Google recently rewrote their article about what an SEO is and if they recommend them. The rewrite now includes how an SEO firm can help a company with valuable services as well as the warnings about common SEO scams that were there previously.

Some highlights from the article include Google’s definition of SEO and what SEO firms can do including the following list:

•    Review of your site content or structure
•    Technical advice on website development: for example, hosting, redirects, error pages, use of JavaScript
•    Content development
•    Managment online business development campaigns
•    Keyword research
•    SEO training
•    Expertise in specific markets and geographies.

Google also offer the following list of questions as helpful questions you can ask an SEO firm when thinking of hiring them to help increase your search engine rankings.

•    Can you show me examples of your previous work and share some success stories?
•    Do you follow the Google Webmaster Guidelines?
•    Do you offer any online marketing services or advice to complement your organic search business?
•    What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe? How do you measure your success?
•    What’s your experience in my industry?
•    What’s your experience in my country/city?
•    What’s your experience developing international sites?
•    What are your most important SEO techniques?
•    How long have you been in business?
•    How can I expect to communicate with you? Will you share with me all the changes you make to my site, and provide detailed information about your recommendations and the reasoning behind them?

Finally, Google provides a list of things to be wary of if you run across them when dealing with an SEO firms. They are as follows:

•    owns shadow domains
•    puts links to their other clients on doorway pages
•    offers to sell keywords in the address bar
•    doesn’t distinguish between actual search results and ads that appear on search results pages
•    guarantees ranking, but only on obscure, long keyword phrases you would get anyway
•    operates with multiple aliases or falsified WHOIS info
•    gets traffic from “fake” search engines, spyware, or scumware
•    has had domains removed from Google’s index or is not itself listed in Google
•    requests your FTP account information or root access to your server

Overall, it’s a good to see that Google is showing support for search engine optimization firms that follow their guidelines and can help increase your rankings as a result.

SEO copywriting is the practice of writing promotional material (or “copy”) in a way that optimizes it for search engines. Ideally, effective SEO copywriting should help the web page achieve a high search result ranking, while convincing potential customers to buy a product or service. Here are some more details on what SEO copywriting is and how to best apply it.

Some characteristics of SEO copywriting include appropriate keyword density, the use of keywords (or phrases) that people search for, and search engine (SE) optimized formatting. Attractive and SE-friendly META tags should be used. The copywriting must be in text format; it will not be indexed in results if it is inside an image or animation.

Good SEO copywriting doesn’t compromise clarity for the sake of optimization; it is best to avoid redundant or awkward phrases. Even if it is well optimized, poorly-worded copy has some drawbacks with regard to sales. Customers may question the quality of a company’s services or suspect that the words were translated from a foreign language.

Using bold text and/or H1 (large font) tags for important keywords in SEO copy will help search engines identify the web page’s topic, potentially producing higher rankings. These tags shouldn’t be used excessively and only ought to be applied to words directly related to what the page is about. They also must be words or phrases that people actually search for.

What about using links in SEO copywriting? This is acceptable, but they should open in a new window so that readers are less likely to leave the current page. When the link points to a competitor’s web site (perhaps to compare prices or features), consider utilizing the “nofollow” tag/attribute to prevent the link from giving SEO benefits to the other site.

Any images accompanying the copy/text should include relevant ALT tags. Some SE “spiders” take these into account; people with images turned off or text-only web browsers can also see these tags. It is best if the page containing the SEO copywriting is still fully usable and provides all of the necessary information without images.

To sum it up, SEO copywriting emphasizes relevant search keywords and uses search engine optimized formatting to enhance its ranking in non-paid SE results. At the same time, the copy must be persuasive and hold the reader’s interest, which can often be achieved using the same techniques as effective email or print copywriting.

When creating a new web page with SEO in mind, choosing the right title becomes important. Good titles attract the interest of searchers while identifying the page’s subject. They also use the right number and type of words to gain better search engine rankings. Here are some tips on creating an SEO based page title.

1. The page title length shouldn’t exceed 65 characters, including spaces. Otherwise, most search engines will cut off part of it in their results and use an ellipsis (…) in place of the remaining text. Titles may also be abbreviated in this fashion on web browsers if they are too long. If a lengthy title must be used, try to put less important words near the end, so that it won’t matter if people can’t see them.

