Article Categories

• Advertising
• Blogs & Podcasts
• Business
• Ecommerce
• Google
• Linking Strategies
• Marketing
• RSS
• SE Optimization
• SE Positioning
• SE Submission
• SE Tactics
• Security
• Technology
• Video Marketing
• Web 2.0
• Web Design
• Webmasters
• Website Promotion
• Website Traffic
• Writing

SiteProNews Blogs

• Darren Dunner
• Jerry Bader
• Kalena Jordan
• Matt Jackson
• Mel Strocen
• Titus Hoskins

10 Easy Search Engine Optimization Tips

By admin in SE Optimization

Be bold. Use the tags around some of your keywords on each page. Do NOT use them everywhere the keyword appears. Once or twice is plenty.

Deep linking. Make sure you have links coming in to as many pages as possible. What does it tell a search engine when other web sites are linking to different pages on your site? That you obviously have lots of worthwhile content. What does it tell a search engine that all your links are coming in to the home page? That you have a shallow site of little value, or that your links were generated by automation rather than by the value of your site.

Become a foreigner. Canada and the UK have many directories for websites of companies based in those countries. Can you get a business address in one of those countries?

Newsletters. Offer articles to ezine publishers that archive their ezines. The links stay live often for many years in their archives.

First come, first served. If you must have image links in your navigation bar, include also text links. However, make sure the text links show up first in the source code, because search engine robots will follow the first link they find to any particular page. They won’t follow additional links to the same page. You can see this in action at the link to the home page on this web site monitoring page.

Multiple domains. If you have several topics that could each support their own website, it might be worth having multiple domains. Why? First, search engines usually list only one page per domain for any given search, and you might warrant two. Second, directories usually accept only home pages, so you can get more directory listings this way. Why not a site dedicated to gumbo pudding pops?

Article exchanges. You’ve heard of link exchanges, useless as they generally are. Article exchanges are like link exchanges, only much more useful. You publish someone else’s article on the history of pudding pops with a link back to their site. They publish your article on the top ten pudding pop flavors in Viet Nam, with a link back to your site. You both have content. You both get high quality links. (More on high quality links in other tips.)

Titles for links. Links can get titles, too. Not only does this help visually impaired surfers know where you are sending them, but some search engines figure this into their relevancy for a page.

Not anchor text. Don’t overdo the anchor text. You don’t want all your inbound links looking the same, because that looks like automation - something Google frowns upon. Use your URL sometimes, your company name other times, “Gumbo Pudding Pop” occasionally, “Get gumbo pudding pops” as well, “Gumbo-flavored pudding pops” some other times, etc.

Site map. A big site needs a site map, which should be linked to from every page on the site. This will help the search engine robots find every page with just two clicks. A small site needs a site map, too. It’s called the navigation bar. See how the second navigation bar at the bottom of Last Minute Florida Villas is like a mini-site map?

Typhon Vision IT Consulting is a full service computer consulting company. An all in one source for all your IT needs. Servicing the Toronto GTA and surrounding areas. Providing Search Engine Optimization, Traffic Generation, Data Recovery, Technical Support, Network Design and Maintenance and Web Design.

Search Engine Optimization Secrets Of A #1 Google Ranking

By Willie Crawford in SE Optimization

It doesn’t matter how great your product is, what a bargain your price is, or how beautiful your website is - Without traffic none of that matters.

So at its most basic, the biggest determinant of your web businesses success is “getting eyeballs looking at your webpages.”

When looking at where the traffic comes from, it begins with others linking (or pointing the way) to your site. Since most people automatically turn to the search engines when looking for something online, that naturally tells me that the most important links that you can easily get are probably from the search engines.

Since Google is currently the search engine getting the most use online, and therefore the one that generates the most traffic, that also means that you need to focus on getting a front page, or ideally a number 1 listing, at Google.

However, your search engine optimization efforts should involve structuring your site, and your other search engine magnets, so that it bring in BUYERS from Google.

At its most basic, and simplest, getting a number 1 ranking at Google that leads to an endless stream of sales boils down to three parts. They are:

1) Targeting The Correct Keywords

2) Optimizing A Page For Those Keywords

3) Getting Links From Sites That Google Loves

Let’s look at each of these.

First, you absolutely have to target the correct keyword. Your webpages and everything that you do needs to incorporate the keywords that your buying customers are actually typing into the search engines.

You don’t want to target the phrase digital camera, or printer cartridge. Instead you want to target a specific model of digital camera or printer cartridge, and you may even want to target people in a specific location looking for a specific model of printer cartridge.

That kind of targeting means that the people who find you are searching for something very specific, and when they find you by typing in that very specific search term, they click through and buy.

Next, you need to optimize your webpages for those keyword phrases. That generally means that you need the target keyword phrases sprinkled throughout your webpages. It also means that you want to use your target keyword phrases in your title and description “metatags.” You also want to include your keyword phrases in anchor text on your webpages (the blue underlined text in hyperlinks).

You basically want to include your keyword phrases in all of the parts of your webpages that tells the search engines what your webpage is about. This includes places such as italicized or bolded text, your menu items, and even alt image tags.

Finally, you need to get sites that Google thinks are important to link to you. Ideally, these sites include your keyword phrases in the anchor text when they link to you.

