SEO News

The following guidelines, specifically the “Quality Guidelines”, are intended to help your site rank higher in Google’s search index. This article will also outline specific illicit material which may have your site removed from Google and their partner sites indexes.

Once Your Site is Ready:

Procure as many back-links as physically possibly. ( have sites link back to yours ) Use http://www.google.com/addurl.html to submit your site to Google. Double check, and be sure that every site that should know about you, does.

Guidelines for Content

• Frequently scan your site for dead links and broken links as well as HTML.
• Your site should have a clearly presented hierarchy with links to route users through each page.
• Ensure that your sites Title and other headings are descriptive and practical.
• An easily accessible site map will help users navigate your site.
• Be sure to populate your site with rich content that directly relates to your product service, or message. Skip the jabberwocky and stay focussed!
• Be reasonable, having over 100 links on one page is to cluttered and confusing, consider dividing the load between a few pages.
• Include Key Phrases and Words throughout your site that people would search for in Google. ( i.e. if you are a potter from Toronto, spread the phrase “Toronto Pottery” throughout your site )
• The Google Crawler wont pick up images so avoid important bytes of info in picture form, text is best.

Tech Guide

• Take full advantage of the robots.txt file your web server offers, this will tell spiders what they can and cannot scan, keep it up to date, you wouldn’t want to block the Googlebot Spider. To learn how to direct the bots when they find your site check out the following link: http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/faq.html
• If possible, using a text browser to examine your site can be a real plus, simply because most users see your site just as the browser would. Search Engine Crawlers might have difficulty scanning your site if certain features like JavaScript, cookies, session IDs, frames, DHTML, or Flash keep are in place.
• Be sure that your server supports “If-Modified-Since HTTP” header. Doing so will inform Google that a change has been made since the last scan.
• Investing in a Search Engine Optimization Content Management system such as Bergstrom Solutions might be a good idea, as they usually take care of much of this stuff.

Quality guidelines

• Firstly, DO NOT assume that just because we have not specified a certain manipulative technique that Google or any other popular search engine will necessarily approve of it.
• These are merely guidelines or, suggestions if you will.
• Spending time following the core principles relayed in these guidelines will reward you with a higher ranking than those who simply cheat the system by exploiting loopholes.

Core Principles - A Guideline

• When creating pages, know your audience, don’t forget that you are writing for people, not Google’s Spider Bot. Avoid “cloaking” your site by deceiving Google’s Bots. People don’t appreciate when their time is wasted.
• Don’t manipulate the Crawler Bots to improve your rankings. If you can’t reveal your secrets to your competitors, then chances are you shouldn’t be utilizing these secrets.
• Don’t fall prey to the many schemes out there that claim to improve your site ranking, these gimmicks can often permanently brand your site as a bad apple.
• Unauthorized programs submitting pages are a big no-no as they violate Google’s terms of Service. Google Typically frowns upon the use of automated submitting programs

Specific guidelines -

• Never create a site with malicious intent, creating Virus’s, worms, file cracks etc. are illegal
• Cloaking and manipulative techniques are frowned upon
• Avoid irrelevant keywords, there is no sense wasting space.
• Avoid duplicating text, pages, files, documents, etc. again, there’s no sense in wasting space.
• Stray away from hidden text/ links.
• If your site is in collaboration with another site, or maybe even several other sites, be sure to add relevant and useful content. Give people a reason to visit you!

If your site meets and/or exceeds these guidelines congratulations, if not, don’t worry, you can always make the appropriate alterations and re-submit your site to Google!

How important is your Landing Page to your online business? Very much. Brick Marketing, a respected online marketing solutions company with above 10 years of experience in the field of Search Engine Optimization, is pleased to declare a new, exciting category that is being added to their informative Search Engine Optimization Journal and the Brick Marketing blog network. This new category is all about Landing Page Optimization and how it can drive even more sales and visitors to your website.

