried-and-true methods that they know will work. If you hire someone who has a good reputation and track record, then put your faith in him or her. If you have any inkling that your SEO is not trustworthy, look for a new SEO. Best results are always obtained when there is good communication between all parties. Once you've found an expert you can trust and are satisfied that their methods are in the best interest of your site, then whatever you do, don't sabotage their best efforts! Your SEO wants high rankings for your site as much as you do. Give them enough latitude to obtain them for you!

Link Popularity

2008-04-07T03:57:00.000-07:00

For years, "link popularity" and "Google PageRank" have been the talk of the town in the search engine optimization community. However, the definition of link popularity and how it differs from PageRank (PR), as well as how much effect these actually have on search engine rankings, is often misunderstood.

What is Link Popularity?

The theory goes something like this: The search engine Powers That Be have decided that if other sites are linking to your site, it must be a winner; therefore, it deserves a boost in rankings (when all else is equal). If you think about it, this makes a lot of sense. People link to good sites, not bad ones.

PageRank Does Not Equal Link Popularity

It's important to note that Google PageRank is not the same thing as link popularity. PR is actually a subset of link popularity. Whereas PR focuses strictly on the quantity and popularity of links, link popularity adds a "quality factor" into the equation. Unfortunately, many people mistakenly use the terms "link popularity" and "PageRank " interchangeably, which has served to confuse the issue further.

All major search engines place some emphasis on link popularity in their ranking algorithms. There appear to be 2 main types of links that work best to increase your link popularity: links from other sites that focus on the same keyword phrases your site focuses on, and links from relevant categories in major directories and industry-specific portals. "Free-for-all" (FFA) sites do not constitute quality links, so don't waste your $24.95 submitting your site to 500 of them. Links from sites that focus on topics that have nothing to do with your site probably won't help you win any link popularity contests, either (although they may temporarily boost your PR).

How Does Link Popularity Work?

Here's an example of how I believe link popularity works:

Let's say that Bob's Pizza Palace Website has a link to Joe's Men's Clothing store site. If the link uses the keywords "men's clothing store" in the anchor text (the clickable part), it may help Joe's link popularity a little bit for those keywords. However, Joe would benefit a lot more if the same link came from a site that was more related to Joe's site than a pizza palace. For instance, a more related link might be from a woman's clothing store, a men's shoe store or any other type of store that relates to clothing in some way.

An even higher-quality link for Joe might be from "Sam's Clothing Store Directory," which lists a whole bunch of clothing stores that can be found on the Internet. That is exactly the kind of link that the search engines would want to credit toward link popularity. Again, the key is in having that common thread between the sites.

Where Do Reciprocal Links Come In?

The other popular misconception floating around is in regards to reciprocal linking. Since so many people think that exchanging links with sites is the easiest way to get them (it may or may not be), new people learning about link popularity are under the mistaken belief that they must have links that are reciprocated on their site (e.g., "you-link-to-me-and-I'll-link-to-you"-type links). Still others are saying that reciprocal links are dead and you won't gain any benefit from them.

Both camps are wrong. You certainly don't need to get reciprocal links, but you can if you want to. Remember, it's links pointing TO your site that are the helpful ones. Links pointing FROM your site to other sites are wonderful to have because they help your visitors find related stuff, but if your site doesn't lend itself to linking to other sites, then by all means, don't do it. You need to do what's right for your company and your site visitors, first and foremost.

Should I Care About Link Popularity?

In general, there's no need for the average site to obsess over link popularity. Yes, you'll want to keep it in mind, and yes you should make sure that your site is what I like to call "link-worthy." However, from my experience (and contrary to popular belief), link popularity constitutes only a portion of most search engines' ranking algorithms. Arguably, Google places more emphasis than most other engines on incoming links at this point in time. How much these actually boost a site's ranking is debatable and truly depends on the site. It also depends on the words that are placed in the anchor text. I have found that just a few highly relevant links with strong anchor text can go a long way towards link popularity for many sites.

For sites that want to take it to the next level and are trying to rank highly with extremely competitive keywords, it may be necessary to actively seek out links from other relevant Websites. This doesn't mean you should go out and create a whole bunch of domains yourself and link them all together because it sounds easier than getting others to link to you. (Yes, that trick has been tried before!) It simply means you should look for sites that are related to your site in some way, and see if they might be interested in promoting your site to their users.

Whatever you do, do not send automatically generated link requests to any site. Most Webmasters consider them a nuisance at best and sp@m at worst. Certainly, a personal email may be welcome, and it also doesn't hurt to pick up the phone and begin a dialogue with a potential link partner. Remember, very often these links from relevant sites will bring more traffic to your site than a high search engine ranking will bring.

How To Get Linked Without Even Trying

My favorite way to get links (but the most time-consuming) is to simply have the best site on the Internet in your specific niche. Interestingly enough, if your site is well written, provides tons of useful information and is constantly updated, you often won't have to seek out links at all. Other sites will link to yours of their own volition.

This has worked for me on my High Rankings site for many years. Without actively requesting any links (other than a few major directories), hundreds of highly relevant sites have added HighRankings.com to their list of recommended sites related to SEO. Some people link to my home page, others to the main newsletter page, and still others to my forum. Some will link directly to an article or newsletter they've enjoyed, and some will ask if they can republish some on their site, while also including a link.

This is the ideal, and not every site is going to have the time or inclination to get to this stage. However, I firmly believe that any kind of site in any type of business can use this method if they are willing to work at it. I know of no other method that can even bring links from direct competitors! Personally, I'd rather spend my time creating a link-worthy site than sending out repetitive reciprocal link exchange requests...but maybe that's just me!

Your homework for this week is to think about how you can make your site so good that others will be only too willing to link to it -- without your even having to ask for it. If you can figure it out and actually spend the time implementing the strategy, eventually you won't have to worry about link popularity, reciprocal links or PageRank ever again!

SEO and the Zen Factor

2008-04-07T03:56:00.002-07:00

I don't get a chance to read much that isn't related to search marketing these days, but since I'm traveling more, I've been using those long plane flights to read different types of books. One of my favorites has been Dr. Wayne Dyer's "The Power of Intention," which I bought after seeing him speak on public television.

In the "The Power of Intention" every sentence has a powerful meaning that really needs to be pondered in order to get the most out of it. When I read a book that is packed with such deep concepts, I find that the best thing for me to do is read through it once without trying to grasp everything that is being said. At that point I find that I have understood the information at only a very basic level. I may know what the author is talking about, and I may not be confused by it, but I really can't verbalize it to anyone else. I'm now on my third or fourth read of Dyer's book, and am a bit more at home with the concepts he presents, but I find that with each read I get more and more out of it.

Currently, I'm reading another book on a similar topic, but it's presented in a totally different manner. This book ("The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle) has helped me further understand Dr. Dyer's book, just as Dyer's book has helped me understand this book. I've also realized there is so much to learn on this subject that I'm sure I could read a hundred books and never understand everything.

By now, I'm sure you're totally confused and wondering what the heck my personal reading habits have to do with SEO. Stay with me, as I do have a point! When I think about the vast information that *any* subject contains, be it SEO or personal growth, I realize that when people first get interested in something, there's a steep learning curve involved. Every day I hear from people who are just learning SEO, and they're simply not grasping what I consider the very basic concepts. For those of us who live and breathe SEO, it's sometimes difficult to step back and remember what it was like when we were first learning.

Even though SEO isn't as complicated as Zen Buddhism, it's still going to take most newbies a lot of time and study to truly understand things at a fundamental level. For those of you just starting to learn SEO, you may read some of the more ethereal stuff written on the topic (such as my "Art of SEO" article) and simply not be able to grasp it -- yet. But don't despair! If you immerse yourself in the topic, you will find that every day you understand more and more.

When practiced at the level of those of us who've been in the game for 5-10 years, SEO is in fact very Zen-like. We can look at a website and know exactly what needs to be done to make it the best it can be for the site visitors and the search engines. Often, it's easiest for us when we can just roll up our sleeves and do what we know needs to be done, rather than try to explain the whys and wherefores. Many times it's not even possible to explain exactly why we are doing a specific thing, because it simply comes from the gut. Unfortunately, many clients and even more budding SEOs aren't cool with the explanation "it just feels right"!

There will always be SEOs who need to do their work based on some logical, formulaic reasoning. These people may never be able to simply trust their own instincts. To them, it can't just "feel right," because search algorithms and how to beat them have got to have a logical explanation. However, as time marches on, search engines are becoming ever more sophisticated. The logical among us have all kinds of theories and acronyms (e.g. LSI) that supposedly explain how the engines will be determining relevancy in the future. Personally, I prefer to believe that they're simply adding a "Zen factor" to the mix!

Ten Tips to the Top of the Search Engines

2008-04-07T03:56:00.001-07:00

Having a website that gets found in Google, Yahoo, and MSN, etc. isn't hard to do, but it can be difficult to know where to begin. Here are my latest and greatest tips to get you started:

Do not purchase a new domain unless you have to. Due to Google's aging delay for all new domains, your best bet is to use your existing domain/website if at all possible. If you're redesigning or starting from scratch and you have to use a brand-new domain for some reason, you can expect to wait a good 9-12 months before your site will show up in Google for any keyword phrases that are important to you.

Optimize your site for your target audience, not for the search engines. This may sound counterintuitive, but hear me out. The search engines are looking for pages that best fit the keyword phrase someone types into their little search box. If those "someones" are typing in search words that relate to what your site offers, then they are most likely members of your target audience. You need to optimize your site to meet *their* needs. If you don't know who your target audience is, then you need to find out one way or another. Look for studies online that might provide demographic information, and visit other sites, communities, or forums where your target audience might hang out and listen to what they discuss. This information will be crucial to your resulting website design, keyword research, and copywriting.

Research your keyword phrases extensively. The phrases you think your target market might be searching for may very well be incorrect. To find the optimal phrases to optimize for, use research tools such as KeywordDiscovery, Wordtracker, Google AdWords, and Yahoo Search Marketing data. Compile lists of the most relevant phrases for your site, and choose a few different ones for every page. Never shoot for general keywords such as "travel" or "vacation," as they are rarely (if ever) indicative of what your site is really about.

Design and categorize your site architecture and navigation based on your keyword research. Your research may uncover undiscovered areas of interest or ways of categorizing your products/services that you may wish to add to your site. For instance, let's say your site sells toys. There are numerous ways you could categorize and lay out your site so that people will find the toys they're looking for. Are people looking for toys to fit their child's stage of development? (Look for keyword phrases such as "preschool toys.") Or are they more likely to be seeking specific brands of toys? Most likely, your keyword research will show you that people are looking for toys in many different ways. Your job is to make sure that your site's navigation showcases the various ways of searching. Make sure you have links to specific-brand pages as well as specific age ranges, specific types of toys, etc.

