Georgia SEO Experts » SEM

Do As Google says, Not As Google Does

admin — Wed, 11 May 2011 14:48:18 +0000

I feel bad for people who are new to web advertising and trying to understand the various ways to make money online, but not fully grasping what they can and cannot do. Add Google to the mix and it gets even worse. So here are some do’s and don’ts that you should know even though it’s Google’s business model as it pertains to advertising and links in particular;

DON’T sell advertising on your website. Google frowns on websites that sell ad space on their sites because they think that you’re trying to manipulate the rankings by allowing other websites to benefit from the popularity on your site. Google will devalue your site if it sees that you’re selling banners or links by searching your site for terms like “Advertise here” or “Advertise with us”. However, Google is allowed to sell ad space on their website though, because of supply and demand. Google is the most popular search engine online today and that’s one of the primary ways they generate revenue. Yes, I know that’s what you’re trying to do now that your site is generating good traffic and people actually want to buy advertising on your site which is exactly what Google is doing, but Google is the Tony Soprano of the web and it’s just wise not to do what they do.

Don’t offer products or services in exchange for a link. Google does not like it when you make offers such as “Get a free listing on our site if you link to us from yours!”. Forget that something like this is referred to as reciprocal linking and really doesn’t have much value in the first place, but it will be even worse if Google sees it (which they will….maybe). If the practice runs rampant on your site, you run the risk of getting your site penalized. Google looks at this practice as a means of you swaying a person into linking to your website which will cause their algorithms to award you improperly. Forget the fact that each and every year, Google gives away thousands of free phones, tablets, etc. so that people can help to expand their hold on the industry.
Do not buy paid links. Google does not want you to purchase links on website because that may possibly give you an unfair advantage. Getting a link on a site with high PageRank (even if you have to purchase it) could possibly give you a boost (but most likely not). Google would prefer that you only buy links from them. Yes, that is okay.

Google Adds Plus One (+1) Feature

admin — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 18:56:27 +0000

If there wasn’t enough to worry about with Google’s Social Search project that has been looming about in various pieces for a while now, Google just announced that it will be launching Google +1. Essentially this gives the searcher an opportunity (when logged in) to click a +1 button next to a search result. This will then show websites that people +1′d in your network and also sites that they have themselves +1′d previously. Not only do the organic search results get this +1 attention, but so do the paid listings. Advertisers should start freaking out…..now.

Exactly how this new +1 feature will possibly skew results, if any, is unknown. One would assume that if a site is neck and neck with a competitor, but one has more +1 votes, it just may be an algorithm attribute taken into consideration to push a site into the higher slot. If it’s not going to be used that way, then what’s the point? This was Google’s answer to the Facebook Like button, but there is also an upcoming feature that will allow webmasters to incorporate the +1 button onto their website as well. Will that functionality pull the +1 data from the SERP’s and input them there and vice versa? Will a click on the website +1 button add a “vote” to the SERP listing?

The ad part is the most disconcerting and especially for new advertisers that don’t have any established votes. You can see what a site that has received multiple votes looks like on this new report from Search Engine Land that covers this new feature in somewhat good detail, but it raises more questions than it answers. While it’s understood what it’s supposed to do and why it’s there when looked at in comparison to the Facebook Like button, what it doesn’t explain is exactly how Google plans to use the +1 feature. Will it be used as part of their algorithm, even if very minutely? Will it have an effect on Adwords or factored in as part of the Google Quality Score? How much of a frenzy will it create when CTR’s start taking a dramatic upward spike due to “accidental” click-throughs?

Regardless of how you feel, it’s coming and is being pushed out in waves. If you don’t see it in your results, but want to take part of this experiment, head over to http://www.google.com/experimental/index.html and opt in. SEO experts should probably consider clicking on their client websites sooner rather than later to get the jump on competition. How skewed can this data get and how will they monitor these “votes” for legitimacy? Or will it be yet one more back alley tactic that black hats will start using somehow to their advantage. Since we don’t yet know the full implication, all we can do is start clicking as much as possible because it will be used. We just don’t know for what or even why.

Bye Bye Google Base

admin — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 20:16:18 +0000

Many people were quick to see the writing on the wall for the real estate listings that Google was posting. Brian McClendon who is the VP of Google Earth and Maps made a statement about that functionality and said, “In part due to low usage, the proliferation of excellent property-search tools on real estate websites, and the infrastructure challenge posed by the impending retirement of the Google Base API (used by listing providers to submit listings), we’ve decided to discontinue the real estate feature within Google Maps on February 10, 2011.”

