SEO - Creating Sites For Users or the Engines? By Larry McCullough Published 11/26/2008 (!!! 3 years is like 30 in the SEO world, but these principles remain true) What’s more important? Creating sites for users or the engines? The answer is both. Your favorite thing about having a blog may soon be this - they naturally attract search engine traffic. Blogs already have optimized site architecture. Most are set up with a clear navigation, where every page is set up to link back to the other main pages. They also have the inherent potential to be well-linked. Primarily a site should be designed for the user, with search engines in mind. Google tends to talk out both sides of their mouth when they say, “Don’t do anything special for the engines”. Yet, they create a webmaster tool center where you can submit a sitemap, and get information about how the engines see your site, errors and what key phrases your site ranks for. That gives new site owners a little bit of confusion. I like sites that are easy to navigate, pleasing to the eye and that help sell whatever it is you need to. Pages should be set up as landing pages. The great thing about your blog is that it can get so well-indexed that you have the potential to show up for any number of four word phrases that are relevant to your industry. This way you can give the visitor everything they need to make a purchase or fill out a form. At the same time you can optimize these pages for the engines and use the pages for your PPC campaigns. I believe in doing sites this way. It brings the visitor a much better experience. The perfect site is not only user friendly, but optimized for the engines. You need to target where people go to in order to provide them with the information or product they need. There is nothing worse than having people landing on a page that is optimized for a phrase but offers no information about it... It brings the user a bad experience and you a missed sale or lead. You have a choice. You can target a general high traffic keyword you have little chance of ranking well for and get barely any traffic. Once you have a page optimized, you can streamline the transition from viewing what you have to offer to facilitate a purchase. You can also provide related content and links. This, in turn, will help with you PPC because Google is now checking to see how relevant your landing pages are to the keywords you buy. As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for. Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. Sometimes a site's structure (the relationships between its content) must be altered too. Because of this it is, from a client's perspective, always better to incorporate Search Engine Optimization when a website is being developed than to try and retroactively apply it. In the grand scheme of things, you do need to optimize your site. However, if you do not have usability for the user, your traffic won’t convert. Non-converting traffic is worse than having no traffic at all. It’s a webmasters nightmare. Make a good quality site that will attract natural links to it in order to obtain any form of long term presence within the search engine results page. ### HERE IS WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY : Google search algorithms have changed DRASTICALLY since this first was published. Google Panda, Google Fresh, Google Plus - have all FORCED SEO gurus like Larry and like our very own Jen Cochran to change the content of blog posts and where links lead to (more hyper-local, geo-specific considerations). But, indeed, the broad strokes contained in this article remain the same. Good stuff. - SHAWN COCHRAN Branches PSP 2 Comments  How Should Webmasters React to Google "Fresh"? A SPN Exclusive Article By Titus Hoskins (c) 2011 It's been an extremely busy year for the good folks at Google, not only did they roll out the game-changing Panda Updates, but now they have increased the stakes by implementing Google Fresh. This recent algorithm update is based on the Caffeine architecture introduced by Google a year ago and supposedly makes Google's listings much fresher. On the Official Google Blog where this new Update was announced, Amit Singhal states: "We completed our Caffeine web indexing system last year, which allows us to crawl and index the web for fresh content quickly on an enormous scale. Building upon the momentum from Caffeine, today we're making a significant improvement to our ranking algorithm that impacts roughly 35 percent of searches and better determines when to give you more up-to-date relevant results for these varying degrees of freshness." However, in an update, Singhal explains this measurement of 35% only applies to where at least one result was affected by the changes. In reality, this update only "noticeably" impacts 6 to 10% of searches. "Update 11/7/11: To clarify, when we say this algorithm impacted 35% of searches, we mean at least one result on the page was affected, as opposed to when we've said noticeably impacted in the past, which means changes that are significant enough that an average user would notice. Using that same scale, this change noticeably impacts 6 - 10% of searches, depending on the language and domain you're searching