Program your site to be "crawler-friendly." The search engines can't fill out forms, can't search your site, can't read JavaScript links and menus, and can't interpret graphics and Flash. This doesn't mean that you can't use these things on your site; you most certainly can! However, you do need to provide alternate means of navigating your site as necessary. If you have only a drop-down sequence of menus to choose a category or a brand of something, the search engine crawlers will never find those resulting pages. You'll need to make sure that you always have some form of HTML links in the main navigation on every page which link to the top-level pages of your site. From those pages, you'll need to have further HTML links to the individual product/service pages. (Please note that HTML links do NOT have to be text-only links. There's nothing wrong with graphical image navigation that is wrapped in standard tags, as the search engines can follow image links just fine.)

Label your internal text links and clickable image alt attributes (aka alt tags) as clearly and descriptively as possible. Your site visitors and the search engines look at the clickable portion of your links (aka the anchor text) to help them understand what they're going to find once they click through. Don't make them guess what's at the other end with links that say "click here" or other non-descriptive words. Be as descriptive as possible with every text and graphical link on your site. The cool thing about writing your anchor text and alt attributes to be descriptive is that you can almost always describe the page you're pointing to by using its main keyword phrase.

Write compelling copy for the key pages of your site based on your chosen keyword phrases and your target market's needs, and make sure it's copy that the search engines can "see." This is a crucial component to having a successful website. The search engines need to read keyword-rich copy on your pages so they can understand how to classify your site. This copy shouldn't be buried in graphics or hidden in Flash. Write your copy based on your most relevant keyword phrases while also making an emotional connection with your site visitor. (This is where that target audience analysis comes in handy!) Understand that there is no magical number of words per page or number of times to use your phrases in your copy. The important thing is to use your keyword phrases only when and where it makes sense to do so for the real people reading your pages. Simply sticking keyword phrases at the top of the page for no apparent reason isn't going to cut it, and it just looks silly. (Purchase and read our Copywriting Combo for exact tips on how to implement this correctly.)

Incorporate your keyword phrases into each page's unique Title tag. Title tags are critical because they're given a lot of weight with every search engine. Whatever keyword phrases you've written your copy around should also be used in your Title tag. Remember that the information that you place in this tag is what will show up as the clickable link to your site at the search engines. Make sure that it accurately reflects the content of the page it's on, while also using the keyword phrases people might be using at a search engine to find your stuff.

Make sure your site is "link-worthy." Other sites linking to yours is a critical component of a successful search engine optimization campaign, as all of the major search engines place a good deal of emphasis on your site's overall link popularity. You can go out and request hundreds or thousands of links, but if your site stinks, why would anyone want to link to it? On the other hand, if your site is full of wonderful, useful information, other sites will naturally link to it without your even asking. It's fine to trade links; just make sure you are providing your site visitors with only the highest quality of related sites. When you link to lousy sites, keep in mind what this says to your site visitors as well as to the search engines.

Don't be married to any one keyword phrase or worried too much about rankings. If you've done the above 9 things correctly, you will start to see an increase in targeted search engine visitors to your site fairly quickly. Forget about where you rank for any specific keyword phrase and instead measure your results in increased traffic, sales, and conversions. (You can sign up for a free trial of ClickTracks, which easily tracks and measures those things that truly matter.) It certainly won't hurt to add new content to your site if it will really make your site more useful, but don't simply add a load of fluff just for the sake of adding something. It really is okay to have a business site that is just a business site and not a diatribe on the history of your products. Neither your site visitors nor the engines really give a hoot!

Realistic Search Engine Optimization Expectations

2008-04-07T03:55:00.000-07:00

Those who've been in the SEO biz for a number of years know how much more competitive it is these days as compared to a few years ago. The number of webpages indexed by search engines has doubled, tripled, and quadrupled in past years. On top of that, a good portion of site owners and webmasters know just enough SEO to be dangerous. In the golden age of SEO, the vast majority of websites hadn't given a thought to the search engines, and when they did, it was only to place some keywords in their Meta tags. (Which, incidentally, didn't help then either.) Those were the days when anyone who knew even the slightest bit about SEO could easily rank highly in all the major search engines, with very little effort. Even competitive areas were doable with just a little more work than their non-competitive counterparts.

These days, it's almost the exact opposite. Even keyword phrases that nobody's searching for can sometimes be difficult to obtain high rankings with unless you really and truly know what you're doing. And even then, those rankings may be here one day, and gone the next. The problem is magnified for new businesses and new websites. If your site isn't at least a few years old, your SEO efforts will be less likely to provide the results you want. This is one reason why your website optimization should always be seen as a long-term proposition.

As we move forward in this industry, webmasters, site owners, and SEOs need to shift their focus from that of asking how they can get this keyword to this position in this engine to how they can get more targeted traffic and convert it into customers. Unfortunately, a large portion of those looking into SEO services are still seeing the small picture. For instance, on the contact form on my site, I ask people to tell me a little bit about their "business goals." A good portion who fill it out want something like "top-5 rankings in Google and Yahoo for this keyword." Huh? That's not a business goal! A business goal is more like "Bring more people to my website who are searching online for the types of products we sell." (As a side note, soon after writing this, I got an email from someone whose goal was to have their Flash site be "#1 in all the search engines for the word 'spring.'" I kid you not!)

Don't get me wrong, I very much understand why people would love to move their rankings up from #11 to #1 for a highly sought-after and targeted keyword phrase. I'm quite sure it would very much increase their targeted traffic and their sales (assuming they're doing everything else right). My frustration lies in the fact that there are people who believe that somehow an SEO company can magically snap their fingers or wave their magic wands and make it so. They probably found my site at #2 in Google for search engine optimization and expect that I can just do to their site whatever it was I did to my site, and voila -- instant rankings!

Even the best SEOs are not magicians. They can't simply place a site at the top of the engines when there are hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of others that offer basically the same thing, and provide basically the same information. If they could, you'd see a whole lot more millionaire SEOs.

Does this mean that SEO is dead?

Absolutely not! But SEO that focuses on rankings for the most highly sought-after keywords in any given space is most definitely dying. This doesn't mean that you have to settle for keywords that receive few searches. It just means that you have to broaden your horizons and see the big picture.

Almost every time I review one of those "put me at #1" prospects' websites, I see tons of opportunities for fixing the site in general so that it will work better for both their users and the search engines. They are almost always so focused on their "money phrases" that they completely neglect many areas of their site. Instead they put their special phrase on every page and never research the thousands of others that are being typed into search engines every day.

Another trend I've been seeing a lot lately is the creation of content simply for the sake of creating content. What's that all about? SEOs certainly throw the words "good content" around a lot, but why is it that nobody seems to know what that means? We now have a whole cottage industry of companies who will allegedly write "good content" for you. Worse, there's even one that will *rent* you content! Newsflash...good content has nothing to do with the history of your products. Nor is good content a bunch of madlib spam pages where you simply substitute keyword phrases from one page into the other. Good content isn't stuff you write for the search engines.

Good content is unique. Really and truly unique. It is creative ideas that simply popped into your head which nobody else in your space has thought of yet. The key to good content is creativity. Unfortunately, creativity itself seems to be a dying art. Being creative isn't looking at what your competitor is doing and copying them. It's being a leader, not a follower. It's having your own voice and your own opinions and expressing them, regardless of what others might think. It's pouring your heart and soul into your website, not looking for the next quick fix. And it's (say it with me) making your site the best it can be for your site visitors AND the search engines. It's what's made my site rank highly for the most competitive phrase there is (among thousands of other phrases), and it's what will make your site rank highly for whatever phrases relate to it. But it's not easy, and it's not fast. And it can't be done with the flick of a switch.

So please...if your pet phrase isn't ranking highly enough, don't call me and don't email me. In fact, don't call or email *any* SEO company. Instead of calling, you need to reassess your goals. No SEO company in the world will be able to help you unless you are ready to forget about what you think you want, and learn more about what you really need. Read that last sentence again until you really understand it. Forget about what you think you want, and learn more about what you really need.

And remember, there are plenty of companies that will say they can do whatever you want them to do. You want to be #1 for spring? Sure, no problem. They will happily take your money, do some work, and promptly get no results. Don't blame them though -- they were just telling you what you wanted to hear.

Those who've been in the SEO biz for a number of years know how much more competitive it is these days as compared to a few years ago. The number of webpages indexed by search engines has doubled, tripled, and quadrupled in past years. On top of that, a good portion of site owners and webmasters know just enough SEO to be dangerous. In the golden age of SEO, the vast majority of websites hadn't given a thought to the search engines, and when they did, it was only to place some keywords in their Meta tags. (Which, incidentally, didn't help then either.) Those were the days when anyone who knew even the slightest bit about SEO could easily rank highly in all the major search engines, with very little effort. Even competitive areas were doable with just a little more work than their non-competitive counterparts.

These days, it's almost the exact opposite. Even keyword phrases that nobody's searching for can sometimes be difficult to obtain high rankings with unless you really and truly know what you're doing. And even then, those rankings may be here one day, and gone the next. The problem is magnified for new businesses and new websites. If your site isn't at least a few years old, your SEO efforts will be less likely to provide the results you want. This is one reason why your website optimization should always be seen as a long-term proposition.

As we move forward in this industry, webmasters, site owners, and SEOs need to shift their focus from that of asking how they can get this keyword to this position in this engine to how they can get more targeted traffic and convert it into customers. Unfortunately, a large portion of those looking into SEO services are still seeing the small picture. For instance, on the contact form on my site, I ask people to tell me a little bit about their "business goals." A good portion who fill it out want something like "top-5 rankings in Google and Yahoo for this keyword." Huh? That's not a business goal! A business goal is more like "Bring more people to my website who are searching online for the types of products we sell." (As a side note, soon after writing this, I got an email from someone whose goal was to have their Flash site be "#1 in all the search engines for the word 'spring.'" I kid you not!)

Don't get me wrong, I very much understand why people would love to move their rankings up from #11 to #1 for a highly sought-after and targeted keyword phrase. I'm quite sure it would very much increase their targeted traffic and their sales (assuming they're doing everything else right). My frustration lies in the fact that there are people who believe that somehow an SEO company can magically snap their fingers or wave their magic wands and make it so. They probably found my site at #2 in Google for search engine optimization and expect that I can just do to their site whatever it was I did to my site, and voila -- instant rankings!

