Archive for June, 2008

As many in the search engine optimization world know search engine spiders weren’t able to see what was in a Flash file in the past. This has always caused some grief when deciding what to put on web sites because you wanted the search engines to see you and still be able to make a visually appealing page. This invisibility that was created by people using Flash sites has been a big setback for companies using rich applications because they weren’t able to use SEO to their advantage.

Now all of that has changed. Recently Adobe has announced that they’ve invented a way for search engines to read the Flash files so that all of the information in them can be indexed. Adobe’s Vice-President of Marketing Michael Turner said this about the release, “We are releasing technology to Google and Yahoo that enables them to crawl and index SWF files. They are now searchable. This will open up millions of Flash files to search.”

For anyone that works in Flash, this is a giant step forward. The way the new program works is that a special Flash player created by Adobe for the search engines acts like a virtual user for each application. These “virtual users” completes the entire runtime of the Flash applications and then translates what happened for the search engines to understand.

Google has begun putting out the Flash indexing tool, but Yahoo reportedly still has some work to do before they can do the same. Turner warns that even with this technology there will still be some problems with the Flash content and search engines. Mainly the idea that it will still be tough for an average webmaster to link deeply into Flash files. Without that ability high rankings are still unlikely for Flash files.

In a story by USA Today, Matt Cutts revealed a Google engineer’s outlook on making the most of a web site. Cutts said there are actually 5 easy ways to boost your search rankings as well as increase site traffic.

First, Cutts suggests making sure that all relevant search terms are featured somewhere on your web site. He said this makes it easier for search engines to pick up on the keywords as well as making it easier for real people to find the site.

Cutts also believes that filling in appropriate title and description HTML tags improves search rankings. This is because engines scan those tags and show their content in search listings.

Thirdly he supported backlinks, from relevant sites of course.

Cutts also believes in the power of blogs. Creating one helps creating one helps create continuously new content for a site.

Finally, he suggested that using too many keywords can hurt your rankings. “After you’ve said it two or three times, Google has a pretty good idea … Just think about the two or three phrases you want to be known for and weave that in naturally,” Cutts said.

A major part of search engine optimization is making sure that all of the pages on your web site are easily accessible by both humans and search engines. Since each page on a web site can be indexed you can also optimize each page for searchers and search engines.

To optimize your site for search engines consider that they use search engine robots to find and index a site. These robots, also called spiders, continually look for content on the web that needs to be indexed. Once they find something these robots will follow the hyperlinks to each web page. This is called “crawling” a site. When the robot arrives on a page it reads through the content and adds it to the index. Because robots do this for every page and this is a way your site pages get added to search engine results it is important to have navigational site structure that is friendly to the robots.

Additionally the search engines will only rank pages that are perceived as important. That’s why it is necessary to create content hierarchy in your navigational structure – your most important pages should be at the top of your site structure. Whichever page is at the top, usually your home page, generally attracts the most links. Often search engine robots stop searching after 3 clicks from the homepage. That’s why it’s important to decide on a hierarchy for your site’s pages.

This leads to categorization. If you want to organize your content in a natural way you should create categories for all of your site’s content. Then link those categories to your homepage. This helps create more key phrases to link to which can help you attract a wider audience for searches.

Keep in mind that search engine robots only follow html links. This means that any links using Flash, JavaScript, dropdown menus or submit buttons don’t get picked up by them and therefore don’t get indexed. Besides that html links are a better choice because the anchor text can describe the destination page for human visitors to see.

Finally, create a sitemap. A sitemap is basically works like an index, listing links to all the pages on your web site. If you link a sitemap to your home page robots have easy access to all your web site’s pages. Be aware though that robots generally follow less than 100 links from one page. If you have more pages than that consider creating a multi-page sitemap.

SEO and SEM are both strategies for promoting websites through search engine results. However, the difference between them is significant. SEM comprises a wider range of techniques than SEO, while SEO solely focuses upon improving a site’s ranking among normal non-paid search results.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) involves gaining links at other websites, optimizing META tags, improving keyword density, getting listed in directories, and creating websites that search engine “spiders” can easily navigate. It generally does not involve making payments directly to the search engines.

