Before jumping right into search engine optimization (SEO) for your web site, there are some very important steps you must take. SEO can provide a very high return on investment - if done correctly. Wasting time and money on SEO has happened to many who have jumped in too quickly. The excitement over seeing high rankings and the perceived sales benefit from them can blind some people from some important preliminary steps. Before retaining SEO services, ask yourself these questions:
1. Have I Done My Keyword Research?
We all want great search engine rankings and traffic to our web site, but will you get highly targeted traffic or visitors who couldn't care less about your product? Choosing the best keywords and using them effectively in your web site copy is essential in order to maximize the effectiveness of a link building campaign. Services like Keyword Discovery, Wordtracker, and even the Google AdWords Keyword Tool are an SEO's best friend. They show us the current trends in every industry as well as popular and niche keywords we should be targeting. How can we properly optimize a web site if we don't know what our potential customers are searching for? An SEO will do this as part of the campaign, but it doesn't hurt to use some free services ahead of time to help them narrow their research faster.
2. Is My Web Site Content Ready to be Shown to the World?
Have you hastily created copy and added it to your web site just for the sake of "having something up there" for people to see? Have you ensured that the writing is effective and free of mistakes by getting a professional editor or copywriter to analyze it? Have you created specific landing pages for different keywords, making sure that your pages present the best information for visitors? Is the site structure and technology attractive to search engine spiders? You wouldn't open a physical storefront without doing it right so don't skimp on your online store.
3. Do I Have a Clue About Web 2.0?
Many people don't even know what Web 2.0 means let alone how the concept can help their web site. Web 2.0, to put it simply, is the shift towards more social networking and the ability to share information in a collaborative and community-based way. Making use of sites like Del.icio.us, YouTube and Myspace as well as things like blogging, podcasts, wikis and online photo albums are examples of Web 2.0. This shift is from the "old" version of the web where we had web sites acting more like brochures or business cards, with few ways of actually connecting with other users online.
So how can you harness the power of the new Internet to help your business? Work along side your SEO company by updating a blog regularly; create unique content that your competitors don't have - if you offer something different it can be "linkbait", which is something that can entice others to link to you; create articles or how-to pieces that can be syndicated on other important sites within your industry; participate in Facebook groups related to your business and share links with others on social bookmarking sites. The possibilities are seemingly endless if you take advantage of the tools that are out there.
4. Have I Installed Analytics Software?
Any reputable SEO company will insist that there be a way to track visitor behavior and statistics. But you can go one step further and install that software before the SEO even begins to get a "before and after" look at SEO efforts. My personal choice is using the free Google Analytics program - it's easy to install the small piece of code on your site, and once you get used to the online interface, the amount of information available is astounding.
5. Can I Commit Company Resources For the Duration of the SEO Campaign?
I've had clients who chose to enter into a contract for SEO services only to find a couple months into it that they don't have the cash flow necessary to continue the campaign long-term. Employee turnover has also affected SEO if the go-between leaves the company. The disconnect between you and your SEO can stall progress and at worst end up wasting previous efforts. Search engine optimization is an investment, not a quick fix. While it may seem expensive in the first few months, good SEO pays for itself before too long, especially if your sales are on high-priced items like real estate, cruises or vacation tours. The most important thing to remember is backtracking equals a loss in time and profits. Get it right the first time and follow these steps before jumping into search engine optimization.
Showing posts with label google adsense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label google adsense. Show all posts
Thursday, November 27, 2008
20 Things You Need to Know Before Optimizing Your Site
20 Things You Need to Know Before Optimizing a Web Site
One of the most important aspects of a search engine optimization project is also one of the most overlooked – preparation! There are some important steps to take in advance of optimizing your site that will make sure your SEO is successful.
Before You Start
Before you start any search engine optimization campaign, whether it's for your own site or that belonging to a client, you need to answer the following questions:
1)What is the overall motivation for optimizing this site? What do I/they hope to achieve? e.g. more sales, more subscribers, more traffic, more publicity etc.
2)What is the time-frame for this project?
3)What is the budget for this project?
4)Who will be responsible for this project? Will it be a joint or solo effort? Will it be run entirely in-house or outsourced?
Answering these questions will help you to build a framework for your SEO project and establish limitations for the size and scope of the campaign.
Get Ready: How Search Engine-Compatible is the Site Currently?
Something I find very useful before quoting on any SEO project is to produce what I call a Search Engine Compatibility Review. This is where I carry out a detailed overview and analysis of a site's search engine compatibility in terms of HTML design, page extensions, link popularity, title and META tags, body text, target keywords, ALT IMG tags, page load time and other design elements that can impact search engine indexing.
I then provide a detailed report to potential clients with recommendations based on my findings. It just helps sort out in my mind what design elements need tweaking to make the site as search engine-friendly as possible. It also helps marketing staff prove to an often stubborn programming department (or vice versa!) that SEO is necessary. You might consider preparing something similar for your own site or clients.
Get Set: Requirements Gathering
Next, you need to establish the project requirements, so you can tailor the SEO campaign to you or your client's exact needs. For those of you servicing clients, this information is often required before you are able to quote accurately.
To determine your project requirements, you need to have the following questions answered:
1)What technology was used to build the site? (i.e. Flash, PHP, frames, Cold Fusion, JavaScript, Flat HTML etc)
2)What are the file extensions of the pages? (i.e. .htm, .php, .cfm etc)
3)Does the site contain database driven content? If so, will the URLs contain query strings? e.g. www.site.com/longpagename?source=123444fgge3212, (containing "?" symbols), or does the site use parameter workarounds to remove the query strings? (the latter is more search engine friendly).
4)Are there at least 250 words of text on the home page and other pages to be optimized?
5)How does the navigation work? Does it use text links or graphical links or JavaScript drop-down menus?
6)Approximately how many pages does the site contain? How many of these will be opt
imized?
7)Does the site have a site map or will it require one? Does the site have an XML sitemap submitted to Google Sitemaps?
8)What is the current link popularity of the site?
9)What is the approximate Google PageRank of the site? Would it benefit from link building?
10)Do I have the ability to edit the source code directly? Or will I need to hand-over the optimized code to programmers for integration?
11)Do I have permission to alter the visible content of the site?
12)What are the products/services that the site promotes? (e.g. widgets, mobile phones, hire cars etc.)
13)What are the site's geographical target markets? Are they global? Country specific? State specific? Town specific?
14)What are the site's demographic target markets? (e.g. young urban females, working mothers, single parents etc.)
15)What are 20 search keywords or phrases that I think my/my client's target markets will use to find the site in the search engines?
16)Who are my/my client's major competitors online? What are their URLs? What keywords are they targeting?
17)Who are the stake-holders of this site? How will I report to them?
18)Do I have access to site traffic logs or statistics to enable me to track visitor activity during the campaign? Specifically, what visitor activity will I be tracking?
19)How do I plan on tracking my or my client's conversion trends and increased rankings in the search engines?
20)What are my/my client's expectations for the optimization project? Are they realistic?
Answers to the first 10 questions above will determine the complexity of optimization required. For example, if the site pages currently have little text on them, you know you'll need to integrate more text to make the site compatible with search engines and include adequate target keywords. If the site currently uses frames, you will need to rebuild the pages without frames or create special No-Frames tags to make sure the site can be indexed, and so on.
