The most important place to insert your keywords is at the title tag of the page. The nice part about blogging software is that your page or post title will automatically be transformed into both title tags and either an H1 or H2 heading tag as well. Remember that your headline should wrap your keywords in a pithy promise which perfectly communicates what the content has to provide.
Another important place where keywords can appear is on the subheadings which aid readers in navigating down the page. A resource which matches up really well with the targeted keyword phrases will find natural opportunities to restate the keywords in subheads, as an introduction to the next topical section of the page. Typically subheads are formed using the H3 tag.
SEO experts have always found that it is useful to repeat the targeted keywords in the opening sentence, as long as it can be done in a way which is appealing to the readers and reinforces relevancy. Since lot of search engines use this initial copy as the description of the article or post, you want to make sure you are accurately selling the searcher on clicking through as well.
Monday, June 30, 2008
5 Seo Secrets For Copywriters
They make every title of an article rock! Yes, articles which have great titles get linked to a lot more than articles which have titles that are boring. Getting your writing linked to is more important than any other factor of SEO copywriting.
SEO copywriters must make every post scannable! Your readers must be able to scan all the articles and posts you write, don't expect them to read each and every line of the article to be read. They must be able to easily find the headings which explain to them what the next section is about. They should also find numbered and unordered lists. This leads to increased links from other websites.
Advanced SEO copywriters must target a set of keywords with each and every post. You must have noticed that the word 'SEO copywriters' has already appeared nearly three times on this page, this is because I'm trying to target that keyword with this post! It is generally recommend to insert at least 3 to 4 keywords on a single page.
Writers must get the keyword into a few heading tags on the page or post. If you're a Blogger this means to make sure your keyword(s) is in the title of your post. You can also add your keyword(s) into headings within your post. Bloggers of WordPress can take advantage of this: Secret 'Blogging Traffic Booster' In WordPress.
SEO Copywriters know must that there are many variations of the target keywords which could be searched for. If a post targets 'SEO Copywriter', it should probably also target terms like 'SEO Copywriting' and 'SEO Copywriters'.
SEO copywriters must make every post scannable! Your readers must be able to scan all the articles and posts you write, don't expect them to read each and every line of the article to be read. They must be able to easily find the headings which explain to them what the next section is about. They should also find numbered and unordered lists. This leads to increased links from other websites.
Advanced SEO copywriters must target a set of keywords with each and every post. You must have noticed that the word 'SEO copywriters' has already appeared nearly three times on this page, this is because I'm trying to target that keyword with this post! It is generally recommend to insert at least 3 to 4 keywords on a single page.
Writers must get the keyword into a few heading tags on the page or post. If you're a Blogger this means to make sure your keyword(s) is in the title of your post. You can also add your keyword(s) into headings within your post. Bloggers of WordPress can take advantage of this: Secret 'Blogging Traffic Booster' In WordPress.
SEO Copywriters know must that there are many variations of the target keywords which could be searched for. If a post targets 'SEO Copywriter', it should probably also target terms like 'SEO Copywriting' and 'SEO Copywriters'.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Shortcuts in Google Search
Have you ever wondered how to search Google for terms inside a specific website? Or find how many sites link to yours? Below is a list of common advanced search techniques with descriptions and examples:
Search for an exact phrase
"exact phrase to search"
Will return only results with the exact phrase.
Search within one website
site:www.website.com "search phrase"
This example searches through www.website.com for the phrase “search phrase”.
Search for link to a specific website
link:www.website.com
Will return all the websites that have a link to www.website.com.
Exclude words or phrases from search results
search phrase -excluded
Searches for the phrase but will only return results excluding the text after the minus sign.
View a cached version of a web page
cache:www.website.com
View a cached version of www.website.com
Search for a specific type of file
google ebook filetype:pdf
Searches for only PDF files containing ‘google ebook’
Search for phrase only in websites’ title tag
allintitle:"google articles"
Searches for web pages with “google articles” in the title tag.
Search for keyword only in website’s URL
inurl:googlearticles
Searches for pages with ‘googlearticles’ in the URL, including the domain name and subdomain or page names.
These are a great way to quickly search from Google’s home page, without having to click over to the advanced search.
Search for an exact phrase
"exact phrase to search"
Will return only results with the exact phrase.
Search within one website
site:www.website.com "search phrase"
This example searches through www.website.com for the phrase “search phrase”.
Search for link to a specific website
link:www.website.com
Will return all the websites that have a link to www.website.com.
Exclude words or phrases from search results
search phrase -excluded
Searches for the phrase but will only return results excluding the text after the minus sign.
View a cached version of a web page
cache:www.website.com
View a cached version of www.website.com
Search for a specific type of file
google ebook filetype:pdf
Searches for only PDF files containing ‘google ebook’
Search for phrase only in websites’ title tag
allintitle:"google articles"
Searches for web pages with “google articles” in the title tag.
Search for keyword only in website’s URL
inurl:googlearticles
Searches for pages with ‘googlearticles’ in the URL, including the domain name and subdomain or page names.
These are a great way to quickly search from Google’s home page, without having to click over to the advanced search.
What is search engine optimization?
SEO is the process in which your website undergoes redevelopment to more effectively communicate your keywords to search engines. Optimizing your website enables it to rank higher on major search engines. Search engines rank websites based on two major factors: unique content that contains pertinent keywords, and link popularity - the number of quality incoming links to your website. Other important factors that determine your ranking with search engines are the architecture of the site, the visibility of your content, its underlying code and how natural your site appears to the engines.
How do I create a Google friendly site
What Google Said When You Weren't ListeningGoogle wants to create quality Search Engine results just as badly as you want to acquire high Search Engine rankings. Fortunately for us, Google provides web masters with plenty of guidelines and tips for building a Google-Friendly site.
Unfortunately, many web masters simply aren't listening. Most web masters seem to be pulling tips and strategies from almost every source but Google itself. However, Google has some of the most beneficial SEO tips to be found online.
Below are just a few of the questions that you can find answered directly by Google.
Does Google index dynamic pages?
Yes. Google indexes dynamically generated pages. This includes pages with the following file extensions: .asp, .php, and pages with question marks in their URL's. However, these pages can cause problems for the Googlebot and may be ignored.
Fortunately, there is a solution. If you feel that your dynamically generated pages are being ignored, you may want to consider creating static copies of those pages for the Googlebot. Keep in mind, if you choose to do this, be sure to include a robots.txt file that disallows the dynamic pages so that Google doesn't see those pages as duplicate content.
Does Google index sites that use ASP?
Yes. Google is able to index most types of pages and files with very few exceptions. This includes pdf, asp, jsp, html, shtml, xml, doc, xls, ppt, rtf, wks, lwp, wri, swf, cfm, and php. This is not a complete list, but it gives a good overview.
