Archive for March, 2008

Google’s universal search returns results that include web pages, video, news postings, images and even maps. With all of these varied results you may be wondering how to take full advantage of universal search. Never fear, Google itself has posted tips on how to do this. Here are the highlights.

If you have a site that has news content you should submit it for inclusion in Google News. Once Google includes your site you can submit a News Sitemap to let them know about your most recent articles. This feature only works for English sites currently though. You can also submit any past news content for inclusion in the News Archive Search.

Additionally, if your site has images you can opt in to enhanced image search in your webmaster tools. This will let Google gather metadata about your images that can help them decide if your images should be returned as a search result.

Also, you can use your location to your advantage. Provide your geographical information to Google’s local business center and they will return your business when it’s relevant to a local search.

Finally, if you have any video content host it on any video hosting service such as Google Video or YouTube. If your video is relevant to the search then Google will show it in the results. Better yet, that video can be played directly from the search results page.

All of these tactics will help you place higher in Google’s new universal search. But, continue doing whatever was working for you before to make sure that you still turn up for regular results, too.

Backlinks are a web site or web page’s incoming links. Generally, the more backlinks a web site or page has, the more popular or important it is. Backlinks are also called incoming links, inbound links, inlinks or inward links occasionally. The two main benefits of backlinks are increased traffic and higher Google PageRank. Here are 5 tips to help increase the backlinks to your site.

First you need to submit your site to directories. There are many free and paid directories that you can submit your site to. Once your site has been submitted theses directories should begin showing a backlink to your site. Make sure your check any of the requirements they have as well as any waiting period for backlinks to become available.

A second way to increase your backlinks is to comment on blogs or web sites similar to your own. You should find several blogs, forums and sites in your market and become a regular contributor there. Then include your website in your signature.

Third, take advantage of social bookmarking. Post your articles on sites like Digg and StumbleUpon. This will increase your exposure, but will also create more backlinks if people Digg your article.

Fourth, you can create your own WordPress theme and then give it away for free. The trick to this is putting a link to your web site in the footer of the theme you design. Once you upload it and give it away, any one who uses it will create a backlink to your site.

Finally, you can hire someone to do the work for you. Companies such as PayPerPost let you pay to have bloggers review your site. Although, this is a little dangerous. Make sure the blog writing about your site has some common interest or Google may determine that the links aren’t valuable.

All in all getting backlinks is a part of being actively involved in your community as well as knowing your field. If you are competent in these two fields then people should want to backlink to you automatically.

Applying no-follow tags to links prevents search engines from using these links to evaluate the linked web site’s search ranking. Using them when appropriate can prevent your web site and/or the sites you link to from having their rankings penalized by Google. Here are some specific details on how to use no-follow tags on your web site or blog.

Open the HTML file for the page you plan to use these tags on, using a text editing application such as Notepad. Then locate the link or links you will be adding them to (A HREF). After the quotation mark to the right of the link URL, add a space and the word rel=”nofollow”. Here are a couple examples of no-follow tags in use:

Google

Google.com

If you use a web design software program such as Adobe Dreamweaver or Microsoft FrontPage, somewhat different steps will have to be taken. If you cannot find a way of automatically adding this tag in your web design program, HTML code can be directly edited (by following the instructions above) when you use the Code view in FrontPage or Dreamweaver.

As for blogs, the process for adding or removing no-follow tags from your links (and/or those of people who comment on your blog) will vary depending upon the blog system or software in use. No-follow may or may not be the default for comments, and might have to be turned off, edited in a template, or replaced with an appropriate plug-in. Some blog operators apply the no-follow tag to decrease the incentive for “comment spam”, although spammers may keep posting just for direct traffic from their links.

Web site operators can use no-follow tags to comply with Google’s rules on paid or reciprocal links; Google requires all links which have been sold or traded to use no-follow tags. You can also apply no-follow tags to deny search ranking benefits to a web site you’re linking to; for example, when linking to a competitor’s site to show that their prices are higher.

