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SiteProNews Blogs

• Editor's Corner
• Darren Dunner
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• John Sylvester
• Kalena Jordan
• Mel Strocen
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Who Keeps Spreading Silly SEO Stupidity, and Why?

By Jill Whalen in Featured

Not a week goes by where a reader or a client doesn’t ask me a question based on some bad SEO advice they heard or read somewhere. Most of the time they don’t know it’s bad advice. They assume that if they read it in a blog, went to a seminar, listened to a webinar or even discussed it with a company that provides SEO as a service, the advice must be solid. Sometimes (usually if they’re a long-term HRA reader they may think it sounds a bit fishy, and smartly ask for my opinion.

While it’s true that among SEO industry veterans there can be disagreement about what works and what doesn’t, there are some SEO tactics that have been known by all who have even the slightest bit of intelligence to be useless. And yet they still crop up as SEO advice — all the time!

Just last week I got an email from a longtime HRA subscriber who told me that his friend had attended a seminar where the speaker told them they should submit their website to search engines on a monthly basis, and proceeded to provide them with the name of a tool that would do so for only $99 per month!

And just yesterday, someone emailed me for my opinion when she read in another email newsletter that Google only indexed the first 100 words on a page!

Reader Rescue : Can You Track Search Rankings With Google Alerts?

By Kalena Jordan in Featured

Dear Kalena

I have a question regarding google alerts. I have used them before to follow a topic or to stay informed about other articles regarding my website/blog niche. But can you find out your web ranking with this tool? I have had a look but I can’t get my head round it.

Thanks
Luis

————————————–

Hello Luis

You can’t really track your search rankings using Google Alerts. Such alerts are really only useful for tracking a specific topic or mentions of a brand / company that then get listed in the Google search results. They’re really handy for keeping track of a company’s online reputation.

For example, I have a client for whom I prepare a Social Mentions report every week. These social mentions consist mainly of web sites, blogs and social networking posts (e.g. tweets, Facebook status updates etc.) that mention their brand name. I use a combination of Google Alerts and Raven Tools for this purpose.

Speaking of Raven Tools, they DO offer a way to track your search engine rankings, as well as powerful historical ranking charts that can track your position in the top search engines for a particular keyword/phrase over a time frame set by you.

They have a 30 free trial and then a $19 per month option for tracking up to 3 websites – might be worth a try?

I should note here that I am a BIG fangirl of Raven Tools and a Pro member. I am also an affiliate, so the link above is my affiliate link if you want to use that (I get a small percentage of any sales that result) or you can use the normal link which has no affiliate ties.

The other (more time-consuming) way to check your rankings is manually, conducting a live search at a set time period on each of the main search engines and keeping a record via spreadsheet. Just remember to log out of any Google account before you check Google rankings, or else they might be skewed by Google Personalized Search.

Another very useful tool I’ve been using a lot lately is Google Insights for Search. With this Google tool, (still in Beta), you can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, time frames and properties. This type of data can tell you a lot more about your web site performance / niche potential than your search positions can.

————————————–

Got a Reader Rescue question of your own? Post it in the comments and you might see it featured here on the blog.

How New Content and Post Frequency Impact SEO

By Jeffrey Smith in Featured

Today’s topic is based on the importance of refreshing your on page content from time to time to toggle “the fresh content factor” to get a boost in the SERPs (search engine result pages) using SEO.

Chronology and relevance reside at the core of search engine optimization and frankly, a website that has remained dormant for weeks or months without an update is not that appealing to search engines. Search engines reward fresh relevant content, or content layered with existing context to reinforce relevance.

On the contrary, once you reach a particular stage of on page and off page relevance for a series of keywords and terms, allowing your site to percolate ranking factors is just fine. Once you exceed the base level ranking criteria for a keyword, you can remain buoyant for extended periods. The point is, you must first cross the tipping point or your website and its rankings will be subject to volatility and receding in the index.

The primary objective is, to get a website into a favorable position if you intend to decrease post frequency. Since relevance is a two way street (based on the synergy or information and people looking for information), one metric search engines use to assess relevance is how frequently you add of modify content.

