What Google Knows About Spam 10 Minute Video
How To Get Listed Under Google Sitelinks
Free SEO Tool To Check Web Site Customer Focus
4 Easy SEO Tips For Top Ranking Success
White Hat SEO - Black Hat SEO
Mosaic Cloaking
How Google, Yahoo & MSN Pick Your Organic Listing Description
SEO Secrets Revealed By Top Google Staff Video
From blogging to site content, links from other sites, sitemaps, Google webmaster tools, meta tags, Google base, indexing and more. This is a nice 10 minute video interview with Matt Cutts 'the Google guy'
Google Doesn't Like Cloaking
SEO Tip: Getting Your Web Visitors To Buy or Call
How Your Website Pictures and Online Videos Can Gain You Top Rankings
Changing Trends in Maintenance of Search Engine Optimization Campaigns & Off-Page Optimization Strategies
Google Changing the Way it Ranks Sites
For the past six or seven years, one of the most dominant factors in determining page or document placement has been an evaluation of incoming links. Google pioneered the method, known as Pagerank, in its original algorithm and has refined it ever since. The recent flap over Pagerank revaluations might provide SEOs a broader hint at changes happening behind the scenes at Google and other major search engines. While unintended, Google might be signaling a step away from Pagerank as a primary means of recommendation and valuation.
A shift away from link based scoring methods would be an enormous step for Google to make however, looking at the evolution of the Internet, it is a logical step to make. Information transmitted over the Internet is changing rapidly as are user-habits. While it will continue to be a primarily text based medium, today’s Internet infrastructure allows easier access to a multiplicity of file types and formats, many of which are not conducive to the link-loving Google grew up on.
Predictably, user-habits are changing as rapidly as improved technology or interactivity allows them to. Perhaps the most prescient example is the social network revolution currently being fronted by Facebook and MySpace. Internet users are beginning to use their social networks as web-portals, the same way they once used Google and Yahoo!. Social networks are all about linkage however many if not most links found within social networks are useless from a search ranking perspective.
Two Google patents particularly pertaining to the relevance of location are Shared Geo-Located Objects and Ranking and Clustering of Geo-Located Objects. Both outline how Google uses information drawn from various sources, including files shared amongst Google Earth users, to figure out which documents might be most relevant to unique users. These scoring methods demonstrate a movement away from algorithmic assumptions made through link-analysis, placing greater weight on objective comment from users.
Another patent, Identification of Semantic Units From Within a Search Query shows how Google is paying more attention to the intent of its users than it did the intent of site designers or search marketers. By tracking and matching similar keyword searches, Google is trying to anticipate the information needs of its users over the recommendations of web designers and search marketers as expressed in placed links.
Google’s movement away from link-based SERPs can also be seen in its graphic interface and in the result-sets returned to searchers. Over the past year, Google has experimented with several means of delivering information and search results to its users. Far from the basic blank face Google has long displayed, users are now searching Google interfaces that resemble news and information portals. The iGoogle homepage is the most stark example. Attempts at the personalization and “Univesalization” SERPs two others.
Google and the other major search engines are bringing more information into search results from a wider variety of sources. As those results begin to better reflect what each individual searcher is seeking, the means and methods of ranking those results are shifting.
SEOs should be looking for ways to vastly improve each document they work on from a user experience perspective. Knowing Google tracks the movements of search-users from query to completion, SEOs should think about how Google perceives the paths taken by each site-visitor as they extract information from any given document. Links will continue to provide pathways for search spiders to pursue however the enormous weight applied to links is likely to wane in importance over the coming months.
Source: Jim Hedger has written a widely read search marketing column for over five years. Co-host of Webcology on WebmasterRadio.FM, Jim is a writer and SEO consultant with Metamend Search Engine Marketing in Victoria BC.View all articles by Jim Hedger
The Benefits of Using an Illogical "Anything goes approach" to your keyword researchThis article by John Alexander has just made him my hero. I cannot tell you how many times I try to explain to 'clients' that generic keyword phrases may seem best but really are not the way to go, and thinking 'outside' the box will actually net them more success. Wasted words it seemed until John was able to write it down, and as he is one of 'the best in SEO'. maybe those 'clients' will now beleive me! I have been proved right...Thanks John Alexander!
by: By John Alexander
In our everyday life as mature adults, we find value in approaching things with a logical thinking process. We choose to formulate ideas and thoughts that "make the most sense" and contribute to what we are trying to achieve. For most things in life, the more logical planning you do, the better results you will obtain.