Good landing pages can increase the conversion rates of any online business. Hence, it is important to know how it works. The Landing Page Optimization category is a huge addition to the Brick Marketing blog network. This will inform readers about the marketing tool aspects of landing pages, and how landing pages can work for them. One of the key things that the Landing Page Optimization category of the Search Engine Optimization Journal will cover is the makings of a good landing page. It will cover different topics about what makes a good landing page, such as:

• Keeping content simple but sufficiently sophisticated
• Working from a style sheet
• Including purchase buttons
• Image optimization
• Using sales-oriented material

However, the Landing Page Optimization category will not just discuss what makes a good landing page. It will also discuss other topics that can take your good landing page and make it into a spectacular one that draws in more clients and sells more products. Some of the topics that will also be discussed in the Landing Page Optimization category of the Search Engine Optimization Journal comprise:

• Photo optimization
• Using specific keyword phrases
• Making your landing page stand out
• Local search marketing
• Image optimization

In the beginning, Search Engine Optimization was a simple task. One could just throw in as many keywords and phrases as possible and create a relevant tag and Google’s index would give it a high ranking. Unfortunately for us, things have changed a bit; Google has wizened up, and learnt that they must rely on more than just keyword density to determine Page Rank. Today, Google uses over 200 determining factors to decide a websites position in its indexes.

Shortly after Google adopted new defences from keyword spamming, a new form of “cheating the system” was being utilized by the masses. Webmasters began buying and trading links in large amounts. Back-links were the new key to success and there was no shortage of willing webmasters awaiting a trade.

Google was forced to adapt again, they wanted to create a system that would apply value to every link on your page, if the link was relevant to the information on your page, it would score higher, if it was a useless link acquired in trade or from a quick purchase, it would score much lower if anything at all. Of course the more valuable links you have, the higher your Page ranking in the index.

Every year Google invests more and more money into their algorithms in order to protect their functionality. They want to ensure that relevance remains a top priority when indexing websites.

When Google employed its “Big Daddy” update, sites that had been swapping links and webmasters that had been purchasing them excessively were punished. Some were even banned from the search engines for their actions

The key to scoring a high ranking in Google’s index is to essentially write for your audience, not for the search engine. If you write naturally your website will be recognized by Google for that and will score higher.

Here are a few more tips to help you out:

• Flash and JavaScript sites are un crawl able by search engines! Avoid them!
• Predict what phrases or words your audience will use when looking for you in Google’s search bar, incorporate them into your articles.
• Contact other sites closely related to yours and share links. These related links will score you points ( Avoid excessiveness )

When utilizing SEO strategies, do try to avoid confrontation with marketing strategies!

The two have a past of not blending well. Instead try to apply them into each other, find a comfortable median in which you can advertise your site while collecting back-links at the same time. Sites like Digg, Reddit, and community forums are fantastic promotional tools.

Remember these key points and you’ll be fine!

• Design your site for your audience, not your favorite search engine.
• Stay away from irrelevant links; they may harm you in the long run.
• Explore popular relevant sites and inquire about a partnership or shared link.

Trying to fool search engines is just that; foolish. Instead of trying to earn a higher page rank by “beating the system” just earn it; collect, build, or write quality content and you will success will find you.

If you are building a website for commercial purpose, you can’t afford to ignore the importance of search engine optimization and search engine marketing. Having a web design firm build an e-commerce website has become a cakewalk. Interview a few firms, find one that fits a precise budget and have them start building. There are details that many start-up online entrepreneurs forget about, analytics. Search Engine Optimization Journal has added a new analytics section to their already established industry blog.

Being a leading forum for search marketing, Search Engine Optimization Journal knows there is a great need for knowledge on this significant aspect of building a website that they have added an entirely new section dedicated towards this information. When launching a website it is just as vital to know where all visitors are coming from as it is just driving visitors to a site. How can a website visitor make informed decisions on marketing their website when they don’t even know their visitors patterns on the site? It is very important to know when a visitor sits on a page for five minutes or fifteen seconds so that a website owner knows where to make adjustments on a website.

