We spend a lot of time here discussing all sorts of organic search and SEO strategies for building “natural” rankings in the search engines. But we wouldn’t be doing our jobs if we didn’t mention directories.
Directory listings are more like catalogs that, unlike major search engines, require you to submit your site if you want to be included in their listings. They’re a great way to begin acquiring links and driving traffic to your site…whether it’s new or old.
There’s literally a plethora of directories on the Internet for you to choose from. Some allow you to submit your site for free while others charge a one-time or annual fee. Even if they charge, the investment is worth it if you’re just starting out since links from these sites will also help lift your organic search rankings off the ground.
The two largest directories online include: DMOZ and Yahoo! Search Directory
DMOZ – Also known as the Open Directory Project (ODP), it’s free to add your site to DMOZ. While it is free, it also may take up to a year for your site to get listed, which causes frustration for many webmasters. Regardless, a link from DMOZ can be quite valuable so list your site here first and then move on to other things.
Yahoo Directory – Not to be confused with the actual Yahoo! search engine which delivers actual search results, the Yahoo! Directory is perhaps the oldest directory on the Internet. Links from the Yahoo! Directory are extremely valuable in helping build your organic rankings. Commercial sites must pay $299 annually to be included but the links from the directory and other Yahoo! properties around the world make it worth the investment.
Of course, it’s likely there are other industry specific and blog directories out there for you to choose from.
For the most part, the submission process to most directories is relatively easy and since links from them validate your site in the eyes of the search engines, the time involved is well worth it. But once you get listed in a few of the major ones, the relevancy boost levels off pretty fast.
In short, it’s not important you get listed in all directories – listing in just a few directories will give you about as much rankings boost you can expect.
As a web copywriter, I spend the bulk of my time trying to phrase information in a way that’s appealing to people who encounter it. But there’s one thing that many of us copywriters fail to acknowledge – good design helps support content.
If a site seems drab and visually unappealing, it’s to be expected that a person’s time on that page will be very short. That wonderful article or landing page you labored over for hours sits languishing online like a fish out of water.
Now if you’re exclusively a content developer like me, you don’t have to know all the ins and outs of good design. What you do have to understand are some basic fundamentals of what works and what doesn’t so you can be sure that great content you develop shines to its full potential. And knowing it helps when you’re working with a web designer either on your own team or with another company.
Continue reading for some good general guidelines of organization, formatting and designing your web pages. These tips were part of a whitepaper entitled Best Practices for Conversion: The New Engagement Funnel in 7 Steps.
1. Scrutinize your competition
Go through your competitor’s web pages and look at their copy and layout. Document places you feel stumped and then compare this page with yours. Revise or eliminate sections to make yours better.
2. Place most critical page elements within the first 300 pixels
According to usability research from many sources, over half of site visitors do not look “below the fold.” Therefore, get right to the point and keep your value proposition within your screen’s first view.
3. Keep your layout simple
Increase reader comprehension by using a one-column format with ample margins and white space. Limit paragraphs to five lines…dense copy discourages reading. Simple layouts are also more conducive to search engine crawlers and in turn, rankings.
4. Be obvious and use standard usage conventions
Site visitors shouldn’t have to think very much to understand your message and how to use your page. Be clear when describing links and use a standard underline format when linking to another page, like your shopping cart for example.
5. Make sure your page loads quickly
If a page isn’t loading quickly, most visitors will get frustrated and leave – and the more ‘junk’ you have on a page, the longer it will take to load. You should strive for no more than 8 seconds on a dial-up connection (yes, there are many people who still use dial-up to get online.)
Learn more about these and other elements to consider when designing your landing pages. Remember, your landing page is potentially the last place your visitors will see before purchasing. If your goal is lead generation, it’s step 2 in the process. It doesn’t matter if there are only a couple steps or many in your marketing funnel, your landing page needs to excite visitors and build confidence in your products/services and company.
Recently, an innovative SEO engineer by the name of Errioxa claims he uncovered an odd way Google handles links. His testing confirms that using internal text anchors like the one shown below means Google will credit the unique anchor text for each unique anchor link.
