Some time ago, Google introduced a “geographic box” at the top of its search results.  This is tied in to its mapping feature, and, when it was first introduced, the engine would display three results at the top of its search results whenever somebody entered a geographic modifier into the search box (”Atlanta widgets,” for example).  The Google algorithm then has the intelligence to determine whether the query calls for results that are primarily local in scope.

Since that initial trial, Google has obviously found that its users appreciate the feature.  The engine now displays ten local search results at the top of the listings for certain queries, provided that they have a geographic modifier attached.  For example, if you type in “Atlanta gyms” in Google, you will see ten results alongside a map that shows the location of ten gyms in Atlanta.

It should be noted that you will not see local search results for all queries that contain a local modifier.  In certain instances, it almost seems as if Google somehow “knows” when a geographic modifier really means that you only offer services in a particular area.  Yeah, those guys are pretty good. (more…)

Link exchanges are done with similar sites with both sites placing a link to the other. Link exchanges have been penalized by search engines because of heavy spam but there still benefits to doing a link exchange, so don’t be afraid to try.

The best links to get our inbound one way links. These links are sometimes difficult to get because there is no exchange. It requires the other web site to link to you without you linking to them. Gaining one way links should rank near the top of your off-page optimization strategy.

In order to get one way links you have to get noticed. Getting noticed online is not a whole lot different than getting noticed off-line.

In order to get other sites to link to your site you have to provide unique original content on your site. One way to develop this content is to add a blog, Forum, or other method to regularly add content to your site. If you have a static web site it will be much more difficult to gain links.

Applying SEO techniques such as the above can bring great benefits. As an example if you are trying to optimize a site that sells vitamins. The first step would be researching highly ranked competitors. After analyzing their sites you can use their blog or forum to determine what topics are hot. Typically in these community sites hot topics will draw quite a bit of traffic and comments from readers. (more…)

Reciprocal Links:
While many believe reciprocal links to be dead, these links have the potential to be either very useful or very useless; it all depends on the source for this one.  A reciprocal link is a link swapped with another website.  While the search engines don’t really give these all that much weight (unless from an authority site) these can be useful in driving traffic to your website from related websites.  With enough of these links each driving small amounts of traffic to your website the increase in traffic can be quite noticeable.

A reciprocal link from an industry leader or a related industry leader can often lead to good volumes of traffic to your website.  The greatest benefit here is that these are visitors that are already interested in your product or service.  The disadvantage of running reciprocal links is that you get the world and his brother wanting to swap links with you, usually with absolutely no relevancy at all.

One Way Links:
These are the most valuable links when considering the search engines.  A “direct “or “one way” link is a link to your website that is not reciprocated.  The reason that this is so much more valuable is because in this case it a website that has linked back to yours without any solicitation (or at least that is how the search engines see it).  The theory behind this and the PageRank algorithm is that every link to a website counts as a vote.  Obviously the more votes you have the move important you site is seen to be.  However it is also believed that every vote that you have to send out weakens your importance.  Kind of like if you had a group of 10 people that all gave you $10, you would be up $100, but if you also had to give out $10 to each of them, then you simply break even.  In the same way, the more votes that you are able to “bank” (not handed back) in this case the better off you are. (more…)

You see, the search engine algorithms are always changing. But throughout all the search engine madness, there are some link building principles that have stood the test of time. That said, one of these axioms that has lasted is that it is the quality and quantity of back links to your site that determines your position in the search engines.

Google is smart enough to determine if a site has high quality links and delivering quality content relevant to the searched keyword. If a site has bad content, others will not want to link to them and Google will penalize them with a lower ranking. So, you see, in essence, the quality and quantity of links connecting to a site is one factor that determines the quality of the site and in turn, search engine ranking.

Another determinant in link building is the “anchor text” of a link. This is defined as the text in the link on a site. For example, if I have a site about ‘making money online’ and am trying to optimize for that keyword, I’ll try to get as many sites as possible to link to mine with ‘make money online’ as the anchor text. This tells the search engines that the site is indeed about ‘make money online’ and will give more weight to that link. Whereas if the anchor text is ‘teaching your parrot how to talk’ the search engine will not give that link much weight.

