Posts Tagged ‘page rank’
Google SEO Strategy for 2011
Posted on: May 20, 2011
Speed of the Site
With the right web platform, businesses are able to have access to a rich and powerful web application framework with a supporting cast of tools, servers, and technologies to help them succeed on the web. By choosing a web developer for your website, you are choosing a framework (PHP, .NET) with their own advantages and disadvantages. A web developer will choose the framework for developing a website depending on the requirements and his or her technical proficiency. Make sure it matches your strategy and not just your budget.
Good Control of CMS
Content is the key to a successful website. Solid content requires superior organization and better-quality management. Each business or organization has its own strategies for collecting, organizing, storing and maintaining the information intended for consumption by an audience.
Content Management Systems (CMS)
CMS is a set of processes, applications, and databases that help businesses create, store, coordinate, and publish information with a consistent method in a useful format and in a timely fashion. Companies need to spent considerable amount of time evaluating CMS platforms and their use based on the requirements set forth by each company. One important thing to consider is the skill level of the people who will be directly involved with the chosen platform on the daily basis.
Keywords and Internal Linking
Keyword research, competitive analysis and solid content are a must. Don’t attempt to go after the one 1 word keywords like “cars” “shopping” “lawyer”(reach for the moon why don’t you). Most people start with the most popular term in the industry, throw in a couple of variations and call it done. You need to learn your audience. Target words from your users, evaluate your traffic reports from the web tools you are using and constantly update your web content to support your rankings. One more reason why you need a good CMS in place: to edit, add, delete and create more pages-see CMS above. Know what it will take to compete and then build for success.
Your website’s content is filled with the opportunities to link to other pages throughout your site and help users find their end destination faster. For a successful internal linking strategy have your user in mind and go through your site sections and pages to see where you can insert some contextual links to other pages that you consider to be your most popular landing pages. The link connections should be valid, meaning that the target key phrases are seen on the destination page and are easy to spot.
Social Media Marketing and Distribution
The world of social media is vast and growing. Facebook with 500 million users leads the revolution that is disrupting advertising professionals, marketing experts, and small business owners alike. If you use social media the correct way, that is to build and strengthen relationships, you can build brand awareness, loyalty, and generate word-of-mouth marketing. Simple dissemination of your web content to 30 networks you just registered does not work. To succeed with social media marketing, you need to ensure that your branded messages to your audience provide meaningful content that adds value to the reader’s experience.
Watch this Google video.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make with a small business website is just waiting for traffic to come to you. Why not, if you have a great product? Wrong. If you have a small business website you need to get your market’s attention. That’s not going to happen by simply offering a good product.
Your small business website has two different types of Google rankings. You have your search engine ranking and your page ranking. While they essentially work together to determine your website’s worth, they have a different set of criteria that defines the rank.
Search Engine Ranking
Your search engine ranking is where you end up on a results page after a person conducts a keyword search through Google. Naturally, people are going to click higher up on Google to get what they want. So, it’s important for you to put some effort into your website so you show up higher on Google.
Page Ranking
Every web page out there has a score between 0 and 10 (10 being the better score). This score represents how influential your web page is. According to Entrepreneur.com, Google updates page rankings four times every year. There are several things you can do to improve your individual page ranking as well.
If you don’t know your ranking, simply search for your product on Google and see where you end up. You also have the option of finding a web page that shows page ranks – for you and your competitors. If you install Google’s Toolbar, you will have the ability to see each site’s page rank as you visit them.
Here are a few ways to improve your page ranking and your overall search engine rankings:
Build links
The more pages out there that link back to your site, the higher you will appear on a search engine, it’s as simple as that. This means you should participate in conversation with others (or even your competitors), and provide a link back to your website. Social Media is another great place to leave links.
Keywords
Use keywords throughout every webpage, but don’t practice keyword stuffing. If you stuff your content with keywords, Google can actually punish your ranking. Try to use keywords as naturally as possible throughout your web content.
