Archive for the ‘Search Engine Optimization (SEO)’ Category
Best SEO Link Building Guides, Tips and Tools of 2010 (So Far)
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010Optimizing a website by incorporating keywords into page titles, headlines, text, page URLs, image alt tags and internal links will help improve the position of a site in the search engines—but it’s only half the battle. As one of the posts linked below notes, “In Search Engine Optimization, things that are happening OFF of your site can be just as important (if not more so) than things happening ON your website.” Search engines look at on-site factors to determine relevance, but at external links to gauge authority.
So how do you get more links, without resorting to spammy or questionable tactics? Find out here in some of the best blog posts and articles about SEO link building of 2010 so far.
Nine Tools for Your Link-Building Toolkit by ClickZ
Julie Batten offers nine key elements to include in a link-building toolkit–such as lists of targeted keywords and directories–to make link-building efforts more efficient and productive.
5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Page Rank via LinkedIn by VibeLog
In this brief but useful post, Jessica Nielsen explains five ways, such as crafting a relevant “professional headline,” to use LinkedIn to improve your company site’s Pagerank.
Raiding Your Competitor’s Backlinks by Internet Marketing for Business Owners
How to quickly find and replicate backlinks to competitor’s site to improve your site’s search engine ranking.
71 Technical Factors For Backlink Analysis (From 30 Link Building Experts) – Part 2 by Search Engine Land
For those who have waaaay too much time to spend on link building, Garrett French walks through the URL, on-page and sitewide factors to use in backlink profile analysis. Includes helpful commentary from a range of SEO experts like Eric Enge and Aaron Wall.
The 30-minute-a-day link building plan by iMedia Connection
Another piece from Garret French, this one outlining his recommended link building plan, starting with linkable asset identification: “common linkable assets include webinars, job listing pages, PDFs, blogs, forums, subject matter experts, deals, news, a community participant, contests, podcasts, and free tools.”
Top 100+ Link Building Resources by Vertical Measures Blog
An extensive list of blogs, tools, forums and other resources to assist with link building knowledge and tactics.
Simple tips for improving your website’s links by iMedia Connection
Ramsay Crooks presents guidelines for building quality links as well as low-value link building tactics to avoid.
Another Big Roundup of Link Tools by Search Engine Land
The always brilliant Debra Mastaler presents a helpful list of backlink analysis tools plus mini-reviews of several “non-standard, outside of the box link tools like Smarter Search.
Ultimate Guide to Link Building by Agent SEO
Jacob Stoops provides an excellent tutorial, beginning with explaining the process and importance of link building then stepping through different tactics and key sites of different types (directories, social bookmarking, article submission, etc.).
Build Links Backwards by Search Engine Journal
Rather than begging for links or hoping your content will appeal to a publisher, Jennifer Van Iderstyne suggests throwing the process into reverse — contacting great sites (blogs, educators, news sites, associations) and asking what type of content they would be interested in linking to.
SEO & Social Media Track: Show Me The Links: Real Life Link Building by Bruce Clay
In this guest post, Dana Lookadoo engagingly live-blogs a session from SMX Seattle featuring tips from several link building experts including Roger Montii (use target searching, don’t rely solely on competitor backlinks), Arnie Kuenn (targeted email requests, content development and promotion), Chris Bennett (infographics), Debra Mastaler (content syndication, guest blogging) and more.
The Art (or Science) of Building Links by Search Engine Watch
In her first post for SEW, Nichola Stott compares link building to expanding one’s professional network: factors like reputation, connections and relevance all matter in both realms.
Google’s Recommendations for Organic Linkbuilding by 10 Golden Rules Internet Marketing Strategy Blog
In this short post, Marc Purtell shares Google’s recommendations for organic link building, which basically come down to: produce quality content.
Case Study: I Listened to Google and I Failed by Graywolf’s SEO Blog
This case study puts Google’s linking advice (see post above) to the test. Is great content really all you need?
Link Building: Let’s get it started!
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010Guest post by Emily Thompson
Getting links to your site is essential in SEO. The search engines view each link to your website like a vote- and while not all links are created equal, they are all counted! Perhaps you, like many small businesses, have decided to tackle building your own links. It’s important to know that link building can often take a lot of time, and be fairly arduous. However, the benefits are huge!
Let’s take a look at just how important links for your ranking in the search engines. This chart, courtesy of SEOmoz, 2009*, really helps hit it home. Based on a survey of some of the top SEO experts in the world, link popularity, or the number of backlinks a specific page has, and keyword anchor text from those external links, make up a large portion of your rank.
