Sabtu, 12 Mei 2012

The Three Basic Keys of Search Engine Optimisation

With search engine optimisation on the rise, there are many mind blowing theories that are circulating about what will get you high up in the search engines. From having your keywords in bold font, to having your text as close to the top of a page, along with the famous 3% - 7% keyword density rule, we can scrap them all since it comes down to three basic key points.

1. Keyword Selection

The most important point out of the three is keyword selection. If you end up selecting keywords that do not have any/few searches, then you are simply wasting time by optimising for them. There is no point in being ranked number one for a keyword when there are no searchers for that term. A good place to start is by using keyword research tools such as “Wordtracker”, “Overture Keyword Assistant” and “Keyword Discovery”, to find out what people are typing into search engines. Once you have found those terms, the next step is to work out the level of competition and effort it will take to get a reasonable rank for each term. The best way is to look at the number of competing pages in search engines for each keyword and how many incoming links the top ten websites have (“Marketleap link popularity checker” is a good tool for that). If you have the knowledge and time, you may want to go for the slightly more competitive keywords.

2. Good On-the-Page and Off-the-Page Structure

For on-the-page factors, making sure that there is a sufficient amount of text based content, title tags and a strong internal linking between all web pages, is a good start. Title tags and content should contain keywords provided that they are not “stuffed” into the text. For example, if your keyword is “dog supplies”, this sort of writing should be avoided:

“We base our business on dog supplies and have a great range of dog supplies. Check out our latest dog supplies today!”

A visitor will be immediately turned off from this sort of writing and will question the credibility of your site. Keywords should be written around the content, not the other way around.

Off-the-page factors relates to reducing code within your web pages (placing code into external files, such as JavaScript and Style Sheets) and having a website design where search engines can index all your content.

3. Incoming Links

Attaining incoming links to your website has become a more heavily relied upon factor in last couple of years. Each incoming link is seen by search engines as a vouch from another site. The more incoming relevant links you have, the more trusted your website becomes by search engines. This does not mean you can simply acquire a bunch of links from any site. Links need to relevant in the sense that the website linking to you has some sort of affiliation with your theme otherwise the links will not benefit you.

Provided you stick to the three basic key points of search engine optimisation, in time you will notice a stronger website presence in the search engines. Whist it can be done on your own if you have the knowledge and time, hiring an SEO agency is one avenue to success if you have the budget. Having said that, time should not be spared in taking advantage of the vast opportunities the internet can bring you and your business.

Get What You Want From Professional SEO Companies

Most folks are admittedly not ready to do their own SEO. People would rather focus on spicing up a site’s topics and reviews or appearance, than learning the tricky tools of SEO. The good thing however is that you can hire someone else to do it, but be on the lookout for scam artists and sub-par SEO “experts”.

The art of SEO is basically an open and shut case, either it achieves pre-set objectives or it does not.

If it does not, the SEO process has failed. If it works, the optimization method has worked. The objectives could, and probably would involve achieving certain ranking positions on a particular search engine in a stated time. Achieving this may sound easy, however one needs to consider the environment in which SEO professionals work, and that is the search engines.

SEO and Search Engines
Search engines at present are a lucrative billion-dollar business. With over an estimated billion searches made every day using the search engines, search engines take their roles very seriously. The main reason why users come is to search and attain relevant results, and each of the major search engines long for a bigger slice of the growing market, which means gaining more users.

However, it is important to note that search engines sometimes do not mind a sites’ ranking, as long as they got to that position "organically." If the site tries to rank via some other methods, like spamming and is discovered, the site is likely to be de-listed. Also, one good thing to remember is that search engines regularly change their covert ranking algorithms, and this makes SEO an unclear and indefinite science. This reason actually justifies the need for you to have an SEO professional working on your site.

How to Pick an SEO Professional

Basically, no degrees are required in Search Engine Optimization; however there are accreditations from groups like SEMPO and Bruceclay for example. There are courses in Search marketing offered in schools world wide, in US and European colleges. The art of Search Engine Optimization requires a range of skills from the hard (technical) to the soft, or people skills and "spin" marketing. Before signing up for a particular SEO professional or firm, check on some important details.