<a href=”http://www.domain.com/page.html#LINKANCHOR“> (Unique anchor text is underlined)
We’ll try our best to explain what’s going on here so beginners beware, this may seem a bit confusing.
Say you have a homepage and you want to link out to another page on your site that has information about cars and trucks. In the past, Google would typically only credit the first link on the page and ignore the other two. Meaning, if the first link has cars and second has trucks as its anchor text, Google would only use cars to define what the page is about and ignore the trucks (2nd) link.
Errioxa discovered that if you have three links to your cars and trucks page like the ones shown below, Google will ignore the first and credit the other two. This observation lines up with Google’s recent interest in internal anchors, which are sometimes within the site’s URL you see displayed on a search engine results page.
In the above example, someone searching for cars would be taken directly to your specific page on the topic…this is a big help to users but also may be a way to get more unique anchor text attributed to your page that focuses on multiple topics.
More experimentation needs to be done to measure the true effectiveness of this approach. We hope to do this when and where we can and report back any results.
We could very well find this to be a good strategy for better control of a site’s links, which is why Google started paying attention to internal anchors in the first place since they provide their users with a streamlined way of accessing information on a website.
If you have been blogging for a while like we have here at SEOe, you probably have a stock pile of content that your readers may find interesting and valuable.
Saying your content is “old” however can be a bit misleading…if your blog has tips, insights and other general observations about your niche, readers will find it useful long after you initially write it. Content like this can be referred to as “evergreen” content.
Our friends over at HubSpot recently conducted an experiment with their evergreen content – using social media tools like Facebook and Twitter to get the word out about the rich content that’s on their blog, not just what visitors see on the main page.
At SEOe, we publish 3 feature posts/articles each week so it’s likely visitors and subscribers have not read every one of them. But considering the structure of our blog and what we write about, something from 6 months ago is likely relevant today.
Continue reading to see how over the course of two months, HubSpot promoted carefully selected “evergreen” blog posts, podcasts and other things to promote on social media sites. Their goal was to generate additional traffic without spending time creating new content.
1. Content Selection
To narrow down what they chose to promote, the team found prior articles that received the most comments, traffic and links. Timely content like breaking news events was excluded as were articles they felt were no longer relevant.
2. Promotion
Over the course of two months, the team promoted 57 items on Facebook and Twitter. Considering differences between the two, the team promoted 3 content items per workday on Twitter and 1 per workday on Facebook.
Another factor they considered was positioning the content…which was important since they didn’t want to interfere with promoting their new stuff. And they didn’t want to make people think they were clicking on something old so they promoted items in a conversational tone rather than listing the title like they do for new articles.
Here’s an example of one of their “tweets,” which they posed as a question:
Stuck in a lead generation rut? Learn some new tips & tricks in our comprehensive Lead Gen Marketing Hub! http://bit.ly/LeadGenHub
To see the effectiveness of this experiment, the HubSpot team tracked the change in social media traffic to the blog. They also created unique “bit.ly” links to each of the content items and tracked clicks to those. On average, evergreen content received 198 clicks along with more traffic from Facebook/Twitter to their main blog.
Here’s one easy way to drive more traffic to your blog that doesn’t require much effort to research and implement. If you have a blog that serves as a “knowledge” resource for your readers, consider particular posts that are still relevant and promote them through Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets.
You certainly know from reading web pages and blogs that a lot to good online writing is presenting your copy in a conversational tone…using written words to converse with your reader. In order to do this, we may have to break a few grammar rules. Ending sentences with prepositions, dangling a modifier or using ellipses liberally are just a few examples.
However, there are some grammar mistakes that are blatantly obvious to just about anyone who knows anything about grammar. Some mistakes, to put it bluntly, make you look stupid and can harm your credibility with potential customers.
Continue reading to learn five of these mistakes and how you can recognize the correct term to use when writing for your blog or website.
1. Your vs. You’re
Extremely common among bloggers, it’s easy to avoid this mistake if you take a minute and think about what you want to say. “Your” is a possessive pronoun – “your computer”, “your job” – things like that. You’re on the other hand is short for you are, a contraction you use to say for example “you’re crazy for using bad grammar in your online copywriting!”
