Online Marketing for Local Business
Posts tagged google
Four Of The Most Common SEO Myths
13 years
by jhaynes
in Uncategorized
In the changing world of search engine optimization, SEO, it takes quite a bit of working experience to truly understand how it all works.
The basic premise of SEO is pretty straightforward of course, it’s what web content writers use in order to make their websites more attractive to the search engines, most notably Google. The first point that needs to be noted is that many web copywriters do this ONLY for the ultimate purpose of driving traffic. This can be a big mistake, since visitors to your website who don’t “convert” – turn into sales (or votes, donations, etc.) – are pretty useless, aren’t they?
Interesting, compelling and persuasive web content is what supports the TRUE mission of your website, to improve the bottom line for your business.
Now that we have that critical, and often forgotten, point out of the way we can focus on the SEO benefits that your web content writing creates. Many people have tried to understand and explain how SEO works, but aren’t always correct in their assumptions. This can be attributed to the constantly changing nature of SEO, and which means that the article could be obsolete in a couple months, incidentally. But as of now, here are four of the most common SEO myths that you should know:
More Links Automatically Makes For a Better Ranking
Yes it’s obviously true that a website’s popularity and perceived importance as measured by links is used by the engines to determine its ranking. It shows that others on the web view this particular web content as valuable. However, if your site receives a link from another website which contains NOTHING but links (or close to it), search engines like Google will give these links less influence over the popularity factor of your site, and it won’t do much to improve your rankings. Sites that often fall into this category are those that ask you for reciprocal links, links back and forth between your two sites. And reciprocal links have little (no?) value to begin with; Google knows you are more than likely trying to game the system. The reason it’s impossible to know if there is any worth to these links? Google does not and will never share their algorithm for ranking websites, so we can never be exactly sure what nuances it contains.
Filling Your Site With Keywords And Phrases Boosts Rankings
Keyword stuffing, or using your desired keywords and search phrases an inordinate amount of times within your copy, actually did work “back in the day” – when search engines were less sophisticated and their algorithms weren’t optimized to detect web content quality. And folks did it then to game the system just like reciprocal links (and many other “black hat” ways to trick the engines), and some people still think it has value. But modern search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo are now quite intelligent. They can verify your web content very much like a human does, and they are trained to identify spam and content that isn’t written with any sense of quality or coherent flow in mind. This is often the kind of content that you will get from foreign SEO companies that promise to throw your content up all over the web. When using these firms for your website content and more high profile outlets and sources, this also means that consumers who come across this content online will be associating its poor quality directly with your company and brands, by the way. But keyword stuffing can’t help to improve your page ranking these days. You should never sacrifice the quality of your content for it, most importantly when this content will be used directly on your own website.
You Can Be Penalized For Duplicate Content
Up to this day, many web content providers and online writers hold onto the belief that duplicate content can negatively affect your search rankings. This is actually a myth, one that we at Hat Trick Associates have exposed and discussed with you before. There is no penalty for duplicate content. But also know that the SEO value of content that is not unique to your site will also not HELP your SEO rankings either, or do so in a very minor way. So only use duplicate content if it actually advances your business goals; if the duplicate web content helps you close a sale then it’s worth the effort it takes to share it. Otherwise spend your time somewhere else.
PageRank Correlates Directly And Precisely With The Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
This is a common myth, but not true. PageRank and search engine results are two independent things. The Google Toolbar’s PageRank feature displays a visited page’s PageRank as a whole number between 0 and 10. The most popular websites have a PageRank of 10, the least have a PageRank of 0. Google has not disclosed the precise method for determining a Toolbar PageRank value. The displayed value is not the actual value Google uses so it can only be used as a rough estimate.
PageRank measures number of sites which link to particular page. The PageRank of a particular page is roughly based upon the quantity of inbound links as well as the PageRank of the pages providing the links. Other factors contained within the algorithm include things like the size of a page, how up to date the page is, the key text in headlines, and the words used for the hyperlinks – the anchor text.
The Search engine results page (SERP) is the actual result returned by a search engine in response to a keyword query. The SERP rank of a web page refers to its placement on the list of search results, where a higher placement equals a better SERP rank.
