So you built your website, with hopes and dreams of internet riches, and the site looks great. But no one’s coming to it! Then you start learning SEO, and you’re feeling a little bit more confident about it. Here are a few easy mistakes that people make when learning SEO, to look out for as you start doing more SEO work for your site:
Mistake 1: Keyword Stuffing
Before explaining why it’s a bad idea, let’s first define keyword stuffing as overfilling your content with your targeted keywords/keyphrases. By way of example, if you’re targeting the phrase “navigation system,” then keyword stuffing your content might read something like “Buying a new navigation system is something most customers do regularly as their old navigation system often fails to function in the proper way that a navigation system should…” and so on. It reads like a fourth grader’s essay, and the search engine spiders pick up on the unnaturally high incidence of the same phrase repeated over and over.
While every SEO expert has a different opinion about keyword density, a safe but effective range might be considered 4-9% density. This makes sure the search engines correctly categorize your site for the services you offer, without them penalizing you for blatantly stuffing it with keywords.
Mistake 2: Link Farms vs. Directories
What is the difference between a link farm and a directory? It sounds like an easy question, but it’s deceptively difficult. The reason is that directories and link farms share almost everything in common, so instead of a black and white difference between the two, they basically fall on a spectrum, and usually somewhere in the grey middle area.
That said, a working definition of link farm might go something like “a page of links with no other purpose or benefit to the visitor other than to provide backlinks to other pages.” And why are they a problem? Search engines will not only disregard them as useless, they will often penalize the linked sites as well, by de-indexing them or demoting them in the rankings.
So how do you tell the difference between a link farm and a directory? Here are a few things to look for: 1) What’s the Google Page Rank? 2) How well organized is it? 3) Does it have useful content other than links? 4) Is it visually attractive or otherwise made to be appealing to visitors? Be sure to ask these questions before submitting your site to an online directory.
Mistake 3: Duplicate Content
There’s a lot of buzz going around the internet about duplicate content; quite simply, it’s the same content appearing on more than one page on the internet. The search engines have been known to devalue pages that they see as duplicates, since the implication is that a site is simply spamming by putting automated content out on the web.
However, unlike link farm penalties, duplicate content isn’t actively penalized, but merely disregarded sometimes by the search engines. If you’re worried about it, well, write new content!
Mistake 4: Overbidding for PPC Advertising
Pay per click advertising (PPC) and SEO are NOT the same, but they’re related enough to warrant a mention here. Amateurs often overbid for their PPC advertising, which not only costs them unnecessary money but drives up PPC prices elsewhere artificially. As with so many concepts in business, start low and go slow, which in this case means opening the bidding around 5-10 cents per click, and raising your bids as necessary to achieve your desired results.
Mistake 5: Investing Too Much Time in SEO Education
Serious webmasters devoted to online businesses and internet marketing would be wise to learn as much as possible about SEO. That said, the overwhelming majority of online business owners would probably be better off using their time to expanding their client base, or developing new products or websites, rather than spending tedious hour after tedious hour learning the minutiae of SEO and internet marketing. If you’re capable of earning $45/hour while aggressively working your business, and can hire someone to handle SEO for you for $20/hour, then it’s a no-brainer: hire an internet marketing company and get back to running your business.
February 20th, 2009
Yahoo is the number one website in the world. It is the number two search engine, and after Google, it is the next place you need to submit your website.
Although submitting to Yahoo is very similar to submitting to Google, there are also some differences. Yahoo doesn’t seem to spider sites as quickly as Google, so you definitely need to have some patience when submitting here.
Yahoo also offers different ways for you to get your site included, like Search Submit, Directory Listings, Product Submit, and Sponsored Search. These solutions are expensive, but they will get you into Yahoo quickly.
You may also submit other content like audio, video, and images using RSS. This service is free, and it will help you get that content indexed. (Yahoo does say on its website that 99 percent of the content that is included in its search engine is found through crawling the web.)
Like Google, the first thing you need to do is prepare your site by doing a keyword search for the appropriate keywords for your website. Optimize your website for the keywords your readers will be searching for.
Once you have optimized your site, the next step is to create a sitemap. If your site doesn’t automatically create one through the use of some type of script, then you will need to make one yourself and upload it to your website. (You’ll find plenty of free tools on the internet to help you with this.)
Once you have your sitemap in place, then it’s time to submit.