Many who study search engine optimization full-time are convinced that the external links pointing to your website are THE part that makes the biggest difference in most cases.

Having an authority site link to you is like having a respected authority in your community give you an endorsement. They are telling the search engines, and the rest of the world, that they recommend you. By using your keywords in the anchor text, authority sites are also telling Google (and other less important search engines) that that is what they consider your site to be about.

This factor is so powerful that I have personally often gotten a number 1 position on Google for my most important keywords by just tapping into one free website optimization tool… one authority site! In fact, I recently did an interview with David Preston, an expert at teaching offline businesses to tap into the web in ways that most of their competitors never even dreamed of. In the interview with David, we discussed in-depth, how I easily get free front-page listings at Google in a day, and how I often get #1 listing for my ideal keywords in just hours. You can get the MP3 audio of the interview that I did with David at: http://WebsiteSearchEngineOptimizationSecrets.com

I mention David and that interview because he taught me another CRITICAL part of effective search engine optimization. He taught

me how to focus my efforts on the buyers with lots of money to spend… customers who have already budgeted that money for what I have to offer.

So there you have my very simple three-part search engine optimization formula for getting a free number one ranking in Google in as little as a few hours. That fourth part, focusing on the buyers actively looking to spend money is a bonus

---

Willie Crawford is an Internet marketer with over 12 years of experience at generating massive website traffic, and sales using viral marketing techniques. One of his favorite traffic generation tools is rebrandable PDF’s which he creates using the software at: http://ViralDocumentToolkits.com

Optimize Your Website and They Will Come

By Susan L Reid in SE Optimization

What’s the big deal about search engine optimization? Isn’t it enough that you’ve put up a website, purchased some Google AdWords, and sent out an email to everyone you know announcing your site? In short, no. There is an art and science to search engine optimization (SEO), and it is critical for web-based businesses to know, understand and utilize if they want to drive quality traffic to their website via the Internet.

Where do you begin, though? How can you possibly know whom to trust or what to do first with so much information out there on SEO? Do you buy links or not? Pay per click or go organic? And what about those SEO companies who are aggressively promising #1 rankings? When it comes to search engine ranking, there are a lot of rumors and myths about what will increase your rankings and what won’t.

Debunking Some Popular Search Engine Ranking Myths

- Pay per click (PPC) ads will either help or hurt organic rankings. (Organic simply means the process by which web users find websites having unpaid search engine listings.)

Debunked: PPC is categorized differently than organic listings. There is no effect, one way or the other, on ranking.

- Websites are banned if they ignore Google guidelines.

Debunked: While it’s a good idea to read Google Webmaster Guidelines or Google 101: How Google Crawls, Indexes and Serves the Web, you are not banned if you ignore their guidelines.

- Websites are banned if they buy links.

Debunked: Sites are not banned. The links just aren’t counted.

- Copy must be a certain number of words, use a specific keyword density, and contain bold or italicized keywords.

Debunked: It used to be thought that there was a magic number of words used or certain times a keyword or keyword phrase should be repeated. Not so. Same with bolding and italicizing. They don’t do anything for ranking.

- Duplicate content will get your website penalized.

Debunked: It will just get filtered out and not counted.

- Reciprocal links won’t count.

Debunked: Every link counts, to a certain extent.

- SEO companies can increase your rankings without doing any on-page work.

Debunked: Run if an SEO company tells you this.

According to SEO expert Jill Whalen, SEO isn’t magic and isn’t a crap-shoot. “SEO is about making your website the best it can be for your site visitors and the search engines.” Want to help the right kind of people find your website? Then you need to design your site so search engines can find, crawl and index your pages.

Seven Ways to Get Your Website Crawled

1. It’s better to have one main website with numerous domains pointing to the main domain, than to have mini-sites or multiple sites with similar content. Mini-sites and multiple sites with similar content do not increase search engine listings and are frequently viewed by search engines as SPAM.
2. If you do have several stand-alone websites, make sure each serves a different target audience and has unique content with different domain or sub-domain URLs.
3. Search engines need to be able to follow internal links. To make that happen, use tags, text links, image links, and CSS menus. Spiders have difficulty with JavaScript menus, pop-up windows, drop-down menus, and flash navigation.
4. Choose keyword phrases that are most relevant and specific to what your web page is about. Think from the perspective of someone searching for what you are offering on your site. Ask, as if you were they: What would I search for if I am looking for something on your page?
5. Validate your keyword phrases through either paid or free services, such as Keyword Discovery, Wordtracker, or Google AdWords.
6. Check for keyword competitiveness. Take into consideration the size of your business. In this case, size does matter. If you are a major player with a major brand, you can play in a larger competitive pond than a smaller company just starting out. Know what size pond is right for you, and check for competitiveness by putting: allintitle: “keyword phrase” in your browser and check the number count.
7. Once you have your keyword phrases validated and checked for competitiveness, use them in anchor texts, clickable image alt tags, headlines, body text copy, title tags, and meta descriptions. Meta tags aren’t all that important for crawling.

SEO can be both intimidating and exhilarating. Intimidating because it seems as if just about everyone has an opinion on what it takes to get a high ranking in Google, so it’s hard to know what to believe. Exhilarating because, once you understand the method behind the madness of SEO, you see the art and science of it. Then it becomes fun and easy to come up with a strategic plan about where to place keyword phrases, how to write copy, and what size pond is best for your company to compete in. Optimize your website, and they will come.