2. Searchers may not bother to read the description if the title doesn’t appeal to them or attract their attention. It should be specific to the content and purpose of the individual page. For example, when creating an SEO title for a page about a specific truck model, make sure it reveals whether it is a review, a promotional advertisement, or a list of details. This way, people won’t have to load and review the web page to find out.

3. When creating SEO titles, make sure the words in the title are repeated in the text of the page. This will help pages gain higher rankings in search results by showing that the content is relevant to the titles. Avoid using the same word repeatedly. Consider including related search keywords if the title remains under forty characters in length, perhaps by adding a “category” word at the beginning (followed by a colon).

4. Don’t use uppercase or lowercase letters for the entire title. It isn’t entirely clear as to whether or not search engines find this important; either way, lack of capitalization makes the site less appealing to people looking at search results. It also looks better if there aren’t too many short (1-3 letters) capitalized words in page titles.

5. Sometimes adding a commonly misspelled word (”keybord”) or an alternative spelling (like “criticize” and “criticise”) can have SEO benefits when creating titles. Certain words are spelled differently by people of particular nationalities, such as “favour” or “favor”. For example, a television sales page targeting British customers might use the phrase “Colour TV” in its title.

Marketing Sherpa, one of the better know research firms that publishes case studies and benchmark data for marketing professionals, recently launched another newsletter. The newsletter known as SherpaSearch will focus on all things related to search marketing, including search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click (PPC), cost per click (CPC), trends and marketing information about the major search engines such as Google and Yahoo.

SherpaSearch will be released every other week and will include tutorials, case studies, research insights and how-to articles. You can sign up to receive the newsletter at http://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/Search-Marketing-Newsletter-2008.

The goal of the newsletter is to help marketers better understand the world of search marketing. Readers will receive guides on how to improve SEO and PPC strategies, plan search budgets and forecast results to discover what really works in search marketing.

MarketingSherpa publishes 10 weekly newsletters and reaches 237,000 professionals every week. Topics in the newsletters covered include practical how-to and exclusive data and proven tactics in business-to-business marketing, ecommerce marketing, email marketing, search marketing, telemarketing, media relations, landing page design, marketing measurement and online subscription marketing.

Tracking changes in the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) progress of your website can help identify effective techniques and reveal areas where improvement remains necessary. Here are some tips on more easily tracking SEO progress changes.

1. Record the Google PageRank for your site’s home page every few weeks; consider tracking the PageRank changes of other important pages as well. Using a spreadsheet (with individual pages in the rows and different dates at the top of each column) may make this easier. PageRanks can be checked using the Google Toolbar or websites like prcheckingtool.com. Here is an example of how the fields of a two site, three-month PageRank spreadsheet might be formatted:

Row 1: Web Site, Aug., Sep., Oct.
Row 2: Example.net, PR 6, 8, 7
Row 3: Example.org, PR 6, 5, 5

2. Monitoring the site’s position in search results for various relevant keywords is also helpful for tracking SEO changes. For example, you might record that your site ranked 6th on Yahoo! and 8th on Google for the search phrase “antique radios” on September 1st. If its ranking changes the next month, you could assess whether or not your SEO techniques have been effective. A spreadsheet can be useful for this type of tracking as well, although it will be somewhat more complicated than the PageRank tracking spreadsheet. Reviewing your site’s usage statistics can reveal additional SEO keywords it receives traffic from that you might not be aware of.

3. Usage statistics (accessed either through the site’s control panel or a third-party tracking service) can also be used to monitor how much search traffic each of the major pages receive. This may help you recognize which pages need more SEO work before they will receive sufficient traffic. Website statistics systems (like AWStats) often keep data from previous months and store it for future reference, so it may not be necessary for you to store this information manually. Other SEO information these systems provide includes data on how much traffic came from each search engine and the number of hits from various engine-specific “spiders”.

Applying these tips will make tracking SEO changes easier and more effective. When deficiencies are found, the best solution may include obtaining more links, META tag changes, or different keyword usage. Each technique should be used once every month or two, more often as a site becomes popular and search ranking changes appear with greater frequency.

