Sep
4
As Internet marketing experts ourselves, we’re always on the look out for other Internet marketing companies that utilize innovative and cutting edge strategies to successfully drive qualified traffic to business websites.
Relativity Syndication Co-op is one of those companies. They have a smart and progressive model of producing high quality content along with a diligent syndication routine. They understand well that in these tenuous and uncertain economic times, businesses must employ new and sustainable marketing strategies that are competitive on a global scale, which means utilizing the power that only professional Internet marketing can offer.
Relativity Syndication Co-op Works For You!
Relativity Syndication Co-op offers businesses the opportunity to recession proof their business as well as increase their market share globally by connecting with other businesses using their cooperative model. You’ll be able to stretch your marketing dollars with less effort and less time, and for a very small investment for your connection to the marketplace. The reason for the successes that Relativity Syndication CO-OP has garnered is due to their high quality content driven approach as well as their understanding and utilization of syndication and social network marketing. The CO-OP’s proven traffic driving techniques will drive traffic to your business site(s) from
- Multiple referring sites
- Major search engines
- Blogs and Blogging
- Major Social Networking Sites
- Numerous other Sources
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Dec
28
Robots.txt File Validation More Important Than Ever
Filed Under Search Engine Optimization | Leave a Comment
The robots.txt file is one of the simplest means of communicating with search engines. It is also very important for a lot of reasons including eliminating duplicate content, hiding secure content, hiding images and specifying what should and should not be spidered. One problem is that the 4 major search engines don’t have one exact policy for robots.txt attributes. One example of this is the * wildcard. Google accepts it, but Yahoo does not. It would be nice if they would all agree on one validation like they did with the XML site maps.
Validating Your Robots.txt File
There are several websites that have easy to use robots.txt validation tools, but the only real way to be sure is to use the tools that come with the search engines’ webmaster portals. Unfortunately only Google and Live have robots.txt validation tools at this time.
Things to remember are that the robots.txt file MUST be in the root of your site. In other words it has to be:
domain.com/robots.txt.
If you are using WordPress than you should follow the rules I laid out in my post: WordPress Robots.txt for SEO. If you are using WordPress the latest version of Arne Brachold’s awesome Google Sitemap Generator now can create a robot’s .txt file as well as a sitemap.
Oct
24
A few years back I was filling out my resume. It was very difficult to explain what exactly it was that I did. SEO was a term that hadn’t quite hit the limelight. In fact searches on Monster and other career sites yielded no results for SEO or search engine optimization jobs at all. Internet Marketing had a few listings, but they were limited to pyramid schemes or other nonsense.
Today the job market knows what SEO is and there are plenty of listings for people that are experienced in both search engine optimization and search engine marketing. The problem now is that what people like me do is hardly covered by these categories and again I have no easy answer for the question “what do you do?” My kids also have a hard time in school answering “what does your daddy do?”
With the addition of social network marketing, Web 2.0 applications, server technologies, podcasting, blogging and other next generation skills added to my resume, it is harder to say in a few words what it is I do. I guess the best description would be - Internet Presence Management. That pretty much encompasses what I do, I mange online businesses Internet presence. Every aspect of what they do online and how they do it from the server to the website, from traffic analysis to usability studies my peers and I are Internet Presence Managers!
Now that I have a title all figured out I can finish that resume. Not that I really am looking for a job, but I like to see what is out there. I have gotten many clients by answering ads in Monster and careers.com. One of the major changes in my industry is that companies are looking to keep their SEO in-house as opposed to outsourcing it. Companies that live and die by their presence within organic SERP’s really need someone full time to help them make decisions that pertain to their Internet Presence.
A company that relies on search engines for their business must take SEO into consideration in every single business decision that they make.
Search Engine Optimization Guidelines For the 21st Century
SEO today is a lot different than 1999. Pay Per Click is not an option for a lot of small companies in large markets due to click fraud and ad-only sites spending lots of money filtering traffic through their spam doorway sites (read my article PPC Is Ruining the Web for more info). Legitimate companies are having a harder time than ever penetrating the SERP’s. To combat scamming spam, we all need to follow several guidelines to rise above the muck in the SERP’s.
- Take SEO Into Consideration - Search Engine Optimization needs to be thought about in every business decision that your company makes. Most marketing departments have at least one SEO expert, but SEO must be taken into consideration by executives, programmers, graphic designers and web developers as well. Every decision from personnel to what type of web server your sites are hosted on, needs to keep SEO in mind.