---

Business Coach & Consultant for entrepreneurial women starting up small businesses, Dr. Susan L. Reid is the Award-winning author of “Discovering Your Inner Samurai: The Entrepreneurial Woman’s Journey to Business Success.” For ideas, tips, and support for your business journey, sign up here for our free e-Zine.

SEO Opens Doors

By Jeffrey Smith in SE Optimization

If you are a small business, SEO can open doors to competitive keywords, lucrative markets and competitive verticals. However, to take your place, you’ll need to chip away one page at a time building quality content and authority along the way until you reach the threshold.

Employing a solid content development strategy (persistently waged in tandem with link building over time) is the key to acquiring even the most competitive keywords.You have more control over your own rankings than you may think. In case you are pondering a new topic to develop, for new ideas on popular topics, you can use Google Trends (to hunt for keyword gold), see what is suggested as a related search, or see which keywords appear in the auto-suggest in search engines, use keyword research tool to cross-reference keywords that have high search volume. Once you establish your list of buzz words, tactfully weave them into your site content through using articles, blog posts or new pages.

The true competition for SEO is creating relevance within your own site instead of being concerned about fighting for search engine positioning with other businesses. Relevance and relevance score is the new bottom line.

The underlying purpose of Google’s search engine algorithm is to reward quality content. The pages imbued with trust and quality are the pages flush with hordes of relevant traffic from search engines. The logic behind the algorithm is simple, the happier we are, the more we consume, the more we consume the happier every business in the umbrella thrives from commerce.

Instead of looking at your site as a static online business card, transform it into an interactive brand statement instead. By using your site to make your brand statement or give back the web with great content, your site will serve as a resource for others. By establishing authority in your niche, you are employing one of the most fundamental search engine optimization strategies as a base (becoming a thought and market leader). Why react to trends when you can influence them? If you push beyond the reactions of others, you will find something unique. It is from that level you must function.

This tactic when combined with traditional search engine optimization techniques such as link building and social media is just like picking the low hanging fruit until the tree falls over as a result of effective on page and off page SEO.

Why rely on one page alone when you can create several relevant pages?

Each page with strong internal links and strong external links can rank competitively for multiple keywords. Just as the old saying goes, “don’t put your eggs in one basket”, the same applies for keywords and the number of pages you create to reinforce a theme.

Adding fresh content consistently to your site ensures that your pages (a) fend off competition and (b) appear as a the most relevant result as a consequence of topical relevance.

If you are looking for things you have control over, the rate and quality of the content you publish is the first and foremost step for building authority for your site and your business.

Three concepts to communicate here are:

1) Add New Content Using Semantic Synonyms for Main Keywords
2) Encourage Word Stemming through Building Anchor Text Links with Diversity
3) and Managing Your Keywords Bloom Rate to Expedite Authority

Semantic Synonyms - Writing on topic content and using overlapping keywords and key phrases to cement relevance for your site. Use site architecture and content to influence how your content is accessed from humans and spiders alike.

Word Stemming - Word stemming is the process of ranking for a series of semantically related phrases. This phenomenon occurs in tandem to the proper ratio of on page linking and occurrence of key terms augmented by external links from other pages.

The combination is, ranking for multiple phrases instead of just one. So if two or more of your optimized keywords appear in a search query, the likelihood of your page being returned as a relevant result is amplified through saturating the combinations of the keywords. More about word stemming and keyword modifiers (supporting keyword variations) here.

Keyword Bloom Rate - draws a parallel with managing the rate in which a keyword gains and loses popularity and rankings.

It is awareness of the rise and fall (of keywords) that provides insight, but more importantly, it is timely introduction of link building with specific anchor text and fresh content that can supplementing rankings indefinitely.

Knowing when and how to freshen up your site and with which key phrases is crucial to maintain rankings. A more in depth discussion is available from a post entitled tilling keywords from the past to plant future growth. Foresight, planning and strategic execution never worked so well together.

The gist is, it is better to build relevance over time through layering your content. By managing the bloom rate for your new content you essentially control how often certain segments of your site are augmented, for which terms and add additional link weight to your site (if you inter-link your pages with strategic keywords). Building links for your website from within while crafting compelling content and authority for your website is a superb foundation for a long-term link building campaign.

Jeffrey Smith is an active internet marketing optimization strategist, consultant and the founder of Seo Design Solutions Seo Company http://www.seodesignsolutions.com. He has actively been involved in internet marketing since 1995 and brings a wealth of collective experiences and fresh marketing strategies to individuals involved in online business.

The Cynical SEO Drama Queen

By Jennifer Horowitz in SE Optimization

It is time to look at those SEO questions from the folks who need help and guidance. Let’s take a read of some of the Dear SEO Drama Queen email, which floods her box every day.

