Archive for the ‘Search Engine Optimization’ Category

When it comes to receiving free traffic straight from search engines everyone appears to have an opinion of how to receive page one rankings for a website. Regrettably, search engines like google don’t divulge their algorithm to anyone.

So how do you know where to direct your SEO efforts?

The most important factor in gaining free traffic from search engines involves GETTING BACK TO BASICS!

Sure, all these fresh methods involving social media sites, video and audio possess a role in helping sites receive good rankings. But if a site is inadequately optimized to start with then the effectivness of these techniques will be limited. And the vast majority of sites are badly optimized. Most website owners don’t even bother to do keyword research, or perform only simple research (i.e. how many searches does the preferred keyword get?) Consequently they could end up targeting keywords that are too general or have too much opposition… then they wonder why they’re not receiving traffic from search engines… sheesh!

So what are the fundamentals? The essentials are:

1. Domain name:
2. Website Title:
3. Backlinks:

You might also say that keyword research is essential. But this article assumes that methodical keyword research has been undertaken and potentially profitable keywords selected.

Dealing with each aspect individually:

DOMAIN NAME: Every website page should target particular keywords. With the main domain it is critical to make use of the principal keyphrase within the domain name (unless the domain is used for branding). For example, if a man named Stinkbottom Fartworthy had a site about dog training he wouldn’t dub his site StinkbottomFartworthy.com since it has nothing to do with dog training (despite being unforgettable), unless he specifically wanted his name to be synonymous with dog training. To rank for the keyword ‘dog training’ it’s considerably better to use the domain name dogtrainingtips.com. Even though this keyword has enormous competition, if site content matched the domain it would ultimately obtain a reputation as a dog training site and rank well for the keyword.

You can use sub pages on your site to target much less competitive keywords like, ‘how to train small dogs’, ‘how to teach your dog tricks’ etc. These pages will create traffic for your site. As you draw in more ‘longtail’ keywords (keywords containing more than three words) the site will start to rank for the more competitive keyword in the domain name.

How do you include longtail keywords in URLs? Merely incorporate the keyword in the filename of the html file. So dogtrainingtips.com can have a subpage of how-to-teach-your-dog-tricks.html thus the direct entry url becomes dogtrainingtips.com/how-to-teach-your-dog-tricks.html. If your site is produced in wordpress you can set your permalinks (permanent links) to use the post title as the page id and use the keyword in the post title.

WEBSITE TITLE: Your website title is found in the header section of html code. The title is the text that appears in the colored bar across the top of the browser window. Many sites don’t optimize this section but correct optimization goes a LONG way to persuading search engines that your site ought to be ranked for the keywords contained in this tag… especially when page content matches.

BACKLINKS: Backlinks are the MOST IMPORTANT aspect of SEO. This is where social media sites etc come into play. By definition, a backlink is a link on a different site aiming at your website.

There are two very important things to keep in mind with backlinks.

1. Backlinks on associated sites are far more effective than those on unrelated sites. In the example of Mr Fartworthy’s dog training site. If he has backlinks on sites relating to dogs, those links will be much more valuable in increasing the search engine ranking of his site than having them on a site concerning trucks. In general, one link on a associated site is worth 5-10 links on totally unrelated sites. So don’t squander effort building links on unrelated sites!

2. If you desire your site to rank for a particular keyword, use that keyword as the anchor text for your backlinks. Anchor text is the wording that people click to visit your website. So to rank for the keyword ‘dog training tips’ you would employ that as the anchor text. It is important to note that not all backlinks should use this anchor text as it looks abnormal to search engines. So it’s important to use alternative anchor text as well, like your name or some other keyword.

Keyword research is the most essential step to take before creating a site or even purchasing a domain because you want to include keywords in the domain.

Many newbies starting in web site marketing neglect keyword research completely or perform only basic research by guessing what keyword to rank for and checking how many searches per month are performed for it. This method is inadequate if you wish to be successful. Pursue the incorrect keyword and you’ll end up questioning why you have no traffic.

So how do you do keyword research?

The most accurate keyword research tool is https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal This tool is suggested because statistics are specific to google, the unquestionable search engine leader with 90% of overall searches.

Make a worksheet for your research. Label your columns: Searches, Keyword, Competition, Allintitle and Allinurl

Here is an explanation of each heading:
1. Searches: Monthly searches for the specified keyword/keyphrase
2. Keyword: The actual keyword or keyphrase
3. Competition: The number of pages targeting that precise keyword
4. Allintitle: The amount of sites targeting the keyword in their title.
5. Allinurl: The quantity of sites with the keyword in their domain name

The first two columns of information come directly from the Google tool. The other three columns are researched on google by performing the following searches.

To ascertain competition carry out a search for your keyword with quotation marks (“) around it (example. “Weight loss”). Google will return results from websites targeting the precise keyword/keyphrase. This filters out sites targeting ‘weight’ or ‘loss’ alone. Record the amount of results generated in the competition column beside the keyword. This number is found at the top right hand side of the browser window.

To determine how many websites include a keyword in their titles perform an allintitle search. The format for this is allintitle:your keyword. Exchange ‘your keyword’ with the keyword you would like statistics for. Record the number of results returned into the allintitle column next to the keyword.

To carry out an allinurl search use the format ‘allinurl:your keyword’ and insert the corresponding number of results in the allinurl column

Why search allintitle and allinurl? Because utilizing principal keywords in the title and URL is an extremely important factor in gaining good rankings with search engines for those keywords. Ultimately, you ought to use primary keywords in both. If our targeted keyword appears in the URL of 4000 sites then that is the greatest number of competitors we have to contend with. Utilizing the keyword in both URL and title puts your site ahead of many other sites in terms of on-page SEO.

Which Keywords should you Target?

It depends how much SEO practice you have which keywords you should target. It’s easier to rank for low competition keywords. Inexperienced marketers should seek out keywords with fewer than 20,000 results in the allinurl column. This makes it easier to outrank competitors. This might seem like a cop-out. However, sites that rank well for lower competition keywords will find it easier to rank for associated high competition keywords.

It’s crucial that traffic be laser targetted to improve conversion. For example: A site promoting GPS systems shouldn’t specifically target ‘GPS systems’ because it has considerable competition making it difficult to rank for. Additionally, a person searching for ‘GPS systems’ is most likely in research stage. A person searching for ‘Tom Tom GO 930 prices’ is considerably more targeted since it indicates that they are in purchasing stage. Of course, ‘buy Tom Tom GO 930′ is even better! Even though far less people will search for that term, those who do are in buying stage. It’s better to catch them in purchasing mode than in research mode!

Don’t target broad keywords that have more searches because that exposes you to additional competition. You need traffic that converts to sales. As you acquire SEO experience and your site gains status (i.e. Google pagerank) you can target high competition keywords. If you buy PPC (pay per click) traffic from search engines it’s essential to target converting keywords.

Two factors determine the best keywords to target:

1. The number of searches (higher is better)
2. The number of opposition (lower is better)

Try to obtain keywords with both of these factors. Balance is the essential factor here. Each webpage ought to target one principal keyword and contain several related keywords. Try to target combination keywords that contain more than one keyword like ‘online marketing techniques’ which targets three keywords including; online marketing techniques, online marketing and marketing techniques. While two word keyphrases have increased competition making them more challenging to rank for, using them means you won’t have to insert them later on when you do wish to rank for them.