Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a means of designing a website, and its individual pages, so that you meet the requirements of a mathematical equation called an algorithm that is design to apply statistical analysis to determine how it relates to the search terms used by the search engine customers.
That is a long sentence, so let us look at the various elements that it contains. First designing a website. There is more to designing a website than making it pretty, and unfortunately there are a lot of website designers who do not appear to understand that. Before you can even start on design a site, you have to consider what the purpose of the website is. Usually to provide information to visitors on the search term that they use to reach you.
Web Pages Should Load Quickly
When you click to visit a website what do you want to happen? Do you want to see lovely flash graphics that take several minutes (or seem to) to load up, or do you want to be taken immediately to the home page. We both know the answer yet they still insist on the fancy stuff. That is ego, not practical web design.
Once you actually manage to get onto the home page, do you want some good information and easy navigation to well explained web pages, or do you want loads of graphics, pictures and nothing but line after line of adverts with some links to other pages on the site that you have to search for? We also both know the answer to that, but how often do you see pages full of adverts and graphics and little else? These pages are designed by self-professed SEO experts!
I recently had one of my customers ask to me run my eye over her home page that she had just had revamped by a professional developer but seemed not have been listed in Google. Because I look after my customers I agreed to do so free of charge, and do you know what I found? A web page that the spiders would have left the second they visited because the first text they would find would be line upon line of navigation away from the home page. When I checked the target pages, guess what? Same thing. The spiders would have been running round in circles, seeing nothing. Also no worth while titles and no headings except one in a H2 tag – no H1 tags at all.
Nobody can Guarantee a Google Position
All that from a ‘professional web developer’!! What do you need to be a professional these days? Don’t get me wrong, there are some good ones, though please take a piece of advice from me. Don’t hire anybody that has to pay for advertising. If they can’t get their own website into the top 10 for their main keyword, then how can they be qualified to do it for you? Forget the promises and guarantees. I can get anybody’s website into the top 10: even to number 1! All I need do is find a unique keyword or phrase that nobody is using, such as “Top website developers in Blaenavon South Wales”. I have checked that and nobody is using it! The only problem is that neither will any Google customers use it. Nobody can guarantee a Google listing position.
Incidentally, search engine customers are those that use them to find information that they are seeking. They are not advertisers on Google or people that use any of the Google services other that the search engine itself.
Keyword Density is a Thing of the Past
All SEO experts can get you in the top 10, but not for any keywords worth having. You are better doing it yourself. All you need worry about are having your keyword as part of your title (not all of it) and in TITLE tags, and use your page keyword in H1 tags as the main heading. Use it again as part of an H2 sub-heading. Use your keyword once in the first 100 characters and again in the last paragraph. Once more for every 500 words and that will do. Forget 1% -3% keyword density. Use lots of related text, but be careful of synonyms because few word mean exactly the same as others. Make sure that you make it clear in what context you are using a particular word.
Write naturally about your topic and you will be fine. Make sure that the spiders see your page title first, then the heading next. That will tell them what the most important text on your page is, and hence the topic of the page. The sub-headings will reinforce that, but only if they are in H2 – H3 tags. Forget anything more than H3.
The spiders should come across links leading from your page until it has read all your text. The lead t to where you want it do next. Attach a lead to it and guide it through your website, page by page, and avoid leading it from page to page haphazardly before it has seen the content on each page. Any website designed like the one I described at the beginning, with nothing but links at the start of every page, will be lucky to be listed at all unless it has hundreds of thousands of links coming into it.
Page Rank Might Lose its Influence
However, Google appear to be reconsidering how it views links, and perhaps web page content will be viewed as it should be – as more important than incoming links that can be contrived artificially. Follow my advice and do your own SEO. It is as easy as I have described. If you fail to get listed within two weeks you are doing something wrong, and then you might need help, but make sure you get help from somebody who wants to help you and not simply boost his or her ego.
There is more to search engine optimization than flashy pages. Spiders see in black and white, and are impatient creatures, so don’t lead them a merry dance. Be obvious, tell them what your page is about and let them read your content before sending them on to the next page.
SEO is about being honest with your visitors and giving them information that is as relevant to your subject as you possibly can, but also using common sense. Look at your home page, and consider what you want to be the most important parts of it. Then think where you would want your visitors eyes to go on your page to be given the best information. You can use HTML to make sure that the search engines crawl your page exactly that way.