Even the best SEOs are not magicians. They can't simply place a site at the top of the engines when there are hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of others that offer basically the same thing, and provide basically the same information. If they could, you'd see a whole lot more millionaire SEOs.

Does this mean that SEO is dead?

Absolutely not! But SEO that focuses on rankings for the most highly sought-after keywords in any given space is most definitely dying. This doesn't mean that you have to settle for keywords that receive few searches. It just means that you have to broaden your horizons and see the big picture.

Almost every time I review one of those "put me at #1" prospects' websites, I see tons of opportunities for fixing the site in general so that it will work better for both their users and the search engines. They are almost always so focused on their "money phrases" that they completely neglect many areas of their site. Instead they put their special phrase on every page and never research the thousands of others that are being typed into search engines every day.

Another trend I've been seeing a lot lately is the creation of content simply for the sake of creating content. What's that all about? SEOs certainly throw the words "good content" around a lot, but why is it that nobody seems to know what that means? We now have a whole cottage industry of companies who will allegedly write "good content" for you. Worse, there's even one that will *rent* you content! Newsflash...good content has nothing to do with the history of your products. Nor is good content a bunch of madlib spam pages where you simply substitute keyword phrases from one page into the other. Good content isn't stuff you write for the search engines.

Good content is unique. Really and truly unique. It is creative ideas that simply popped into your head which nobody else in your space has thought of yet. The key to good content is creativity. Unfortunately, creativity itself seems to be a dying art. Being creative isn't looking at what your competitor is doing and copying them. It's being a leader, not a follower. It's having your own voice and your own opinions and expressing them, regardless of what others might think. It's pouring your heart and soul into your website, not looking for the next quick fix. And it's (say it with me) making your site the best it can be for your site visitors AND the search engines. It's what's made my site rank highly for the most competitive phrase there is (among thousands of other phrases), and it's what will make your site rank highly for whatever phrases relate to it. But it's not easy, and it's not fast. And it can't be done with the flick of a switch.

So please...if your pet phrase isn't ranking highly enough, don't call me and don't email me. In fact, don't call or email *any* SEO company. Instead of calling, you need to reassess your goals. No SEO company in the world will be able to help you unless you are ready to forget about what you think you want, and learn more about what you really need. Read that last sentence again until you really understand it. Forget about what you think you want, and learn more about what you really need.

And remember, there are plenty of companies that will say they can do whatever you want them to do. You want to be #1 for spring? Sure, no problem. They will happily take your money, do some work, and promptly get no results. Don't blame them though -- they were just telling you what you wanted to hear.

All About Title Tags

2008-04-07T03:45:00.000-07:00

What Is a Title Tag?

The title tag has been — and probably will always be — one of the most important factors in achieving high search engine rankings.

In fact, fixing just the title tags of your pages can often generate quick and appreciable differences to your rankings. And because the words in the title tag are what appear in the clickable link on the search engine results page (SERP), changing them may result in more clickthroughs.

Search Engines and Title Tags

Title tags are definitely one of the “big three” as far as the algorithmic weight given to them by search engines; they are equally as important as your visible text copy and the links pointing to your pages — perhaps even more so.

Do Company Names Belong in the Title Tag?

This is one of the most common questions asked about titles. The answer is a resounding YES! I’ve found that it’s fine to place your company name in the title, and *gasp*, even to place it at the beginning of the tag! In fact, if your company is already a well-known brand, I’d say that it’s essential. Even if you’re not a well-known brand yet, chances are you’d like to eventually be one. The title tag gives you a great opportunity to further this cause.

This doesn’t mean that you should put *just* your company name in the title tag. Even the most well-known brands will benefit from a good descriptive phrase or two added, as it will serve to enhance your brand as well as your search engine rankings. The people who already know your company and seek it out by name will be able to find you in the engines, and so will those who have never heard of you but seek the products or services you sell.

Title Tags Should Contain Specific Keyword Phrases

For example, if your company is "Johnson and Smith Inc.," a tax accounting firm in Texas, you shouldn’t place only the words "Johnson and Smith Inc." in your title tag, but instead use something like "Johnson and Smith Inc. Tax Accountants in Texas."

As a Texas tax accountant, you would want your company’s site to appear in the search engine results for searches on phrases such as "Texas tax accountants" and "CPAs in Texas." (Be sure to do your keyword research to find the best phrases!) You would need to be even more specific if you prefer to work with people only in the Dallas area. In that case, use keywords such as "Dallas tax accountants" in your site’s title tags.

Using our Dallas accountant’s example, you might create a title tag as follows:

Johnson and Smith Tax Accountants in Dallas

or you might try something like this:

Johnson and Smith Dallas CPAs

However, there’s more than enough space in the title tag to include both of these important keyword phrases. (I like to use about 10-12 words in my title tags.)

One way to do it would be like this:

Johnson and Smith - Dallas Tax Accountants - CPAs in Dallas, TX

I’ve always liked the method of separating phrases with a hyphen; however, in today’s competitive marketplace, how your listing appears in the SERPs is a critical aspect of your SEO campaign. After all, if you have high search engine rankings but your targeted buyers aren’t clicking through, it won’t do you much good.

These days I try to write compelling titles as opposed to simply factual ones, if I can. But it also depends on the page, the type of business, the targeted keyword phrases, and many other factors. There’s nothing wrong with the title tag in my above example. If you were looking for a tax accountant in Dallas and saw that listing at Google, you’d probably click on it.

Still, you could make it a readable sentence like this:

Johnson and Smith are Tax Accountants and CPAs in Dallas, TX

I’m not as thrilled with that one because I had to remove the exact phrase "Dallas Tax Accountants," as it wouldn’t read as well if it said:

Johnson and Smith are Dallas Tax Accountants and CPAs in Dallas, TX

It sounds redundant that way, as if it were written only for the search engines.

In the end, it’s really a personal preference. Don’t make yourself crazy trying to create the perfect title tag, as there’s just no such thing. Most likely, either of my examples would work fine. The best thing to do would be to test different ones and see which rank higher and which convert better. It may very well be that the second version doesn’t rank as well, but gets clicked on more, effectively making up the difference.

Use Your Visible Text Copy As Your Guide

I prefer not to create my title tags until the copy on the page has been written and optimized. I need to see how the copywriter integrated the keyword phrases into the text to know where to begin. If you’ve done a good job with your writing (or better yet, hired a professional SEO copywriter), you should find all the information you need right there on your page. Simply choose the most relevant keyword phrases that the copy was based on, and write a compelling title tag accordingly. If you’re having trouble with this and can’t seem to get a handle on what the most important phrases are for any given page, you probably need to rewrite the copy.

I recommend that you *don’t* use an exact sentence pulled from your copy as your title tag. It’s much better to have a unique sentence or a compelling string of words in this tag. This is why you have to watch out for certain development tools. Some content management systems (CMS) and blog software such as WordPress automatically generate the title tag from information you provide elsewhere. In WordPress, for example, the default is to use your blog name, plus whatever you named the page. The problem is that this same info is also used as the headline, plus in the navigational link to the page. Depending on your setup, it could also be the URL for that page. Very rarely would you want all those to be the same.

The good news is that most of today’s CMS and blog software have workarounds so that you can customize your title tags. For WordPress, I recommend installing the "SEO Title Tag" plug-in developed by Stephan Spencer. It works like a charm on all my WordPress sites.

The Art of SEO

2008-04-07T03:44:00.000-07:00

As much as Google *pretends* to like SEOs by inviting us to parties at the Googleplex and posting on SEO forums, the bottom line is that they don’t like us — or rather, they don’t like what we do. Google wants to find the best, most relevant sites for the search query at hand all by themselves. Perhaps someday they will actually be able to do that, but for now, they still need our help, whether they like it or not.

Unfortunately, unscrupulous SEOs have given Google good reasons not to like us. Because of search engine spammers, Google is constantly changing their ranking criteria and is always on the lookout for the telltale signs of SEO on any given site. It’s not a huge stretch to say that they may even downgrade the sites that they believe have been SEO’d.

If you think that having your keyword phrases “in all the right places for
SEO” is a good thing, think again! You’re essentially telling Google, “Hey
look…my site has been SEO’d!” To which they reply, “Thanks so much for
letting us know… ZAP … see ya later!” Doesn’t matter if your site is
the most relevant (in your mind) to the search query. Doesn’t matter that
you’ve placed your keyword phrases strategically throughout the site.

Stuff that worked like a charm for many people in the early years of SEO may actually hurt rather than help now. As to what might trigger an SEO “red flag,” my guess is that it’s a combination of things. Like, if you have a certain number of traditional SEO factors on any given page, those may set off some Google warning bells (otherwise known as a spam filter).

Some of the traditional SEO formulaic elements that you may have been taught to use include putting the keyword phrase:

in the domain name
in the file name
in the Title tag
in the Meta description tag
in the Meta keyword tag o in the image alt attributes
in an H1 (or any H) tag
as the first words on the page
in bold and/or italics or a different color
multiple times in the first paragraph or twice on the page
in the copy in every single spot on the page where it might possibly make sense to use it, and
in all the hyperlinks pointing to a page.
If you put the same keyword phrase in many of those spots, you might very well trigger a spam filter. Since it’s difficult to determine how many and which combinations of those things might trigger the filter, the best advice I can give you is to do your SEO without any particular formula in mind.

That’s how I’ve always done it and it’s always worked because every site is
unique and has different SEO needs.

Unfortunately, it’s difficult to describe this type of SEO to others, as
people are always looking for the magic formula. For as long as I’ve been
doing SEO (over 12 years now), I’ve had it in the back of my mind that I
wouldn’t want to tip off the engines that my sites were SEO’d. This is one
of the reasons I’ve never used keyword-rich domain names or file names.
That’s probably the most obvious SEO thing you can do.

The most important aspect to being a good SEO is creativity. You shouldn’t
worry too much about the specifics of putting keyword phrases here and
there, and again over there. Not every page needs an H1 heading with
keyword phrases in it. If your page isn’t designed to use H1 headings, you
don’t need to change it to use one just for SEO purposes. And many images don’t really and truly make sense with a keyword phrase in their alt attribute (alt tag). Don’t force one to be there just for the search engines.

Most importantly for Google (and for your users), when it comes to your page copy and how you use your visible keyword phrases, less is definitely more. Please don’t read my Nitty-gritty report and then put the same keyword phrase in every single available spot on your page that you can find. My report is supposed to help you think about a few places you may have missed because you weren’t thinking about being descriptive when you originally wrote the copy. You can definitely have too much of a good thing.

