SEO: Rocket Science or Baking?
Dave Pasternack co-founded Did-It.com, a New York based search marketing company. You might be surprised to learn that Pasternack has stirred up some controversy in the search engine optimization (SEO) field by suggesting that “SEO isn’t rocket science.”
To summarize the controversy, his point is that search engine optimization is a basic competency of web site design and maintenance ,and that many SEO firms overstate it’s difficulty for their own profit. And those comments upset many SEO practicioners.
Just how hard is SEO? Certainly it is not rocket science but it’s also not as simple as following a recipe. There are some core components that anyone creating a web site should (and can easily) learn but it also takes some time, energy and analysis to determine what words and phrases are going to perform best for any individual site.
Do some SEO firms try to capitalize on their customers ignorance for profit? Sure, but there are mechanics, repairmen, plumbers and attorneys out there who also prey on their customers ignorance. It’s certainly not a practice that’s isolated to SEOs.
Comments (0) 24.04.2007. 23:22
Search Engine Optimization - What Not to Do
by Rob Sullivan, Production Supervisor Searchengineposition.com
There are many techniques webmasters use to get their sites top rankings in search engines which they call optimization. Once you strip away all the techniques which could get you banned by search engines, and the techniques that have no value to your search engine optimization (SEO) campaign, you find that true search engine optimization can be quite difficult.
In brief, what you do need to do is make sure your site is easy to navigate, that it is full of good useful content and ideally that you are adding new content on a regular basis. Call this content spider food. You are creating a way to ensure that the search engine spiders visit on a regular basis.
But there are many things you may have heard about that you could do, and you may wonder if you should do them. These are our recommendations only. If you feel that you could safely perform these techniques without any penalization then feel free to use them.
1. Meta tag stuffing. Many people feel that stuffing keywords in the meta tags helps improve their rankings. The original idea behind meta tags was to give a way to classify the website. The problem now is that many engines don't consider meta tags to be as relevant to the ranking, therefore they give them less weight overall because of the keyword stuffing techniques used. That's not to say that you still shouldn't use meta tags, just consider to use them for what they were originally intended - that is to give your site an accurate title and description with a few keywords (3 or 4 phrases max) outlining what the page, or site is about.
2. Alt tag stuffing. This technique involves using the alt tags in images to hide keywords. Much like meta tag stuffing mentioned above, this technique rarely helps a site position well. As mentioned above, use common sense and use the alt tag to describe what the picture is about. If you can insert a key phrase into the image description then by all means do so. Remember that Alt tags do usually count towards your overall keyword density so it's better to have relevant keyword alt tags than something like "image01.gif".
3. Comment tags. Comment tags are sometimes used to identify sections of a website. They are generally noted by using "<!--" before the comment, and "--ɬ" after. Some people think that putting keywords into comment tags help their SEO efforts. The truth is that many engines ignore the comment tags or assign such a low value to them that they are a waste of time to stuff full of keywords.
4. Multiple meta tags. Some people use many title tags or even entire sets of meta tags to increase keyword density. In most cases the search engines will only look for 1 set of title, description and keywords tags and will ignore the rest.
5. Other meta tags. On the same lines as above, many people use other forms of meta tags and stuff them with keywords. As mentioned above, search engines generally only look for the title, description and keywords tags and nothing else. Therefore these other tags are a waste of time.
6. Using text which is the same color as the background and/or tiny text. Some sites use white text on a white background or really small text on the same color background as a way to stuff keywords to increase keyword density. Not only is this not a proper SEO technique, but you also risk getting banned if the search engines catch on to this spam technique. The general rule is that if the average user can't see the text then it shouldn't be there.
7. Hidden links. By serving up links specifically to search engine spiders that aren't visible to users you risk getting banned. While this was an acceptable technique as recently as earlier this year, we encourage you not to use them. Remember that if a user can't see it then it shouldn't be there.
8. Doorway pages. Still in use today, most search engines frown on this and are working at penalizing sites which use these. Doorway pages are pages built to search engine criteria, that is optimized page size, keyword density and so on, but have no real value to the average search engine user.
Remember, these are only our guidelines. We don't use any of these techniques because we feel these border on search engine spam and by using these you could risk being banned. We prefer to improve the existing content whenever possible by simply rearranging some key phrases within the text, or selectively adding content when possible.
Other techniques like cloaking, where one site is served to users and another is served to search engine spiders, are techniques that will definitely get you banned.
These are only a few of the tricks used to try and improve search engine rankings. I can't emphasize how important it is to use legitimate positioning techniques. As search engines get more sophisticated, more sites utilizing these techniques will start dropping from the indexes, if they already haven't. If your business relies on search engine rankings to make sales, by all means revisit your SEO techniques to make sure everything you are doing is legitimate. By cleaning up HTML coding, removing excess coding and optimizing existing content you can achieve the same or better results then trying to use any of the above techniques.