This initial analysis will help you to scope the time and costs involved in advance. For those of you optimizing client sites, obtaining accurate answers to these questions BEFORE quoting is absolutely crucial. Otherwise you can find yourself in the middle of a project that you have severely under-quoted for.
The remainder of questions are to establish in advance the who, what, where, when, why and how of the optimization project. This will help you determine the most logical keywords and phrases to target, as well as which search engines to submit the site to.
For those of you optimizing web sites for a living, you might consider developing a questionnaire that you can give clients to complete to ensure you tailor the web site optimization to their exact needs.
Go!
So now you are clear about your motivations for optimizing the site, you know more about the target markets, you know how compatible the existing site is with search engines and how much work is involved in the search engine optimization process. You're ready to tackle the job!
One of the most important aspects of a search engine optimization project is also one of the most overlooked – preparation! There are some important steps to take in advance of optimizing your site that will make sure your SEO is successful.
Before You Start
Before you start any search engine optimization campaign, whether it's for your own site or that belonging to a client, you need to answer the following questions:
1)What is the overall motivation for optimizing this site? What do I/they hope to achieve? e.g. more sales, more subscribers, more traffic, more publicity etc.
2)What is the time-frame for this project?
3)What is the budget for this project?
4)Who will be responsible for this project? Will it be a joint or solo effort? Will it be run entirely in-house or outsourced?
Answering these questions will help you to build a framework for your SEO project and establish limitations for the size and scope of the campaign.
Get Ready: How Search Engine-Compatible is the Site Currently?
Something I find very useful before quoting on any SEO project is to produce what I call a Search Engine Compatibility Review. This is where I carry out a detailed overview and analysis of a site's search engine compatibility in terms of HTML design, page extensions, link popularity, title and META tags, body text, target keywords, ALT IMG tags, page load time and other design elements that can impact search engine indexing.
I then provide a detailed report to potential clients with recommendations based on my findings. It just helps sort out in my mind what design elements need tweaking to make the site as search engine-friendly as possible. It also helps marketing staff prove to an often stubborn programming department (or vice versa!) that SEO is necessary. You might consider preparing something similar for your own site or clients.
Get Set: Requirements Gathering
Next, you need to establish the project requirements, so you can tailor the SEO campaign to you or your client's exact needs. For those of you servicing clients, this information is often required before you are able to quote accurately.
To determine your project requirements, you need to have the following questions answered:
1)What technology was used to build the site? (i.e. Flash, PHP, frames, Cold Fusion, JavaScript, Flat HTML etc)
2)What are the file extensions of the pages? (i.e. .htm, .php, .cfm etc)
3)Does the site contain database driven content? If so, will the URLs contain query strings? e.g. www.site.com/longpagename?source=123444fgge3212, (containing "?" symbols), or does the site use parameter workarounds to remove the query strings? (the latter is more search engine friendly).
4)Are there at least 250 words of text on the home page and other pages to be optimized?
5)How does the navigation work? Does it use text links or graphical links or JavaScript drop-down menus?
6)Approximately how many pages does the site contain? How many of these will be opt
imized?
7)Does the site have a site map or will it require one? Does the site have an XML sitemap submitted to Google Sitemaps?
8)What is the current link popularity of the site?
9)What is the approximate Google PageRank of the site? Would it benefit from link building?
10)Do I have the ability to edit the source code directly? Or will I need to hand-over the optimized code to programmers for integration?
11)Do I have permission to alter the visible content of the site?
12)What are the products/services that the site promotes? (e.g. widgets, mobile phones, hire cars etc.)
13)What are the site's geographical target markets? Are they global? Country specific? State specific? Town specific?
14)What are the site's demographic target markets? (e.g. young urban females, working mothers, single parents etc.)
15)What are 20 search keywords or phrases that I think my/my client's target markets will use to find the site in the search engines?
16)Who are my/my client's major competitors online? What are their URLs? What keywords are they targeting?
17)Who are the stake-holders of this site? How will I report to them?
18)Do I have access to site traffic logs or statistics to enable me to track visitor activity during the campaign? Specifically, what visitor activity will I be tracking?
19)How do I plan on tracking my or my client's conversion trends and increased rankings in the search engines?
20)What are my/my client's expectations for the optimization project? Are they realistic?
Answers to the first 10 questions above will determine the complexity of optimization required. For example, if the site pages currently have little text on them, you know you'll need to integrate more text to make the site compatible with search engines and include adequate target keywords. If the site currently uses frames, you will need to rebuild the pages without frames or create special No-Frames tags to make sure the site can be indexed, and so on.
This initial analysis will help you to scope the time and costs involved in advance. For those of you optimizing client sites, obtaining accurate answers to these questions BEFORE quoting is absolutely crucial. Otherwise you can find yourself in the middle of a project that you have severely under-quoted for.
The remainder of questions are to establish in advance the who, what, where, when, why and how of the optimization project. This will help you determine the most logical keywords and phrases to target, as well as which search engines to submit the site to.
For those of you optimizing web sites for a living, you might consider developing a questionnaire that you can give clients to complete to ensure you tailor the web site optimization to their exact needs.
Go!
So now you are clear about your motivations for optimizing the site, you know more about the target markets, you know how compatible the existing site is with search engines and how much work is involved in the search engine optimization process. You're ready to tackle the job!
Is My Search Engine Optimization Working?
You’ve just built a website and can’t wait to start popping up in the top listings of search engines. After all, you’ve paid this company even more money to create “optimized, search engine friendly pages, start building links and add lots of fresh content.” If it takes weeks and months for the search engines to notice me, do I have to wait that long to see if the money was worth it?
No! It’s true that it takes time…weeks, even months to build up your web presence, but there are ways to follow your progress. It’s important to note that if you already have an established Internet presence and wish to further optimize your site, it usually happens much faster than a site that is brand new with a brand new domain.
If you are already listed in various directories and your existing website has been up and running long enough the search engines have probably already indexed your site and those linking to it. (to see if your site is indexed with a particular engine, in the search field type “site:www.yourdomain.com”). As you modify your pages and add new content the process of moving up in search rank is much swifter than starting from a brand new, un-indexed site. ?
The ranking process has an inherent unchangeable variable of time. Sponsored search listings are one of a few ways around this hurdle to get you to the top instantly while the search spiders dig through your new site. But for the long haul, while you wait for that big chuck of cash you just paid your SEO to start returning, here are some ways to tell if he or she did you justice.
Ways to keep tabs on your progress:
Monitor Search Engine Positions
If you’re a brand new domain name the first step is to watch for yourself to be indexed. Chances are that your optimizer submitted your site to the most prominent search engines at the very least. While the search crawlers will ultimately find you on their own, there is some merit in submitting your site manually. It may take some weeks before a check of site:www.yourdomain.com reveals any activity though. Take care not to be over anxious and resubmit your site. That will only hurt your efforts.
Once you find yourself being listed by particular keywords in a search engine, monitor how your rank moves every week or so. (Frequently, the more you add fresh content, the sooner the crawlers will return to your site.) Change the preference settings in search engines to speed up your research efforts.