A first paragraph on a page that has, say, 4 sentences, should not have 10
instances of your keyword phrase. It will look and sound dumb. I know that I have stressed this in my conference presentations and in our High Rankings seminars, but no matter how many times I say this, people don’t quite grasp the importance of working this way. If your copy reads poorly to a human, and does not come across as natural professional copywriting, the search engines won’t like it either.

When you do SEO, you don’t follow a guidebook. Think like a search engineer and consider all the possible things they might have to combat both now and in the future. Always optimize for 3 or 4 or even up to 5 phrases, and spread them out throughout the entire page. Never, ever, ever think that it’s the first paragraph that matters and stuff ‘em all in there. There should be an equal distribution throughout the entire page, and you should never use the phrases so much that you hear them constantly when you read it.

If you’ve done it right, an everyday user should not have any idea that a page has been SEO’d. A trained SEO should be able to spot what your keyword phrases are, but it shouldn’t be glaringly obvious. Last, but not least, hire a professional copywriter to work on the important pages of your site. This is the best investment you can make for your site and your business. Even if you don’t want to hire an SEO, you absolutely MUST hire a
professional copywriter. You need someone who really and truly understands target audiences and how to speak to them about the benefits of what you offer. You can easily teach someone like that the SEO writing part.

Hope this helps to give you some ideas on how you might get out of formula-SEO mode and start doing more creative SEO. More than ever, SEO is much more of an art than a science. The science is only a small portion of it.

Using Content That Works (CTW) to create traffic.

2008-04-07T03:43:00.002-07:00

Content, content, content. That's all I hear...probably because that's what I am always saying. Content! I think people don't fully understand me when I tell them let their content do the work work for them. Usually, it's the other way around. People write content to post on their blog, for
creating a page to put adsense on and to write articles. These are all very good ways for you to use your content. What you need to do is create not just content but Content That Works (CTW). This is something I created to help me keep my writing goals in mind.

CTW is content that either creates a buzz or is used to start a conversation, so to speak. It's content that gets people involved in what you are writing It could be positive, negative or neutral. It's a way of thinking. How many times have you written an article just so you can submit it for backlinks? I think just about everyone involved with SEO has at one time or another. But how many of those articles gave people something to really talk about? Not too many, I would assume. The same goes for messageboards, blog posts and other places where you can use CTW.

We all know content spam is bad. But that doesn't mean you can't give people on a blog a reason to see your site. Who is the most popular person blogging in your field? I bet he receives a lot of hits. You can steal some of those hits and gain more readers for yourself. The key is to have knowledge of the topic and give people a reason to leave and see your site. It could be an article you wrote or a podcast you made related to the topic. If your opinion differs from other bloggers and you can back it up, people will flock to your blog or site out of pure curiousity.

Articles are the best way to use CTW. I know we all have written some not so terrific articles. Why was that? Were you pressed for time, short on ideas or perhaps you just didn't care? The more you care about what you are writing about, the better your article will be. What was the message? Their was a message, right? How attuned are you to what people in the industry you are writing for want to read? I wrote an article about how to spam Google and get away with it. It really had nothing to do with spam. The title alone, however, generated a lot of buzz. That article is one of the the most posted articles I have written to date. It not only created a buzz, but it created traffic. People on message boards discussed it. Some agreed with it, others hated it. The bottom line is, it served its purpose by creating buzz.

Do you frequent messageboard? Are your posts with CTW in mind? Anywhere you can write something that other's see is a place where you can potentially gain a new visitor, sale, listener or notoriety for yourself. All if these things are important. I know, we all want backlinks. We want high rankings and we want to brag that we are on the top of Google for our keyphrase. That's fine. But, with every algorhythm change their is a risk of your methods not working quite as well as they use to. Or, maybe you get banned, or overrun by your competition. Whatever the case may be, as long as you use CTW with everything you write, Google and all those other search engines can never take that away.

Linkbaiting. How hard is it?

2008-04-07T03:43:00.001-07:00

Linkbaiting is a big topic for discussion lately. Everyone wants and needs links. We can ask for links, buy links or create articles and submit them for one way links. Linkbaiting is about getting links without doing any of these. Linkbaiting is essentially baiting people in by creating something they want to link to. So, what could we use to bait people into linking to you?

Podcasting: Creating a podcast that discusses news, tips or information on your industry is great baiting tool. Making your podcast unique and consistent is the key to steady stream of new links.

Interviews: These are great. If you could interview someone well known in your industry, that would certainly be worth linking to. For an added boost, do the interview on your podcast and then transcribe it.

Awards: Awards are another way to bring in traffic, though you can't (or at least shouldn't) simply make up an award. It has to have criteria, high standards and most importantly, meaning. If you give awards to everyone who applies, your award will seem insignificant and unimportant. The upside is you can gain a lot of traffic and one way links from award winners.

Tools and games: These will always be popular. Create a new tool for your industry that is legitimately helpful or develop a game related to your industry that is either informative or amusing. Firefox or wordpress plugins will bring steady traffic for a long time.

Content: Content is the easiest of all to create. Articles and blog posts are a great way to go about linkbaiting. You need to use your imagination to make your post compelling. Keeping on top of news and current affairs will help you pick a topic that people are already interested in. There is nothing wrong with piggy backing on some top stories if it relates to what you do.

Video: The is becoming one of the fastest forms of link baiting, in my opinion. Creating a funny or informative video can create quiet a buzz.

Giveaways and contests: These are great for a quick boost in traffic. However, these are also short lived. Giveaways need to have an associated monetary value. Contests, unless they are monthly, will die along with the links after the contest is over.

Blogs and forums: These are usually overlooked as a form of linking baiting, but they are one of the earliest forms of link baiting. Nothing says "link to me" more than a forum or a blog. Proving they have something of interest for the readers.

Guest appearances: This is one I like to use. I like to exchange writings, interviews or ideas with other bloggers and podcasters. Let me post a post on your blog and you can post on mine for a cross promotion. It's a great way to get a link as well. If you have a podcast, exchange advertisements with other casts along with a link on your podcast page.

Lists: List are very popular. Why? Well, because they are a list of something of value that people want, all in one place. I have a list of over 200 article submission sites to submit articles to, directories that you can submit your podcast to for free and free directories to get your site listed on. These are always my most often viewed posts.

Where to set your bait: Press releases and social networks are the best places to cast your line. Make an enticing headline and real in some hefty traffic.
If you try once a week to do some form of linkbaiting, by at least writing a topical post or putting together a lengthy list that readers will find useful, you will see a steady increase of traffic and hopefully links.

Using SEO and other methods to help Brand and Market your business online

2008-04-07T03:42:00.000-07:00

With so many new busineses hitting the Internet on a daily business, it becomes increasingly difficult to separate one's company from others. You need to constantly get your brand in front of people. The Internet has not only made it easier for people to start a business online, but that same simplicity has made the competition enormous. The potential to reach millions of people is as close as your own computer. However, many companies don't know the first thing about promotion and branding.

Articles have always been a way to market a business on and off the net. A well written article in a newspaper or a column would generate some business years ago. Today with so much content available and few publications writing articles about specific businesses other than from a strictly newsworthy standpoint, marketing professionals must strive to create well recieved ad campaigns. Articles are still a great way to boost internet businesses and can provide SEO backlinks and anchor text. Articles also help drive in quality traffic. The most important use of articles, however, is to help brand your company. Informative articles are a great resource for the Internet. The better an article is written, the better chances of it being placed on other sites. The article will be viewed as an extension of your company's knowledge, policies and mission, so make it count. Regularly written articles will help ensure not only a steady flow of traffic, but will help get your name in front of more people. RSS has made it easy to not only have your content syndicated but it also makes it easier for people to know when you have new content available.

Organic search is a necessity in today's online business. If your site can rank well for it's key terms, people who search regularly for your type of business will become familiar with your name, which consequently increases your chances of making a sale. You could also purchase paid listings on search engines. If your URL shows up for keywords and paid listing on the same page, it may help push a visitor to your site. The problem is you don't have control over what sites your ads are placed on. It could hurt your brand if your link was found on an inappropriate site. Some search engines like Yahoo have become smart enough to associate a person to a website or a company. A search on Yahoo for my name, Joe Balestrino, returns my site www.mr-seo.com as the #1 position.

Give your business a human presence. The Internet for the most part is just words and images. Letting people associate a name and a face with your company will let then know that there is a person in charge and that he is accessible, whether it is through email, telephone or instant messenger. Letting them know you are there if they need you can be a big selling point.

Podcasting is a new way to get the word out about your company. Podcasting is basically audio to go. People can download the audio files to their computer or ipod. You can provide news about your industry, tips, ideas etc. This powerful marketing tool is growing by leaps and bounds. If your industry doesn't already have a few podcasts, start one. Be the pioneer in your field, or do something that separates you from the others. If it's informative as well as entertaining, you can grow a steady fan base. The fans are a very important resource to you. You can ask them for feedback, concerns or problems they have in your area of business. Sometimes free advice can go a long way. Also, If your make it entertaining and informative enough, people will tell others.

Blogs are a great way to let people know what is going on with your company, offer tips, insights and provide other information. Many large companies use blogs as a way for consumers to see the company on a more personal level. Companies also use it as a way to release information and to acquire feedback.
Another useful tip is to get your logo out there. Some article sites will let you upload an image. Most message boards allow you to use an avatar. Take advantage of those. Message boards are also a great way to get your name and brand out there. Share some insights or help others with their questions. People do get business from message boards.

These are just some basic ways you get get your business and your brand in front of people. This is not an overnight process. Hard work, persistence and a steady stream of quality content will get you on your way to becoming recognized in your field.

Do we create sites for user or the engines?

2008-04-07T03:41:00.002-07:00

What’s more important? Creating sites for users or the engines? The answer is both.

Primarily a site should be designed for the user, with search engines in mind. Google tends to talk out both sides of their mouth when they say, “Don’t do anything special for the engines”. Yet, they create a webmaster tool center where you can submit a sitemap, and get information about how the engines see your site, errors and what key phrases your site ranks for. That gives new site owners a little bit of confusion.

I like sites that are easy to navigate, pleasing to the eye and that help sell whatever it is you need to. Pages should be set up as landing pages. This way you can give the visitor everything they need to make a purchase or fill out a form. At the same time you can optimize these pages for the engines and use the pages for your PPC campaigns. I believe in doing sites this way. It brings the visitor a much better experience.

