Seven Common Mistakes Beginning Bloggers Make

February 9th, 2010

Building a blog for your business is a great way to build search engine rankings and develop a following online. All leading online marketing experts agree that providing consistent, relevant and interesting information about your niche through a blog goes a long way to building trust with prospective customers.

But at one time, we were new at something and probably made mistakes along the way. Blogging is no different on that score.

So if you’re just beginning or interested in starting a blog for your small business, here are 7 common mistakes you must avoid if your goal is to turn your blog into a traffic generator and revenue source.

1. Never launching it

Perhaps the most common mistake people make. You write your first post or two while killing some time. They’re great, informative and focused…but they never make it online. You have to get started to finish, and it’s not a blog until you actually publish something online.

2. Using a sub-domain (ex. myblog.wordpress.com)

Another common mistake is simply going to a blogging platform like WordPress and TypePad and opening an account. These are great utilities for posting and managing your blog but if you’re going to the trouble of starting a blog in the first place, it’s worth your time and money to invest in your own domain that you control from the beginning. It’s very difficult to change later on.

3. Spending too much time on design

Many blogs never get launched because the owner spends the majority of their blogging time worrying about design. Looks are great, but the core purpose of a blog is relevant content. Besides, you can easily change the design later on so focus on creating great content instead.

4. Not telling anyone about it

In a blog’s infancy, no one knows about it. There are no links to it and search engines are not ranking you, perhaps not even indexing it. Therefore, the only way to get traffic to it is through direct contact. Tell your friends online and in the flesh of your new blog and utilize social networks to spread the word.

5. Getting discouraged too early

Blogging is no different than most things in one regard – it takes time to build up to success. Give yourself at least six months and maybe even a year before suspending the blog for lack of traffic. It’s hard to get some momentum but once you do, good things start to happen.

6. Too many plugins and “blidgets”

Many bloggers make the mistake of loading their blog up with a bunch of bells and whistles without paying much attention to their content. Resist the temptation to do this and invest your time in content, comments and categories instead.

7. Monetizing too early

Search engines like Google make it pretty easy to throw some ads on your blog. If you’re serious, you need to focus on building an audience first and worry about monetization later. Posting ads for revenue too early will discourage people from looking at your blog long before you have built the critical mass needed to make any real money with it.

Blogging can be fun and rewarding but it takes time, as any real success does. Don’t be discouraged, keep working at it and your efforts will pay off in the long run.

*Subject for this post courtesy of HubSpot’s Blogging Team. Subscribe to their email listserv at http://www.hubspot.com/.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Online Marketing, Tip of the Day | No Comments »

Building Internal Link Structure after Google Indexes your Site

February 5th, 2010

Just what is the best way to unveil a new or vastly expanded site to the world? What I mean by “best way” is the best method for achieving high search engine rankings quickly.

There’s no universal way to answer that question. Every SEO/SEM has their own strategies that they implement, test and tweak. Simply throwing something up there and forgetting about it is a terrible idea.

But an interesting way of rolling out a new or renovated site was explored on a recent WebMasterWorld discussion thread. A senior member of the community, Wheel, is expanding a site he manages from 21 to approximately 5,000 pages. He’s looking to take a new approach to rolling out his site – let Google index all of it up front then go back and use Google and the site command to determine which pages to internally link to.

A popular SEO tactic is linking to other pages in a website from popular keywords. This gives you added boost in the search engines for that keyword phrase.

What’s different about Wheel is that he’s going to post all of his pages once and let Google go ahead and index them. He says he’s doing it this way because he has so much content that it would be impossible to sort through it all. Therefore, he will go ahead and get it all indexed then use his site command with keywords…[site: wheeldomain.com keyword+here]… to find the pages that contain that specific word(s) he wants to rank for. He will then choose the strongest pages and link to other pages on the site with that keyword.

Interesting method indeed, which drew mixed response in the forum since this method may initially seem backwards to most search engine optimization professionals. Some say Google will degrade his site outright while others think it will be wise to unveil the site in bits and pieces rather than all at once.

One reply to Wheel’s question at the bottom is pretty interesting – I suggest taking a look at it.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Forum Watch, SEO Technology | No Comments »

SEO ‘Local Search’ Revolution upon Us

February 3rd, 2010

Often dubbed “the new YellowPages” by techies and SEO professionals, local search through Google Maps is one form of online marketing that’s slated to see astronomical growth in the next few years…it’s even perhaps a revolution of sorts in waiting with the casualty being the fabled phone book and YellowPages.

Think about it…how often do you search for local businesses using your phonebook anymore?

But going forward, people won’t be using their computers to search for local businesses online. No, they’ll be using their SmartPhone – Blackberry, IPhone and more. And 2010 will see a plethora of new SmartPhones sweeping the market from all major service providers.

What’s the consequence of this? For any local business that relies on YellowPages to advertise their business, it means a shift in how people find them. If their listing doesn’t appear in Google Maps and online, they will be missing out on a lot of opportunities.

To illustrate, a recent training course at Planet Ocean witnessed a demo of the power and ease of Google Maps’ smartphone utility. A 35-year old attendee used his phone to access Google Maps and search for orthodontist in the area he was located – all possible because most smartphones come equipped with a GPS tracking device.

Therefore, all he had to do was enter the keyword into the search and the device automatically displayed locations of orthodontists closest to his current location – along with directions on how to get there!

And these listings come equipped with customer reviews and other relevant information for making a buying decision!

The moral of the story is this – smartphones are in actuality mobile computer devices jam-packed with features one would normally not associate with a “phone”. Could this be the newest “gold rush” to hit the U.S.? In the real gold rush in Alaska in the late 19th century, real fortunes were made not in gold, but selling the tools to mine for gold.

So if you’re in search of opportunities in online marketing and SEO, it would behoove you to consider local search and how your business must be able to harness it or lose out to more prepared competitors.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Online Marketing, SEO Technology, Tip of the Day | No Comments »

Upcoming Webinar from Channel Intelligence – How to Win in 2010

February 2nd, 2010

SEO Advantage partner firm Channel Intelligence, a retail marketing consultant from Orlando, is announcing their first webinar for the new year, How to Win in 2010.

In addition to providing insight into what you can expect for the online retail market this year, CI will outline the strategies that brought success to their retail clients in the toughest economic climate in 26 years.

Despite the worst recession in a generation, CI clients not only survived but thrived. CI’s upcoming webinar will break down the strategies and tactics that were successful in the face of a severe economic contraction. CI will also present some common pitfalls you should avoid.

