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  • SEO Factor Blog

    October 9, 2006 As with all things in the website world, the idea, practice, and importance of link popularity is always changing. The rule used to simply be, “get as many links as you can from anywhere at all.” This is no longer so. After that rule, it became, “make sure the site linking to you is relevant in some way.” While this still holds true, the term “relevant” has undergone some modifications. It has never been to difficult to find sites that are remotely related to another with a little bit of time and initiative. So it was easy to make this rule work in the favor of the SEO Specialist. Very soon after that rule, it became the next to most recent one, “make sure it’s a relevant site, that has a higher PR (read more inbound links) than your site.” This made it just a little bit more tedious and tricky. Hence the price for a “real” link popularity service. But it was still easy to manipulate in your favor. But you know what’s not easy to manipulate? Someone else’s page all together.

    Enter the new definition of “relevant” in the website world. What Google is leaning toward is not only link popularity, but that the relevant site should make use of internal linking within their content, using the desired search terms for the linked site. Confused? Let’s digress.

    I have a pet store site. I have a good ranking for all my “dog” terms. (dog food, leashes, whatever). But the terms for all my “cat” products result in nothing. So I will need to modify my link-building campaign a little to gear toward the feline-loving community. During my search I get a link on some other pet store in a different state. They agree to make the anchor tag reflect my desire. This helps, but more importantly they make use of internal linking with key terms such as “cat leashes” or “cat nip” or “cat shaving device.” (I couldn’t help it) The fact that this site makes use of these terms in internal linking give it a lot more relevance in relation to my inbound link.

    So, as this goes further, be ever more vigilant when approaching another site in reference to link exchanging/requesting. I know this post was a bit tricky, so as always, please feel free to e-mail me.

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  • SEO Factor Blog

    October 10, 2006 Google goes through yet another growth spurt with it’s recent acquisition of YouTube. Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer of Google, justifies the $1.65 billion payment with “Our companies share similar values; we both always put our users first and are committed to innovating to improve their experience. Together, we are natural partners to offer a compelling media entertainment service to users, content owners and advertisers.” This is nothing new for Google. They have a history of buying products, software and even industries to so to integrate them and make it their own. You may remember when Google purchased SketchUp, a CAD software, not only using it to enhance Google Earth, but providing the software for free to the public. That’s pretty neat if you ask me. But what will this mean for YouTube? Google suggests that the company will remain independent of Google, keeping it’s brand recognition and retaining it’s employees. My vote is that Google will use YouTube to further enhance and market Google Video, while making use of the advertising real estate that YouTube can provide. This may actually be the last of acquisitions for a while though, as Sergey Brin, Co-Founder & President, stated that they are going to back off the mergers and acquisitions for a while to concentrate more of their efforts to the search engine itself. This is incredible news to me, as we are seeing a lot of pitfalls and downward spirals with Google’s searching capabilities as of late, and I for one would like to see a resolution.

    We shall see.

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  • SEO Factor Blog

    October 9, 2006 Google filed for a patent recently that would allow for algorithmic ranking, along with the efforts of human editing. This would mean that the build of the work in determining ranking and results would rest with a computer, but would be helped with the integration of editorial opinion. You can read the patent details here. So, what does this mean? This means that there is a chance that a human will make a piece of the decision on how relevant or beneficial a site would be in reference to it’s visibility online. So it would be a good idea to make sure that your sites are indeed built for the human. This shouldn’t be anything new, but will help to re enforce what is considered acceptable SEO practice. Sites shouldn’t really be built for the search engines, but for the end user/visitor/buyer. Even as a consultant, I often tell my clients that we will not be optimizing a site for the search engines as my title implies, but optimizing a site to show the search engines what the site is all about. When you concentrate on the search engines, you neglect what is really important, and what the site was created for in the first place, the customer. This patent will force that along because there will be a person looking at your site and giving an opinion on how important the site is to the online community, how relevant it is to it’s desired search terms, and whether or not it will be considered an authoritative source of information or services. So if you’re creating a site for the algorithmic machine, then you’re probably going to be disappointed when someone at Google looks at your site with destain and sends it to the bottom of the list.