- Keywords Matter - by now you all know that SEO starts with keyword discovery. While a lot of experts rely on tools to make keyword lists, I prefer to use the interview process to create and organize keywords. Knowing what your potential customers are going to type into the search engines is the first step in site development and marketing plans.
- Social Network Marketing - now more than ever Web 2.0 or social network marketing is taking the drivers seat in SEO strategies. Mainstream sites that are not embracing Web 2.0 will be left behind by their competitors that are using it. Read my post Search Engine Optimization and Social Network Marketing for more insight into these strategies. There are a whole set of guidelines just for Web 2.0 marketing. For this post I will touch on a few of the more important concepts.
- Participate In Markets That Apply To Your Business - It is important to market your site in relevant communities. Rather than going for exposure everywhere, stay targeted. In online marketing more is usually better, but sometimes a sniper rifle will do more damage than a machine gun.
- Keep It Real - this is especially true if you are utilizing blogs as your primary social marketing outlet. Promote yourself, not your products in your blog. If you do it right, people will follow your links and find your products or services easily. They don’t require blatant promotion, in fact that can turn a visitor off more often than not.
- Learn About Your Community - you don’t want to rush right into a social network and self-promote without showing the community that you have something to offer first. You need to get experienced in your marketplace before posting in forums or marketing in social media sites.
- Stay On Topic - don’t dilute your content with multiple topics about everything under the sun. Stay focused on what you do best, write about what you know. This is particularly important when trying to obtain inbound links. Good content is the best way to create a buzz and get solid inbound links.
- Get Those Links - inbound links are the best way to promote your site. They are also the only way to rank high in the SERP’s and stay there. With Social Network Marketing it is easier than ever to obtain links. That being said the reality if the situation is a little different than it used to be. One way inbound links are not easily obtained anymore. Unless you are paying for links or are creating buzz through excellent content, it is harder to get those one way links. Reciprocal links have less of an impact that they used to as well. So why am I contradicting myself? One minute I am saying it is easier than ever to get links, then the next statement I am saying it is harder than ever to get one way links. The answer is the manner in which you can get links. There are more avenues than ever through social network marketing.
- Online Press Releases - here is one avenue Google has not cried about when it comes to paying for links. By using an online distribution network, your release has the potential to gain hundreds of links from a well conceived press release. Optimized Press Releases are a great way to build buzz and links.
- Syndicate Your Content Through RSS - with the advent of RSS Syndication Services there are more ways than ever to get your content on other sites. An RSS link is by far the most powerful link your site can obtain. Another high profile site that puts your feed on it, will boost your rankings faster than any other method. A managed content syndication service will greatly increase your exposure and bring both traffic and links.
- Viral Video Marketing - with sites like You Tube your videos have a great chance to get syndicated leading to inbound links. By creating how-to videos for your products and instructional videos for your services you can say a thousand words with one video and gain exposure and links. Many sites need to educate their customers about their products and services. Video is the best way to get your point across. Remember to stay on topic!
- Pingbacks, Trackbacks and Other Blog Goodies - by having a blog on your primary website you are able to keep the spiders coming back. If you don’t have a blog yet read my post about SEO and WordPress to get started. Blogs are a powerful way to communicate with your customers, but also allow you stay updated with the search engines.
Combining these strategies into your marketing plan will insure success, but don’t think for a second that it will be easy. SEO is a full time commitment that needs to take priority over everything else!
Jul
23
Search Engine Optimisation Down Under: First Rate
Filed Under Search Engine Optimization | Leave a Comment
I would like to tell you about some friends of ours First Rate which is a Search Engine Optimisation Agency in Australia, and New Zealand. Founded in 2001, First Rate are active members of the Australian Direct Marketing Association (ADMA), the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) and The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO).
First Rate Search Engine Optimisation Services
First Rate are involved with every aspect of Search Engine Marketing, Website Strategy, Email Advertising & Marketing, E-commerce Functionality and Measurement Tracking. They were New Zealand’s first company to solely focus on search engine technologies. In 2007 they will be opening a full service office in Melbourne.
Search Engine Optimisation
First Rate works hard to bring their clients the best in Search Engine Optimisation. First Rate started as an SEO specialist provider and is now one of the most experienced SEO specialist provider in Australia and New Zealand. The founder of First Rate is a frequent speaker at industry events and conferences in Australia and New Zealand including Search Engine Room and Search Engine Bootcamp, last year he also presented at Ad Tech Sydney & Ad Tech New York.