Other insights to be covered include: which tactics and strategies met with success across various shopping channels in 2009, which channels brought the biggest results, how retailers used re-targeting display ad campaigns to their advantage, and the best performing retail products and categories in 2009.

CI’s How to Win in 2010 webinar will take place next Thursday, February 11th from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM EST.  Please visit https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/828722376 to register today.

Tags:
Posted in Online Marketing | No Comments »

7 Tips for Generating More Website Traffic and Profits with a Press Release

February 1st, 2010

Optimizing press releases for the search engines can give your website a big boost in traffic and profits – if it’s formatted and presented correctly.

Press releases don’t need to be exclusively about big news events at your company only but rather serve as a vehicle to notify the public of recent developments at your company like a product launch or change in staffing.

Continue reading for 7 steps you can employ to generate a surge in traffic for your website with a press release optimized for the search engines.

1. Keep it short

Keep your press release short and to the point, generally between 400 and 500 words. Most news sites will not accept a press release that’s long winded. Press releases should serve as a brief synopsis of the topic at hand that includes a link to where the reader can learn more.

2. Write it yourself

If you feel comfortable writing and English is your first language, you can write it yourself without much difficulty. Just follow some successful examples as a guide on formatting, etc. Reading tips about structure and format can help but it won’t match what looking at one in the flesh will do. If you’re not comfortable writing it yourself, consider hiring a firm that specializes in online copywriting or a freelancer.

3. Write a headline that grabs attention

Headlines serve as a preview for the reader, foreshadowing what the press release is about. Therefore, it’s important the headline grabs the reader’s interest so they will continue reading. After all, it’s well known in the copywriting world that many people do not actually read things online word for word.

Titles are also a great opportunity to place strong keywords that will draw the attention of search engines.

4. Get the reader hooked in the first sentence(s)

You have a narrow window of opportunity to draw the reader into reading the rest of your press release. Keep it simple in the beginning by simply stating what you’re going to talk about and why it should be important to them. But beware of using too many adjectives and adopting a sales tone as press releases are actually news stories. Editors and news services will ignore your press release and it will receive no exposure if it is too sales-y.

And strategically place keywords throughout the body of your press release to garner more attention from the search engines.

5. Be accurate with your statements

Be sure that information you include in your press release is factual and verifiable. Erroneous information will harm your credibility, perhaps permanently damaging your credibility. Therefore, facts should be presented in a clear and concise manner and be easily verifiable by the reader.

6. Make your press release stand out from the rest

Press releases don’t have to be completely boring. There are ways you can format it to appeal to more readers and the search engines. Finding a hook to make the reader desire more information will accelerate the progress of your press release.

7. Distribute your press release to different outlets

There are many outlets to distribute your press release besides posting it on your website. To get the most traffic and profits from your PR, you need to spread it around. There’s no telling how far a press release can go once it’s viral. Check out our articles on free and paid press release distribution in our search engine optimization knowledge center for more.

Social networking sites like StumbleUpon, Digg and Twitter are great ways to let the world know about your company’s news. Link to the PR or post it on these kinds of sites too for additional traffic.

A constant stream of well prepared, optimized press releases can be a boon to your site’s rankings and traffic. Harnessing these steps when you’re preparing a press release will help you maximize your online marketing potential.

Posted in Online Marketing, SEO Technology, Tip of the Day, Writing for search engines | No Comments »

Some Thoughts on Google’s New Personalized Search Results Strategy

January 29th, 2010

WARNING – We’re going to stray a bit from SEO today and venture a little bit into the philosophical.

However, it goes without saying that Google’s new personalized search strategy is making waves among search engine optimization experts. How will personalization for anyone using Google, not just members logged into their accounts, affect the search results they see?

Answers to this question and many others like what this new feature means for websites who use organic search marketing channels will probably take a bit of time to answer.

Google has maintained user history for quite some time now – installing a “cookie” on a user’s web browser, which logs your searches with the engine. Now, they are taking this data to personalize your search results without your knowledge up front. While the cookies can be disabled on your browser and the personalization setting disabled in Google itself, most users and clients won’t take the time to do it since they probably don’t understand what’s going on in the first place.

One webmaster/SEO discussing the topic on a forum says it’s not an easy task to keep Google search history turned off – once this user turned his Google search history off, it somehow was turned back on without his knowledge.

Which is what leads to so much concern about this change – a user’s privacy and how it is compromised with this sort of policy – a big concern among webmasters and SEOs to say the least, as evidenced by a discussion on Google’s change at WebMasterWorld.

What are the implications on one’s privacy with a move like this? Before, users had to “opt-in” for personalized search results. They could request this personalization if they wanted to. Now, it’s “opt-out”…so now unsuspecting web users are having their prior search history and location dictate the results they see.

Not only does this carry consequences for privacy, it also can limit what someone sees. Now, their access to all available sources will be limited to what Google thinks they want to see, not what they need to see necessarily…a new precedent indeed.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Forum Watch, SEO Technology | No Comments »

Do Not “Over-Optimize” – Monitor Keyword Density to Avoid Exclusion from Search Engine Results

January 27th, 2010

We’ve probably made scant mention of it here before but it’s an important concept to understand on its own, and that is proper keyword density.

In 2003, Google did a major update to its ranking algorithms. SEOs refer to this as the “Florida update,” as it marks the day when search engine optimization became difficult. Before November ’03, SEOs would simply say you should liberally use keyword phrases on your pages. The Florida update changed all of this.

Now, web pages that use keywords too aggressively are filtered out of search results altogether (Matt Cutts explains a little more in the video below)

“Over-optimization” describes over-use of keywords in your site’s copy. Not only does excessive keyword use get your site filtered out of search results, it makes your copy look unprofessional to readers. Most people who see a web page with the same phrase in every sentence won’t take it too seriously.

Instead, modify keywords and use variations of your main phrase in your site’s copy. Four ways you could accomplish this include: singular vs. plural forms of keywords, use synonyms, add relevant modifiers and change the order of the words.

There are tools available to help you find different variations of the same keyword phrase. Take advantage of these tools from Quintura, Google and/or Bing to research different ways you can phrase keywords.

There’s also a very easy way to locate extra keyword phrases and that is when you are typing your main phrase into Google, search suggestions appear below the input bar. You can diversify your keyword phrases with these suggestions for a quick solution.

Either way, do not over-optimize, that is use the same keyword phrase on a page too many times. Your readers will pick up on it and your site will get in trouble with the search engines. While we can’t tell you a magic number, read your copy as if you’re an outsider. You should be able to tell pretty easily what’s too much and what isn’t.