Google has made some changes that could seriously effect your business website’s search engine optimization. You’ll want to pay close attention here because if you’re like the rest of the small business owners out there – you’ve already put a serious amount of time and effort into optimizing your website for search engines.
What are these changes?
Google has been putting in some effort to make changes to their page-ranking algorithm. After the embarrassing incident with the shady eyewear company DecorMyEyes, Google responded rapidly by developing an initial algorithmic solution, implementing it, and the solution is now live.
Now that the new algorithm has been implemented, it may have altered the way search engine optimization experts adjust websites to raise their search engine rankings. One way of doing so would be to create an algorithm that detected merchants who “provide poor user experience,” and rank that site lower than others.
One theory according to Katherine Noyes for Entrepreneur.com, is that customer reviews and feedback are becoming a part of Google’s page ranking formula.
What does this mean for you?
As a small business owner with an online presence, it is important to watch the links that are attributed to your website. One of the number one negative contributors to a website’s search engine ranking is link acquisition from known link brokers and sellers.
So, what you can do is: stick to the basics. If you stay on track with your current seo efforts, you should be fine so long as you avoid any unscrupulous tactics like spamming or any black hat techniques.
It is more important than ever to be genuine online. If you are fake and using less than honorable tactics to raise your page ranking, Google will figure you out.
Do you have a business website? Are you frustrated that you have a fantastic business website with every bell and whistle you can think of and yet no one seems to notice it? Many small business owners feel the same way. Thankfully, there’s something you can do to change that.
If you want your small business website to appear higher up on Google so that people will see it and have access to it when searching for your product, you need to have a selection of very deliberate keywords throughout your website. This will give you higher search engine rankings and ultimately – higher traffic.
Here are some guidelines to follow when choosing keywords to include in your website content.
1. Keep it relevant
Every keyword you choose should have relevance to the product or service you provide. The more relevant keywords you have, the higher search engines will rank your site.
2. Conduct research
When choosing keywords, you need to make sure that you are choosing keywords that people are actually searching for. Use Google AdWords to find out if the keywords you are using are actually in demand. This will ensure that you are selling to a market that needs your product.
3. Beware of your competition
When you are researching the possible keywords you should use, you will be able to see how competitive they are. Try specifying and refining your keywords, use phrases instead of just one word, to set yourself apart from your competition.
4. Keyword stuffing
Try to avoid stuffing your content with repetitive keywords. Also, it is important that you have enough keywords on your page to make it count. There is a particular balance that you need to pay attention to. If you have too many keywords, you will be labeled as a spammer. If you don’t have enough, your page will not be considered relevant when people are searching for those keywords.
5. Quality content
Even if you select the best keywords, and insert them perfectly into your content, your efforts will continue to suffer unless you have quality content. Quality content means content that is relevant to your business, targeted towards your target market, and well written.
Many people are under the impression that search engine optimization is a service for those looking for a “quick fix” or “immediate ROI,” according to Hugoguzman.com. Generally, people have the idea that SEO fits into similar categories as traditional online marketing channels, like paid ads or email marketing. This leads to the belief that SEO should have instantaneous results.
Not only is this paradigm wrong, it is dangerous. SEO is certainly not a short term, one-time thing. This impression can lead people who are seeking SEO services to engage in risky, fly-by-night SEO practices and cut-rate SEO services that take your money and run.
Clients that hire SEO services that promise instantaneous results are almost always disappointed and feel ripped off afterward. This can lead people to believe that SEO is ineffective, doesn’t deliver, and almost always a scam.
What Can You Do?
Trust SEO services that use time-table results. Usually SEO experts that understand the length of time and effort it takes to see results from SEO will show you a period of time in which continuous effort will help to increase your search engine visibility and page rankings.
These efforts include updating your online business website with quality content, effective keywords, and useful backlinks. Hugoguzman.com describes this process as a marathon. However, this is no 26.2 mile marathon, it is a never-ending marathon.
