Tag Archives: Search engine optimization

Jan 08 2013
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Marketing Tips

2013 and SEO

Predictions: What Business Owners Should Expect From Google and SEO in 2013

Because Google gives out such little information about the internal workings of its algorithms, it’s nearly impossible to say with certainty what issues webmasters can expect to face in 2013. Digital marketers failed to predict the widespread changes that would result from 2011′s Panda update, just as they couldn’t foresee the scope of the 2012 Penguin change.

Google typically does about 200 algorithm updates each year, but there’s no way to know if another Panda or Penguin is in store.

But based on the changes we have seen recently, it’s possible to make a few predictions about how the field of search engine optimization (SEO) could change during the coming year.

Related: 5 Deadly Sins of SEO and Online Marketing

The Issues 
A few fundamental shifts have occurred recently that will likely continue throughout 2013:

• Google’s perpetual goal is to rid its results pages of spam. While the Penguin update took major steps in the right direction, this series of changes revealed a few new loopholes that allowed webmasters with low-quality pages to sneak into the natural search results. Expect further refinements of the Penguin update or an entirely new algorithm change, as Google continues its battle against spam.
• Link building continues to become more difficult. As Google’s algorithm updates invalidate popular linking schemes, the process of finding and securing backlinks for search engine optimization grows more challenging. As a result, it would be more appropriate to call the techniques that will work best in 2013 “link earning,” rather than “link building.”
• Mobile internet usage grows, changing the scope of required SEO activities.With predictions that mobile internet usage will account for as much as half of all web traffic by 2014, it’s imperative that companies implement mobile SEO best practices for their websites.

The Players
Although Google’s changes are made behind closed doors, there are a few SEO industry insiders to follow for the early word on important new updates:

• Matt Cutts: You’ll want to give any updates that come from the head of Google’s Webspam team and the company’s unofficial spokesperson extra consideration. Subscribe to his personal blog and pay special attention to his Twitter feed, for what Cutts calls “weather updates” — messages that indicate new algorithm changes and that data refreshes are being released.
• Danny Sullivan: The editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land is one of the rare people in the SEO industry who is often able to get clarifying responses from official Google spokespeople. I recommend following his updates on the Search Engine Land website and his Twitter account.
• Rand Fishkin: The founder and CEO of Seattle-based SEO and social monitoring service SEOMoz is recognized as a member of the SEO world’s “in crowd.” To stay up-to-date on changes in the industry, follow the general posts on the SEOMoz blog, along with Fishkin’s personal blog and Twitter account, which offer additional insights into the latest SEO news.

Related: Beyond Basic SEO: When Hiring a Consultant Makes Sense

Predictions 
Despite Google’s secrecy, I’m comfortable making a few predictions about the relative importance of certain elements in the field of digital marketing. Specifically, I believe:

• ‘Structured data’ will play an increasingly important role in SEO. Structured data, or “microdata,” is a special mark up language that websites can use to provide additional information about their content to the search engines. Given that Google has relatively few indicators to objectively assess quality and given how much it has been pushing the adoption of this system, I believe schema.org microdata and other forms of structured mark up will become even more important to website performance in the natural search results. 
• Good content marketing will become a more accessible path to website success. To be clear, “good” content marketing doesn’t involve spamming sites with fake guest posts or distributing infographics simply because they’re popular. Instead, valuable content on topics readers care about is what will help websites increase their inbound backlinks, brand reputation and referral traffic naturally. This will lead to success in the search engine results with much less effort than traditional SEO techniques.
• Data-driven marketing techniques will drive out intuitive promotions. ”Big data” was one of the hottest digital marketing buzzwords in 2012. Because the amount of information marketers have access to is only going to increase, it’s wise to assume that data-driven decisions will become even more important to marketers this year.

Related: A Quick Guide to Better YouTube Video Search Rankings
 

Read more stories about: Google, Panda, Search engine optimization, SEO, Penguin

 

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Apr 04 2012
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Marketing Tips, Web

Keywords? SEO? Ranking?

The web runs on keywords and, yet, most website owners don’t know the first thing about how powerful keyword research can be or how to integrate it into their websites.

A keyword or keyword phrase is a word or series of words that a user enters into a search engine. Keyword research refers to the process of choosing a few of the infinite number of possible keyword phrases to use in search engine optimization efforts for your website.

For example, if you’re planning a family trip to Disney World and want to find the weather forecast, you might search for the phrase: “average Orlando weather in June.” Google takes this text and compares it against the billions of web pages in its index, using its complex algorithms to determine which sites represent the best matches.

Here’s a look at what you need to know about keyword research for your site, why you should care and how to get started:

What makes a good keyword?
Getting a high rank in search engine results pages is important, but it’s the specific keywords you’re ranked for that can determine how successful your website will be.

To understand the difference, compare a site that’s ranked for “make money online” to one that gets a high ranking for “online tutorials on underwater basket weaving.” Because more people are searching for the first phrase, a search engine ranking for that term can generate significantly more traffic and hopefully enable the site to make more money.

Two important concepts help us determine which keywords to target: search volume and competition. Volume refers to the number of people who enter your chosen keywords into the search engines. Greater search volume is usually better, enabling your site to draw more natural traffic.