So, we know this is important. Crucial, even. So what can you do to get started? Following some of these tips can help you begin, and make the process a little easier:
- Create a plan: Think about which area of your business you would like to focus on first. A particular product? A service? Your general industry? Whatever it is, look for related sites or opportunities. Sectioning out your plan is very beneficial and makes the task at hand feel more manageable.
- Build a comprehensive list of potential link partners: This is, perhaps, the most tedious part of link building. It takes hours of manual effort, including researching non-competitive related websites, utilizing tools like Yahoo Site Explorer, or SEOMoz’s Open Site Explorer. You can use these to explore links to your competitors and attempt to contact them. Also grab the low hanging fruit- talk to current customers or clients, and see if they can link to you or write about you on their blog. The bigger you can get this list, the better. You will most likely get very few responses for every hundred contacts you attempt.
- Contact people personally: Again, this piece takes time, but it is absolutely worth it! If you come across as spammy, people are not likely to care what you have to say. Send genuine, thoughtful contact emails. If you’re interested in a link from a certain blog, actually read through it and take the time to comment honestly. Try to develop relationships as you do this- it can help you build online communities and really learn from each other.
- Get creative: Take advantage of every opportunity you have. Write articles, promote press releases, create content that people want to link to. Essentially, utilize every weapon in your arsenal. In addition, diversity can help you gain visibility and reach different audiences. Using different outlets helps you get traffic and interest, along with just a link.
There is a great aggregation of tools, articles and tips published recently on http://seo.site-reference.com. This comprehensive link building list really brings together many of the resources you should be utilizing when you’re ready to get moving with building links to your site. Make sure to learn as much as you can and make educated decisions about who to prospect and what tools to use. And remember- patience is a virtue! Take the time, get the results and don’t get discouraged!
*Source: SEOmoz (2009). Search Engine Ranking Factors. Retrieved March 11, 2010, from http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors
Author Bio: Emily Thompson is the Online Marketing Coordinator for Kutenda Internet Marketing Software (http://kutenda.com). Kutenda offers tools and resources for small businesses to succeed online and grow their business.
77 (of the) Best SEO Blog Posts and Articles of 2009
Monday, March 8th, 2010Search engine optimization (SEO) can sometime seem like the province of quick-buck hucksters, particularly when well-regarded technology writers like John Dvorak refer to SEO proponents as “snake oil salesmen” (wrong as he is). This is particularly so for those on Twitter, which is infested with scammers and spammers: “Buy my miracle internet marketing kit and get thousands of clicks overnight!” Ugh. The advice I gave in Just Say No to Bad SEO still applies.
But while the sleazeballs are out there, most companies seeking SEO assistance understand that it’s a long-term investment, and most practitioners are honest, competent sorts doing their best to produce results through a mix of art, science and established, non-manipulative techniques. For that majority just trying to produce quality content and get it fairly ranked through legitimate practices, here are some of the best articles and blog posts from last year on various aspects of SEO.
The posts and articles are divided into six categories: SEO Guides, Tips and Tactics; SEO Tools; SEO Link Building; SEO Keyword Research; SEO Keyword Tools; and Local Search Tips, Tactics and Tools.