On the other hand, SEM (Search Engine Marketing) features such promotional methods as pay per click (PPC) advertising on search engines or paying an individual engine for “guaranteed” or “expedited” inclusion in regular results. Although the greater variety of techniques in SEM is part of the difference between it and SEO, it should be kept in mind that SEO is also considered part of SEM.

Another difference between SEO and SEM is the focus upon major and minor search engines. While the vast majority of SEO work is aimed at improving rankings on a few major search engines (Yahoo, Google, Live/MSN), there are a substantial number of minor PPC engines which can be utilized in SEM campaigns.

For example, there is no reason to conduct search engine optimization to improve a site’s ranking on Mamma.com (it draws regular results from other engines), but it is popular enough to use for pay per click ads. The search engine Entireweb.com offers a paid “express inclusion” service which adds a website listing to it and a number of other minor engines within two days.

There is also a difference between the amounts of time these two strategies take to become effective. A strictly SEO-based marketing strategy involves fewer direct costs, but will take months before achieving full effectiveness. On the other hand, pay per click or guaranteed inclusion services used in SEM often take effect within a few days, in some cases delivering new visitors on the same day a campaign is initiated.

One potential strategy is to use paid SEM services to gain traffic for the first months after starting a new website, while working on SEO in the meantime. This approach produces a more easily sustainable method of promotion in the long-term, without sacrificing traffic during the first few months. It may also add to the SEO campaign’s success as people discover the website and voluntarily add links to it.

Organic or “natural” SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the practice of optimizing websites so that they gain better search engine rankings for relevant keywords. It also includes efforts to obtain inbound links from other websites, without paying for them. Read on for more details about what organic SEO is and what it is not.

Organic SEO involves such techniques as adding/improving META tags, targeting pages to specific search keywords, creating site maps, and optimizing keyword density. Manually suggesting links to web directories or related link lists can be another component of organic SEO work. Other tasks may include ensuring that search engine spiders can navigate a website, making reciprocal link requests to similar sites, and selecting search engine optimized webpage filenames.

What isn’t organic SEO? Purchasing links, guaranteed inclusion in results, or pay-per-click listings cannot be considered part of this SEO strategy, nor are attempts to unethically manipulate search results or deceive search engine spiders. The same goes for any form of promotional “spam”. Usually the webpages promoted with organic SEO are designed to actually satisfy the user’s need, rather than just trying to make people click the link.

It also isn’t deemed organic when someone uses software which sends out thousands of directory or link list submissions, automatically generates poor-quality keyword optimized content, or posts generic comments to blogs just so that they can put a link in the “website” field. Organic SEO involves specific attention to the site being promoted, not a “one size fits all” solution or formula. It is also less likely to face opposition from other website owners, and better addresses the need for links on relevant pages.

Compared to other promotional methods, organic SEO is less costly and more likely to remain effective without additional work or expense. It also doesn’t face much risk of penalization by the search engines, unless their policies drastically change. On the other hand, it can take longer to see results with organic SEO, and it is fairly time-consuming. This strategy cannot guarantee any specific ranking or level of traffic.

In general, this approach to search engine optimization is an effective website marketing strategy which involves a variety of distinct techniques. It necessitates little or no direct cost to the person carrying it out, but does take a substantial amount of effort. Keep in mind that one person or company’s definition of what organic SEO means can differ slightly from that of another.

Social bookmarking, including systems like Reddit and Digg, notably affects SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in a few different ways. Social bookmarking links can help determine which SEO keywords a web page shows up under, increase its Google PageRank, and/or make it appear in search results more quickly.

As a link receives additional votes in its favor, it will appear on more prominent pages of the social bookmarking service. This affects SEO more significantly, while producing an increase in direct traffic. Many web site operators have added links or icons to social bookmarking services at the beginning or end of each web page, thus encouraging their visitors to bookmark the pages.