Google will display up to 100 results per page, MSN up to 50 in “advanced search.” This makes it much easier to find yourself if your down in the 300th position. Don’t be discouraged though! Being listed even at 300 is an accomplishment. And as you optimize you will see your listing move up in the ranks.
Visitor Tracking
The best, and easiest way to see who is reaching your site by search engine and particular keyword phrase is to implement some sort visitor tracking system. These are not complicated and can cost only a few dollars a month. Take a look at a company like WebSTAT - Web Statistics and Counter for example.
A small piece of code is placed on each page you want to track. When you log into the online service, you can tell the exact word and phrase someone used to reach you and from what search engine... not to mention scores of other useful data about your site traffic. This quickly gives you a snapshot of which keyword phrases are most successful and in which engines. This data is invaluable to further optimize your pages.
Are your top search engine rankings on par with the industry percentages?
Again using visitor tracking you can see if the people reaching you by Google are close to the percentage of people that use Google compared to MSN or AOL. If the industry shows that overall 25% of searchers are using MSN and 5% Lycos, your results should be similar. If they’re not, it’s a sign that some modifications might be in order.
Monitoring these processes will show you that there’s actually quite a lot of activity. And there’s nothing more exciting than watching that 300th position search climb to the first page!
No! It’s true that it takes time…weeks, even months to build up your web presence, but there are ways to follow your progress. It’s important to note that if you already have an established Internet presence and wish to further optimize your site, it usually happens much faster than a site that is brand new with a brand new domain.
If you are already listed in various directories and your existing website has been up and running long enough the search engines have probably already indexed your site and those linking to it. (to see if your site is indexed with a particular engine, in the search field type “site:www.yourdomain.com”). As you modify your pages and add new content the process of moving up in search rank is much swifter than starting from a brand new, un-indexed site. ?
The ranking process has an inherent unchangeable variable of time. Sponsored search listings are one of a few ways around this hurdle to get you to the top instantly while the search spiders dig through your new site. But for the long haul, while you wait for that big chuck of cash you just paid your SEO to start returning, here are some ways to tell if he or she did you justice.
Ways to keep tabs on your progress:
Monitor Search Engine Positions
If you’re a brand new domain name the first step is to watch for yourself to be indexed. Chances are that your optimizer submitted your site to the most prominent search engines at the very least. While the search crawlers will ultimately find you on their own, there is some merit in submitting your site manually. It may take some weeks before a check of site:www.yourdomain.com reveals any activity though. Take care not to be over anxious and resubmit your site. That will only hurt your efforts.
Once you find yourself being listed by particular keywords in a search engine, monitor how your rank moves every week or so. (Frequently, the more you add fresh content, the sooner the crawlers will return to your site.) Change the preference settings in search engines to speed up your research efforts.
Google will display up to 100 results per page, MSN up to 50 in “advanced search.” This makes it much easier to find yourself if your down in the 300th position. Don’t be discouraged though! Being listed even at 300 is an accomplishment. And as you optimize you will see your listing move up in the ranks.
Visitor Tracking
The best, and easiest way to see who is reaching your site by search engine and particular keyword phrase is to implement some sort visitor tracking system. These are not complicated and can cost only a few dollars a month. Take a look at a company like WebSTAT - Web Statistics and Counter for example.
A small piece of code is placed on each page you want to track. When you log into the online service, you can tell the exact word and phrase someone used to reach you and from what search engine... not to mention scores of other useful data about your site traffic. This quickly gives you a snapshot of which keyword phrases are most successful and in which engines. This data is invaluable to further optimize your pages.
Are your top search engine rankings on par with the industry percentages?
Again using visitor tracking you can see if the people reaching you by Google are close to the percentage of people that use Google compared to MSN or AOL. If the industry shows that overall 25% of searchers are using MSN and 5% Lycos, your results should be similar. If they’re not, it’s a sign that some modifications might be in order.
Monitoring these processes will show you that there’s actually quite a lot of activity. And there’s nothing more exciting than watching that 300th position search climb to the first page!
Does Your Search Engine Optimization Company Understand Your Marketing Strategy?
So you have decided to hire a search engine optimization company as a part of your overall marketing strategy. The firm that you choose will have a tremendous impact on the success of your campaign, but you knew that already. However, what are your evaluation criteria? For too many companies, the answer is plain, simple, and singular: rankings.
However, any search engine optimization company worth its salt can achieve high rankings of some sort. The true question is whether those search engine rankings are for targeted phrases that are in line with your overall marketing strategy. In order for your search engine optimization campaign to be truly successful, a search engine optimization company must understand your business, products and services enough that it can accurately promote them on the Internet.
Unique Differentiators
Every company has them. Every search engine optimization company should be interested in knowing what they are. These vital components of your marketing strategy can be a huge determinant in the keyphrases that are targeted in your optimization campaign.
For example, do you provide customized solutions in an otherwise highly-commoditized industry? Modifiers like "specialty" and "customized" added to your keyphrases will help you to obtain the types of visitors most likely to be looking for exactly what you offer. This is only one example - a typical marketing plan will detail several points that effectively differentiate the company from its competition, and a good search engine optimization firm will take the time to understand what these are. By knowing and understanding these points of differentiation, an optimization company will be able to get the most out of your campaign.
High-Profit Segments
Most companies have certain products or services that are more profitable than others that they offer. Some companies may also have some new products or services that they are aggressively targeting. Without the knowledge of these facts, your search engine optimization company is likely to target all areas of your business equally. Clearly, this would not serve your company well if your marketing strategy was calling for phase-outs of certain product or service lines, a focus on higher margin business, or aggressive promotion of new offerings. Allocation of targeted keyphrases must be in line with your marketing strategy in order for you to get the most out of the campaign, and a quality search engine optimization company will pursue the data that it needs to make a proper allocation.
Defining Prospects
Are your prospects already educated about your industry, or are they looking for solutions to a particular problem? Are they a mix of both? Your search engine optimization company should be asking you about the makeup of your client base. Targeting highly technical and specific keyphrases (such as "email deliverability testing platforms") could attract highly-educated prospects, while targeting solution-based keyphrases (such as "marketing through email") will target someone who is looking for a solution while not necessarily understanding exactly how it is provided. Does your marketing strategy have a preference as to which sort of prospect you seek? Is it a mixture of both? If so, what is the percentage breakdown? Your search engine optimization company should be asking you these questions in order to bring you the most qualified prospects.
Change over Time
Unless you are in one of those rare industries that hasn't changed much for 50 years, your marketing strategy will likely shift to accommodate new challenges and new opportunities. As an extension of your marketing team, a good search engine optimization company will want to keep abreast of these changes and adjust your campaign according to what is current today. All too often, a company will change its products or services, adjust its prospect profile, or decide to focus on other areas of business without letting the search engine optimization company know that its marketing strategy has changed. A quality search firm will be proactive in finding out if any of these changes have occurred and will address them at the same time that you are, assuring that your search engine optimization campaign is in full alignment with your current marketing goals.