on." Regardless, Google Fresh will be influencing what sites/pages get listed in the top spots in Google. Already, these fresher listings are popping up for keyword searches where products or services are constantly changing or evolving such as in consumer electronics. How Should Webmasters React to Google Fresh? For the average webmaster or business site owner, this Update will probably mean they will have to examine how often their content is updated. Adding new fresh content has definitely become more important to your site and to your overall marketing strategy. However, for the small business owner with limited resources, constantly adding new content is not really feasible. These small sites won't be able to compete with major websites which have hundreds of writers or content contributors. Keeping up will simply be too costly or too time consuming for many small business site owners. Create Blogs and Forums Hiring someone or outsourcing your content creation is one option, but in many cases this content is not of the highest quality, which sort of defeats the whole intention. Many SEO experts are already suggesting one way to keep offering up fresh quality content is to run a blog and/or a forum on your site. Blogs are excellent sources of fresh content and with their RSS feeds broadcasting your news means it is fast and immediate. Blogs are also very search engine friendly so tagging and indexing your content is already built-in and ready to go. They also create a Timestamp with your content so that it can be easily dated and assessed by the search engines. Having a membership forum or site, where members contribute fresh content, is another viable option for web owners. Appointing moderators to oversee this content is probably a good idea to ensure quality standards and to cut down on spam. Create Active Online Communities Along those same lines, another good idea is to create an active online community around your blog, site or any one of the social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter or perhaps Google+. Announcing fresh content to these communities, especially if they are large and active, will get your content noticed by Google. These social networks are designed to quickly pass fresh news or information along to all concerned and can be a great way to get your message out quickly and easily. Google+ has now opened up their service to accept brands, so you can have an account for your site or business. Create a Current Sitemap Any webmaster, no matter how small their site, can create a simple XML Sitemap of their site and submit it to Google Webmaster Tools. Make sure when you create any new content or pages, the new URLs are placed on your sitemap. This can be done manually or you can set up a server-side application or program which does this automatically. If you want help creating a sitemap [give us a call]. Do Press Releases With the introduction of Google Fresh, having your site or business regularly do press releases is a given. These releases are immediately picked up by Google and indexed. These releases can also be very SEO friendly so you can optimize them for your site's targeted keywords. Places like PRWeb are extremely professional but they are expensive. There are also free press releases sites or services which you can use to get your fresh content out there. [BUT we highly recommend you get professional help!] Don't Forget Google News Sites You may or may not be aware that Google keeps a list of hand-picked news sites which they regularly crawl and index. These sites have passed Google's standards and requirements, so they are excellent places to submit your content. Especially if you have a new site, getting Google to index and crawl your content will take some time, so placing your content and links on any of these Google News Sites may be worth the extra effort since it will help speed up the whole indexing process. Give Google What Google Wants Finally, don't forget to keep adding fresh quality content to your site on a regular basis. Regardless of your field, industry or subject matter, there is usually a constant flow of news associated with your topic, so placing a "news" section on your site may also help with Google Fresh. Time and time again, those sites and webmasters who give Google what Google wants, reap the biggest rewards. About The Author All views, opinions and conclusions expressed in this article are solely those of the author, Titus Hoskins, who is a full time search engine marketer. He earns his living by ranking high in the search engines for lucrative keywords. His main site offers Free Guides on everything associated with running a business from Corporate Business Gifts to Online Fax Providers to Internet Marketing Tools. ### Branch Out, the Branches PSP newsletter, will be going out this week. We have a lot to say about Google "Fresh" - as it has us seriously adjusting our strategy for SEO. WE WANT TO HEAR YOUR QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS ABOUT THIS APPARENT CHANGE IN SEO DIRECTION. Please post below! Yours, Shawn Cochran & the Branches PSP family ~ SEO your website for holiday traffic 11/08/2011