Do Not Confuse Your Spiders
You can lead spiders from paragraph to paragraph. Table to table, link to link. Keep in mind that if a spider follows a link it will start crawling the page you sent it to and only come back if you allow it to: i.e. provide another link back to your home page. Theoretically you could send it back and forth the between two pages in an unbreakable loop!
That is the ‘website design’ part, leaving algorithms, statistical analysis and search terms still to cover. These will have to be the subject of another article!
http://www.articlebliss.com/Article/Search-Engine-Optimization-And-How-To-Use-It/143854
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Ten SEO Tips to Get You Higher Yahoo and Google Listings
SEO tips can help you to get higher Yahoo or Google listings, but only if you use them. Most people think that they know better, even so called SEO professionals who have to use PPC advertising to get their websites listed highly enough to be seen. Who are they to tell us what to do, when they cannot it themselves?
I have had some of them write to me criticizing my ‘crap’ HTML and also my ‘useless’ linking strategies. My site has ‘only a Page Rank of 3’. So what? It is sitting at between #1 on #5 on Google from day to day, at # 1 to #4 on Yahoo from day to day and at #1 on MSN. I will gladly accept their criticism of my HTML and linking when they achieve the same. Till then, perhaps they would be better buying my book that complaining about my websites!
I would feel more predisposed to them if they stopped criticizing me – I only started to do the same to them when I got sick of their comments when they could not emulate my results. Who am I, a rank amateur, to beat them in the SEO stakes!! In fact, I have been at this for many years.
So, SEO tip #1 – don’t believe anything you are told unless those telling you it have at least one of their websites in the top 5 on all the major search engines for a competitive keyword. Mine has >800 million other results on Google.
Tip 2 – use classical search engine optimization. Use Meta tags because some search engines still use them. The main one is the Description Meta tag – Keywords is not so important but use it anyway. It does not hurt you, so use them.
The third tip relates to the title of your website. There are two points that relate to this. The first is that it should be the best keyword that you can find that relates to your niche or website. That means a good demand and low supply, though too much is sometimes written about this since such keywords are not easy to find. If you can’t something with low supply, just use what you want and decide to compete against them. Somebody has to be top, and why can’t it be you? Too many people give up in SEO too quickly. Probably because we are told not to compete against the big boys - by these big boys!!
The second point is that the title of your site need not be stated on every web page. My web page titles are those of the page, not the site. The graphics are the same, but the title is the keyword that they page is optimized for. Why do otherwise? Yet 99.99% do (just a guess!). Then fourth of my SEO tips is related to the headings on each page. The main title of the page should be in H1 tags, and the heading in H2 tags. You don’t need any more, but any subheadings can go into H3 tags, but should contain text that could be construed as minor keywords.
I might be wrong, but who says? I have found that if you ignore the big guys, and compete against them, they can be beat. Check out what they are trying to sell you and you will notice that much of it is obsolete. Such as site generation and article generation software. That’s not an SEO tip, just a word to the wise, from the not so wise. I have no pretensions, but I know where my home page is on Google – and Yahoo – and MSN. Just search for ‘article services’.
The fifth SEO tip is to use your keywords sparingly. Most people still think that 1% - 3% keyword density is ideal, yet it is actually too much. There is an optimum keyword density that has little to do with the keyword itself, but more to do with contextual relevance of the page content to the topic in hand. Which leads to the sixth of the SEO tips: write naturally and honestly. If you know about your subject, write about it in your own language and don’t try to meet any perceived need for a specific number of so-called keywords within your page content.
Seventh, don’t forget about your links. You can get a higher search engine listing if you have lots of links back to your website from other sites. In fact, the links are from page to page, and you get a proportion of the Google PageRank of the page linking to you, relative to the number of other links leaving that page, and also give the page that you link to a proportion of your PageRank, calculated in the same way. The problem with reciprocal links is that most pages are linked to and from pages with a PageRank of zero, even though the website home page can have a PR of 6 or 7.
SEO tip eight. Use your internal linking to maximise the PageRank of a selected page on your website. You don’t need every page on your site listed in the top 10 of Google or Yahoo: you only need one. So maximise your efforts on that one page. Visitors that page will then visit the rest of the pages on your website, and so will search engine spiders, so you know that every page on your site will be listed and with a chance of being found in a search.