But the SERP rank of a webpage is not only a function of its PageRank, but also depends on a relatively large and continuously adjusted set of factors (over 200), commonly referred to by content writers and internet marketers as “Google Love”. Search engine optimization is aimed at achieving the highest possible SERP rank for a website or a set of web pages, not the highest PageRank.
Google's Instant Preview Feature Joins Instant Search
014 years
by admin
in Uncategorized
Google wasn’t content with just having Instant Search, now it has introduced a new feature called Instant Previews. Searchers and web users can now browse a large instant “preview” of a site’s content by placing the cursor over the small magnifying glass displayed beside each listing. These previews are large and Google sometimes highlights a major paragraph or quote from each displayed site.
Searchers can get a general look at the layout and design of a site, with graphics and bold headlines usually seen from the preview. However, small print and the general content of the page can’t be read, so searchers will have to click through to your site if they want to read your information. Assuming of course, they don’t find what they’re looking for in the headlines or bold print!
Whether searchers will use this new feature remains to be seen, as even Google doesn’t hit a home run every time (Google Buzz, anyone?) but these instant previews could have some ramifications on who gets the “click through” to their site. One would also reason that getting the top spot in the rankings have diminished somewhat, if searchers can quickly preview all of the top 10 listings and then make their decision. So they might not click the top listing, but decide one lower down is worth clicking. This could make any listing on the first page more worth having, not just the top one.
This doesn’t really affect any of your SEO strategies and you should be optimizing for the search engines as usual. After all, getting those top rankings for your targeted keywords in the major search engines is what brings in the quality traffic to your site. In this regard, it’s business as usual.
However, Google’s Instant Previews does change the whole nature of SERPs or rather Google’s search results in that webmasters and marketers have another hurdle to get past before they get that final click. Searchers might click your top number one ranking preview and decide your page is not up to standard or it’s not what they’re looking for, and can quickly try out the other listings instead.
From Google’s perspective these previews could improve the “overall” quality of their results because searchers will come away happy, especially if they have not wasted their time clicking on a link, only to find it’s not what they’re looking for. Now they can easily find the right results more quickly and efficiently.
For the online marketer or webmaster, Instant Previews can be seen as another chance to get that all important click. They must make sure their page design is of high quality, and that pages feature a catchy headline which will draw visitors to their website. Highlighting a well-worded summary could also help attract more quality visitors. Placing your main keyword phrase in bold print so that it can be read from the preview is also a good idea going forward.
Needless to say, web marketers must still always keep their targeted keywords front and center. Highlighting them on your page in the main title is a given, but now you should make sure they can be read from the preview. This could possibly give you an edge with it comes to getting that click from Google!
On a more general note, these previews also add to the time searchers will spend on Google’s results pages. Google has been steadily focusing on this factor in recent months. Why? Because the longer a searcher stays on your page, the more likely they are to click your paid ads. Which makes perfect sense, if the searcher can’t find what they’re looking for in the “free organic listings”, they will look to the Adwords listings.
According to Alexa, the average time spent on Google in 2009 it was about 7 minutes…and today in 2010 that average has jumped to 14 minutes or more. And these numbers don’t include the full impact of Google Instant Search and Instant Previews yet, of course. That number should go even higher in the near future. And while this number still can’t touch Facebook’s average time of 30+ minutes, Google has still doubled the time it had only a year ago.
Previews will no doubt improve the effectiveness of Google’s SERPs, as searchers find what they are searching for more quickly, and leave as happy, more satisfied customers. However, for the webmaster and online marketer, keeping Instant Previews in mind when creating webpages is now a must. Here are some tips you can follow:
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Improve Your Graphics – These can really grab the searcher’s attention in the preview so it’s vital to have eye-popping graphics right next to your important information.
Create Great Headlines – Good headlines quickly capture the searcher’s attention and draws him/her to your page; just make them bold enough to be seen in Google’s previews.
Write An Informative Summary – Place your important information in a short summary which also captures the viewer’s attention. Entice these viewers to visit your site or page.
Take A Multi-Layered Approach – Just don’t aim all your marketing towards free organic search, but try video listings, news listings, image listings… to get other ways onto Google’s first page.
Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising – This is probably not what you want to hear, but paid listings through Google Adwords is another option. Besides, for extremely lucrative keywords, as more and more major companies throw major funds into SEO and Keyword Link Buying, organic search is not really free or even available to everyone for the most competitive keywords. For the small-time web marketer, paid listings in Google may be your only option, an option that is also quickly becoming quite costly for many.