Search Engine Marketing
The basis of Search Engine Marketing is in pay per click advertising. Basically, website owners bid to keep their websites at the top of the paid search results. The trick is to spend the least amount for your traffic, and optimise landing pages to best obtain Return On Investment. First Rate has 15 Qualified Google Adwords experts on its staff. First Rate manages over 1,000,000 paid clicks per month for its clients.
First Rate’s experience marketing hundreds of Australasia’s most successful websites, they have created a unique marketing system along with supporting software that allows them to create highly successful internet marketing campaigns.
Jul
22
Search Engine Optimization And Social Network Marketing
Filed Under Search Engine Optimization, Social Network Marketing | 11 Comments
Search engine optimization used to be the only other option for Internet Marketing outside of Pay Per Click or other paid search advertising. There are two other ways to build solid traffic and help out your SEO efforts:
- Social Network Marketing - Web 2.0 and everything that comes with it. The most powerful marketing tool in existence that is pretty much free to exploit, social network marketing and particularly RSS is a new and improved Internet.
- Affiliate Marketing - this is only useful for e-commerce and product oriented sites. I mention it here only because it cannot be ignored in any online marketing strategy. I will be writing a whole series of e-commerce related posts in the next month and will be going into detail about how to set up and run affiliate marketing campaigns.
So we have established that traditional SEO now has a very powerful companion in organic or non-paid marketing campaigns. The question is, how do you use it?
SEO and Web 2.0 Optimized Social Network Marketing
Search engine optimization is a big topic. There are many techniques that are involve traditional search engine optimization. They revolve around common sense tactics and link gathering. If you follow the SEO newsletters you have been reading about link popularity and how many experts believe that high inbound link counts no longer have the same positive effects that they once did.
This is something I have been saying for quite a while. I have proof that inbound links, particularly reciprocal links have no where as much weight as they once did. So what is a webmaster to do? Get on the Web 2.0 bandwagon and invest all your organic strategies into blog, feed and article planting.
Most online businesses use blogging as their means of social network marketing. If you are in the process of getting into Web 2.0 for your website, I have some quick guidelines that you should follow:
- Place The Blog In Your Site’s Relative Path - don’t use any type of outside blogging system for a company blog. Blogger for example will do NOTHING to help your website in the SERPs. You will only truly benefit by installing a blog system as part of your domain. For example:
www.domain.com/blog. This can be difficult if your web server is on a Windows platform. Ideally you are using Linux hosting. If that is the case then WordPress is by far the best solution for a blogging platform. Make sure that you install the blog in a sub-directory of your websites root folder. I use a keyword for the blog folder. Here it is:
www.getfoundnow.com/internetmarketing/ I installed WordPress into the internetmarketing folder. - Use An Optimized Theme - WordPress comes out of the box pretty much optimized for search engines, but there are definitely themes that are more optimized than others. The issue is in how it displays the meta tags, particularly the meta description. With a fancy looking theme, you can install special plugins for the meta tags. I use Tag Warrior, meta head description and a few others that I created myself.
- Utilize XML-RPC - a very powerful updating system called pingomatic is default installed within WordPress. If you go to manage>writing, at the bottom is a list of directory services. I used Robin Good’s top 55 as a starting place of RSS directories to ping. This basically notifies RSS directories and blog directories when your site has been updated. I put a list at the bottom of this post of the pinging services I use.
- Utilize XML Sitemap Plugin - I use a cool plugin that not only creates xml sitemaps, but notifies Google, Yahoo and Ask when your site has been updated, in fact it is a dynamic plugin that will re-build your sitemap every time a comment is added, a post is written, etc. I have a link to the plugin page on my RSS Syndication Services post.
- Optimize Your Posts - utilize traditional SEO tactics within your articles. Since most meta descriptions are pulled from the first 100 to 200 characters of your article, make the first couple of sentences a description of the story. You obviously want to use keywords and tags that you are promoting within the article in the fist paragraph as well. After the first paragraph use an <h2> tag to wrap a heading. If you are promoting multiple keywords use 2 or 3 <h2> tags, but always have content after the tags. If your topic has multiple sub categories, use <h3> tags. Again always have at least a paragraph before and after and <h> tags. Since your story’s title is default formatted as an <h1>, don’t use another <h1> tag in the story. Any instances of your keywords or tags, should be bolded, then italicized. If you have multiple instances of the same keyword or phrase, rotate the tags. If you are on Blogger, go into the code and use <strong> and <em> tags. It is important to follow normal search engine optimization practices within your posts. Lists are always a good tactic. Either numbered or bulleted lists give the content within the lists more authority. As you can see by this list I bold the initial statement, another common SEO practice.