2. It’s vs. Its
Another common mistake that’s fortunately easy to spot. Again, take a minute and figure out what you’re trying to say. “It’s” is short for it is while “its” is another possessive pronoun. An easy rule of thumb – say the sentence out loud using “it is.” If it sounds goofy, then you should use “its.”
3. There vs. Their
A pretty common mistake that’s easy to make – especially in the rush of getting your thoughts down. I even make this mistake, catching it while proofreading.
“There” can be used to refer to a place (ex: I want to go there) or as a pronoun (ex: there is no need). “Their” on the other hand is a plural possessive pronoun (ex: their stuff, their jobs). Do a “that’s ours” test to see which one you should use. If you’re talking about more than one person and something they possess, “their will get you there.”
4. Affect vs. Effect
Another common mistake that even veteran online copywriters have to think about for a minute sometimes.
“Affect” is a verb while “effect” is a noun…it’s actually pretty easy to figure out which one you should use. You cannot use “the” in front of a verb so think in terms of “the effect” and you can determine which one to use in your particular sentence.
5. Dangling Participles
Perhaps the most difficult to spot, this error can perhaps damage the flow of your entire piece and even confuse your readers. Basically, you’re opening phrase should modify what immediately follows. Consider the following:
After rotting in the cellar for weeks, my brother brought up some apples
This sounds like your brother is bringing some rotten apples to you – what a gift!
Instead, this sentence should probably say:
My brother brought up some apples that have been rotting in the cellar for weeks.
Readers mentally expect the opening phrase to always modify what immediately follows. If the opening phrase doesn’t do this, you’ve left a dangling participle along with some confused readers.
These are just a few common online copywriting mistakes many writers commit. It’s important you carefully review copy at least a couple of times before posting. In fact, you should give your copy a good once over and solely focus on grammar to ensure you catch any mistakes.
Web pages shouldn’t be considered static – meaning, you have to regularly tweak its look or update its content to keep it current.
Heat mapping is one such metric that effectively shows you how visitors interact with your landing page. Heat mapping software programs use computer algorithms to simulate where people look and click on your page.
Using a heatmap can allow you to do several things, including:
Determine exactly where links and ads should go
Get more visitors to purchase a product or fill out a form
Predict how site visitors will interact with your page in the future
Make Web usability testing easy to implement
Heat mapping shows the density of user clicks using a red to green color-coded system. Red indicates a large number of clicks while green indicate fewer clicks.
Here’s a sample heatmap from a U.S. government website.
Not all heat mapping programs are considered the same and while we may recommend one here, we do not guarantee individual results.
Google Analytics offers a tool that shows general web site usage statistics. However, it does not track click ratios for individual links. For instance, if you have two links on the page that go to the same place, Google’s tool will combine the results.
CrazyEgg is another utility that’s much better than Google since it is a visually-based program that allows you to see your page’s effectiveness at a glance. It gives you an idea of how your site is performing from your audience’s perspective, the only perspective that really matters in the end.
Whatever you do, heat mapping is definitely a great tool for helping you increase conversions.
Inevitably in the life time of a website, you’re going to have pages that are no longer relevant. Perhaps the information is simply outdated or you don’t offer that particular product or service anymore.
What’s a webmaster to do in this instance?
If you’ve spent any time online, there’s no doubt that you have encountered a webpage saying “Error 404” or something like that. Whether a URL was typed in wrong or you were simply looking for something that didn’t exist anymore, a 404 error message indicates to you and the search engines that this page no longer exists.
Having a lot of 404 redirects isn’t necessarily a bad thing in the eyes of Google and other search engines…however, 404 redirects should be setup in a way that’s inviting to the reader and encourages them to stay on your site.
According to Google employee John Mu, 404 redirects are not a problem for the search engine, especially if the page helps a user find related information within the site.