When search engine “spiders” detect a link, its wording (”anchor text”) affects their identification of the content on the page it links to. Then the linked page becomes more likely to show up in search results for those words or phrases. This is why an inbound link with a vague anchor text phrase like “Amazing New Product” affects SEO less favorably than more descriptive links do.

For example, a social bookmarking link titled “New Operating System Released” would make the page it is linked to more likely to show up in search results for each of these four words. Thus, the more relevant and searchable the words in the link, the more useful it is for SEO purposes.

Most social bookmarking services are classified into categories or “tags”. Links on web pages with related content usually provide more SEO benefits, so the same is likely true for social bookmarking links which are grouped with other links on similar topics. Thus it is probably best to choose “tags” which are relevant, but not obscure.

A difference between social bookmarking and using a search engine is that people generally use search engines to find specific things they are looking for, while a social bookmarking system is more often used to explore new information they might be interested in. It is somewhat like the difference between advertising in the yellow pages and posting an advertisement on a laundromat’s bulletin board.

Basically, social bookmarking affects SEO in the same way that inbound links on other web sites do, but is different in that anyone can post or vote on these links. Their position is also more subject to change than most other links, and new content is generally favored over older material.

After a successful SEO (Search Engine Optimization) campaign which has put your web site in a top position for one or more valuable keywords, it remains important to defend these keyword rankings from being lost to other sites. This is especially relevant for desirable keywords which numerous well-optimized sites compete for. Read on for several tips about how to defend your SEO position.

1. Keep track of changing search engine algorithms and policies. It will become harder to defend your site’s position in results if some of the SEO techniques used to promote it become outdated, or if new techniques are not being utilized.

2. Use care when making any changes to your site, taking into account how they might possibly harm its SEO position. Consider adding new pages to hold more information, rather than placing the information on existing pages. Remember to make sure the keyword density isn’t affected by changes.

3. Occasionally check any inbound links to your site on other major web sites, to make sure they still exist. If one is missing, try to gain a link on another equivalently popular site before the next PageRank update from Google. This will defend your level of inbound links from falling behind.

4. Register or purchase similar/related domain names, especially keyword-containing domains which are favorable for SEO purposes. This will help defend your position by preventing other sites from using these domains, and you can also utilize them to benefit your own promotional efforts.

5. Try to match any legitimate SEO oriented marketing techniques competing sites start to engage in, such as social bookmarking promotion. In some cases this may be expensive; a competitor might pay to get listed in the Yahoo Directory, thus gaining a significant advantage in their SEO position.

6. If your site links to any web sites competing for the same keyword position, consider using the “nofollow” attribute in these links. This will prevent such sites from gaining an increased search ranking because of your links to them.

It is imperative to remain vigilant against the potential loss of a favorable ranking for a particular keyword, rather than entirely ignoring such efforts after gaining a good position. If eventually you can no longer defend the SEO position for a particular keyword, try to optimize for a different keyword which is relatively popular but has less competition to defend against.

Not only should a blog optimize its home page for search engines, but the individual posts as well. This will enable it to keep receiving traffic to each entry long after they are added. Here are some tips on how to optimize individual blog posts.

1. Put one or more keywords in the title which people are likely to query. Give each of the posts their own description and title tags; don’t just use the name of the blog for this. Each of the individual entries should have its own page as well, rather than appearing on a single long page.

2. Use these keywords regularly throughout the blog entries, but not excessively. A keyword density analysis tool can be useful for determining if the density is excessive (over four percent) or too low. Try to optimize the density without including awkward-sounding sentences.

3. Keep the content of each  individual entry on a single topic; create separate posts if you want to write about two or more distinct subjects. For example, if you post recipes on your blog, don’t put two individual recipes in the same entry, even if they are both breakfasts or types of soup.

4. If you allow comments at the end of your blog posts, be sure to check them and delete messages which are irrelevant to the topic. These comments could harm the keyword density or link to sites which cause the page to be penalized by search engines. While comments make individual blog posts harder to optimize, they do help attract repeat visitors.

5. Try to gain links on other blogs and web sites which point to your individual posts. In addition to the direct traffic they provide, these links will help optimize the search engine ranking of the blog. It is best if the links use words related to the individual entries in their anchor text.