    However. Just because a search engine submits for a patent, it doesn’t mean that they will implement any of the changes. These are public records, and could very well be a ‘Art of War’ kind of situation. Smoke and Mirrors. Illusions of the mind. Either way, the same rule holds true. Make a nice site, for your customers. Not some stupid robot.

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  • SEO Factor Blog

    October 9, 2006 A lot of times people ask me where I get my information or where they should start reading to learn more about SEO. I usually reply with a half cocky/half joking “read my blog, it has all you need to know.”

    Obviously this is not the truth, as no one person can know all there is to know about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). And even if there were, that person would not likely also know everything there is to know about Search Engine Marketing (SEM). So, giving credit to Rand Fishkin at SEOmoz, the following link is to his list of the blogs he reads. Mine is not quite as extensive due to particular tastes and such, but this is a great way to go through a lot of the bigger names, and make a list of your own.

    Ranking 50 Top Blogs in the Search Space

    WebproWorld also has a great post by incredible help on ‘SEO, Where Do I Begin?’

    I do want to point something out about resources though. I can honestly and humbly say that the list and most of the mods at WebproWorld know more of SEO, have more experience, and could likely out rank me any day. But in this field, learning what it is, and knowing what it is are 2 different things. I could claim all day long that the information I give is correct, that I have ranked many sites well, and have a 100% success rate (I really don’t). But in this whole blog have I ever once mentioned a single URL in my hands? Nope, not once. So why believe me? Those I work with and reading this do because they have seen it. But if you are visiting from outside of our little circle, you shouldn’t. I try very hard to make sure I am conveying information correctly, but it is always best to try these things out yourself before holding it as gospel. There is a saying in physics (yes Billy, it’s a saying in mathematics too…jerk) that until something has been measured, and assigned a number, it does not exist. Or something like that, it’s been a while since I was in school. All I’m saying is that all the book knowledge that can possibly be attained, is no match for real-world experience. So just because someone tells you it’s true, doesn’t mean it is until you have tried it yourself.

    I hope these resources help. There is a plethora of great information out there. You just have to reach out and grab it.

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  • SEO Factor Blog

    October 18, 2006 The following is a link to a post at SEOMoz. Rand started to compile information for on-page optimization efforts, and provided all of us with this invaluable information.

    Rand’s List of Search Engine Ranking Factors

    RSS feed for comments on this post.

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  • SEO Factor Blog

    October 9, 2006 There are a bunch of them. I would like to share some of my favorites. First, though, I would like to say a thing. All tools are not 100%. Nothing is. Tools for SEO are online and rely on information given by different sources. For example, there are tools that check link popularity. Google will not ever let you know how many links they consider. This would give a little info on how they determine ranking and they don’t want that. Some tools check for ranking. Ranking is a relative term. Google has many different data centers, and a site that ranks 23 for a keyword on one center, may show a different rank on a different center. So let’s look at some neat tools to use.

    Site Report Card

    This one is a pretty cool overall tool that shows a few different aspects of a site that can and likely do affect rankings. It shows different aspects on a scale of 0-10. It’s a good idea to get everything as close to a 10 as possible, but not always easily done as some Flash conventions are not seen as acceptable for this one. It also shows link popularity and inclusion which is a good way to judge how many of your pages are indexed. Also, the spell check shows less than satisfactory results sometimes, as there are words that we say and type that aren’t in the tool’s dictionary.

    Overture Keyword Selection

    This is a tool that was setup to show how many times a certain word or term was searched for in a month’s time. This can help decide on what terms you want to optimize and market your site for. If you were thinking about a term that got 10 searched last month, might want to look at other terms. If there were 17,234,879,240 searches, might want to look at variation of a term with the next tool.

    Google Keyword Tool

    This is one of my favorites. This tool will show you a vast number of variations of a word or term, so that you aren’t trying to get your site to be number 1 on Google with the term “cell phone.” So you can check into other terms, use the previous search tool from overture, and decide on your best plan of action for optimization and marketing.