With just a few more weeks to hit the top spot for your target keywords before Christmas, Branches PSP is hard at work building new links and optimizing our client’s sites. Most people might assume that at this stage there isn't much that can be done to change rankings, but there are a few fantastic last-minute tweaks and promotions that can really help deliver top rankings. Optimize Content for the Holiday Season Internet traffic rises sharply from right about now until January. Will your website be at or even near the top of search results? Does your website include holiday-specific search terms? If not, you will be leaving money on the table this holiday season. We are optimizing our clients' websites to include weighted search terms that are most often used during holiday Internet searches. We use headings, formatting, and "call to action" content that make sure that more of the people who end up on our clients' websites actually convert into customers. Don't be lazy! Invest in your own success. You can't afford not to! Twitter Competitions & Giveaways One of our favorite tactics is to run a Twitter competition asking users to re-tweet a link to our client’s product page. Google sees all the re-tweets and gives the site a nice boost in rankings for a few weeks - just enough to last over the busy period. It also helps build brand awareness and will certainly drive a few more sales. BONUS : Like contests? Check out www.competwition.com. It's one of our new favorites. ;) Blogger Outreach & Gift Guides Another of our great tips is to email bloggers in a client's sector asking if they can be included on any Christmas gift guides they are running (or perhaps offer to write one for them as a guest article). This really helps with building new links, as the articles are often shared on social media sites. Facebook Ads We’re also seeing interesting results for clients running Facebook campaigns and how they affect rankings. There isn't a direct impact because Google doesn't use Facebook ‘likes’ as a ranking factor, but the activity drives a halo effect of tweets and other social media links and shares which seems to deliver ranking improvements. Please call us for a free, no-obligation assessment and quote TODAY. The time to aggressively pursue holiday traffic is NOW. The longer you wait, the more money you potentially lose. - Shawn Cochran Branches PSP Growing Business from the Ground Up! 9 Tips for Hiring a Local SEO Firm 11/03/2011
9 Tips for Hiring a Local SEO Firm Writing by Nick Stamoulis Since the Internet is “everywhere” you don’t have to hire the SEO firm down the street if you don’t want to. As long as they are US-based, feel free to work with the best SEO firm for you, even if they are in a different time zone. However, if you want to have that face-to-face interaction that comes with working with a local SEO firm, here are a few things to keep in mind: 1. Respect someone’s time If you’re just shopping around, stick to the phone. You’ll be able to get all the information you want in an hour long (maybe even less) phone call. Most small, local SEO firms don’t have the manpower to spend all day chasing down leads that aren’t seriously looking to hire an SEO firm. 2. Focus on small/midsize companies While larger SEO companies may look incredibly impressive, working with a smaller SEO firm means you’re more likely to work directly with an experienced SEO strategist that customizes your SEO campaign around your needs and goals. 3. Beware the sales rep! A sales representative that works for an SEO firm, but doesn’t actually do SEO, will do and say just about anything to get your business. That is their job—to bring in new clients. 4. Go with your instinct If the first local SEO company you meet with seems to be the perfect fit, don’t second guess yourself. You don’t have to drag three or four more companies through the pitch process just because you feel like you’re “supposed” to shop around. 5. Don’t trust “magic” solutions Every SEO firm has their own process, but you should be hearing similar things from different companies. If an SEO company comes out of left field with the “magic pill” to all your online marketing problems, don’t drink the Kool-Aid. 6. Don’t expect upfront work before you’re a client You don’t work for free, and neither do local SEO companies. While you have the right to ask questions about their process, don’t expect a full SEO campaign to be created before you hire them. 7. Respect the SEO company and its employees The key to a successful relationship with your local SEO company is respect. If you want them to do good work for you, treat them like you would an employee or partner. 8. Be willing to change Let your local SEO firm do their job! If you aren’t willing to take their SEO recommendations, why bother hiring someone in the first place? 9. SEO is not a commodity, it’s a service There are plenty of “yes man” companies out there that will say whatever it takes to get your money and then run off with it (even if it is just the low, low price of $49.95 a month!). Source : http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com/2011/08/25/local-seo-firm/ |  AuthorShawn Cochran is the Owner, Creative Prodigy at Branches PSP where we make websites *work*. ArchivesApril 2012 CategoriesAll |
RSS Feed