Analyze the SEO company. Read through the company website. Does the site list exact goals and techniques? Does it discuss using ethical, or white hat SEO methods?. Does it stir confidence, or do the experts sound like shrewd salesmen?. Check the company domain for example; click to see their whois details, how long has the domain been registered for?, does the company list complete and accurate whois details?, However, if the domain is new, or if the whois details aren't listed, you may be looking at a suspicious company.

So how should you choose a professional SEO Company? The truth is that there are very few excellent SEO firms but there are tens of thousands of SEO companies that advertise their quality services, which could be poor or highly questionable. The SEO market is an unregulated and relatively new sector in considerable demand, so it is not so surprising for scam artists to be around. Try sorting out firms on the Web carefully, or better get a list from industry and government Web watchdogs for a safer search.

Build Your Website to Be Seen

When you are building links to increase your website popularity, whom do you link to? The question of where to link to increase ranking can be confusing. Logical thinking is needed to achieve link popularity in a natural way. Yes, indeed, Google page rank should come first and foremost. Page rank is part of the algorithm of Google's ranking in the search engine results. Other search engines use link popularity in their algorithm to evaluate your website as well. But page rank is only one of the 100 plus criteria Google uses to evaluate your web pages. Use the idea of page rank as a "tool" to help make decisions, there's no need to live and die by the results. Link popularity itself is merely one-way to improve your ranking.

In fact, there is a general fear of reciprocal linking to websites who inadvertently link to a "bad neighborhood" with penalties or page rank zero, passing on problems to you. Use your common sense. Is this a website you would want to visit or your visitors would want to visit? If the answer is no or you can't tell what the subject of the site is, make a note of it and keep looking. A website full of links with little content doesn't "make sense" because what benefit is it to you or your visitors? Of course you are going to link to your partners in business or maybe the small website that is doing a bang up job of selling widgets and providing widget information.
The idea of acquiring link popularity by linking back and forth to other sites to boost your popularity artificially is a popular method. But is it of value to your website? Ask yourself: Would you link to this site if link popularity in the search engines didn't matter? Would your visitor care about this link or find it helpful? Does the website have good content? Is this an opportunity for you to publicize your website by being listed there? Will this link cause you to spend a great deal of time worrying about it?
Is the link "just a link" or do you want a link from any site whose visitors care about what you have to say

It makes sense to list your website in the search engines and directories. In fact, one-way linking, such as listing your site in directories, is a good way to improve your link popularity naturally. Well, you say to yourself, of course I've done that. Besides the major directories, what else is out there? You'd be surprised at the amount of good secondary and specialty directories that drive traffic. Some even specialize in a topic - maybe your topic. If you have a product to sell, look at who your competitor is linking to. Search for directories and business sites on your topic. Look for websites that talk about the widgets you sell and see if they accept submissions to their directory listings in the category for widgets. Do they accept original articles, product reviews, press releases or white papers about widgets? If so, submit your topical articles and watch your link popularity rise naturally. With your good content on other websites as well as archived on your own website, there you have it, links pointing back to your website.

Finally, enhance content stick-ness and optimize your web pages using proper keywords in your site to develop your website so once your visitors arrive, they will want to stay. The World Wide Web uses linking to connect us all. By using hard work to create a quality website and common sense when linking you can stop worrying and start succeeding in internet marketing attempt.

SEO ‘Tools Of The Trade’

Before you start optimizing your site for search engines, there are some tools that you should arm yourself with. These tools can become your best friends when it comes to SEO, especially when you’re just starting out. The first and most important step in any search engine position campaign is recognizing which keywords you should optimize your site for, and there are several pieces of software that are useful for this, including Wordtracker, Optilink, Zeus, and Agent Web Ranking.

WordTracker's keyword research service is the only one on the Internet that provides a comprehensive database of the most popular keywords in a particular industry. It can help you recognize associated keywords that you may have never thought of. One of the differences between WordTracker and other tools is that it can spot subtle differences, for example singular and plural keywords, or often-misspelled ones, and tell you which versions are more popular.