The perfect site is not only user friendly, but optimized for the engines. You need to target where people go to in order to provide them with the information or product they need. There is nothing worse than having people landing on a page that is optimized for a phrase but offers no information about it.. It brings the user a bad experience and you a missed sale or lead. Once you have a page optimized, you can streamline the transition from viewing what you have to offer to facilitating a purchase. You can also provide related content and links. This, in turn, will help with you PPC because Google is now checking to see how relevant your landing pages are to the keywords you buy.

In the grand scheme of things, you do need to optimize your site. However, if you do not have usability for the user, your traffic won’t convert. Non-converting traffic is worse than having no traffic at all. It’s a webmasters nightmare.

Using your blog to get one way links

2008-04-07T03:41:00.001-07:00

Blogs are a great tool. They allow you to add new, fresh content to your site. They are also a great way to build readership. Think about all the blogs you read. I'm sure that if you're reading this, you're also likely subscribed to a few or at least check them on a daily to weekly basis. Why? Is it because it is entertaining, informative or both? Blogs have been given a bad name because of splogs. Darren Rowse has a terrffic blog (http://www.problogger.net.) where he posts daily with tips for bloggers. Darren has discussed the "Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers", which consist of tips from highly successful bloggers who tell you what they do and make suggesstions as to what you should do.

So, how does all this help you get one way backlinks. Preferrably, you want people to link to you naturally. The best way to do that is to give them something worth linking to. Let's say I was an MS Office guru. My blog might be about relatively unknown tips and tricks on how to use MS office or for creating calenders and spreadsheets. Many people who work with MS office would be interested in that. They may like the tips so much that they list it on their blog or site.
What makes a good blog? Information? Yes! Consistency? Absolutely! However a great blog has to have its own style and flare. A blog that invites its readers to participate in the post is a golden rule. That's almost a guaranteed way to ensure that people will be coming back for more.

If you want to get traffic to your blog, one of the best ways is to leave comments on other blogs. Keep in mind, however, that it has to be done in a smart way. People can always tell when something is spam, so avoid being so obvious. Limit your posts to those blogs that are at least somewhat related to your blog. If a blog is about automobiles and you try to plug your aquarium business, you'll do more harm than good. Go to blogs that are related and take part in the discussion. The more informative and intellectual your comments are, the better chance your post will stay around long enough to be read. That is how you can start to build your readership. If you can convince people what you have to say is worth reading, they will come and read it.

Regardless of what you do to get people to your blog, the proof is always in the pudding. If you can't keep them coming back, all the advertising and work you put into creating traffic will mean nothing.

Getting listed in DMOZ. Not as easy as we'd like it to be.

2008-04-07T03:40:00.002-07:00

The open directory project, or dmoz as it is better known, is the directory many webmasters want to be in. There are many myths and so-called benefits to being in dmoz. Unfortunately, this article will not be about them. This article is to help people better understand how dmoz works and will hopefully give you a better idea of how to submit properly. None of this article is speculation. This has all come from my conversations with the editors themselves, either from their message board or via email.
Here are the basics:

Keep in mind it can take anywhere from 2 weeks to a year or more to get listed. In order to be accepted, you need to meet their qualifications. Some of the qualifications are...

You can't submit a site that is consists of mostly affiliate links.

You can't submit an individual URL from the same site. For example if you submit

www.abc.comn you can't submit www.abc.com/next-page

You can't submit mirror sites. These are sites that are identical to another. (Same content, just different URL)

Do not submit a site that is "under construction" or only partially finished.

Your site can't have any illegal content, child pornography, or advocate illegal activity.

How soon can you expect your site to be accepted into the directory? It can take anywhere form a a few weeks to a year or more. Why so long? Dmoz runs on the steam of volunteers. An editor for Dmoz must make an edit at least once every four months. So, if an editor does the minimum and your number 1000 on the list in his or her category, it may take a while...to say the least. Some editors are more active than others, so their level of commitment can greatly affect the process.

According to dmoz's forum, only 31% of sites are submitted to the right category. How can you get listed faster? Make sure you pick the right category. If you are not sure what your category is, look at other sites in the directory and see where your competition is listed. What happens if you pick the wrong catergory? It will slow your sites' approval.

If an editor has the power to, he will reassign it. If not, it will be left un-reviewed until an editor with the power to move it does so. I also learned that if your site is not listed, 99% of the time it's because your site lacks quality content or content period.

If you go to submit to a category and you see "Volunteer to edit this category", that usually means there is no one assigned to that category you are applying to be in. That doesn't mean it won't be reviewed by someone higher up, but I am sure it will take even longer than usual. Oh, and if you are thinking about resubmitting every week, month or the rumored 3 months, don't. I was told that if your site is in "queue" to be evaluated, resubmitting my cause your site to go to the back of the line. That means you'll have to start from scratch again.

I know this seems like a long complicated process. The editors at dmoz have told me that people should submit their site and forget it.
You can check out their forums and speak with editors at http://resource-zone.com/forum/index.php, but don't expect them to tell you the status of your submission. They won't, and you will not get an email saying that you have been rejected or submitted. It seems like a lose, lose situation, but have patience. The best shot you have of getting listed faster is to be in a very non-competitive category or one that doesn't have a lot of submissions or listings.

Biggest mistakes with do it yourself SEO

2008-04-07T03:40:00.001-07:00

I read and evaluate hundreds of websites a month. Some sites I read for information, some are my own, some are blogs, messageboards and so on. The rest are from people who request a free SEO site evaluation from my company. Some are from large corporations and others are from mid-sized companies, but almost 50% of the evaluations requested are from do-it-yourselfer's.

There is so much information available on SEO and SEM. Everywhere you turn there is another article on SEO. One thing I often notice is many people suffer from information overload. They try to read everything they can find and in many situations, they try everything they read. Some of that information is either outdated or ineffective. Some of these self SEO'ers simply don't use what they read effectively. I have taken some of the most common mistakes and listed will explain them for you here. Hopefully, this will help you correct any problems on your site.

Keyword research: Many people have no idea that it's even necessary. I have seen website owners attempt to optimize for key terms that do not even exist. One gentleman created a new product that no one has even heard of. The only marketing he was doing was SEO and some PPC. You can't optimize for the product name only when no one has ever heard of your product. If no one has heard of it, how will they search for it? They won't. The research needs to be done to determine what keyphrases people would type to find what your product is offering or related to.

Bad web design: This one really gets to me. This is one I see more than any other. People hiring a web design firm or DIYing it before fully understanding what SEO is. The way most strictly online businesses begin is by someone deciding that they want to create a website online. Then they have one built. Then they learn about how to promote it and how search engines are used. The problem there is, if their site is not SEO friendly (meaning clean urls, not in frames, not 100% Flash and other search engine indexing problems), it will hurt their ability to rank well. Many people don't find this out until after they have their site built. This can cost a new website owner a lot of money. Educated yourself. Do not rely on the web designer to tell you about SEO and what you need to know to have a SEO friendly site. Many web designers are just designers. They have no interest in what is SEO friendly or not. Do all your research before you have a site built and find a web design that can provide what you need for your site and the search engines.

Hidden text: This one still amazes me. That method hasn't worked since Ebert sat next to Siskel. Why do people still try these old methods? They read old articles, blog entrys or messageboards. They think doing things unnaturally will help them in the natural listings. If you don' know this yet, you do now. It doesn't work.

Repeating words too often: This one gets overlooked a lot. Let's say for example you sold tickets. Now let's say your menu is all HTML (links). Your menu may read something like this; Hockey tickets, Boxing tickets, Wrestling tickets and so on. Now if you have fifty events and you have tickets after every one, you could run into a lot of problems. Especially if you wanted to come up on the search engines on any phrase with the words tickets in it. There are a lot of other factors that would need to be considered as well, such as the length of content on the page, off site SEO, etc. If this was a typical site, it would hurt your rankings in the SERP's.

This is just a small portion of problems I see. Hopefully, you can learn to avoid common SEO mistakes. Unless you are SEO savvy, it's almost always better to hire a professional if you can afford to. I know that isn't always possible. Also, try to get your information and tips from reliable sources. It will save you a lot of back tracking.

How to get your pages out of Google's supplemental index - Mr SEO

2008-04-07T03:39:00.000-07:00

There have been many inquires as to what supplemental listings are in Google
and why so many sites are effected. I put together this simple Q and A that
will help you find and correct problems your site may encounter with the
supplemental index.

What are supplemental results?

Supplemental results are Googles way of preventing questionable pages from
being found in the main index. Supplemental results are usually shown
after the main results. Supplemental results are crawled less and not
trusted by Google, which is why the are supplemental.

How do you know if any of your pages are in the supplemental?

Go to Google and use site:www.yoururl.Com. Look at all the urls of your
site. Supplemental results will indicate they are such next to the URL.

Can pages in the supplemental index rank on Google?

Yes, they can. But only if there aren't any other results available for the
phrase being searched.

What can cause a page to be added to the supplemental index and not the
main?

Supplemental status, the majority of the time, is something new sites
encounter. However, if you have given Google a reason not to trust your site or content, you can also be placed in the supplemental results. Any of the following can also cause you to hit the supplemental results:

Not enough content on the page
Duplicate content
Too many query strings in the URL
Orphaned pages... Pages not linked to any other inside your site
Titles and descriptions the same on every page
All links to your site are reciprocals and possibly to bad neighbors
A page that no longer exists may have an old cached version of itself in the
supplemental listings

Any of these alone or a combination of these can cause your pages to be in
the supplemental index. Keeping these factors in mind when creating pages
will help you avoid it. A good example of a site that is a prone target for
getting into the supplemental is an e-commerce sites. These site's generally
have have long query strings and are filled with duplicated product listings
on different pages.

Facts:

If you are in the supplemental, you are being crawled.
You are not in the main index.
You need to take action to get out of the supplemental index.

Once you have made the corrections, be patient. Google indexes supplemental
pages less. Working in backlinks to these pages may help. If you have any
other problems getting out of the supplemental index, try asking on forums
or obtaining info from SEO podcasts.

Are you going about link building the wrong way?

2008-04-07T03:38:00.000-07:00

Link building is a big part of SEO. Unfortunately, many new site owners seem to either not fully understand what goes into link building or they have old, outdated information. In either case, not knowing what you are doing can have its drawbacks. It can cause you not to rank well and in extreme cases, it can get you banned.

Many large companies hire people to create a “link campaign”. The problem is that many companies don’t know what they need and the link builder in some cases only has one method of building links.