Google also gives more weight to a link that has anchor text relevant to the site. For example, the site that’s linking to me in the above example has to be about “make money online” if they are going to give extra weight to that link. It’s another way to determine that the user is finding what they are looking for and they’ll reward relevant links by giving you a higher ranking. (more…)

But for large enterprise sized clients, a local strategy is one for a particular country. Multi nationals typically are faced with the decision:

Are they going to have one overriding strategy for all markets

or

Are they going to have a local strategy (including different products, pricing, etc) for each market (country) that they play in.

and how this question is answered has a HUGE impact on your Search Strategy (at least it should).

Why is a Local Search Strategy Important?

Google gives preference towards local websites within the search results. Canadian companies get special treatment on .ca; Brit’s on .co.uk and recently American’s on .com.

As the search engine algorithms change, it is very likely that more weight will be given to local factors. Although it is currently very common to see a handful of large powerful sites dominating the results on a multitude of extensions, in the future it will become more difficult to rank in another country.

How does Google determines a websites nationality?

There are many factors that help the search engines to determine the nationality of a website:

1. the extension - is it a (.ca); (.co.uk); (.com.au); (.com); ect, etc.

2. Hosting - where is the site hosted?

The best way to be considered local to a particular extension is to either use that extension in your url or be hosted in that country. (more…)

What may not be as clear are the contributing factors that elevate one website consistently higher than any other in the category. My hypothesis is simple (1) the content must be impeccable and (2) the sources that reference the site must have trust. The graduation from just another site into industry expert is a crowning achievement.

Instead of building links, if more webmasters focused on who links to you, what anchor text they are using and where the link is pointed (hopefully at the most appropriate page), then acquiring top 10 rankings would not be out of the ordinary. Search engine algorithms are mathematical guardians of the index. Their job is to ensure order and relevance and function transparently behind the scenes of every search.

The first objective is based on the worthiness of your content (creating the ranking criteria that can get you in the top 1000 searches). From there it is a series of on-page and off-page combinations that toggle relevance and affect where you content lands in the search engine result pages. This metric is often easily influenced (particularly when endorsed from authority sources). So, just because you rank in the top 70 for example, does not mean that ranking is etched in stone. (more…)

First let’s start with getting inbound links from directories. A link from a directory gets a lot of weight from Google because they value it as a form of endorsement. You’ve probably used some directories yourself, like Yahoo. Or maybe you’ve used some without even knowing it, like The Open Directory Project (DMOZ.org) that powers many of the most popular search engines, including Google!

Each directory is different and offers different options for obtaining links to your site. Here’s a rundown of how different directories will link to your site…

1.) Free Submission: Just like it sounds. No charges for inclusion. DMOZ.org is the best one and powers Google, AOL and even Yahoo Search (not Yahoo directory.) Just be sure to follow their submission guidelines and pick the most appropriate sub category possible for inclusion. This is extremely important.

2.) Paid Submissions: They charge a fee to review the submitted link and possibly list the page. You might pay a few dollars one time, a recurring annual fee or as much as the $300 that Yahoo charges for commercial site review.

3.) Reciprocal Link: These usually require you to link to the directory before they will even consider linking back.

4.) Featured Link: Your link gets a premium spot that you pay for.

5.) Featured Homepage Link: This is a featured link on the homepage. As you’ve probably guessed, this can get real expensive. (more…)

To make sure you are writing power copy that is sure to grab your prospects attention and make them beg for what you have, I am going to share some copywriting tips and secrets.

Let’s get started with the first and most important element…

Headlines like this one:

“Discover The Top 3 Crucial Tips You Must Know To Create Powerful Headlines and Stop Losing Sales”

With only a few seconds to grab the attention of your site visitor and pull them into your site, your headline is the most important element of your website.

Many people think of their website as a store, and they open with “Welcome.” After all if you have a store and someone walks in, you are going to welcome them to your store. This is a mistake for websites. Let me explain.

When someone lands on your site, they are not actually in your store yet. They are standing outside your store - they are looking at the sign and the window display and trying to decide if they want to come in.

Your headline is your sign and your window display - it is what has to entice visitors to come in and browse.

It is only once they start reading your copy and checking out what you have to offer (clicking other links, looking at pictures etc) that they are actually in your store.

So, you could have great copy, wonderful products or services at great prices, an exciting offer or breaking news and it just doesn’t matter unless people read it.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking your site doesn’t need a headline. It may not be a “sales letter site”; you may look at it as a catalog site or an information brochure site - but either way it doesn’t matter. You need a compelling headline to get people to come in and look around.

A lot of time, effort and research (testing) have gone into writing the perfect headline. Please remember that you should test different headlines and see what works for you. To get you started, here are the Top 3 things you must know….