After your web site has been online for a few months or so, it will usually be assigned a PageRank (PR) by top search engine Google.com. This is an important factor in determining how well your site ranks among other search results. There are a few different ways to check your current PageRank, each with its own advantages; here’s how:

1. You can check your Google PR on a number of different web sites, such as prchecker.info and checkpr.org, which is one of the fastest services of this type. To check it on CheckPR.org, just enter your web site’s address in the “Site URL” field and click on the “Rank” button. After loading, it will show the site’s PageRank at the bottom of the page, along with its Alexa.com traffic ranking.

2. Another option regarding how to check your PageRank is to use the Google Toolbar. It is free for anyone to use and includes other features like a pop-up blocker and a built-in search box. However, it requires IE 6.0+ or FireFox 2.0+ and doesn’t work in Windows 95/98/ME. Various other SEO add-ons and plugins are available which allow certain browsers to directly check the PageRank for specific pages.

3. If you frequently check your site’s Google PageRank, a convenient option is to add an icon to the site which indicates its current rank. These are available from several sites, including pagerankbar.com and prsitecheck.com. You will have to edit the HTML and paste in their code. However, you probably won’t want this if the PageRank level is very low, as all of the site’s visitors will also see it.

4. Try using one of the free services that generates an SEO report on your site; these check a wide range of statistics including the PR, backlink counts, the number of links on certain social bookmarking systems, Compete.com rankings, and other information. This provides a clearer indication of a web site’s popularity. Popuri.us and xinureturns.com are two examples of these services.

Keep in mind that each page of a web site will have its own PageRank level, ranging from zero to ten. PageRanks only update every few months or so, but the updates generally don’t occur on predictable dates. Consider keeping a record of changes to the PageRank each time you check it; this will make it easier to track how much progress your site makes.

SWFObject offers the ability to optimize Flash files for search engine optimization. It has 2 optimized Flash Player methods that you can choose from – a markup based approach as well as a JavaScript-reliant method. Because it has been hard to optimize Flash files previously this tool is quite helpful.

Some important basics about the SWFObject include the fact that it offers a JavaScript API that intends to supply a complete tool set for embedding SWF files and retrieving Flash Player related information. SWFObject also only uses one small JavaScript file, 9.5Kb/GZIPed:3.8Kb.

Many experts believe that SWFObject will eventually replace Adobes’ Flash Player Detection Kit. The program also intends to merge all existing Flash Player embed methods and provide a new standard for embedding Adobe Flash Player content. Best of all its an open source project.

There are quite a few reasons for using SWFObject. It is more flexible and optimized than other Flash Player embed methods for one. It also offers a solution for you whether you are an HTML, Flash or JavaScript developer. Additionally it uses unobtrusive JavaScript and JavaScript best practices and is extremely easy to use.

With SFWObject you can use both static and dynamic publishing methods. The only thing it doesn’t support is XML MIME types. SWFObject used to be called FlashObject. The name was changed due to legal/trademark reasons.

As more users obtain high-speed internet connections, the practice of video marketing is expanding. There are many different ways of using internet video marketing, ranging from directly promotional advertisements to informational content sponsored by a particular brand or web site. Read on to learn more details about using video marketing on the internet.

Entertaining or informative online videos are often combined with an advertisement at the beginning or a brand/URL which appears during them. Businesses that purchase advertisements at the start of videos should make sure they aren’t likely to be played repetitively to the same users in a way that will annoy them. For example, a site with ten different videos on its home page shouldn’t show the same advertisement before each individual video.

Some web sites use purely promotional videos on their own sites as part of their marketing efforts. This works well for visually demonstrating how a product works. Also, some visitors are more likely to listen to a detailed description of a product or service than they are to read about it. However, promoters shouldn’t rely upon this technique to the extent that it excludes customers who have older computers or internet connections which cannot receive videos.

Another option for using internet video marketing is to create videos for YouTube (or similar sites) which display or demonstrate a company’s product in a reasonably objective manner. For example, a software company could upload a video demonstrating the use of their new web browser. This sort of marketing is more likely to have an effect if the product does something remarkable or different; otherwise, putting videos on the advertiser’s web site is more appropriate.