For more tips on maximizing keyword usage without destroying your copy’s flow, take a look at 11 Steps to Increasing Keyword Saturation while Maintaining Valuable Content in the search engine optimization knowledge center today.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in SEO Technology, Tip of the Day, Writing for search engines | No Comments »

Organic Search Continues Its Upward Trajectory

January 25th, 2010

It’s always interesting to see the trends in marketing online. How are people looking for information online?

For me, it continues to be a Google search using keyword phrases that closely describe what I’m looking for. I find searches like these to be very useful most of the time and if not, I can tweak the words I’m using to find what I’m looking for.

So it’s no surprise to me that organic search continues to be a preferred means of locating information online – and growing too.

According to new data from comScore, over 131 billion searches were conducted worldwide in December, 2009, a 46% increase over December ‘08. Searches in the U.S. alone grew by 22%, despite the country’s now two-year old recession.

And the U.S. continues to be the largest country on Earth when you consider online searches. While growth for 2008-2009 was much larger in countries like Russia (92%), France (61%) and Brazil (53%), the U.S. still accounts for the lion’s share of online searches.

So where do these searches originate from?

Well as we’ve reported here, Google still handles the majority of online searches – over 67% in December, 2009 with 58% growth between 12/2008 and 12/2009. And not just search engines are included in this list, which reflects a large number of searchers who go beyond the “core” search engines Google, Yahoo and Bing. Ebay came in 5th with 2.1 billion searches, growing by 58% year-over-year. Facebook handled 1.6 billion searches, a 43% increase year-over-year.

Data like this underscores the importance of optimizing websites for the search engines. It’s clear that an increasing number of Internet users rely on organic search to find what they’re looking for online.

How do you locate information online?

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Online Marketing, SEO Technology | No Comments »

Best Practices and SEO Don’t Mix Too Well!

January 22nd, 2010

I’m pretty sure I’ve used the phrase “best practices” here on the search engine optimization e-blog a time or two and now feel like kicking myself for doing so.

Intuitively, best practices don’t make any sense in the SEO profession.

Best practices grew out of organizational management techniques that became popular in the mid-to-late ‘90s. The idea was that certain groups who achieve “best practices” could then teach those practices to the entire organization.

From a practical point of view that makes sense…but in order for “best practices” to work in a strategic sense, the environment must be relatively static and homogenous…two characteristics online marketing & SEO don’t have at all.

Something that works today may be obsolete by the middle of next week in this business.

Instead of working under a static rule set that’s worked in the past for something (old) and has been popularized (is average), which is what best practices essentially are, use metrics to experiment with what works and what doesn’t.

It’s appealing to think there’s a magic formula of best practices you can employ and then just sit back and watch the sales come in.

But the Internet, you and your competitors are constantly changing.

In the end, “best practices” can offer the value of a good starting point to begin experimentation but nothing more. Establishing a good feedback loop and basing your decisions on results of your experimentation means you will go much farther than just re-hashing someone else’s “best practices” plan.

Focus on your business and be ready to constantly modify what works and what doesn’t.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Online Marketing, SEO Technology, Tip of the Day | No Comments »

Should SEO Firms Guarantee Rankings?

January 20th, 2010

One question that those of us in the search engine optimization profession constantly wrestle with is whether to provide prospective clients with a ranking guarantee. Many firms will not budge without that guarantee, which makes a SEOs life even that much more problematic.

Forum discussion at Crea8site illustrates the dilemma.

As optimizing websites for the search engines becomes more complex and personalized search options from Google and Bing gain more popularity, viewing success through the prism of search engine rankings alone can be disastrous. The science of SEO has evolved way beyond simple keywords and listings.

Actual traffic and conversions are the important considerations but traffic is the only thing the SEO can realistically do. Without traffic and conversions, your clients will eventually become frustrated and stop investing in their website.

In order to make a SEO firm/client relationship work, each party needs to work in tandem on pricing, rankings, content, service, etc. to get maximum yield from their investment.

Read the forum for more and check out our article in the search engine optimization knowledge center on looking for a SEO firm to grow your online presence.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in SEO Technology, Tip of the Day | No Comments »

Online Copywriting Much Different Than Conventional Writing Methods

January 15th, 2010

A big part of optimizing websites for the search engines involves content. Not only does keyword-rich content attract the attention of search engines, online readers and shoppers seek informative resources to aid in their purchasing decisions.

Therefore, online content is an invaluable part of both marketing online and search engine optimization. So what’s the difference between writing standard sales letters, essays and other items versus writing online?

First is the mindset – online readers skim pages looking for the information they need. Hard copy readers are generally more leisure in their reading, spending more time on each page. In a fundamental way, each type of reader interacts with the piece in much different ways.

Remember receiving direct mail pieces in your snail mail box? What the envelope said and who it was from was a big factor in determining whether you opened it up and read it.

Online copy on the other hand has other factors at work – like the title. First, readers look at a title and if it entices them enough, they’ll continue reading. Next, Google focuses on the first 65 characters looking for keywords. Therefore, online copy has to have both a title that draws a reader’s interest and contains keywords for Google to index.

Continuing into the body, online copywriters have to consider different elements than traditional sales letters and other hard copy mediums don’t. Keyword density and calls to action are just a couple. Also, online writers should consider shorter paragraphs, bullet points and other ways to format the document’s layout to make reading easy, especially for blogs.

And online copy is generally much shorter – a typical article is around 600-800 words, typical blog posts range anywhere from 200 to 500 words. So, a call to action including keywords (not too many keywords though as this is a red flag to search engines and readers) has to be done in a much smaller space.

Keep these things in mind when writing for online mediums…and remember it’s much different than hard copy mediums. Articles, blogs and even press releases have to factor in these kinds of issues in order for them to achieve maximum success.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Online Marketing, Tip of the Day, Writing for search engines | No Comments »

9 Do’s and Don’ts of Building a Social Bookmarking Network

January 13th, 2010

Developing a strong presence on social networking and bookmarking sites doesn’t involve complex formulas or algorithms. Sure, sites like Digg and Reddit have algorithms but it would behoove you to focus on the 2 major pillars of success on these sites – great content and a network of users to promote it – rather than focusing on racing to the front page.

Building your network involves more than just adding users to your friends list. Participation is required and is how you get noticed. Voting for, spreading and commenting on other users’ content shows you’re willing to work hard and contribute to the community.