The most common link building method is link exchanges. Though search engines like Google frown on them, they can be an effective strategy for raising page rank. For some businesses, however, there simply aren’t a whole lot of people to exchange links with. The biggest problem I see on a regular basis is when people just link to whoever. The link may or may not be related and they always seem to link to a “link page” with reciprocals to either their homepage or back to their own link page. This is not the way to go.

You have other pages of your site. Targeting each page’s keywords with those back links will help you in the rankings. If you must exchange links, spread them throughout your site. Have the incoming links support other pages, not just your homepage. Also don’t exchange links with unrelated sites. These can cause your site to be incompletely crawled and in severe cases, get can you banned.

Exchanging links with other low PR and heavily reciprocal linking sites will not do you good in ranking well on the engines. The only exception occurs when you can link to a new site that is related and that you feel will eventually have a high PR. In other words, sometimes getting in on the ground floor is a good idea.

Buying links is great, if you know where and how to buy them. Use the same rules as exchanging links above. Always make sure the site is related to what you offer. Don’t be afraid to buy a link on a site if you feel it will drive in quality traffic.

Article submissions are popular, and for good reason. Just write an article and submit it to article syndication sites. It’s highly effective and can be very useful if done correctly. I see many companies fail to take advantage of the anchor text in the articles and when they do it almost always goes straight to the homepage. I also notice a lot of poorly written articles. If you want your article to be placed on other sites or are planning to build your brand, a poorly written article will not help you.

There are many other ways of getting links, but these are the most common. Hopefully, this will leave you with the correct impression that linking is not all about quantity. It is about the quality of the links, the content around them, the pages they are on and the pages they link to.

What you can do while you wait for your SEO to kick in...

2008-04-07T03:37:00.000-07:00

It is always hard to launch a new site. Optimization is always the best way to go, and not just for the obvious reasons. Optimizing your pages from the start has other benefits. Your optimized pages, though they are not ranking now, make a great platform for PPC. Watching your conversions on them is important. Use this time to make sure your pages are converting well no matter how large or small your PPC budget is. This will help with your future organic conversions as well.

You can, of course, also use this time to work on your backlinks. Articles are always a good start. They're a great way to make a name for yourself and your company. Articles placed on typical articles sites are good, however, the key to gaining recognition is getting your articles on industry leading sites. Getting your articles into trade publications is a good idea as well. Use this time to work on your image and letting people know who you are. Image is everything and how you represent yourself and your company can help build your reputation and provide natural links.

Starting a blog is a must today. Start building a community. What sort of business you are in will dictate what your blog would be about. It could be on your industry's news. It could be tips, ideas or insights into what you do or offer. Blog tools such as MyBlogLog make it easier to find readers and build a community, not to mention get ideas from other bloggers.

Using social bookmarking in combination with your articles and blog posts can help increase your exposure. There's a lot of great info on the net on how to use social bookmarking to your advantage. Sites such as Digg are a great way to build traffic and links.

You can purchase reviews by other bloggers using services such as payperpost. These will allow you to pay bloggers to write about you while gaining the links you need for SEO. Finding the right bloggers is important. You want to hit readers that will be interested in what you offer with an eye on relevancy for the links you're hoping to get.

A podcast is a great way to gain exposure, build trust and help brand your business. Podcasts aren’t for every industry. It will be up to you to decide if it's right for you. Having a podcast is also another way to gain natural links which will help with your SEO.

There is so much you can do while waiting for your SEO to kick in that will not only help build your company and image but will also help aid you in your SEO efforts. Many of the aforementioned items won't put a dent in your budget, though they can take up quite a bit of time. Still, most business owners just starting out have a lot more time on their hands than money.

So, don’t relax while you're waiting. Get aggressive and watch you’re your business and traffic grow.

Consultant, In-House or Firm: Which is best for your SEO needs?

2008-04-07T03:35:00.000-07:00

Businesses that are active on the world wide web, no matter how great or small, are beginning to realize the necessity of search engine optimization. As with almost all things Internet related, however, their are a number of considerations to be made which can affect the level of success they achieve. One of the biggest areas of concern is how to go about finding the best solution for optimizing a web presence.

For small businesses and individuals, there are a number of free resources on the web that, with minimal consulting and a lot of time invested, can help produce effective results. SEO isn't rocket science after all, but one has to be marginally adept at understanding the principles behind it in order to properly optimize even the smallest and simplest of sites. SEO free resources, depending on the source, are generally good primers for the small business owner, though consulting should come into play after the initial optimization effort is underway. Free resources are free for a reason.

The reason is that they seldom offer the finite details necessary to rank well for competitive terms, which makes consulting services a bargain for the small business owner as they put the last pieces of the optimization puzzle into place. This is, at least in theory, how many small business owners achieve decent rankings for their site. The reality, though, is that few have the time to perform the work necessary to rank well. From keyword research, content, Meta tags and back link development to reporting and adjustment of multiple parameters, SEO is a time consuming endeavor. For this reason, most small business owners hire firms to perform their optimization as putting someone on the payroll full time isn't an expenditure that falls within their budget.

For mid-sized companies all the way up to large corporations, there are two options: hire someone in-house or contract with an SEO firm. Companies tend to lean toward hiring in-house SEO's for two main reasons. The first is the reduced cost of services and the second is that they gain the false sense of having better control over their optimization efforts. The first reason is valid, as many SEO firms are really SEM firms in disguise, and want to treat optimization as though it should be a perpetual, ongoing investment like PPC. They want to contract businesses for extended lengths of time with outlandish penalties for opting out early. They also tend to charge exorbitant monthly or bi-weekly fees that might lead some clients to guess if they are paying an expensive Manhattan or downtown L.A. mortgage. Not all SEO firms operate this way, however, and finding one to suit your needs and budget can be accomplished with a little searching.

As for companies having the false sense of better control over their optimization efforts, this is simply a holdout from the traditional business model that doesn’t stand up to the information age we live in. Hiring an SEO in-house because you feel that having him or her at arms length is an advantage is akin to setting up a kitchen in your office so that you can have more access to food preparation than ordering takeout can provide. The problems is that , like large scale food preparation, SEO requires a team effort. A souse chef is not a baker any more than an SEO guru is a content writer, developer, programmer, designer or submission specialist.

This is why competent firms will always be able to provide far better service than an in-house individual. Staying on top of changes to search engine algorithms, setting and adjusting Meta tags, designing search engine friendly navigation, writing well optimized content and building back links through multiple means is simply not possible for one individual working 9 to 5, or 24 hours a day for that matter.

Mindshare Awareness

2008-04-06T15:43:00.001-07:00

mindshare - the amount of attention required by something, the time spent thinking about something
awareness - informed; alert; knowledgeable; sophisticated;

source: dictionary.com

Well, what does this have to do with search engine marketing, right? Well, when you break down the effort that is involved in marketing a site, it is the process of creating the awareness of your site to the search engine.

Sure, it's just a machine, but a human determines what values to look at when considering the output of the search results.

So, how does one create this "Mindshare Awareness?"

Many people do it already without even knowing it. Every time you add a link to your site, every time you post a comment on a blog that allows HTML, you are creating awareness about either yourself or your site.

While this may be called other names, think about the impact it this has on you. Every day we are presented with offers that for the most part, we ignore unless we currently have a need. Marketing is about being there when someone is looking for your product/service. Good marketing is only being there when the person is ready to buy, but that's another story...

So, be sure to get links whenever you can and get your name out there. Some people may remember when they are looking for what you have to offer.

Blogging for SEO

2008-04-06T15:42:00.001-07:00

Using frequent posts to drive the search engines to your site.

It's no secret that blogs are great for helping to boost your seo rankings. You can use a blog to get a new site ranked quickly and ahead of your main site if you are dedicated to posting on a frequent basis.

While the main goal of your blog may be to express your thoughts, talk back to your customers or as a vehicle to promote your product or services, there is another critical element to blogging.

Search Engine Optimization & Marketing.

Because of the frequency of active blogs (daily - or at least 5 times a week) the search engines have put high weight on blogs that are focused and tend to stay on topic.

It's the freshness of content (in a perfect world) that a search engine is craving and rewarding to the blogs. The ideal situation is that the blog would provide for tiny snippets of information that over time build up to a greater whole. (Almost like a blook)

But the most overloooked element of a blog is that once you've established a frequent pattern of posting and you have the Googlebot coming to your site every few days, you can then use that to link to other sites, sub-domains or any deep links that you need to get crawled. While most blog postings may not have direct links to any sites in particular, you could always format your blog with some permanent links on the side.

Another mistake made by the amatuer blogger is that they don't realize that you can optimize your blog. True, most blogs only have a few areas, namely the "home" page and the "archive" page. But depending on the tool being used to post the blog, there are some places where you can take advantage seo-wise.

The title of your blog should be thought of as a headline - grab the reader's attention - but also be sure that your blog title is also what gets archived - that way your titles can become search queries as well.

While the main objective of a blog should be to get your message out, don't forget to take a little time for SEO and you should see your efforts payoff in the search engine results pages.

-To your online success!

How Google Failed

2008-04-06T15:41:00.000-07:00

As stated on their website, Google's mission is to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."

Right.

As that may appear to be a noble quest, the Google machine is easy to manipulate. For a perfect example, proceed to Google and enter the phrase "miserable failure".

The #1 result links to the bio page of George W. Bush. Whether or not you agree with that statement is for political discussions, and I'm not getting into that here.

Point is, the results for that phrase were achieved because of one simple reason.

Links.

That's right, you'll hear many arguements about content being king and linking is queen. While I do agree with that from a user perspective, it's not true for SEM purposes.

I do agree that content will make the user come back, but in order to get ranked in the coveted #1 spot, you need more links than your competitors.

Google's approach on this is that if you have more links pointing to your site than your online competition, your page must be more important that all the other 20 billion known web pages on the Internet.

There are many factors that go into getting a site ranked, and making it sticky, but if you were to build the absolute best site about widgets, adding a new page of content everyday (per Google's request, and you fulfilling their egomanaical quest to determine how you should run your website), and all I did was to slap together a one page site that highlights some features of the widget, while only going after links, and you build content, who's going to get the top spot?

The site with more links pointing to it, which would be mine.

This is why Google (and all the other search engines) fail when returning the results. True, they are just machines and the human programmers who create the secret ranking algorithm haven't been able to program comprehensive understanding into them yet - so until they do, you know what you need to do to your site to get ranked.

Links, links and more links.

-To your online success!

Creating A #1 Rank in Google

2008-04-06T15:40:00.002-07:00

Impossible, right? Not really worth the time, right? Wrong on both accounts.