6. If posts are about a current pre-arranged, date-specific event (such as a holiday or anniversary), attempt to enter them as early in the day as possible, or late the previous night. This will give the search engines a better chance of indexing these entries before they are no longer relevant.

Following the above-listed tips should help you more effectively optimize each of your individual blog posts, so that they will show up higher in search results and appear there more quickly.

With all of the traffic online companies are rushing to reach web browsers through online video advertising. But, many people are wondering if these ads are even effective.

Last year a Doubleclick survey showed that these ads do in fact work – with 8% of those surveyed interacting with video ads. They also found that users are much more likely to watch a video repeatedly than they are to click on a traditional banner ad. For those that may wonder how long the videos are watched, Doubleclick found that the average viewing time was around two-thirds of the way through.

The main measure for the effectiveness of video ads is simply their interaction rate. Anytime people interact with the video ad units, including expansions, interactions with the video control button, and custom interactions and clicks it is divided by the total impressions served and calculated to determine interaction.

Video ads have three primary formats. The first is really similar to TV advertising – 15 or 30 second spots that run either before (pre-roll), during (mid-roll) or after (post-roll) the online video. The next type of video ad is known as overlays. These are generally displayed along the bottom of a video as it plays. YouTube tends to favor this kind of advertising, as a video is still viewable while the ad is being shown. The final format is Google’s Video Units, which simply take the AdSense format and apply it to videos.

Even though the current methods of video ads seem to be working well many fear that it will eventually fall by the wayside much like banner ads. And so new ideas are always being considered.

One idea for future formats of video ads include lead generation for video. For instance requiring someone to enter an email before they can watch a video. Another idea is an interactive pre/mid/post rolls that engage the user to a higher level. A third idea is clickable videos that lead from the ad to relevant content. For example, if you were watching one of your favorite shows and you could click on the shirt the main star was wearing to find out where it came from, then you could go buy it as well.

Google seems to love blogs. If you use your blog correctly it can be a great tool for boosting your rankings and visibility. Here are a few tips and reminders of how to make the most of a blog from an SEO perspective.

1. Consistency: this is the number one rule or a reason. If somebody (anybody) isn’t posting to the blog on a regular basis the blog loses most of its power to attract users to the rest of the content on your website. A blog with sporadic posts at best lacks any credibility, so blog often. Here are some thoughts that might help.

• Routine - the most consistent bloggers incorporate it into their schedule.
• Keep the goal in mind – it might be tough in the beginning, but once you start to see the fruits of your labor (more traffic/more leads) blogging becomes a lot easier to do.
• Keep it casual – the best part about blogging is that the medium is so informal. Write posts as if you were sending an email to a buddy who wants to know what you do. I like the Cranky Developer title – it gives the blog some character.
• Multiple posters – get several people in the office set up to post on the blog and make sure they’re committed to contributing on a regular basis.
• Potpourri – writers block? No clue what you’re going to post about today? Put something random in. Not every post has to be topical (though the majority should). A light post now and then breaks apart your more serious and informative content.

2. Optimize Your Titles: most blog software will create a permanent separate page for each post in addition to the most recent ones in order on the main page. These individual pages are a great opportunity to rank for keywords. The trick is to carefully word the post title – Wordpress takes that and makes it the page title as well! All you have to do is keep your keywords in mind and you’ll create a powerful new page on your site every time you post.

3. Hyperlinks: remember to link back to the rest of your content. Also link to any authority sites that might be helpful to a reader. And especially link to any other blogs that might have given you an idea for a post. If your blog has led users to it from the search engines, don’t leave them with a dead end. Ideally, you want to funnel them into the rest of your site but don’t be afraid to send them elsewhere if the information is valuable – they’ll remember that.
4. Multimedia: when it’s appropriate I’d suggest throwing in a picture to illustrate a point and break up text. Users see a big block of text and perceive that it’s too much information to take in (like you might be thinking right now!). A picture gives the reader a break.

So there’s some food for thought. Remember it’s simpler than it looks to get the most out of your blog.