2009 Rankings
all that counts in search engine optimization. Potential clients come to me with a single goal: "Get me a top-ten ranking at Google." Some will also mention MSN, and a few will rhyme off a list of search engines and want to rank well at the top 200 of them. It is time to separate fact from fiction.
Yes, your SEO consultant can get you a top-ten placement at Google. But...
1. If the placement is for "dirty brown shoes", it probably won't help your shoe store one bit, even if I get you the first place ranking. Few people are actually searching for that term.
2. Being number ten might not help much either, depending on the term. People searching for "Essential Nectar liquid vitamins", will probably click on the first result they see, or at least on one of the "above-the-fold" results that do not require scrolling. On the other hand, someone searching for "liquid vitamins" might check through two pages of results to familiarize herself with the options available.
3. If your title tag reads like a cheap list of search terms, it will not be enticing. For instance, if it reads: "vitamins, liquid vitamins, multivitamins, multi-vitamins", you might skip over it in favor of the next result that reads "Liquid vitamins from the Liquid Vitamin Supplements Store".
4. If your description tag is a mess, people will more likely skip over your listing, even if it does rank number one, in favor of one that sounds like what they are looking for. Google and others use the description tag usually when the term searched for is found in it, so make sure to include your key search terms in a description tag that actually reads well.
I recently responded to a forum question, which went something like this: My site ranks number one for this term at this engine. The term is searched this many times per day, and the engine has this percentage marketshare. Can I expect this many visitors? That's not an SEO challenge; that's a math problem: searches x marketshare = visitors
I responded with a few factors that override mathematics in the SEO game, including the site's title tag and description tag, as well as whether the term lends itself to scrolling. I also pointed out that it depends on the title tags and description tags of the competition, too.
Another factor that makes predicting traffic difficult is the abandonment factor – how many people click on none of the results because they get interrupted or confused, or abandon the search for a new one because they find themselves off-topic or searching too broadly.
It also depends on how many sponsored links there are and how they are marked. Often at Yahoo and Lycos, for example, there are so many ads that the average searcher might never scroll a screen or two to see the organic (natural) results.
nd, of course, it also depends on the color of the walls in the room the searcher is clicking from, the weather outside and how well they slept last night. But there is little you can do about that. What you can do is to work with your SEO consultant to choose the most effective search terms for your business and make sure he develops a title tag and description tag that sell to both humans and the search engines. Then make sure he is monitoring not just the rankings for your key search terms, but also the description used by each of the search engines.
A good ranking at Google and Yahoo is just one measure of your SEO consultant's success. A more complete evaluation is that he is your partner in building long-term, targeted traffic.
LinksManager
Links Manager is designed to help users manage reciprocal linking. It doesn’t require any software downloads, and current links pages can be imported into it. Some of its features:
Link organization and formatting
• Organize your links into multiple categories, subcategories, and “most popular links” lists
• Store the links on your own server
• Highlight newly added and featured links Link management and tracking
• Remove dead links temporarily via a dead link checker
• Check whether or not reciprocal links at other sites exist
• Rotate links automatically
• Deny link submissions according to the criteria you set via a blacklist
• View the most popular keywords on your links pages
SEO Administrator
EO Administrator automates website promotion with tools that can do these tasks:
Keywords and site visitors
• Track your site’s position for your keywords in over 30 search engines
• Report on the keyword weight and density of your site as well as of competitors’ sites
• Suggest keywords that are relevant to each page
• Analyze your site logs to find out about site visitors, keywords used, referrers, and more Search engines and directories
• Check which pages at your site have been indexed by various search engines
• Check Google PR, the number of inbound links, and whether or not the site is listed in the DMOZ and Yahoo directories
• Show the automated descriptions that search engines display for your pages
SEO Elite
With SEO Elite, you can find out exactly what your competitors are doing and copy their strategies. You can find out about your competitors’ web pages:
• Keyword density and prominence
• Their headings • Their meta keywords
• Whether their site is listed in the Yahoo directory
• Which websites your competitors are advertising on Concerning link partners and search
engines, SEO Elite can:
• Find thousands of possible link partners
• Track details about pages with inbound links
• Check whether or not reciprocal links at other sites exist
• Indicate which of your pages search engines have indexed
• Keep a record of where your site is ranked for search terms
SEOToolset The focus of SEOToolset is to provide data to help with website promotion. The toolset includes:
Your website
• Keyword density analyzer
• Keyword selection tool
• Reports on rankings for keywords, page names, and indexed page counts
• Link partner finder Search engines and directories
• Engine-specific keyword research
• Traffic checker for keywords
• DMOZ category selector
• Search engine submission tool
• Search engine ranking monitor
Your competition
• Keyword research summary
• Link analysis of inbound links to competitors’ websites
Web CEO The 10 tools in the Web CEO package are designed to help you promote and maintain your website, improve search engine results, and analyze site visitors. A summary of these tools: At your website
• Keyword research
• Website optimization
• Inbound link tracking
• WYSIWYG website editing and file uploading
• Link checking
• Website monitoring
• Stats analysis to track visitors, ad campaigns, transactions, and more Search engines and competition
• URL submission to search engines
• Search engine rank checking
• Tracking who links to the competition
WebPosition WebPosition, one of the oldest and most popular SEO tools, offers a five-step SEO process:
1. Determine your position in search engines
• Create search engine ranking reports
• Monitor your site’s placement in search engine results
2. Research and choose keywords
• Identify the most searched and least competitive keywords
3. Optimize your pages
• Compare your pages to those of top-performing sites and specific competitors
• Detect when your competitors’ pages have changed
• Be alerted to changes that could affect your site rankings
4. Design and submit your pages
• Use Page Builder and Upload Manager to design and maintain your site
• Submit your site to search engines with the Submitter tool
5. Analyze your results
• Track the correlation between search rankings and revenue
• Import top-performing keywords
Search Engine Optimization blog 2009
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is big business. If you rely on search engines to bring visitors to your business website, you need to rely on more than luck. Your business will lag far short of its potential unless your site is optimized and re-optimized for search engine results.
