Google PR Update Time..... AGAIN!

Since my last post was about a Google PR Toolbar update, I`ll keep this short and sweet... (well, as sweet as I can, this is Google after all)...

This update came as a bit of a surprise to me as we just had one around the end of Oct./early Nov. so I wasn`t expecting another until the end of Jan. however, as I`ve mentioned previously, Google seems to be less consistent than they used to be, they like to keep us SEO`s and webmasters on our toes. 

If you have not checked your PR yet, you might want too. Many of the sites I have been working on have increased in PR! Thanks for the New Years Eve gift Google.... I hope the rest of you experience an increased PR. If not, don`t worry, as I said in my last post, Toolbar PR is NOT a direct reflection of your organic placement in the SERP`s, so don`t get too worked up about it. Just keep getting quality links and adding fresh content and maybe you`ll increase your PR on the next update.

Happy New Years.... wishing you and your business a prosperous 2010!

Google PR Update Time!

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...

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 :-)

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!

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!

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!

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!