Keep reading for a basic outline of 9 do’s and don’ts of building your social bookmarking networks online.

1. DO friend, IMvite and follow power users but DON’T become a pest

The best place you can start building your social media presence is by making friends with power users. They have literally hundreds, if not thousands of friends and a vote on your content from them can often translate into additional votes from their followers.

But remember, people are busy. They don’t have time to digg, vote or retweet 100 links a day or have time for juvenile questions like “How many diggs does it take to hit page one?” Be sure you vote on their content and they will eventually take notice.

2. DO participate in the SOCIAL part of social bookmarking but DON’T be a troll

Commenting and participating in conversations on social networking sites isn’t so much about being social as much as it’s about being noticed and showing you take time to look at other’s submissions.

But don’t be too controversial and don’t reply to something just to disagree. You can be funny but not everyone shares your sense of humor so be careful.

3. DO embrace multiple social networks but DON’T spread yourself too thin

There are literally thousands of social media networks and instant messaging utilities out there. Joining multiple social bookmarking sites like Digg and Reddit is a great way to expand your reach. Manage your time wisely though. Creating and maintaining a profile is a lot of work so don’t spread yourself too thin.

4. DO submit content from community favorite sites but DON’T submit commercial content

When you’re a part of a social bookmarking community like Digg or Reddit, it’s likely you will notice certain sites producing outstanding content on a regular basis since they’re always on the front page. Being the first to submit new content from these sites is a great way to get noticed.

On the other hand, submitting content that has no place in the community you’re in is one of the sure-fire ways to fail at social bookmarking. If you appear as a marketer, folks will vote your stuff down and remove you as a friend. Be sure what you’re promoting is worthy of votes!

5. DO submit content from a variety of sites but DON’T consistently submit content from a single site or short list of sites

This may seem obvious but a lot of people will only submit their own content and occasionally make comments on or vote on other stuff. This is a red flag that you’re only in it for the marketing, which is something you don’t want to look like.

The best way to avoid looking like a marketer is to submit articles, etc. from a wide variety of websites.

6. DO sign in, vote up, retweet and comment regularly. DON’T leave huge lapses of activity in your account(s)

One of the keys to successful marketing through social bookmarking sites is being a regular. Taking too much time away could mean all of your hard work going to waste. It’s not that you can’t take a well deserved vacation. But the more available you are to vote and spread submissions of others, the more influence you will have in pushing your own stuff.

7. DO perform favors for your friends but DON’T ask for too much without giving something back

Help your friends out and they’ll help you! Don’t wait to vote up or retweet your friend’s submissions. If you go out of your way for them, the more likely they’ll do the same for you.

Don’t ask too much without giving something in return and if you ask someone to vote or retweet something, be sure it’s top quality content. Eventually, people will avoid or ignore you altogether if it’s not.

8. DO act like a human being, DON’T act like a computer or robot

The purpose of social media is to be “social”, not just amass hundreds of friends in some desperate attempt to look important. If you’re trying to get content out to as many people as possible, you need to act like a real person. Be friendly and have conversations with others online from time to time.

9. DO keep at it and DON’T give up

Like anything, building a network for social bookmarking sites takes a lot of time and hard work. You don’t have to spend all day everyday on social media to be successful. But you need to find a routine you’re comfortable with and stick with. Persistence is the key to success.

To learn more about developing a strong social networking presence, read Building Social Bookmarking Networks 101 from Search Engine Journal.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Online Marketing, Tip of the Day | No Comments »

Where Does Site Traffic Come From?

January 11th, 2010

Of all the online marketing channels – organic search/SEO, referrals and PPC – where does the majority of traffic to a site originate from?

Does someone do a search on Google using keyword phrases to search for the products and/or services you offer online?

Or, are they referred to your site from an online directory like YellowPages or Google Maps? Or, do they see your PPC or social network ad?

Data recently compiled at HubSpot definitively proves that organic search is the primary driver of traffic to websites – which underscores the importance of them being search engine friendly. From the survey of 2,100 of its customers, the company shows that site traffic coming from online searches is 67.2% greater than from referral sites and 156% greater than PPC.

They further break the data down by industry – traffic from search engines is much higher in manufacturing, medicine/health services and retail. Referrals play a more important role in other industries like technology, software and online marketing but still does not exceed online search as a primary source of traffic.

So from this data, it really depends on your industry in determining what you allocate to each of these online marketing areas.

In terms of organic search and SEO, Google is by far the most popular search engine still, handling 71% of online searches this past November according to Hitwise. The two closest were Yahoo! at 15% and Bing at 9%.

It’s clear though – having a website optimized for the search engines is key to driving traffic.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Online Marketing, SEO Technology, Site Architecture | 3 Comments »

Benefits of Installing Site Search on your Website

January 8th, 2010

As the Internet has evolved over the years, websites have grown more complex. You don’t need me to tell you that many websites contain a wealth of information on their respective niches.

And with the advent of social networking and other means of finding and disseminating information, web users are growing ever pickier about the websites they visit. That’s why installing site search on your site is an important step in building search engine rankings and boosting conversion rates.

There’s many reasons why more site visitors are immediately going to a site search to find information on a website. These include confusing navigation, cluttered design and even pure impatience. In fact, studies suggest that a person will leave a site if the search function is poor or not there around 80% of the time.

But site search has even more benefits for webmasters and SEO professionals. With the proper analytical tools, site owners can get a lot of information about their site visitors and how they navigate around their site. You can transform your site into a “customer centric” from a static “one size fits all” approach.

Take a look at our newest article in the search engine optimization knowledge center regarding the benefits of site search and stay tuned to the SEO-e blog for recommendations on good site search tools you can easily purchase for your website.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Online Marketing, SEO Technology, Site Architecture | 1 Comment »

Use Caution with Session IDs and Dynamic URLs

January 6th, 2010

In order for a spider to crawl your website and index it in the search engines effectively, the web address or URL for your webpages should be as simple as possible.

As we’ve discussed in the past, sites with static URLs that are simple are crawled and indexed much more efficiently than those containing dynamic characters and session Identifiers.

Session IDs are most common in ecommerce sites and are embedded in a URL so the website can track their customers from page to page and they are used keep track of items in a customer’s shopping cart. But these IDs cause problems for search engine spiders because they create a large number of links for the spider to crawl. This can create a situation where the search engine indexes essentially the same page over and over. Search engines like Google refer to it as a ‘spider trap’.