1. You may be familiar with AIDA. It stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. It means you have to remember to: capture your reader’s attention, arouse their interest, increase their desire and lead them to take some kind of action. All are important pieces of the puzzle. You have to remember with a headline, the action you want them to take at this point is just to keep reading. Let’s explore increase their desire. What that really means is to elicit an emotional response from them. People buy based on emotion. In addition to desire, another great motivator is fear. In face, fear of loss is a greater motivator than desire to gain. (more…)

For example, search for [spain] then do a new search for [travel], and you may notice how the ads will be targeted around Spanish travel (see also Google’s help page on this). Google’s never given this feature a formal name, but Marissa said internally the company calls it “Previous Query,” the first time to my knowledge that we’ve had some type of formal name put to it. Learn the name well, because Previous Query refinement is now coming to unpaid or “organic” search results, she said.

For example, if someone were to search for [spain] and then [travel] after that, BOTH the ads and the organic results will be altered to take the previous query into account. To some degree, it will be as if the second query was for [spain travel].

This is a big deal. Big deal. It means that the results for many “single word” queries, which can be hard for sites to rank for when billions of listings come back, will become queries involving two or more words - and much more specific ones.

Seems like this algorithm tweak was to improve the PPC ad relevancy initially and now is being introduced into the organic results. As you can see this layering of keyword phrases during your search session can greatly change what you see from minute to minute and hour to hour. This algorithm factor could alone be the reason for the radically changing SERP view that so many see. (more…)

Completing Optimization: Other Considerations

Redirects
If you need to use redirects on your site it is very important to use the correct one. If a page is moving to a new location, or being removed all together, it is very important to have this page redirected to either the new location or the next closest page using a Permanent 301 Redirect.

While rare, if a page is being moved to a new location for a short term, with the intent of it returning to the original location, then and only then, will you want to use a Temporary 302 redirect. For more information please see Redirects: Permanent 301 vs. Temporary 302

Non WWW Redirects
To help eliminate page rank split, and provide your site with a little extra value, implement a non-www redirect. What this redirect will do is change the URL to include the “www” whenever a URL is accessed that does not include it. This can help to consolidate links to the correct page and give your site some additional strength. For more help on Non WWW redirects please see: How to 301 Redirect Non-WWW to WWW URL’s

HTTP Headers
Check your page headers! If you have implemented any form of redirect on your site including mod rewrites, check your HTTP headers. You may be surprised at what you find. Some forms of redirects may use a 302 code where you really want a 301. By checking your headers you can ensure all is well, and troubleshoot problems. On our website we have added our own HTTP Header Checker for your convenience.

Home Page URL
Never have more than one URL for your home page. If your home page is available and displays on more than one URL, then utilize 301 redirects on all but the main URL you want to focus on - in most cases “http://www.domain.com/“. All your links pointing to the home page should direct to the exact same URL otherwise you will split the value of your home page into multiple duplicate URL’s.

Google sees “http://www.domain.com” and “http://www.domain.com/index.html” as different pages, but displaying the same content. This splits the overall value of your home page, and can decrease the chances of rankings. By keeping it consistent with a single URL, you remove this split and retain more of the strength.

In theory having your home page split like this could bring with it duplicate content penalties, however, I have yet to see this actually happen - that said, it is best to avoid the risk all together.

XML Sitemap
XML Sitemaps are great for ensuring that Google and the other engines are able to spider your entire site. While an XML sitemap will not directly impact your search rankings it can help as Google is more likely to see any SEO based changes more quickly, which in turn can have an impact.

Robots.txt
This is the first file all search engines look for every time they visit your site. While placing a blank robots.txt file in your root folder will not help with search rankings, it will help reduce 404 errors appearing in your log files.

It is also highly recommended that if your site utilizes an XML sitemap, to include a call to this sitemap within the Robots.txt file. Simply add the following line to ensure that the major engines (including Google) can find your sitemap:

Sitemap: http://www.domain.com/sitemap.xml

Potential Blockages
If you are finding that your site is simply not being indexed it is possible that you are blocking the spiders in one way or another.

Start with checking your main site navigation, if you are using Flash or some other fancy form of navigation that could be your problem right there. Next check your HTTP headers to ensure that your home page is returning a 2xx code which indicates that the clients’ request was successfully received. Finally take a look at your Google Webmaster Tools for any noted errors. If you are blocking Google, chances are you will be able to uncover the issue with these steps. (more…)