SEO Guides, Tips and Tactics
Learn the Basics Before You Try Anything Fancy! by SEO.com
Dan Patterson
Performance-based Pricing for SEO won’t work by Conversation Marketing
Ian Lurie
SEOmoz’s Biennial Ranking Factors 2009 Released by SEOmoz
Rand Fishkin
Top Ten Ways To Get Banned From Google by High Position
Tobias Bowman
Top 5 Ranking Factors by SEOmoz
Rand Fishkin
Tips and tools for measuring your SEO strength by iMedia Connection
Grant Simmons
TopRank BIGLIST of 100+ Search Marketing Resources by TopRank Online Marketing Blog
Lee Odden
Google Caffeine Update: “Real-Time” Indexing Favors Fresh Content by All Virtual Marketing
Rebecca Murtagh
What should I do if I don’t know why I’m penalized? by YouTube
Matt Cutts (video)
Why Your Company Needs a Google Profile by Search Marketing Sage
Tad Miller
25 Link Building Tactics to Improve Blog Search Engine Rankings by TopRank Online Marketing Blog
Lee Odden
The Ultimate Fast Guide to SEO + Flash by MediaPost Online Media Daily
Rachel Moran
Social media offers SEO opportunities for dominating top 10 search terms by Brafton
The Importance of Business Blogging by SEO Wizardry
Pete Hollier
List of Best and Worst practices for designing a high traffic website by webconfs.com
The Truth About SEO by TopRank Online Marketing Blog
Lee Odden
Do It Yourself SEO by SEO Wizardry
Pete Hollier
SEO Tools
List of Free and Paid SEO Tools on the Internet by SEO & PPC Expert UK
Xenu’s Link Sleuth – Find broken links on web sites
Google Base Opens Up New Doors for Internet Marketers by Best Rank Search Engine Marketing
Ryan Frank
Crawl Your Site for Broken Links, Errors and Duplicate Content by Daily SEO Tips
Loren Baker
Google Insights for Search Just Got More Insightful by Find Resolution
Erica Barth
WordStream: Keywords Management Made Easy by Search Engine Journal
Mihaela Lica
BuzzStream – Link Building Tool
Google AdWords Traffic Estimator
101 Free SEO Tools by Investintech.com
Covario (formerly netconcepts) SEO Tools
Compare domain backlink history by Majestic SEO
KPMRS – Free Website Ranking Monitoring SEO Tool
Backlink Watch Free Backlink Checker
How to Do Keyword Research with OneLook Wildcard Search by Search Engine Journal
Ann Smarty
21 Free Keyword Density Analyzer tools to optimize your website by Kittu K
Aakanksha Kekan
List of Great Firefox Plugins for SEO by SEO.com
Dan Patterson
LinkExaminer: SEO Friendly Link Scanning Utility by Search Engine Journal
Ann Smarty
Free SEO Tools : 12 Absolutely Free Keyword Suggestion tools, Keyword Popularity tools by Kittu K
Aakanksha Kekan
Web Page Analyzer – 0.98 – from Website Optimization by Website Optimization
Small Business Guide to Tools that Help Your SEM by Search Engine Watch
Carrie Hill
Best Keyword Ranking Tools for SEO by WordStream Internet Marketing Blog
Ken Lyons
BLVD Status – Live Stats, Keyword Vitals Ranking Report and Custom Alerts
Analyze Link Popularity : 20 Free Backlink Checker Tools by Kittu K
Aakanksha Kekan
SEMRush – Advanced Keywords and Competitors Research Tool
SEO Link Building
Link Bartering by Search Engine People
Donna Fontenot
Link Building 101, Part 2 by Search Engine Watch (February)
Ron Jones
5 Ways to Optimize Your Existing Links for Maximum SEO Benefit by Winning The Web
Gyutae Park
The Perfect Link Request Email Template by Wiep.net
Wiep Knol
Online Forums: Marketing Muscle and SEO Strength by E-Commerce Times
Brandon Leibowitz
Link Building for Small eCommerce Sites by SEOmoz
Rob Ousbey
Linktive tries to end the SEO gaming with a social network for site links byTechCrunch Europe
Mike Butcher
Link Building from A to Z by SEOmoz
Wiep Knol
Link Building Tactics 101, Part 2 by Search Engine Watch (August)
Ron Jones
SEO Keyword Research
Peering into Match-Types: The Hidden Info Advantage of the Google Adwords Keyword Research Tool by The Acquisio Blog
Naoise Osborne
What Parts of Marketing Can’t be Automated? by SEO Book
Aaron Wall
SEO Keyword Tools
Do more with less – Part 3 of 3 by Indside AdWords
Amanda Kelly
An Insider’s Look At Google’s Search Based Keyword Tool by Search Engine Land
Josh Dreller
Free Keyword Suggestion Tools by Marketing ROI or Die
Rebekah Paul
Use Multiple Keyword Research Services with KeywordSmash by Search Engine Journal
Ann Smarty
4 tools for measuring your keyword strength by iMedia Connection
Bob Alperin
Improving Keyword Research by SEO Wizardry
Pete Hollier
Local Search Tips, Tactics and Tools
Search Engine Confidence Score Has A Google-Like Feel by MediaPost Online Media Daily
Laurie Sullivan
Gettin’ to Know GetListed.org by SEOmoz
Rebecca Kelley
3 Keys To Success For Local Search SEO by Search Engine Journal
Ryan Caldwell
How Citations Help with Local Search by ClickZ
Mary Bowling
Leveraging Reverse Search For Local SEO by Search Engine Land
Chris Silver Smith
A Framework for Thinking About Local Search Campaigns by Mihmorandum
David Mihm