What is search engine optimization?
SEO is optimizing your website for search engines, acquiring inbound links, and monitoring your traffic and referring links to use them optimally. SEO is also studying and monitoring your competitors’ techniques. The goal of SEO is to bring in targeted traffic that is organic, i.e., from search results. When people type in a keyword or phrase that you’ve optimized your site for, you want your site to appear on the first page, preferably high on that page. Good SEO results in increased traffic without the cost and time spent on advertising.
The SEO industry
Where there’s a need, there’s an industry ready to help you spend money on that need. SEO firms charge from a few hundred dollars up to six-figure amounts to optimize your site for search engines. If paying thousands of dollars to an SEO firm isn’t in your budget, consider using SEO packages to optimize your site yourself.
A combination of SEO tools is needed to get the best results. The SEO packages described below offer a variety of tools to help you optimize your site for search engines.
SEO tools compared
While we’ve listed numerous features of each SEO tool, these comparisons are summaries only.
Internet Business Promoter (IBP)
Known for their link popularity tool ARELIS, IBP also produces a three-step suite of tools to help you promote your website:
1. Page optimization
• Generate, analyze, and edit keywords
• Optimize for the top 10 search engine rankings
• Optimize the title, link texts, and other parts of the web page
• Validate the HTML
• View the site via a spider simulator
2. Page promotion
• Submit your site to search engines and directories
• Search for sites that might add a link to your site
3. Results tracking
• Verify search engine positions automatically Price: $179.95 or $349.95.
When, shopping for a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) company/specialist you need to be aware of a few things.
If someone offers you fast results they may be pulling your leg. If you aren’t listed on search engines the average time to be index takes around 4 weeks. Someone offering submissions in less then that is coning you. Websites that are already listed and are just being updated will have a faster result.
A guarantee isn’t always reinsurance. Just because a site states they can get you in the 1 spot doesn’t mean they can deliver. Or, they may have you listed under an obscure keyword or phrase. Most legitimate SEO’s will tell you no one can guarantee a top spot on all keywords and phrases. Search Engine optimization is not an exact science. Trail and error along with constant tweaking will help bring your site closer to your goal.
Most SEO’s should give you some information on where your site stands currently. You links, keywords, where you rank on major search engines etc.. Or, do one yourself. My article “Google’s Helping hand” show you free tools that can help you evaluate where you are on search engines. Don’t go into any SEO work blindly. Know where you stand before and after.
Price is never an indication of how good a service is. More isn’t always better. Shop around try to get the most for your money, but be realistic. If it seems too good to be true then it may just be. Be prepared to shell out some cash. SEO is not cheap. You should think of SEO as advertising. It should be contestant as should all of your advertising efforts.
Ask questions! Do not be afraid to ask what will be done to increase your ranking. Most SEO’s will have no problem telling you what they will do. They may not want to reveal their whole SEO operation. But, they will give you some insight to what they will do. Talk to more then one SEO company. Compare what each has to say. Do some research on your own. Find out if these companies have been reported to the Better Business Bureau. If the company or persons have had any articles or reviews written about them. Ask around. Try to have some idea of the company or persons creditability.
