Hello SEO Friends!
It appears to be that time again! Google is updating their PR toolbar. Expect to see fluctuations (no freaking out if your PR goes down during this time) and inconsistencies for a few more days at least... sometimes it takes weeks or even months before the "dust" settles.
If you`ve been building a heavy amount of links, you might see an increase in PR.... but if your PR doesn`t change, I wouldn`t worry too much, Google toolbar PR and organic placement in the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) are two different things. If your PR is average, but you have good organic placement for your target keywords, who cares what the PR is?
Now I realize if you are trying to sell links on your site, or you are an SEO company or other high profile business that needs to display higher PR for the site user, that`s one thing... but otherwise I wouldn`t worry too much about the toolbar PR and keep focusing on building quality links and adding more content to your site.
P.S. A site DOES NOT have to have Toolbar PR in order to pass value. If you want to know if a site pass value to you by linking to you, check the cache. If they seem to be caching and the site is clean (think not too many OB links, no "bad neighborhood" links or other spammy elements) then it still had the ability to pass value. Remember, Google likes to show us one thing and do another.... so if you think that the toolbar PR is a good way to value a site, think again...
Friday, October 30, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
SEO Tip of the Day
Okay, okay.... I`m terrible about updating my poor, neglected SEO blog, I know.... several people are wondering why it`s been so long. To be honest, I changed jobs, I`m a single mom, working from home and I spend all my free time on Social Media sites :-)
I started writing a Twitter Tips blog, which I will publish soon, but until then, here`s a fun little Google tip:
When trying to determine the level of difficulty for a new keyword, there are a few fun tricks in Google.
In a Google search, type in:
allintitle:"your keyword here"
Notice the words "all" "in" and "title" include NO spaces
Always use a : at the end
Put your keyword in "quotes" for exact data
Never put a space between the : and the keyword
Your results will reflect the amount of sites competing for the same keyword in their title tag.
I think this is one of the most accurate ways to determine how many sites are actually competing for that term. Of course if you are looking up a large amount of keywords, it`s best to use a tool that will allow you to plug in multiple keywords at the same time, but if you`re looking for a quick number, this is a great trick.
You can also use the same technique for anchor text competition:
allinanchor:"your keyword here"
So, there you have it! Have fun Googlers :-)
I started writing a Twitter Tips blog, which I will publish soon, but until then, here`s a fun little Google tip:
When trying to determine the level of difficulty for a new keyword, there are a few fun tricks in Google.
In a Google search, type in:
allintitle:"your keyword here"
Notice the words "all" "in" and "title" include NO spaces
Always use a : at the end
Put your keyword in "quotes" for exact data
Never put a space between the : and the keyword
Your results will reflect the amount of sites competing for the same keyword in their title tag.
I think this is one of the most accurate ways to determine how many sites are actually competing for that term. Of course if you are looking up a large amount of keywords, it`s best to use a tool that will allow you to plug in multiple keywords at the same time, but if you`re looking for a quick number, this is a great trick.
You can also use the same technique for anchor text competition:
allinanchor:"your keyword here"
So, there you have it! Have fun Googlers :-)
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
SEO tip of the day: Using Secondary Keywords to support a Root Term
My SEO tip of the day:
If you want to rank for tough keywords, use secondary supporting terms that include the root term.
Example:
Let’s say I want to rank for “Shoes”. Unless I have a huge budget for links (and even then it`s going to be tough to outrank branded, authority sites with age and 1,000`s of indexed links) it`s better I select similar secondary phrases. So, rather than targeting “Shoes”, I should target niche phrases that: 1 – would be good for conversions 2 – still have a decent search volume but 3 – have a much lower level of competing sites.
Let`s say I decide “discount shoes” would be a niche for my market. It`s still a high searched term, but not nearly as competitive as “shoes” alone. I should than support my choice by optimizing my “discount shoes” landing page with 5-10 supporting keywords that include “discount shoes”, such as:
womens discount shoes
converse discount shoes
mephisto discount shoes
born discount shoes
skechers discount shoes
And, when deploying a link building campaign to rank my “discount shoes” page, I will randomize my link text with one of the above selections or “discount shoes” specially. This not only ensures my link efforts appear more natural to the search engines, but helps my site rank for these secondary terms that also bring in a decent amount of search volume. It may take a while (depending on my budget, current trust with the search engines, what my competition is doing, etc) to rank for “discount shoes”, but by selecting less competitive, longer tail keyword phrases, I am increasing my visibility and rankings for niche terms that are likely to be better for conversions and help me see a quicker ROI.
