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Search Engine Optimization Services This is the first search engine optimization course I purchased back in 1997!
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3 Deadly Search Engine Marketing Sins
My inbox this week provided glaring examples of three all too common rookie search engine marketing mistakes. What you could call three deadly search engine marketing sins. Starting with
===> Inadequate Keyword Research
Hey! If you're going to spend hours developing a web site, isn't it smart to invest some time to insure you're focusing on the most traffic laden keywords?
Especially when typically the plural form of a keyword phrase generates way more traffic than the singular form. For example "dog dishes" rather than "dog dish".
Yet just this week I was asked to look at a site that had focused on the singular form. Evidently the owner hadn't bothered to do any digging to make sure that was their best keyword move.
Look, you'll never know for sure unless you research it. Besides, you can access Wordtracker, the tool of choice for what? a measly $7 a day.
Even better here's a quick and dirty way to get the most out of that day.
Search for your target keyword in Google.
Visit the top ranking sites. Use the "View Source" feature of Internet Explorer to check out the keyword meta tag of each site. You're looking for a site listing lots of keywords there. Do this with each of the top listings or until you find one stuffed to the gills with keywords. Ah-ha! There's your starting point for your list of likely keyword phrases.
Repeat with a couple of other sites and you'll soon have a long list of candidates to check out in Wordtracker.
Enhance your list further using this tool:
http://www.promoteindia.com/keywordtool-beta.htm.
It will give you more keyword ideas from Google and Overture.
Now you're ready for Wordtracker.
Once you've compiled your Wordtracker results, you could simply sort by KEI and then by searches per day.
That gives you the strongest keywords with the most searches. (And yes, I realize KEI assumes all search engine listings are of equal value. But I did say this was "quick and dirty" didn't I? However if you want another approach that improves on KEI there's a spreadsheet available at http://www.seo-works.com/seo-resources/keyword-effectiveness-rank.html)
Anyway, once you're sorted your keywords in some way to highlight the most profitable, simply take the top 25 on the list and create content for those first. No, not every one will be a natural born traffic magnet. But enough of them will be to get the ball rolling.
Repeat with the next 25. Don't stop until you have at least 100 pages of hot content.
Remember, two or three word keyword phrases are usually your best bets. And I really like keyword phrases that are actually several keyword phrases in one. For example "irish setter dog dishes" gives "irish setter", "irish setter dog", "dog", "dog dishes", "setter dog dishes".
===> Site Bloat
Twice this week I was asked to look at sites that would have let me read War and Peace while waiting for them to come up. And no visitor is going to have a copy of that handy.
To avoid losing any precious visitors lose the huge graphics. One of the sites had a graphic 501K in size! No wonder it took nearly two minutes to load up on a 56K modem.
Then too lose the Flash - unless you have a very good reason for using it. Even then lose the Flash.
If you're wondering how your site's download time measures up test it here: http://www.netmechanic.com/toolbox/html-code.htm
It won't cost anything to find out. But a slow loading site can cost you plenty. Because as the Net Mechanics follow up reports says, it's a good idea to keep your page load times under about 12 seconds on a 28.8 modem. Otherwise your visitors will be wearing out the back button trying to escape.
===> Too Few Links
Did you know links can account for up to 80% of your success with Google? Yet someone else complained to me about how much work it took to get them.
Well doh! Ever think that maybe that's why (in part) Google assigns so much value to links? Because you can't quite as easily game links as you can on page content? Meaning you actually have to work to get links. Both by having link worthy content and by actively seeking them out on a regular basis.
It's a given that most niches require you have a healthy collection of links to be competitive. Yet if you're lucky enough to be in a niche that doesn't, but you do, then you can easily dominate those rankings.
Anyway in a nutshell you can easily avoid these three search engine sins. Do your keyword homework. Keep your pages on a strict diet. And don't forget link up with as many other quality sites as you can.
Do all that and you're well on your way to search engine success. Ignore this advice and you're, well you know, your Google goose is probably cooked. Leaving you perpetually stuck in Google purgatory.
Copyright 2004 John Gergye
About The Author
John Gergye shares more ideas like this in his just updated eBook "Traffic From Google in 35 Days". Find out more here:
http://www.traffic-test-tube.com/j/tfg35cl.shtml
Or test your search engine IQ by taking his seo quiz
http://www.traffic-test-tube.com/search-engine-quiz.shtml
and get the free special report "Coming Out On Top".
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The Changing Face of Search Engine Optimization
With the ever evolving internet market for just about anything you can imagine and Google's index growing to almost 9 billion pages, and counting, there is little dispute amongst search engine optimizers that our job is getting much harder. From linking to articles, and density to ontology, our industry changes as fast as any other. The search engines, especially Google, seem to be on a daily diet of change and their algorithm seems to be growing at the rate of their index.