- Use Minimal Intra-site Linking - If you are promoting a static page on your main site or trying to build placement for a keyword on your home page, then you want to optimize your content with bold and italics like I just laid out, but don’t link until the last instance of the keyword. Lets say your are promoting a keyword phrase, and it appears in your post 5 times, link the last phrase. This will build authority for that keyword on the page you are promoting.
- Nofollow Outbound Links - if you have to link to an outside site as a reference utilize the:
rel=”nofollow” attribute within the link. You will also want to have the link open in a new window. I always put the nofollow attribute first, before the target=”blank” that will open the link in a new window. If you are referring to a source for statements within your post like Wikipedia, a regular outbound link won’t hurt. In fact I have evidence that an article that has a reference to a site with a lot of authority can help the authority of the post itself. Be careful not to have too many outbound links and that the page or site you are linking to has at least a page rank of 8. - Use Deep Link Navigation - if you are writing about a topic that refers to another post on your blog, link to it. This counts as a comment within WordPress or a trackback depending on how you set your blog up. Default settings for internal linking on WordPress is to make the link a comment which is good for the original post.
These guidelines cover how to take traditional SEO and apply optimization to Web 2.0 applications like blogs. The next article in this series will look at how Social Network Marketing can positively effect your search engine placement.
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XML-RPC Directories
Below is the list of xml-rpc reporting services I use to notify directories about changes to my blog:
1470.net/api/ping
blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC
blogdb.jp/xmlrpc
bulkfeeds.net/rpc
coreblog.org/ping/
http://1470.net/api/ping
http://api.feedster.com/ping
http://api.moreover.com/ping
http://api.moreover.com/RPC2
http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2
http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping
http://bitacoras.net/ping
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC
http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc
http://blogmatcher.com/u.php
http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc
http://coreblog.org/ping/
http://mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatt
http://ping.amagle.com/
http://ping.bitacoras.com
http://ping.blo.gs/
http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/
http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/
http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc
http://ping.exblog.jp/xmlrpc
http://ping.fakapster.com/rpc
http://ping.feedburner.com
http://ping.myblog.jp
http://ping.rootblog.com/rpc.php
http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php
http://ping.weblogs.se/
http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2
http://rcs.datashed.net/RPC2/
http://rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com/RPC2
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/
http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2
http://topicexchange.com/RPC2
http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php
http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b
http://www.bitacoles.net/ping.php
http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2
http://www.blogoon.net/ping/
http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates
http://www.blogroots.com/tb_populi.blog?id=1
http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php
http://www.blogsnow.com/ping
http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi
http://www.lasermemory.com/lsrpc/
http://www.mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatter/ping.php
http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php
http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php
http://www.snipsnap.org/RPC2
http://www.weblogues.com/RPC/
http://xmlrpc.blogg.de/
http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/
ping.amagle.com/
ping.bitacoras.com
ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/
ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/
ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc
ping.myblog.jp
ping.rootblog.com/rpc.php
ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php
rpc.pingomatic.com/
trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php
www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b
www.bitacoles.net/ping.php
www.blogoon.net/ping/
www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi
xping.pubsub.com/ping/
Apr
27
Website Usability: Get The Most Out Of Search Engine Visitors
Filed Under Search Engine Optimization, Website Usability | 1 Comment
Getting the most value out of your visitors is the goal of website usability. There certainly is a difference between paid search visitors and those that arrive at your site through the natural or “organic” SERPS. Using data gathered from your website analytics is the best way to harness the power of the Internet. Knowing your visitors and what they need or want, and then providing that product, service, or information is the formula for success online.
Gain Value From Your Search Engine Visitors
Having gone over ways to best optimize your home page for usability, as well as internal page usability in deep link navigation sites, I’m not going to go over it again. I suggest you read the above articles for in depth opinions. The fact is we have to utilize advanced tactics if we are going to succeed in gaining ground over our competitors. This is especially true in paid visitors. You are actively shelling out real money for a throw of the dice in paid ads. One of my clients is a data recovery company and some of their terms go for $5.00 to $15.00 a click. We employ optimized landing pages to track the conversion of their paid visitors. You should too!