Below are a couple of examples of how session IDs can give the appearance of an endless number of pages within a single site. A spider coming to your website may find a page with the following URL:

http://www.yoursite/shop.cgi?id=dkom2354kle03i

This page gets indexed but when the spider returns later to look for new content, it finds the following:

http://www.yoursite/shop.cgi?id=hj545jkf93jf4k

This is actually the same page as before, just with a different special session ID but the spider sees it as a brand new URL. Because of this confusion, search engine spiders are programmed to avoid pages containing these session IDs.

While Google and others are trying to improve their ability to crawl URLs with session IDs, it’s best to avoid them whenever possible. It’s best to avoid them until you absolutely must track what a customer is doing, like when they start adding items to their shopping cart.

It’s also possible to store session IDs in cookies rather than URLs. Changing this may require the expertise of a web programmer though.

The gist of the story is this – the more dynamic variables in a URL, the more difficult it will be for search engines to index your pages. To maximize your position in the search engines, use simple URLs that are easy to locate, crawl and index.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Site Architecture, Tip of the Day | No Comments »

Tracking Who’s Linking to Your Site

January 4th, 2010

It’s a common building block of optimizing websites for the search engines – links to your site are an important part of a search engine’s algorithm and thus, where your site appears in a results page.

So suffice it to say that link building is an important part of optimizing a site for the search engines.

But how do you track sites that are linking to you?

Many webmasters and SEO professionals use different tools like Google Webmaster Tools, Yahoo! Site Explorer and others to track link building. Sadly, many of these tools are inaccurate and provide different results as expressed in this HighRankings Forum thread. The undependability of these tools is best stated by Rosemary, who says “one month Yahoo would show 10,000 inbound links and the next month only 300.”

Needless to say, it is difficult to rely on tools that you don’t know much about and have no control over fixing bugs and other malfunctions. And none of them are 100% accurate.

Especially if you do SEO work for other people, you need a way to track who and how many sites are linking to you…spreadsheets are one way to do this.

(Read our post Organize Link Building Campaigns with Excel Type Worksheets for more information on tracking link building efforts)

Many replies in the thread focused on spreadsheets and their usefulness in effectively communicating link building efforts to clients. Many SEOs, including us, use spreadsheets to track where and when someone links to a site we’re working on. Spreadsheets also provide accountability, which is impossible with online tools like Google Webmaster Tools.

One more thing to think about that was mentioned – one webmaster in the thread said they don’t focus much at all on link popularity but simply compare their site’s position to others in that niche. Perhaps this is a good way to think about link building since you’re shooting for high rankings in your niche keywords anyway.

Let us know your experiences with link building and tracking who’s linking to you and when.

Tags: , ,
Posted in SEO Technology, Tip of the Day | No Comments »

8 Predictions for SEO in 2010

December 30th, 2009

2009 is almost over and what a year it has been!

It’s been fun and a pleasure contributing to SEO-e over the course of the year. I’ve certainly learned a lot researching and writing posts on optimizing websites for the search engines and online marketing in an all-encompassing manner.

Along with our search engine optimization library, SEO-e communicates news, tips and best practices in a range of areas – SEO, copywriting, site architecture, current events at Google affecting webmasters, social media and more. We take a lot of pride in bringing you important information to optimize your site for the search engines in an easy-to-understand fashion.

We look forward to bringing you the best in 2010…now on to what we’re all here for!

Naturally, we all look forward with anticipation to what next year will bring. Our industry is constantly evolving so it’s absolutely necessary we look forward and see where we’re headed. Certainly in any effort, being malleable in adjusting your strategy to changing circumstances is a critical component of success.

Our friends over at SEOMoz recently compiled their 8 Predictions for SEO in 2010 where they share their insights into where the industry is headed. Some things are out – like real-time search at Google and Bing. Since its hastened introduction last month, reaction to it has been mostly negative. SEOs are concerned about the quality of content searchers bring up for instance.

But other things like personalized search are here to stay. It’s not clear what affect this will have on optimizing your site for the search engines but we’ll be sure you know when we learn something new.

There’s other developments in the search engine business world that’s going to affect us in 2010 as well, especially if the feds approve Bing and Yahoo’s proposed merger. We just might be referring to it as “Binghoo” this time next year.

But take a look at the 8 predictions and see what’s expected for 2010. And of course, check with us into the New Year for the latest events and tips on optimizing your site for the search engines.

Happy New Year!

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in SEO Technology, Tip of the Day | No Comments »

Google Personalizes Search Results for Everyone

December 28th, 2009

Late one recent Friday afternoon, Google made a big announcement that went largely unnoticed in the search engine world but could possibly have dramatic consequences for searchers and search engine optimization pros.

The change revolves around Google’s implementation of personalized search results for everyone – not only for Google members signed into their accounts.

Company engineers and officials claim the switch is designed to provide better and more relevant search results to their users. Google will now customize search results based on your search activity over the last 80 days. Users will know when Google has customized their results when they see a “view customizations” link in the top right of the search results – they can click on that link to see how Google has personalized their search results.

Users can opt out of this feature by making a couple of simple clicks as outlined in the video below.

Why is this a big change? Well up until now, Google and other search engines have by and large returned the same results to anyone using the same keyword phrase to search for something. Now, it will be much easier to return results Google thinks is more focused on what the searcher is looking for.

How does this affect SEO and does this mean that optimizing websites for search engines is dead?

Well, personalized search isn’t new and on some level, especially in geographic terms, it has been around for awhile. Searchers in Europe will likely see different results than searchers using the same term in the U.S.

Nevertheless, debate is fierce about how this is going to affect SEO and whether it’s a good change or not. Some think personalized search results are great for users while others think it will only return things people want to see and limit their access to all available sources. Others even think this isn’t big news at all and SEOs and webmasters are making much ado about nothing.

You can safely assume though that SEO is still needed just so you can have a shot at top search engine rankings – not having any optimization at all will definitely relegate your rankings to page 2 or lower.

We’ll keep you posted on anything we learn into the New Year about new personalized search features from Google and if there are any strategies you need to implement on your site to maintain high rankings.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Forum Watch, SEO Technology | No Comments »

Happy Holidays from SEO Advantage!

December 24th, 2009

We wanted to take a moment before we break for the Christmas holiday and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  We look forward to bringing you the latest and greatest in 2010!

(Don’t worry, we’re only taking the weekend off!)

Posted in SEO Advantage | No Comments »

What Extension Should I Choose for My Domain?

December 23rd, 2009

Choosing a domain name for your new website is the first step to developing your online brand and building rankings in the search engines.