But in case you missed it, he said, “the impending retirement of the Google Base API“. For those not familiar with Google Base, thousands of businesses use this to upload their product databases of what could be thousands of products into Google’s databases. Those products then would show up in Google Base searches, Froogle and even in some cases product listings in normal Google searches when a search was product related, i.e. someone searching for Tickle me Elmo or Shammy 12 packs (or any search that is obviously a searcher looking for a product).

Many speculated over a year ago that Google Base would die anyway with the fast approaching “Google Merchant Center”, but until now it has been just that. Speculation. If your business does truly rely on Google Base as part of its online strategy, make sure that you read up on the new changes. And definitely make sure you check your messages area when you log in. Some users are already reporting messages from Google informing them of changes that directly affect them such as attribute alterations to their datafeeds. You have been warned. Again…

Google Instant Saves SEO

admin — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 17:03:45 +0000

For those way behind or that don’t keep up with SEO news, Google released a tool they had in hiding called Google Instant over a month ago. If you’ve used Google, you’ve used it. The feature offers up search suggestions as you begin typing in the search window.

While many SEO professionals have screamed that this is going to kill SEO and make it irrelevant, there is a second school of thought that it will begin to even the playing field. For every bigger player at the top of the search engines for broader terms, there are thousands of smaller players that rank well for more specific terms.

This addition by Google not only helps the searcher consider terms that they may not have thought of, but it also helps them to possibly discover a smaller player. For instance, in the example above, someone searching for SEO may not have considered searching for SEO tools or SEO software. They may have simply planned on typing in “SEO” and hoping for the best.

This Google offering not only helps the person searching discover other searching options that are based on what people are actually searching for, but also provides them with more terms that will allow them to discover some smaller players that don’t rank for broader terms.

While sites ranking for broader terms will certainly cry foul because they see it as a distraction to the searcher, this change will help to reduce bandwidth for Google by helping searchers find what they want quicker and begin to level the playing field for smaller players.

While this change is fantastic to searchers, it will also increase revenue for Google because players who previously ignored the longer tail terms will have to rethink their SEM strategy to include those smaller traffic terms if they themselves aren’t ranking for those longer tail terms. SEM professionals may want to keep their eye on sudden spikes on campaigns that once were dormant that all of sudden start seeing life.

Either way, Google Instant appears to be good for everyone.

55 SEO Tools That You Need To Use

admin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:38:33 +0000

55 SEO Tools That You Must Have

There are tons of great SEO tools out there that you can use to help you on your journey to top rankings on Google. Many are really good and some are just, not. I did my best to keep the “nots” off of this list. Some of these are downloadable, some you use online, some are free to use, some are not. But if you were to use these tools to your advantage, top rankings on Google is literally days away.

Google Webmaster Tools
(http://www.google.com/webmasters)
If you’re not using this tool, then you should be shot and hung. All that’s required is that you actually own the site. You verify your ownership by adding a meta tag or uploading a page to the root directory and then you have access to a wealth of information. Everything from broken links, title tag issues, backlinks and more. It’s only shortcoming is lack of competitive analysis, but it’s all here and it’s all FREE.

SEO Elite
(http://www.seoelite.com/index2.htm)
This is by far the mack daddy of SEO tools to have in your arsenal if you’re expecting to make it up the charts. I have brought companies to the top of Google without using this tool and also with it. And I can tell you that using it makes the process not only easier but hundreds of times quicker. It will shortcut your efforts by weeks if not months. It shows you everything from what your competitor is doing, what keywords you should use, how to structure your code, keyword ratios, and the entire gamut. It’s amazing and will literally get you to the top of Google very quickly. Get it.

Good Keywords
(http://www.goodkeywords.com) – Download here
This program is limited, but it spits out some amazing keyword suggestions. The program is free, which is even better. You type in a basic keyword you’re interested in and it displays a laundry list of alternate keywords from Google, Yahoo and others. It does a good job of also not straining Google resources which obviously is good to avoid being banned.

IBP (Internet Business Promoter)
(http://www.Axandra.com)
I shouldn’t give away this secret, but I use this tool very heavily. It has keyword tools, web optimization tools, competition analysis and a very, very cool reporting feature that spits out 50 page reports in seconds showing analysis of what the top 10 competitors are doing and suggestions about how you can fix your site to be in line with what they’re doing. It’s amazing. One of my favorite tools on the list.

SEOBook
(http://www.seobook.com)
SEOBook is one of my favorite websites because they offer tons of really cool SEO tools that mostly are plugins to IE and Firefox (Firefox mostly) that can check your web rankings, get PPC data, Google toolbars and much more. Lots of useful stuff and most of which is, yes, Free.