There are also some technical considerations when using internet marketing of this type. Lower quality videos will not look as good, but decrease bandwidth costs and don’t require as fast an internet connection for the viewer. On the other hand, a high quality video appears more professional and gives customers a better idea of what a product looks like. They should be in a format that most users can view without installing new software.

Overall, the best method for using internet video marketing depends upon the type of product or service being advertised. While using this type of marketing can be effective when applied properly, advertisers should keep in mind that no video may be preferable to one that is bland or amateurish.

In online marketing, link bait is the technique of creating content that other web sites and blogs will voluntarily add links to. Link bait often attracts links on message boards and social bookmarking systems as well. It eliminates the cost and/or effort of buying and exchanging links. However, what is considered valid link bait for web site operators to use?

Articles that are timely, original, and interesting often act as good link bait, especially if efforts are taken to make other web site owners aware of them before they become outdated. However, valid linkbait of this type shouldn’t make exaggerations, use a deceptive title, or offer poor-quality content. Low quality link bait doesn’t benefit readers and may cause webmasters to eventually become wary of linking to the site in question.

Another example of link bait is to provide free web site tools (like a mortgage calculator) that people can add to their sites and have links embedded in them. A similar option is to give awards or certifications to web sites or products they offer (like software downloads), and hope for links in return. This type of linkbait is more valid if the award is only given occasionally to deserving recipients, not to every site with a high PageRank.

Some blog and web site owners (sometimes including major news media) have sacrificed accuracy to produce sensational link bait. Unconfirmed “breaking” stories have sometimes spread throughout the WWW despite being partially or completely false. Most people don’t find this sort of link bait valid, as it distributes useless information and damages the source’s reputation (along with that of every site linking to it, to a lesser extent).

Other ideas for making valid link bait include analyzing or experimenting with something in a way that produces new data, reviewing a product which has just been introduced, or comparing different items in a unique way. Try using established facts to prove an unconventional but valid assertion about an interesting subject; just because data is publicly available doesn’t mean that anyone has drawn the most significant conclusions from it.

Basically, creating valid link bait is a good way to improve a web page’s search engine rankings and attract direct traffic. However, quality and accuracy shouldn’t be disregarded when applying this promotional method; the best and most valid approach is to write up-to-date content in an original style that effectively catches people’s attention.

Many online forums on the subject of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) are available. They are useful for learning about changing SEO practices and discussing how to best implement different techniques. However, some forums are preferable to others, depending upon their level of activity and the subjects they cover. Read on to learn about how to find the most useful SEO forums…

To start, you can get a list of these forums on any search engine by searching for “SEO forum” or “SEO + Forum”. If you prefer, the DMOZ.org web directory also has a useful list of SEO and other internet marketing forums, which can be found under the subcategory “Computers / Internet / Web Design and Development / Promotion / Chats and Forums”. The next step is to separately evaluate these sites to see which one best meets your needs, works well on your computer, and has sufficient activity to be useful.

Some ways of determining whether or not a forum is active include checking how many members there are, how recently new messages were posted, and how many users are currently logged in. Check to see if SEO categories you find interesting are covered – different forums include specific subjects like web directories, small search engines, Alexa rankings, blogging, specialized searches (image, news, product, etc) or domain names. They might also feature other marketing topics like affiliate programs, PPC, or banner ads.

Certain search engine optimization forums provide useful boards for particular activities like offering to sell SEO services, initiating link exchanges, selling web sites, requesting paid SEO services from other members, or asking for web site reviews. Other forums don’t allow some of these actions. Make sure the forum doesn’t have a lot of offensive posts or “spam”; some boards have too few moderators to find and prevent this behavior. Looking around the forum will also confirm that its pages load fast enough for your internet connection and it is compatible with your web browser.

After reviewing these factors on each forum you find, register for membership in the active forum which offers the most useful features for you. Evaluating the individual SEO forums in this manner before signing up will save time, which otherwise might be spent registering for forums which turn out not to be useful for one reason or another. Finally, don’t forget to save your password and bookmark the site’s URL after registration.