But in addition to the domain name, you need to choose the domain extension as well – the .com, .net, .org, .biz or .info at the tail end of a web address.

In terms of ranking high in the search engines, .net or .org extensions are given equal weight. Plus, you are likely to find more domain names available with these extensions which can be purchased from their owners for a cheaper price than .com extension domain names.

.com extensions hold some advantages, mainly because of most web users’ familiarity with that domain extension. Not controlling the .com version of your domain means you could perhaps lose out on what’s called type-in traffic, or traffic that comes when a searcher types their query directly in their browser’s address bar.

Also, if someone else owns the .com version of your domain name, they can possibly bleed traffic from your site if people type in your domain with the .com extension. This is okay if your main goal is to rank high in the search engines but if you think this diversion of traffic will be a problem, be sure you can at least control the .com version of your name or choose another name altogether.

If you’re based or your target market is outside the United States, you can also consider country-specific domains like .co.uk (United Kingdom) or .co.in (India) for example. You will certainly garner an advantage in the search engines for people in the respective country performing search queries.

.info extensions are generally very cheap and abused by spammers, which is why they’re not recommended for building rankings in the search engines. The other domain extensions you’ve probably seen, .gov and .edu, are reserved exclusively for recognized educational institutions and agencies of the U.S. government.

Links from these sites though are extremely valuable.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in SEO Technology, Site Architecture, Tip of the Day | No Comments »

4 Places you can Spruce Up your Website to Get More Links

December 21st, 2009

As we know from here and our search engine optimization knowledge center articles, websites linking to you is a signal to the search engines that your site is important. The more links you have pointing to your site, especially from sites with higher PageRank, the higher your rankings in the search engines will be.

Creating great content for the purposes of getting links isn’t a new idea – search engine optimization experts have been talking about it for years but many small commercial sites still haven’t jumped on the bandwagon.

Why not? We could speculate all day long bit I imagine it probably has a lot to do with the fact that creating valuable content is a daunting task that requires a lot of research and time. But unless you offer a well known brand or have pics/videos that draw a lot of interest, you’re not going to get very far without it.

Fortunately, there are places on your website you can spruce up to get other sites linking to you. Four places you can reinvent on your site to get more links include:

Product pages

Product pages typically are not fertile link building grounds – most only contain prices, specs and not a lot of content. They’re usually contained on pages that have a dynamic URL – one factor that prevents search engines from even crawling the page!

Make product pages more linkable by focusing on 1 or 2 products at a time. Change them over to a static URL with unique content promoting your “featured product” of the month of something like this. Contact bloggers and other people in your niche market and ask them to write about your featured product and link to the page.

Company news page

Unless you’re a part of a big brand that’s unveiling a revolutionary product, most people don’t care what’s going on at your company. Stand to reason you’re not seeing much progress if you’re simply using your blog to write about internal company news. You need to engage your target audience!!

Use press releases and other avenues like blogs to announce company news that impacts people outside your company. Contests, awards the company is giving out, new products and services, etc. And don’t be shy – if you’re company has a good human interest story to tell, by all means do so.

Have a new job opening you’re trying to fill? Create a job openings page on your site and contact blogs, job sites and other social media networks to let them know.

Links page(s)

Most link pages you come across are simply thrown together…they welcome just about anybody to put a link there. Compiling a comprehensive list of useful resources for people or simply re-arranging what you already have can bring you hundreds of links.

Articles or Sales Pitches

If you have great content or articles purely for educational, reference or entertainment purposes, good for you!

But if you’ve never promoted it, then it’s still one step away from linkable. Share articles you’ve invested a lot of time in researching and writing. Research other sites in your niche and see what they’re putting up. Do you offer something new to the conversation?

If you don’t, that doesn’t necessarily mean you need to re-write everything but maybe all you need to do is add a different perspective or an analogy to make a complex subject more understandable for laymen.

While it takes time and a lot of work to build links to your site, it can pay off with persistence. But taking your old site, dusting it off and adding some shine can take it from static to a useful, and linkable, resource that people will follow.

Tags: , ,
Posted in SEO Technology, Tip of the Day | No Comments »

Bing Update – Webmaster Tools Not Accepting Sites with Hyphens and Spyder Crawling Sites Twice

December 18th, 2009

It’s been a little while since we’ve reported on anything involving Bing and how it’s functioning for webmasters and SEO professionals.

While Microsoft’s newest search engine has been gaining market share in online search since its inception, webmasters and SEOs have had to deal with some glitches. Here are two of the latest.

A few days ago, webmasters were reporting in Bing’s forum that the search engine’s webmaster tools utility was not accepting URLs with hyphens in them. This caught my attention since our URL for this blog has a hyphen along with our SEO firm’s homepage (http://www.seo-advantage.com/).

Fortunately for our homepage, if you enter the URL without a hyphen, you end up at the same place.

Technicians at Bing are working on the problem and may have resolved it already.

The other glitch causing headaches for webmasters and SEOs is the crawler for the search engine is crawling a page twice – once for its compressed version and the other time for the uncompressed version.

Comments in the Bing forum complain that this is a waste of bandwidth and defeats the purpose of HTTP compression. An older thread from WebMasterWorld discusses image indexing by search engines and that possibly being a cause of the problem.

While Bing says they are working on the problem, there is no confirmation on when it will be resolved.

Stay tuned for any further updates to these issues or any technical issues with Bing.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Forum Watch, SEO Technology | No Comments »

5 Basic Elements of Good Web Copywriting

December 16th, 2009

As you know – especially if you’ve read us in the past – web copywriting and content are one of the main pillars to successfully marketing your products and services online.

Thus, it’s invaluable to learn good web copywriting skills or hire someone (either full-time or freelance) that’s good at the craft.

Web copywriting is an art but has some key elements that can help you learn that art. While it takes time to master the art of web copywriting, there are some fundamentals you can learn to continually improve your craft. Continue reading for the 5 basic elements of good web copywriting.

Your Headline

Web surfers generally move very fast – many will simply read a title/headline and use that to determine whether they will read more. It’s all about drawing their interest to continue reading.

The title of this post for instance “5 Basic Elements of Good Web Copywriting” is simple to understand and helps solve a problem. People looking for tips on web copywriting certainly will look forward to reading more.

Introductory Copy

Copy in your introductory paragraph(s) need to reinforce the title/headline. It must maintain one’s interest to continue reading. The intro paragraph for this post for example expands a little on the importance of good web copywriting skills in marketing your business online, which leads us too…

Benefits

Web copywriting would be remiss without mentioning benefits – or how your product/service solves a problem for the reader. Remember, with inbound marketing like you see online, it’s more likely someone who makes their way to your website is looking for what you offer. Therefore, they don’t want to hear about how your product is better than the rest but rather what benefits your product brings and how it solves a real world problem for them.