Many times while entering phrases into Google, I find a lot of somewhat related sites, but hardly ever anything exact. So why bother on getting these supposedly un-searched terms?

Because there is a perception that having your site in the #1 spot in Google means that your site is an authority on that particular subject. As any experienced user knows, this is most often not the case, but perception is reality.

Granted, some of the phrases that you can get ranked on may not be very popular, but you never know what a user is going to enter into the search box, or do we ever know at what point of information gathering they are at.

One of the most common traits of searching is that when a user firsts begins a search, they use a broad term, but as they get further along into their search, the phrases become more precise as they themselves filter out the un-related sites.

This is the same concept of which a successful PPC campaign can be run. While it may be great to get tons of traffic for the keyword "shoes", if a user is really looking for "Nike running shoes", the site has wasted money on that search.

Another curious stat that web analytics reveal is that a consumer that comes to a site through PPC is not a life-time customer. They are usually interested in the quick fix, or easy solution. Compared to a user who arrives through organic search engine optimization, they are more likely to be lifetime consumers since they tend to trust a company that has "earned" it's way to the top of the rankings.

By the time a user has a four to five keyword phrase entered in for their search query, chances are that they have already eliminated the "noise" and are focused on the "signal" i.e. the product or service that your site is offering.

One final item to remember is that if you have an exact phrase that is not common to a search engine query, once it gets indexed, it will most like appear in the number one position since the search engines always try to find an exact match when other factors aren't available.

As an example, here are some articles I've written that have a #1 ranking in Google (as of March 14, 2007):

The SEO Halo Effect
All Links Matter
The Benefits of Black Hat Techniques
It's All About Me Advertising
Automatic SEO
Clinically Proven SEO
Why You Need Outbound Links

-To your online success!

Web Copy Guidelines

2008-04-06T15:40:00.001-07:00

Numerous usability studies have shown that people read a web site differently than they read a print publication. When reading a Web site, a person scans the page looking for specific information so a succinct writing style is most effective. Always keep in mind the reader, not the writer, determines the sequence that's followed.

1. Think like the end-user. Make it easy for a person to find the information they are looking for.

2. Keep the reader in mind as the copy is written. Write in a tone and style the reader can relate to.

3. Use a journalistic writing style. Keep the language simple, direct. Eliminate unnecessary words and complex sentence structures.

4. Remember the end goal. The purpose of a web site is to entice the user to take a specific action. The page design, copy and navigational tools all work together to persuade the user to continue clicking.

5. Maintain a one-on-one conversation. Use second person 'you' so the reader connects with the copy.

6. Tell user what's in it for them. Copy should be written to explain the benefits to the reader, not simply to say what products the company sells.

7. Prioritize information. Make sure the most important thoughts are at the top of the page.

8. Break up large chunks of information. Use subheads and bulleted lists to make it easier for the reader to scan the page.

9. Develop a specific style guide for each site. Decide what words will be capitalized and be consistent throughout the site.

10. Incorporate keywords to maximize SEO efforts.

-To your online success!

The Internet Operating System

2008-04-06T15:39:00.002-07:00

Way back in the 90's Microsoft rose to power with the brilliance of their Windows Operating system. It made using a computer easy to use and visually appealing.

In the late 90's two guys from Standford launched a tiny search engine called BackRub, which eventually became Google.

Today, in 2005, Both Google and Microsoft dominate their perspective business space. Google owns search, and Microsoft owns the Operating system market.

How is this going to change?

Consider how far the Internet has progressed in the past 10 years. Back then, the Internet was used for email, and for the Military and Universities alike to store information that could be accessed easily by anyone with a connection to the web.

Fast forward to today, and you have online banking, e-commerce, podcasting, movie trailers, mp3 files and just about any other type of digital media available on the Internet.

There is no longer a need to be "stuck" with Windows or MAC. All you need is a browser - and the browser will be the official "Operating System" of the internet.

From my browser not only can I access the universe of information, but I don't need to worry about if it's on a PC or MAC. A HTML page doesn't care if you have a Dell computer, a G5, or web tv. All it cares about is rendering out images and text in a logical format.

This is truly where the revolution has only begun with Mozilla's FireFox, and Microsoft's Internet Explore hopes to catch up with. An while all of this is going on Google isn't just waiting around. They quietly bought the domain name called "gbrowser.com" - which would seem to indicate that they are working on their own version of a browser (with the help of Mozilla) to compete.

Stay tuned to this upcoming battle, as whoever emerges victorious will be in the best position to truly monopolize the Internet.

How to Get Your Site a Top Ranking in Google

2008-04-06T15:39:00.001-07:00

It's the new American dream. Your website appears in a top spot on Google for your chosen keyword. Next thing you know, orders start coming in faster than you can handle, and you are rolling in the money. If only it were so easy, right?

Well,

It can be done. I've done it many times in many different industries. There is no secret, but rather, it's just knowing what to do. I've made just about every mistake one can make with a website, but I learned from every setback. If you were only allowed to do one thing to get ranked for your site in Google, without a doubt, all you'd need to do is get links for your site.

Yes, there are many other factors involved in getting your site to a top position. But this is the most powerful way as of this writing to get a top spot in Google. It's not just enough to have links pointing to your site, but you need to have your keyword "anchor linked" to your site. Anchor linking is when you use your keyword phrase as the click-able text for a link. So, instead of saying "Click Here", you would use "Widgets" as the link text.

Now, another point of consideration is determining what keyword/phrase you want to use to get your site found. Most times, people impulsively choose a one word phrase. While this would be a great way to bring traffic to your site, would it bring targeted traffic, with people looking specifically for your product or service? Most times when people type in a one letter keyphrase, they are in the beginning of their search.

They may type in "Shoes", but are really looking for "Running Shoes". So, if you have a top ranking for shoes, do you serve that user's needs? Maybe, but they may also be looking for dress, casual, Women's, Men's, Children's, athletic, girl's, boy's, etc. This is why when you begin to optimize your site, you should focus on more targeted keyword phrases.

Suppose you sell a certain brand name of dress shoes. For this example, we'll call the famous brand XYZ. So, by getting anchor links as "XYZ Dress Shoes", you are already eliminating those users who are looking for another brand or line of shoe. Next, you need to make sure that the page that gets linked contains the on the page content with "XYZ Dress Shoes". If you would link to a page without relevant content, Google would view this link as possible spam, or more appropriately, irrelevant content.

Now, once you have compiled your list of keywords, you need to see which one are searched on the most. The best tool for this is WordTracker, and it is worth the tiny fee you need to pay to have access for one day. There are also free tools online that you can use, but WordTracker will give you the most accurate results.

Once you have run through your list of all your keywords, the obvious choice is to pick the ones with the highest amount of searches (and content relevant to your site!). The next step is to then begin the process of a link campaign. Now, I can already hear you complaining about doing a link exchange. This is only 1/3 of your campaign. The ideal method is to not only engage in a reciprocal link exchange, but to also engage in strategic linking.

Strategic linking is when you get a link to your site without having to return the favor. What's the best way to do this? Write an article just like this one. If I get one website to use this article and have it point to my site, I've just created another link to my site. Pretty easy, eh?

Since you have now engaged in a linking campaign, you should expect to see results in Google in as little as 4 days, and as far as 6 months. All of this is determined by where your links are coming from, and the popularity of the site from which the link came. Next, you need to get as many links as you can pointing to your site with your popular keyword phrase anchor linked to your site.

As I mentioned before, there many other factors that will only enhance your rankings in Google, but the implementation of a link campaign is the strongest method to get your site to a top ranking!

-To your online success!

Why You Need Outbound Links

2008-04-06T15:38:00.002-07:00

Just in case you've forgotten, an outbound link is a url that you have on your site that points to another website.

In today's Google PR obsessed Internet world, everyone is completely focusing on getting in bound links to your site. While you should always be on a mission to get more sites to link to yours, you must not forget their polar opposites.

Remember, by having outbound links from your site, you are in essence "voting" for the site you link to. This is part of the entire ranking algorithm process for all the search engines. The idea is, that if two sites are similar in content and design, a site with more links pointing to it would be considered more important by the search engine.

So then, why should you help out any other site? Actually, by carefully linking to other relevant sites, you are increasing the relevancy of your own site.

Pretend I have a pizza shop, and I am located in Anywhere, USA. It's a typical site that displays types of pizza, store location, hours, and coupons. I also know the power of outbound linking. For this case, I am going to link to 10 sites: Domino's, Pizza Hut, Little Ceaser’s & Papa Johns. Next, I link to 6 sites that are physically located in Anywhere, USA. (And their physical addresses are listed on their sites.)

Now, I will switch roles and view the site as a search engine spider. I navigate through the site, and determine that this site is about pizza. Then I find a resource page and discover some well-known links (Domino's, Pizza Hut, Little Ceaser’s & Papa Johns - and as the spider I know that these are major players in the realm of pizza). Next, I find 6 links to sites located in Anywhere, USA.

So, as a happy spider leaving the site, I now know that the site I just visited is about pizza (site content and links to the major players of the pizza industry), and that it is located in Anywhere, USA.

Next, I visit one of the 6 sites listed as a resource in Anywhere, USA. I find the local address, and it has the same zip code as the pizza site I was just at. Now I know how these two sites are related to each other.

Taking into account the fact that this local pizza shop has also linked to the major pizza chains, as the spider, I am lead to believe that this shop has relevancy to the zip code of Anywhere, USA.

So, as the spider returns the information to the database to be processed in the algorithm, it has pre-sorted some search results based on the links your site points to.

Another benefit of outbound linking is Geo Targeting, or Local search. There is a lot of speculation that local search is the next big trend in Search Marketing. While only time will tell, it won't hurt to have your physical address listed on your website for those who will be embracing local search.

As an experiment, I created a site with a very unique url (to avoid the possibility of people finding it by accident), and I made it only 1 page long. The only thing the page consisted of were 80+ outbound links to relevant sites in the SEO industry, tools, forums and some tutorials. When the PageRank was first updated for the site, it came out of the box with a PR of 3. It has since fallen to a PR of 2 (now that I’ve pointed a few sites to it!).

The whole point of this experiment was to see how outbound links affect your own rankings of your site. I was able to generate a PR of 2 based entirely on linking to authority sites in the SEO industry. So, take the time to link to some relevant sites, the big names (if any), and enjoy the power of the easy, outbound link.

-To your online success!

How to Write a Better Web Page Title

2008-04-06T15:38:00.001-07:00

Titles are everywhere. Some people are defined by titles, some people loathe titles, and others like giving titles. Why do we do this? With so much information getting processed by our minds everyday, we need a way to categorize these groups of associated content in a quick referencing way.