In fact, there is even an HTTP/1.1 status code to summarize if your content has changed or not, it is known as the 304 HTTP status code. The 304 status of a page translates into – not modified – and in a sea of gigaflops of information being skimmed, crawled and indexed on virtually every topic and website online, the website / page freshness factor counts when it comes to how your page is evaluated in the index.

Aside from relevance, and the volume of competition on each subject in search engines, you must first mirror that relevance within your website, then receive validation from other websites in order to exceed others targeting the same keywords and rankings.

I have seen this aspect of optimization countless times. If you neglect a website before reaching a particular relevance plateau, a website can flounder and remain dormant and essentially fizzle out in contention to SEO.

One tactic we utilize to overcome such stagnation is to go back and edit similar pages in the site that share a topic or have an overlapping frequency of terms which can be used to strengthen the internal linking of a website.

For example, if you wanted to increase your search engine positioning for Keyword A, then you (1) find all pages in your website that have context for singular and plural versions of Keyword A (2) edit those pages to link out to your NEW page (based on Keyword A) and then when those old pages get crawled and indexed you already have relevant links to reinforce and communicate topical relevance for Keyword A.

Link reputation also known as the link graph (a metric that looks at the links in and links out to each page in your website) is responsible for sculpting the way a page communicates intent and how it is valued in context for the keywords appearing in the links. 50% of the ranking factor is under your control with on page optimization and layering through methods described above (uniting co-occurrence for a favorable concentration of context).

These two attributes on page continuity and off page link reputation are some of the primary metrics search engines use to determine where to put your page in the index (relevance score) as well as the degree of trust and authority your website can gain regarding the topical context of the subject matter.

The idea is, to concentrate your content as much as possible through revisions, deep links and creating fresh content based on keyword research to preserve the rankings you have, while simultaneously scaling the heights of new / relevant keywords that can benefit your website and ultimately your business model.

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.

3 Steps to a Search Engine Compatible Site

By Kalena Jordan in Featured

Is your web site search engine compatible? Despite all the misinformation out there, it’s very easy to design a web site that search engines will love. All you need to do is follow 3 simple steps:

1) Obey the Search Engine Guidelines

Nearly all search engines publish their own guidelines regarding the submission of sites, the type of sites they will accept and recommendations for optimized content. Google recently updated their Webmaster Guidelines which cover the most common forms of deceptive or manipulative search engine behavior that they consider to be “spam”. They also published SEO Guidelines – advice for webmasters to heed when choosing an SEO. Google was the first search engine to publicly acknowledge search engine optimizers in this fashion.

It’s not just Google publishing anti-spam guidelines. You’ll find them at the following search engine sites as well:

Ø Yahoo terms of service

Ø Yahoo content guidelines

Ø Ask.com terms of service and spam policy

Ø Ask.com editorial guidelines

2) Don’t Use Spammy Search Engine Tactics

Often, webmasters will use search engine spam techniques without even being aware that they are doing so. Or worse, web designers can – advertently or inadvertently – integrate techniques that could cause a site to be penalized in the site’s rankings in one or more engines, without the site owner’s knowledge of such penalties. The key to avoiding spamming the engines is research.

Keep track of the various search engine guidelines via the links above. Watch for any changes they make to these guidelines and tweak your site accordingly. Trawl the various webmaster and search engine forums regularly to ensure your site doesn’t use any of the latest optimization methods that appear to be penalized. If you suspect your site has been penalized, remove the offending content, contact the engine concerned and ask to be reinstated.

Google actually encourage you to file a re-inclusion request via their Help Center and this post by Google staffer Matt Cutts outlines what should be included.

Alternatively, here is a sample email template you can use instead:

——————————————————————–

Sample Re-inclusion Request Email

Dear [search engine name],

I am the owner of [your site URL].

I did not realize that participation in [spammy method] and

[spammy SEO name] programs could cause problems for my website. I was

assured that these techniques were search-engine-friendly by [your source for using spammy method].

I now understand that the practices used are not acceptable. I apologize for having allowed them to be placed on my website. I’ve removed the questionable pages and links from the site. I promise not to repeat such mistakes.

