SEO Blog - Search Engine Optimization Blog

Is it Possible to Automate Link Building?

I've had a few people ask me if it is possible to automate the link building process. Remember that age old saying "all good things take time", well apply that here also. Many offer to trade links with other relevant sites and find that it is not an easy process.

Along with your link building strategy don't forget that your main goal should be to create content that is worthy of people linking to it. Create areas on your site that people will want to link to. This won't happen overnight but think outside of the box and come up with your own innovative ideas.

One of the easier things that you can do is to run a blog and or forum on your website that will peak the interest of your end users. If it's not possible for you to have your own blog or forum then become an article writer for someone else's blog or forum where you can add information about your site.

Important Factors Related to your SEO Strategy

 SEO is a progress in motion and takes time to accomplish so be patient and let your changes be picked up by the search engines before making additional changes.

 In order to be successful with SEO you need to make regular changes to your webpage’s. The reason for this is the search engines like to see fresh content.

 Keyword/keyphrase selection if vitally important to your SEO campaign so ensure that you select the right phrases for your topic pages. Expect the unexpected. Your keywords/keyphrases might result in getting the wrong users to your site. Combinations of keywords/keyphrases within your pages might send you traffic that you hadn’t thought of some good and some bad. Adjust your pages accordingly. Understand that your keywords/keyphrases need to be reachable, don’t select a single keyword that is highly competitive and expect to be number 1.  Not to say that this wouldn’t be possible but just be realistic.

 To get your pages to the top of the SERPS and to keep them there you will need to build strong linking campaigns with other sites that are relevant to your industry. Along with selecting the proper keywords/keyphrases link building is equally as important to your success.

 Don’t forget why you are optimizing your web pages. You are looking to maximize your website traffic by attracting your most likely user. Along with that you want to increase your sales by converting your users into buyers. Measure that and you can track and adjust accordingly.

Getting the Most and Measuring Your SEO Campaigns

Optimizing your website for the search engines is only the beginning step in your SEO process. Building strong reliable links with like businesses will help you increase your web traffic and your conversions. Now that the ground work is done it’s time to start measuring and evaluating your SEO efforts.

In order to get to know your web users better offer surveys/polls on your website.  This will help in understanding what your users are expecting.

Understand which pages rank for which keyphrases, and what pages are giving you higher conversions. Don’t forget that moving up a few spots in the SERPS can generate a nice traffic spike.  Using your favorite web analytics program make sure you track all of your results down to the page level. You can use Google’s web analytics program or your web hosts program of choice.  Track your pages and keyphrases each month and focus on basic on-page SEO. Tweak your pages keyphrases with the goal of moving up in the SERPS, and continue to monitor the results.

Do detailed analysis of your competition and see what they are doing from an SEO standpoint and consider matching or beating them at what they are doing. By doing this you may also find some niche keyphrases that you have missed.

By tracking and changing on a monthly basis expect that you will get to that #1 spot and be relentless until that goal is achieved.

Google Images Gets a Facelift

 Sometimes all it takes is a little nip and tuck to get the desired result. This new look gives a clear, more concise view at the results. Not to mention that it is very user friendly. Google stated that they changed their image search because: "You'll now see a dense, tiled layout that makes it easy to view many images?up to 1,000?on a single scrollable page. In addition, we made the thumbnail previews on the results page larger, so all you have to do is hover over an image to get an even larger view." 
 
 

 This is the biggest change that Google Images has ever gone through and like it or not you have to admit that the new tiled look lets you view more images.  Many users use Google images for inspiration and shopping and this new look will allow one to view more images and larger images than before.
 
 If you don't find this new look useful you can always drop Marissa Mayer, VP Search Products & User Experience a note and let her know why. She is also in Twitter.

To SEO or Not to SEO, That is the Question? Or is it?

As an entrepreneur or business person in today's marketplace you need a website. Along with having that website you also need to be found in the search engines. So if you are building a website don't overlook having a strong seo strategy.

While costs are always an important factor in business, they should not be the main factor when deciding on your website and it’s seo strategy. When you hire a company to develop your website you should ensure that there is a seo component to the development process. In most cases seo is not included in website design; it is normally an extra charge.

By implementing a seo strategy into your web site development you are giving your company the ability to gain a positive ROI on your investment. In some cases business owners don't want to part with their hard earned money for seo. That's where knowledge is golden, because that investment will come back to you many times over. Would you drive a car without tires? I think now, well not optimizing your website is like driving a car without tires. So if you build a website and you don't optimize it then you can only blame yourself when you find your website is living in a virtual ghost town.

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May Day Update Revisited Two Months Later

 It's been two months since Google's May Day update went live. The May Day update was an algorithm change that affected web sites that utilize "long-tail" keywords traffic. So what do we know two months later? We know that the May Day update likes high-quality inbound links that not only point to your homepage but also that point deep into your inner web pages. May Day also likes fresh content so make sure to update your pages as often as possible.
 
 We have seen many ecommerce sites affected by the May Day update. Many of these sites had done well for long-tail keywords in the past, and now have dropped off. Try getting more inbound links to these pages with your selected phrases.
 
 Past Articles on May Day:

::|:: - May Day, May Day, May Day – Google’s Long Tail Rankings Change
::|:: - May Day Update, Why Now and not Before?

Does Using Pipes or Other Characters in the Title Tag Hurt?

Many designers like to use special characters in the title tags of web pages. This has been happening since the start of the web. Call it creative expressionism if you will. I have always found it funny, but at the same token saw some creative implementations over the years. So the question is does it hurt to use these characters from a search engine result point of view. The short answer is no it does not. It neither helps nor hurts because the search engines ignore these characters.

Now having said all of this remember that the title tag allows for a certain number of acceptable characters from an seo standpoint. The W3C, in their page W3C - The TITLE element in HTML, states: "The title should ideally be less than 64 characters in length. That is, many applications will display document titles in window titles, menus, etc where there is only limited room." A 64 character limit is a good starting place. Google will display up to 66 characters of a title tag, cropping to complete words for Search Engine Optimization & Web Usability.

Obviously, anything that serves to draw the search engine user's attention toward your title tag information will help get traffic to your website, but care must be taken not to overdo it!

Do you have a Store with Numerous Locations? Create Web Pages for each Location Then!

While most stores have a zip code search function built into their websites, why not also have a page devoted to each store location also. Why is that important you say. Well, that way you can have that stores page come up in a web search, and drive additional traffic to your site. With these pages being crawlable by the search engines and being location specific it will give you a chance to promote that store from a local level standpoint. For instance you could promote local city or area events, offer exclusive local promotions, give a downloadable coupon, and things of that nature. So while the quick zip code search functions works also it isn't generally crawlable and doesn't help you in the (SERP's) search engine results pages.