Does Google index sites that use Macromedia Flash?
Yes. Google indexes pages that use Macromedia Flash. However, Google may have problems indexing Flash pages. If you are concerned that your Flash content is inhibiting Google's ability to crawl your site, you may want to consider creating HTML copies of those Flash pages. As always, you will need to include a robots.txt file that disallows the Flash pages so that Google does not recognize those pages as duplicate content.
How do I add my site to Google's search results?
According to Google, inclusion in Google's search results is free and easy. They also state that it is unnecessary to submit your site to Google. Google uses software known as "spiders" to crawl the web on a regular basis and find sites to add to the index.
The site launched after Google's most recent crawl was completed.
Poor web site design makes it difficult for Google to effectively crawl your content.
The site was temporarily unavailable at the time of crawling or an error was received. You can use Google Sitemaps to see if the Google crawlers received errors when trying to crawl your site.
When a spider misses a site, it is often because of one of the following reasons:
The site is not well connected with other sites through an inbound linking structure.
How can I get my web site into Google's Mobile index?
Google Mobile offers Google Web Search, Local Search, and Image Search for web sites that are configured for mobile devices. Google adds new sites to their mobile Web index every time they crawl the Web.
To let Google know about your mobile site, it is best to submit a Mobile Sitemap. To help ensure that Google's mobile crawlers can crawl and index your site, you should:
Use well-formed markup
Validate your markup
Use the correct DOCTYPE and Content-Type for the markup language that you are using.
Will participation in Adsense or Adwords
affect my listing in Google's free search results.
Google's advertising programs are independent of their search results. Participation in an advertising program will have no effect on your organic Search Engine rankings.
Why does my site have a PageRank of zero?
Yes. Google has an answer for this as well. According to Google, a page may be assigned a rank of zero if Google crawls very few sites that link to that particular site. In addition to this, pages that have recently been added to the Google index may also show a PageRank of zero. This is simply because they haven't been crawled by Googlebot yet and haven't been ranked yet.
The key is to be patient. A page's PageRank score may increase naturally with further crawls.
My URL changed.
How can I get Google to index my new site?
Google cannot manually change your URL in the search results. However, there are steps you can take to ensure a smooth transition.
First, you can redirect visitors to your new site. To do this, simply use an HTTP 301 (permanent) redirect. This ensures that Google's crawler will discover your new URL.
To preserve your rank, you will need to tell others who link to your site about your change of address. To find a portion of the sites that link to yours, you can go to the Google Search Engine and type in: site:www.mydomain.com . To obtain a comprehensive list of links that point to your page, perform a Google search on your URL in quotes: "www.mydomain.com".
How often does Google crawl the web?
Google's spiders crawl the web on a regular basis to rebuild their index. Crawls are based on a number of factors, including Pagerank, links to a page, and a web site's structure. This is just a small list. There are a variety of factors that can affect the crawl frequency of individual sites.
How do I create a Google friendly site?
To help Google find, index, and rank your site, it is suggested that you follow their Webmaster Guidelines.
Here are some of the general guidelines that Google offers to web masters:
1. Have other relevant sites link to yours.
2. Submit a sitemap.
3. Submit your site to relevant directories such as the Open Directory Project and Yahoo. For a complete listing of web directories, go to StrongestLinks.com.
4. Make sure each and every page is reachable from at least one static text link.
5. Offer your visitors a site with links that point to the most important parts of your site. If your sitemap is larger than 100 links, you may want to break the site map into separate pages.
6. Keep the links on any given page to a reasonable number (less than 100).
7. Check for broken links and correct HTML.
8. Create a useful site that is full of information-rich content. Your pages should be written in a way that clearly and accurately describes your content.
9. Make sure that your TITLE and ALT tags are descriptive and accurate.
10. Use a text browser such as Lynx to examine your web site. Most Search Engine spiders see your site in much the same way as Lynx would.
11. Allow search bots to crawl your sites without session Ids or arguments that track their path through the site.
12. Make use of the robots.txt file which tells crawlers which directories they can or cannot crawl.
How can I report a site
that is spamming the Google search results?
Google is constantly working to improve the quality of their search results. Therefore, they have implemented a program that allows web searchers to report spam that they find within the Search Engine results. These Spam Reports are submitted directly to Google engineers and are used to devise long-term solutions to fight spam.
http://www.Google.com/contact/spamreport.html
Unfortunately, many web masters simply aren't listening. Most web masters seem to be pulling tips and strategies from almost every source but Google itself. However, Google has some of the most beneficial SEO tips to be found online.
Below are just a few of the questions that you can find answered directly by Google.
Does Google index dynamic pages?
Yes. Google indexes dynamically generated pages. This includes pages with the following file extensions: .asp, .php, and pages with question marks in their URL's. However, these pages can cause problems for the Googlebot and may be ignored.
Fortunately, there is a solution. If you feel that your dynamically generated pages are being ignored, you may want to consider creating static copies of those pages for the Googlebot. Keep in mind, if you choose to do this, be sure to include a robots.txt file that disallows the dynamic pages so that Google doesn't see those pages as duplicate content.
Does Google index sites that use ASP?
Yes. Google is able to index most types of pages and files with very few exceptions. This includes pdf, asp, jsp, html, shtml, xml, doc, xls, ppt, rtf, wks, lwp, wri, swf, cfm, and php. This is not a complete list, but it gives a good overview.
Does Google index sites that use Macromedia Flash?
Yes. Google indexes pages that use Macromedia Flash. However, Google may have problems indexing Flash pages. If you are concerned that your Flash content is inhibiting Google's ability to crawl your site, you may want to consider creating HTML copies of those Flash pages. As always, you will need to include a robots.txt file that disallows the Flash pages so that Google does not recognize those pages as duplicate content.
How do I add my site to Google's search results?
According to Google, inclusion in Google's search results is free and easy. They also state that it is unnecessary to submit your site to Google. Google uses software known as "spiders" to crawl the web on a regular basis and find sites to add to the index.
The site launched after Google's most recent crawl was completed.
Poor web site design makes it difficult for Google to effectively crawl your content.
The site was temporarily unavailable at the time of crawling or an error was received. You can use Google Sitemaps to see if the Google crawlers received errors when trying to crawl your site.
When a spider misses a site, it is often because of one of the following reasons:
The site is not well connected with other sites through an inbound linking structure.
How can I get my web site into Google's Mobile index?
Google Mobile offers Google Web Search, Local Search, and Image Search for web sites that are configured for mobile devices. Google adds new sites to their mobile Web index every time they crawl the Web.