For most aspects of living our lives, using a logical approach delivers much better results than taking an illogical approach. Performing certain tasks in a methodical, step by step approach only makes sense, especially in cases where you are taking specific actions to reproduce a certain result over and over again.
However, the process we refer to as keyword research is one place where we can benefit by taking more of an anything goes approach for research. If logic rules in your research (which for most of us it naturally does,) then you often discover the same keyword phrases that any other logical person might be guessing at or researching.
But true research, is not limited to guessing at things but is better thought of in terms of:
"a process of exploring existing data for the hottest and freshest trends in search behavior."
Good research technique allows the researcher to discover many different trends that the casual guesser will never even notice.
Every time I write another article describing examples of high KEI (Keword Effectiveness Index) type phrases, it does not take long before people jump on the examples and naturally start using them. So by the time you read these examples the data may have changed, but the reason I share these tips is to help you research your data more effectively using a tool like Wordtracker.
Don't just limit yourself to the examples, but dig in and try exploring data for your own industry specific phrases.
Taking one of the oldest examples like "baby names" you might think after this time that people have worn it out. The original article I wrote talked about how soon to be parents love to use the Internet to research baby names. Therefore, by offering such a resource in a baby clothes or baby furniture Web site you could attract "soon to be parents" to the Web site based on what a specific audience wants to find. They may want to research what they will call their child but end up realizing that there are other things for sale that they need here too.
The examples I gave years ago are getting fairly competitive, so let's give you some new examples:
"Baby boy names" has about 419,000 competing pages on Google at the time of this article.
"unique baby names" has about 131,000 competing pages on Google at the time of this article.
"uncommon baby names" has at least 40,000 competing pages on Google.....
And people begin to panic and say, oh well, so much for this strategy....all the baby name keywords have been used up. But let's not jump to conclusions so fast.
How about some of these searches:
"Traditional English Baby Names has only 8 competing pages and a KEI of 55.0
"modern baby names" has only 755 competing pages and a KEI of 205.0
"Old south baby names" has only 60 competing pages and a KEI of 336.1
"Southern Female Names" has only 136 competing pages and a KEI of 339.0
"Colonial baby names" has only 2 competing pages and a KEI of 480.5
It took me less than 2 minutes to find these phrases, based on one simple action. But once you are on to it, you will expand your keyword research ability by several thousand times.
When performing comprehensive research inside the members area of Wordtracker, people tend to go with keywords that make sense logically. This is only natural since for most of us, we want to guess at terminology that makes the best sense. People often tend to only want to enter into Wordtracker, the most logically descriptive terms instead of taking a little broader "anything goes" approach to their research.
TIP: To find the terms above in just a few minutes, I did not research the keyword phrase "baby names." I narrowed it down to the single word "name" and allowed Wordtracker to instantly show me how that word is being used in multiple phrases.
When you attempt to research a specific phrase that is lodged in the front of your mind, you are limiting the results you will see to those that using that exact two word combination together. In the meantime, there could be hundreds of searches being done that you will never ever see or find, because you are logically guessing at a specific phrase that you ***think*** may be important. By using a single word, you are going to get a much wider cross section of keywords and understand exactly how they are being used by the searcher within the last 90 days.
Many people take the approach of checking all of the keywords that make the most logical sense, rather than using a root word that is not illogical or not the most obvious. Let's go through a few more quick examples to show you how to do research that will open up all kinds of new windows for discovery.
Suppose you are an affiliate marketer who has Web site around the topic of lighting. Maybe you are trying to find interesting keywords based on low compete counts for words like lamp, lighting, light bulbs etc.
Of these primary keywords that first come to mind, what would be an interesting single root word to go exploring Wordtracker data with?
None of these suggestions would be wrong to check out, but let's use this as an example to find a product that we could sell from our informational affiliate site.
Would you use a word like light or lighting or lamp or light bulbs?
The first few words jump off the page at you because they are logical and make sense, right. Let's go exploring with the single term "bulb." It is still logical to a degree, but it is not the first thing you probably thought of.