If you don’t already have an account with Yahoo, you need to sign up for one. It’s free. Once you have signed up for your account, go to the Yahoo search engine and search for “submit to Yahoo.” (Without the quotes)
The first result will be Yahoo! Submit Your Site. Click on this link and then you will be taken to a list of choices where you may choose how you want to submit, as well as what you want to submit. If you are only submitting your website, then click Submit Your Site for Free.
You may submit either a website or page, or you may submit your sitemap. Yahoo calls this a feed. (You will need to make sure you are logged into your account first before submitting. Otherwise, Yahoo won’t allow you to submit.)
When submitting your website, you will need to verify your site in the same way you verified your site with Google. You will either need to add a verification tag to the header of your index page or upload a verification file to your site through FTP.
Once you have submitted your site, you will want to check back periodically to make sure that your site is getting indexed. If it’s not, delete it and resubmit. Also use the Site Explorer to explore your site as this will help.
Finally, if you use RSS feeds on your website, you may choose to submit those feeds through your My Yahoo page. This will also help in getting your website indexed.
January 16th, 2009
Your title is the most important aspect of on page website optimization; more important than anything else. Before a search engine spider even looks at your website it first analyzes your title tags. This means that if you do not have a unique title tag for each page than it is very likely that page could be considered duplicate content and not be indexed by each search engine.
There are many factors that need to be considered when optimising your title tags each of which if carefully researched will give you the edge over your current competition and will allow your customers to find you that bit easier. Read this. Learn it. Then implement it. Simple.
Keyword Research
First off you have to choose your keywords. But that’s not as easy as it sounds. Most people assume the moment they go online that they know exactly what keywords they want to be ranked for. Wrong. You need to test this. You really do. Use Google Adwords to actually test what traffic from which keywords converts best for you. After all there’s no point getting lots of traffic if it doesn’t convert. Also use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool to find derivatives of key phrases that work for you. Finally look into using Microsoft’s Commercial Intent tool to give you an idea of how well a keyword will convert (if you don’t fancy using Adwords)
Keyword Relevance
Once you know what keywords you want to be ranked for you have to decide which is most important. When a spider looks at your title tag it puts the most relevance on the keywords furthest to the left. So, before you go shoving your company name at the very beginning consider ordering your key phrases in dependent on what you want to be ranked for. Remember the majority of people aren’t going to be searching for your company name.
Title Tag Length
Now you know the ten thousand keywords you want to be ranked for. Well obviously they aren’t all going to fit. Limit your title tag to a maximum length of 70 characters. If you have too many key phrases to fit in each tag then vary the keywords you use, this will help to keep your tags unique whilst making sure you cover all the fields you require.
Separating Keywords
After much split testing we have found that bars | pipes are the best and most user friendly way of dividing keywords. They help to break up your keywords and draw more traffic from the search engines than any of the others.
Title Tag Format
Don’t create your title tag using all upper or lower case. Also don’t capitalize letters in the middle of words. We would recommend Camel Case which is capitalizing the first word of every letter.
Don’t Duplicate Keywords
Just because you offer Deals, you do not need to include that phrase after every single key phrase. Make sure that every keyword included in your title tag is there for a reason. It is also worth doing some research into stop words. Stop words are common English words that search engines discount because they are unimportant. Make sure your title tag does not include common English words such as then and when we who how etc.
Content Matching
Make sure that any keywords used within your title tags are also used within the content of that page. You are much less likely to get well ranked if the page contains no content that you are attempting to rank for. Google frowns upon this.
December 4th, 2008
If you are someone who is looking to grow your own business online, you will find that an SEO consultant (someone who understands search engine optimisation and how search engines work), can make an invaluable addition to your website. Making sure that the search engines notice you is part and parcel of getting on top in the world of internet business, so make sure that you follow these basic steps when you are looking to find a good SEO consultant.
1. Get references
Have your friends worked with anyone that they would recommend? What about your business associates? Today, you’ll find that even if word of mouth is transmitted by e-mail, it will still go a long way towards getting you the consultant that you need.
2. Hit the directories
Many excellent SEO consultants will make sure that they are listed in the various industry-specific directories on the web, so make sure that you give yourself some time to browse and to find the person who will best suit your needs.
3. Read their testimonials
Many SEO consultants will have a list of testimonials up on their page, talking about what they have done in the past. Read these testimonials and see if you can get a sense from them regarding how the consultant works and what his or her strengths are when it comes to customer service.
4. Speak with them personally
It is increasingly easier to do business without ever meeting anyone face to face, but you’ll find that actually getting some information without the benefit of obfuscating text is quite important. Even if it is just a quick phone call, you can learn a great deal just by hearing someone talk and thinking about what you learn.