The important point of that tip is to concentrate on getting one page in the top 10. That’s all you need. You will have links to all your other pages once somebody reaches that page in the top 10. Tip nine: Once you get visitors keep them there. Give them useful content and something to do, even if just to click from page to page. Offer them a free gift for completing a quiz on your topic, or free vacation certificates for certain actions: these are easily found on the internet in a form that you can either post or email for them to print their own. Offer them an opt-in form so that you can keep in touch.
That is the most important tip of all – if you can keep in touch with your visitors after they have left your site, then you can offer them new products as they come along without having to seduce them to visit your website again.
Finally, the SEO tip number 10. Enjoy what you are doing, and don’t look upon it so much as a job as something to enjoy, and to do as best as you can. I wish you the best of success since it is very sweet when it comes – as it will come with you.
http://www.articlebliss.com/Article/Ten-SEO-Tips-to-Get-You-Higher-Yahoo-and-Google-Listings/143861
I have had some of them write to me criticizing my ‘crap’ HTML and also my ‘useless’ linking strategies. My site has ‘only a Page Rank of 3’. So what? It is sitting at between #1 on #5 on Google from day to day, at # 1 to #4 on Yahoo from day to day and at #1 on MSN. I will gladly accept their criticism of my HTML and linking when they achieve the same. Till then, perhaps they would be better buying my book that complaining about my websites!
I would feel more predisposed to them if they stopped criticizing me – I only started to do the same to them when I got sick of their comments when they could not emulate my results. Who am I, a rank amateur, to beat them in the SEO stakes!! In fact, I have been at this for many years.
So, SEO tip #1 – don’t believe anything you are told unless those telling you it have at least one of their websites in the top 5 on all the major search engines for a competitive keyword. Mine has >800 million other results on Google.
Tip 2 – use classical search engine optimization. Use Meta tags because some search engines still use them. The main one is the Description Meta tag – Keywords is not so important but use it anyway. It does not hurt you, so use them.
The third tip relates to the title of your website. There are two points that relate to this. The first is that it should be the best keyword that you can find that relates to your niche or website. That means a good demand and low supply, though too much is sometimes written about this since such keywords are not easy to find. If you can’t something with low supply, just use what you want and decide to compete against them. Somebody has to be top, and why can’t it be you? Too many people give up in SEO too quickly. Probably because we are told not to compete against the big boys - by these big boys!!
The second point is that the title of your site need not be stated on every web page. My web page titles are those of the page, not the site. The graphics are the same, but the title is the keyword that they page is optimized for. Why do otherwise? Yet 99.99% do (just a guess!). Then fourth of my SEO tips is related to the headings on each page. The main title of the page should be in H1 tags, and the heading in H2 tags. You don’t need any more, but any subheadings can go into H3 tags, but should contain text that could be construed as minor keywords.
I might be wrong, but who says? I have found that if you ignore the big guys, and compete against them, they can be beat. Check out what they are trying to sell you and you will notice that much of it is obsolete. Such as site generation and article generation software. That’s not an SEO tip, just a word to the wise, from the not so wise. I have no pretensions, but I know where my home page is on Google – and Yahoo – and MSN. Just search for ‘article services’.
The fifth SEO tip is to use your keywords sparingly. Most people still think that 1% - 3% keyword density is ideal, yet it is actually too much. There is an optimum keyword density that has little to do with the keyword itself, but more to do with contextual relevance of the page content to the topic in hand. Which leads to the sixth of the SEO tips: write naturally and honestly. If you know about your subject, write about it in your own language and don’t try to meet any perceived need for a specific number of so-called keywords within your page content.
Seventh, don’t forget about your links. You can get a higher search engine listing if you have lots of links back to your website from other sites. In fact, the links are from page to page, and you get a proportion of the Google PageRank of the page linking to you, relative to the number of other links leaving that page, and also give the page that you link to a proportion of your PageRank, calculated in the same way. The problem with reciprocal links is that most pages are linked to and from pages with a PageRank of zero, even though the website home page can have a PR of 6 or 7.
SEO tip eight. Use your internal linking to maximise the PageRank of a selected page on your website. You don’t need every page on your site listed in the top 10 of Google or Yahoo: you only need one. So maximise your efforts on that one page. Visitors that page will then visit the rest of the pages on your website, and so will search engine spiders, so you know that every page on your site will be listed and with a chance of being found in a search.
The important point of that tip is to concentrate on getting one page in the top 10. That’s all you need. You will have links to all your other pages once somebody reaches that page in the top 10. Tip nine: Once you get visitors keep them there. Give them useful content and something to do, even if just to click from page to page. Offer them a free gift for completing a quiz on your topic, or free vacation certificates for certain actions: these are easily found on the internet in a form that you can either post or email for them to print their own. Offer them an opt-in form so that you can keep in touch.