Be sure not to use no-follow tags excessively. Generally, there is no need to use them if you are voluntarily linking to a web site/page you recommend. Other useful tags for links on your web site include “target=_blank”, which opens linked pages in a new browser window, or “onmouseover”, which can activate various functions when a user’s mouse pointer moves across a link.

Using social media for advertising purposes can be of benefit, but it is more likely to prove effective if excessively promotional techniques are avoided. Social media web sites include such services as YouTube, Wikipedia, Del.icio.us, and MySpace. Here are some more details on using particular types of social media to your benefit.

VIDEO SHARING: Web sites like YouTube are often used to promote other sites, usually by displaying the site’s address at the bottom of a video or at the end of it. They can also benefit efforts to market a particular product by showing it in action. A few marketers use YouTube to host openly promotional videos linked from their sites as well, thus reducing bandwidth costs. A drawback to using this method is that it is somewhat time-consuming and requires audio/video recording equipment, along with relatively recent computer hardware.

ENCYCLOPEDIA: Using the “External Links” or “References” sections of social media online encyclopedias (like Wikipedia) to add a link to your web site is another way of using social media to benefit your promotional efforts. You can also add a new encyclopedia page about your company or product, but biased information should be avoided; it will also have to be periodically monitored to see if others make unfavorable changes. For the best effect, efforts aimed at using this type of social media to your benefit should be carried out in the context of making a positive, useful contribution to the system.

NETWORKING: Some companies create a profile at one or more social networking systems (especially MySpace) to promote their businesses. However, automated or bulk promotional methods should be avoided on social networking sites; this can result in account deletion, or (in severe cases) legal action. MySpace also has a job search feature, which businesses can use to benefit their employee-finding efforts. To list a job on it, follow instructions provided on the “Submit Feed” page at simplyhired.com.

BOOKMARKING: Using social bookmarking services for your promotional efforts is another option, including sites such as Sphinn, Furl, and Digg. It is more effective to submit your site’s recent informational or entertaining pages, rather than pages which are specifically designed to sell a product or service. It’s also to your benefit to submit links from other interesting web sites, and to avoid posting links from the same site excessively, to prevent being labeled a “spammer”. This technique requires less effort than using the above-mentioned methods.

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a process of making your site easily accessible and understood by search engine spiders. Usability is doing the same, but for human visitors. While many people see these two as a constant conflict they are actually working hand-in-hand because many of the things you can do to improve usability will also improve SEO.

For instance, think of your site’s navigation. If its structure is clean and easy to follow for a human visitor then the same is true for a search engine spider. If it is full of pictures and hard to find links then it isn’t benefiting anyone.

Instead of asking yourself what is more important – SEO or usability you should instead focus on other questions that will help you figure out exactly what your web site needs. Consider what the goal of your web site is and who is your target audience. You’ll have a completely different layout if your site is trying to get people to click on an ad versus if you want them to buy a product or are offering information. By considering what you want your site to do and for who you will get a clearer idea of how to lay out your site and what to include in the content – both of which will improve usability and SEO.

If you can manage to build your site with both types of visitor – human and search engine – in mind then your web site will be stronger, more accessible and easier to navigate for everyone. And that’s when you’ll return higher and higher in the search engine results.

It often produces more traffic when you get search engines to index your website or one of its pages in the fastest way possible, especially if the site provides time-sensitive information. The most effective and fastest way to index a website or page partially depends upon its subject matter; here are some tips on choosing the best method for your particular site.

1. Social Bookmarking: Submitting your website or one of its pages to a social bookmarking service like Reddit.com or Digg.com is a way to make search engines index it more quickly. It is also one of the fastest ways to gain links on another website. However, this technique generally shouldn’t be used for pages which are of an entirely commercial nature, or on a topic not accepted by the social bookmarking service you use. Submitting links to such services is easy, free, and usually doesn’t require much personal information.