Rather than listing all of the words I found.....such as:
"Inground pool light bulb"
"Fluoresent light bulb containers"
"Sunwave light bulb"
"Fibre optic light bulb replacement"
Let me say that it was not until about 260 words in the list that the competing counts were above 20. In other words, there are literally over 200 keyword phrase combinations I found in about 3 minutes.
TIP: Have you thought about exploring single terms that are on Wordtracker's top 1000 busiest words within the last 90 days?
TIP: Have you thought about purchasing a report from Wordtracker of the top 20,000 busiest keywords and use that list to quickly sort through the hottest busy data within the last 90 days.
Try and take the broadest anything goes approach to research and test ordinary everyday terms. The boring little terms that most people assume have no value. Don't be in a rush to try and research multiple terms, but start with a single word. Most of want to think of a solution and then explore data to find a keyword that relates to that solution.
TIP: Try it backwards. Stop thinking of the solution first, but explore the data to find a need. Once you find a need of your searching audience, then dig into a solution at that point.
Example of exploring an everyday boring word:
The word I am just grabbing to demonstrate this anything goes approach is the word out of my last sentence. I am thinking about the word "everyday." I think I'll just shorten it to the word "day." How boring is that? Do you think we'll discover anything even remotely useful with a word like "day?" Let's try it out:
Father's Day E-cards KEI 432.6
30 day free trial Websites KEI 784.0
History of Patriot's Day KEI 1700.0
Daylight Savings Time Map KEI 1762.0
labor day travel KEI 1859.0
So we see some very interesting search terms that carry nice potential for a variety of applications. In just a few seconds we've learned about several words and exactly how they are being formed to create exact search phrases that could be helpful in any number of scenarios.
I hope this is enough to get you thinking more open mindedly about the process of keyword research. There is a wealth of data that can be instantly tapped into and made use of.
For more Wordtracker articles, please see this page. About John Alexander> John Alexander is Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses. John is author of an e-book called Wordtracker Magic and has taught SEO skills to people from 87 different countries world wide. John's articles can be read in publications like REALTOR Magazine, Search Engine Guide, WEBpro News and many others.
How To Optimize Your E-Commerce Site For Top Search Engine Rankings
A very well explained and detailed article that is well worth the read. This is by Yaro Starak
People who run e-commerce sites - sites that are focused on making sales of a product - have a history of great difficulty when it comes to search engine optimization. We are told to build links to improve search engine rankings, yet why would a person link to a site that is essentially a glorified shopping cart?
One of the most common ways that e-commerce store owners have gone about an SEO campaign is to add a content component to their site, hoping to attract links for the content, which in turn will raise the overall ranking of the entire domain. Unfortunately this tactic tends to impact the ability of the e-commerce site to do what it is meant to do - make sales - because the addition of content creates a “mixed message”, confusing visitors and reducing conversion.
Search engine traffic can be the difference between success and failure for many e-commerce sites, and since it’s free traffic, there isn’t a single store owner out there who wouldn’t want to capture top rankings. Many millionaires are created because of their ability to optimize for product related search terms in Google, Yahoo and MSN, so what is the secret to their success?
In this article I’m going to demonstrate one technique, a fairly extensive technique - a secret weapon - that search engine optimizers use to help one main site dominate rankings for both top level keywords and long tail phrases. This is powerful stuff, so if you own an e-commerce store or any website that you want to rank number one for a specific term, it’s time to pay attention!
Note I can’t take full credit for the ideas in this article. Most of what I am about to present to you comes from education I’ve gained from expert sources, such as the team at StomperNet, who have an automated system for their members to work together to implement what I am about to teach you, and also various presentations I’ve watched on DVD and in articles I’ve read at blogs, websites and in ebooks.
This is my interpretation, simplification and summarizing of what other people are currently teaching and implementing online today to raise their search engine rankings. This is cutting edge stuff - you won’t find too many people revealing techniques like this because they don’t want their competitors taking advantage. I hope no one comes after me after revealing this to you .
Prior Study
Before this article is going to make sense to you, you need at least a rudimentary understanding of search engine optimization (SEO). I suggest if you have not read my two part series on the The Top 8 Search Engine Optimization Techniques you go do so now. The articles will introduce you to some basic SEO principles, including a discussion of on-page SEO (internal elements of your website) and off-page SEO (external elements - other websites).
Off-page SEO is generally considered more difficult because you have to manipulate elements that other people control. It centers around your ability to generate links pointing to your site and this article specifically deals with how e-commerce sites can build high quality incoming links to raise rankings.