To let Google know about your mobile site, it is best to submit a Mobile Sitemap. To help ensure that Google's mobile crawlers can crawl and index your site, you should:
Use well-formed markup
Validate your markup
Use the correct DOCTYPE and Content-Type for the markup language that you are using.
Will participation in Adsense or Adwords
affect my listing in Google's free search results.
Google's advertising programs are independent of their search results. Participation in an advertising program will have no effect on your organic Search Engine rankings.
Why does my site have a PageRank of zero?
Yes. Google has an answer for this as well. According to Google, a page may be assigned a rank of zero if Google crawls very few sites that link to that particular site. In addition to this, pages that have recently been added to the Google index may also show a PageRank of zero. This is simply because they haven't been crawled by Googlebot yet and haven't been ranked yet.
The key is to be patient. A page's PageRank score may increase naturally with further crawls.
My URL changed.
How can I get Google to index my new site?
Google cannot manually change your URL in the search results. However, there are steps you can take to ensure a smooth transition.
First, you can redirect visitors to your new site. To do this, simply use an HTTP 301 (permanent) redirect. This ensures that Google's crawler will discover your new URL.
To preserve your rank, you will need to tell others who link to your site about your change of address. To find a portion of the sites that link to yours, you can go to the Google Search Engine and type in: site:www.mydomain.com . To obtain a comprehensive list of links that point to your page, perform a Google search on your URL in quotes: "www.mydomain.com".
How often does Google crawl the web?
Google's spiders crawl the web on a regular basis to rebuild their index. Crawls are based on a number of factors, including Pagerank, links to a page, and a web site's structure. This is just a small list. There are a variety of factors that can affect the crawl frequency of individual sites.
How do I create a Google friendly site?
To help Google find, index, and rank your site, it is suggested that you follow their Webmaster Guidelines.
Here are some of the general guidelines that Google offers to web masters:
1. Have other relevant sites link to yours.
2. Submit a sitemap.
3. Submit your site to relevant directories such as the Open Directory Project and Yahoo. For a complete listing of web directories, go to StrongestLinks.com.
4. Make sure each and every page is reachable from at least one static text link.
5. Offer your visitors a site with links that point to the most important parts of your site. If your sitemap is larger than 100 links, you may want to break the site map into separate pages.
6. Keep the links on any given page to a reasonable number (less than 100).
7. Check for broken links and correct HTML.
8. Create a useful site that is full of information-rich content. Your pages should be written in a way that clearly and accurately describes your content.
9. Make sure that your TITLE and ALT tags are descriptive and accurate.
10. Use a text browser such as Lynx to examine your web site. Most Search Engine spiders see your site in much the same way as Lynx would.
11. Allow search bots to crawl your sites without session Ids or arguments that track their path through the site.
12. Make use of the robots.txt file which tells crawlers which directories they can or cannot crawl.
How can I report a site
that is spamming the Google search results?
Google is constantly working to improve the quality of their search results. Therefore, they have implemented a program that allows web searchers to report spam that they find within the Search Engine results. These Spam Reports are submitted directly to Google engineers and are used to devise long-term solutions to fight spam.
http://www.Google.com/contact/spamreport.html
Google TrustRank
There has been an ever increasing awareness to the value of Google's "TrustRank" algorithm. While there are many factors that are "Off-page", there are a number of simple actions you can take to make sure your site earns the trust from Google by employing these easy techniques.
The best way to think about Trustrank is to compare it to if you were to purchase a product or service in the real world. There are many built-in factors that we use to pre-qualify a business to see if we are willing to part with our cash for their goods or services. This is the same approach Google takes in order to measure the quality of a site, and doing this will get you out of the so-called "Sandbox" much faster than the typical 4-6 months.
While in no particular order, some are most costly than others, but all are worth doing.
Register your domain for 10 years. If you can't afford the $70 it costs at GoDaddy then are you really serious about your site?
Buy a SSL certificate - this tells Google that you are a legit business since they know you have to have a verified checking account to get a SSL cert. (And buy it for as many years as you can at a time, at the very least for 2 years)
Have a privacy policy that tells in exact detail what happens to the information about the visitor that is collected from the site.
List a mailing address (no P.O. Boxes) - Just as in real life, you feel better purchasing a service or product from a place that has a physical location.
List your contact information - telephone, fax (if needed), email & name.
If you have a bigger budget, use any of the "Hacker Safe" services and place those icons on your site. Again, this tells Google that you are seriously committed to protecting your visitor's experience on the site.
Those are simple techniques that you can directly apply to your site, and are signals to Google that you take your online presence seriously.
As far as the "Off-page" factors, it's really about linking to quality sites that are relevant and sometimes considered "authority sites" by Google. Also, getting links from those trusted sites will help re-enforce the quality of your site in the eyes of the Google spiders.
The best way to think about Trustrank is to compare it to if you were to purchase a product or service in the real world. There are many built-in factors that we use to pre-qualify a business to see if we are willing to part with our cash for their goods or services. This is the same approach Google takes in order to measure the quality of a site, and doing this will get you out of the so-called "Sandbox" much faster than the typical 4-6 months.
While in no particular order, some are most costly than others, but all are worth doing.
Register your domain for 10 years. If you can't afford the $70 it costs at GoDaddy then are you really serious about your site?
Buy a SSL certificate - this tells Google that you are a legit business since they know you have to have a verified checking account to get a SSL cert. (And buy it for as many years as you can at a time, at the very least for 2 years)
Have a privacy policy that tells in exact detail what happens to the information about the visitor that is collected from the site.
List a mailing address (no P.O. Boxes) - Just as in real life, you feel better purchasing a service or product from a place that has a physical location.
List your contact information - telephone, fax (if needed), email & name.
If you have a bigger budget, use any of the "Hacker Safe" services and place those icons on your site. Again, this tells Google that you are seriously committed to protecting your visitor's experience on the site.
Those are simple techniques that you can directly apply to your site, and are signals to Google that you take your online presence seriously.
As far as the "Off-page" factors, it's really about linking to quality sites that are relevant and sometimes considered "authority sites" by Google. Also, getting links from those trusted sites will help re-enforce the quality of your site in the eyes of the Google spiders.
Hollywood vs Google
Everyone knows the impact Google has had on both the Internet world and the real world. With Google trying to actively list and maintain all the touch points to any piece of information, it only makes sense that Hollywood would have issues with Google and the other search engines.
People want information and access to anything instantly. Google feeds this desire by returning blazingly fast results anytime someone enters a query into the site. It's from this ability to be only one click away from a competitor is what frightens Hollywood so much.
With the click of a mouse, I could download the latest movie in the theaters - with minimal chance of getting caught - and while the quality and convenience is not to the same level as a dvd release, if I am looking for free entertainment, it's easily available.