That is the most important tip of all – if you can keep in touch with your visitors after they have left your site, then you can offer them new products as they come along without having to seduce them to visit your website again.
Finally, the SEO tip number 10. Enjoy what you are doing, and don’t look upon it so much as a job as something to enjoy, and to do as best as you can. I wish you the best of success since it is very sweet when it comes – as it will come with you.
http://www.articlebliss.com/Article/Ten-SEO-Tips-to-Get-You-Higher-Yahoo-and-Google-Listings/143861
Take the advantage of SEO New York
Running a successful business requires lots of effort, time, dedication, professionally trained manpower and the use of the latest technology and strategies that are coming up from time to time. Today almost all business has an online presence and if you want to become successful you will also have to put up an online presence of your site on the World Wide Web. After a site has been put on the web, the site owner needs to ensure that prospective customers know about this presence and come to their site to buy the goods or services that they are offering. SEO or search engine optimization is the best way through which an online site can get promoted on the web. Search engine optimization makes use of several methods and only a professional will be able to decide what methods will be suitable for a site.
SEO New York services are offered by several search engine marketing firms that operate in that city. It is understood that a person who runs a business may not be familiar with the different online techniques for making their online site popular and this is exactly where professionals working for SEO New York can guide a business owner. You must understand that the methods of promotion on the web i.e. SEO is extremely different from the offline methods of promotion. The only way through which online visitors can come to know about the presence of an online site is through the help of all the major search engines. It is not easy to get listed at the top of the search results of search engines, and one needs to put in lots of effort to do this.
Search engines do not see and view a site the way people like you and me do. They have different criteria based on which they decide on the popularity and importance factor of a site. So what professionals working for SEO New York do is make the site in such a manner that search engine easily find the site and give higher rankings to it. The site must be user friendly and this is the most important quality if you want to retain your customers. It may be that someone may just stumble to your site from anywhere, but you can retain them only when you provide them quality services. Make sure that all the information that you provide on your site is updated on a regular basis so that you can retain customers.
Search engine attribute rankings to a site based on several aspects and content is one of the major aspects. The content on the site must be keyword heavy and keywords are those words which specifically describe the service or the goods offered by a particular business. If you are not certain as to which keywords are the most appropriate for your business, you can ask the SEO New York professionals to help you out. They use proper research methods and suitable tools to find out the keywords that will suit your business. After the keywords have been found out, only then can search engine optimization be done properly for a site.
http://www.articlebliss.com/Article/Take-the-advantage-of-SEO-New-York/144389
SEO New York services are offered by several search engine marketing firms that operate in that city. It is understood that a person who runs a business may not be familiar with the different online techniques for making their online site popular and this is exactly where professionals working for SEO New York can guide a business owner. You must understand that the methods of promotion on the web i.e. SEO is extremely different from the offline methods of promotion. The only way through which online visitors can come to know about the presence of an online site is through the help of all the major search engines. It is not easy to get listed at the top of the search results of search engines, and one needs to put in lots of effort to do this.
Search engines do not see and view a site the way people like you and me do. They have different criteria based on which they decide on the popularity and importance factor of a site. So what professionals working for SEO New York do is make the site in such a manner that search engine easily find the site and give higher rankings to it. The site must be user friendly and this is the most important quality if you want to retain your customers. It may be that someone may just stumble to your site from anywhere, but you can retain them only when you provide them quality services. Make sure that all the information that you provide on your site is updated on a regular basis so that you can retain customers.
Search engine attribute rankings to a site based on several aspects and content is one of the major aspects. The content on the site must be keyword heavy and keywords are those words which specifically describe the service or the goods offered by a particular business. If you are not certain as to which keywords are the most appropriate for your business, you can ask the SEO New York professionals to help you out. They use proper research methods and suitable tools to find out the keywords that will suit your business. After the keywords have been found out, only then can search engine optimization be done properly for a site.
http://www.articlebliss.com/Article/Take-the-advantage-of-SEO-New-York/144389
Friday, September 7, 2007
Landing One Way Links Ethically
It has been said many times that the Internet has revolutionized how people live, play, and do business. With this advancement in communications technology, doing business has evolved in so many ways. Together with this evolution, the competition has also taken on a different twist. Advertising and marketing is still at the base of competition yet how businesses actually carry out their advertising and marketing campaigns have changed a lot.