    Search Engine Watch, SEO Book, WebProWorld Sometimes, the best tool in the world is the help of others. These are two of my most favoritest forums and my favorite blog (next to mine, of course). I have yet to even ask a question that was not answered, and the amount of information provided here is immense. Make sure to get more than one opinion though. In the real world, people have a tendency to speak on things that they don’t completely understand or even remotely have experience in. Also, learn to know the mods on these. You will start to notice that the majority of the posts are answered by a few individuals, and they are incredibly smart.

    There are also a number of other tools out there that “check meta tags.” Please be wary of these. I’m not saying not to use, but I am saying that everybody has their idea of what is acceptable. WideXL, for example will tell you there are too many keywords or shine out your “poison” words. First, if I have 21 keywords, don’t tell me I have too many of something Google doesn’t look at. Obviously you probably don’t want to have 5000 keywords as there are some search engines that use them, and a hit is a hit (if it’s relevant). And “lingerie” is not a poison word. Look up “lingerie” in Google. See number 1. Look at their keywords. Yeah.

    So, check out these tools, research your SEO, be mindful of the information and/ or advice you get. Even from here. I try my hardest to keep the information here as correct as I can, but everyone makes mistakes. Unless you have tested it and counted the consequence, it hasn’t really happened in your world.

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  • SEO Factor Blog

    October 6, 2006 We have discussed meta tags and the such. Now we will discuss the content that is on your homepage. The content is in part how the search engines know what your site is all about. They can’t see pictures, so naturally they will have to read your site. I do want to point out, with saying that, a picture of words will not count. This is often done in Photoshop, Flash, or some other imaging software to create effects on a website. So be sure that the text on the site is “real” HTML text. There are a lot of debates about the number of words that should appear on the homepage. 250 words is thrown around a lot. Try to think of it like this. If you are an expert in an area, you’re probably gonna have a lot to say about a subject. So, if you have a lot to say about a subject, the search engines will feel that you are an expert in that area, and likely want to show you first. Google themselves said 500 words one time, but again, don’t do things for the search engines, do it for your customer(s). And you obviously want to educate your customers right. We like to throw out the 250 words number because it’s not a whole lot of work to get that much, and it will give ample opportunity to use the terms that you want to be found under. Now we come to density. You are proving to a search engine that you are relevant to a certain term. What better way than to use that term? Let’s stop for just a second. I’m gonna repeat something again. If I could, I would put a disclaimer between every single word I write so that it get hammered into your brain. You don’t want to do things for the search engines. You want to prove to them that you are relevant, not trick them into thinking so. There is a way of density known as “stuffing.” Basically this means that you are placing your terms all over the place to show your relevancy. Don’t get caught up in that mind set. Let us continue. This is why it’s a good idea to still have a keywords tag. You want to be mindful of the terms that you want to be found under. So try to use these terms at a minimum of one time each. Your title is the most important, so should contain at least five of your most important search terms. Yahoo! especially puts priority on the title tag. Don’t use more than 80 characters, some reports are saying 70. You will want to have a good percentage of density of your title words in your text. Try for around 5%, but don’t exceed 10%-12%. Too much looks like spam or stuffing. So, for all you 6th grade dropouts, that would be 5 times for every 100 words on the homepage. Reassure your customers, this sounds like a lot, but when you write out 100 words, 5 instances of a word is not a lot at all. You will likely use the word “the” 15-20 times.

    It’s also a good idea to give weight to your title words. The H1 tag has the most weight, bolding words is a good idea and bold internal links to a page that is about that term is great. Your main search terms should also be as close, if not at the top of your text, and should all be in close proximity of each other if at all possible. Again, you hear to place the exact title on the top of your site. Think about this. If my title is “funny, stupid, mean, crazy, offensive, shirts, Jacksonville, fl,” how is that gonna look on your site. Not very good I say. Just be sure to show weight and importance to these terms. Don’t overdue it. Remember, you want your site to look good for your customer at the same time revealing what your site is all about to the search engines.