PPC Web Spy
(http://www.ppcwebspy.com/)
This program is designed to basically spy on your competition while you’re browsing the web. It’s a plug-in for your browser that shows you the keywords that your competitors are focusing on which ultimately gives you an advantage to capitalize on words they’re probably missing. It literally will show you all of your competitors ad copy for Google AdWords. their cost per click, their position, and even how much they’re spending. In reality, this is very covert and is really a crazy amount of information to be able to get. A very dangerous tool. To your competitors.

Planet Ocean/Search Engine News
(http://www.searchenginenews.com)

By far, the best information you will get ANYWHERE on search engine strategies and the ongoing changes to the big 3 (Google, Yahoo, MSN). If something changes with their algorithms, rules change, something stops working, you’re about to get ripped off on your PPC campaign, problems, changes, etc., these are the guys you go to. Every month, they send you incredible 30+ page newsletter highlighting the best directories to get into, best deals, AND you also get a HUGE and I mean HUGE Unfair Advantage book that walk you through extensive step by step tutorials on how to get your site up to speed. No joke. Don’t hesitate on this one.

Keyword Pad
(http://www.goodkeywords.com/products/keywordpad/)
A pretty amazing piece of software that is also completely FREE and is literally beaming with greatness. Plug in the keyword you want and you get a treasure trove of long tail keywords that your competitors are most likely missing. Then you can take that list and tweak it out, multiply results and much more. Oh yeah, and it’s free.

WebTools Now
(http://www.webtoolsnow.com)
Another FREE program that does have a paid component for it, but it offers so much free content out of the gate, that it’s hard to ignore. You can get some pretty amazing information here from keyword research, code alteration, and some very valuable tips. And again, it’s free.

Google Keyword Research Tool
(https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal)
Google Adwords is imperative for anyone to use if you’re just starting online. It’s even moreso to know what your competitors are doing and while the tool doesn’t offer specific numbers, it will tell you what keywords are the most competitive and that will eat you alive in click through cost and what words no one is bidding on for some reason. The new alterations give you approxiamate numbers and estimated numbers for next month. An invaluable FREE tool.

SEO Mindset
(http://www.seomindset.com)
There are many people that talk about SEO and how easy it is. Give me a break. If it was incredibly easy, most of you would never see the first page of Google. Brad Callen has an amazing insight into the world of SEO and has practiced what he preached for years. No one has logged more documented proof than Brad of his successes and in this book, he pretty much shares it with the world. And you can get it here. And don’t forget the FREE book over there on the right sidebar. Yeah, it’s free.

Cyberlink Pro
(http://www.cyberlinkpro.com)
One of the toughest things to do is to get people to link to your site. This is a major part of the ranking puzzle and especially if you’ve found yourself trapped on the second page and you can’t seem to budge. Enter Cyberlink Pro which for a very small fee will get you thousands of one way links. This does actually work for that extra boost, but just keep an eye on your backlinks via Google Webmaster Tools to weed out any bad ones that appear from naughty sites. They don’t create links on these sites, but when you have a ton of links created fairly quickly, some of these leech sites will post your site on thers without your permission. A great service though that actually does work, and very fast.

Google Analytics
(http://www.google.com/analytics/)
For real? If you don’t know what it is or how to use it, you are beyond help. You sign up for free, you put a code block into your web pages and then you have a ridiculous amount of data at your disposal, for free. Traffic patterns, what keywords you’re being found on, e-commerce, where they’re leaving from, what keywords theyre finding you on and tons more. Free.

Wordtracker
(http://www.wordtracker.com)
Wordtracker has been around forever and while they do offer a free version of their keyword tool, the paid version offers a wealth of information that will simply blow you away. You’ll have such ridiculous insight into keyword conversions that you might actually get sick by the spinning array of data. It is SO worth every dime.

WebComp Analyst
(http://webcompanalyst.com)
One of the most important things about ranking well on Google is backlinks. People linking back to you. This tool makes it not only incredibly easy to know how many you have, but also spends an inordinate amount of time analyzing them which is fantastic.

SEO Chat
(http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/)
SEO Chat is awesome. It has tons of free tools that you can use to optimize your website and use for ad campaigns such as AdSense calculators, meta tag generators, analyzers, robots.txt generators, and just a bucnh more. Oh and all free.

SpyFu
(http://www.spyfu.com)
Ever wonder what your competitor is spending money on for their Adwords ads, what their ads say, what words they’re targeting and more about their advertising budget? Look no further than SpyFu. You can give it a test run but it really does not give you the complete picture compared to the paid version.