In order to establish a business online, one needs to at least have a website to promote his business. With a website come many considerations, one of the most important being the level of traffic to the site. A high number of visits to the site means that people are aware of your existence and that your advertising campaign is actually working. Yet before you can achieve a certain level of traffic, there are countless measures that you have to implement. One of the best ways to achieve such a status would be to have your site up in the ranks when it comes to search engines. Here is where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes in.
SEO techniques are among the top issues nowadays when it comes to online businesses. Every business owner wants to have his site (or sites) to be optimized so as to have more visibility in the online market. One of the things that search engines take into consideration when calculating the page rank is the number of links to the site. More than the quantity, however, search engines also look into the quality of the links.
There are reciprocal links and one way links. Reciprocal links are basically links to one website which also links back to your own site. In essence, reciprocal links show that there is trust between the two sites. It is as if they are both saying that the other site is trustworthy and worth a visit. One way links, on the other hand, are links from other sites to your own site. As the name implies, you do not link back to the site that links to you.
One way links are very important to search engines. Google for example, places such high importance in one way links. They essentially are a testimony to your site’s worth and popularity. So how do you get one way links?
The most obvious way would be to create other websites which are also useful and create links to your own site. That of course would entail a lot of resources as you would have more websites to set up and manage. Another way would be to submit your site to major directories such as Yahoo. You can also create articles for submission and have them link to your site. All these methods, and more, can be done on your own or you can hire the services of professionals to create one way links for you. This is perhaps the most cost effective way of doing it as it would free up your time for more pressing matters.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/Landing-One-Way-Links-Ethically/33295
In order to establish a business online, one needs to at least have a website to promote his business. With a website come many considerations, one of the most important being the level of traffic to the site. A high number of visits to the site means that people are aware of your existence and that your advertising campaign is actually working. Yet before you can achieve a certain level of traffic, there are countless measures that you have to implement. One of the best ways to achieve such a status would be to have your site up in the ranks when it comes to search engines. Here is where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes in.
SEO techniques are among the top issues nowadays when it comes to online businesses. Every business owner wants to have his site (or sites) to be optimized so as to have more visibility in the online market. One of the things that search engines take into consideration when calculating the page rank is the number of links to the site. More than the quantity, however, search engines also look into the quality of the links.
There are reciprocal links and one way links. Reciprocal links are basically links to one website which also links back to your own site. In essence, reciprocal links show that there is trust between the two sites. It is as if they are both saying that the other site is trustworthy and worth a visit. One way links, on the other hand, are links from other sites to your own site. As the name implies, you do not link back to the site that links to you.
One way links are very important to search engines. Google for example, places such high importance in one way links. They essentially are a testimony to your site’s worth and popularity. So how do you get one way links?
The most obvious way would be to create other websites which are also useful and create links to your own site. That of course would entail a lot of resources as you would have more websites to set up and manage. Another way would be to submit your site to major directories such as Yahoo. You can also create articles for submission and have them link to your site. All these methods, and more, can be done on your own or you can hire the services of professionals to create one way links for you. This is perhaps the most cost effective way of doing it as it would free up your time for more pressing matters.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/Landing-One-Way-Links-Ethically/33295
Submitting Your Website To Authority Directories
Search engines have come to dominate the internet as the ultimate portal for information retrieval. However, even before directories came to existence people used to rely on link directories to get them to the website they needed to view. When search engines first surged in popularity a lot of people thought that they would eventually fade into existence as they would no longer be relevant. Contrary to that expectation though link directories have been making a come back and are in fact gaining popularity again. The reason behind this, however, is ironically linked to search engines.
When people look for information using search engines the search engines actually use an algorithm to calculate or come up with a list of web pages most relevant to the search string the user has entered. Though the algorithm of each search engine is unknown to the general public, website designers or engineers still try to find ways to quantify the factors that affect the algorithm’s calculations. This is of course in hopes if being able to boost their website or their clients’ websites page rank. The techniques used by website designers to optimize the websites are called Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
A common SEO practice is called link building. Link building is a process of creating relevant and quality inbound links to a website with the intention of increasing the website’s importance resulting to an increase in page rank and thus generating more traffic. However, those who have tried to build links the “organic” or natural way have found it a very difficult thing indeed. It does take much effort after all to create a very good site that people will want to link to much less get the people to notice your site if your page rank is still quite low. Although some websites have succeeded in link building using organic means it makes much more sense to employ SEO techniques to hasten one’s link building efforts.