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  • SEO Factor Blog

    October 9, 2006 In my position as a consultant on SEO, I seem to be getting an increase in the amount of customers asking why their designer had not considered the changes I suggest. Some of these questions are usually followed by “that jerk. I’ve been dealing with his crap for too long.” So are there really that many bad designers out there? I say no. Here’s why… SEO is a very analytical and tedious process, and in most cases deals solely with black and white. Most SEO specialist care not for the aesthetics of a site, giving only worry to how well it is written and how it functions on a search engine. I seem to have grown into this position because of it’s appeal to the nerd in me. I was great at math growing up, and I became a programmer in low level compile languages at an early age. My brain seems to like things that can be measured and assigned a number. I can give you all sorts of neat little formulas on finding the weight and height of a dog. But please don’t ask me to draw one. One of my best friends and co-workers is a website designer. He can do some really neat things with animation and design programs, and implement them into a site making some of the nicest pages I get to see online. He grew up in a very artistic environment, learning to play multiple musical instruments at an early age, and becoming a painter later in his life. He could create on canvas the most beautiful landscape, but when we argue on politics and I give him the middle finger as I walk away, I can almost see him trying to count. So what does this mean? Who is a better person to employ with your website? Should you fire the designer that didn’t do a good job on getting your site seen? My answer is this. If you are number 1 on Google under a specified search term, but your site looks like a 3 year old drew it with a crayon and scanned it into the computer, how well do you think your sales will be? And if have you the best looking site on the Internet, but nobody even sees it, what then? You need to have a touch of both. There are designers out there that do have a mind for SEO, and vice versa for SEO Specialists, but in order to get the best out of your online investment, you will really need to implement the workings of both. In a perfect world, you cold get both in the same step, and some companies offer this, but can get a little costly. Usually you already have a site and need someone to optimize it, working with your current designer. The nice thing about our industry (that of creating an online presence) is that there is usually a mutual respect, and to work with a designer is usually not a difficult task. There are some that feel threatened one a client introduces someone into an already established relationship, but that usually fades once it is made clear on what you are hired to do.

    So to all you out there that have a site designed, and a designer on call, and call me wanting to know why your site is not doing well in respect to traffic and should you fire your designer, realize what you hired that designer for in the first place.

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  • SEO Factor Blog

    October 7, 2006 I recently read forum post on the three signs of a nightmare client, and was thinking, “wow, I get a lot of problems from customers wanting too much for too little.” I thought it would be a good idea to talk about time and return.

    It starts with the submission. Google is known to have the longer time period of the three big boys. I haven’t really had a problem with them, and usually get my sites indexed in about a week or 2. Every once in a while it takes about 4 or 5 weeks, but that also has a lot to do with a lack of a full site. (that’s a killer by the way. I learned the hard way. Don’t start submitting and marketing a half-built site). DMOZ should be your main submission goal. Being human-edited though, it can take some serious time to be indexed. Sometimes as long as 18 months. Yeah, no shit. But it is also used by a number of search engines as a means of including a site.

    So now you are in Google and have submitted to DMOZ, why is your site not on page one? Because there are almost 50 million other sites out there in the same category. I used to often get a customer’s pissed off call because I have been working on their site for about 2 weeks and they are not number 1 on Google when searching for “car.” Yeah….that’s odd. I say “used” because I have learned a few lessons in my young life, and am now secure enough to turn a potential customer away. With so many sites out there, you have to prove yourself. You have to prove that your site is relevant and important and should be ranked well. We have been talking about this and will continue to do so in detail, but this article is on time, not optimization details. Anyway, you have to have an optimized site (which takes time), and you have to get link popularity (which takes even more time when done legitimately). Also, a new site has to compete with sites that have been in the search engines for a great amount of time. It’s not always the determining factor, but tenure can have an effect on a site’s ranking. It’s the Internet. It takes time. Do yourself a favor and let your future customer know what to expect up front. I usually tell my customer’s that the design and initial optimization of a site shouldn’t be longer than 2 or three months. (keep in mind this is an average on a fairly simple site). At which point I continue with SEO maintenance and link building. We also do some neat things with press releases and other marketing tactics that are really opening some doors for us and in turn our customers. I advise that you should see some form of substantial result at 6 months. At 10 – 12 months, the customer’s expectations should have been met. Some of you don’t have customer’s as much as you consult for a larger company. This consultation involves just that, consulting, and the lack of actual implementation yourself. Advise your customer, after a change has been made, for better or worse, there should be some change at about 3 – 4 weeks. This is often plenty of time for a re crawl and redetermination of ranking. Obviously, there are exceptions to every rule, and again, this is a loose timeline. I try to stick to this standard to keep me safe though. If things are great early, you have a happy customer and you are done. If things are half way done 3 months too late, you have a mad customer that will tell everyone they contact, and you are still stressing the work on a site. Not a good situation.