Hollywood needs to embrace the new technology and it's ability to deliver what the people want. Imagine walking out of a theater with a fantastic movie you just watched, and waiting for you was a representative from the studio with that exact movie you just watched available on dvd. $20 on the spot, and you have a top-quality version of the movie.
There is a delicate balance that must be determined because currently, dvd sales are what can turn a clunker in the theaters to a money maker in post release.
Hollywood also needs to figure out a way to let the consumer order a movie over the Internet via streaming, or even if I wanted to order a movie through my TiVo. They need to create an encryption technology that allows for only 1 copy to be made, and even have something that subtly alerts a viewer that the product they are watching has been copied. This marking technology is already in place for dvd screeners that the studio releases.
At a certain interval, there is a specific series of lights (that usually form a letter or number) which identifies to whom the screener was released to. This way if that copy gets on the Internet, they not only have a quick reference point, but can also have a starting point as to how that movie got pirated.
Another thing that Hollywood needs to consider is the technology used to display it's products:
Film and a silver screen as seen through a dusty projector. While the film enthusiast in me absolutely loves the look and feel of seeing a movie in the theater, there is a huge segment of customers who purposely wait until the movie comes out on dvd simply because they have a better looking and better sounding system at home to watch the movie with!
Hollywood had really begun to reach it's commercial end by allowing for traditional advertising before a movie plays. While I fully understand and recognize why it's being done (Russell Crowe ain't cheap!), it REALLY takes away from the movie experience. I fully expect to see trailers for upcoming movies - but not commercials. That's what television is for.
By including commercials before a movie gets played, they have connected the movie experience to that of watching the boob tube.
It's in all of this that Hollywood and Google should get together and create a solution that is amicable to everyone involved. There will always be bootleggers - that is a given. But if you can reduce the number of illegal downloads and copies being marketed, the studio can keep more of it's money used to get people to see their films in the first place.
The search engines provide value, and Hollywood provides the experience. Marrying the two would create an instantaneous feeling of overwhelming satisfaction for the new age user.
People want information and access to anything instantly. Google feeds this desire by returning blazingly fast results anytime someone enters a query into the site. It's from this ability to be only one click away from a competitor is what frightens Hollywood so much.
With the click of a mouse, I could download the latest movie in the theaters - with minimal chance of getting caught - and while the quality and convenience is not to the same level as a dvd release, if I am looking for free entertainment, it's easily available.
Hollywood needs to embrace the new technology and it's ability to deliver what the people want. Imagine walking out of a theater with a fantastic movie you just watched, and waiting for you was a representative from the studio with that exact movie you just watched available on dvd. $20 on the spot, and you have a top-quality version of the movie.
There is a delicate balance that must be determined because currently, dvd sales are what can turn a clunker in the theaters to a money maker in post release.
Hollywood also needs to figure out a way to let the consumer order a movie over the Internet via streaming, or even if I wanted to order a movie through my TiVo. They need to create an encryption technology that allows for only 1 copy to be made, and even have something that subtly alerts a viewer that the product they are watching has been copied. This marking technology is already in place for dvd screeners that the studio releases.
At a certain interval, there is a specific series of lights (that usually form a letter or number) which identifies to whom the screener was released to. This way if that copy gets on the Internet, they not only have a quick reference point, but can also have a starting point as to how that movie got pirated.
Another thing that Hollywood needs to consider is the technology used to display it's products:
Film and a silver screen as seen through a dusty projector. While the film enthusiast in me absolutely loves the look and feel of seeing a movie in the theater, there is a huge segment of customers who purposely wait until the movie comes out on dvd simply because they have a better looking and better sounding system at home to watch the movie with!
Hollywood had really begun to reach it's commercial end by allowing for traditional advertising before a movie plays. While I fully understand and recognize why it's being done (Russell Crowe ain't cheap!), it REALLY takes away from the movie experience. I fully expect to see trailers for upcoming movies - but not commercials. That's what television is for.
By including commercials before a movie gets played, they have connected the movie experience to that of watching the boob tube.
It's in all of this that Hollywood and Google should get together and create a solution that is amicable to everyone involved. There will always be bootleggers - that is a given. But if you can reduce the number of illegal downloads and copies being marketed, the studio can keep more of it's money used to get people to see their films in the first place.
The search engines provide value, and Hollywood provides the experience. Marrying the two would create an instantaneous feeling of overwhelming satisfaction for the new age user.
Why Search Engines Fail
Imagine asking a stranger for directions to a clothing store. Chances are, the stranger will tell you one of two replies. They'll direct you to the nearest clothing store they know of, or they'll send to to the last one they just passed. But you're looking for the latest Spongebob Squarepants kid's shirt. You didn't tell the stranger that, did you? Probably not. So, you got directions to the local Disney store, which of course, would not be selling any competitor's clothing.
How did this happen? Simple.
Like most of us, when we type something into a search engine, we just assume that the search engine knows what we mean. A computer can only do what we tell it to do, so that's why we may not get the desired results that we are seeking. Back when the 'Net was young (1990), you could get away with such simple phrases because there wasn't much content on the Internet as there is now. This is why when you're searching, be sure to be as specific as possible. The Search Engine's entire existance is to provide relevant and specific results to you, the user. Tell the engine more relevant phrases, and you will be rewarded accordingly.
Even when searching for a singular or plural version of something, you will get different results. Some words are even more complex. For example, if you enter "wheelchair", Google will tell you there are about 1.4 million results. Add a space, and now you have "wheel chair" and Google will tell you that there are about 4.6 million results! Now to even complicate matters more, if you enter "wheel chairs" there are only 760,000 results. Remove the space and for "wheelchairs" you now get about 1.2 million results.
How does this happen?
Remember, the search engines are programmed to try and deliver the best document for each given keyword/phrase. Through a complex algorithm, they mathmatically determine which page has the most relevant content. They do this for every possible keyword and phrase that they are aware of. This why you see such a disparity in the search results.
How can I rank for all of my similar keywords?
Glad you asked. One of the many factors used in determining keyword relevancy is proximity. By using the variations of the spelling in a logical manner - such as the example I presented above, describing the different ways it can be spelled - the search engines will use this to determine that since your page talks about these variations of wheelchairs, this page must be relevant. Of course there are many other factors involved, but for the sake of this discussion, that's all we need.
How did this happen? Simple.
Like most of us, when we type something into a search engine, we just assume that the search engine knows what we mean. A computer can only do what we tell it to do, so that's why we may not get the desired results that we are seeking. Back when the 'Net was young (1990), you could get away with such simple phrases because there wasn't much content on the Internet as there is now. This is why when you're searching, be sure to be as specific as possible. The Search Engine's entire existance is to provide relevant and specific results to you, the user. Tell the engine more relevant phrases, and you will be rewarded accordingly.