The fact is unless you represent only a couple of products or services, you have very little time and screen real estate to get your message across, let alone get the first time visitor to the page with the product or service that they are searching for. I use some distinct tactics to get out what must be said, here are some of my tried and true methods of conversion:
- Flytrap Content - one of my most successful SEO initiatives is to create simple yet succinct pages that have a clear headline and a clear message as to what the page is about. Using the same headline in an unordered list on the home page allows the first time visitor to scan the list and find what they are looking for. These type of landing pages are optimized with specific content and often do well in the SERPS since they are highly focused, keyword dense and utilize proper heading tags.
- Related Topics - also knows as the good ole “see also” embellishment, I often employ sidebar linking that clearly shows related topics to the subject matter of the page the user is on. You must keep in mind that most visitors could care less about your site and what it has to offer outside of what it is going to do for them, NOW! If you have succeeded in getting into an interior page, then it is your next step to show them other parts of your site that might interest them. Having clearly defined “see also” links give the visitor an understanding that your site has more to offer that was expected. I have often seen experienced site publishers (this is especially rampant in the real estate blogging community) that say you shouldn’t “sell” in a blog. What BS, most visitors are more turned off by Google AdWords all over the place then self promotion of products. I often employ “see related products” at the end of blog posts to educate visitors on the fact that we offer more than free information. Again my data recovery client has gotten great results from this practice.
- Insight & Analysis - often times information is dry. A website that has not only information but a perspective and an analysis of the raw information will always do much better than a purely informational site trying to sell a product. One of the things I love most about Web 2,0 apps and social network marketing in general, is the flow of data from author to visitors. This allows for a vibrant and interactive environment that can turn a visitor into a prospect!
- Newsletter - old tried and true, the e-newsletter has been around for a long long time and is still one of the most potent forms of marketing. Of course I am only referring to opt-in readers. If a visitor freely gives their email address then you can be assured of an attentive audience. This goes hand in hand with the last item “insight and analysis”, since a visitor that signs up for a newsletter is obviously interested in your opinion. If you have read any of the content on this site then you know of my use of RSS and Feedburner for syndication. While this is in fact the strongest indication of visitor loyalty for a blog, it isn’t as personal a triumph as is having scores of newsletter subscribers. An e-mail newsletter sets up a closer and more personal relationship than mere page viewing.
In my last post about analytics and website usability I wrote about unique visitor tracking as being an important part of the statistical package. While I stand by that statement, I also want to drive home that the tracking of your visitors loyalty is of utmost importance. This is particularly true when it comes to search engine acquired visitors. Knowing the keywords they typed in to find you and seeing that they came back is the best way to know if your content and linking structure is solid and working.
Mar
4
Frames, JavaScript, and Flash
There are a lot of myths and misunderstandings about the way search engines handle frames, JavaScript, and Flash pages. The fact is that pages using these technologies can be optimized for search engines, but each presents its own unique challenges and difficulties However, if you find that you must use them, or if you’re optimizing a site that’s already built around these technologies, there are steps you can take to minimize their disadvantages.
Frames
By using a frames page in a very specific way, it is possible to send the <no frames> section of the page you want indexed to the search engine and the frames content to the browser (humans). The<no frames> section would be your optimized source code for the engine. The <no frame> section DOES need to have logical text that is relevant to what is being displayed in the browser window just in case a human reviews the page manually. The <no frames> area of the page is basically invisible to users unless they use the view source option of their browser. Just remember to keep the content relevant to the page the humans will see. Also keep in mind that shopping cart pages on a secure server that are wrapped in frames from a non-secure server won’t show the closed-lock icon on the browser window. You need to break out of the frame when leading people to the secure pages or they will understandably think the page is non-secure-even though it is. This may cost some sales because a lot of customers DO look for that secure icon.
A Word about JavaScript
Computer programmers who design fancy pages may hate to hear this, but what we said for Frames also goes for JavaScript pages. The more JavaScript, the less chances of showing up high on a search engine search. If you do have to use JavaScript, put the script contents in a remote.js file to avoid impacting your search engine ranking. Here’s how: In your .html page, reference the remote.js file like this:
| <script language=JavaScript src=javascript/remotefile.jsType=text/javascript></script> |
Then place your javascript code in the remote file (i.e.,remotefile.js). Technical reasons again, but if your sales depend on being found, skip javascript for now. There are plenty of other ways to spruce up your pages. In addition, our studies have shown that complex Javascript and Frames in general both reduce sales.
