Archive for SEO-Search Engine Optimization
SEO Software Reviews: Setting the Stage
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This week I promised that I’d review SEO Software tools.
If you’re bored by the idea already, don’t you worry your pretty little head. I’ll have some treats for you as well. Let’s face it…
SEO (search engine optimization) for most people is about as much fun as eating sand. And, a series of articles reviewing SEO software isn’t going to win any literary awards for that matter, either.
But hey… one never knows. Someone may pick up on the idea and create a great horror flick featuring the Googlebot and his minions. I’ll try to make this at least marginally entertaining.
And with that, let’s talk strategy…
A Mystifying Case of Top Search Engine Ranking: Solved
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Sam was a bit perplexed.
He hadn’t really done much search engine optimization of his site. He wasn’t even near the top ten for his primary keyword phrase. And yet…
Sam discovered that he had top search engine ranking (number 1) for a keyword phrase he wasn’t using – ANYWHERE on his web site.
In fact, it gets even more mystifying. Sam had top search engine ranking for the phrase “universal folder gluers”, even though the word “universal” was nowhere to be found on his web site. Nada. Not on a single page, link, or even graphic image.
“How can this be?” Sam asked.
If SEO and PPC Work For Them…
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Forbes Media recently released the results of their survey of senior marketing executives on the effectiveness of various marketing tactics for brand perception and conversion to sales. [View the complete 2009 Ad Effectiveness Survey here: http://www.forbes.com/adinfo/research.html]
It’s a good report, and while the summary information is useful, it can be easily taken out of context to mean something other than what I believe it really means. If you actually read the report and examine the PowerPoint slides, you’ll come away feeling differently about the results than by reading a simple summary.
Here’s what they learned:
Basic SEO Stuff That Can’t Be Ignored
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I read this last Friday:
“In a new study on factors that affect search engine rankings of Web pages, marketing analytics company Covario reported that the number of inbound links from other Web sites is the single most important factor in a page showing up prominently in search results.”
Well, duh. Internet marketers have known this for years. Does this mean that we’re suddenly going to be deluged again with link farms and link exchange requests? Perhaps, but that’s not at all the point of the results of this study.
The importance of “back links” or “inbound links” for search engine optimization isn’t new. Somehow, though, it’s gotten lost in the flurry of activity over social networking. Social media has truly reshaped the search engine optimization landscape… but not by removing the importance of inbound links to your web site.
How Social Media Has Changed SEO
A Nifty SEO Trick For Your Blog
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I read about a search engine optimization trick yesterday that fewer than 10% of the existing web sites today deploy… and probably fewer than ONE percent of blogs.
The trick is something SEO guru Leslie Rohde talks about, and it is a concept called First Link Priority.
More than likely you aren’t following the rule of First Link Priority with your web site, and it is highly unlikely that you’re doing it with your blog.
What is First Link Priority and Why Should You Care?
Leslie explains it this way:
The first link that a search engine spider encounters in your web page’s code is the link to which the spider gives the MOST WEIGHT.
Another way of saying this is that when the search engine spider encounters your web page, it wants to learn what your web site is all about. When it says, “this site is about X” it pays particular attention to the first link in your HTML code.
When Localized Search Engine Optimization Helps
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Yesterday I was doing a web site review of the 15th fastest growing private company in Oregon. It’s a business that’s been around for four years, and from what I could tell hasn’t updated their web site since they created the business. The company is a recruiting firm who specializes in “creative” jobs – graphic design, web design, and the like. It’s a nice looking web site with lots of pretty pictures and appealing colors.
The problem from a marketing (lead generation) standpoint is that it was obviously designed by a creative designer and not a marketer. The entire web site is built with Flash, a popular tool amongst designers, but useless as far as SEO and marketing are concerned.
There’s quite a bit I can say about the site, and will once I’ve completed my assessment. The one thing that stood out, though, is a topic that’s not often discussed, but is critical for a business like this.
Their business is localized to the Portland area, so why shouldn’t their web site also be localized?
How Do I Optimize My Blog For The Search Engines?
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It’s a reasonable and logical question for new bloggers. “How do I optimize my blog for the search engines?” The answer to this question is both simple and complex, as are most internet marketing and SEO topics.
There are several tactical steps that you’ll take, as well as some strategic moves. Most bloggers won’t take the time to strategize, but are more than willing to do the few necessary tactical search engine optimization steps. In this article, I’ll cover only the tactical steps, leaving the all-important strategic piece for another time.
Tactical steps to optimizing your blog for the search engines.
B2B SEO: Three Reasons Why Your Optimization Efforts Will Fail
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B2B companies have marketing departments. They also have IT (information technology) departments. In some ways, this clear departmental distinction is a good thing, but in the world of internet marketing, having a clear separation of powers doesn’t work.
As I review and analyze different B2B web sites, this battle between marketing and the geeks over at IT is abundantly clear when it comes to search engine optimization.
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. ” ~ Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride
The IT folks design the web site, focusing first on the cool factor. They push marketing for copy. Marketing hates IT, and would rather do brochures, ads, and other media about which they are more knowledgeable and comfortable. So, they write some terse, mostly meaningless language in words only they would use and send it over to IT to stuff into the web site.
This brings me to…
How to NOT SEO Optimize Your Web Site
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A good friend of mine is building a new business. It’s a wonderful business, and something this country and the planet sorely needs.
I really love what they’re doing… except for how they’re putting their web site together. Like most B2B companies, they are in love with their vision, as they rightly should be. While their’s is not a product (they find hot eco-technologies, then help them fund and market the technology), the principles are the same. They need to locate customers – in their case the technology inventors and investors – and woo those prospective clients until they have signed and sealed contracts.
And of course they want to optimize their site so that people can find them on the search engines (in particular, potential investors).
What They Did That Was Bad SEO Optimization
My friend sent me an email yesterday that asked if there was a tool that could scan their web site, look for keywords, and add those keywords to their meta tags for them. They wanted to save some time in their SEO optimization practice.
Can you tell me what’s wrong with this picture?
SEO Automation Tools: Are They Worth The Price of Admission?
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Over the past several years, I’ve used a variety of SEO (Search Engine Automation) tools, from directory submission to super link-building tools.
I’ve proposed the use of some of these tools to my clients. What I’ve found is that the solo entrepreneur who wants to be a big-time internet marketer will use anything and everything that promises “instant” search engine success. The B2B or B2C company with the in-house web development team on the other hand won’t touch them with a ten foot pole.
In this article, I decompose a few myths about automated SEO tools and programs, identify the key areas where tools are useful, and provide links to my favorite tools.
Do these tools work? You betcha. Are they applicable to the B2B business who doesn’t give a hoot about internet marketing and thinks internet marketers are a bunch of sleazy con artists? Absolutely.
But pay attention… some of these tools aren’t for the faint of heart. At the end of the article, I tell you my absolute favorite tool for the B2B or B2C business…