Dear SEO Drama Queen: I want a number one ranking for my web site. The keywords are clothes, sneakers and hats. I read so much out there on how important it is to be on Google. Can you promise me a #1 ranking for my 3 keywords? Thanks, BA

Greetings BA: Of course I can guarantee #1 rankings on Google for those very generic keywords that compete against millions of other sites. AN SEO who couldn’t isn’t worth their wait in gold. It’s easy. First, I need you to purchase about 100,000 shares of Google stock. Once you are a major holder, we can then bribe Google to either place you on top or we will sell their stock to Yahoo. Let me know when you have made the purchase. Best, SEO Drama Queen

Dear SEO Drama Queen: I contacted an SEO company and they stated their fees are $300 a month for 6 months. They stated they needed to access my site, make changes to code, write content, and help me decide on keyword phrases, build link shares and on and on. I think this is a rip-off as I have seen SEO for $25 a month and they do not need to work on my site or have me make changes; they just submit the site to 1000’s of engines. Should I go with the less expensive company? Thanks, ST

Greetings ST: Cheaper is always better. Why should actually do anything to your web site. Do not use your valuable time on making your site better when you can have someone do everything for $25 bucks. I mean, why should you suffer, it is only your business, so do not put in the effort if someone can do it cheap. Let’s face it, your $25 bucks pays for them to spend a minute of time placing your URL in an auto program and pressing a button. Sure, it’s 1000’s of engines no one sees, and sure, just because Yahoo, MSN and Google need you to manually place in a code before accepting, and sure, even though your site doesn’t even need to be submitted in most cases, why pay for an expert when you can go cheap and get the site submitted. Heck, save the $25 bucks, let the engines find you on their own and go to the movies instead. Best, SEO Drama Queen

Dear SEO Drama Queen: I wanted to make fast money online. I joined a program that builds my site and even provides me with products to sell, submits my site and stated the money would be coming in. I selected mattresses, even though I know nothing about them, but they promised I could make $1000 a month with just a few sales. I paid their fee, went into the online builder and selected my site template, pressed some buttons and now have a site. But I cannot be found at all….even when I search by my domain name. HELP! ZK

Dear ZK: Oh my! You mean they lied to you? Shame on them. You take the time to select a product you know nothing about, pick a web template you believe looks good and expect the money to be rolling in. Heck, they even promised to submit the site to the engines. Sure, maybe the site is not designed to be search engine friendly. Sure, your site is held deep in their subdirectories with all the other ‘want to get rich quick’ clients; sure, you never need to do another thing to promote the site….and yet you still cannot be found. I am shocked, appalled even. But surely, they would not lie to you. Maybe you should buy more sites from them for other products you know nothing about and maybe one day, you will get found and make a sale. Best, SEO Drama Queen

Dear SEO Drama Queen: After much reading and searching, I found an SEO company that has a good standing in the SEO world. They were expensive, but promised to deliver. I paid the fees and the process began. But, I was expected to work on the site as well. I was expected to provide keyword rich content or actually pay them to write content for my site. I was expected to even make my site easier to read by engines, change navigation schemes and work on marketing lingo and something they called ’site stickiness’ Why am I paying them when I feel like I do all the work. This must be wrong and I am getting ripped off? I have seen other SEO companies that promise top rankings. They say I do not need to make any changes and they will add 100’s of pages to my site. What should I do? Worried, LM

Dear LM: Get your money back now. How dare this SEO Company expect you to actually work with them on making your site more SEO ready? I mean it is your site, you should have some say in it, and if you do not want to make changes that will help the SEO achieve their goals…well then do not. Go with that other SEO Company. Let them add 100’s of hidden pages to the site. That way, in 3-6 months when Google realizes what has been done, any rankings achieved will be dropped…but do not worry, you will have 3-6 months of great placements and make lots of money. Then you can remove those bad pages, send an apology letter to Google and repeat the process again. I am sure that will be just perfect. Do not follow that other SEO Company as they expect you to work with them in a team effort, and as we know, there is no ‘I” in team Best, SEO Drama Queen.

---

Jennifer Horowitz is the Director of Marketing for www.EcomBuffet.com Over the past 10 years Jennifer’s expertise in marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has helped clients increase revenue. Jennifer has written a downloadable book on SEO and has been published in many SEO and marketing publications. Jennifer is the editor of the popular Spotlight on Success: SEO and Marketing newsletter. Follow Jennifer and stay current on SEO, marketing, social media and more: http://twitter.com/EcomBuffet

The Cycles of Organic Search Engine Positioning

By Jeffrey Smith in SE Optimization

Just like a plant, organic search engine positioning is based on cycles. While getting there may be half the battle, understanding the growth, gestation and the budding cycles of SEO as well as understanding temporal relapses in positioning (while data centers unify results a.k.a. the Google dance) for ranking stability is all part of organic search engine optimization.
Just like starting with a field full of potential, you have to plant the seeds to harvest the rewards. That reward is 100% all-natural organic search engine positioning, which is well worth the wait.It is a know fact that 8 out of 10 people (look left) on the screen when skimming search results and focus solely on organic / natural search results while the other 2 out of 10 people (look to the right) and scan or click sponsored pay per click results.

If you are relying on PPC as a marketing medium and spending more than $5K per month, then you may wish to consider implementing a cost-effective, long-term organic organic SEO management campaign. This can reduce your dependency on PPC and offset the rising costs of bidding on keywords based on search volume / supply and demand. Organic traffic is natural and is accomplished through building quality content to funnel relevant traffic to your site.

Without observation (market analysis), opportunities for optimal positioning could pass you by, without participation, the competition takes the lead. If you want increases in user engagement, increased traffic, higher page rank, a higher percentage of sales conversion, then first you’ll need more content to increase the probability that someone, somewhere will be drawn to it and find your pages useful.