This is the same methodology a search engine applies when it crawls a page. When you title a page, you are telling a search engine or user what the page is supposed to be about. We've all seen the one sentence summaries of television shows on the T.V. Guide. It allows for quick referencing and decision making by telling us what the show is going to be about.

This is part of the reason why naming your page titles is so critical to getting your site ranked. I can't tell you how many times I have seen a site that had one of the following two titles throughout the entire site: "untitled" or "company name".

While having the company name on all the pages could be a potential branding strategy, chances are, most visitors to your site don't know your brand name yet and are looking for the product or service that you're selling. You could incorporate the company name into the title, but it should be placed after the main message you want to convey about that particular page.

Every page should have a unique title. While you may have a subject that needs to be explained over a few pages, you should use the page title as an index of information for the reader. Sites that sell multiple products should have a unique title for every product. If you can't make the time to make each page stand out, why would you expect that page to ever appear in a search engine?

If possible, you should try to place your keywords in the title, since this will help the search engine determine where your page should be ranked. Remember, the search engines rank each page individually, that's why it's so important to use proper naming methods.

When you determine which keywords to use, go for a 4 to 6 word title when possible. After 58 characters, the title in the search engine results page will be truncated and will not be visible to the reader. Also, the longer the title, the less weight is given to each word.

The entire time you are conjuring up titles, always keep the reader in mind first. While some phrases may rank well in the search engines, a reader may never enter that phrase and you'll lose that targeted traffic you were trying to reach. Sometimes the phrases work out well for both the user and search engine, and in those cases success is usually quick to follow.

-To your online success!

Blogs Versus Articles

2008-04-06T15:37:00.000-07:00

Blogs have arrived as a means to get your message across in a personal way. Articles are usually considered to be more informative and accurate where details are concerned. From a search engine perspective, both are a great source of information. But which one to rank better?

First, let's look at the value each one brings:

Blogs:

Timely, personal, have "inside point of view" usually updated on a frequent basis

Articles:

Informative, Authorative, detailed, marketing driven.

From a freshness perspective, Blogs clearly win out over the articles.

Exposure:
Unless your blog is highly ranked, the articles will get more exposure, since there are more chances of your article being seen by more people. There are many sources on the internet that you can submit your articles to, here is a link for some: seoresources.seoforgoogle.com

From a business perspective, I can tell you that articles help re-enforce what you are selling. By writing an article instead of a blog, there is a perception that more care is taken to writing an article, therefore the information contained within is worth more.

People know that a blog will have a personal spin to it, whether the author is blasting a company, or promoting something that they have a personal or professional interest in.

From my own trials, no one has made any purchases for any product being pushed in a blog, but instead there has a distinguishable influx of sales that can be directly traced back to an article.

So what does this mean to you?

If you have a product or service you want to promote, use an article. If you need to get something off your chest, create a blog. While both are thought of very well by the search engines, you're ultimate goal is to convert the user, not confuse the search engines.

-To your online success!

The Search for More

2008-04-06T15:36:00.002-07:00

Many times when someone uses a search engine they are looking to find an answer to a question. Most times the search engines deliver a satisfactory result.

But then there are some searches in which there just isn't enough information to satisfy the user in their quest.

Google has tried to address this with the rolling out of "Universal Search". This is an attempt to deliver the most relevant item about a search query, regardless of the format.

In the past the typical top result was a web page. In Universal search, that top item can now be a podcast, a video on YouTube or even a simple image.

But, does this provide enough?

Recently, I was looking for Canadian web directories. My search started in Google Canada (google.ca) and while their were some good results in the first 5 pages, after that there was a bunch of unrelated sites that just happen to mention the words "Canadian", "web" and "directories" on their site somewhere.

So, I ran the same term on Yahoo and Sympatico (the Canadian version of MSN), and I got the same results.

So are there really only about 30 directories about Canada? I highly doubt it.

The point here is that while the search engines do a great job, they need to to better. And I have real concerns when Google no longer touts themselves as a search engine but as an Advertising Platform.

I understand their perspective; it's just good business, and a good business needs to continually evolve. But when the core service that made you the top dog starts to erode away from the mission of the company, that signals the beginning of the end.

Yes, it will take a lot to unseat Google from it's search throne, but people said the same thing about Microsoft in the 90's - and their position is not so solid anymore.

-To your online success!

One Word Rankings

2008-04-06T15:36:00.001-07:00

Well now, it's been quite some time since an article was posted on here so I feel like I owe everyone something really good.
It's common in seo to make suggestions to potential clients to not go after that elusive one word phrase. But by doing so, and with seemingly all seo professionals on board, has it gotten easier to get ranked for one-word phrases?

I've personally have been able to get some top rankings for clients of mine within the past year - I'm not saying this to brag, but if everyone's drinking that kool-aid, how will anyone know how hard it is to go after one word?

Now, there are those that will tell you that a one-word phrase doesn't convert. In my experience, these phrase drive a ton of traffic to the site (as much as up to 10k unique visitors a day) - of course not all of them convert.

But about 20% do.

Yes, 20% of all people coming in on a one-word phrase converts at that rate for something on the site. Maybe not for the phrase that brought them in, but that person converts on something.

Now, using WebTrends or Google Analytics will tell you the phrase on which the person came in from, but to get the granular level detail, the only system I've been able to come up with and rely on is a site database capturing system. It's been custom created, but it can track all the pages visited and will tell you that if someone originally came to the site for the term "KVM" but ended up buying USB Cables, that data is retained.

Now, all of a sudden, those one-word phrases are looking pretty good. And, with soo many seo's purposely not going after them, I think it presents an opportunity to grab those top rankings for those magical traffic drivers.

So, go get those words!

What are YOU Worth

2008-04-06T15:35:00.002-07:00

No, I am not talking about how much you make, or what you're assets are worth. I am not talking about how much you could get freelancing out in the big bad world either.

What I am talking about is how much do you bring to the table.

Thank about this scenario:

You want to start your own SEO/SEM conference event. So, you start to call all the speakers at past events. Almost everyone turns you down because they've never heard of you. You may get some people who feel bad and will sheepishly commit if other "big names" do the same.

Now, pretend you're Danny Sullivan. When he contacts people to speak at the conferences, the only pushback he might get is limiting people to how many sessions they can speak at.

See the difference?

Sometimes deals are made based on what you are known for (reputation capital). These opportunities do not happen by accident. When a deal is completed because of the "You" factor, think about the time you've spent responding to emails, posting to forums and blogs that have lead you to building up your name.

All those actions shaped your reputation capital.

I know in today's word it's easy to bash the silly questions and make fun of others who aren't as technically advanced - but keep in mind that just about everything that gets posted to the web leaves a trail, and when a major deal is taking place, big companies hire plebes to find any dirt they can about who you are - just to disqualify or discount you.

So remember, no one is an overnight success; it takes years of persistence and a belief in what you are doing and most importantly, consistency in delivering your point of view.

It's not always easy, but don't ever let your value decrease.
-To your online success!

What is your Google Penalty Plan

2008-04-06T15:35:00.001-07:00

If you're not thinking about this, you need to get started, and if you have started, how is it working out?

Google seems to be at a defining moment in time with it's penalizing sites with paid links, and almost constant shifts to the algorithm that make the SERPs a guessing game just about everyday.

So what are you doing now to make sure your site survives should it be hit by a Google penalty? You might be ranked very well today and making great money from the traffic that Google sends to your site naturally - so what if they flag your site for some deserved or un-merited form of spam?

With soo many people gaming the system, no wonder Google lashes out at the SEO community on occasion. We're the ones pushing them to provide more relevant results while at the same time doing things that some would question on a moral level.

Point is, Google delivers a ton of traffic. But the web is VERY big, and Google is not the be all and end all. You should be constantly looking for other ways to deliver traffic to your site such as:

Be active in forums - answer questions without trying to sell our product or service - instead, demonstrate your expertise in your answers and people will realize that what you say is worthy, and in turn will use your product or service when they are ready.

Write articles! I know it's old and tiresome and boring - but like the first point, it's a great way to not only show off what you know, but in inject your writing style. Some people will read you not for your content, but because they like the way you put things into perspective. Don't underestimate that.

Ask for help - I know a lot of people have trouble with this, but when my car breaks down, I have no trouble calling a mechanic. Use this same approach on the web. If you need help with a problem seek out the people who can help you. Many times in that process there is an exchange of information that leads to a deeper and "real" relationship - leverage that for links!

Tell 'em what you think - this applies to blogs, forums, articles and email responses. Why pretend to be something you're not? Like is too short to pussyfoot around and to be taken advantage of by other people.

Use your clients! I know I just said don't let others abuse you, and now I am saying to use your clients? What I mean is, your clients have other relationships as well, and if you perform well for them, they will refer you to their other business relationships.

See a pattern here? While Google is great for delivering text-based computer crunched results, at the end of the day, human relations (social engineering) is what makes you money. Treat people with respect, end any relationship with grace, and you'll see that over time, that crazy thing called karma makes it way back to you.

Enjoy the ride!

Attending Search Conferences

2008-04-06T15:33:00.000-07:00

Nobody asked, but I've got a few things to say about search engine conferences.

Many times in web forums and blogs, the question is asked from members if they should spend the money to attend one of the many search conferences that are available. Sometimes I was even asked if they are worthwhile.

Short answer. YES.

There is something alluring that takes place at a conference of your peers. With this industry being crafted on a daily basis, there are still many topics of search that have no thought leader in place.

That aside, many of the seo elites are very approachable. At the conference. Outside that scope (at the clubs or Google Dance) the regular rules of society apply.

So, while you are at a speaking session of one of your favorite bloggers or seo personas, take the time to approach them. Introduce your self, tell them what you do, and comment about their presentation. Better yet if you have a question that challenges them.

Also, don't forget about the audience members. Many times you'll find your self sitting next to a CEO or Marketing director for other seo firms or corporations that may some day need your services whether as an employee or consultant.

Be sure to talk to all the vendors. Yes, they are trying to pitch their wares, but they do have an expertise that you can tap into. Who knows, you may even develop a relationship that you can use when needed.

Make sure you have plenty of business cards to hand out. If possible write a personal note on it about whatever you spoke to that person about - it makes for a great way for them to remember you.

Enjoy the venue. I've been fortunate to see parts of the country that I wouldn't have a decent excuse to visit otherwise.

Take it all in and enjoy being in a place that is brimming with seo expertise. Because once you get back home, your inbox will be stuffed full, and you'll have to get back to the grind...

-To your online success!