History of World / Regional Search Engines and Directories
Computers have become a way of life for people around the world. They are used to research term papers, check weather forecasts, track military progress, exchange ideas (blogs and chat) and to find the cheapest price on items etc. It is no surprise that as the computer age takes hold computer usage has increased. The number of websites that are being developed on the World Wide Web is growing at an ever increasing exponential amount. And because we live in a quick-fix society, with limited time on our hands, we need something to make surfing the web a lot easier, something that will sort out all this influx of information into a logical order.
Achieving Better Search Engine Optimization
The search engine giants are locked in an all out power struggle to get your attention and patronage.
How Ive Maintained 7 Top Ten Google Rankings For Nine Months
Back in November 2004 I discovered a way to get a top 10 ranking in Google. I tested the technique for 3 months before I shared my findings with the world.
Types of Links
Internal Linking ? An introduction
Would You Like More PageRank?
The higher the PR of your site the higher will be its search engine position. So the goal is to get lots of sites linking to your site. But quality is much more important than quantity. The higher the PR of the sites that link to yours the more they boost your sites PR.
Search Engine Optimization and Web Site Usability
Build a Web site and the people will come.
Ranked #1 at Google for Invisible Entrepreneurs But No Traffic?
I am ranked #1 for that silly phrase at Google. So What?
Playing in Googlebots Sandbox with Slurp, Teoma, & MSNbot - Spiders Display Differing Personalities
There has been endless webmaster speculation and worry about the so-called "Google Sandbox" - the indexing time delay for new domain names - rumored to last for at least 45 days from the date of first "discovery" by Googlebot. This recognized listing delay came to be called the "Google Sandbox effect."
Googles Trap, DMOZs Nap, And Yahoo!s Crap
On November 16th, 2003, Google commenced an update (the Florida update) which had a catastrophic effect for a very large number of websites and, in the process, turned search engine optimization upside down. It is common to give alphabetical names to Google's updates in the very same way that names are given to hurricanes, and this one became known as "Florida".
Google Sitemaps: 7 Benefits You Cant Ignore
Google Sitemaps enables Webmasters to Directly Alert Google to Changes and Additions on a Website and that's just one of 7 Benefits.
Keyword Research And Overture
Many of us who build websites get in the habit of using the Overture "Keyword Suggestion Tool" to do keyword research. It's convenient, and one of the few remaining such tools that is free. Be careful, though, because there are four problems you may run into with it.
Is New MSN Search More Precise? Just Ask Google
MSN finally unleashed its new search technology to the world on Monday. The official announcement coming from Bill Gates introduced the New MSN Search engine, ending with a personal invitation to visit www.msn.com and â??type in your question.â??
10 Steps To Higher Search Engine Positioning
There is perhaps no more level playing field in business than the Internet. It is this fact that has created millionaires from paupers. The amount of money that can be made depends of course on your industry and your products and/or services but to be sure, if it can be sold at all, it can be sold online.
King + Queen = Royal Success
Ever wonder how or why your competitor gets better search engine rankings than you do? Does he know something you don't? Well, maybe he actually does?And that's where I come in. I'm here to unveil the secret tricks of the trade that may be giving your competitor that much-needed edge in search engine rankings and to show you how you can reclaim your position without skipping a beat. Quite simply, I am going to give you the key to unlocking the secret chest of information that your competition is using to get better rankings.
21 Search Engine Terms Every Web Marketer Should Know Part 1
1. Search Engine - Is a database of web sites that is ranked according to the computerized criteria that the programmers decide upon called an algorithm. Various search engines determine ranking on their own different factors of importance or relevancy. For the last few years the Google search engine was the most popular search engine supplying the search results for Yahoo and to a lesser extent MSN and AOL. This all changed recently after Yahoo purchased different search engine companies and developed its own search engine. Soon MSN will enter this market with its own search engine algorithm.
Make Quality Content Your #1 Priority
It is by now a proven fact that content is the most important element for getting better pagerank and, consequently, more traffic.
How to REALLY Profit from SEO
I want to give you a few more things to think about as you excel and grow in the craft of search engine marketing. If you are anything like me, you were hooked the first time you really made a difference to someone else's success. I soon realized that being able to help business owners to get results from these optimization methods and strategies could also be amazingly profitable. I found out that customers are your greatest resources and many of them are quite generous when you make an impact on their business. So the topic here is for those who want to profit from their skills (if you are not already doing very well and having an awesome time already).
All About Links -- Interview With Link Building Expert , Bob Gladstein
Julia: Welcome Bob. Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions about link building. I'm going to jump right in ask you why Web sites need links?
All About Google
If you read The Search Engine Showdown, you know Google is my favourite search engine. Why? Google always offers the most results for any given search (they currently have over 8 billion pages indexed), it's faster than the Audi Quattro we test drove this morning, and 9 times out of ten, in my experience, all the front page results are relevant to my search. In fact, I usually find what I'm looking for within the first few sites listed. I also really respect the fact that two college kids started it (kinda like Abalone Designs!) and that those two college kids seem not to have forgotten where they came from. If you check out the images at Google's press center (http:// www.google.com/press/images.html) and scroll down to the Everyday Life Inside Google section, you'll get a feeling that life at Google is fun.