Article courtesy of Searchengineposition Inc., www.searchengineposition.com.
Comments (0) 24.04.2007. 23:17
Do You Have a Content Plan?
by Jim Daniels
Do you have a plan in place to grow and share content at your Website?
You'd better.
Because content is what drives the web. And it drives web business as well. If you have a plan to grow and share valuable content with your niche, you'll benefit in many ways...
- Increased Visibility
- Instant Credibility
- A Stickier Website
- More Inbound Links
- Better Search Engine Ranking
- More Website Visitors
- Increased Sales
Would you like to see benefits like that?
It's not as difficult as you may think. Here's a simple 4-step plan you can copy and use, starting today.
Step 1: Write or acquire content
The first thing you must do is continually create content. You can do that by simply writing articles or tips about your niche. Think of all the things people ask you regularly. Then answer those questions in a weekly or monthly article.
The key here is to stick strictly with your niche. If your site is about lumberjacks, write about lumberjack stuff. Every niche has endless possibilities. Lumberjacks could write about training, exercises, competitions, etc.
If you hate writing or just cannot do it, hire someone to ghost write for you. There are thousands of aspiring writers looking for work. These writers are more than happy to make money doing what they love, and will willingly churn out great articles for you. You may be surprised at how affordable this option can be.
A few websites where you can find writers include...
http://www.freelancewriting.comhttp://www.guru.com/category.cfm/511
http://www.elance.com (In the Elance Online section.)
Just make sure if you hire a ghostwriter that YOU will own the content when they are done. Make that clear before hiring them.
Step 2: "Tag" your content with republishing rights.
Before you publish your content, take this important step. Add a small note with each tip or article, that invites all readers to republish your content. This gives them the right to publish your content on their related Website or in their newsletter.
I call this "pre-licensing" and it is done by simply adding a small tag or footer to the end of each article. The footer looks like this:
* Need content? You may use this article at your Website, or in your newsletter. The only requirement is inclusion of the following sentence: Article by Paul Bunyon of lumberjack-Training.com - the definitive source for lumberjacks of all ages.
In your footer be sure to include a live link to your Website. The link should contain your best keyword phrase as the anchor text. In other words, the sentence should contain a keyword-based hyperlink to your Website. This will help search engines determine what your site is about. As the links grow, your ranking will continue to improve for that keyword phrase.
Step 3: Publish your content internally.
Don't let the word "publish" scare you off. Dictionary.com tells us that "publish" simply means...
- To prepare and issue for public distribution or sale.
- To bring to public attention; announce.
So the first place to publish to is internally. This means to your own resources.
The first place you start is with your own subscriber list, if you have one. If not, I suggest you grow one! Starting a newsletter is really as simple as signing up with an autoresponder service that offers newsletter publishing.
The other "internal publishing" task is simply publishing your content at your Website. Yes, every new article or tip you write for your niche, deserves a web page of its own. It takes literally five minutes to paste your article, with footers, into a web page template and upload it to your Website.
Be sure that when adding your content to your Website, you maintain a single web page that lists, and links to all your articles. This listing page, or archive makes navigation easier but more importantly it helps search engine spiders find your valuable content.
Step 4: Publish your content externally.
Finally, publish your content externally, or outside of your own site. You can do that by submitting your content to other Websites and newsletters.
No matter what niche you are in, chances are there are other sites and newsletters about that topic. Seek them out by spending some time at a few email newsletter directories. A few of the better ones include...
http://www.ezinehub.comhttp://www.ezine-dir.com
An email newsletter (also called ezine) directory can help you gather and grow a list of email newsletters, including editor names and email addresses. Contact editors in your niche once a month with your content. Let them share it with their readers. Of course, you'll include your footer with URL after each article.
Some final tips about your content before you get busy...
- Don't publish self-serving content. Keep it strictly informational.
- Always proof-read your content three times. If you have another pair of eyes available, have them read it too.
- Include references to clever and helpful websites when you find them. If readers find useful sites they'll be sure to read your content every time they come across it. (It's OK to use affiliate links sometimes, but not always.)
- Keep your footer short and to the point, especially when you are sharing your content with editors in hopes of getting it republished.
That's it! Four steps to an effective content growth and sharing plan. I've been using this very plan for 7 years so I know it works. I suggest you implement this plan or a similar one right away. It will pay huge dividends over time.
Article used with permission from Jim Daniels. Jim's free guide to website marketing and his website promotion help site show you how to get low-cost website traffic and make money online.
Comments (0) 24.04.2007. 23:11