5. How long does it take to get back to you?
If you have sent them an email, how long does it take for them to return your enquiry? You’ll find that if you are waiting more than 24 hours, you might not want to wait any longer. Most SEO consultants will have auto responders, and while this is a good solution, see how long it takes before you get a human to respond to you.
6. Google them
Get on a search engine and try a few searches to see how long it takes for them to show up under terms such as “SEO Consultant” and “SEO Specialist” as if they can’t get themselves the top spots you stand less of a chance.
7. Have a few companies in mind
You’ll find that plenty of companies will have just one or two different points that will keep them from being perfect, so take some time to make sure that you have a few to choose from.
8. Ask to see their work
What companies have they worked with in the past? How long does it take for you to find them using Google? You can see what kind of work they do best by heading right over to check it out.
9. Are they ethical?
Getting involved with a company that will do anything black hat such as hiding links and using keyword stuffing, will be a mistake that you pay for with very poor rankings and unhappy visitors, you may even get banned!
10. Think about how they make you feel.
At the end of the day, how comfortable do you feel when you work with them? You’ll find that because they are connected intimately with your business that you will want to see how comfortably you can work together.
If you are going to get involved in Search Engine Optimisation make sure your get involved with a search engine ranking specialist.
October 3rd, 2008
A discussion of black hat and white hat SEO is as pointless as a discussion of the difference between black and white witchcraft. In witchcraft, the minute a technique is used to control the outcome of a situation it is known as black magic. The same can be said of SEO. A technique used to manipulate the search engines is known as black hat SEO. The problem is that white hat SEO does precisely the same thing so it is not any less “dirty” than black hat in some ways
An SEO tactic, technique or method is considered “White hat” if it conforms to the search engines’ guidelines and does not attempt to deceive it. White Hat SEO is not just about following guidelines, but is about ensuring that the content a search engine indexes and subsequently ranks is the same content a user will see.
White Hat advice is generally summed up as creating content for users, not for search engines, and then make that content easily accessible to their spiders. It is more about user friendliness and accessibility rather than about tilting the odds seriously in one’s favor.
Black hat” SEO employs more deceptive methods to try to improve search engine rankings. The search engines usually disapprove these methods. This can range from text that is “hidden”, either as text colored similar to the background or by redirecting users from a page that is built for search engines to one that is more human friendly. As a general rule, a method that sends a user to a page that was different to the page described in the search is called Black hat. Search engines can and do penalize sites they discover using black hat methods, either by reducing their rankings or eliminating their listings from their databases altogether. Such penalties can be applied either automatically by the search engines’ algorithms, or by a manual review of a site.
September 25th, 2008
Online marketers are always looking for ways to drive more traffic to their web sites. Every day, the web changes and different traffic generation opportunities show up.
One of the biggest around right now is utilizing web 2.0 social sites to get quality links back to your site, direct traffic, and higher search engine rankings because of those quality links.
But how do you do it?
Here are three really simple web 2.0 strategies you can start using today to increase the traffic you get to your web site.
1. Utilize Content Sharing Sites
Content sharing sites are sites like Squidoo and Hub Pages.
These sites are looked upon by the search engines as authority sites and you can leverage that by creating your own Squidoo lenses and Hub Pages.
You can generate high search engine rankings for these pages as well as link back to your own web sites for high quality (authority) back links.
So you can get better rankings and direct traffic.
2. Remote Blogging
Remote blogging is nothing more than setting up blogs on sites like Blogger.com, Xanga.com or Wordpress.com.
You then create quality content to post on these blogs and use one way links back to your main site for people to find more information on that topic.
3. Social Bookmarking
There are a lot of social bookmarking sites out there. You’ll want to create accounts at a variety of them to maximize your social bookmarking strategy.
Check out all the social bookmarking sites at OnlyWire, SocialPoster and SocialMarker.
They all do the same thing but in slightly different ways. Try them all out (they’re free) and decide which one you prefer.
4. Web 2.0 Social Community Sites (BlogCatalog, MyBlogLog, SpicyPage, Bumpzee)
Develop accounts with these web properties, maximize the use of your profile and actively participate in the different communities relative to your niche.
Take action on these strategies using web 2.0 properties and you’ll beging creating high quality back links from authority sites, get increased search engine rankings, and generate more traffic to your web site.