In the SEO marathon, you are generally trailing behind your competition and the effort you put forth is to catch up, because your competition has been in the game a lot longer than you have. People and businesses that are not already solidly ranked by search engines need to understand the effort and time it takes to build those rankings.
The point is this: SEO is not a formula for instantaneous results and immediate ROI. It is a continuous effort and can take more than a year to begin to lead in search engine rankings.
In order for your small business website to gain the attention and traffic you need to start attracting more customers, it needs to be visible. By visible, I mean visible to search engines. While you may have great content, it might not be on Google’s radar.
The best way to get higher search engine rankings is to use search engine optimization strategies. One great way to use SEO is to have a blog on your website, where you post content once a day, filled with useful keywords and backlinks.
David Rothschild, director of marketing at Insight Forge (a San Francisco SEO consultant company), wrote a great brief on Focus.com. He focused on some key points for using SEO in your blog posts.
Use the tips below for your blog posts to create greater visibility and drive traffic to your website.
SEO Blog Writing Tips
- Create linkable content: Page Rank and search engine standings are in part determined by the number of incoming links from content specific sites. These “linkbacks” are most helpful if they are coming from high traffic sites related to the keywords you are attempting to optimize for.
- Become an authority: Use your blog as a means to establish your site as an authority in your industry.
- Fill the Gaps: If you know there are gaps in available information for your industry, then attempt to create posts to fill in the blanks.
- Create a Conversation: Find other bloggers in the same space and write posts that respond to topics they bring up. If you get yourself in the mix of established “topic specific” bloggers, your own credentials will benefit.
- Keep a Narrow Focus: Write a post with the knowledge that you will use a specific keyword in the post title and specific keywords throughout the post copy.
- Make it easy to digest: Social media plays a major role in generating incoming links and readership for your blog. Make sure to write articles that are easy to read and informative for someone who may not be directly involved in the industry.
- Be yourself: Despite the fact that you are intentionally creating search engine friendly content, it is critically important to be yourself. This means writing about industry specific topics that you find compelling and writing in your own voice.
- Feel free to be creative: Feel free to throw out standard SEO blogging conventions and write a post for your own purposes. Just having fresh content in the ballpark of your industry will benefit your search engine standings.
The whole world is logging on to the Internet each day. As an owner of a small business with an online presence, you want the most exposure possible. The ability to show up higher than your competitors on Google searches will increase customer loyalty, give your business credibility, and most importantly – more traffic.
This is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes into the picture. By using the power of SEO, you can give your website the more visibility and accessibility. Optimizing your website properly will give search engines the ability to list your website right at the top of Google.
What is SEO?
Search engine optimization is the process of using keywords throughout your website content that potential customers might use to search for what your business website offers. SEO usually refers to the process a business or an individual uses to opimize their web content for organic search engine rankings.
By organic search engine rankings, I mean those search results that are not pay-per-click ads you see on the side bar of Google searches. They are true websites that appear after Google crawls through several hundred thousand websites to find exactly what your query matches.
How is SEO Helpful?
Search engine optimization will revamp your web site design, menus, content management system, and shopping carts in order to make everything more accessible to search engines. It is a marketing strategy that is sure to get results because increased visibility will undoubtedly increase your website traffic.
How can I optimize my website?
The most effective ways to optimize your website for higher page rankings, is to use effective keywords and create backlinks.
As mentioned earlier, keywords are words and phrases throughout your website copy that relate to your product or company. These words are what you presume consumers use to search for what you offer. By using them often, and bolding them, you allow search engines to see your website more clearly, and offer it as a resource to people who are searching for those words.
Backlinks are links that direct traffic back to your website. By inserting links in your blog posts, or posting them in various social media channels, you can drive traffic back to your website. Search engines also give higher rankings to websites that have more backlinks.
Search engines are getting smarter. In order for your website to appear higher on any search engine, you need to optimize your website with the right keywords and phrases. The problem is, how do we know which words will work and which ones won’t?