With respect to site visitors and conversions, static 404 redirects are very uninviting, breaking the conversion process much of the time. Let’s say you sell power tools and someone is looking for a particular model band saw but the product is obsolete and is no longer manufactured. If that prospective buyer finds a link to their preferred saw on your site clicks the link and comes to a static page that says “Error 404” and nothing else, they will most likely go elsewhere to find their saw.
Static 404 pages are also a problem for search engine spiders since they find pages on your site through following links. If there are no links on a 404 page, it will not know where to go.
Five must haves for a 404 redirect page include:
An apology for the error (even if the visitor is at-fault)
A search box that’s prominently displayed
A link to your site map
A link to your home page
Links to other main areas on your site
The above example could include a picture of a carpenter who’s frustrated that he can’t find a tool he needs on a job, adding some humor and empathy to the customer’s predicament.
If you’re 404 redirect pages are static, spruce them up by including a template of your site along with some of the elements mentioned above.
The point is – do not have static 404 redirect pages. They could cost you dearly both in terms of search engine rankings and conversions.
We’ve discussed before the power of ‘anchor-text links,’ or text that includes a link to another page on your site that has further information on a topic, product or service. The anchor-text you use can have a tremendous impact on your rankings.
But too many sites out there still rely on “click-here” or “more…” or other simple phrases centered on the same thing. How many times have you seen the phrase “Click here for more information” on a website – not very inviting is it?
For many companies, “click-here” or “more information” is perhaps the most widely used text on their site. Besides the uninviting tone of those phrases, companies who use them are missing out on a lot of ranking opportunities.
This New Jersey Transit Authority site is a perfect example – at the end of each paragraph seen below, they have a “more info” link directing potential passengers to the service’s transit schedule. Instead, it would be better if they drop the “more info” altogether and integrate the link into the copy – such as:
Memorial Day Schedule Information
Memorial Day Weekend bus and rail schedule information is now available!
Not only does this link take advantage of internal link structure to increase keyword exposure, it gives the reader a better idea of where they’re going.
So be aware of how you’re linking out to other sites and to other pages within your site. Avoid common phrases like “click here,” etc. Continuing to use those phrases means you will be missing out on great ranking opportunities – not to mention, the confusion your visitors are likely to experience.
Conveying important features and benefits with minimal words is one of the hardest things to do in the copywriting field. Today guest blogger Denise McGill contributes an article demonstrating how she helps clients create engaging product descriptions for ecommerce websites and product catalogs. The often limited space for this medium together with the reading habits of online shoppers mean your copy has to work really hard to capture and engage its audience. Read on to see her advice…
By Denise McGill
Catalog copy descriptions can pull consumers in and make them beg for more or can bore and leave consumers disgruntled, suspect of your motives and unsatisfied. All copy, especially catalog copy (due to limited space), must begin with a compelling opening statement that makes the reader want to move to the next sentence and on to the next until before they know it – the consumer is engaged in your copy. Miss a link somewhere and you lose your audience.
In this article, I have listed two ways to create an experience for the consumer. One way to pull a potential customer into the world of your product is by letting the consumer visualize himself using or enjoying the product. In other words:
Create an experience…
To do this, heighten a consumer’s anticipation and help them envision a product that delivers a desirable experience. Let them visualize the atmosphere you are trying to create for the reader. For example, a line of copy that begins with:
Enjoy bistro style dining in your own home…
immediately has potential buyers engaged in a cozy atmosphere at an intimate table setting surrounded by good friends. Continue with your copy to complete the “feel good” experience for the consumer. In addition, make sure features of the item are listed in your copy and the benefit to the buyer those features will bring.
Here is another example of creating an exhilarating experience for an outdoor enthusiast:
Imagine kayaking the crystal waters of North America…
The consumer imagines himself on a hot summer day, escaping the stresses of daily life to kayak down a lazy river.
Along the same lines of creating an experience is to:
Spark a good memory….