But before you look beyond the horizon and obsess about results, having a clear understanding to guide your actions is needed. With a blueprint, you can scale results systematically or determine where you are in each stage of the process.

Observing time cycles for content, the rate in which it gains or loses positioning in the SERPs (search engine result pages) is important. Looking at this from the standpoint of (a) where you are and (b) where you want to be, it is all about developing continuity and developing the trust and exposure required to get there.

Organic Search Trajectory Cycles - determining how new keywords fit into the existing theme model of your existing content (just wanting to rank for keywords is not enough, you have to build the content).

Example, if you have a site about frogs and you wanted to rank for insects, you would have to create a logical bridge between the two categories to expand the focus of your site, without diluting or losing relevance for the terms you have developed already.

If done tactfully, and gradually over time while reinforcing certain aspects of your internal linking as well as adding links with authority form the new topic (from related sites), you can enter a market with enough momentum to out rank your competition in a fraction of the time.

The Cycles of Velocity - The idea behind velocity in content development and building links, content and topical relevance simultaneously is the key to stable rankings.

In the beginning it is harder to make the initial impression as you are dealing with the defensive factor of the other more established pages and their SEO efforts, so you have to really push the envelope to make an impression.

After mid phase (5 articles or blog posts tactfully integrated with enough related material to be considered a valid / relevant result by search engines) it’s still a struggle, but at least you can start seeing the fruits of your labor and hit the top 50 organic results in search engines.

Then, in the end-phase of the gestation process, closing in on your demographic and appearing for a number of related phrases as well as making a debut in the high vertical marketing channels (the top 20-30 results) a new tactic is required to polish the relevance score for your pages which can stem into multiple high ranking phrases.

Creating islands of content is one method that is effective for this strategy; this method relies on making each related segment just as strong as the one above it. So, instead of having flat architecture and having your root folder strong, all of your sub folders and other categories each have the capacity to rank well and elevate the entire site as a result. This requires internal and external links, diversity, topical modifiers and a tactful direction of how those links distribute their weight.

Holistic Nurturing through Consistency - Ensuring you make your rounds to schedule routine internal link audits or check to see how each segment of your site is evolving. The key here is to go back and track your progress as you break into the upper echelon of an industry.

SEO is a process of tilling the soil (keyword research), planting the seeds (content and links) and being patient enough to see the results rise through the surface and achieve relevance from consumers invoking the pages from the index with related search queries.

Search engine optimization, organic search in particular is all about managing multiple miniature campaigns holistically as part and parcel of a larger marketing strategy. It truly boils down to positioning and relevance.

If your positioning is strong in search engines, then you have the potential to be discovered on accident (much like an impulse purchase). You never know exactly which key phrase combinations a search engine query might latch onto, which is why it is important to write quality topical information.

So, appearing in the same genre of results at the right time, for someone seeking a related query is ideal. Through tactfully promoting your content purposely through organic SEO in this fashion, not only does your traffic, branding and exposure reach new heights, but you truly start to appreciate and understand the infrastructure of what drives an industry (through tracking and analytics) and how to hone your pitch to reach each audience with a unique message.

Local Search and Optimisation

By Robert Cerff in SE Optimization

Recently I was reading an article about the trouble in Zimbabwe and how it affected South Africa. I was surprised to find that many people didn’t realize that South Africa was a country in its own right, but most thought that Zimbabwe was a country in South Africa. While I find this amusing (as both South Africa and Zimbabwe are very much individual independent countries) I did realise that not everybody is 100% clued up on their geography.

Okay so what does this have to do with search? As many small businesses are unable to supply the entire world with their product or service many try to localise their client base. This is carried over into their website. It’s not easy for a plumber in London to be making callouts to China. While this is an extreme example I think you get the point.

When it comes to optimising websites for local searches it is important to always include the area name in your key phrases. So instead of optimising your website for say “experienced plumber after hours” you might optimise it for “experienced plumber after hours in London”. But as you may have guessed that while the tail grows longer you are expected to have fewer visitors. Don’t forget that long tail keywords do convert better though. However at this point you may also have noticed that you could start to shorten your key phrase. Now it would be easier to obtain top rakings for the phrase “experienced plumber in London” or even at a push simply “plumber in London”.

However remember that while local search is intended for localised visitors not all qualified visitors will be locals. Okay, so that sounds a little confusing but consider the fact that not everyone searching for your services will be in the same town while doing the searching. Sometimes people need to do a search of a location and services that they may need while away on holiday, business or even for someone else. Imagine a chronic diabetes sufferer needing to know of the nearest doctor while on vacation or someone needing to know where the nearest laundromat is while on vacation in a small seaside town. Both of these searches may be done with only a little information on the actual location of where they may be.

I have often gone on vacation to small towns where many of the nearest services were in the next town. Often people won’t even know which suburb of a town your business may be located in. I think of Johannesburg and while I know that there are literally thousands of tiny suburbs, many people (and yes, even I am guilty of this) simply lump them all together as Johannesburg.

So what does this all mean for localised search?

Never assume that the visitors know exactly where you are. If your town only has a population of 75 and has never been a hot spot of any kind, then chances are nobody will know your town off hand. In these instances go bigger, optimise for the larger geographical area or town as well as the suburb. I know that this certainly has worked for smaller estate agent websites we have worked on based in a small suburb of a major South African city. While they rank highly for variations of their keywords for their specific town and suburb, the bulk of all traffic comes from the very broad searches as this makes a great starting point. While this traffic doesn’t convert as well, it certainly means that you won’t be missing a potential lead.

