Archive for November, 2007

A variety of factors should be taken into consideration when you choose an agency to conduct Search Engine Optimization (SEO) work for your website. SEO can have a very significant impact on your site’s success, so it is important to choose a competent agency which uses techniques appropriate to your website. Here are some of the factors to consider when selecting the right SEO agency…

TECHNIQUES: Review the agency’s web site or request information via e-mail to determine what sort of SEO techniques they use. If you don’t know what some of the techniques are, do some research to make sure they are legitimate, effective methods which haven’t become outdated. Don’t choose an agency which submits your web site to FFA (”Free For All”) pages; this can actually be harmful to SEO efforts, and try to avoid other questionable techniques involving excessive risk.

PAGERANK: Find out what the Google PageRank for the SEO agency’s website is. This will give you an idea of how much success the agency has achieved in optimizing its own site. It is a good sign if the website has a PageRank of four or higher. However, if the agency has not existed for several months or longer, it probably won’t have a PageRank yet. You can use a free PageRank tool to determine this, such as CheckPR.org.

REVIEWS: Do a search on the SEO agency’s name to see if you can find any reviews or comments about it. You often won’t be able to find information of this type, but it’s worth a try. This technique is more likely to be useful if the SEO agency has been in business for a long period of time.

OTHER SERVICES: Some SEO agencies offer additional non-SEO services, such as web design, pay-per-click account management, proofreading, website traffic analysis, or press release distribution. If you also need one or more of these services, you might be able to obtain a discounted rate if you choose to purchase them in combination.

COMMUNICATION: Before purchasing any services from an agency, try contacting them via e-mail with a related question. This will help give you an example of how quickly they respond and how helpful their answer is. Check to see if the agency provides a local or toll-free telephone number; this is not a necessity, but can improve communication.

PAYMENT: Try to choose an SEO agency which accepts a payment method which is safe and convenient for you. Some agencies accept payment via PayPal.com, credit card, check, and/or money order.

Chances are you know which keywords are best suited to describe your company. The question is do you know where those keywords should appear on your page? Most search engines place different amounts of importance on keywords in different places. For instance, Alta Vista places more importance on keywords in the tags or at the top of the page while Google places emphasis on the tags and bold text.

Most search engines use the location of a keyword or key phrase and how often it appears on a page to determine a web site’s ranking for that particular keyword. Generally, the engines are looking for the keywords in the page title, the keyword meta tag, the description meta tag and the page text to determine what the web site’s topic is.

Many people believe that search engines will only check the title tags, headlines and first two paragraphs for keywords. However, several studies have shown that pages with the primary keyword in either the top or bottom of the page rank well in the Google search engine. It seems that only the middle of a page is a keyword’s no-man’s land so to speak.

The basic keyword position prioritization of most search engines goes like this:
1. Domain name
2. Page title
3. Headings (H1, H2)
4. Body text, usually the first paragraph or two does count more
5. Meta tags
6. Links
7. Alt text, which describes pictures on your site

If you focus on this list for your keyword prioritization and don’t oversaturate your page with your keywords you should be fine in all of the major search engine rankings, for this step at least. But, keep in mind, SEO is more than just one piece of the puzzle.

SEO (search engine optimization) is important to the success of a company web site, helping it attract more internet users. But when is the best time for your company to start conducting SEO work?

Search engines take some time to reflect most types of SEO efforts, so it is good to start early. In some ways, your company should start search engine optimization before its website is even online; the pages should be optimized appropriately for search engines to begin with, so you won’t have to spend time fixing them later. As for SEO promotional efforts (like submitting sites to search engines, getting links on other web sites, etc.), it is generally best to start them soon after the web site is online and ready to use. All pages should be completed; you don’t want search engines to index your pages as “Under Construction” and then have to wait for them to update before people will want to click on them. The faster your company decides to start working on SEO of its website, the sooner it will be able to get listed in search engines, receive a PageRank (PR) from Google, and potentially start to gain voluntary links from other web sites.

However, it is important to understand which techniques are effective before you begin SEO efforts; some formerly-useful SEO methods can actually harm your company web site’s search engine ranking. It is better to take your time getting started in SEO (or hire someone knowledgeable in it) and delay its benefits than to hurry excessively and make harmful mistakes. If possible, different SEO measures should be carried out in a particular order; keyword-optimizing pages, adding META tags, and creating a site map first, then submitting the web site’s home page to search engines, and going on to submit it to web directories and working to gain links from other web sites. It is not required or completely necessary to use this order, but it is more efficient, and easier to follow if your company begins SEO work early. Days spent search engine optimizing your company’s web site can increase its traffic for months and years to come, so the benefit from such work is greater the sooner it is completed.