September 10th, 2008
There is no doubt that being at the top of the search engines for your targeted keyword phrase is going to send you some of the best traffic that you will ever get to your website. Although there are dozens of different ways to pull this traffic in, search engine optimization is one that you should never overlook. Unfortunately, many of us get caught up in the details and feel as if we are simply not qualified enough to improve search engine ranking as far as our websites are concerned. The simple fact of the matter is, improving our rankings is not that difficult to do. Here are three quick ways to improve search engine rankings and to get some of the best traffic that you will ever receive.
Go for the backlink - The incoming link is one of the most beneficial things that you will ever have as far as your search engine ranking is concerned. Although on page factors certainly can help you in a lot of different ways, making sure that you have plenty of incoming links and that they are from qualified sources is going to do a lot in pushing you up through the search engine rankings. There are plenty of different ways to get the link but one of the most effective is by offering to write free content for webmasters in exchange for a link back to your website. Because most webmasters understand the benefits of unique content, you would be surprised with the number of them that will agree to this arrangement. Also remember to have the backlink named after an anchor text related to your keywords.
Don’t Forget on Page Factors - Although this is really considered by many to be a no-brainer, you want to make sure that you are not forgetting your on page factors for your keywords as well. Stuffing the key word too many times into a webpage is not only going to make it read poorly, the search engines may actually rank it lower as a result. It is often only necessary for you to use the word or phrase naturally within the webpage in order for it to rank well if all of the other search engine optimization factors are in place. Use it in the title tag, toward the top of the page and throughout the page naturally and you should be just fine.
Add New Content - One of the things that you’re going to hear a lot about if you’re hanging out where other Internet marketers are talking is that new content is going to give you a great boost. This is really true and new content can often help your old content to rank better, simply because it is getting spidered more often and internal linking structures can be built to help it in one way or another. This is just another way to improve search engine ranking and to make sure that your website is listed toward the top of the results pages so that you can get some free traffic your way.
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September 6th, 2008
Search engine optimization is a very common term in the Internet marketing arena. I’m sure you’ve heard it tons of times, and you’ve also probably heard of White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO. What search engine optimization really is, is a way to increase the amount of traffic that lands on your website.
Using proper search engine optimization techniques, any website can rank higher in a search engine’s search results page, for specific keywords and search terms that have been optimized for that website. When properly implemented, optimized websites have a competitive advantage over those that are not optimized, especially when dealing with crawler type search engines (such as Google).
Nonetheless, SEO has come under great scrutiny by the public, mainly because of the increased unethical manipulation of this technique. And for this reason, there exist the terms White Hat and Black Hat SEO. Black Hat SEO is simply SEO techniques used to trick search engines immorally. White Hat SEO, on the other hand, concentrates on using ethical techniques to improve a particular website in the hope of being able to rank higher in search engine page results.
White Hat SEO is the only way to go if you are trying to market your website and generate traffic, while avoiding being penalized by search engines for unethical techniques. The core of the White Hat SEO approach is honesty and quality content. With a concentration on simplifying the structure of your website, ensuring that all software and programming is simple and clear for search engines to crawl your website, search engines will be more willing to rank your website higher for your optimized keywords or search terms.
SEO is not difficult, but you must be careful not to use any of those dirty old tricks. Many search engines continuously update their algorithms to spot ethically optimized websites. Is it worth it to risk it all, banish your webpage from any search engine results using Black Hat SEO? The obvious answer is no.
September 4th, 2008
Many online users are confused between Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM).
SEO is a way of optimizing your website through the use of meta tags, title tag and contents of the website to get good listing on organic search engine results, in major search engines like Google, Yahoo!, or MSN.
Search engine uses a system known as ‘spider’ to crawl out data from the website to determine how relevant the website content is to the keyword search. There are various factors, such as content, the relevance of websites back linking to your site and your meta tags, which will determine how your website will be ranked.
However, there is a no guarantee way of getting higher search engine ranking in search engine results and it takes time and effort to make sure that the linking and content is suitable. This usually takes months to be effective provided that you really understand how the search engine determines their organic result ranking.
SEM is a form of marketing online through search engines’ like Yahoo!, Google and MSN. It is a form of paid advertising which can guarantee you prominent ranking on the search engine results. You can choose the keywords that you wish to get listed on. There is no limitation as long as the keywords are approved by the various search engine editorials.
SEM not only includes search but also banner advertising. It is a great way to create online awareness.
Although SEO and SEM serve almost the same purpose, it is always recommended to have both working for you to achieve maximum results. SEO shows you how relevant you can be on organic listing while SEM makes sure you are top always.
August 28th, 2008