Always include area info. Once again as many visitors may not know the area very well it may prove very useful to supply a map of the greater area with a breakdown town by town. As mentioned earlier with many of the small towns that dot the map, many of the service providers may supply more than a single town due to supply and demand. This should help with two things. Firstly, it will help put distance and location of your business into some perspective in relation to where they will be. Secondly, this certainly won’t hurt in the search engines. Always remember relevant information is always welcome; just don’t cram it full of useless information.

Going back to the opening paragraph we must remember that not everyone knows their geography that well, and fewer still are masters of localised geography. Keep this in mind when optimising your website. Always try to think like an out-of-towner. Keep it specific, going broad when you must but always make sure that you have your bases covered for your local searches (although if you’ve done your offline marketing well this shouldn’t be a problem).

Robert Cerff is a search engine analyst and marketing consultant in South Africa for Prop Data Internet Solutions. He has ten years experience in e-commerce, online marketing and web development. http://www.propdata.co.za

Keyword Marketing Explained and Simplified

By Joan Finholt in SE Optimization

Are you sick and tired of hearing about keywords, keyword optimization, keyword stuffing, keyword ratio and more? Why all the hype about keywords? What do they really do for a business?

Keywords are important plain and simple. They are the words customers, potential customers and website visitors might use in a search engine to find your information.

For example, a person researching cell phones might use the following keywords typed into Google, Yahoo, Metacrawler or any number of the available search engines.

- Cell phones - Wireless phones - Cell phone planes - Prepaid cell phone - Best cell phone - Cellphone - Cell phone deals - Cell phone reviews

When choosing keywords for a business the first step is to consider what terms people will use to find you. To accomplish this, a three step approach is often recommended.

1. Brainstorm ideas. Sitting down with a pen and paper to brainstorm keywords may seem silly at first however brainstorming is a successful strategy. The more a person is able to think outside of the box and put themselves in their prospects’ shoes, the more productive the brainstorming exercise will be. Challenge yourself to come up with 50 potential keywords. Remember that people often misspell keywords, like the ‘cellphone’ example used in the list above.

2. Consult with associates, friends and family, current customers. Step two is to start asking around. Ask people what keywords they would use to find information on your business topic. Friends, family and associates are generally the best place to go however if a business has a close relationship with their customers, then asking a few key customers may be beneficial.

3. Research using keyword popularity tools. This third step is where business owners often skip right to. However if you don’t attack a keyword popularity tool with a plan, you can end up with thousands of potential options ‘ a real mess. Instead, take a look at keywords that you are confident in and comfortable with and then use the keyword tools to tell you how often those keywords are used. This will help business owners determine what their primary keywords are and what keywords to use in their content or on secondary website pages.

Here are a few free keyword tools:

a. https://adwords.google.com/select/ Keyword Tool

b. https://www.wordtracker.com/trial/ Free trial

c. inventory.overture.com/

d. http://keywordspy.com Free Trial

That leads us right into a very frequently asked question…where are keywords used? Several places actually…The primary place keywords need to be used is the home page or index page of a business website. This is the page people land on when they come to a website. Maybe it has sales copy, maybe it tells a bit about the company’s products or services, or maybe it offers informational copy. The general rule of thumb is to focus on one or two primary keywords. Place them in the headline, first and last paragraph and then naturally scattered throughout the copy. Keyword stuffing or jamming your copy full of you keywords makes the copy read like a phone book and the search engines don’t like it.

Secondary keywords can be used on subsequent website pages, articles, press releases, press releases, advertisements, blog posts and so on. Using the example from earlier a primary key word might be “cell phone” or “cell phones” and a secondary keyword might be “cell phone reviews”

Keyword hype is justified. They are a direct contributor to a company’s bottom line. Keywords help potential customers find the information, products, and services they’re looking for. They help people find your business. Taking the time to choose the right keywords, the most commonly used keywords, and then setting up your business to highlight those keywords will help drive traffic to your business website. The end result is more traffic and more profits.

Joan Finholt is a retired teacher and loves using the internet. She is co-owner of Bound and Determined books and yes, the domain name spelling is correct.http://www.boundanddetrmined.com

Taking Advantage of Organic Keywords

By Andy MacDonald in SE Optimization

Taking advantage of organic keywords rock - showing up on page 1 on Google or Yahoo for key terms is a great way to build traffic and is the dream of many webmasters. Lets look at how you can use organic keywords coupled with a little PPC to generate your site some amazing search results.

So, what is ‘organic keywords’? Organic keywords are those that appear naturally on your web site and contribute to the search engine ranking of the page. By taking advantage of those keywords, you can improve your site rankings without putting out additional budget dollars. The problem, however, is that gaining organic ranking alone can take four to six months or longer. To help speed the time it takes to achieve good rankings, many organizations (or individuals) will use organic keywords in addition to some type of PPC or pay for inclusion service.

To take advantage of organic keywords, you first need to know what those keywords are. One way to find out is to us a web-site metric application, like the one that Google provides. Some of these services track the keywords that push users to your site. When viewing the reports associated with keywords, you can quickly see how your PPC keywords draw traffic, and also what keywords in which you’re not investing still draw traffic.