Call to Action

Perhaps one the most important elements of good web copywriting – a call to action that tells the reader what to do next. It would be sad if you were successful in piquing one’s interest all the way through your home or landing page just for them to give up and leave because they don’t know what to do.

Phrases like “Click here to order now” or “continue reading to learn more” – things like that – are what you want to include in any sales type environment. Especially in a blog like this or an informational article, a call to action is also suitable at the end of your intro.

Assurances

Last but not least, prospects will not become customers in larger numbers if there aren’t any assurances that you’re legitimate. Things you can do to make buyers feel more comfortable include: displaying a secure server logo, your picture, your contact information and/or a guarantee. This reinforces that your site, business, products and services are legitimate and makes prospects more comfortable that they are not wasting their hard earned money.

These 5 elements are some of the basics of mastering the art of good web copywriting but it’s a continual learning process.

Learn more about good SEO/web copywriting in the search engine optimization knowledge center from SEO Advantage today!

Tags: , ,
Posted in Online Marketing, Writing for search engines | No Comments »

Successful Social Media Marketing Requires Understanding and Targeting the Right Demographics

December 14th, 2009

Knowing the demographics of your target market is one of the necessary steps in any marketing effort – social media marketing is no different.

Demographics is defined by Webster’s New World Dictionary as “the demographic characteristics of a population, esp. as classified by age, sex, income, etc. for market research, sociological analysis, etc.” Other characteristics of people demographic researchers may consider are race, disabilities, mobility, education level, home ownership, employment status, location and whatever characteristic can be used to describe someone.

Understanding your demographic is critical to understanding your target market and thus, the social media outlets you use to market your products and services online. Are you targeting men or women? How old are they? What’s their class? (i.e. lower, middle, upper)

After you have determined your target demographics, you need to research social networks that cater to that group. Wikipedia has a great resource that lists major social networks and also provides each one’s description/focus, estimated number of registered users, registration requirements and also what’s called an Alexa page ranking.

There are other resources out there that detail social networks and their target audiences.

Let’s say you specialize in tutoring and study guides for college students. Looking at Wikipedia’s list, you can consider “Classmates.com”, “College Tonight”, “Facebook”, “Ning” and perhaps “Playboy U”. Combined, these networks can probably expose your products and services to nearly ½ billion people.

So the lesson here, social media marketing has striking similarities…you have to know your target audience’s demographics if you’re going to reach the maximum number of individuals that are conceivably interested in what you offer.

Tags: ,
Posted in Online Marketing, Tip of the Day | No Comments »

Real Time Search Goes Live at Google!

December 11th, 2009

Here we’ve got a new and interesting development out of Google…one we reported before that could be a revolutionary date in online search. And that is real time search – integration of “tweets” from Twitter, Facebook postings, etc. in search results on Google, Bing, etc.

Google is partnering with several social media outlets to post real time results for users. Go to Google and type in any popular search term or story of the day. After a few seconds, you will see it constantly update with users’ postings from social networking sites in real time. From my experimenting, you need to click “show options” after you enter your search terms and click latest for the time range.

As you can see in Google’s promotional video below, this utility may be very useful for learning about things currently happening that have an immediate impact on people’s lives – like the search for traffic update in a large city.

Many search engine optimization experts conversing about this in a couple of forums – WebMasterWorld and DigitalPoint – seem a bit concerned about this – and I can understand where they’re coming from.

The consensus is that this clutters up search results and it runs the risk of pushing their hard earned rankings farther down the list. One questions how Google will filter out useless postings that happen to contain the keywords the user searched for.

In any event, SEOs can adapt by using Twitter and Facebook to ensure their results show up in that area when applicable.

How will Google’s change affect you? Let us know in the comments field!

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Forum Watch, Online Marketing, SEO Technology | No Comments »

Channel Intelligence Reports Retail Sales Increases for its Clients

December 9th, 2009

One of our partners, Channel Intelligence, has been releasing some interesting retail sales figures around the start to the big holiday shopping season.

Their clients include many of the world’s best known retailers and manufacturers, and their database manages the flow of these companies’ products through channels like shopping engines, display ads, affiliate networks, paid search, etc.

Three of the key services they offer are: 1) storefront/webcart services, which help retailers and manufacturers deliver content and streamline the online purchase process, 2) where-to-buy services, which show consumers where to buy products when they are shopping on manufacturer websites, and 3) shopping channel management services, which manage advertising and product data fed to shopping engines, paid search, Google product search, affiliate programs, etc.

Here are some data for sales trends seen through these key services for the start to the 2009 holiday shopping season:

• Shopping channel management – increase of 2.6% in average order value across CI retailers, with biggest day by sales volume on Thanksgiving Day, up 61 percent over 2008, followed by Black Friday up 61% and Cyber Monday up 73%.

• Storefront/webcart – Black Friday brought the greatest sales volume, up 36% over 2008, followed by Cyber Monday, up 51%, and Thanksgiving Day, up 35%. These sales increases weathered a 7% decline in average order value due to decreases in average selling prices as consumers are buying more but spending less per item.

• Online where-to-buy service – average order value increased 20%, while Cyber Monday brought in the greatest sales volume, up 4% over 2008, followed by Black Friday, up 51%, and Thanksgiving Day, up 23%.

For more comments on these trends, see the most recent CI press release here.

See their reports on Cyber Monday sales and Thanksgiving/Black Friday overall performance.

Tags: ,
Posted in Online Marketing | No Comments »

Hold On To Your Rank With Monthly SEO

December 7th, 2009

Thanks to Jake Walker for this contributed article featuring the link-building aspect of maintaining SEO on a monthly basis. Enjoy!

I’ve seen it a million times. It’s one of the most common mistakes made by webmasters and companies when it comes to SEO. They spend money on an aggressive 6 month link building campaign. Their site starts ranking, the traffic starts flooding in. The campaign expires, and everything appears fine. But then a few months later rank starts to drop. They’ve lost momentum.

Sometimes it takes months, sometimes years, but the fact of the matter is: If you don’t maintain your link building and SEO efforts on a monthly basis, sooner or later, some one will start to compete and take your rankings away.

Now this doesn’t mean you have to constantly spend thousands month in and month out on link building alone. Once rank has been achieved, in many cases you can scale back to maintenance level link building.