Even when searching for a singular or plural version of something, you will get different results. Some words are even more complex. For example, if you enter "wheelchair", Google will tell you there are about 1.4 million results. Add a space, and now you have "wheel chair" and Google will tell you that there are about 4.6 million results! Now to even complicate matters more, if you enter "wheel chairs" there are only 760,000 results. Remove the space and for "wheelchairs" you now get about 1.2 million results.
How does this happen?
Remember, the search engines are programmed to try and deliver the best document for each given keyword/phrase. Through a complex algorithm, they mathmatically determine which page has the most relevant content. They do this for every possible keyword and phrase that they are aware of. This why you see such a disparity in the search results.
How can I rank for all of my similar keywords?
Glad you asked. One of the many factors used in determining keyword relevancy is proximity. By using the variations of the spelling in a logical manner - such as the example I presented above, describing the different ways it can be spelled - the search engines will use this to determine that since your page talks about these variations of wheelchairs, this page must be relevant. Of course there are many other factors involved, but for the sake of this discussion, that's all we need.
How to Create a Google Site Map
Officially announced on June 6th, 2005 at Google'e Blog, Google Site Map allows you to submit a listing of all your urls for Google to crawl. There have been many questions concerning the procedure of creating a Google Site Map. Below is the non-Python way of creating one. (Note: Google has further documentation at their site) First, create a file named sitemap.xml Use the following code in any HTML editor:
http://www.seoforgoogle.com/
2005-06-30T14:12:14+00:00 daily
1.0
http://www.seoforgoogle.com/glossary.cfm
2005-06-30T14:12:14+00:00 weekly
1.0
Here's a breakdown of those properties:lastmod - This is the date the document was last modified and uses the following formats:
dd.mm.yyyydd.mm.yyyy
hh:mmdd/mm/yyyydd/mm/yyyy
hh:mmchangefreq -
Tells Google Sitemaps the frequently that content of a particular URL will change. Your options are "always", "hourly", "daily", "weekly", "monthly", "yearly" or "never". The value "always" should be used to describe documents that change each time they are accessed. The value "never" should be used to describe archived URLs. priority - The priority of a particular URL relative to other pages on your site. You may select between 0.0 and 1.0, where 0.0 identifies the lowest priority page(s) on your website and 1.0 identifies the highest priority page(s) on your website. Add as many pages as there are in your website. Google Sitemap supports up to 50,000 pages per XML file. Once you've completed all of those steps, you'll need to submit your site map page. Submit to: (requires gmail account)https://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/login [If you don't have a gmail account send an email requesting a gmail account and I'll give them out until I run out of invites. (ts@seoforgoogle.com)]
Here's a breakdown of those properties:lastmod - This is the date the document was last modified and uses the following formats:
dd.mm.yyyydd.mm.yyyy
hh:mmdd/mm/yyyydd/mm/yyyy
hh:mmchangefreq -
Tells Google Sitemaps the frequently that content of a particular URL will change. Your options are "always", "hourly", "daily", "weekly", "monthly", "yearly" or "never". The value "always" should be used to describe documents that change each time they are accessed. The value "never" should be used to describe archived URLs. priority - The priority of a particular URL relative to other pages on your site. You may select between 0.0 and 1.0, where 0.0 identifies the lowest priority page(s) on your website and 1.0 identifies the highest priority page(s) on your website. Add as many pages as there are in your website. Google Sitemap supports up to 50,000 pages per XML file. Once you've completed all of those steps, you'll need to submit your site map page. Submit to: (requires gmail account)https://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/login [If you don't have a gmail account send an email requesting a gmail account and I'll give them out until I run out of invites. (ts@seoforgoogle.com)]
Blogs Versus Articles
Blogs have arrived as a means to get your message across in a personal way. Articles are usually considered to be more informative and accurate where details are concerned. From a search engine perspective, both are a great source of information. But which one to rank better? First, let's look at the value each one brings: Blogs: Timely, personal, have "inside point of view" usually updated on a frequent basis Articles:Informative, Authorative, detailed, marketing driven. From a freshness perspective, Blogs clearly win out over the articles. Exposure:Unless your blog is highly ranked, the articles will get more exposure, since there are more chances of your article being seen by more people. There are many sources on the internet that you can submit your articles to, here is a link for some: seoresources.seoforgoogle.com From a business perspective, I can tell you that articles help re-enforce what you are selling. By writing an article instead of a blog, there is a perception that more care is taken to writing an article, therefore the information contained within is worth more. People know that a blog will have a personal spin to it, whether the author is blasting a company, or promoting something that they have a personal or professional interest in. From my own trials, no one has made any purchases for any product being pushed in a blog, but instead there has a distinguishable influx of sales that can be directly traced back to an article. So what does this mean to you? If you have a product or service you want to promote, use an article. If you need to get something off your chest, create a blog. While both are thought of very well by the search engines, you're ultimate goal is to convert the user, not confuse the search engines.
Local Search Engine Optimization
As the fastest growing vertical in search, many people are now starting to recognize the value of local search engine optimization can have on their site traffic. Also known as regional search, it's basically geo-targeting your audience when they search.Local search works best for the service provider, or a retailer that has numerous locations. While the search volume won't be as great as a non-regional phrase, the person who reaches your site will be a more targeted visit and most likely ready to convert.Another happy accident in local search is that for sites that are well optimized may also pick up rankings in mobile search. So, here's what you need to do in order to rank for local seo:
Be sure to have your location(s) full address
If you have a regional number, list that as well since some people start with an area code
Be sure to include driving directions to your location
Use a mapping service to display your location
Have pictures of your locations and name them with your street address
Make sure your site appears in any regional directory that might be online
If you can afford it, get listed in your local yellow pages
Place the regions you want to rank for in your page titles
Get text links that contain the regional phrase Most of these techniques are are not only common sense, but also good web design. If you're in business, you want people to be able to find you, right?
Be sure to have your location(s) full address
If you have a regional number, list that as well since some people start with an area code
Be sure to include driving directions to your location
Use a mapping service to display your location
Have pictures of your locations and name them with your street address
Make sure your site appears in any regional directory that might be online
If you can afford it, get listed in your local yellow pages
Place the regions you want to rank for in your page titles
Get text links that contain the regional phrase Most of these techniques are are not only common sense, but also good web design. If you're in business, you want people to be able to find you, right?
One Word Rankings
Well now, it's been quite some time since an article was posted on here so I feel like I owe everyone something really good.
It's common in seo to make suggestions to potential clients to not go after that elusive one word phrase. But by doing so, and with seemingly all seo professionals on board, has it gotten easier to get ranked for one-word phrases?