Related Categories
One of the key determinants of high search engine rankings is not just the number and quality of the links pointing to your site, but also the theme - the neighborhood that these sites live in. When talking neighborhoods online it’s all about categorization and niches. Your ideal outcome is to have sites that are relatively well ranked in related categories link to your e-commerce site, but as stated previously, there are not many enticements for a person who owns a niche content site to link an e-commerce site unless they are financial (paid links and affiliate programs).
If SEO is to work, links should be natural. It’s well known Google frowns upon links purchased purely for SEO sake and in most cases affiliate links do not pass on pagerank because of the structure of the links (although some affiliate programs have figured out ways around this).
Your goal if you want to push your e-commerce site up in the rankings, is to obtain links from sites in your neighborhood using organic methods.
Build Your Neighborhood
Advanced search engine optimizers conduct a process known as clustering to attract neighborhood links. To put it simply, clustering is a process were you own the neighborhood, but the search engines don’t realize it.
To establish a cluster you first have to build category-specific content sites, each existing independently and “owned” by an entity not related to your e-commerce site. There can’t be any public linkage between your e-commerce site and the niche content sites. That means all public information - domain records, company records - anything that a search engine could get a hold of and then realize that your e-commerce is related to the niche site, thus reducing the SEO value of links between the sites.
Here’s an example. If your e-commerce site sells gym equipment, then you could build a series of niche sites focused on topics like how to build muscle, dieting, strength training, athletics, sports, competitive weight lifting and other similar sites. You can branch out into niches that are not quite as specific as my examples, as what is considered in your neighborhood is quite broad. Topics such as male hair loss, dating, gay communities and other demographically related niches work too, as long as the theme is generally congruent.
Remember, this is not specifically about attracting traffic to your e-commerce site from the niche sites. While click-through traffic from your niche site neighborhood is certainly an added advantage, your goal here is to build up quality niche sites and use these to send links to your e-commerce site.
One Way Links
It’s critical to note the importance of one way links. Reciprocal linking has long been a beginner SEO technique, but frankly it doesn’t work, especially if your end goal is to dominate top level keyword phrases. If you want to rank highly you have to attract one way links from authoritative content sites and that’s exactly what this technique is all about.
If you can’t convince others content sites to link to your e-commerce site then you have to create content sites yourself and send links from these sites to your e-commerce site.
Step One: Build Independent Content Sites
Clearly this is not a task that can be accomplished in a matter of days or even weeks. You can outsource the creation of your sites and the content for the sites and then upload them to the web, but that is only half the equation. Next you have to build the niche sites into authority sites by attracting links to each niche site (yes there is a lot of link building in this method!).
Step Two: Market Your Niche Sites
The next step in the process is to go to work using all the usual tools of the trade to build links to your niche sites. Since each site is built on a niche content model, it should be easier to attract links. People link to content, not products in a shopping cart (well in most cases anyway), hence this is why you go to all the trouble of building completely independent content sites.
Given today’s social media dominated world, I would recommend using blogs for the niche content sites, build them up over time and then use them as the linking power source for your e-commerce site.
To build links to your niche sites you can use some or all of the following techniques, and this is far from a comprehensive list of options:
Article marketing
Social bookmarking (digg, propeller, reddit, del.icio.us, etc)
Social networking (facebook, linkedin, myspace, squidoo, etc)
Blog posts and comments
Content seeding
Forum posts
Video marketing
Podcasting
Publicity
And all the usual linkbait techniques out there. Some techniques are easy and can be automated, some take more time but bring in higher quality links.
In my opinion if you are in a hurry or you are very busy, I’d complete this process using one, or a combination of, these three methods:
1. Hire a professional blogger to handle each niche site and have them build up the site over time using as many of the techniques he or she is capable of implementing. This can be a costly option, but you only have to deal with one person per niche site.
2. Purchase sites outright that already have authority - By far the quickest method and there are hundreds of bargains out there, so it’s probably the cheapest method too, especially because you are buying sites for links and not revenue. See these articles for advice on buying websites -
Buying and Selling Websites The Ed Dale Way
How To Buy A Website And Flip It For Profit
How I Generate $1675 Per Month Passive Income From Buying Websites
3. Outtask to individuals to perform each marketing technique - This method is more specialized as you have one person, usually a freelancer in a country were the cost of labor is cheaper, perform each task. You hire someone to write articles, one person to do article marketing, another to post in forums, etc. There are also outsourcing companies that will perform these roles for you for a fee.