A few additional things to keep in mind are:
Is SEO there main business or is it a sideline to other businesses. SEO is a full time job. Especially, keeping up with the constant changes. Do they have a specialist? Do they outsource? How much do they really know? What are there view points on link farms and doorway pages? Will they do anything to get you links and traffic? Even though search engines frown on those practices. Can they explain to you clearly how their plan of action? Are they looking to take small steps with you? Or, are they trying to sell you the biggest SEO package possible? Follow this outline when you are searching for someone to optimize your site. In the end it will be worth it. Joe Balestrino’s site is www.mr-seo.com he offers affordable SEO, submissions and other articles on SEO and marketing. His other site www.jnb-design.com offers affordable web design and free lifetime hosting.
have decide to write this article as a result of numerous emails. It seems more and more people are falling victim to bad SEO. The main complaint is that they are paying entirely too much for little or no results. Additionally, many fall prey to bad SEO practices. If you plan to hire an SEO pro in the future, I suggest you use this article as a set of guidelines.
Before going with any SEO firm or individual, do the following:
- A) Find out how established and experienced an SEO firm is before you negotiate. Do they have a sizeable client list under their belt? Are they published?
- B) Scrutinize their portfolio. What kind of results have they achieved? Contact a few of their clients. Were they satisfied with the work performed?
- C) Consider and confirm their methods? How will they optimize your site to reach your keywords? Do they use organic methods? Some individuals or companies use doorway pages, hide text in the background, utilize re-directs and other blacklisted methods. Stay away from these.
- D) Get a least three proposals from different SEO firms. Look at each one carefully. Are there similarities? Proposals will help you see which companies are honest and which are trying to sell you something you don't need. What is the cost? The cheapest isn't always the best, however, the highest price may not be attached to a comprehensive and viable course of action. Try to find find an individual or organization that will give you what you want within your SEO budget.
- E) Contract, Contract, Contract. Get everything in writing. Look over the document carefully. Be sure it covers everything you have discussed, including methods of achieving your desired results. Have the copies signed by both parties. If the job is a large one you may want to consult a lawyer.
- F) Clearly state the terms of payment. While most SEO firms will not do any work for free or agree to a results based pay scale, many competant SEO professionals will not shy away from a base plus performance incentive package. I am not a firm believer in prepaid contracts.. Most SEO professionals will abide by the 50% up front, 50% upon completion standard. Make sure all financial terms are as clearly defined in your contract as the actual scope of work. This will protect all parties involved in the event that expectations are not met.
All in all, try to do your best to educate yourself on SEO. Have a basic understanding of SEO terminology and SEO methodology. Anyone offering SEO services should not have a problem explaining how they intend to get you results. If they fail gain your confidence or raise a red flag for any reason whatsoever, keep searching. You will eventually find someone who will help you reach your goals for a fair price. Happy hunting.
Free SEO help. The SEO Book helps charities promote their websites in Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and other major search engines. The recently updated number one ranking SEO Book is now available to charities free of charge.
State College, PA July 20, 2004 -- Aaron Wall has made his recently revised best selling SEO Book available to charities free of charge.
Hiring a quality search engine optimization firm can often cost thousands and thousands of dollars, which is well beyond the budget of many charities.Without proper placement in search engines people who want to help your charity may not be able to find you.
The SEO Book is a simple and straightforward guide which helps even the most novice webmaster learn how to promote their website.
"In a field like Internet marketing, where so much nonsense dispensed by self-proclaimed experts passes for decent advice, it is refreshing to find a talent as down-to-earth and unpretentious as Aaron, who just seems to get a kick out of being honest and helping other people avoid the traps and dead ends set by the hype-meisters and snake oil salesmen."- Mario Sanchez, "The Internet Digest"
Search engine optimization is a complicated industry filled with confusion and error. Much of the applicable information changes from month to month or year to year and much of the available information on the web is outdated or absolutely incorrect. The SEO Book is published in ebook format so that it is constantly revised to keep current with the ever changing SEO field.
If you are the webmaster of a charity, church, or educational institution feel free to inquire about acquiring your complimentary copy of The SEO Book today at http://www.seobook.com/charities.In addition you may direct your questions directly to Aaron via email at seobook@gmail.comAbout the SEO Book:
SEO Book is a major industry hub of the SEO community. SEO Book is a search engine news blog which offers free SEO tips, SEO news, and a current guide to search engine optimization. Aaron Wall wrote the SEO Book to help businesses lower the cost of entry into the web and to help charities spread their messages. For more information about obtaining a complimentary copy of the SEO Book please visit our charities page at http://www.seobook.com/charities. For more information about the SEO Book website visit http://www.seobook.com.About Aaron Wall:
Aaron Wall is a search engine optimization expert and an internet entrepreneur. His goals on the web are to help businesses effectively market their websites and help charities spread their messages.He maintains his blog as well as numerous other websites including http://www.search-marketing.info, http://www.blackhatseo.com, and http://www.directoryarchives.com. Aaron is also a moderator at the SearchGuild SEO Forums (http://www.searchguild.com) and at the V7N web development community (http://www.v7n.com).