Basically, it is best for your company to start SEO work as soon as possible, perhaps before making its web site public, but it is important to use appropriate and up-to-date methods, preferably in the most efficient order.

Two major methods of promoting a website are organic SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and PPC (Pay Per Click). Organic optimization uses various methods to make websites appear as high as possible in the regular search results; on the other hand, PPC makes the site appear at or near the top of search results for relevant keywords, but the website must pay the search engine for each click it receives. Here are some things to consider.

COST: Advertising with PPC has an on-going cost; if the advertiser stops paying, no more clicks will be received after already-deposited funds have been depleted. Paying someone to do organic SEO for a website has an initial cost, but continues to provide benefits after the work has been completed. Unlike PPC, it is possible for website owners to carry out organic SEO efforts without paying anyone, if they have sufficient time and expertise. An advantage of PPC versus SEO is that advertisers don’t have to pay if they do not receive clicks; however, there is no guarantee clicks will result in sales, donations, or repeat visitors.

TIME: PPC advertising has an advantage versus SEO with regard to how long it takes. A website can start receiving hits more quickly with PPC than it can with most organic SEO methods. If the owner of a new site wants to start receiving web traffic immediately, it may be beneficial to purchase some pay-per-click advertising while at the same time starting work (or paying someone) to organically search engine optimize the site; this way, by when the PPC account funds run out, the website will be receiving hits from regular search results.

TRAFFIC: Pay-per-click advertising offers fast and guaranteed website hits; on the other hand, organic SEO is more likely to provide long-term traffic, as well as increased hits from non-search sources (through the creation of links on other sites). There is no concern over fraudulent clicks in organic SEO, as there is with pay-per-click listings. The cost of PPC traffic is likely to be more reasonable for a site which gains revenue through sales (versus advertising), although PPC might be useful to introduce an advertising-based site when it first appears online.

Basically, pay-per-click search promotion is less complex and faster to start gaining hits from, while organic SEO doesn’t necessarily require an on-going cost, isn’t susceptible to click fraud, and usually has a longer-lasting impact. The best choice of PPC versus organic SEO partially depends upon the advertiser’s budget, time-sensitivity of the website, and the site’s method of gaining revenue.

While there are many factors you should be concerned with when conducting SEO (Search Engine Optimization) work, there are also some things you shouldn’t worry about. Here are the top five things not to worry about with regard to SEO.

1. Don’t worry about the “Keywords” META tag; it isn’t nearly as important to search engines as it once was, and it is quite possible to be successful in SEO efforts without using this tag at all. It can actually be detrimental to use the “Keywords” META tag excessively; pages with large numbers of keywords consume more bandwidth and load less quickly, without providing any benefit to the website’s visitors. If there is limited time, it is better to just leave this tag out than worry about whether or not you have properly implemented it.

2. It often isn’t necessary to worry about doing better at SEO than your competitors. Don’t spend all of your time trying to get better major keyword search rankings than competing websites; you may be overlooking popular keywords or phrases competitors aren’t even using, which pages of your site could more easily be optimized for.

3. Try not to worry about how soon your website’s new SEO oriented pages will appear in search results. It can sometimes take weeks for new pages to become listed on search engines; it isn’t worth spending a lot of time checking if they have appeared yet. Just review the website’s traffic statistics every day or two, when you start to see hits to the new pages you’ll know that they have been listed, and you can check to see how they rank for different keywords if you are interested in this.

4. If you have a large SEO project to finish on your own website or a client’s site, try not to worry about how much work it will be overall. Determine how much work you need to do each day and complete it steadily, finishing one step at a time. Trying to get it all done in the shortest time possible is more stressful and overwhelming.

5. Don’t worry excessively about your website’s PageRank (PR) on Google or the PR of its individual pages. Unless you are selling advertising based upon your PR, your goal in SEO is to receive more hits from search engine users, not to have a higher PageRank. It’s better to spend time on determining how much traffic individual webpages are receiving, and where it is coming from, than checking their PR levels.

