Although public relations and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) are often viewed as completely unrelated fields, they are actually quite closely linked. Read on to learn why SEO and PR should go hand in hand.

When people want to learn more about an organization or business, they often use a search engine. Companies can use SEO to help ensure that their web sites appear first, along with other sites that recommend them or refer to them favorably. Any major company is bound to incur an occasional negative review or criticism; it can be harmful to public relations if such information appears on the first page of results every time someone searches for it. Using SEO to optimize its web site and increase links to friendly sites can limit the impact of negative material which doesn’t accurately represent the company’s normal practices. It is also important to avoid unethical SEO techniques which can harm a company’s image.

Good public relations (in general) can also benefit SEO. An important component of Search Engine Optimization is to gain inbound links from quality, relevant web sites. When a business or other institution has positive relations with the public, people are more likely to voluntarily post links to it on their web sites and blogs. Non-profit organizations and government agencies are also affected by PR, and are more apt to place valuable links to another entity on their web sites if it has a good reputation. Sites with many links to them usually appear close to the top of search results for relevant keywords and phrases.

In summary, successful PR and SEO campaigns both improve the public’s perception of a company and increase its search engine generated traffic. Companies should use an integrated approach, rather than treating SEO and PR as entirely separate efforts.

When it comes to build links targeted to specific keywords, you need to keep in mind the relevance of the overall keyword phrase.  For example, let’s talk about a keyword phrase like ‘Credit Card Offers”

The Google ranking algorithm does use relevancy for its search results.  There are 3 main components – Technical, Content, and Links.  The first two items – Technical and Content – are primarily based on your website.  The third – Links – is the basis for Google PageRank, which is collective the most dominant of the 3 components.

You can find more information regarding PageRank here – > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank

In this example, I might build links for “Credit Cards” and “Credit Card Offers”, but not “Offers”  This is because you can build relevance for ‘Keyword Phrase 1′ and ‘Keyword Phrase 2′, if both are relevant to your website.  However, the content and the linking will be harder to establish relevancy for “Offers” as a stand-alone phrase.

In addition, once you rank for a particular keyword like “Credit Cards”…Google will watch the behavior of its users to see if they like to visit your site after typing this keyword and it if seems like a majority of users are happy with the result, this also confirms relevance.  All of this is done by algorithms, Google states in several public releases and their methodology supports that ‘hand-editing’ doesn’t occur for top rankings.

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.

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 link bait 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 link bait 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.

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is an effective promotional strategy which helps enhance your web site’s traffic from regular (not Pay Per Click) search results. But how do you know when your site is in need of SEO work? Here is a list of possible indications:

1.) When your traffic mostly comes from non-search sources and/or PPC listings: This isn’t necessarily a problem, but using SEO will provide you with more stability and diversification in traffic sources, as well as an increase in overall hits.

2.) When you don’t have a Site Map and/or don’t know if your site can be navigated by search engine spiders/robots: If your site’s pages can’t be indexed by search engines, they won’t appear in results. Part of SEO is making sure the site is designed in a way which allows for this.

3.) When no SEO work has been conducted on the website for a long period of time: Search engines eventually change some of their policies, and different engines become more or less popular, so a site which was well optimized for them ten years ago is probably using some outdated techniques by now.

4.) When you plan to eventually resell a web site: Being able to say that your site is search engine optimized and pointing to specific search keywords it shows up under (or a high Google PageRank) will help increase your site’s resale value substantially.

5.) When your costs from other advertising methods are too expensive: SEO offers a more long-term solution to gaining web traffic, in contrast to continually paying for each impression or click on your links. This allows you to escape monthly or weekly promotional expenses.

6.) When you have a low Google PageRank: This ranking (PR) assigned by Google is a useful indication of whether or not a site has enough quality, relevant links pointing to it. If it is low (especially below three), efforts should be made to increase the number of inbound links it has.

You may even want to begin SEO efforts before creating and launching a web site; if the web pages incorporate SEO into their design and content from the beginning, they won’t require changes later on, nor will they be disadvantaged in search results until such changes are made.

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.

There are lots of companies and individuals that claim to be SEO Experts. If you want to test the SEO savvy of your favorite SEO consultant, try these:

1.  What significance do meta keywords have for SEO?

Answer: The meta keyword tag is almost entirely useless, as search engines ignore it.  In addition, the meta description is almost useless, but it may affect your CTR (click through rate), as it often displayed in search engine results pages.

2.  What are the major search engines you optimize for?

Answer: Google currently owns a dominant market share over Microsoft (#3) and Yahoo(#2).  In fact, Google and Yahoo represent almost 85% of all internet search traffic and adding MSN takes the total over 90%.  Some companies might optimize for AOL or Ask.com, but it should not be a primary focus for them.

3.  What are the most important on-site page factors for SEO?

Answer:  Visible and spiderable text is very influential in improving your rankings particulary your Title and Header tags. The first 3 -4 words of your title, the first sentence of your body text, your H1 and H2 text are very important.  It is also very important that your top keywords are supported by high keyword density.  Keyword density is the percentage of times a particular keyword is used compared to the total word count for the page analyzed.

4.  How would you recommend build link popularity to my site?

Answer: Directory submission and article syndication are just a few examples of link building exercises that have proven to be successful.  One of our favorites is to analyze the back links of the top sites for a particular keyword in Google SERPs and look for high popularity sites that link to more than 3 of the Top 10 Sites.  This provides a good list of high quality sites to build back links to your site.

5. What is Black Hat SEO?

Black Hat SEO refers to techniques outside the TOS (Terms of Service) of a search engine.  A few examples are HTML insertion, blog comment spamming, IP cloaking, and using links from link farms.

6.  What is duplicate content?

Duplicate content is any content that appears elsewhere within your web site or perhaps somewhere else on the internet.  Slight changes to a page, such as replacing a city name or movie title, may still be classified as duplicate content.  Unique and useful content is still one of the best search engine optimization strategies.

6. What is Page Rank?

Answer: PageRank is Google’s mathematical representation of the likelihood of a visitor randomly arriving on a given page.  It is an indicator of page importance, and Google uses this as a factor in search engine rankings.  Any link theoretically increases PageRank, but Google assesses the relevancy of the said links as well.

If you’re looking for a simple and effective way to acquire links to your Web site, one of the best ways to do it is with linkbaiting. The idea of linkbaiting is very simple, you simply offer something that is free to other Internet users, or a free online tool, a research brief on a specific topic or something similar that will encourage others and webmasters to link to your site.

Ever since the Google search engine came about to what it is today, Google has always relied heavily on link popularity, or the number and quality of links pointing to a specific site in order to determine the popularity of that site. This link popularity determines the Google Page Rank, or overall popularity of any given site or page. Simply put, if site A links to site B, then Google takes that as a ‘vote’ from site A to site B and ranks it accordingly in its database. As you can see, the more sites that are linking to you, the higher your link popularity will be when compared to similar sites in your field.

There are many ways in performing effective linkbaiting that will work under most circumstances. Here are a few ideas:

• An online calculator or mortgage payment calculator.
• A program that checks the number of incoming links to a site
• A script that checks a site’s rankings in Google, Yahoo and MSN.
• A contest of some kind, where people will have to link to you to see the results.

Of course, there are a lot more possibilities and you are only limited to your own imagination on how far you can go with this idea. The goal is simply to maximize the number of links to your site. Offering a free tool or a free service such as indicated above are a few ways of achieving that goal.