It all depends what systems you are prepared to work with and how much time you want to spend managing everything. If your e-commerce site is significant in scope and a few number one rankings would mean hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in sales, then hiring a person to oversee the development of your cluster network is a smart idea.
Here’s how the structure takes shape after you implement step two (note the circles represent only a small sample of the link building techniques you should apply):
Build A Massive Neighborhood
Now you have the basic structure of the cluster neighborhood method for optimizing a website. The next step is to go work and replicate this process many hundred or even thousand times over. If you want to dominate the search engines in a competitive industry - and most product categories are very competitive and will become more competitive over time - then your cluster network of sites must be extensive.
If your e-commerce site has many thousands of one way links from niche content sites perceived by search engines to be sites of quality, then it will be hard for the competition to beat you. Top level keyword phrases can bring to your e-commerce site thousands of daily visitors and despite the obvious work involved in establishing so many niche sites, the benefits are obvious.
Remember too that this is not a technically challenging venture, you simply need content and marketing. Automated processes can be set up to implement content creation and marketing for you and if you manage a serious online business, this is a process that you should expect will become mandatory for success online.
Opportunities For Entrepreneurs
The techniques in this article represent an opportunity for any budding entrepreneur who would like to help e-commerce businesses conduct SEO. Every step of the cluster site building process could be completed by an outsourcing service or business.
You can build niche sites for companies and/or conduct online marketing for the niche sites, delivering a comprehensive search engine optimization service. Combine niche-site creation with savvy link baiting methods and you have the formula for an industry leading search marketing firm - of course, that’s easier said than done!
One thing is clear, simply attracting links to one site may not be enough in the future if you want to dominate search results. Companies will go to work building huge networks of content sites that exist purely as anchors to help raise the profile of a few key income generating sites.
This does represent a fantastic opportunity for people who own niche sites as they may become the target of buyouts regardless of whether their sites are profitable or even revenue producing.
That is good news for all you niche bloggers out there - even if you don’t make big money today, you might pocket some nice cash when a company comes knocking at your door to buy your site just for the links and authority you have, further cementing the small business reality I discussed in one of my very early blog articles - You may never make real money until you sell your business!
Why is hidden text a problem?
What You Can Do To Get High Rankings On Google If You Have A Brand New Website
It's easier to get high rankings on Google with older websites than it is with new websites. Why is this so and what can you do to get high rankings on Google if you have a brand new website?
Why is it easier to get high rankings with older websites?
Brand new domain names are often used by spammers to make a quick buck. These spammers buy hundreds of domains, fill them with automatically created scraper content and hope to make some money with the ads that appear on these sites.
In addition, some webmasters use new domains to test new search engine spamming techniques.
As it is difficult for Google to find out whether a new domain can be trusted or not, Google invented a set of filters that downranks new websites until Google thinks that they can be trusted.
What can you do to overcome Google's filters for new websites?
It's very difficult to get high rankings before Google trusts your website. For that reason, do things that make your website trustworthy:
Start with the right keywords
It's not possible to get a top 10 ranking for highly competitive general search term such as "cars" for a new website. However, it is possible to get high rankings for terms such as "used car dealer atlanta".
It's not just easier to get high rankings for more specific search terms, these terms are also much more likely to convert to sales. Take some time to find the right keywords for your site.
Get links to your website
It is not possible to get high rankings on Google without good incoming links. Try to get as many links from related websites as possible. If the right websites link to your site then Google will trust your website more quickly.
Optimize your web pages
While more links to your website greatly increase your chance of getting high search engine rankings, you must also tell search engines for which search terms you want to have high rankings. Optimize the content of your web pages to make sure that Google lists your website for the right search terms.
Search engines should be able to parse the content of your web pages easily. Consider this when creating a new website from scratch.
Wait
A website that has been online for several years is much less likely to game Google's ranking algorithms than newer sites. For that reason, your Google rankings will also increase just by waiting (given that you followed the steps 1 to 3).
If you do it correctly, getting high search engine rankings for brand new websites is possible. It's important that you do the right things in the right order.
How Often Are You Updating Your Website?