These represent only a few examples of how a good search engine optimization firm will want to fully understand your marketing strategy throughout the lifetime of your search engine optimization campaign. While it is true that no single company ever understands your business as well as your company does, it's also true that a search engine optimization company with a stellar track record will understand search engine optimization better than your company will. The marriage of knowledge between the two entities can be the single largest determinant in the level of success (or failure) of your campaign. If you suspect that your search engine optimization company is taking a cookie-cutter approach to your campaign and is not taking the time to fully understand your marketing strategy, it may be advisable to look elsewhere.
However, any search engine optimization company worth its salt can achieve high rankings of some sort. The true question is whether those search engine rankings are for targeted phrases that are in line with your overall marketing strategy. In order for your search engine optimization campaign to be truly successful, a search engine optimization company must understand your business, products and services enough that it can accurately promote them on the Internet.
Unique Differentiators
Every company has them. Every search engine optimization company should be interested in knowing what they are. These vital components of your marketing strategy can be a huge determinant in the keyphrases that are targeted in your optimization campaign.
For example, do you provide customized solutions in an otherwise highly-commoditized industry? Modifiers like "specialty" and "customized" added to your keyphrases will help you to obtain the types of visitors most likely to be looking for exactly what you offer. This is only one example - a typical marketing plan will detail several points that effectively differentiate the company from its competition, and a good search engine optimization firm will take the time to understand what these are. By knowing and understanding these points of differentiation, an optimization company will be able to get the most out of your campaign.
High-Profit Segments
Most companies have certain products or services that are more profitable than others that they offer. Some companies may also have some new products or services that they are aggressively targeting. Without the knowledge of these facts, your search engine optimization company is likely to target all areas of your business equally. Clearly, this would not serve your company well if your marketing strategy was calling for phase-outs of certain product or service lines, a focus on higher margin business, or aggressive promotion of new offerings. Allocation of targeted keyphrases must be in line with your marketing strategy in order for you to get the most out of the campaign, and a quality search engine optimization company will pursue the data that it needs to make a proper allocation.
Defining Prospects
Are your prospects already educated about your industry, or are they looking for solutions to a particular problem? Are they a mix of both? Your search engine optimization company should be asking you about the makeup of your client base. Targeting highly technical and specific keyphrases (such as "email deliverability testing platforms") could attract highly-educated prospects, while targeting solution-based keyphrases (such as "marketing through email") will target someone who is looking for a solution while not necessarily understanding exactly how it is provided. Does your marketing strategy have a preference as to which sort of prospect you seek? Is it a mixture of both? If so, what is the percentage breakdown? Your search engine optimization company should be asking you these questions in order to bring you the most qualified prospects.
Change over Time
Unless you are in one of those rare industries that hasn't changed much for 50 years, your marketing strategy will likely shift to accommodate new challenges and new opportunities. As an extension of your marketing team, a good search engine optimization company will want to keep abreast of these changes and adjust your campaign according to what is current today. All too often, a company will change its products or services, adjust its prospect profile, or decide to focus on other areas of business without letting the search engine optimization company know that its marketing strategy has changed. A quality search firm will be proactive in finding out if any of these changes have occurred and will address them at the same time that you are, assuring that your search engine optimization campaign is in full alignment with your current marketing goals.
These represent only a few examples of how a good search engine optimization firm will want to fully understand your marketing strategy throughout the lifetime of your search engine optimization campaign. While it is true that no single company ever understands your business as well as your company does, it's also true that a search engine optimization company with a stellar track record will understand search engine optimization better than your company will. The marriage of knowledge between the two entities can be the single largest determinant in the level of success (or failure) of your campaign. If you suspect that your search engine optimization company is taking a cookie-cutter approach to your campaign and is not taking the time to fully understand your marketing strategy, it may be advisable to look elsewhere.
SEO For Topping Search Engine Results
In case you don't know, SEO actually stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it is the near-science of getting websites to the top of search engine results.
Although there are many other search engines, Google, Yahoo! and MSN are the top three most used search engines today. In fact, they are practically the only search engines that matter; today, most of the traffic coming into websites are being referred by these search engines. So if you want your website to sell, you better get to the top of search engines - on top one on page one. Studies have shown that, in general, Internet users only click on the top two search engine results.
Different search engines actually have different algorithms in generating results, but in actual SEO practice, it has been found that you improve your ranking on the search engine results across the three major search engines by keeping the SEO basics in mind, and implementing strategies related to them.
Keyword Density
Search results place a premium on a website's relevance to the keyword being searched for. It is not anymore possible to pull up porn site results on searches for "best hotels".
Search engines determine a website's relevance partly through keyword density, which is the percentage of a keyword in the total content of a web page - from a page's meta information (title, description, and keywords) to the actual website copy visible to visitors. Increase your keyword density by writing accordingly, but keep the density from between 3% to 7% or you will risk of being flagged for spamming.
Website copy
Websites are made for a human user, and not for a search engines and its spiders. When your website copy is bad, visitors will click on the BACK button almost as soon as they land.
Bad news, since visitor stay does matter. You rankings decrease when your visitors click on the "back" button within five seconds of landing on your website.
Link building
Link building is all about getting other websites to link to your own. To get the most of link building, put your keywords in the anchor text information you're going to send to the other website.
Anchor text is the text on the other website's that links and points to your website. If you sell coffee beans and you have a link to a seller of coffee maker, put your keywords (like "coffee beans") on the anchor text found on the other website.
Frames and Flash
SEO specialists will always advise against using frames and flash in website design. Why? Because the text within them cannot be crawled by search engine spiders.
Visitor Traffic
To increase your ranking in the search engine results is to make active efforts to drive visitors to your site. You can do this by running a Google AdWords campaign or an email campaign. You can also do forums posting, launch an online press release campaign, or write blogs. Make sure though that you put in active
Although there are many other search engines, Google, Yahoo! and MSN are the top three most used search engines today. In fact, they are practically the only search engines that matter; today, most of the traffic coming into websites are being referred by these search engines. So if you want your website to sell, you better get to the top of search engines - on top one on page one. Studies have shown that, in general, Internet users only click on the top two search engine results.
Different search engines actually have different algorithms in generating results, but in actual SEO practice, it has been found that you improve your ranking on the search engine results across the three major search engines by keeping the SEO basics in mind, and implementing strategies related to them.
Keyword Density
Search results place a premium on a website's relevance to the keyword being searched for. It is not anymore possible to pull up porn site results on searches for "best hotels".
Search engines determine a website's relevance partly through keyword density, which is the percentage of a keyword in the total content of a web page - from a page's meta information (title, description, and keywords) to the actual website copy visible to visitors. Increase your keyword density by writing accordingly, but keep the density from between 3% to 7% or you will risk of being flagged for spamming.
Website copy
Websites are made for a human user, and not for a search engines and its spiders. When your website copy is bad, visitors will click on the BACK button almost as soon as they land.
Bad news, since visitor stay does matter. You rankings decrease when your visitors click on the "back" button within five seconds of landing on your website.
Link building
Link building is all about getting other websites to link to your own. To get the most of link building, put your keywords in the anchor text information you're going to send to the other website.
Anchor text is the text on the other website's that links and points to your website. If you sell coffee beans and you have a link to a seller of coffee maker, put your keywords (like "coffee beans") on the anchor text found on the other website.
Frames and Flash
SEO specialists will always advise against using frames and flash in website design. Why? Because the text within them cannot be crawled by search engine spiders.