But search volume should be tempered by a careful analysis of the competitiveness of the keyword phrase. In the example above, the keyword “make money online” receives significantly more volume, but it will be much more difficult to get your site bumped into the top 10 search results for that phrase than for “online tutorials on underwater basket weaving.”

Related: How Backlinks Can Boost Traffic to Your Website

How do I conduct keyword research?
The first step involves researching potential keyword phrases to target. There are plenty of tools that provide this data, but one of the easiest to use is Google’s freeAdwords Keyword Research Tool.

You can enter phrases related to your website or just your site address, and the program will generate a list of keywords to consider. The tool also will provide data on how many global and local searches occur for a particular word or phrase each month, as well as Google’s estimate of the difficulty of getting ranked for the keyword.

Unfortunately, there are no “search volume versus competitiveness” rules to follow when choosing keywords to target from this list. But keep in mind that while the competitive keywords will require more time and effort to build a high ranking, they can pay off in increased search traffic to your site.

As you research keywords and integrate them into your site, you should start to see a pattern in terms of the ideal mix of search volume and competitiveness. Much will depend on how big an investment you’re willing to make in search engine optimization.

Related: How Using Microdata Can Improve Your Website SEO

How do I integrate keyword research into my website?
Once you’ve identified a few potential keyword targets, start integrating them into your site. To increase your chances of getting ranked for your chosen terms, you’ll want to follow standard search engine optimization practices, including any of the following:

  • Create pages on your site featuring helpful content based on your target keywords.
  • Incorporate your target keywords into your page’s HTML in various places, including your site’s title, heading and meta description tags.
  • Build backlinks pointing at your site using your target keyword as anchor text. The anchor text of a link refers to the part that remains visible and underlined on the referring page. For example, the link <a href=”http://www.yoursite.com”>keyword phrase</a> would appear like this: keyword phrase. This lets the search engines know that this phrase is relevant to your site.

It will take some effort to target particular keywords but, over time, your research should yield significant improvement in search traffic volume.

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Jan 25 2012
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J2 Marketing, Web

3 Tips for Keeping Your Website Fresh

Business owners have been reeling from Google’s one-two punch last year in changing the way it ranks searches online. The good news is that there are effective ways to optimize your online content to make the best of the changes.

First, Google unveiled “Panda,” a major change to its search algorithm that puts a higher priority on what it considers high-quality content. The search giant updated its algorithm again in November, giving greater priority to “fresh” content that it finds most relevant to recent events and timely topics. The rationale: People seeking information on the latest news and events will likely want the most up-to-date content possible.

It’s important to note that not all searches are affected by the new freshness guidelines. For example, someone looking for a list of past U.S. presidents doesn’t need the latest information about, say, John F. Kennedy. Google knows this and estimates that the freshness change will affect about 35 percent of search phrases. Specifically, the types of searches that are being ranked according to freshness include:

• Recent events or hot topics that have begun trending on the web.
• Regularly recurring events such as annual conferences or the U.S. presidential election.
• Information that is updated often but isn’t necessarily a hot topic or recurring event.

Related: New Google Search Update Could Spell More Trouble for Business Websites

Even though not all searches will be affected by this update, you can still benefit from Google’s algorithm change. Here are three steps for optimizing your web content for Google’s freshness rankings:

Step 1: Create a publishing calendar. 

One obvious result of Google’s freshness update: The more often you post, the greater your chances of getting picked up and displayed in search results. So consider creating a publishing calendar to help you set more ambitious posting goals and then stick to them.

In general, you can get the best results by putting new content on your businesswebsite at least two or three times each week. You don’t need to know exactly what you’ll be posting each time, but take the time to schedule the days you’ll publish content a month in advance.

If you run your website on the WordPress blogging platform, plug-ins including the “Editorial Calendar” can be useful. If not, you can add your posting deadlines to whichever “to do” list management system you use.

Related: Google’s Panda Puts Content Farms Out to Pasture

Step 2: Stay on top of the news in your industry.
Now that you know when you’re going to post, it’s time to come up with some timely topics to write about. Keep in mind that with the new freshness guidelines, the content of your post matters as much as the frequency.

To qualify as “fresh” content, you’ll want to create posts that comment on topics and events in the news. Of course, some news and events will be more relevant than others to your particular business. But you should find at least a few opportunities each week to play off current events in your web content.

Remember, you don’t need to write novel-length analysis on newsworthy items you come across. Time-crunched business owners should aim to write 400- to 500-word posts that summarize the news and offer analysis on how it might affect your industry.

Step 3: Be a first mover on industry issues.
If you’re the 100th blogger writing about an industry news story or an upcoming conference, you probably aren’t providing the fresh content Google is looking for. You should aim to be among the first to post on it.

Related: Five Effective SEO Strategies to Optimize Your Business Blog

To get the first-mover advantage, it’s imperative to stay on top of news as it occurs in your industry. You can set up Google Alerts for certain target keywords. Also, spend time each day on news aggregation websites for your industry.

It will take extra effort to monitor news and trends and to be among the first to comment on them. But such vigilance can pay off big if your fresh content skyrockets to the top of a Google search results page.

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