Integrating search engine marketing tools with your ecommerce website has many benefits to it. For a starter, knowing your websites visitors patterns will allow you to have an advantage. When it comes time to make adjustments to a website they can be made according to well gathered data instead of guesses. When a business owner has just dumped their life’s savings into a business the livelihood of that business will depend on how website visitors use every square inch of that particular website. Before diving into any marketing and search engine optimization for a freshly built website the website owner should allow the freedom of having some sort of analytics information to not only present to their team but also for themselves to analyze.

Analysis of data has paramount significance both in search engine optimization and search engine marketing. No successful online business makes in today’s industry without being able to analyze all analytics data. If the plan is to have an in-house team of marketers for a particular website they will base many of their marketing decisions on this analytics information. With analytics information the team will be able to see what countries visitors are coming from and how long they are spending on a specific page. They can also see exactly which links are working to help grow a business. If a marketing department has been performing social media marketing for 6 months and the website analytics tells the team that nobody has used that link to make it to the site than they know that shifting gears in a different direction will be beneficial.

A search engine marketing effort is almost ineffective without analytics information. Without have analytics information they would never see if a referring link was actually working or if it was just sitting there quiet. In today’s ever changing industry it is important to have as much ammo as possible otherwise a businesses marketing efforts could be wasted and that is something that is just not acceptable these days. Well gathered analytics information will allow any business to allocate their marketing dollars in the direction most beneficial to the success of that specific business.

We’ve worked with realtors in the past, and we very often feel that online marketing in general and Search engine optimization (SEO) in particular presents the biggest bang for their marketing dollar or realtors. As an example, in one small resort market, a new agent grossed $58,000 from a web site in the first year. We could trot out an example of a new agent making $1M off the leads generated from a new website. But, we both know that the latter result isn’t typical. A new website should be able to generate $58,000 in revenue (with little marketing).

Read the rest of this entry »

Apple iPhone is presently used for search as well as guidelines and advice on approaches to integrated marketing strategies utilizing no cost or low cost to high level web site, iPhone App & Store, video, press release, social and viral techniques to maximize the power and visibility of one’s iPhone search marketing related efforts.

Now websites are still not iPhone friendly and while Flash video is the standard for online video, it cannot be viewed on an iPhone, here challenges are to making a site iPhone friendly as well as how to offer a iPhone friendly video experience to site visitors at zero cost thanks to a free YouTube mobile video feature.

Gregory Markel is one of prominent and cofounder of infuse creative expertise on search engine marketing and focused on Apple iPhone Search Engine Marketing Optimization.

He provided search marketing services, consulting, and vanguard technology to an extremely assorted variety of clients including; Pacificare, The Beatles, New Line Cinema, BBC ,Warner Bros, Gibson Musical Instruments, Sony, Led Zeppelin, Mazda, Ed Hardy, , FOX, CBS, The National Geographic Channel, , Realty Executives International.

Keywords for SEO Industry are extremely important when it comes to getting visitors. Keyword research lays down the foundation for who a company wants to see their product or service. If this step is not performed correctly a website could be attracting the wrong visitors. This new section will highly tips and tricks and what every website should and shouldn’t be doing when it comes to properly optimizing a website.

This new section of Search Engine Optimization is not just for advanced user but caters towards all audiences and large firms to educate their existing marketing departments or online marketing directors to those who have built websites to promote a new diversion.

Optimizing a website comes with a few steps. These steps are very important as they are the building blocks to an entire online marketing campaign. Search Engine Optimization Journal has recently launched a new keyword research section of this already recognized industry leading blog. This blog is designed to help educate loyal readers on all the updated information revolving around the online marketing industry. The message of this new keyword research section of the blog is simple, to only conduct the most important research in order to attract the right audience regardless of a user’s skill level As things change so quickly it is important to have a resource that aspiring online entrepreneurs can turn to and use as a guiding light .

Search Engine Optimization Journal is information from experience. Meaning the information provided in this free resource has been implemented and utilized on many different occasion. The strategies outlined in the keyword research section of Search Engine Optimization Journal are shared because it is important to have good solid knowledge spread out so that individuals are guided in the right direction and not mislead.