    Well, I hope this helps with the time issue.

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  • SEO Factor Blog

    October 7, 2006 We shall now go into the actual code of your site. “Code” is used loosely here as HTML is actually a mark-up language, but we aren’t here to talk that. HTML is the language used to create your website. Even if you have a software that makes a site in a strictly interface or visual environment, it still makes HTML in some fashion, whether you see it or not. Knowing SEO doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to know HTML like the back of your hand, but it certainly helps to at least know some of the basics. If you wanna good beginning tutorial about HTML or a few other website development languages, check out Tizag. When a search engine looks at your site, there are a lot of variables that go into the determination of your ranking. One thing can be how well your site is written. Well, not so much that, but how few errors and problems your code creates. You will want to try to be mindful of what tags and methods are accepted, and which ones are not. You don’t want to make use of any methods that keep a search engine from seeing everything on your site. This can make them loose faith in your page and in return give you a lower ranking than the next guy. You can check out the latest of the accepted methods by visiting w3.org. It can really be as simple as having too much code where code is not needed. This is one thing to be mindful when creating a website in any sort of point-and-click environment like Dreamweaver or Front Page. These are both decent products, but create a lot of unnecessary code that will slow or stop a search engine browser. This will also affect your loading time, and that can bug a potential customer into leaving your site before you get a chance to show your goods. One of the first things to be sure of is the Doctype. The Doctype is mandatory for most mark-up languages. It is an explanation of the type of language used in the site for the search engine browser. You will want to make sure that you are including the appropriate Doctype, which can be validated here at w3.org. HTML should also be kept “clean.” What I mean by this, is make sure that you don’t have a lot of code that is not doing anything and has absolutely no need. Make things easy to read. As complex as the program that determines ranking is, the crawler is very simple. It can’t go through too much work to get the information it needs, so don’t try to make it. This is also true for the content on your page. Try to get to the good stuff as soon in your code as possible. This will show to the search engines faster and make things easier on them…those lazy crawlers. Hmmm….perhaps my kids learned this from Google. Don’t make repeating movements like trying to bold an H1 tag. It’s already bold and it won’t help you to double it up.

    CSS is a very good way to manage the layout of your site easily and effectively. CSS will also help to keep your code clean as you can keep a separate CSS file that your page will call to for design information. Make use of this as much as you can. And try to make use of the external CSS when at all possible. Putting CSS in the HEAD of the site adds a lot of code, and thus making for a messy bed. More on learning CSS can also be found on Tizag.

    JavaScript is also a great language that can give your site that extra spice it needs. JS is used a lot for pretty buttons and flashy things, but is also cool for actions like games and such. This can also be called from another file often and should be. If you have to use some in the HEAD of your site, try to make sure it is below your meta information. An error in either CSS or JS can cause a search engine to not even see what comes after it.

    It’s a good idea to be sure that your site is acceptable by the search engines browsers. A good tool to check for errors and warning can be found here at Site Report Card. You don’t want any errors at all, and as few warnings as possible. Things like Flash and some other methods aren’t really covered, so may show as a warning. But not likely an error, so a warning here and there might be OK. You really want to score a 10 all across the board.

    Again, a lot of “easy” website development programs are great for the beginner. But if you want to do the best for your site that you can, it would really help to learn a little HTML and CSS. Perhaps build what you want with a simple-to-use creator, and go through the code with a little knowledge and clean what you can. It will help a great deal and make you SEO life a lot easier.

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