2. Site Map: If your website doesn’t already have a site map, make one, and be sure to place links for new pages on it as soon as they are added. Consider creating a map in XML format and submitting it to the major search engines. If your website’s home page has yet to be added to the index of a search engine, submit the website itself using their “Submit URL” form. This method can be used for just about any website.

3. Other Links: Getting a link on any other major and relevant website is another way to expedite the addition of your page or site to search results. You can post links on message boards or forums, submit an article to a frequently updated news site or send links to a web directory that will approve them quickly.

Basically, the fastest way to make search engines index your web site or page is the fastest way of getting links to it from other major websites without violating any of the search engine’s rules.

Some website or blog owners do part or all of the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) work on their sites, rather than paying someone else to.  So can anyone do SEO, or does it require special abilities most people lack?

One thing anyone who does this type of optimization needs is sufficient time. To carry out any type of SEO work effectively, a person must keep up to date on the right techniques. These change relatively frequently; some SEO techniques which were effective in the past can no longer be applied usefully. Optimizing a large website and periodically updating it in line with these changes can occupy a great deal of time, which many business owners are unable to devote to their websites. Creating new keyword optimized content will take many hours more.

Various computer and marketing skills are also necessary to do SEO work. To develop site maps, optimize existing web pages, or create new pages of this type, it is necessary to know how to manipulate HTML code or use a web design software program. Producing new text content requires both writing skills and the ability to optimize keyword density without damaging the content’s quality. Marketing ability is also necessary if the SEO text content is promotional, or when attractive description tags must be created. Being able to quickly learn how to use different websites and computer programs is  important as well. Having high speed internet access is very helpful for anyone who does SEO work, although not a necessity.

SEO campaigns often involve efforts to gain links on other websites as well; these may include reciprocal exchanges, directory submissions, suggestions for “recommended links” pages, etc. This requires marketing and writing abilities (being able to write desirable link titles and descriptions), along with the knowledge of how to find and identify the best websites to attempt obtaining new links from. Getting links on the wrong sites or in the wrong way can have a negative impact upon SEO results, so it is important to first understand the right techniques to do this. Also, most directories now have forms which require manual link submissions, thus preventing anyone from using software to do this automatically.

So yes, theoretically, anyone with a computer and internet access can do SEO. But this will only be possible if they have several different skills which are necessary, along with a great deal of time to devote to it.

A website’s PageRank (or “PR”) on Google can significantly affect how much traffic the site receives from Google search results. However, this is not the only effect the PageRank may have upon a website. Read on to learn more about the true meaning of a site’s PageRank and how Google determines it…

While it is true that a website which is linked to by other sites will generally attain a better PageRank, it is not really this simple. The benefit to a site’s PR is greater as the websites linking to it have higher PageRank levels; thus, if a major website like CNN.com (PR9) were to link to it, there would be a more significant impact.

A site’s rank is also affected by the other webpages it links to; linking to (or getting links from) PR zero sites may have a negative effect. Also, using techniques which Google finds undesirable (selling links, “cloaking”, etc.) can cause the PR to reduce. The higher the rank, the closer to the top of search results (for related keywords) a website will appear, although other factors also play a role in this.

As for the meaning of the rank to a website, it has several implications beyond direct Google search traffic, although it’s true this will often be its most significant effect. The PR determines a site’s placement in several different web directories; additionally, there are some directories which only list sites that exceed a certain PageRank level. Regardless of the true amount of traffic a site receives, the PageRank also plays an important role in determining how much someone will pay for advertising on it, or to purchase the website itself. If the site in question is a directory of some type, people are likely to submit more links and/or articles to it if the PR is high.

Some additional search engines, such as AOL.com and various meta-search sites (like Dogpile.com and Search.com), rely upon Google for some or all of their search results; the PR level will impact the amount of traffic received from these engines as well. If a website participates in reciprocal linking and has a high PR, other sites are also more likely to accept its link exchange requests.