Another way to discover what could possibly be organic keywords is to consider the words that would be associated with your web site, product, or business name. For example, a writer might include various keywords about the area in which she specializes, but one keyword she won’t necessarily want to purchase is the word “writer,” which should be naturally occurring on the site.

The word won’t necessarily garner high traffic for you, but when that word is combined with more specific keywords, perhaps keywords that you acquire through a PPC service, the organic words can help to push traffic to your site. Going back to our writer example, if the writer specializes in writing about AJAX, the word writer might be an organic keyword, and AJAX might be a keyword that the writer bids for in a PPC service.

Now, when potential visitors use a search engine to search for AJAX writer, the writer’s site has a better chance of being listed higher in the results rankings. Of course, by using more specific terms related to AJAX in addition to “writer,” the chance is pretty good that the organic keyword combined with the PPC keywords will improve search rankings.

So when you come to consider organic keywords, think of words that you might not be willing to spend your budget on, but which could help improve your search rankings, either alone or when combined with keywords that you are willing to invest in.

Guest post by Andy MacDonald, author of The SEO & Marketing Tips for Webmasters Blog.

SEO Basics and Creating your Own 800 Pound Gorilla!

By Jeffrey Smith in SE Optimization

There is nothing like having an 800 Pound Gorilla perched at the top of the most competitive key phrases in your industry (staring your down) every time you even THINK about optimizing a new search term.

Despite why they are there (usually as a result of patience, planning and persistence) what may be more disturbing is how 9 out of 10 searches for keywords in your niche include a page (or two) of your competitors as consistent, relevant search results. Before you scratch your head in frustration or disbelief, understand there is a light at the end of the tunnel and a way to throw in a banana peel of your own and enter the ranking game with verve.To the untrained eye, this is an intimidating experience, however to an SEO (who understands the amount of work required to acquire and maintain multiple rankings) it is nothing more than SEO basics and an exercise in tactful site promotion. SEO intrinsically by nature is basic, basic, yet extremely time consuming to manage.

Search engine rankings are based on the a multitude of aggregate criteria from various overlapping algorithms. These algorithms in turn administer the quality and roster of the search engine index. Each algorithm executes a specific battery of litmus tests that conduct evaluations on each page either discovered during pre-indexing, on existing pages (for relevance and reordering) or evaluates which aged pages gain immunity from less stringent algorithms and advance to authority status through TrustRank, Phrase Rank and Search Engine Trust.

SEO Basics: Getting your Foot in the Door

Once a page makes it into a search engine’s index, it is constantly guaged for relevance and elevated or demoted to based upon the search query initiated from search engines using an array of calculations. Despite the complexity of the advanced SEO principles outlined above, the simple fact is, as long as you provide a sufficient quantity of the criteria those algorithms are looking for in the appropriate quantity search engines use to assess relevance, your pages will fare well as search engine result pages.

Fortunately for us, the fabric of the internet is links, attention / engagement and popularity. At least those fundamental aspects are the primary considerations and serve as the building blocks of a solid optimization campaign.

SEO Basics: Adding the Right Ingredients

Rather than thinking of organic search engine optimization it as one practice alone, more specifically, it is a series of events produced in tandem that produce the phenomenon of creating consistent top 10 placement. Therefore, employing “Basic SEO” for your site (through and through) can provide more than just rankings. Over time, the streamlined use of SEO can provide your pages with an added advantage over less refined content. That advantage is the acquisition of authority status due to the quality of the content, accessibility from interested searchers and visibility through repeated exposure.

Aside from getting a page or site to occupy high ranking search results, those pages that weight the anchor and remain in the top 10 or top 5 results respectively are due to calculations of user engagement (how long people stay on the site), link popularity (how many sites that are trusted link to theirs) and the merit and relevance of the content (the content must be enticing and appealing).

It doesn’t matter if you are a fortune 500, fortune 100 or mom and pop shop, the results are the same if you apply the fundamentals of Basic SEO to garner the interest of search engine spiders for your content. Granted the resources are in favor of the company with deep pockets (as they can dedicate more man or woman power to the promotion process), but the underlying message is, not to be discouraged by those who may have got the jump on you and started months or years in advance. It is possible to catch up or surpass those who rest on their laurels in the search engine index, it is just a matter of content quality, the frequency of adding new content or resources and traffic.

How to turn your Chimp of a Site into an 800 Pound Gorilla:

Start from the bottom up, laying the groundwork is the key. The foundation supports the growth or stemming of continuity that resonates throughout the site. If you have your site established on the premise of a specific niche of information and continually add to that systematically, then chances are you are going to appeal to search engines as a resource for that category.

One example is, making daily blog posts, adding articles or products to your e-commerce site, then the links per page ratio comes into play. Based on the keywords you are targeting, the less competitive the keyword the easier it is to acquire a ranking for. Granted getting in the top 10 for a term like “purple toenail clippers” may not draw traffic, the idea behind this is a page mentioning the subject in the titles, tags and content and a few links from a few pages and there is your top 10 ranking for the phrase.

For more competitive terms, you will require (1) more content about the subject matter or (2) more links to the target site or page to increase relevance, how complicated is that? Yet each phrase has a threshold based on the activity in search engines for those terms. Call it the side effects of supply and demand or just plain competition, the more sites targeting a term the more difficult is will be to acquire it.