Visitor Traffic
To increase your ranking in the search engine results is to make active efforts to drive visitors to your site. You can do this by running a Google AdWords campaign or an email campaign. You can also do forums posting, launch an online press release campaign, or write blogs. Make sure though that you put in active
WHY SEO IS NOT ENOUGH
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a highly sought after option for website owners who know they need to have higher search engine rankings to succeed online.
In fact, entire businesses have been developed just to provide this form of “internet marketing” to those who desperately need it.
Although it is true that SEO is a highly technical, ever changing, sometimes secretive discipline - it is by no means the ONLY thing a website owners should be doing to succeed online.
Some would have you believe that optimizing your website for the search engines will drive hoardes of traffic directly to you — however that is simply NOT the case.
Search Engine Optimization accounts for approximately 40% of the overall success of your website, and even less if your website was not originally designed with SEO in mind.
If you currently have an existing website which is graphics intensive then SEO accounts for even less of your success simply because pictures and graphics actually give your website less effectiveness in the search engine results pages.
So, you may be asking - if SEO is 40% or less of my overall website success, what accounts for the remaining 60% or more?
The answer; off page factors such as inbound links make up the remaining effectiveness of your website in the search engine results.
In fact, entire businesses have been developed just to provide this form of “internet marketing” to those who desperately need it.
Although it is true that SEO is a highly technical, ever changing, sometimes secretive discipline - it is by no means the ONLY thing a website owners should be doing to succeed online.
Some would have you believe that optimizing your website for the search engines will drive hoardes of traffic directly to you — however that is simply NOT the case.
Search Engine Optimization accounts for approximately 40% of the overall success of your website, and even less if your website was not originally designed with SEO in mind.
If you currently have an existing website which is graphics intensive then SEO accounts for even less of your success simply because pictures and graphics actually give your website less effectiveness in the search engine results pages.
So, you may be asking - if SEO is 40% or less of my overall website success, what accounts for the remaining 60% or more?
The answer; off page factors such as inbound links make up the remaining effectiveness of your website in the search engine results.
Importance of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for your Website
SEO and Your Web Site
We all know the importance of having a Web site rank well in search engine results for searches on specific keywords/phrases. If your Web site doesn’t have a page appearing in the top 10 search engine result positions (SERPs) the chances of someone clicking on your listing, and actually visiting your site, drop dramatically. If you’re not in the top 20 you have almost no chance that someone will scan through the SERPs that far to find your page.
The basics of code optimization are just sound HTML coding practices; when followed, they go a long way toward SEO.
Optimizing your site and content for a search engine, for a better ranking in SERPs, is known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), yet many Web developers/designers either don’t take time to code a site properly or don’t know how to do proper SEO. The basics of code optimization are just sound HTML coding practices; when followed, they go a long way toward SEO.
There is a lot you can do to optimize your Web site for search engines from the code level. Where you can also affect things, and this is beyond the work of the developer/designer, is in the actual content. Understanding how to tag the content, and where to place it in the HTML, is critical. Here is a basic outline of SEO best practices.
Understand the Search Engines and Search Engine Spiders
So how does your site get into a search engine? A search engine obtains your URL either by you submitting your site directly to the search engine or by others linking to your site. Then, at a time of its choosing, a search engine sends out its spider (or “bot”) to visit your site.
Once there, the spider starts reading all the text in the body of the page, including markup elements, all links to other pages and to external sites, plus elements from the page head including some meta tags (depending on the search engine) and the title tag.
It then copies this information back to its central database for indexing at a later date which can be up to two or three months later.
The spider then follows the links on the page, repeating the same process. Spiders are, for lack of a better term, dumb. They can only follow the most basic HTML code. If you’ve encased a link in a fancy JavaScript that the spider won’t understand, the spider will simply ignore both the JavaScript and the link. The same thing applies to forms; spiders can’t fill out forms and click “submit.”
To get an understanding of what a spider sees, try accessing your site with a Lynx browser from a Unix server. Lynx is non-graphical, does not support JavaScripts, and will display only text and regular a href tags. This is what the spider can see and therefore index. Does your page work without graphics or JavaScript? If no, then the spidering won’t work either and you’d better head back the drawing board.
Once the SE has all your content in its database, it runs an algorithm (a mathematical formula) against the content. These algorithms are unique to each SE and are constantly changing, but, in essence, all the search engines are looking for the important words on your page (based on word density—how often a word or phrase is used in relation to the total amount of text) and they assign a value to these words based on the code surrounding the words.
In addition to content, the search engine looks for what other sites, or pages on the same site, are linking to that page. The more links to a given page, the more important that page is. Getting other sites to link to your site is very important, but not part of optimizing your site and will be covered in a future column. From a site optimization standpoint, make sure you link to your important pages from more than just the index page (e.g., create a primary navigation that appears on all pages.)
Tip 1
The first rule of SEO is not to design your site in such a way that the code prevents a spider from being able to index it. This means avoiding pages which are 100% graphics and no text, such as pages that contain all images, or are Flash-only. Furthermore, if the first thing a user encounters is a log-in page, before being able to see the site’s content, then that’s what a spider will see and it won’t go any further, either.
If you’re planning to build a Web site entirely in Flash, DON’T. If you have no choice, then read my previous column, Search Engine Optimization and Non-HTML Sites.
Tip 2
To find out what a spider sees on your site, run a spider simulator on a given page. The simulator will show you what text the spider sees and what links it finds. There are many good ones on the market at various prices. If you’re looking for something that’s free, I’d suggest Search Engine Spider Simulator.
Tip 3
Each Web site should have a file called robots.txt. This file tells the spiders what directories they should not spider. Make sure this file is present and that it gives the appropriate permissions to the spiders. This includes access to content and to CSS.
For more information on the robot.txt file, see: Guide to the Robots Exclusion Protocol.
Page Structure
Once you’ve built an SE-friendly Web site, you then need to be sure each page is also SE-friendly. As I said earlier, good HTML structure is the foundation for building an SEO Web page. There are two primary areas of a Web page. The area contained between the tags and that which is contained between the tags. What information you place in these areas has a huge impact on how a page is indexed and, to a certain degree, what will appear in the SE results page.
When designing your page, or placing content on your page, remember that spiders read like people. They go from left to right and from top to bottom (though this may be different for other languages.) They also feel that the most important information is located at the top of the page. If it’s important, why would you place it at the bottom? When reading specific tags (title, h1, h2, etc.) search engines value words to the left more highly than words to the right.
The Title Tag
Let’s start at one of the first elements in a Web page—the title tag (
Why is this tag so important? First of all, it is used by every major search engine as a key indicator of the page’s content, and, second, it used by the search engine as the first line in the SERPs.
Give this tag the consideration it deserves.
Tip 4
Determine the main topic of the page and use it as the title. A page about high-performance running shoes from manufacturer XYZ shouldn’t have the title “XYZ”—it should have a title something like “High-performance Running Shoes.” If the brand is important, then add it to the end of the line like this: “High Performance Running Shoes - XYZ.”
The Meta Tags
Over the years, various meta tags have come in and gone out of favor with search engines. One of those which has lost its value is the “keywords” meta tag. Most search engines say they don’t look at it anymore but if you have time to create one, go ahead and do so. It doesn’t hurt.