Optilink has become very popular in a short period of time because of the power it gives you over search engines. Every site that links to you boosts your ranking, especially if its content is relevant to yours. Optilink helps you to come up with strategies to improve your link structure and get a better ranking. Here are some of the things it does:

1. Analyzes the link structures of your top-ranking competitors.

2. Tells you why your competitors rank well, so you can try to copy what they’re doing.

3. Tells you what kind of rankings you can expect if you adopt similar linking strategies.

4. Helps to monitor sites you’ve exchanged links with, to ensure that they’re still linking to you.

Zeus has an excellent way of increasing the link popularity of your site -- by exchanging with other sites that are related to yours, giving you a head start on your SEO. Zeus does the work for you, identifying sites that it thinks you should try to exchange links with. If you look for the sites yourself you’ll often find it’s not worth the time, but an SEO tool like Zeus lets you do it instantly. Once you’ve got links, you can manage and maintain them automatically.

Agent Web Ranking helps you to check your sites rankings – this is good to see how your SEO efforts are working. Many people just optimize and submit, thinking the work is done, but they’re wrong. You need to continuously check your site's rankings, and Agent Web Ranking is a reliable and quick tool for doing this.

The only real problem you might have with any of this software is that search engines can change the way they display their results, breaking the tools until their authors update them. This means that most position reporting software gets outdated very quickly. It’s not that much of an issue, though, as most software is provided on a subscription basis with updates included, rather than bought only once.

If you really want to stay ahead in the SEO industry, you should try as many different tools as you can. By paying attention to what tools others are using and learning how they work, you will have the edge in the SEO market. So get out there, and download these SEO tools of the trade!

SEO vs. SEM – The ROI Myth Busted

Search engine optimization and search engine marketing both are intrinsic part of Internet marketing efforts. But there is some confusion as to which one is better strategy in return on investment (ROI) terms. This article helps clear some of the doubts.

SEO vs. SEM – The ROI Myth Busted

Return on investment (ROI) is one of the deciding factors for any course of action involving investment of resources. For quite sometime now, a debate has been raging on whether search engine optimization (SEO) has better ROI than professional search engine marketing (SEM).

In fact it has become a bit of a myth that it is easier to get good ROI through SEO than it is to get the same ROI through SEM. Two facts have helped evolve this myth – SEM involves click costs while SEO works through free traffic. Let’s see whether this myth holds any water.

Well, a closer look tells us that this myth doesn’t have any truth in it and there are several reasons for that. In this article though, we will deal with just one reason: the ‘landing page difference’.


In SEM, you decide the landing page your visitors will see. In SEO, a search engine spider decides on the landing page visitors will see. There's a difference in control, and that difference makes all the difference. That’s why serious search engine marketing services providers opt for full blown SEM rather than just SEO.


Searchers, after all, are people with itchy back-button fingers. If they come to a site and don't think it's the best site for them, they'll return to the search engine results page - and click on your competitors' links - in a matter of seconds.


But if your landing page is optimized for the keywords the searchers choose, and the ad copy the searchers see, then you're able to tell a new visitor, right away, that he/she's come to the right place.

And no matter how amazing your site is, that's a message that visitors need to hear. Because people don't just want to see a good landing page, they want to see a relevant landing page.


But only a good search engine marketing firm can optimize your landing page. A search spider won't.


In both SEO and SEM, you only hit ROI if your searchers convert. A search engine marketing services provider might require a higher initial investment than an SEO firm does (because SEM requires the management cost, plus the PPC cost; while SEO only costs the price of management alone) - but you're also likely to get better conversions through SEM, because you're likely to get better landing pages through SEM. And it's only conversions that will get you ROI.


Are we saying that getting the best SEO possible isn't worthwhile?

Absolutely not!

The more real estate you take up in the search engine results page, the better. It will plant your brand in the psyche of the browsers making your website easier to recall when they would require services/products you offer.


So good SEO is absolutely vital to strong internet marketing! But saying that SEO will get better ROI than SEM - because organic traffic is free - ignores the most important element of SEM: control. And its control that makes all the difference between getting traffic, and getting traffic that converts.


And that makes a huge difference when it comes to ROI.

Choosing The Right Keywords

Internet marketing and search engine optimization hinge on knowing what keyword or keywords web search surfers are searching for on the web. By doing extensive keyword analysis you can zero in on the best keyword terms to use when setting up pay per click advertising, writing keyword articles, and optimizing web pages.