Search Engine Genie
(http://www.searchenginegenie.com)
Ever use programs where you’re trying to check your position on the web and you get blocked or it’s saying you’re not there when you know you are. Your IP is being blocked. Somehow, with the exception of Yahoo, Search Engine Genie’s website has been able to sneak by and even Yahoo allows it for about 10 searches. Check your position and feel good about yourself all at the same time.

Compete
(http://www.compete.com)
Yet another service that offers a free unlimited trial run that will give you a good bit of info, but the paid version gives you ridiculous analytics type views of your competitors. You can see who is sending them traffic, how they’re being found online, what keywords they’re focusing on and which ones they’re missing, traffic data and much more.

Ultimate Guide To WordPress Plugins
(http://www.ultimateguidetowordpressplugins.com)
While this is more specific to folks that use WordPress, the major difference between a blog that gets a few views as opposed to hundreds a day is obviously traffic (and compelling content). And using the right plugins in WordPress is imperative to that effort. This little guide documents the plugins that you must have by all means necessary and others that will tweak the blog beyond anything you could imagine. And it’s cheap.

Backlink Builder
(http://www.webconfs.com/backlink-builder.php)
Web Conf’s released this very cool tool that allows you to plugin a keyword and it will spit out a list of websites that are relevant to that word that you could approach for getting links with.

Bad Neighborhood Checker
(http://www.bad-neighborhood.com/)
Have you added links to a bunch of websites and instead of leaping you’ve lunged into the ranking abyss? Maybe because one of the websites you ranked to is viewed as a spamming site, adult site or just a “bad neighborhood”. This site will help you track down those sites that are doing you more harm than good.

INeedHits
(http://www.ineedhits.com)
A strange but true service that allows you to submit to over 300+ search engines for only $2.99. While most people scoff, others love the fact that they can click a button for $3 and be done with this piece of the puzzle.

Dead Link Checker
(http://www.dead-links.com/)
Nothing is worse than having a bunch of broken links on your site. Use this tool to find them. That is, of course, if you’re not using Google Webmaster Tools, you idgit.

Social Marker
(http://www.socialmarker.com)
Using social bookmarking services like Digg, Delicious, Yahoo, Buzz, etc. is imperative to getting good backlinks for your website. But like many people, who in the world has the time to bookmark websites going site to site. Enter Social Marker, a free service that asks you for the basic info one time, then you check the services you use from the list and it takes you to each website one by one pre-filling in all of the information for you. Sweet.

Google Trends
(http://www.google.com/trends)
If you’re curious as to what people are searching for right now and what’s the most popular? Look no further than Google Trends. A glimpse at the most common searches at that given time. You can then use this info to write blogs or articles that are guaranteed to snag traffic.

Blog Pulse
(http://www.blogpulse.com)
This is similar to Google Trends above except that it displays what the most ppular blog topics are at any given moment. A very good thing to know when you’re trying to figure out what people want to read about and apply it to your business.

Affiliate Elite
(http://www.affiliateelite.com)
If you’re into the whole affiliate marketing scenario, then you probably don’t want to be without Affiliate Elite. A program that gives you the hot products that affiliates are targeting, what they’re using to sell them, and tons more. It’s really ridiculous and has people making over a grand a week selling stuff for other people and carrying no inventory at all. Pretty insane stuff.

Need More? Okay, here are some short blasts for you.

McDar Keyword Analysis Tool

Keyword Popularity Tool – Are you marketing for a keyword that’s just going to be an uphill battle?

SEO Blueprint Secrets – Download a bunch of SEO videos for free here.

Domain Age Tool

Link Quality Assessment

Keyword Strategy Guide – A strategy guide for finding the right Google keywords that will actually make you money.

Multi DC PageRank Checker

Search Engine Ranking Report

Link Popularity Checker

Dogpile Search Comparison

Online XML Sitemaps Generator

Backlink Check Tool

Check Rankings

Backlink Anchor Text Analyzer

Google vs Yahoo Graph - Top 50 display of a term on both Yahoo and Google

Keyword Density Analyzer - analyzes how much you’ve used certain keywords and terms

Multi DC PageRank Checker – checks Google multiple data centers

Alexa Page Ranking – Check your Alexa Ranking.

W3C Markup Validation Service – You’ll almost never be in full compliance so don’t kill yourself.

Browser Screen Resolution Checker - Better check that your site doesn’t go wacky when the resolution is changed.

Domain Dossier - Get background info on just about everything you’d want to know about a domain name.

Online XML Sitemaps Generator – Sitemaps are important to Google and this will make your life much easier. Dynamic sites will get mixed results though.