For most moderately competitive niches, a few smart moves here and there can help you hold your rank.

The Digg-able Post
Creating a post that is intended for the Digg crowd is a great way to get noticed. If you get noticed enough you’ll be featured in the “what’s hot upcoming section”, usually this is enough to gain some back-links and keep your site fresh in Google’s eyes.

The Information Is Endless
Use various keyword tools to help brainstorm new ideas for pages based on what people are searching for. If you keep adding information that people want, 2 things happen. First and foremost, you build subscribers and gain new readers. You also hold the attention of the SERPS. There is nothing Google loves more than a fresh website that updates frequently. If you couple that with some amateur keyword research for your titles, you will get traffic.

Blogging Works
Yes, using a free platform to maintain a blog does work. People read blogs. Encourage your employees or colleagues to start blogs and ask them for a back-link. Start your own free blog on one of the various free blogging platforms. Update it 3 times a week with fun relative content. Don’t forget to link back to your main site.

Stay Social, But Don’t Over Do It
Building Facebook and Twitter networks is a fantastic way to keep people coming back to your site. When you keep traffic up, you’ll hopefully be earning back-links. Don’t forget to update your social networks on any good news or fresh content.

A word of caution: Don’t overdo it! No one likes spammy messages cluttering up their social feed. So stay fun, relevant, and friendly.

When In Doubt, Reach Out
Contacting other webmasters in your vertical and participating on their blogs and forums is a great way to keep attention focused toward your site. Remember, offering insight and humor are 2 very easy ways to become a respected voice in any community.

The fact of the matter still remains. Back-links are crucial for search engine rankings. The best way to build proper back-links is by networking and interacting with people.

It’s a vicious cycle. The more people who visit your site, the greater your chances are for acquiring back-links. Once you’ve spent the time and money building your SERP rankings, and gaining momentum, it is crucial to keep up with monthly SEO maintenance.

Here’s a mantra for you: Stay involved, stay fresh, stay connected, and hold rank!

Jake Walker is an avid blog builder and search engine optimization specialist. You can read his webmasters journal at www.blogmason.com

Tags: ,
Posted in Articles, Tip of the Day | No Comments »

Importance of Good Information Architecture

December 7th, 2009

Having a successful content and information oriented website means it has to be organized in a way that’s easy for users to navigate. This not only improves your conversion rate but your site’s rankings in the search engines as well.

It’s all too common for sites to have a lot of content – articles, blogs, video clips, photos, etc. – that’s totally disorganized and cluttered with noises, ads. Suffice it to say this would not lead to a good experience for any user. Without good user experience, no amount of optimization will help your site’s rankings.

So how can I be sure my site’s information architecture is the best it can be to lure in the most visitors and make the most conversions?

Understanding how people search online is the first step to developing good information architecture. When searching online, we want content that’s fast and simple and in small chunks…we like to stay on task.  Google knows this so to have high rankings, create sites using keywords you know people respond well to.  You can integrate head and long tail keywords to tap into the main terms people use when looking for what you’re offering.

Having too many links to off-site pages especially messes with a site’s information architecture. Having too much scattered and loosely connected information causes the site/page to lose its core message.

Accommodating your users is the number 1 goal of your website’s content. For it to work to your maximum advantage, it has to be setup in a way that doesn’t inhibit user friendliness or the search engine’s ability to crawl it.

Search engines look closely at user-friendliness when ranking websites. And especially since Google may begin factoring site speed into their ranking algorithm, flashy sites undoubtedly will suffer in terms of their ranking and conversion.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Site Architecture, Writing for search engines | No Comments »

Google Announces New Page Speed Report in Webmaster Tools

December 4th, 2009

On the heels of a recent announcement from Google explaining their newest addition to the search algorithm, the search engine giant has now added a site speed feature to Webmaster Tools.

You can now access the new feature through the “Site performance” reports under the “Labs” section of the tool. It basically shows how fast your site loads in comparison to other sites and also includes a nice graph that shows your site’s speed over time.

It’s a small step in their larger effort to make the web faster for their users. Studies show that speeding up a site leads to higher user retention and activity, along with lowering costs and increasing revenue.

In addition to general site speed, Google also details specific pages and their load time. They give tips on how to improve speed on a per-page basis.

This new tool can be very helpful to ensuring your pages load as quickly as possible. While we don’t know how much significance will be placed on the new ranking factor, you can be sure that having fast loading web pages will be beneficial to your site. However, since they are adding this new feature to Webmaster Tools, it may be safe to assume that page speed will become an important ranking factor.

See a screen shot of one the site performance reports below.

Tags: , ,
Posted in SEO Technology, Tip of the Day | No Comments »

Google’s Zeitgeist 2009 – Fastest Rising and Most Popular Online Searches

December 2nd, 2009

You may be wondering, “What does this have to do with optimizing my website for the search engines?”

Well, nothing really – but we like to include things that are of general interest sometimes to keep things interesting. And this term, zeitgeist, caught my attention as it carries certain significance with me.

Webster’s New World Collegiate Dictionary defines the term zeitgeist as “the spirit of the age; trend of thought and feeling in a period.” Therefore, Google’s use of the term to outline the fastest rising Google searches and the most popular search terms is justifiable.

So what has captivated the curiosity of web surfers this year?

Well, searches of Michael Jackson (probably due to his untimely death) topped the Google’s global list of fastest growing search terms. He wasn’t the only entertainer to make the list – sensation Lady Gaga topped many regional lists and landed #9 on the global list.

2009’s online search zeitgeist also indicates social media is very much alive and well, a sweeping confirmation of its increasing importance. Facebook and Spanish social-networking site Tuenti appeared in the #2 and #3 fastest growing search term spot respectively. Twitter came in at #5 – the first time it has appeared on Google’s zeitgeist list.

Concerns about the swine flu epidemic also drove individuals looking for information to Google. In the U.S., it had more searches than another major event of the year – the inauguration of President Barack Obama!

And finally, the sour economy brought out the thrifty consciousness of many as evidenced by the rising popularity of do-it-yourself searches and searches for comfort food recipes to make at home. Chili was the most popular recipe searched for on Google in the U.S.

Check out Google’s Zeitgeist 2009 site for the U.S. for some interesting lists and charts on search trends for the year – it’s pretty interesting to see what the global trends are in terms of online search. Perhaps information like this can be helpful – but it’s definitely interesting nonetheless.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Forum Watch, Tip of the Day | No Comments »

« Older Entries