I've personally have been able to get some top rankings for clients of mine within the past year - I'm not saying this to brag, but if everyone's drinking that kool-aid, how will anyone know how hard it is to go after one word?
Now, there are those that will tell you that a one-word phrase doesn't convert. In my experience, these phrase drive a ton of traffic to the site (as much as up to 10k unique visitors a day) - of course not all of them convert.
But about 20% do.
Yes, 20% of all people coming in on a one-word phrase converts at that rate for something on the site. Maybe not for the phrase that brought them in, but that person converts on something.
Now, using WebTrends or Google Analytics will tell you the phrase on which the person came in from, but to get the granular level detail, the only system I've been able to come up with and rely on is a site database capturing system. It's been custom created, but it can track all the pages visited and will tell you that if someone originally came to the site for the term "KVM" but ended up buying USB Cables, that data is retained.
Now, all of a sudden, those one-word phrases are looking pretty good. And, with soo many seo's purposely not going after them, I think it presents an opportunity to grab those top rankings for those magical traffic drivers.
So, go get those words!
It's common in seo to make suggestions to potential clients to not go after that elusive one word phrase. But by doing so, and with seemingly all seo professionals on board, has it gotten easier to get ranked for one-word phrases?
I've personally have been able to get some top rankings for clients of mine within the past year - I'm not saying this to brag, but if everyone's drinking that kool-aid, how will anyone know how hard it is to go after one word?
Now, there are those that will tell you that a one-word phrase doesn't convert. In my experience, these phrase drive a ton of traffic to the site (as much as up to 10k unique visitors a day) - of course not all of them convert.
But about 20% do.
Yes, 20% of all people coming in on a one-word phrase converts at that rate for something on the site. Maybe not for the phrase that brought them in, but that person converts on something.
Now, using WebTrends or Google Analytics will tell you the phrase on which the person came in from, but to get the granular level detail, the only system I've been able to come up with and rely on is a site database capturing system. It's been custom created, but it can track all the pages visited and will tell you that if someone originally came to the site for the term "KVM" but ended up buying USB Cables, that data is retained.
Now, all of a sudden, those one-word phrases are looking pretty good. And, with soo many seo's purposely not going after them, I think it presents an opportunity to grab those top rankings for those magical traffic drivers.
So, go get those words!
SEO for Digg
In case you haven't been on the Internet for the past year or so, there has been a tremendous amount of attention being captured by socially-powered sites such as digg. So, what does this have to with the world of Search Engine Marketing? There is something called the Digg effect, which essentially brings a ton of traffic to your site in a small amount of time. (Usually within minutes of a posting). While digg readers despise seo-planted stories, if you do have something topical or free to use or even something that's just "cool", you won't feel the wrath of the digg community, and end up with your post getting buried. So how can you leverage this site? One of the key elements of getting a story on the home page is to have either a ton of people who have "dugg" your posting, or if you happen to know some of the top users on digg to vote for your story, you'll have no time reaching the front. For the rest of us, we need to work harder. While there are sites that sell services to "digg" stories for you, at some point in time, digg will wise up and stop that. There is another site that allows you to alert any of your friends when you have posted on digg, called Digg Alerts. But despite all the "gaming" that goes on, at the end of the day, you need to have a compelling story to have the readers interact with what you're saying. As for the SEO coding and copy writing element of digg, you need to have a great title and summary to get any reader to even bother checking out your site. Another course of action you need to take is to review all of digg's categories - if your story would not fit on the site, don't waste your time. The expectation set forth when using digg in as part of your marketing strategy should be to create buzz, build brand name and drive traffic to your site. To expect digg users to click on your Adsense ads is non-sensical - digg readers are tech-savvy and can smell that technique a mile away. Be patient, post often and become part of the digg community by also submitting great stories you find - often times it will already be posted, but every once in a while you can beat them to the punch, and you gain a little bit of credibility on the site.
How to Write a Better Web Page Title
Titles are everywhere. Some people are defined by titles, some people loathe titles, and others like giving titles. Why do we do this? With so much information getting processed by our minds everyday, we need a way to categorize these groups of associated content in a quick referencing way. This is the same methodology a search engine applies when it crawls a page. When you title a page, you are telling a search engine or user what the page is supposed to be about. We've all seen the one sentence summaries of television shows on the T.V. Guide. It allows for quick referencing and decision making by telling us what the show is going to be about. This is part of the reason why naming your page titles is so critical to getting your site ranked. I can't tell you how many times I have seen a site that had one of the following two titles throughout the entire site: "untitled" or "company name". While having the company name on all the pages could be a potential branding strategy, chances are, most visitors to your site don't know your brand name yet and are looking for the product or service that you're selling. You could incorporate the company name into the title, but it should be placed after the main message you want to convey about that particular page. Every page should have a unique title. While you may have a subject that needs to be explained over a few pages, you should use the page title as an index of information for the reader. Sites that sell multiple products should have a unique title for every product. If you can't make the time to make each page stand out, why would you expect that page to ever appear in a search engine? If possible, you should try to place your keywords in the title, since this will help the search engine determine where your page should be ranked. Remember, the search engines rank each page individually, that's why it's so important to use proper naming methods. When you determine which keywords to use, go for a 4 to 6 word title when possible. After 58 characters, the title in the search engine results page will be truncated and will not be visible to the reader. Also, the longer the title, the less weight is given to each word. The entire time you are conjuring up titles, always keep the reader in mind first. While some phrases may rank well in the search engines, a reader may never enter that phrase and you'll lose that targeted traffic you were trying to reach. Sometimes the phrases work out well for both the user and search engine, and in those cases success is usually quick to follow. -To your online success!
Does SEO Die on Web 3.0?
Hey, Marty, would you mind parking the DeLorean for me while I finish up this blog post? Thanks.
Hi, everyone! I’ve just come back from the future. Well, not really. I’ve actually just been reading through a bunch of articles about the Semantic Web as envisioned by Tim Berners-Lee and other brilliant thinkers. My appetite to research this topic was spurred by this article I read about two weeks ago. It’s been a fun escape into the world-of-tomorrow. Some have already assigned the moniker “Web 3.0″ to the Semantic Web. Here we go again…
So did I find anything of value on my futuristic escapade? Well, I started my trip (as always) by going to see The Oracle to find out what she thinks of the Semantic Web. It’s still unclear to me how people will interact with such a system—from what I can tell there are no consumer apps yet that handle these types of semantic web interactions. But according to the Wikipedia article, computers will do most of the menial pairing of search results that we currently do manually.
Funny enough, there are many who believe that this particular vision of the future cannot come to fruition. Others say it has already begun to happen. I don’t know enough about it yet to base an opinion either way, but I do see elements of a semantic web in now widely used web techniques like tagging.