Here are a few tips to follow to boost your position in search engines.
Separate Keywords with Punctuation
When search engines crawl through a website, they do not register punctuation, bullet points, line breaks, capitalization, and other stylized forms of writing. They only rank letters. This will help you use more keywords without disrupting the flow of content
Example:
In order to boost your exposure, dive into the world of social media. Marketing towards individual consumers through social networking sites will help build your brand equity.
Put Keywords into Bullet Form
Using lists are great for your readers specifically because they are easy to read and draw the readers’ attention. They are less cluttered than big blocks of text. So by expanding on the frequent viewership of bulleted lists, insert keywords into the list because again, search engines do not register style, only letters.
Use the Opposite of Your Keyword
By talking about the opposite of the image you’re trying to convey, you can still use keywords and also discuss important points with your readers.
Example:
Search engines are getting smarter. In order for your website to appear higher on any search engine, you need to optimize your website with the right keywords and phrases. The problem is, how do we know which words will work and which ones won’t?
Here are a few tips to follow to boost your position in search engines.
Separate Keywords with Punctuation
When search engines crawl through a website, they do not register punctuation, bullet points, line breaks, capitalization, and other stylized forms of writing. They only rank letters. This will help you use more keywords without disrupting the flow of content
Example:
In order to boost your exposure, dive into the world of social media. Marketing towards individual consumers through social networking sites will help build your brand equity.
Put Keywords into Bullet Form
Using lists are great for your readers specifically because they are easy to read and draw the readers’ attention. They are less cluttered than big blocks of text. So by expanding on the frequent viewership of bulleted lists, insert keywords into the list because again, search engines do not register style, only letters.
Use the Opposite of Your Keyword
By talking about the opposite of the image you’re trying to convey, you can still use keywords and also discuss important points with your readers.
Example:
Having an online business is critical to your success as an entrepreneur. More and more people are turning to the Internet to find information about products, services, prices, and reviews. Engage online and learn how having a productive website for your business can increase your revenue and customer loyalty. Build an internet marketing strategy that works for you.
Here are 6 tips to help your online business succeed.
Step 1. Sell a Solid Product
The best choice in terms of picking a product to sell is something you own or have made. That way you have more control over the distribution, trademarks, patents, or copyrights. If not, be sure to research the most reliable wholesalers available. Buying wholesale from reliable companies is critical for your business success.
Research your target market and have a clear understanding of what your consumers are looking for.
Step 2. Buy your Domain Name
In order to appear higher up on search engines, your URL should be simple, descriptive, and easy to find. If possible, make it the exact same name as your business. Search engines generally rank .com sites higher than .org or .net, if possible, purchase all three domain names and redirect the .org and .net pages to your .com site.
Pay for a 5 year reservation because search engines rank websites that have been or are going to be around for a long period of time. Fly-by-night sites are not ranked very positively.
Having an effective URL will automatically boost your Search Engine Optimization.
Step 3. Create your Website
Keep things simple, concise, and easy to navigate. Use social media marketing by having a Social Media Platform in order to market your business at an affordable cost and interact with your customers. Use relevant keywords and backlinks to help with your Search Engine Optimization.
Step 4. E-Commerce
The fastest and easiest way to set up an online payment program is to use Pay Pal. Any individual with an email address can securely and easily send and receive payments online. Pay Pal has a well-known reputation of having a solid fraud prevention system.
Step 5. Use Search Engine Optimization
Relevant keywords are critical for your Search Engine Optimization, or your page rank within search engines. Try Google Adwords or other keyword testing programs to see what kind of results you might get on search engines with the keywords you have in mind. Google your own company or product and see what kind of words show up the most often.
Step 6. Have a Blog
Blogging is one of the best ways to drive traffic to your site. By blogging, you can insert useful keywords and backlinks. It is a social media marketing strategy that is sure to see results.