In a nutshell: If you want to rank for a competitive term and you are just getting started, it`s best to target similar secondary phrases instead. You will be supporting your ultimate, long term goal, but will achieve much quicker results, for a lot less money and effort!
If you want to rank for tough keywords, use secondary supporting terms that include the root term.
Example:
Let’s say I want to rank for “Shoes”. Unless I have a huge budget for links (and even then it`s going to be tough to outrank branded, authority sites with age and 1,000`s of indexed links) it`s better I select similar secondary phrases. So, rather than targeting “Shoes”, I should target niche phrases that: 1 – would be good for conversions 2 – still have a decent search volume but 3 – have a much lower level of competing sites.
Let`s say I decide “discount shoes” would be a niche for my market. It`s still a high searched term, but not nearly as competitive as “shoes” alone. I should than support my choice by optimizing my “discount shoes” landing page with 5-10 supporting keywords that include “discount shoes”, such as:
womens discount shoes
converse discount shoes
mephisto discount shoes
born discount shoes
skechers discount shoes
And, when deploying a link building campaign to rank my “discount shoes” page, I will randomize my link text with one of the above selections or “discount shoes” specially. This not only ensures my link efforts appear more natural to the search engines, but helps my site rank for these secondary terms that also bring in a decent amount of search volume. It may take a while (depending on my budget, current trust with the search engines, what my competition is doing, etc) to rank for “discount shoes”, but by selecting less competitive, longer tail keyword phrases, I am increasing my visibility and rankings for niche terms that are likely to be better for conversions and help me see a quicker ROI.
In a nutshell: If you want to rank for a competitive term and you are just getting started, it`s best to target similar secondary phrases instead. You will be supporting your ultimate, long term goal, but will achieve much quicker results, for a lot less money and effort!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Follow Up: Google vs. Bing... vs. Yahoo?
A few of my SEO Tweeps retweeped: Google vs. Bing: The Blind Taste Test ... A fairly good read, by the way. In a nutshell, bloggerBen Parr says:
"While there are a few tools out there that already compare the two search engines, none take the scientific approach quite like BlindSearch does. The experiment, formed by Michael Kordahi, provides search results from Google, Bing, and Yahoo and asks you to vote on which results are best. However, BlindSearch takes your biases out of the equation by stripping away the branding and logos."
So, I thought, why not and I tried the BlindSearch. I actually expected a clear winner between Google and Bing, but surprisingly got Yahoo 3 out of 3! Go figure!
Try it and you tell me who wins!
"While there are a few tools out there that already compare the two search engines, none take the scientific approach quite like BlindSearch does. The experiment, formed by Michael Kordahi, provides search results from Google, Bing, and Yahoo and asks you to vote on which results are best. However, BlindSearch takes your biases out of the equation by stripping away the branding and logos."
So, I thought, why not and I tried the BlindSearch. I actually expected a clear winner between Google and Bing, but surprisingly got Yahoo 3 out of 3! Go figure!
Try it and you tell me who wins!
Look Out Google!
One of Danny Sullivan's Tweets today said he was having fun playing around with Bing, so I thought I would check it out. For those of you who don`t know, Bing is Microsoft`s new search engine. The Times says:
"Bing replaces Microsoft’s Live Search product, which has failed to dent Google’s huge lead in search market share."
My response, let`s all give Google a run for their money! It`s so frustrating working in this industry, knowing what it takes to rank sites in the search engines, and yet not being able to do things because it`s "against Google`s webmaster guidelines"... I`m sick of being held hostage by Google. There are so many other search engines out there! If we all start using other tools not owed by Google, Google won`t have so much control!
Good luck Bing!
"Bing replaces Microsoft’s Live Search product, which has failed to dent Google’s huge lead in search market share."
My response, let`s all give Google a run for their money! It`s so frustrating working in this industry, knowing what it takes to rank sites in the search engines, and yet not being able to do things because it`s "against Google`s webmaster guidelines"... I`m sick of being held hostage by Google. There are so many other search engines out there! If we all start using other tools not owed by Google, Google won`t have so much control!
Good luck Bing!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Cool Tool of the Day: Mass Google PR Checker
I love free SEO tools... I`ve been using this one for a while now, and it`s very helpful. Funny story, I walked by someone in the office and overheard them mention it was such a pain, checking large amounts of PR (Google`s Page Rank) manually... needless to say they were thrilled when I sent them this tool:
Bulk PR Checker
The only thing I don`t like about it is they results aren`t exportable and don`t copy and paste very well. So, if anyone has a similar tool that also has an exprt feature, please do share!