A very common way to build links is by submitting in link directories. By being listed in a reputable link directory a website can be sure to gain a huge number of reciprocal and inbound links in a way faster time than you can ever hope to by trying to build links organically. Furthermore if you are part of a very good link directory then you can be sure that the other websites listed in that directory quality sites to and are bound to give you quality links. With the way link directories help in SEO efforts people are noticing directories again and this is the very reason why link directories are thriving.
The only down part in submitting to link directories is that some website owners fall for the more unsavory link directories, which are actually called link farms. Make sure that if you plan to do link building this way submit only to directories that accept quality websites like your own. Being listed in a link farm will only do your SEO efforts harm instead of good since search engines are biased against them.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/Submitting-Your-Website-To-Authority-Directories/33312
When people look for information using search engines the search engines actually use an algorithm to calculate or come up with a list of web pages most relevant to the search string the user has entered. Though the algorithm of each search engine is unknown to the general public, website designers or engineers still try to find ways to quantify the factors that affect the algorithm’s calculations. This is of course in hopes if being able to boost their website or their clients’ websites page rank. The techniques used by website designers to optimize the websites are called Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
A common SEO practice is called link building. Link building is a process of creating relevant and quality inbound links to a website with the intention of increasing the website’s importance resulting to an increase in page rank and thus generating more traffic. However, those who have tried to build links the “organic” or natural way have found it a very difficult thing indeed. It does take much effort after all to create a very good site that people will want to link to much less get the people to notice your site if your page rank is still quite low. Although some websites have succeeded in link building using organic means it makes much more sense to employ SEO techniques to hasten one’s link building efforts.
A very common way to build links is by submitting in link directories. By being listed in a reputable link directory a website can be sure to gain a huge number of reciprocal and inbound links in a way faster time than you can ever hope to by trying to build links organically. Furthermore if you are part of a very good link directory then you can be sure that the other websites listed in that directory quality sites to and are bound to give you quality links. With the way link directories help in SEO efforts people are noticing directories again and this is the very reason why link directories are thriving.
The only down part in submitting to link directories is that some website owners fall for the more unsavory link directories, which are actually called link farms. Make sure that if you plan to do link building this way submit only to directories that accept quality websites like your own. Being listed in a link farm will only do your SEO efforts harm instead of good since search engines are biased against them.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/Submitting-Your-Website-To-Authority-Directories/33312
Using SEO To Make Your Mark On The Internet
Everyone is talking about SEO these days and the best ways to go about it. There are s may different theories that it can be pretty hard to sort through them all and still have time to use them.
These days if a site is to succeed SEO needs to be addressed. Search engine optimization is a powerful tool, one that can change the way your site is seen by others. In fact, without any there is a good chance that your site will never be seen at all.
Your best bet is to hire a professional to do your SEO for you. This is the easiest way by far to ensure that the job gets done right. This does not mean that you shouldn’t do a little bit of homework yourself though.
Even when you outsource this work, you still need to know the basics in order to make sure you are not throwing your money away. You need to see that you are not getting taken advantage of and the only way to do that is to make it clear to the professional that you are no dummy.
Let them know from the start that you know your stuff. Never tell them that you are new to the game of SEO, that is just opening the door to trouble. Instead you need to throw around some terms and make it look like you know even more than you do, it is always better to be safe than sorry!
If you want to save some money then you will need to do your best to learn what you can on your own. SEO is a complicated matter and it is vital that you take things slow. You can simply learn as you go, that is what I did and I am a seasoned pro now.
Start with the basics, put them to use and go from there. The internet is a fount of information and the vast majority of it is free. Why pay for something if you don’t have to. You may want to checkout the local library as well, you could find a ton of books there to read through. Just make sure you take notes.
One last tip: If you do choose to hire an SEO professional pick their brain as they work. Keep comprehensive notes on everything he or she tells you so that the next time you need to get this job done, you will be able to do it yourself. Ask all of the questions you can think of, it will save you thousands in the future.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/Using-SEO-To-Make-Your-Mark-On-The-Internet/33686
These days if a site is to succeed SEO needs to be addressed. Search engine optimization is a powerful tool, one that can change the way your site is seen by others. In fact, without any there is a good chance that your site will never be seen at all.
Your best bet is to hire a professional to do your SEO for you. This is the easiest way by far to ensure that the job gets done right. This does not mean that you shouldn’t do a little bit of homework yourself though.