Flash Follies
Flash content can not be easily optimized for search engines, so you put yourself at a ranking disadvantage if you rely too heavily on it.
Flash content cannot be easily optimized for search engines, so you put yourself at a ranking disadvantage if you rely too heavily on it. There are always work-arounds and expectations, but, in general, search engines have difficulty with Flash. As you know, one of the most important ways search engines determine what your web pages are about is by using the keywords in your page’s text. Depending on the search engine, it is difficult to impossible for them to extract keywords from flash files. This means that any part of your web page that uses Flash will generally not contribute to your ranking. However, you can still use Flash on your pages as long as you observe the following rules:
- Don’t make your entire page one big Flash file. Make sure your page has abundant indexable content outside your Flash file. If you are just using Flash to animate part of your page, and the rest of the page is in normal HTML and contains keywords, then search engines will know what your page is about, by reading that HTML (even though they’ll likely ignore the Flash). However, if most of your page is embedded in Flash file, then it will be very difficult for a search engine to know what your page is about, and you will be at a decided ranking disadvantage.
- Use the<noembed> tag. This is a good approach to take if you are simply must create all Flash pages. If you program in Flash, you know that the link to your Flash file must be enclosed in an <embed> tag. HTML also contains a <noembed> tag. This is where you should put the HML version of whatever Flash you’re using on that page. Not only does this give the search engine something to read, but it also provides an alternative to those users who don’t have Flash installed in their browsers. Google is one search engine that has made some progress indexing Flash pages. However they don’t do it particularly well, so don’t count on this to put your site on equal footing with non-Flash pages. You will still be at a disadvantage, even with Google. There are sites like Oprah.com that use heavy amounts of Flash and do quite well in the search engines. But they generally have the same recognition and money to get them there, regardless of how unfriendly their site actually might be to search engines. If you have an Oprah-sized marketing budget and you really want that animated homepage, and then by all means, take the Flash route. Flash pages will always have to work harder to get ranked, whether through optimizing the HTML portion of the site or spending on advertising.
Use the techniques outline above to make sure the keywords you want to be indexed for can be found outside your Flash files.
Mar
4
Use a small Number of Keywords on Each PageEach page would be focused on no more than two or three keywords. There are a couple of reasons to limit the number of keywords per page: Your most important keywords should be places into your web page’s title tag. Since a title tag should be limited to no more than 60 characters, this functionally limits the number of keywords that can realistically placed within it.
If you optimize a page for to many keywords, you end up diluting the focus of that page in respect to those keywords. Each page on your site should be tightly focused to rank very highly for a specific set of terms. If you want to rank for a greater number of keywords, then you should increase the number of pages on your site. This does not mean that your page won’t rank for related terms. Often times, keywords overlap. Ranking highly for one keyword can also help your page rank highly for a whole host of related keywords. For instance, if your page ranks highly for the keywords direct marketing, then it is likely to also rank highly for professional direct marketing or direct marketing services, if you use those phrases somewhere in your<body> text.
Tagging related terms onto your primary keywords like this is a good way to rank highly for the broader range of searches without diluting the focus of your pages. Use the <Images Alt=” ” >Tag Wisely: Turn Images Into AssetsYour company logo may show what you are, who you are, and even state a benefit-but the engines can’t index your image. The search engine’s indexing-bot is oblivious to everything but text. The only indexable aspect of the images is the text content you place within the <image alt=“put text here”>tag.
You can turn all images into assets by placing keyword text within the Alt tags. Here is an example: <img src=“logo.jpg” alt+ “Beachfront Hawaii Vacation Rentals – lodging – villas – homes – accommodations – Oahu –Maui – Kona – Hawaii – Kauai – Big Island” height= “116” width= “537”>
Now you should not expect a big ranking boost from this strategy-in fact you may get none. However, engines have been know to index the content of Alt tags in the past and one never knows when the ranking algorithm will shift back again as it does from time to time. Three more reasons for using for using the alt tag are:
1. The content becomes visible when a mouse passes over the page.
2. The content disappears whenever the image fails to load.
3. The latest HTML specs require that images have an Alt tag. So be sure to use the Alt tag and make it work in your favor.