The only meta tag that all search engines presently acknowledge is the "description" meta tag. Once again, this tag should be unique to each page and match the content on the page itself.
The proper format for the description meta tag is, for example:
.
Tip 5
Write a unique description for each page. If you use the same meta tag across all pages, the search engine will pick up on this and potentially ignore the content of the meta tag or possibly the entire page.
JavaScript
We’re all familiar with loading the top of the HTML page with all sorts of JavaScript functions that are necessary for various page features. This includes, but is not limited to: mouse-overs, form validators, cookie checkers, etc. To search engine spiders, this is clutter, and, while they ignore it, they still need to wade through all that code to find the real content of the page. Many spiders have timeouts or maximum character counts associated with them—if they have to wade through too much junk, they’ll abandon their spidering and move on to another site. So avoid making your pages too top heavy by placing too much code between the tags.
Google's Search Engine Optimization
google_ad_section_start -->Search engine optimization is often about making small modifications to parts of your website. When viewed individually, these changes might seem like incremental improvements, but when combined with other optimizations, they could have a noticeable impact on your site's user experience and erformance in organic search results. You're likely already familiar with many of the topics in this guide, because they're essential ingredients for any webpage, but you may not be making the most out of them.
Even though this guide's title contains the words "search engine", we'd like to say that you should base your optimization decisions first and foremost on what's best for the visitors of your site. They're the main consumers of your content and are using search engines to find your work. Focusing too
hard on specific tweaks to gain ranking in the organic results of search engines may not deliver the desired results. Search engine optimization is about putting your site's best foot forward when it comes to visibility in search engines. An example may help our explanations, so we've created a fictitious website to follow throughout the guide. For each topic, we've fleshed out enough information about the site to illustrate the point being
covered. Here's some background information about the site we'll use:
• Website/business name: "Brandon's Baseball Cards"
• Domain name: brandonsbaseballcards.com
• Focus: Online-only baseball card sales, price guides, articles, and news content
• Size: Small, ~250 pages
Create unique, accurate page titles
A title tag tells both users and search engines what the topic of a particular page is. The tag should be placed within the tag of the HTML document. Ideally, you should create a unique title for each page on your site.
The title for your homepage can list the name of your website/business and could include other bits of important information like the physical location of the business or maybe a few of its main focuses or offerings.
Titles for deeper pages on your site should accurately describe the focus of that particular page and also might include your site or business name.
Make use of the "description" meta tag
A page's description meta tag gives Google and other search engines a summary of what the page is about. Whereas a page's title may be a few words or a phrase, a page's description meta tag might be a sentence or two or a short paragraph. Google Webmaster Tools provides a handy content
analysis section that'll tell you about any description meta tags that are either too short, long, or duplicated too many times (the same information is also shown for tags). Like the tag, the description meta tag is placed within the tag of your HTML document.
Improve the structure of your URLs
Creating descriptive categories and filenames for the documents on your website can not only help you keep your site better organized, but it could also lead to better crawling of your documents by Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide, Version 1.1, published 13 November 2008
search engines. Also, it can create easier, "friendlier" URLs for those that want to link to your content.
Visitors may be intimidated by extremely long and cryptic URLs that contain few recognizable words.
Make your site easier to navigate
The navigation of a website is important in helping visitors quickly find the content they want. It can also help search engines understand what content the webmaster thinks is important. Although Google's search results are provided at a page level, Google also likes to have a sense of what role a
page plays in the bigger picture of the site.
All sites have a home or "root" page, which is usually the most frequented page on the site and the starting place of navigation for many visitors. Unless your site has only a handful of pages, you should think about how visitors will go from a general page (your root page) to a page containing more specific content. Do you have enough pages around a specific topic area that it would make sense to create a page describing these related pages (e.g. root page -> related topic listing -> specific topic)? Do you have hundreds of different products that need to be classified under multiple category and subcategory pages?
Offer quality content and services
Creating compelling and useful content will likely influence your website more than any of the other factors discussed here. Users know good content when they see it and will likely want to direct other users to it. This could be through blog posts, social media services, email, forums, or other means.
Organic or word-of-mouth buzz is what helps build your site's reputation with both users and Google, and it rarely comes without quality content.
Write better anchor text
Anchor text is the clickable text that users will see as a result of a link, and is placed within the anchor tag .
This text tells users and Google something about the page you're linking to. Links on your page may be internal—pointing to other pages on your site—or external—leading to content on other sites. In either of these cases, the better your anchor text is, the easier it is for users to navigate and for
Google to understand what the page you're linking to is about.
Use heading tags appropriately
Heading tags (not to be confused with the HTML tag or HTTP headers) are used to present structure on the page to users. There are six sizes of heading tags, beginning with, the least important.
Even though this guide's title contains the words "search engine", we'd like to say that you should base your optimization decisions first and foremost on what's best for the visitors of your site. They're the main consumers of your content and are using search engines to find your work. Focusing too
hard on specific tweaks to gain ranking in the organic results of search engines may not deliver the desired results. Search engine optimization is about putting your site's best foot forward when it comes to visibility in search engines. An example may help our explanations, so we've created a fictitious website to follow throughout the guide. For each topic, we've fleshed out enough information about the site to illustrate the point being
covered. Here's some background information about the site we'll use:
• Website/business name: "Brandon's Baseball Cards"
• Domain name: brandonsbaseballcards.com
• Focus: Online-only baseball card sales, price guides, articles, and news content
• Size: Small, ~250 pages
Create unique, accurate page titles
A title tag tells both users and search engines what the topic of a particular page is. The
The title for your homepage can list the name of your website/business and could include other bits of important information like the physical location of the business or maybe a few of its main focuses or offerings.
Titles for deeper pages on your site should accurately describe the focus of that particular page and also might include your site or business name.
Make use of the "description" meta tag
A page's description meta tag gives Google and other search engines a summary of what the page is about. Whereas a page's title may be a few words or a phrase, a page's description meta tag might be a sentence or two or a short paragraph. Google Webmaster Tools provides a handy content
analysis section that'll tell you about any description meta tags that are either too short, long, or duplicated too many times (the same information is also shown for
Improve the structure of your URLs
Creating descriptive categories and filenames for the documents on your website can not only help you keep your site better organized, but it could also lead to better crawling of your documents by Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide, Version 1.1, published 13 November 2008
search engines. Also, it can create easier, "friendlier" URLs for those that want to link to your content.
Visitors may be intimidated by extremely long and cryptic URLs that contain few recognizable words.
Make your site easier to navigate
The navigation of a website is important in helping visitors quickly find the content they want. It can also help search engines understand what content the webmaster thinks is important. Although Google's search results are provided at a page level, Google also likes to have a sense of what role a
page plays in the bigger picture of the site.
All sites have a home or "root" page, which is usually the most frequented page on the site and the starting place of navigation for many visitors. Unless your site has only a handful of pages, you should think about how visitors will go from a general page (your root page) to a page containing more specific content. Do you have enough pages around a specific topic area that it would make sense to create a page describing these related pages (e.g. root page -> related topic listing -> specific topic)? Do you have hundreds of different products that need to be classified under multiple category and subcategory pages?