Local Search Strengthens Move To Maps, Reviews by MediaPost Online Media Daily
Laurie Sullivan
Tools for Local Search by ClickZ
Mary Bowling
Local Search 101, Part 2 by Search Engine Watch
Ron Jones
A Closer Look At Local Search Ranking Factors by Search Engine Land
David Mihm
I Think Yahoo Neighbors Could Be Huge by Small Business Search Marketing
Matt McGee
Local Listing: An Attempt to Understand Rank Factors by SEOmoz
Tim Sorweid
Despite Assurances, Google Place Pages Now Showing In Search Results by Search EngineLand
Greg Sterling
Citysearch Rolls Out Twitter Integration On Business Listing Page by MediaPost Online Media Daily
Laurie Sullivan
When All Search Is Local by ClickZ
Mary Bowling
The Insidious Nofollow Tag: An SEO Rant
Sunday, February 14th, 2010I’m normally a positive, upbeat kind of guy, and as someone who’s been writing professionally since the days of disco, rarely at a loss for words. Yet mention the “nofollow” tag, and that all changes. I, like many other many other web marketing professionals, am left sputtering with a mix of disgust and rage, fumbling for an adjective that conveys sufficient contempt: despicable, vile, loathsome, abhorrent, abominable, wretched, odious, detestable, downright evil.
The nofollow tag was misguidedly inflicted upon the online world by Google in 2005. According to Wikipedia (among the worst nofollow offenders), “The nofollow HTML attribute was originally designed to stop comment spam on blogs. Blog readers and bloggers were well aware of the immense problem. Just like any other type of spam affects its community, comment spam affected the entire blogging community, so in early 2005 (Google and Blogger engineers) designed the attribute to address the problem and the nofollow attribute was born.”
Though the originators of WordPress have developed a far more elegant and inoffensive solution to the comment spam problem with Akismet, the execrable nofollow tag remains with us, like a cancer impervious to drugs or radiation.
The justification for the continued use of this repugnant scrap of code is to prevent passing link juice from listings on directory and social bookmarking sites to spammy or other objectionable content. But, to be charitable, the nofollow tag is to the world of web links what “let’s just be friends” is to romantic relationships. It’s a way for site owners to say: “I’m happy to use your content to build my traffic, but not to reciprocate. I don’t want anyone to think we’re together.”
An alarming number of once-respectable social bookmarking sites—Digg, delicious, Mister Wong, Reddit, Mixx, Bibsonomy, Jumptags, Faves, Yahoo! Buzz, Simpy—have now instituted dastardly nofollow tags. It’s easy to determine if your favorite site should now become an ex-favorite, just “view source” in your browser and search for rel=”nofollow.” If it’s there for any reason other than Pagerank sculpting (e.g. nofollowing pages like “Contact Us”), move along. If you’re trying to promote your own content, it won’t work. If you are trying to promote some else’s, you won’t help them much.
Hey, here’s a novel idea: if someone is using your blog, social media site or directory to link to spam, porn, hate speech, discount online pharmaceuticals, miracle weight loss nonsense, or work-at-home scams—DELETE THE LINK. Why is okay to have such crap listed on your site, regardless of whether or not you’re passing link juice?
In fairness, this pernicious string of characters once served a purpose, as a less-than-ideal solution to a serious problem. But today, Akismet solves the link spam problem on blogs. The community can be used to solve the problem on social bookmarking sites. A little bit of old-fashioned work can deal with issue on directory sites.
I’m not alone on this. It’s time to demand better, to rid the world of the reprehensible, insidious nofollow tag once and for all. Ideally, Google should announce it’s no longer recognizing the tag. Absent that, site owners should boycott it. And if they don’t, users should walk.
Note: This post was originally published on the WebMarketCentral blog in October 2009. But it all remains true.
Best of 2009: SEO Tips and Tactics, Part 2
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010Is it really impossible to optimize a Flash website? How can social media profiles help with SEO? Is your website optimized for the way search engines work now, or are your SEO efforts still focused on yesterday’s ranking factors? Which best practices and advanced SEO techniques should you be taking advantage of? What characteristics and skills are most important for SEO? How much should SEO really cost, and how can you avoid hiring an SEO consultant who is incompetent (or worse)? Which helpful tools may be missing from, or underutilized in your SEO toolkit?
Find the answers to these questions and many others here in more of the best SEO articles and blog posts from 2009.