Dynamic to Static URL Changer – Search engines like dynamic URL’s much better than static. This tool can be implemented into your .htaccess file and will alter the files into static ones. Lots of folks use this tool and for good reason. You don’t have to, but you can if you’re trying to get a little edge when you’re right on the heels of a competitor and you need that extra umph.

Page Rank Tool – Check your Pagerank across multiple Google datacenters all at once OR

Google PageRank Prediction – Let this predict what your Pagerank will be after you make those adjustments.

Rank Pulse – Keeps an ongoing watch on the most popular and least popular keyword terms to the tune of 1000 of them. Find out what people are searching for most frequently.

Copyscape – Think your content may have been lifted? Search for copies of your content on the web by using this tool.

And every time I find another cool tool I’ll post it here. So expect this page to be updated regularly. Bookmark it baby! Got an indispensable tool that I missed? Tell me about it.

Learning SEO

admin — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:07:05 +0000

Designing a website is a great accomplishment. Whether or not you paid someone to do it, you simply can’t have a business unless you have some sort of online presence. Obviously, that’s not completely true, because in every city in every state there are thriving businesses that have never had a website. But you know better. Your audience is out there. No matter what your business is, there are probably hundreds of people online right now searching for you. But knowing where to find them is a royal pain in the neck and having them find you is even worse.

That’s where this guide comes in. I’m going to discuss what people are doing to get into those coveted top 10 slots. What works, what probably doesn’t and most importantly, what to expect. Because the truth of the matter is that there is no definitive answer. On top of being the Director of Horton Web Design (hortonwebdesign.com), I have also worked side by side with people who do nothing but search engine optimization (SEO) and online marketing. I’ve been a member of a lot of these places that claim to have all of the answers, when in truth, they’re just as clueless as the next person. The answers they have are typically always the same from SEO site to SEO site. Same answers just displayed differently. You shouldn’t have to spend thousands of dollars to get those answers because when things go wrong (and they will), these membership places always seem to have an excuse for everything.

If you were #1 on Google one day and then the next day you were nowhere to be found, you’re going to find a host of overpaid people who are going to tell you one of 3 things; 1) that you did something wrong, 2) someone did something better than you, or 3) the search engine changed something. So write down those 3 excuses on a piece of paper and put them in your pocket to save them for later. You’re going to be doing great one day and then poorly the next. When that happens, you can simply pull that piece of paper out of your pocket and read those 3 excuses. You’ll save yourself a lot of money by simply reading them off to yourself instead of paying someone to say them.

I strive to be as straightforward and non-geekspeak as I can in order to make this as plain and as simple as I can. Just know that nobody has the exact right answer for all of the search engines or for every case. The guys that created Google’s algorithm can’t tell you exactly what Yahoo or MSN is doing. They have an idea, but not the total picture. So don’t put your eggs all in one basket. Use this guide as one of many resources out there because even I don’t practice everything I preach.

Lastly, there will be some people who will ask the following questions and so I’ll answer them now. “I typed in website design and I can’t find you on the web, so why should I listen to you?” The answer is simple. I don’t want to be found for web design because that’s not my focus anymore, nor is my site optimized for that. I’d rather focus on terms like Georgia SEO professional, Georgia SEO Expert or even the broader Georgia SEO. Try some of those terms and you’ll find me in the top 3. My business is a home based business that I do on evenings and weekends. I like designing websites, but I don’t want to do it full time nor do I have the time to dedicate to it and once you implement the things I’m about to tell you, I probably won’t hold my position for long.

The other question would be, “What makes you the authority on search engine optimization (SEO) or search engine marketing (SEM)?” Let’s put it this way. For 2 solid years, I worked under the greatest minds in SEO and SEM. I was personally taught one on one by some of them and it was my job to take the tools they provided and keep their companies ranking high on the search engines and to make them look good. Yes, I was the man behind the curtain. I studied under all of them in some form or fashion. I’m also a member of multiple SEO organizations to keep up on the latest trends and changes. I gathered all of the information and drained them of what they knew. My job is to implement strategies by these individuals and put them to work. I implemented everything I learned and it worked. I’ve watched it work and use these strategies daily. The companies I work for are in the top ten across the board for their markets and most of which are #1 and are there because of my efforts.

One more question would probably be, “Why are you offering this information to me?” I know how difficult it is for small business owners to get up and running. Around every corner is another expense. So I wanted to write some basics that you can do for your website to get out there and be seen. It’ll be tough, but you can do it with good effort. If you only use a fraction of what I’m telling you, you’ll only get a fraction of the results. All of these things I’ll explain work together to get you the results you’re after, so don’t cut any corners. If you have to go back and fix something, go back and fix it. Don’t ignore any existing problems. That being said, let’s dive into it.