Of course, how Instant Search and Instant Previews play out in the near future is still wide open to speculation.
Will searchers even use these added features in their daily searches? Or will users opt–out and go back to a more gentle, less hurried Google? Only time will tell. But one thing that all of us can be sure of, Google will be constantly rolling out new features and innovations just to make all our lives a little more interesting. And of course, we at Hat Trick Associates strive to always be a close to that cutting edge – to take advantage of the new rules, options or features being rolled out – so contact us today if you could use some web content and distribution assistance, to keep YOUR business ahead of the curve…and you competition!
5 Steps To Create Content That Converts…& Increases Your SEO
14 years
by admin
in Uncategorized
Getting “found” online is the end goal of your content and SEO initiatives, in addition to the conversion of your web visitors into customers too, of course.
And it really wasn’t all that long ago that you could effectively grow your business or share your ideas online by “interrupting” prospective customers with Push methods such as banner advertising, unsolicited email messages, or other off-line (and old school!) methods like cold calling. But business people grew weary of being targeted by outbound marketing and promotions long ago, and the technologies in use today have become far better at blocking these methods.
Businesses and people in general have also changed the way that they shop and learn, primarily utilizing search engines, social networking sites and blogs to find the information that they need. “Pull” or inbound marketing helps companies take advantage of these shifts by helping them get found by customers in the natural way in which they shop and learn. Here are five tips that you can use to help yourself “get found” online:
1. Start with an extraordinary idea
The days of needing a huge advertising budget to spend on marketing and PR to promote your ideas are long gone. Today, truly unique or extraordinary ideas can find many ways to spread like wildfire on their own online, without any significant expenditure. And by comparison, those ideas that are not extraordinary usually languish unfound – regardless of how much advertising or public relations that you do. Make sure you have a unique, remarkable offering and it will spread like wildfire online, if it’s truly unique and innovative.
2. Create LOTS of content
Once you have found an extraordinary service or product, you need to create lots (and lots) of quality content about it. There are many ways to distribute your content – social media accounts, blogs, article marketing, tweets, videos, podcasts. Great content about a great product or service will attract the links you need from other sites. These links generate traffic, which in turn tells Google and every other search engine that YOU should be ranked more highly.
(Need some writing help to keep up with your publishing schedule or additional resources to help you distribute what you are creating? Contact us for your many cost-effective options!)
3. Optimize your content
All of your content should be “keyword optimized,” both for search engines like Google and also for users of social networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr etc. who will be spreading it.
Be sure to include some of the most important keywords within the title (or Title Tag) of your piece so it will be easy for the engines to find and identify it. But you also need to make the titles enticing for human eyes as well, with a subject line that will elicit responses. Something that arouses the curiosity of readers such as” “Everything you need to know about…” or statements that can only be answered by reading all of the content, such as “How to”, “What can” or “Why do”.
Lists are very popular as well, like “10 things you must do on your website” or “5 easy steps to…” Provocative titles such as “7 things your bank doesn’t want you to know” or other even more sensationalized titles such as “5 financial decisions that could RUIN your retirement” or “8 Mistakes that cost you money, every month” also often work well.
People often respond as well to avoiding negative consequences as they do to potential positive outcomes.
4. Share your content
After you have created a remarkable piece of content and optimized it, now you need to spread the word. Email it to your E-Newsletter subscribers, post the content on your blog, tweet it to your followers, update your Facebook page and LinkedIn profile with it, then share it with article directories.
If your content is truly extraordinary, others will share it online for you. And as your content spreads, you will have more people subscribe to you or Follow you, so that the subsequent content you publish in the future will have an even greater audience.
5. Measure the results
If you cannot measure your results, you’ll never truly know which methods or channels work best for you. For example, you should compare your results for Google organic search (both branded and non-branded), Google paid, your E-Newsletter and Twitter feed, Facebook, LinkedIn or other social media, Forum postings, and any of the myriad campaigns you could be conducting right now.
You should track visitors, leads and customers over time, for every campaign. Then increase resources spent on campaigns that are working, and discontinue or scale back the ones that aren’t.