Even when you outsource this work, you still need to know the basics in order to make sure you are not throwing your money away. You need to see that you are not getting taken advantage of and the only way to do that is to make it clear to the professional that you are no dummy.
Let them know from the start that you know your stuff. Never tell them that you are new to the game of SEO, that is just opening the door to trouble. Instead you need to throw around some terms and make it look like you know even more than you do, it is always better to be safe than sorry!
If you want to save some money then you will need to do your best to learn what you can on your own. SEO is a complicated matter and it is vital that you take things slow. You can simply learn as you go, that is what I did and I am a seasoned pro now.
Start with the basics, put them to use and go from there. The internet is a fount of information and the vast majority of it is free. Why pay for something if you don’t have to. You may want to checkout the local library as well, you could find a ton of books there to read through. Just make sure you take notes.
One last tip: If you do choose to hire an SEO professional pick their brain as they work. Keep comprehensive notes on everything he or she tells you so that the next time you need to get this job done, you will be able to do it yourself. Ask all of the questions you can think of, it will save you thousands in the future.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/Using-SEO-To-Make-Your-Mark-On-The-Internet/33686
Choosing an SEO - What to Ask
Choosing an SEO can be a painful experience, especially if you know little about search engine optimisation yourself. So how do you find an effective, trustworthy SEO? Here are a few questions you might like to ask:
How often will you resubmit my web site to the relevant search engines?
It’s no longer a requirement to resubmit a web site to the major search engines. In fact the truth is that excessive resubmission could be seen as spamming.
Search engines prefer to find a web site by following links. If a web site is quality resource on its topic then it will naturally acquire inbound links. Search engines will find these links without the need to prompt them.
So if an SEO advises that they will be regularly resubmitting your web site to the search engines, steer clear.
Can you guarantee me first position on Google?
No one, absolutely no one, can guarantee that they can place a web site in first place on Google. The Google search engine has a democratic model and the only way to be placed in the number-one slot is to be considered as the most relevant resource for a particular topic.
You cannot pay Google to appear in the number one slot. It is possible to estimate how much effort it will require to earn the first position podium, but this can only ever be an estimate.
Avoid anyone who claims they can get you the number one slot on Google, paid for or otherwise.
Exactly what services will I get if pay you a monthly retainer?
An honest SEO should happily tell you exactly what you will get for your money on a month by month basis. Reluctance to disclose this information should raise warning flags. Those that don’t appear transparent may well be using illegal techniques that could get your site de-listed.
Can you provide me with references and a proven track record of success using your strategies?
Any SEO worth their salt should have a readily available portfolio containing a proven track record of quality results in competitive markets.
Be prepared to accept that they may be not be able to disclose all details due to client confidentiality, especially if some of the work they have performed has been as an independent contractor.
However references should be sought and any SEO who cannot provide you with references should be given a wide berth.
How long will it take for my site to appear on the first page of Google?
While an estimate can be given, be very wary of anyone who claims they can guarantee a timescale for positioning of your web site. An SEO who specialises in your industry will be best placed to advise, but this can only ever be an educated guess.
How often will you optimise my META tags?
The meta description and keyword tags are no longer used by the major search engines for ranking a web site. The only remaining value is in the meta description tag, and this is not related to search engine optimisation.
The description tag, if worded correctly, will be used as the snippet in the search engine results pages (SERP’s). If a call to action is present then this can increase click through rate (CTR), driving more traffic to your site, but this is in no way related to a sites ranking position.
This is the only value found in meta tags and any SEO telling you otherwise is either trying to scam you, or extremely behind the times in their understanding of how search engines currently operate.
I’ve heard about doorway pages and how they can bring more traffic. Are you able to build some for me?
Doorway pages are used by unethical SEO’s to drive more traffic to a site. Targeted keywords are placed on the page with the intention of making the page appear more relevant to the search engine. Sometimes the page uses a hidden redirect to take the user to the actual page.
This is a form of spamming and any honest SEO will tell you that the results rarely work. They should also tell you that use of such tactics can result in de-listing from the search engines.
Avoid anyone who tells you otherwise.
What is the difference between a 301 and a 302 redirect. Can 302 redirects be problematic, and why?
In short a 302 redirect means that a page has temporarily moved, whilst a 301 means that the page has moved permanently. Not using the appropriate redirect can cause loss of PageRank and rankings.