Check out our posts:
9 Steps to finding the right keywords
Mar
3
SEO Tips: Keyword Density
Filed Under Search Engine Optimization | 2 Comments
Keywords Density: An Enduring SEO Myth worth mentioning is the often misunderstood concept of keyword density. In pure form, refers to the number of times a keyword appears in relation to all of the words on the same page. For instance, if a page only contained one word of text, say…
If the only text on the page was… Eat at Chicago’s finest Seafood restaurant …then the keyword density of the word
Chicago would be 20%, since each word on the page represents one-fifth of the entire text.
Search engines ignore common words such as, the, at, of, etc. – therefore the word at would not be included in our keyword density calculation. Keyword density is one of the strategies that search engine optimizers (SEOs) place too much emphasis on. They are usually under the mistaken impression there is some “magic formula” for calculating the optimal keyword density that will appeal to each search engine.
While this was certainly true in the past, it has largely ceased to be the case. At best, keyword density is only a bit player in the big algorithmic search engine formula for top ranking pages.
First of all, the concept of keyword density does not take into account the location of the keywords on the page. As we mentioned in the previous section, keyword placement is an important element of optimizing for search engine ranking. To say that a page has a 10% keyword density says nothing about whether those keywords are featured in your title tags, header tags, link anchor text, or any other important places to feature your keywords.
Secondly, keyword density also ignores the distance between keywords on a page, a concept known as keyword proximity. In general, the closer your keywords are to each other, the better. For instance the phrase: Your premier resource for San Diego real estate information, …is better optimized for the keyword San Diego real estate, than the following phrase: Your premier real estate information resource for the San Diego area.
Top ranking pages in any search engine shows an enormous variation in the keyword density of those pages. Some top ranking pages have 50% keyword density. Others have as low as 0% keyword density. Indeed, we have found a few pages that rank highly for keyword in spite of the fact that it doesn’t even appear on the page! In such cases, it is the keyword in the anchor text of the offsite links that point to the page that is causing it to rank at or near the top (which illustrates just how important keywords into the anchor text of offsite links pointing to your pages!). As you might imagine, such a large degree of variation makes it all-but- impossible for anyone to determine just exactly what the “ideal” keyword density actually is.
The most effective search engine optimizers use keywords in ways that look natural and don’t waste time stressing over the exact number of times a keyword should appear on a page.
Mar
3
Basic SEO Tips: Title and Header Tags, Body & Link Text, CSS
Filed Under Search Engine Optimization | 7 Comments
Title Tags The most critically important location to place keywords is within your web pages HTML <title> tag. Search engines view the keywords found in the title tag as extremely important since they tell the engine what your site is about. Therefore, you should place your most important keywords within your <title> tag. You should also avoid waiting valuable space with words like your company name unless it is so well known that people use it as their primary keyword while searching for what you sell. Another mistake that we commonly see is something like welcome to our homepage this is useless because nobody will be searching for that phrase to search for your site. It is hard to overemphasize the importance of content within your <title> tag. Here are some points to remember:
- Your page’s title tag is one of the most important aspects of web page design in respects to scoring well on most search engines. It tells the search engine what your page is about.
- Your title tag is what the search engine uses as a link on the search engine uses as a link on the search results page. It confirms to your potential site visitor that your page is what they searched for. For example, you own a Bed & Breakfast in Hanalei Bay, Hawaii Island of
Kauai called Kiluhana Inn. You should not use Kiluhana Inn as your title tag. If you so, do your business will be handicapped, in search for anything related to Hawaii, or bed & breakfast, or Kauai or Hanalei Bay because none of those words appear in your title. You will more than likely be buried on the rankings by more knowledgeable competition.
A better tag would be: <title> Bed & Breakfast Kauai –Hanalei
Bay Hawaii</title> There are three reasons why this is a better tag:
1. The keywords Hawaii, Beach, Bread & Breakfast, Hanale Bay, Kauai are all keywords in your <title> that people are likely to enter when searching for this type of service.
2. The keywords Hawaii, Beach, Hanalei Bay,
Kauai are all terms that are entered when people are dong research related to your location. For instance, if someone does a keyword search for Hanalei Kauai your service has a good change of showing up near the top of the search results.