Basically, a high PageRank is gained by obtaining links on other websites with high PRs and avoiding “black hat” methods Google dislikes. A good PageRank level can have significant positive meaning for a website in several different fields, including directories, monetary value, and search engine traffic. At the same time, it is true that a high PR doesn’t automatically give a website traffic, members, or customers.

A search for the well-known phrase “content is king” returns over two million results on Yahoo! Search. It basically means that websites which provide quality content are likely to achieve popularity. However, some site owners and promoters have sought to use certain SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques as a replacement for content. Read on to learn why content is still “king” of SEO…

1. Various undesirable SEO practices which attempt to simulate real content have been cracked down upon by search engines, because of their deceptive nature. These have included putting lots of keywords at the end of a page in small text, or feeding entirely different text to search engine “spiders.” New SEO techniques of this type can still be temporarily effective, but search engines eventually catch on to and penalize them.

2. Quality content often generates voluntary links, a major aim of most SEO campaigns. Other websites, forum users, and bloggers are more likely to voluntarily link to a site if it provides good information. This requires much less effort than gaining links through reciprocal linking or link purchases, and is viewed more favorably by search engines.

3. Search engines rank duplicate pages less prominently in their results than unique text not available elsewhere on the web. Trying to avoid the effort or cost of original content creation, by obtaining articles from public domain sources or article directories, is unlikely to produce the same SEO benefit as unique material. Still, the unique text will more effectively gain traffic if it is SEO optimized.

4. Even if a website can attract visitors using methods which don’t rely upon quality content, there is a reduced probability that they will find the site useful. This reduces the chance that they will continue to explore the site, click on ads, return later, or recommend it to others. It is generally a waste of bandwidth and SEO work to attract internet users to pages they are unlikely to find useful.

Basically, SEO is important and often necessary for a web site to attain high search engine rankings and become more popular, but should not be used to replace quality original content. Providing material of this type is more beneficial to both website visitors (who want valuable information) and search engines, which want to provide the most helpful results to users. This is why good content should still be considered the “king” of SEO.

Making your blog more popular requires taking steps to improve both content and promotion. Neither a well-advertised blog with uninteresting content nor a fascinating blog which is improperly promoted is likely to become popular. Here are 4 useful tips for making your blog popular, with two for enhancing content and the other two for expanding promotion:

1. Try to offer information on your weblog which is not already available online, being sure to cite the source if necessary. Such information may be obtained from reading printed publications and catalogs, personal experience, or telephone calls. Another option is to review a product or service on the blog which has yet to be reviewed online. Also consider briefly explaining data which can be found on the internet but takes a long time to read and/or load; for example, explaining the significant points of a 150 page report issued by an organization or government agency.

2. Write about shorter sub-topics in each of your blog articles/messages, rather than trying to cover broad issues or subjects. Depending upon the topic of your weblog, you may soon run out of subjects or material to post about if each message is very long. People are also less likely to read everything you have to say if the messages are several pages in length, rather than being broken down into shorter pieces. Being able to come up with new sub-topics to write about on a regular basis is an important part of making the blog more popular.

3. Occasionally submit some of your better blog postings to social bookmarking systems like Simpy.com or Reddit. This can be useful for making a significant increase in traffic/hits occur, if your weblog messages are popular with other social bookmarking users. Postings are more likely to be successful in these systems if they are on specific topics which aren’t covered by other members’ recently-submitted links, and don’t appear to be excessively promotional.

4. If you’re planning to post something especially significant or interesting on your blog soon, consider ending the previous posting with a message promoting the next post and when it will appear. This will help remind readers to return soon, thus making your weblog more popular. A similar technique is to release a long article in two or more parts, reminding visitors when to return for the next segment. Any method which can get readers in the habit of visiting your blog regularly is very helpful for making it popular.