When advertising your website through email, it is helpful to have some idea of what a realistic CTR (Click Through Rate) should be. This is useful in identifying whether or not your advertisement or the method of sending it needs to be improved for better results. Read on for some details about identifying a realistic CTR to expect from your e-mail ad campaign…

There are many factors which impact how high a CTR your email advertisement will receive, and what might be a realistic goal for it to reach on a particular type of list. First, the general type of e-mail list has a major influence on this; a list which users voluntarily subscribed to and confirmed their email addresses with is more likely to produce a good CTR. There are also various types of semi-voluntary lists; newsletters which readers were automatically subscribed to when they purchased a product, received an incentive to subscribe to, or receive because they use a free online service. The more voluntary and intentional the subscription is, the greater a realistic potential CTR is likely to be. It also helps if the email contains information they are interested in, along with your ad (such as a newsletter on a topic of interest). Identifying how users subscribe to a list is important to do before purchasing an ad in it.

Regardless of why readers are receiving the e-mail message, it also has other characteristics which make it more or less likely to be clicked on. An attractive subject line (which should also help in identifying that the email isn’t unsolicited) is very important; readers have to open it before there is any chance they will click your link. It also needs to get past “spam” filters to have a realistic chance of being opened. Within the body of the email, the number of separate advertisements, how easy it is to click the ad link (do AOL users have to copy & paste it?), the position of the ad in the message, its length, and the e-mail’s level of relevance/targeting to its readers all have an impact. If you don’t have a system for identifying the CTR, either use a link which records the click before forwarding readers to the correct page, or link to a special page only for readers of the particular email.

According to a report on email marketing from the website mailermailer.com, e-mail CTR levels generally range from about 1.3% to 6.5%, with ads for businesses in some types of industries having a better realistic CTR than others. However, all of the above-mentioned factors (and others) can make the CTR higher or lower than this. Basically, it is important for both the ad text and the email list to be of good quality to obtain a high CTR.

It is important to stay up-to-date on SEO (search engine optimization), as the best techniques to use in this field of work are often subject to change. Some SEO techniques which were very effective in the past are now of limited use, and new methods are frequently discovered. Keeping up-to-date also makes you aware of search engine related developments; new search features, PageRank updates, changes to the policies of particular engines, etc. Here are some tips on more effectively keeping up to date on SEO.

1. Read search engine optimization related news articles and blogs. Some sources of this include searchenginejournal.com, sphinn.com, seochat.com, Google News (news.google.com; search for “SEO”), and seroundtable.com. The SEO tags on social bookmarking systems like Reddit and Del.icio.us can also be useful for finding new information on the subject. Some SEO related websites also offer e-mail newsletters you can subscribe to, and there are a few Yahoo! Groups lists you can use to discuss up-to-date techniques with other people in this field of work.

2. Use other methods of gaining up-to-date SEO information. If you are tired of sitting at the computer, consider looking for related MP3 “podcasts” online which you can download and burn to an audio CD or listen to on an MP3 player. Consider purchasing a recent book on search engine optimization; major booksellers like Barnes & Noble and Amazon occasionally make new books on this subject available at their websites. Both of these options enable you to learn new information about SEO while away from your computer.

3. Attend SEO conventions and/or strategy conferences. Although this may not be a realistic option if you don’t live near one of the large cities, search engine optimization conventions offer a great deal of up-to-date information on new developments and techniques. They also let you talk to other people involved in SEO about techniques which are effective for them. One or two of these events are usually held each month, in the world’s major cities.

Following these tips should help you remain aware of all the latest developments in SEO and prevent you from wasting time or money on outdated techniques. At the same time, be sure to verify that there is sufficient evidence that a new SEO method actually works. If you are doing search engine optimization work for clients, confirm that they approve of introducing a new technique or suspending an old one, especially if the technique might be controversial.

With the rules consistently changing as search engines update their algorithms it’s easy to understand how so many SEO myths can be spread. Here are some that are more persistent than others, but are still untrue.

1.    You need to resubmit your URLs to search engines often. While this may have been true at one point, search engines are smart enough now to register your domain the first time you submit it.
2.    Placing keywords in your meta keyword tag will get your site higher rankings for that keyword. Most search engine spiders actually ignore this tag so it doesn’t make too much of a difference.
3.    You need to optimize your site for long tail keywords. Long tail keywords are that for a reason – not many people are searching for them. This tends to mean not many companies are competing for them either. So, if you include these words somewhere in your site, you’ll rank for them – no optimization necessary.
4.    Once you reach the top of the rankings your job is done. Unfortunately there are two reasons this isn’t true – the algorithms change frequently and there is always a competitor trying to take your position. Keep your site relevant and update it regularly to maintain your position.
5.    Buying paid links will get your site banned. While Goggle’s Matt Cutts is very vocal about his dislike for this practice, it won’t get your site banned. The search engines simply won’t count these links once they are discovered. So, it’s a waste of money and that’s probably punishment enough.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of SEO myths. What is important is that you test the latest SEO “facts” yourself. Don’t just take someone else’s word for it. Beyond that build a quality site that consumers want to use and recommend to their peers and you’ll be just fine.