Or better yet, create a new one! The example used here may bring back pleasant childhood memories of gathering around the table with family for a Saturday night game of checkers. Or it could spark the desire for a young family to start a new tradition of togetherness. Let your catalog copy promote positive images in the reader’s mind as in this example:
Invite family and friends to an afternoon of board games around this hardwood table for some old fashioned fun…
So how do you go about creating an experience for a potential customer? Choose an emotion that you would like your buyer to feel. It can be pride, happiness, sense of peace or tranquility, exhilaration, hopefulness, etc. These positive emotions can be a powerful motivator for the consumer. A word of caution; however, make sure your descriptions do not over exaggerate the capabilities of the product. Keep your copy credible. Promise the moon and your descriptions lose validity.
Denise McGill is a freelance copywriter specializing in catalog and web product description, copy makeovers, landing pages, promotional materials, and more. Visit her website at http://mcgillcopywriting.com for more information on giving your business the competitive edge.
And of course SEO Advantage also offers website optimization for ecommerce sites, to help that engaging copy on each individual product page rank high in natural search results!
To put it simply, do you write web pages for people who simply glance at it or do you write for those who sit down and read what you have word by word?
I have to admit, much of the time I fall into the skimmer category when reading websites. Considering the sheer magnitude of the Internet, it’s best from a time perspective to scan over an article’s important points. If it seems there is value in reading word for word, only then do I really get into it.
In short, you have to write your web pages for skimmers and scanners. Numerous heat map studies show that the majority of web surfers simply read the first few lines of a page’s copy.
When writing copy, you should ask yourself “If visitors read just the first few words of each copy element on the page, will they find the page relevant and interesting?” For most, the answer is no since they generally include a lot of ‘fluff’ in their headlines and intro copy.
“Discover a powerful tool to help you get organized. XYZ Software helps you get more done”
Skimmers will most likely miss the point with this…it’s too long with too much fluff. To communicate the message better, use “Get more done with XYZ Software” instead.
No need to fret if you can’t communicate what you need to in five or six words…break it up instead. Add captions under pictures, use sub-headings and other means of breaking up your message. Reserve your main heading for your main point, like the example above.
There are literally millions of websites circulating the Internet with several who are in the same industry or niche you’re in. They all want to get to the top of the search engines, knocking you out of their way in the process.
So if you have accomplished the feat of achieving top rankings in the search engines, you need a strategy to keep you there. Continue reading to learn 5 strategies you can employ to maintain your top position in the search engines.
1. Increase link-ability
Success in SEO depends a lot on having great content with lots of inbound links. But getting to #1 isn’t an excuse to take it easy. You need to maintain your ranking page’s link-ability if you’re going to stay on top.
Some ways you can encourage links to your site include: improve your site design, continue building good content and temporarily remove advertising. Too much advertising on a webpage can potentially turn people off.
2. Find new links on your own
Look for additional linking opportunities by guest posting, article marketing and good old fashion asking. If you’re at the top for a certain competitive keyword, you can leverage your position to get additional links.
3. Get more clicks and conversions by tweaking site elements
Getting to #1 isn’t the sole goal of online marketing and SEO. You may have a page that’s ranked #1 for a certain keyword but it won’t stay there long if you’re not getting enough people to click on your site. Tweak title tags and metatags to draw attention but don’t do it too much since search engines take time to adjust to these changes. Doing this too much may cost you your #1 position.
This is also the time you should test different things on your homepage to see what works better in terms of conversions. For instance, is a blue “buy” button better than a green one?
4. Expand keywords for more ranking opportunities
Another way to maintain your #1 ranking is to expand the scope of keywords on your ranking page. This will dilute your keywords somewhat but it shouldn’t affect your position if you follow the tips outlined in step #1 and #2.
Let’s say your top keyword is “green clocks” – add “green clocks in California” for more specific searches. The majority of searches are done using long-tail keywords so if you narrowly focus on one keyword, you may lose your #1 ranking as fast as you got it.
5. Future proof your SEO
Something that may work today may not work tomorrow. Google is always changing their algorithms based on new trends and technology. You need to stay ahead of the curve by knowing what’s going on out there and adjusting your site accordingly.
In addition to good content and quality links, Google and others are starting to also focus on: traffic/user engagement, branding and social media.