I am asking you to please consider reinstating my website,

[your site URL] into the [search engine name] Index.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

———————————————————————-

To assist them to provide a high quality service, search engines encourage people to report search results they are dissatisfied with. If you spot some content spam or techniques that are clearly in breach of the search engine’s public guidelines, you can report it using these links:

Ø Google spam report or via search-quality@google.com

Ø AllTheWeb relevancy problem report (AllTheWeb is a Yahoo-owned company)

Ø Yahoo spam report

Ø Report spam at Ask via information@ask.com

3) Build Sites for Visitors Rather than Search Engines

The methodologies may have changed over the years, but the same principles have always applied to “good” or “white hat” SEO. Build sites for humans, not search engines. Make the site as user friendly as possible, avoid the bells and whistles and include high quality, relevant content.

Wherever possible, include text-based content and navigation menus with simple, descriptive, well-written copy designed to convert your visitors into customers. Include keywords and phrases your audience would logically type in to search engines to find sites like yours. Only link to sites that are relevant to your target audience and spend some time on usability, making sure all your forms and shopping carts work.

Remember that what pleases a visitor is almost always what pleases a search engine too.

Is Search Engine Positioning Dead?

By Jennifer Horowitz in Featured

One of the trendiest takes on Internet marketing these days seems to be this notion that securing top search engine rankings “no longer works.” Where it started, I have no idea.

But rarely does a week go by when I don’t see one or more Internet marketing “experts” claiming that search engine positioning is largely a waste of time and should not be a primary focus of web site owners.

Well…as the saying goes, “there are two sides to every story.”

But let’s not make this article about my side, or your side, or anyone else’s side. Let’s forget about my opinion and other “experts” opinions and stick to the indisputable facts, as reported by highly credible 3rd party sources:

• According to a Forrester Research Media Field Study, getting a loyal audience in the first place is best done by Search Engine Placement.
• According to a GVU Users Survey, 84.8% of Internet users use Search Engines to find websites.
• In a study released by ActivMedia Research in September 1999, Search Engine Positioning was ranked as the #1 website promotional method used by eCommerce sites.
• And look what I found in the April 2000 issue of Target Marketing Magazine. (Source: IMT Strategies – imtstrategies.com)

“Top Ways Websites are Discovered”

Banner ads: 1%

Targeted email: 1.2%

TV spots: 1.4%

“By accident”: 2.1%

Magazine ads: 4.4%

Word-of-mouth: 20%

Random Surfing: 20%

Search Engines: 46%

You’ve now seen the numbers and know that search engine promotion is very much alive and kicking. But let’s take this a step further. Let’s talk about the *quality* of prospects coming to your web site through search engines as opposed to other advertising mediums.

Every time your potential customers use the search engines, they qualify themselves as *hot prospects* by conducting searches on keywords that are directly related to your product or service. Their choice of keywords is proof that they have a genuine interest in what you offer. These people spend their valuable time exploring the search engines for your type of product or service.

Think about that.

They didn’t stumble upon one of your ads, or wander past a hyperlink to your site. And they didn’t get a banner ad thrown in their face. They made the *decision* to actively search the keywords that brought them to YOUR website. And when they get there, they are ready and willing to do business with you. At the very least, they’re seriously considering it!

But merely getting your website “indexed” or listed in the search engines is not enough. In order to get any significant traffic from the search engines, your website must be listed within the top 30 search results (preferably the top 20).

Very rarely will anyone look beyond the first 30 results returned from a search. This makes perfect sense because the most relevant sites are always listed at the top. So if your prospect doesn’t find what they want within the first 20 to 30 listings, they’ll simply do a new search.

If your site falls anywhere below the 30th listing, you don’t stand a chance against anyone in the TOP-20. Hence, it should be your goal to achieve Top 20 positions.

So how do you get your website listed in the top 20?

1. You can attempt to gain these Top 20 rankings yourself. However, this can easily become a full time job. (I think this is why so many marketers advise against focusing on search engine positioning.)
2. You can hire a reputable company who can achieve AND maintain your Top 20 rankings for you (be sure they guarantee their service and have several verifiable clients that currently have multiple Top 20 rankings).
3. You can do nothing at all. But as you’ve seen from the third party statistics I referenced above, search engine positioning is something you can’t afford to ignore.

Whichever choice you make, I hope that your eyes have been opened to the tremendous profit potential that exists with top search engine placement.

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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 Featured

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.

© Copyright 2012 All rights reserved. Jayde Online, Inc.

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