Bulk PR Checker
The only thing I don`t like about it is they results aren`t exportable and don`t copy and paste very well. So, if anyone has a similar tool that also has an exprt feature, please do share!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
I Joined the SEO Book Community
Good Morning Readers!
A 5:00 AM this morning, an hour before my alarm, my brain was swarming with thoughts of Twitter, my SEO Blog and work... (kinda sad, I know)... I found myself sleepily stumbling towards the computer, the goal being to make at least a quick blog post, if anything. Opening Fire Fox and saying "yes" the prompt question, "would you like to restore your previous session?" opened up my Twitter Account ... of course, there are my fearless SEO Tweeps, already awake, sharing, sharing, sharing... First tweet that caught my eye:
SEOBook post: Brand Considerations When Choosing Domain Names http://bit.ly/rx79Q
So, I followed and it took me to one of my favorite SEO sites: SEO Book. It`s easy for me to be skeptical with SEO blogs in general as there is so much misconception out there it`s not even funny, but in this case, I generally not only agree 100% with the content of the posts, but actually consider these guys an authority in this space.
The post itself is on brand consideration when considering a domain name. I think it`s more that just a coincidence that I stumbled upon this post, only having just had a lengthy discussion just yesterday on a new domain purchase and if and how he should integrate his keyword into the domain decision.
Having been a fan of the site for years and never actually joining their community, I thought I was past due and signed up: My SEOBook user profile.. I think it`s great to be part of the community, but I also felt prompted to comment, here`s what I said:
"Great post! I was just speaking about this yesterday with a new client who was still considering his domain name. The big question was, should the domain contain the root target keyword? After much deliberation, we decided mutually that a shorter domain that was much catchier would be the better choice. It`s true that direct traffic comes a lot easier when you can drop your name causally in conversation, hand out a business card with it or do some form of advertising not internet based and have people remember it and ultimate search for your name directly.
The problem my company is facing with our domain name: textlinkbrokers.com is the name became the brand and therefore the common misconception is that all we offer are links. At the point in the game we are now offering PPC management, Landing Page Optimization, full SEO and even graphic design work and much more... but the name itself suggests all we do are links. We could consider a "re-branding" but that takes away from years of work to build our name...
My suggestion? If you are even considering an expansion down the road with your business offerings, don`t pigeon hole yourself with a name (Domain or Brand) that limits what the public will think of you. Keeping it broad at least leaves room for unlimited growth within your brand association."
A 5:00 AM this morning, an hour before my alarm, my brain was swarming with thoughts of Twitter, my SEO Blog and work... (kinda sad, I know)... I found myself sleepily stumbling towards the computer, the goal being to make at least a quick blog post, if anything. Opening Fire Fox and saying "yes" the prompt question, "would you like to restore your previous session?" opened up my Twitter Account ... of course, there are my fearless SEO Tweeps, already awake, sharing, sharing, sharing... First tweet that caught my eye:
SEOBook post: Brand Considerations When Choosing Domain Names http://bit.ly/rx79Q
So, I followed and it took me to one of my favorite SEO sites: SEO Book. It`s easy for me to be skeptical with SEO blogs in general as there is so much misconception out there it`s not even funny, but in this case, I generally not only agree 100% with the content of the posts, but actually consider these guys an authority in this space.
The post itself is on brand consideration when considering a domain name. I think it`s more that just a coincidence that I stumbled upon this post, only having just had a lengthy discussion just yesterday on a new domain purchase and if and how he should integrate his keyword into the domain decision.
Having been a fan of the site for years and never actually joining their community, I thought I was past due and signed up: My SEOBook user profile.. I think it`s great to be part of the community, but I also felt prompted to comment, here`s what I said:
"Great post! I was just speaking about this yesterday with a new client who was still considering his domain name. The big question was, should the domain contain the root target keyword? After much deliberation, we decided mutually that a shorter domain that was much catchier would be the better choice. It`s true that direct traffic comes a lot easier when you can drop your name causally in conversation, hand out a business card with it or do some form of advertising not internet based and have people remember it and ultimate search for your name directly.
The problem my company is facing with our domain name: textlinkbrokers.com is the name became the brand and therefore the common misconception is that all we offer are links. At the point in the game we are now offering PPC management, Landing Page Optimization, full SEO and even graphic design work and much more... but the name itself suggests all we do are links. We could consider a "re-branding" but that takes away from years of work to build our name...
My suggestion? If you are even considering an expansion down the road with your business offerings, don`t pigeon hole yourself with a name (Domain or Brand) that limits what the public will think of you. Keeping it broad at least leaves room for unlimited growth within your brand association."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)