Employ these kinds of strategies when managing your websites to improve the chances of holding on to your #1 ranking in the search engines. Learn more about these 5 strategies to maintaining #1 search engine rankings here.
As we’ve discussed before, you have to be aware of duplicate content issues so you can avoid being penalized by the search engines. Google, Yahoo! and Bing go to great lengths to return a diverse set of results for their users…if they detect duplicate content, they try to determine the original article/piece and display it for their searchers.
There are several things you can do to avoid duplicate content…one of course is avoiding shady SEO practices and outright plagiarism on your site.
Continue reading to learn 7 ways you can avoid getting into trouble with duplicate content.
1. Using other people’s articles
Some webmasters simply pay for or get permission from an article’s original author to post the piece on their site unaltered. If you do this, make sure the article truly has relevance to your site.
Add your own comments or rewrite what’s already there to ensure unique content. At a minimum, run the piece through a duplicate content tool like CopyScape to see if there are any other pages on the Internet similar to that one.
2. Develop your own unique content
The easiest way to avoid duplicate content is to develop your own unique stuff. Your readers and search engines will love you for it. Develop a schedule to steadily add new and fresh content to your site.
3. If you’re running an ecommerce site, develop your own product descriptions
Many ecommerce sites use product descriptions supplied by manufacturers, which is an obvious duplication in the eyes of the search engines. These descriptions may appear on hundreds of different sites out there. Although a tedious task, rewrite these product descriptions in your own unique language to avoid duplication issues.
4. If you have a blog, do not have your date or category archive pages indexed
This feature is standard on most blogging platforms but you can block it from happening through your robots.txt file. These features hardly bring you more visitors or higher page rankings.
5. Block search engines from indexing duplicate copies on your site
Many websites include “printer-friendly” versions of articles and web pages, which could potentially cause duplicate content issues. Using your robots.txt file, block directories or files you do not want the search engines to touch.
6. Use 301 redirects if you have recently redesigned your site
Using 301 redirects to channel traffic to your new site is critical to avoiding duplicate content issues with the search engines. Whenever you move a webpage, use a 301 redirect to point your visitors and the search engines to the proper page.
7. Be careful when syndicating your content
Distributing your content to affiliates is a great way to build your brand and draw in new visitors and customers. To avoid duplicate content issues with this, post the content on your website first so the search engines crawl it first before it appears on other sites. Include a link to the original content on any syndicated site to guarantee the original remains indexed.
Taking these steps to avoid duplicate content issues is in essence preventive maintenance. If you own a car, you change the oil regularly and spend a little bit to avoid having to spend much more in the future.
Employing the above practices with your site will ensure you deliver the most relevant, unique content to your users and the search engines without threat of removal or suppression if it’s reprinted somewhere else online.
We spend a lot of time here at SEO-e thinking about web copywriting and website content development without ever mentioning grammar…well this post is intended to make up for lost time.
As a professional web copywriter, I often find minor mistakes when editing a piece. No big deal – in the rush of trying to prepare a magnificent article or blog post, I’m often in a race to get my thoughts down before my brain turns to other things.
You may be thinking that grammar in the online environment isn’t too important. After all, there are little grammar rules here and there, like beginning a sentence with “and” that we can ignore. Sometimes bending the rules makes our copy flow much better than it would otherwise.
But that doesn’t mean it’s okay to completely ignore grammar rules.
The first reason should be obvious – bad grammar makes you look unprofessional. Many readers probably have a basic understanding of English grammar. Using “there” when you should use “their” is a common mistake that’s easy to pick up on.
Most of us probably haven’t been in an English class in many years. Especially writing professionally, it’s easy to forget about good grammar. After all, I don’t exactly think about why a comma should go somewhere, I just know it does.
Nevertheless, it can be helpful to take a few minutes to review basic English grammar. DON’T RELY ON SPELLCHECK AND GRAMMAR SUGGESTIONS IN MICROSOFT WORD OR OTHER WORD PROCESSORS. For one, they are often wrong and it’s better to know yourself anyway.