Offer quality content and services
Creating compelling and useful content will likely influence your website more than any of the other factors discussed here. Users know good content when they see it and will likely want to direct other users to it. This could be through blog posts, social media services, email, forums, or other means.
Organic or word-of-mouth buzz is what helps build your site's reputation with both users and Google, and it rarely comes without quality content.
Write better anchor text
Anchor text is the clickable text that users will see as a result of a link, and is placed within the anchor tag .
This text tells users and Google something about the page you're linking to. Links on your page may be internal—pointing to other pages on your site—or external—leading to content on other sites. In either of these cases, the better your anchor text is, the easier it is for users to navigate and for
Google to understand what the page you're linking to is about.
Use heading tags appropriately
Heading tags (not to be confused with the HTML tag or HTTP headers) are used to present structure on the page to users. There are six sizes of heading tags, beginning with
, the most important, and ending with
, the least important.
Optimize your use of images
Images may seem like a straightforward component of your site, but you can optimize your use of them. All images can have a distinct filename and "alt" attribute, both of which you should take advantage of. The "alt" attribute allows you to specify alternative text for the image if it cannot be displayed for some reason.
Make effective use of robots.txt
A "robots.txt" file tells search engines whether they can access and therefore crawl parts of your site. This file, which must be amed "robots.txt", is placed in the root directory of your site.
Be aware of rel="nofollow" for links Setting the value of the "rel" attribute of a link to "nofollow" will tell Google that certain links on your site shouldn't be followed or pass your page's reputation to the pages linked to. Nofollowing a link is adding rel="nofollow" inside of the link's anchor tag.
Promote your website in the right ways
While most of the links to your site will be gained gradually, as people discover your content through search or other ways and link to it, Google understands that you'd like to let others know about the hard work you've put into your content. Effectively promoting your new content will lead to faster discovery by those who are interested in the same subject. As with most points covered in this document, taking these recommendations to an extreme could actually harm the reputation of your site.
Make use of free webmaster tools
Major search engines, including Google, provide free tools for webmasters. Google's Webmaster Tools help webmasters better control how Google interacts with their websites and get useful information from Google about their site. Using Webmaster Tools won't help your site get preferential
treatment; however, it can help you identify issues that, if addressed, can help your site perform better in search results. With the service, webmasters can:
Take advantage of web analytics services
If you've improved the crawling and indexing of your site using Google Webmasters Tools or other services, you're probably curious about the traffic coming to your site. Web analytics programs like Google Analytics are a valuable source of insight for this. You can use these to:
• get insight into how users reach and behave on your site
• discover the most popular content on your site
• measure the impact of optimizations you make to your site (e.g. did changing those title and description meta tags improve traffic from search engines?)
Monday, November 10, 2008
Don't Get Your Website Banned By Google... By Accident!
Adsense "Don't Get Your Website Banned By Google... By Accident!"
Last time we talked about the on page optimization factors that can cause your website to be banned by Google. Those things included:
* Hidden Text
* Alt Image spamming
* Meta tag stuffing
* Title tag stuffing
Which were only a few of the SEO "no-no's" you should stay far away from.
Today I'm going to dive into some of the offpage optimization factors/techniques that you should never ever do. First let's dispell some popular myths.
* If a "link farm" is linking to your website you'll get penalized and.or banned from Google - GenuineGenuineGenuineGenuineGenuine
* If unrelated websites are linking to you, your website will get penalized - GenuineGenuineGenuineGenuineGenuine
* Page Rank 1 websites won't help you because Google does not display PR1 websites in their backlink list - GenuineGenuineGenuineGenuineGenuine
None of the above are true statements for the simple fact that:
Anything a competitor could do to harm your website would
NEVER be penalized by Google.
Think about it for a minute. If any of those could actually penalize your website, how many people do you think would simply add their competitor's websites to link farm websites, unrelated websites, and low PR websites? Unfortunately, it would be quite a few.
The only way you can get penalized by offpage optimization is if YOU link out to "bad neighborhoods", which would be:
* Link Farms
* Penalized websites (websites that are "gray barred" by Google)
Now, you would think this would be a pretty easy thing to stay away from, right? Wrong!
Example: Take this case for example, Let's say I had a website and exchanged links with your website. At the time that we exchanged links, both of our websites were very quality, related websites, with a Google Page Rank of 5. This would be an ideal link trade.
Ok, now several months go by, and in the meantime, I'm doing all kinds of "black-hat SEO"
Note: Black Hat SEO is simply doing all of the things that can get you banned by the search engines. I mentioned many of these in the previous lesson.
After doing all of this Black Hat SEO, Google decides to ban my website, which gives me a
"gray barred Page Rank"
http://www.seoelite.com/Lessons/HTML_SEOLesson9_b.jpg
and I'm no longer in Google's index of websites. I'm completely gone from Google. So what, right? I mean, you could care less since it's not your website...
Well, guess what? You're still linking to my website, which is now considered to be a "bad neighbor" and you could actually get penalized MAJORLY for linking to me, without even doing anything differently to your own website! That's a scary thought...
Think about that for a minute.
You could actually drop tens to hundreds of search positions without even making any changes to your website.
There is good news!
Ok, here's the good news. You'll remember several lessons ago I mentioned a software program called SEO Elite.
You can actually use SEO Elite to see if you are linking out to any bad neighbors. If you are, then delete their link immediately and I can almost guarantee you will see an increase in your ranking over time, as Google re-crawls and indexes your updated pages.
Let's go over how to do this:
* Open up SEO Elite
http://www.seoelite.com/Lessons/HTML_SEOLesson10_a.jpg
* Select project type #4, "Verify that link partners are still linking back."
* Enter one of your link pages into the textbox
* Select Google PR from the checkboxes and click "ok"
SEO Elite will then visit each website that you are linking to and will tell you whether or not they could be a possible "bad neighbor".
How? Well, let's have a look...
Once SEO Elite is finished processing, click over to the report view tab and look at the column labeled "Google PR"
If you notice any websites with a Google Page Rank of 0, this "could" mean they've been banned by Google. Notice I said it "could" mean this. They could either be banned OR, more likely they're just a new website and their Page Rank hasn't been updated by Google yet.
http://www.seoelite.com/Lessons/HTML_SEOLesson10_b.jpg
* You'll want to write down which websites have a Page Rank of 0. Then...
You'll need to select radio button 6 within SEO Elite. This option will allow you to see if the website is still in Google's index. You'll want to enter all PR0 websites into the textbox, select the Google checkbox, and click "ok", as shown below:
http://www.seoelite.com/Lessons/HTML_SEOLesson10_e.jpg
If Google returns 0 results for the website, that immediately tells you that they've been banned and you should remove their link immediately!
You would be amazed at the number of websites that have no idea why they aren't ranking well, when they've followed ALL of the good SEO practices I've taught. If this is you and you're still not ranking well, I would venture to say that you might be linking out to a penalized and/or banned website.
Let's sidebar for just a moment. I need to explain something EXTREMELY important to you, so pay close attention...
If your website is new or isn't yet ranked, you need to get other websites to link to you. Whether that's in the form of trading links or getting other sites to link to you without you linking back. Getting links is critical, period.