How to SEO Flash by Hochman Consultants
Jonathan Hochman writes that “Flash gets a bad rap” for optimization, and explains in detail how to SEO a Flash website. Another great post on this topic is The Ultimate Fast Guide to SEO + Flash by MediaPost Online Media Daily, in which Rachel Moran prescribes mixing HTML and Flash, using optimization tools and other techniques for enhacing search results for Flash sites.
10 Ways to Be a Great SEO by Search Engine Journal
Matt Leonard advises that to be a great SEO, the key is to simply “get things done,” including using a variety of keyword tools, being a team player, and valuing goals beyond rankings. Another fantastic post from Matt is The ABCs of a Great SEO Leader in which he walks through the alphabet of attributes critical to SEO leadership, from A (analytical) to Z (zero mistakes).
How Social Media Profiles Help with Search Engine Optimization by Social Media Today
Jim Tobin shows how individuals can use tools like blogging, social media profiles and podcasts to rank highly for their own name.
10 Things You Can Do To Optimize for Image Search by Search Engine Journal
Saptarshi Roy Chaudhury demonstrates how to use image files names, alt tags, surrounding text and other atrributes to show up well in image searches. In another key post for SEOs, 9 Reasons Your Website Can Have a High Bounce Rate by Search Engine Journal, Saptarishi explains how a high bounce rate can diminish the effect of SEO efforts, and how to make websites not only more attractive to visitors but also more sticky.
4 ways to make long-tail search deliver by iMedia Connection
Craig Greenfield makes the case that “long-tail strategies…can create healthy, long-term growth for search marketers” and provides a four-step plan for long-tail search.
The Search Taxonomy: Getting Inside the Mind of the Searcher by SEO Book
In this long and detailed post, Peter Da Vanzo covers a tremendous amount of ground, from eye-tracking studies and understanding search demographics to recognizing commercial intent in searches and analytics.
Is Everything You Know About SEO Wrong? by aimClear Blog
Maybe not everything, but Matt Peterson here reviews the results of a panel discussion on SEO Ranking Factors in 2009 from the SMX Advanced 2009 event, with commentary on what works now for SEO-as opposed to what used to work-from experts like Rand Fishkin, Marty Weintraub and Danny Sullivan.
SEO Ranking Factors for 2009 by WebProNews
Mike McDonald provides his own take on SMX Advanced 2009 here, outlining the most important current ranking factors with title tags and anchor text at the top of the list. You may be surprised by what’s no longer as important as it used to be for SEO.
30+ Advanced SEO Tactics, Techniques and Resources (55+ Links) by SEOptimise
Tad Chef offers up an outstanding list of SEO tactics and techniques for website design, anlaytics, content creation, link acquisition, social media outreach and more.
SEO Best Practices: SEOmoz’s New Policies Based on Updated Correlation Data by SEOmoz
Using hard data, Danny Dover analyzes key factors for ranking and provides best practices for each along with the reasoning behind each recommendation.
Small Business SEO: Costs, Expectations & Realities by Small Business Search Marketing
Matt McGee details five key points to help small business owners understand more about SEO, pricing, and services.
The 12 Skills That Have Served Me Best in My SEO Career by SEOmoz
Rand Fishkin shares the skills that have made him a recognized leader in the field of search engine optimization, from having an analytical mindset and some technical knowledge of how the Internet works to writing proficiency and (possibly most important), “a thick skin.”
SEO Predators: Willing to Decieve For Business by aimClear Blog
Reminiscent of my post on SEOmoz, Just Say No to Bad SEO, Marty Weintraub here warns prospective SEO buyers about the danger of shady, johnny-come-lately SEO wannabes, writing “the latest generation of predatory SEO creeps proffer blatantly false information camouflaged by pretty reports. Deceptively branded reports aside, buyer beware when the snakes come to call. Here’s some hard facts to dispel this week’s crap-ass haze of myths and misinformation.”
The Ultimate List of Basic SEO Resources for a Kick-Ass Start by Search Engine Journal
The brilliant Ann Smarty shares her list of high-quality resources for those new (and even not so new) to SEO, ranging from the SEObook Glossary and the SEO Cheat Sheet by SEOmoz to Matt McGee’s SEO Checklist.
Demystifying Google Webmaster Tools Reports, Part 2 by ClickZ
Erik Dafforn provides an excellent walk-through of the functions and capabilities of Google’s Webmaster tools.