One resource I have found to be very user-friendly and easy to understand is The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation from Jane Straus. Her site has some great tips and sample quizzes you can take to assess your skills. And you can even sign-up to have her newsletter delivered right to your inbox.
Another resource we use to ensure proper grammar, etc. is the Chicago Manual of Style, which is by far the most extensive resource. If you’re mainly focusing on press releases, the Associated Press Stylebook is a great resource to ensure your press releases are correctly formatted.
Pay attention to your formatting and grammar. While one or two minor mistakes isn’t anything to get worried about, you need to ensure that content you put on your site is by and large grammatically correct.
When thinking about duplicate content, we generally only consider written content. Is what you are posting on your website original? Simply copying and pasting something from somewhere else is a big mistake- that much is obvious.
But something you may not consider to be duplicate content may be considered such by search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing. You see, they’re trying to return diverse content to their users …they have a vested interest in ensuring what they display on page 1 is helpful and diverse for their users.
That is what you have to consider – what do search engines consider duplicate? Not doing so could spell disaster for your site’s rankings. Site penalties can occur if a site is simply structured the same way for instance.
Continue reading for 6 not so obvious types of duplicate content to ensure you are not penalized for such an infraction.
1. Two websites share the same structure and content
Two websites having the same structure (i.e. same three column template) and the same content on a single page or site wide with the same linking scheme is prone to trouble. This is by far the most extreme example of duplicate content but the easiest to identify.
2. Identical structure with paraphrased content
Another scenario where two sites have an identical structure but the content is not 100% identical. Copywriters and content developers may see this as a grey area. But Google has a zero tolerance policy on this issue…content from one site simply cannot be a rehashed version of the same thing from another site.
3. Identical structure with similar content
In structural terms, it’s pretty clear two sites are identical. In this situation, the content on each site still has too close a resemblance. If it appears the content is managed in a similar fashion and presented in the same scope, the site(s) may be penalized.
4. Partially identical structure with similar content
While it may seem like splitting hairs, Google is very meticulous. Site A and Site B may only have a few pages that are identical but if the content between the two sites is sufficiently similar, they may take action and not index one of the sites.
5. Identical structure with reminiscent content
In this scenario, both sites have a similar structure and linking scheme while the content is relatively similar. Some content developers may think simply using a Thesaurus to change a few words may avoid detection but the search engines can spot this kind of move.
6. Unique structure with pieced together content
Two sites may have their own unique site structure and linking scheme but their content is simply scraped together from different sources the writer found. Search engines will flag this as duplicate content and act accordingly.
Image, videos and other document formats are sometimes ignored by the search engines since most don’t have the capability to spot duplicate forms of these types of content. They sometimes attempt to remove duplications based on file size, image size and file name however. Therefore in the future, it will be important you think about this as technology continues to evolve.
It should be obvious that simply copying and pasting content to your site is not only dishonest, it is robbing the original creator of that piece without due credit and compensation. But these other scenarios where search engines may flag your site are just as important. While you may not think your site is a duplication of another, what the search engines see is really what matters.
As far as propelling your website to the top of the search engines, they don’t. While Meta tags have no significant impact on actual search engine rankings, they do provide value in how your website appears on a search engine results page (SERP).
Meta tags are basically text included in the source code of an HTML document that’s intended to describe the page to a search engine for the purpose of cataloging its content. There are two types of Meta tags – description and keyword
So do Meta tags matter?
Yes they do as the description found within the tag indicates what you want someone to see on a search engine results page. They help a searcher easily determine whether or not your page is relevant to their needs. Without it, many people will simply move on and think your site doesn’t offer them any value.
If you do not include a Meta tag in your source code, the search engine will glean your page and cherry-pick words it thinks best describes your page. This doesn’t work too well however and can result in terrible descriptions being displayed on a SERP.
You should be very careful in how you use a Meta tag though. Many SEOs have abused these tags in the past thinking it would garner them a competitive advantage. To avoid any potential problems, avoid repeating keywords and use only those words relevant to your site’s theme. Beware of any trademark infringements and check with legal counsel before using another company’s trademarked terms anywhere in your source code.