Not only is it necessary to know what keywords are searched for the most but also how many times particular keywords have been searched. There are a number of effective tools available for keyword analysis and keyword suggestion.

Yahoo Search Marketing

Yahoo has an excellent tool for helping webmasters and Internet marketers determine what keywords people are searching for on a monthly basis. This tool, located at http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/srch/index.php is powered by Yahoo Search Marketing that was previously known as Overture.

Wordtracker

One of the more popular tools for doing keyword research is Wordtracker.
WordTracker can be found at http://www.wordtracker.com/. Keyword results provided by Wordtracker are compiled from Dogpile and Metacrawler. Wordtracker is not free but with the ability to do targeted keyword research the results can quickly pay for the software.

Once you have done some preliminary research you will need to decide which keywords or keyword phrases to target in your Internet marketing campaign. It is best to choose keywords that have a good amount of traffic without too much competition for placement.

For example, let’s say you are marketing a variety of photography books and you search on photography only to find that it had more than 1,000,000 searches last month. The competition for placement with this keyword is probably going to be pretty tough. Try researching on more targeted phrases such as nature photography, landscape photography, photography books, etc.

You will likely find that these terms have less monthly searches and much less competition. There will be a lower search to competition ratio. Generally, a keyword with 30,000 to 50,000 monthly searches is going to be one that you can compete for in terms of placement and being found on the search engines. Instead of spinning your wheels marketing for those who are searching for photography instead create multiple campaigns that market to more targeted keyword phrases.

You can evaluate the search to competition ratio by taking the number of searchs of a particular keyword and dividing by the number of web site which return for that keyword when searched. The higher the number the better. For example, if you have a keyword that is searched for 100 times in a month and when you search on that keyword you return 1000 results then the ratio is 100/1000 or 0.10. If you have a keyword that is searched for 100 times but there are 10,000 search return results then the ratio goes down to 0.01. The larger the ratio the better in terms of your ability to be competitive.

Finding the best keywords to use in your web site promotion is vital to effectively driving targeted traffic to your web site. Take the time to find out what people are searching for and your efforts will pay off in terms of traffic and sales conversion.

Keyword Services

Are you allocated to some keyword services? For, these keyword services can provide you with a list of right keywords every week at your disposal. And it is very important for you to develop your website according to the keywords provided by these keyword services. In fact knowing apt keywords is a key to obtain internet traffic and link popularity. So, to sustain on the internet, you very much need to know the right keywords used by people in your niche market.

This is because if you do not know the right keywords, you cannot popularize your site as well. For, search engines will never locate the website without the right keywords in their top search results. So maintaining a list of right keywords is a must for you. And the keyword services would enable you to find the right keywords that would also help you maintain a high rank with the major search engines.

The keywords services enable you to improve your website by sending you the most relevant keywords for your niche market. Generally, people spend hours in researching about the keyword, finding and matching with their websites. But by obtaining an online keyword service you can heavily save on your time. And more to your joy, these keywords services are available quite easily today. You can leave every thing related to the keyword research to these service providers. A number of websites offer you to help in your keyword search.

The procedure of obtaining the keyword service is very simple. You have to fill up a form and submit with important details about your website. With in 24 hour of the submission, the keyword service consultant will contact you. The keyword service is aimed at providing you with the best keywords that play a vital role to boost your website ranking. The consultant will discuss every detail about your website.

A team of internet experts will device a strategy to search the keywords for your website. All the brain storming about possibilities of finding the best key words is done by these people. The professionals closely work on your website. The keyword services aim at monitoring the web traffic coming your way. This makes them recognize the fact about what type of traffic you have. Accordingly the keywords are searched.

The keyword service providers monitor the links of your competitors as well. They find the keywords being used for their web page search. Also the meta-tags contain some extremely useful keywords. The services use online tools to search the related keywords. Most widely used online keyword searching tool is a word tracker. This enables anyone to find the keywords and several terms containing that keyword. This is because most searches are not the single keyword searches.

The top keyword searches are conducted by using online keyword tools and programs. They also send you a statistical analysis of the keywords being searched related to your website. You get valuable keyword finding tips as well. You can hire a keyword service comfortably. And the service charge will depend upon the number of keywords you want.

So, the keyword service will take away all the worries from you by giving you the most beneficial keywords.