Some will say that trading links will no longer help you increase your rankings. DO NOT listen to those people. If your website is new, the easiest and fastest way will always be to "trade links" with other websites.
As your website gets old and gains more credibility, you can start trying to get 1 way links and obtain links other way, which I'll be teaching you in later lessons. But in the beginning, I still suggest trading links to build atleast increase your Page Rank and get your site out there...
Whether you're trading links with other websites OR getting other sites to link to you without linking back, both will help you increase your website's page rank. And, while I mentioned in previous lessons that was only 1 of many factors in helping you increase your ranking, it is a MAJOR factor in credibility with your customers and website visitors AND also helps Google to visit your website much more frequently.
The more often Google visits your website, the faster Google and other search engines will "re-rank" your website as you add new content and make minor changes. If you have a low then Google won't visit your website very often, which also means you might have to wait for months before Google will "re-rank" your website, based on any changes or improvements you've made to your site.
Problem ...
The problem with trading links is it can take A TON of time. While it's one of the easiest ways to increase your Google Page Rank and get Google visiting your site more frequently, it's hard work to do manually.
Solution ...
With that said, I want to show you a free website that really helps you speed up the process of trading links. There's literally no faster way to get link partners... especially when your website is brand new.
Each member of the website I'm referring to has a "rating", similar to an Ebay rating. The rating will tell you how many link exchange requests they've gotten, as well as how many of those link exchange requests they've actually exchanged links with.
Last time we talked about the on page optimization factors that can cause your website to be banned by Google. Those things included:
* Hidden Text
* Alt Image spamming
* Meta tag stuffing
* Title tag stuffing
Which were only a few of the SEO "no-no's" you should stay far away from.
Today I'm going to dive into some of the offpage optimization factors/techniques that you should never ever do. First let's dispell some popular myths.
* If a "link farm" is linking to your website you'll get penalized and.or banned from Google - GenuineGenuineGenuineGenuineGenuine
* If unrelated websites are linking to you, your website will get penalized - GenuineGenuineGenuineGenuineGenuine
* Page Rank 1 websites won't help you because Google does not display PR1 websites in their backlink list - GenuineGenuineGenuineGenuineGenuine
None of the above are true statements for the simple fact that:
Anything a competitor could do to harm your website would
NEVER be penalized by Google.
Think about it for a minute. If any of those could actually penalize your website, how many people do you think would simply add their competitor's websites to link farm websites, unrelated websites, and low PR websites? Unfortunately, it would be quite a few.
The only way you can get penalized by offpage optimization is if YOU link out to "bad neighborhoods", which would be:
* Link Farms
* Penalized websites (websites that are "gray barred" by Google)
Now, you would think this would be a pretty easy thing to stay away from, right? Wrong!
Example: Take this case for example, Let's say I had a website and exchanged links with your website. At the time that we exchanged links, both of our websites were very quality, related websites, with a Google Page Rank of 5. This would be an ideal link trade.
Ok, now several months go by, and in the meantime, I'm doing all kinds of "black-hat SEO"
Note: Black Hat SEO is simply doing all of the things that can get you banned by the search engines. I mentioned many of these in the previous lesson.
After doing all of this Black Hat SEO, Google decides to ban my website, which gives me a
"gray barred Page Rank"
http://www.seoelite.com/Lessons/HTML_SEOLesson9_b.jpg
and I'm no longer in Google's index of websites. I'm completely gone from Google. So what, right? I mean, you could care less since it's not your website...
Well, guess what? You're still linking to my website, which is now considered to be a "bad neighbor" and you could actually get penalized MAJORLY for linking to me, without even doing anything differently to your own website! That's a scary thought...
Think about that for a minute.
You could actually drop tens to hundreds of search positions without even making any changes to your website.
There is good news!
Ok, here's the good news. You'll remember several lessons ago I mentioned a software program called SEO Elite.
You can actually use SEO Elite to see if you are linking out to any bad neighbors. If you are, then delete their link immediately and I can almost guarantee you will see an increase in your ranking over time, as Google re-crawls and indexes your updated pages.
Let's go over how to do this:
* Open up SEO Elite
http://www.seoelite.com/Lessons/HTML_SEOLesson10_a.jpg
* Select project type #4, "Verify that link partners are still linking back."
* Enter one of your link pages into the textbox
* Select Google PR from the checkboxes and click "ok"
SEO Elite will then visit each website that you are linking to and will tell you whether or not they could be a possible "bad neighbor".
How? Well, let's have a look...
Once SEO Elite is finished processing, click over to the report view tab and look at the column labeled "Google PR"
If you notice any websites with a Google Page Rank of 0, this "could" mean they've been banned by Google. Notice I said it "could" mean this. They could either be banned OR, more likely they're just a new website and their Page Rank hasn't been updated by Google yet.
http://www.seoelite.com/Lessons/HTML_SEOLesson10_b.jpg
* You'll want to write down which websites have a Page Rank of 0. Then...
You'll need to select radio button 6 within SEO Elite. This option will allow you to see if the website is still in Google's index. You'll want to enter all PR0 websites into the textbox, select the Google checkbox, and click "ok", as shown below:
http://www.seoelite.com/Lessons/HTML_SEOLesson10_e.jpg
If Google returns 0 results for the website, that immediately tells you that they've been banned and you should remove their link immediately!
You would be amazed at the number of websites that have no idea why they aren't ranking well, when they've followed ALL of the good SEO practices I've taught. If this is you and you're still not ranking well, I would venture to say that you might be linking out to a penalized and/or banned website.
Let's sidebar for just a moment. I need to explain something EXTREMELY important to you, so pay close attention...
If your website is new or isn't yet ranked, you need to get other websites to link to you. Whether that's in the form of trading links or getting other sites to link to you without you linking back. Getting links is critical, period.
Some will say that trading links will no longer help you increase your rankings. DO NOT listen to those people. If your website is new, the easiest and fastest way will always be to "trade links" with other websites.
As your website gets old and gains more credibility, you can start trying to get 1 way links and obtain links other way, which I'll be teaching you in later lessons. But in the beginning, I still suggest trading links to build atleast increase your Page Rank and get your site out there...
Whether you're trading links with other websites OR getting other sites to link to you without linking back, both will help you increase your website's page rank. And, while I mentioned in previous lessons that was only 1 of many factors in helping you increase your ranking, it is a MAJOR factor in credibility with your customers and website visitors AND also helps Google to visit your website much more frequently.
The more often Google visits your website, the faster Google and other search engines will "re-rank" your website as you add new content and make minor changes. If you have a low then Google won't visit your website very often, which also means you might have to wait for months before Google will "re-rank" your website, based on any changes or improvements you've made to your site.
Problem ...
The problem with trading links is it can take A TON of time. While it's one of the easiest ways to increase your Google Page Rank and get Google visiting your site more frequently, it's hard work to do manually.
Solution ...
With that said, I want to show you a free website that really helps you speed up the process of trading links. There's literally no faster way to get link partners... especially when your website is brand new.
Each member of the website I'm referring to has a "rating", similar to an Ebay rating. The rating will tell you how many link exchange requests they've gotten, as well as how many of those link exchange requests they've actually exchanged links with.
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