According to Tim Berners-Lee, Google will not survive on the semantic web—at least not in its current state. Yahoo even recently announced that they will begin supporting certain semantic web standards and technologies to let people produce much richer search results.
So if search engines as we know them need to change at the advent of this new Semantic Web, do SEOers need to follow suit? Will SEO become the task of simply building properly formatted semantic markup for digestion by future search engines? That could be part of it. In fact, part of good SEO practices now include creation of semantic based data feeds (think RSS). And now with the birth of Yahoo’s open search, website owners will be rewarded for producing more semantic data and suppling it to Yahoo. I expect Google has something similar in the works.
But how far out is our paradigm shift? How quickly will the bandwagon pass? Is there a bandwagon at all? The more you think about it, the more you think, “wow, this Web 3.0 is going to be pretty cool! It’ll make SEO and search in general a lot cleaner”. As I began to ponder all of these new ideas, The Oracle sent me to this other article. Stopped in my tracks.
Mr. Doctorow is right on. One of the huge problems Google et al currently face is the overabundance of garbage on the web. This must be what Berners-Lee meant in part when he said, “…make sure people aren’t using their authority to do things that they shouldn’t be doing”. Unfortunately, that’s much easier said than done. There will always be people who are trying to game the system. Website owners of the future will be creating oodles of inaccurate meta-data about their spam sites to trick your computer into pulling bogus information into your data mash-up. Can you imagine searching for a good Italian restaurant near the place you have a meeting tomorrow at noon and you’re given a map full of bogus locations all advertising male enhancement pills. No thanks.
Let’s get back to the original question quickly: does SEO die on the semantic web? I think the answer is a resounding no. In fact, an understanding of keywords, search engines, markup, and semantics will play an even bigger role as time goes on. But who knows what the real future will bring.
Alright, I’m outta here. Where I’m going I don’t need—roads. But I do need to add some quick semantic metadata to this post before signing off (*throws in another old can and a banana peel*). OK, I’m off!
Hi, everyone! I’ve just come back from the future. Well, not really. I’ve actually just been reading through a bunch of articles about the Semantic Web as envisioned by Tim Berners-Lee and other brilliant thinkers. My appetite to research this topic was spurred by this article I read about two weeks ago. It’s been a fun escape into the world-of-tomorrow. Some have already assigned the moniker “Web 3.0″ to the Semantic Web. Here we go again…
So did I find anything of value on my futuristic escapade? Well, I started my trip (as always) by going to see The Oracle to find out what she thinks of the Semantic Web. It’s still unclear to me how people will interact with such a system—from what I can tell there are no consumer apps yet that handle these types of semantic web interactions. But according to the Wikipedia article, computers will do most of the menial pairing of search results that we currently do manually.
Funny enough, there are many who believe that this particular vision of the future cannot come to fruition. Others say it has already begun to happen. I don’t know enough about it yet to base an opinion either way, but I do see elements of a semantic web in now widely used web techniques like tagging.
According to Tim Berners-Lee, Google will not survive on the semantic web—at least not in its current state. Yahoo even recently announced that they will begin supporting certain semantic web standards and technologies to let people produce much richer search results.
So if search engines as we know them need to change at the advent of this new Semantic Web, do SEOers need to follow suit? Will SEO become the task of simply building properly formatted semantic markup for digestion by future search engines? That could be part of it. In fact, part of good SEO practices now include creation of semantic based data feeds (think RSS). And now with the birth of Yahoo’s open search, website owners will be rewarded for producing more semantic data and suppling it to Yahoo. I expect Google has something similar in the works.
But how far out is our paradigm shift? How quickly will the bandwagon pass? Is there a bandwagon at all? The more you think about it, the more you think, “wow, this Web 3.0 is going to be pretty cool! It’ll make SEO and search in general a lot cleaner”. As I began to ponder all of these new ideas, The Oracle sent me to this other article. Stopped in my tracks.
Mr. Doctorow is right on. One of the huge problems Google et al currently face is the overabundance of garbage on the web. This must be what Berners-Lee meant in part when he said, “…make sure people aren’t using their authority to do things that they shouldn’t be doing”. Unfortunately, that’s much easier said than done. There will always be people who are trying to game the system. Website owners of the future will be creating oodles of inaccurate meta-data about their spam sites to trick your computer into pulling bogus information into your data mash-up. Can you imagine searching for a good Italian restaurant near the place you have a meeting tomorrow at noon and you’re given a map full of bogus locations all advertising male enhancement pills. No thanks.
Let’s get back to the original question quickly: does SEO die on the semantic web? I think the answer is a resounding no. In fact, an understanding of keywords, search engines, markup, and semantics will play an even bigger role as time goes on. But who knows what the real future will bring.
Alright, I’m outta here. Where I’m going I don’t need—roads. But I do need to add some quick semantic metadata to this post before signing off (*throws in another old can and a banana peel*). OK, I’m off!
Choosing the Best Keywords
Ah, the beauty of search marketing! What other marketing medium lets you get your ad in front of your potential customer at the precise moment they are looking for exactly what you sell? Of course, your success with search marketing hinges on your selection of the right keywords. Good keyword selection starts with a brainstorming session. Get together with your team and make a list of all the keywords and phrases that people might be searching for to find a business like yours. Try to include terms that people outside your industry would use. Take a look at your competitors’ websites to see what keywords they are targeting. Review their meta keywords, titles, and content on their websites to identify additional keywords to add to your list. Another great place to look for keywords is forums, blogs, industry sites, and Q&A sites like Yahoo Answers. What are the words people use to find the product or service you offer? Once you’ve built your list, use online keyword tools to see how often your keywords are searched on and refine your list. A few of these tools are Keyword Discovery, WordTracker, Google’s Keyword Tool, and Yahoo/Overture Keyword Inventory Tool. These tools will allow you to see how often your keywords are searched on and give you ideas for other keywords to consider.
It’s important to target keywords that are relevant to your business, but don’t sacrifice relevance for search popularity–I mean don’t forget about your most targeted keywords just because they aren’t as heavily searched. You want to use keywords that will drive traffic to your site AND increase sales. Once you identify the keywords that are most relevant to your website, you can use that list for search engine optimization, pay-per-click (PPC) keyword ads, and any other keyword advertising. After you start getting traffic for these keywords, spend some time reviewing your analytics reports. Monitor the keyword conversion report to see which keywords are generating sales. If you find certain keywords perform better than others, shift your focus to those keywords to achieve the best possible results. Over time you will fine-tune your keyword strategy to the point where you know exactly which keywords perform best and you will enjoy a steady flow of new business from the search engines.