Depending upon how an article or blog post is titled and written, along with its subject matter, it may be nearly impossible to find in search results, or appear near the top of listings for phrases related to it. A properly created article can be worthy of using for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) efforts, in that it will appear on the first page of search results for relevant keywords and appear desirable for internet users to click on.

To be SEO worthy, an article should have a relatively specific subject. Unless it is to appear on a major mainstream website, an article about Toyota Camry cars in general is likely to be buried under other search results; on the other hand, a smaller website would have some chance of getting articles on the 1996 Toyota Camry LE into the top search results. At the same time, it needs to be a subject which at least a few people are interested in.

It also needs to use keywords related to the article subject repeatedly (but not excessively) and spread them at least somewhat evenly throughout the paragraphs, as well as putting them in the title. Making each page of an article which is split into multiple web pages worthy for SEO is difficult and time-consuming; it is best to make sure the first page is optimized, and not worry about the others - it is better if users arrive at the first page anyway, then they won’t have to spend time (and consume bandwidth) navigating to the first page.

Length also plays a role in how SEO worthy an article is. In some ways a moderate length is best; very short articles make it harder to obtain a good density of keywords, sometimes making it necessary to create unusually-worded sentences and repeatedly edit the article before it is worthy for SEO uses. On the other hand, rather long (600+ words) articles can take a long time to edit for SEO purposes and sometimes make it harder to use relevant keywords enough times. If an article needs to be very long, detaching the first part of it and turning it into an SEO optimized first page (with a “continued” link to another page) can save time.

Basically, to be SEO worthy, an article should be on a topic there is sufficient demand for (and not excessive supply of) and use frequently-searched keywords from the title in its paragraphs, without using them excessively.

The SEO benefits of shorter URLs are disputed, with some claiming that a shorter URL is better and others saying that a long URL of the right type is better for SEO. Shorter URLs also provide some advantages regarding non-SEO issues, which should be taken into consideration as well.

According to marketingsherpa.com, people are more likely to click on shorter URLs in search results. To some extent this behavior makes sense; perhaps you’re looking for information on the city of Berlin, New Hampshire. If you see a URL like “www.example.com/berlin-nh/”, it is more likely the web site in question created a detailed page with specific information on the city, whereas URLs like “www.example.com/north-america/usa/city.php?st=nh&ct=berlin” or “www.example.com/berlin-nh-usa-northern-new-hampshire.htm” suggest that they might be automatically generated pages with more general information and mostly links. So even if a longer URL gets ranked better in search results, some searchers will consider shorter URLs more unique and authoritative on their subjects.

However, some people involved in SEO feel that it is better to have long URLs with many keywords related to the pages in them (usually separated by hyphens) so as to enhance search result rankings. However, it remains to be seen as to whether or not search engines will eventually remove this from their criteria.

A shorter URL also makes it easier for people to remember, works better in e-mail messages, and is more likely to be printed on paper, posted in message boards/forums, or referred to in the media. Linking to a lot of long URLs within your web site will also use more storage space and bandwidth, as well as making the site load less quickly. While a long SEO based URL might be something like “www.example.com/weather/hurricane-noel-october-2007.html” or “weather.example.com/hurricane-noel-flooding-mexico.htm”, some options for shorter URLs include using the date the page was created (like “www.example.com/102907/”) or just adding a number to the end of the page’s category (such as “www.example.com/weather73.htm”).

There is also the issue of longer or shorter domain names and their SEO effect; some marketers and others have registered very long domain names so that they could put related keywords in the domain name itself (for example, new-fast-color-laser-printers.com). The SEO value of doing this is disputed, and is unlikely to make up for reduced credibility and memorability caused by an unusually long domain name, especially for web sites designed to gain revenue from sales (rather than advertising).

Basically, longer URLs are better for efforts specifically aimed at SEO, while shorter URLs can indirectly provide better search engine optimization and/or more traffic.