Typically, the character limit for both description and keyword Meta tags is 250, which includes spaces and commas. Anything past the 250 mark is generally ignored by the search engines.
Just be careful – improper use of a Meta tag could result in your site being penalized by the search engines.
Communicating information using charts and graphics provides a useful and fun way to learn about new things.
Search engine marketers now have a handy resource they can use to maximize search engine rankings and online conversions. These easy and fun charts from ProspectMX provide an easy-to-use reference for creating great websites.
Their original chart, “Link Building 101,” has some great insights into how you can get other sites to link to you. Examples of link bait, how to find good sites to link to and the most beneficial social media/news sites are just a few of the things you will find here – all presented in a fun environment that’s sure to pique your interest.
Prospect’s newest chart, “Universal Search Optimization,” gives some great tips on mastering the web’s newest way of ranking web sites, etc. Learn about ‘local search’, image/video optimization, press releases and more. Going forward, search results will increasingly include photos, videos and news, not just individual websites.
Take a look at Prospect’s charts today…print one out and post it on your wall!
Quick and easy reference materials like these are great to have when you’re stuck trying to get your website to the top.
Other sites linking to yours are one way search engines evaluate your site to determine where it should be displayed in a search engine results page. The more incoming links a site has, the more important the search engines see it.
But it depends on the type of links too – simply having a bunch of links pointing to your site isn’t going to pass muster.
It’s possible to go out and pay lots of money and do other nefarious things to get links to your site. Search engines like Google and Bing can see this, as they can differentiate between sites that have natural links to it versus ones that have artificial links.
So what’s the difference between the two?
First, the anchor-text, or the keywords that contain a link, is very diverse with natural links. One link to a site may contain “search engine optimization firm” and another may be “online marketing experts” for example. Artificial links though will have more uniform anchor-text…all of the links pointing to a site will only have one or two terms for its anchor-text.
This is one red flag to the search engines that you have an artificial link structure which in turn, causes your site to lose the rankings battle.
Another difference between natural and artificial links is the rate at which links appear. Sites with a natural link structure will see consistent increases in their link count while sites with an artificial link structure will see sudden and dramatic increases then a lull in activity.
Sites designed around a natural link structure do not have reciprocal links. Meaning, the site linking to them did it voluntarily and does not expect a link back in return. Almost all links in an artificial environment are reciprocal.
And finally, natural links point to resources that can be of further use to the reader. Artificial links mainly point to link farms and other places that serve no purpose in making the site more useful for its visitors.
Remember these differences when thinking about your site’s link structure. You should strive to create the most natural looking link structure as possible. From a search engine’s point of view, the best links are those that are unrequested…search engines reward those pages and sites that get voluntarily links for great content.
Search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo! find your website through other sites linking to it. A site with a large number of quality sites linking to it signifies a certain importance to the search engines, boosting your rankings in the process.
There are many ways you can acquire links to your site. They can be purchased from a link farm, or you can get people to link to you through social networks like Facebook, StumbleUpon and Digg. In the end, the highest quality links come from sites in a similar industry whose audience will find your content appealing and useful.
Allowing the structure of links to your site to become too homogenous can cause many negative consequences for your site and its rankings. Links coming from only one type of site, or only to your homepage or links that all have the same anchor text links are all red flags to the search engines that your site has an unnatural link structure.
As a result, search engines will penalize your site, perhaps even de-listing it from the search engines.
To avoid trouble like this, you should attempt a general 80/20 link balancing act, which means:
80% of your links should come from sites that are topically relevant to yours with the remaining 20% coming from unrelated or marginally related sites
80% of incoming links should go to your homepage with the remaining 20% (at minimum) going to sub-pages within your site
80% of links should have your keywords in the anchor text while the remaining 20% having a less optimized link, like “click here” or your URL as the anchor text
80% of your links should be one-way and the remaining 20% reciprocal
Of course, these are just general guidelines but a good rule of thumb to avoid any problems with the search engines. You don’t want your site to appear over-optimized to the search engines so you need to balance your link ratios to avoid this red flag.
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/.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