It’s important to target keywords that are relevant to your business, but don’t sacrifice relevance for search popularity–I mean don’t forget about your most targeted keywords just because they aren’t as heavily searched. You want to use keywords that will drive traffic to your site AND increase sales. Once you identify the keywords that are most relevant to your website, you can use that list for search engine optimization, pay-per-click (PPC) keyword ads, and any other keyword advertising. After you start getting traffic for these keywords, spend some time reviewing your analytics reports. Monitor the keyword conversion report to see which keywords are generating sales. If you find certain keywords perform better than others, shift your focus to those keywords to achieve the best possible results. Over time you will fine-tune your keyword strategy to the point where you know exactly which keywords perform best and you will enjoy a steady flow of new business from the search engines.
Top 6 SEO tips for bloggers
Millions of blogs, and only the top 10 results. It seems like a recipe for headaches and back pain. If you don’t mind, I’ll see if I can give you some pain medication in the form of tried and true methods for getting your blog to show up in those top 10 results.
1. If you are using WordPress, start by installing the all in one seo pack. You can specify unique titles and descriptions for each post using the all in one. The reason you want to have unique titles and descriptions is so that single posts show up easier for long tail keywords, which sometimes bring in visitors or clients 6 months down the road. It’s always nice to be there for an obscure search term, so you can beat out your competitors who aren’t showing up for that term.
2. Headlines: Should be no more than 60 characters, How to’s and top 5 or 10 lists usually work the best to bring in readers. It is also easy to digg a “How To List” or “Top 10 list”. If your keywords are “Internet Business” or “Movie Critiques”, an example could be “The top 5 movie critiques for online shoppers.”
3. Text: Make your paragraphs no more than 6-7 sentences. Lists and bullet points are easier on the eyes and help people read your whole post. Obviously your keywords are an important consideration, have your keyword research handy when writing any post. First and foremost is your reader though, so don’t sacrifice semantics/readability for your keywords.
4. Links: Link to influential blogs or sources as much as possible (no more than 8 links in one post though, you don’t want the reader to get all confused by the abundance of outbound links). There are at least two reasons for this: 1) If you link to an influential blogger, they will see your link, and possibly reciprocate one back to you if your article is good enough. 2) Trusted sources are worth their weight in gold if you want to be seen as an industry expert and to keep your readers coming back for more.
5. Ultimately you will want people to read what you write on your blog. That’s why we have to prepare your blog in such a way that the search engines will find it easier. There are ways to get immediate traffic to your site using Stumbleupon or Digg or some other social bookmarking service, which we use extensively. But the real value in having your post or article go “viral” is for the links that almost automatically come from people who like what you have written. Relevant, keyword targeted text links from a high profile blog or site counts alot towards how well you rank for a particular keyword phrase. Use Stumbling and Digging as much as needed, but first write good content, and make your site search engine friendly.
6. Last but not least, make your RSS feed readily available at the top of your page somewhere. That is usually the first place people look for an RSS feed if they like your post, and if someone wants to link to you or a post of yours, you should give them as many options as possible to do so. An RSS feed is great for publishing content that will then get read and possibly linked to more often.
1. If you are using WordPress, start by installing the all in one seo pack. You can specify unique titles and descriptions for each post using the all in one. The reason you want to have unique titles and descriptions is so that single posts show up easier for long tail keywords, which sometimes bring in visitors or clients 6 months down the road. It’s always nice to be there for an obscure search term, so you can beat out your competitors who aren’t showing up for that term.
2. Headlines: Should be no more than 60 characters, How to’s and top 5 or 10 lists usually work the best to bring in readers. It is also easy to digg a “How To List” or “Top 10 list”. If your keywords are “Internet Business” or “Movie Critiques”, an example could be “The top 5 movie critiques for online shoppers.”
3. Text: Make your paragraphs no more than 6-7 sentences. Lists and bullet points are easier on the eyes and help people read your whole post. Obviously your keywords are an important consideration, have your keyword research handy when writing any post. First and foremost is your reader though, so don’t sacrifice semantics/readability for your keywords.
4. Links: Link to influential blogs or sources as much as possible (no more than 8 links in one post though, you don’t want the reader to get all confused by the abundance of outbound links). There are at least two reasons for this: 1) If you link to an influential blogger, they will see your link, and possibly reciprocate one back to you if your article is good enough. 2) Trusted sources are worth their weight in gold if you want to be seen as an industry expert and to keep your readers coming back for more.
5. Ultimately you will want people to read what you write on your blog. That’s why we have to prepare your blog in such a way that the search engines will find it easier. There are ways to get immediate traffic to your site using Stumbleupon or Digg or some other social bookmarking service, which we use extensively. But the real value in having your post or article go “viral” is for the links that almost automatically come from people who like what you have written. Relevant, keyword targeted text links from a high profile blog or site counts alot towards how well you rank for a particular keyword phrase. Use Stumbling and Digging as much as needed, but first write good content, and make your site search engine friendly.
6. Last but not least, make your RSS feed readily available at the top of your page somewhere. That is usually the first place people look for an RSS feed if they like your post, and if someone wants to link to you or a post of yours, you should give them as many options as possible to do so. An RSS feed is great for publishing content that will then get read and possibly linked to more often.
Google Trends Predicts Winner of American Idol
A few months back, we analyzed Google Trends data to see which presidential candidate was most likely to win the election. The Democratic nomination process has drawn out longer than we ever anticipated, but it looks like Obama will come out on top in that one, and he stands a great chance of winning the entire election in November. If so, Google trends called it way back in February.
The presidential election is interesting and all, but it’s about time we look at Google Trends for a much more important issue: Who will win this week’s finale of American Idol?
It is down to the two Davids–David Archuleta and David Cook. I’m pulling for Archuleta, mostly because he’s from my home town, Murray, Utah. However, if the Google Trends data holds up, Cook will end up on top when the dust settles. Keep in mind that this is preliminary data because it could change once they perform the final time this week, but for now it looks like David Cook is most popular, so he should end up with the most votes and be crowned the 2008 American Idol.
Here’s a graph showing the Google Trends search data for the two Davids (the blue line on top is Cook):
Seo.Com
The presidential election is interesting and all, but it’s about time we look at Google Trends for a much more important issue: Who will win this week’s finale of American Idol?
It is down to the two Davids–David Archuleta and David Cook. I’m pulling for Archuleta, mostly because he’s from my home town, Murray, Utah. However, if the Google Trends data holds up, Cook will end up on top when the dust settles. Keep in mind that this is preliminary data because it could change once they perform the final time this week, but for now it looks like David Cook is most popular, so he should end up with the most votes and be crowned the 2008 American Idol.
Here’s a graph showing the Google Trends search data for the two Davids (the blue line on top is Cook):
Seo.Com
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