Here is an enlightening piece of statistics every search engine marketing company must remember while approaching their search marketing campaigns. Over 55 percent of all Internet purchases begin with a search engine, but 93 percent of these consumers do not look past the first two pages of search engine results.

Thirty-three percent of users think that if a company has a top ranking on a search engine, it is a leader in its field. Take the SEO Inc challenge and query any major search engine for the term “search engine optimization” and see who comes up on the top! This is one of the most competitive terms for any company to achieve due to the fact of competition from other professional SEO companies.

Recently, Search Engine Optimization, Inc. (SEO, Inc.), a privately held company in the search engine optimization field, announced that revenues jumped 650 percent over 2002. Without a doubt, the company has done a wonderful job with the SEO. San Diego business community is viewed as one of the top search engine optimization firms in the country the company has been hiring additional technical, sales, account liaisons and marketing staff and now they have enjoyed their rapid growth.

When it comes to an effective link-building strategy for your website, nothing works quite a magic like an optimized press release and its distribution across the press release networks. Search Engine Optimization Inc., a foremost search engine marketing firm, now offers an optimized press release service that helps companies enhance their online visibility and brand awareness while boosting their overall search engine optimization campaign with high quality, one-way inbound links and the implementation of new, keyword-rich original content into their website. After performing extensive industry research and competitive analysis, SEO Inc.’s team of professional SEO writers will create a strategically optimized press release that promotes the unique marketing goals of the client.

With a reported 98 percent of journalists utilizing online news outlets such as Google News and Yahoo! News every day to find out news stories and companies to cover, press releases have become great marketing tools that allow companies to sustain a strong presence in all the avenues prospects visit and boost exposure and online visibility of the company’s brand and website. A well-written, tactfully optimized press release has the added search engine optimization benefits of establishing keyword-rich, one-way inbound links from high quality news media outlets and providing a steady source of fresh, search engine friendly content that can be easily integrated into the company’s website.

RSS Feeds and a large partner network make certain that SEO Inc. press releases are extensively distributed for maximum exposure. On average, SEO Inc.’s press releases generate 70,000 views per release, and are released to 100,000 different distribution points. After a press release has been distributed throughout SEO Inc.’s wide partner network, SEO Inc. continues to track the results of the press release during the days following its release to ensure each press release generates positive promotion and superior online visibility for the client. SEO Inc. also offers marketing reports that point the number of reads, estimated pickups, prints, forwards, and PDF downloads of the press release so clients can effortlessly measure and evaluate the ROI and overall success of each press release.

In order to guarantee each client’s optimized press release is successful, SEO Inc.’s professional SEO copywriters take the time to research the client’s industry and competition and visualize the client’s targeted audience when considering content for the press release. SEO Inc.’s SEO copywriters carefully choose keywords that target the client’s key audience and write newsworthy, search engine friendly content that achieves a strategic balance between keyword density, link positioning, and relevant, original content.

Often the best way to measure the effectiveness of a search engine marketing campaign is to figure out if it is helping your Return on Investment (ROI). The search engine optimization firm that is not concerned about your ROI can be said to have lack of focus on a successful search engine optimization process. Search Mojo, a leading search engine marketing firm has a story to tell.

Recently, Janet Driscoll Miller, a leading search engine marketing expert, announced the launch of Search Mojo, her new search engine marketing firm based in McLean, Va. In 2005, Miller founded Search Mojo to address the search engine marketing needs of businesses that yearn for results. Search Mojo specializes in natural search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising management. Unlike most search engine marketing firms, Miller insisted that the company be driven by results — what many other agencies claimed to do, but Miller never saw come to fruition.

Before Search Mojo came into being, as the director of Internet marketing for a Northern Virginia-based online company, Miller grew frustrated after working with several search engine marketing firms. Search engine marketing was critical to the company’s success, yet the search marketing vendors she worked with were not focused on results. Miller’s own efforts proved far more successful than those of the agencies, so she decided to bring her expertise to a broader audience.