Any SEO who is not aware of the intricacies of redirecting and possible impacts of not doing so correctly should be avoided.
What is a canonical domain and what issues can it present?
An example of a canonical domain is one where the same page can be reached via multiple URL’s. A common instance is where the root domain is accessible via the non-www and the www version of the domain name. The problem is that the search engine will see the two URL’s as individual pages and can award a cross domain penalty for duplicate content.
If they can’t pronounce “Canonical” steer well clear!
Summary
Asking any of the above questions should help you in your quest for finding an effective and ethical SEO company or professional. The best way to choose an SEO is to get them to do a small piece of work for you first. Pay them and reiterate until you find someone you are happy with.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/Choosing-an-SEO---What-to-Ask/33692
How often will you resubmit my web site to the relevant search engines?
It’s no longer a requirement to resubmit a web site to the major search engines. In fact the truth is that excessive resubmission could be seen as spamming.
Search engines prefer to find a web site by following links. If a web site is quality resource on its topic then it will naturally acquire inbound links. Search engines will find these links without the need to prompt them.
So if an SEO advises that they will be regularly resubmitting your web site to the search engines, steer clear.
Can you guarantee me first position on Google?
No one, absolutely no one, can guarantee that they can place a web site in first place on Google. The Google search engine has a democratic model and the only way to be placed in the number-one slot is to be considered as the most relevant resource for a particular topic.
You cannot pay Google to appear in the number one slot. It is possible to estimate how much effort it will require to earn the first position podium, but this can only ever be an estimate.
Avoid anyone who claims they can get you the number one slot on Google, paid for or otherwise.
Exactly what services will I get if pay you a monthly retainer?
An honest SEO should happily tell you exactly what you will get for your money on a month by month basis. Reluctance to disclose this information should raise warning flags. Those that don’t appear transparent may well be using illegal techniques that could get your site de-listed.
Can you provide me with references and a proven track record of success using your strategies?
Any SEO worth their salt should have a readily available portfolio containing a proven track record of quality results in competitive markets.
Be prepared to accept that they may be not be able to disclose all details due to client confidentiality, especially if some of the work they have performed has been as an independent contractor.
However references should be sought and any SEO who cannot provide you with references should be given a wide berth.
How long will it take for my site to appear on the first page of Google?
While an estimate can be given, be very wary of anyone who claims they can guarantee a timescale for positioning of your web site. An SEO who specialises in your industry will be best placed to advise, but this can only ever be an educated guess.
How often will you optimise my META tags?
The meta description and keyword tags are no longer used by the major search engines for ranking a web site. The only remaining value is in the meta description tag, and this is not related to search engine optimisation.
The description tag, if worded correctly, will be used as the snippet in the search engine results pages (SERP’s). If a call to action is present then this can increase click through rate (CTR), driving more traffic to your site, but this is in no way related to a sites ranking position.
This is the only value found in meta tags and any SEO telling you otherwise is either trying to scam you, or extremely behind the times in their understanding of how search engines currently operate.
I’ve heard about doorway pages and how they can bring more traffic. Are you able to build some for me?
Doorway pages are used by unethical SEO’s to drive more traffic to a site. Targeted keywords are placed on the page with the intention of making the page appear more relevant to the search engine. Sometimes the page uses a hidden redirect to take the user to the actual page.
This is a form of spamming and any honest SEO will tell you that the results rarely work. They should also tell you that use of such tactics can result in de-listing from the search engines.
Avoid anyone who tells you otherwise.
What is the difference between a 301 and a 302 redirect. Can 302 redirects be problematic, and why?
In short a 302 redirect means that a page has temporarily moved, whilst a 301 means that the page has moved permanently. Not using the appropriate redirect can cause loss of PageRank and rankings.
Any SEO who is not aware of the intricacies of redirecting and possible impacts of not doing so correctly should be avoided.
What is a canonical domain and what issues can it present?
An example of a canonical domain is one where the same page can be reached via multiple URL’s. A common instance is where the root domain is accessible via the non-www and the www version of the domain name. The problem is that the search engine will see the two URL’s as individual pages and can award a cross domain penalty for duplicate content.
If they can’t pronounce “Canonical” steer well clear!
Summary
Asking any of the above questions should help you in your quest for finding an effective and ethical SEO company or professional. The best way to choose an SEO is to get them to do a small piece of work for you first. Pay them and reiterate until you find someone you are happy with.
http://www.articlejoe.com/Article/Choosing-an-SEO---What-to-Ask/33692
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