3. Engines and directories have been known to give an ever so slight priority to alphabetical order. Although this is a minor consideration, whenever possible we start our web page titles with a letter that begins early in the alphabet. Because of this reason, we favor the title Bed & Breakfast Kauai over
Kauai Bed & Breakfast. You should limit your title tag to less than 60 characters (usually about 7 to 10 words). Anything longer and you risk getting part of your title chopped off by some search engines. In the example above, it would be best to place Kiluhana Inn at the end of the title tag only if it fits within the 60 character limit and there are not any better keywords to use in its place. You should also avoid using what are called stop words or dead weight words in your title tags. These are words that have become so common that search engines either ignore them or return hardly relevant results whenever they are entered into the search. Examples include homepage or homepage, WWW, web and web page. These words are rarely necessary information to your titles. Other stop words you should minimize using in your title are the, of, that, is, and, to and so forth. These words have no meaning in a search and they waste valuable character space. However, keep in mind that these words so add to your title’s readability. So if you can write a title with minimal stop words that still makes sense and is full of keywords then you have the perfect title. But don’t risk a messy or unreadable title just because you want to stuff it with keywords. Remember, you may get your title to the top of the search result, but someone still has to read it and find it interesting before it does any good.
Header Tags After your title, your web page’s header tags are the next most important placement of your keywords. Header tags are specified with the following HTML code: <h1>, <h2>, <h3>,<h4>, <h5>,<h6>. Generally speaking, an <h1> tag is considered more important than an <h2> tag which is more important thane an <h3> tag and so on. Since your header tags will become the headlines on your web page, it is important that they look natural and appeal to customer who visit your site. A good example of rich header tags would be something like: <h1>Your San Diego Real Estate Research<h1> <h2>For Buying San Diego real estate and selling real estate in
San Diego, we’re your one stop source.<h2> <follow this with keyword-rich body text> Body TextYour page’s >body> text refers to the visible text on your page. While it is very important to place your keywords I page titles and headlines, it is also beneficial to feature your keywords throughout the rest of your page. Generally, web pages should have about 200-300 words of text with special emphasis on two to three carefully chosen keywords. Within those keyword rich <body> text, search engines respond favorably to keywords placed within style tags such as <b>, <strong>, <i>, <em>, and <li>. <p>the <b>San Diego Real Estate Resource</b> is your source of information and services for anyone buying or selling <b>real estate</b> in <b>
San Diego</b>. We specialize in <b>
San Diego real estate</b>and are committed to providing the expertise, professionalism and superior customer service today’s market demands. </p> Link Anchor Text
Link anchor text refers to the visible text in an HTML link. For instance, in the following link: Free Trial Keyword Research Tool The anchor text is Free Trial Keyword Search Tool. The actual HTML code for the link looks like:
<a href=http://www.wordtracker.com/trial.html>Free Trial Keyword Research Tool</a>
Keywords placed in the anchor text of links on your web pages are given a higher priority by most search engines. Whenever possible, you should work this fact to your advantage. When other site link to you with your keywords in the anchor text of their links that is even better. Therefore, try to influence which keywords are being used in the link anchor text of other sites that point traffic in your direction. This may be the single most effective strategy for boosting your page’s ranking. The Higher Up on the Page, the Better
It is very important that you place some of your best keyword-rich text as high up on your web page as you can. That’s because search engines index page content (via the utilization of source code) In linear order and give priority to keywords found closest to the to[ of your web page. This means that you should place your keywords in your first headline and in the first paragraph on your page, and limit the images, JavaScript, and other HTML code that precedes your keyword text.
Combining HTML Tags We know that text inside <h1> and <b> tags are given more weight by search engines. We also know that link anchor text is also given more weight. It follows that is can be beneficial to combine them, when formatting allows. Example: <h1><b><a href=’mypage.html’>Cell Phones<a/a<b></h1> Whenever the layout of the page allows, we will replace a sentence or two of text containing the primary keywords near the top of the page in an <h1> tag and then bold the keywords that we want to emphasize and make them links.
Cascading style sheets
(CSS) can be used to alter the standard appearance of any tag. In such cases <h1> tags do not have to make text unusually large, <b> tags do not necessarily make text bold, and links can even be made to look like links. It all depends on whatever style you have assigned the tags within your web page’s associated style sheet.css file. You can also use absolute positioning in CSS to arrange your keyword-rich copy so that it appears at the begging of the HTML source code regardless of where it actually appears on the visible portion of the webpage.
Be careful using CSS absolute positioning as it might also cause your page to look very strange if the site visitor uses their browser to resize the fonts for better readability. Be sure to test the look with different browser font size settings to ensure an acceptable design layout.