This is why foresight in forecasting trends for root phrases or a entire series of keywords can start with purchasing a domain with those keywords and populating the site with related / themed content over time to produce the right signals that your site, pages and tags are 100% relevant to those phrases, once again SEO Basics in action.

If terms are extremely competitive, then your pages will have to pass a higher degree of scrutiny from the various algorithms. It is important to note that each algorithm has a reward and penalty based mathematical trigger, so it is not just about adding 1000 pages or adding 1000 links it is about developing each area of the base phrases, the keywords and the content equivocally to produce a natural progression of the ranking factors that contribute to a high ranking position. That is the art and science of SEO, knowing when, where and how to perform each stage and more importantly why. With the right focus, the right content and the right volume of internal and external links, you can essentially elevate dozens of keywords simultaneously for your pages through a delicate optimization / balancing act to systematically increase search engine relevance.

SEO Basics: Increasing Relevance through Consistent Updates

Rather than leaving it to chance, it is better to give search engines what they want and have a content development strategy to add consistent content on a regular basis for 2 reasons (1) it gives people a reason to come back and (2) search engines reward fresh content. Oftentimes for the sake of branding a company has their hands tied regarding the amount of content that add to the site. If it is painfully obvious that the red tape is just too think (speaking of large corporation here) then creating a content rich site for the sake of lead generation may be an option you wish to consider. With so many ways to rank using various tactics, none are more powerful than solid content. One strategy is, to add 3-5 blog posts per week, write niche articles or content that pertains to the the phrases you want to rank for then inter-link your content and build quality external links from trusted sources. Aside from that, let trust and authority develop over time.

After the on page factors are well established (which can be done through creating an optimized website template and tagging your pages appropriately) you are ready to embark on the true journey which is populating your pages with (a) useful posts, articles, statistics and (b) links to other resources. Why, because these are the trappings of creating website authority which is the goal of organic SEO. The human visitors provide traffic, search engines (if appeased) will add your pages to their index to provide even more pre-qualified traffic, it is a pure win/win situation.

SEO Basics: Basic SEO Factors involve facets such as:

1. Forward linking - This implies who you link to, if your site has limited information on a topic and you link to another source which has a more thorough grasp of the subject, you get a gold star and can give your site a sliver of promotion when it comes to building search engine trust.

2. Acquiring Targeted Back Links - Acquiring back links implies that other sites have found something you said useful and are endorsing your content to their readers, visitors, clients, etc. Acquiring a back link for a newer site implies that based on the reputation of the site offering it, you are a trusted resource worthy of passing the word on (so to speak). By acquiring the right type of back links for your site from trusted sources, your site takes on the characteristic of an authority site, which once again, ultimately is the premise of organic optimization.

3. Tagging your content for the most relevance - Simply put, if your pages is about green widgets, then make sure the tags and title of the page is about green widgets and try to mention the “exact match” phrases than one may type in search engines to find it, in the body text 2-6 times.

4. Letting time work for you not against you - If your content is optimized (meaning linked appropriately internally and externally) then it will have the right trappings to gain authority in search engines. Roughly translated, if your content is indexed (because you optimized it, or managed to toggle the phenomenon of getting a quality link, etc.) then that link can age in the search engine index.

Depending on how frequently this page is called from the bin (the jar where all of the information about your site is stored, based on search engines crawling your pages) those pages then gain a degree of link juice or link weight in the index. Every 3-4 months, your pages can graduate to higher degrees of trust and the pages that had links pointing to and from your site, now have the ability to affect search results on their own vs. just trying to play catch up using external factors alone.

For example, a link from a page in your site that links back to another page in your site (this is called a deep link) can now provide more than enough link weight to provide the target page with it’s own top 10 placement. So, the value of tending and pruning your pages from the perspective of the long-term SEO value they possess becomes more apparent as you realize that a site can sustain itself from it’s own internal linking if constructed properly.

That may very well signify the conclusion of this article as the last principle is most assuredly bordering on Advanced SEO. Through understanding the basics, it provides you with less refinement down the line and since it is a competitive marketplace out there for millions of keywords that bear traffic, adhering to fundamentals that when matured are well worth the investment can be your best bet for advertising in the long run.

Who would have thought that great content, website structure and popularity could be broken into so many facets. This is another testament to the fact, that keeping things simple and focusing on Basic SEO structure is all it takes when combined with timing, exposure and relevance to manage your very own 800 pound gorilla in the SERPs (search engine result pages).

Jeffrey Smith is an active internet marketing optimization strategist, consultant and the founder of Seo Design Solutions Seo Company http://www.seodesignsolutions.com. He has actively been involved in internet marketing since 1995 and brings a wealth of collective experiences and fresh marketing strategies to individuals involved in online business.

© Copyright 2008 All rights reserved. Jayde Online, Inc.

Home Newsletter Archives SEO Forums Webmaster Tools Webmaster Resources Link to SPN Top SEO Tools Website Templates SPN Partners Contact Us Privacy Advertise

ExactSeek SiteProNews MetaWebSearch GoArticles EzineHub ISEDN DropJack NewWebDirectory.com SEO-News SEO-News Forums Blog Search FreeWebSubmission SmartWebGadgets