SEO Tips to Create Stronger Trust & Domain Authority
Posted on 15. Oct, 2011 by Jeffrey Smith in Blog, SEO Tips, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing
Theoretically, websites do not get stronger by themselves, they need help. While aging a website is a factor for prolonged growth in rankings, today’s SEO tip shared below works by virtue of on-site evolution in tandem with elevated digital trust and authority (the real purpose of SEO).
Create Stronger Websites and Rankings
The undeniable value of adding topical theme-relevant content is imperative for long-term positioning. Why, you might ask? Because as your website grows, your opportunity to raise your website’s SEO ceiling (the range of competitive keywords you can rank for by default/virtue of your websites trust, age and theme) shift and evolve concurrently.
For example, approaching SEO (without website authority), you might think of producing rankings the hard way (trying to rank before you have the clout and authority using links alone) vs. building authority and rankings emerging as if by default from the correlation of your on site optimization strategy with minimal off site dependency.
As a testament to this method, our website ( SEO Design Solutions ) can rank in 10 minutes from publishing a keyword in a title in a blog post for a keyword up to 4,000,000 competing pages in phrase match (which would take a less authoritative site months to rank). Our websites SEO ceiling is higher due to authority and trust. This in turn allows us to devour less competitive keywords with ease, often by simply creating a page (and building a few themed internal links).
The beautiful thing is, this is a scalable, repeatable SEO tactic. Although, it does require long-term dedication, the results are immense when you implement a strategic content development plan based on topical nodes of relevance within a market.
The genuine premise is based on leaving no page behind or rather understanding the life cycle of what and how a webpage will evolve and eventually serve as a topical/pivotal hub. The distinction of this tactic is that it allows a skilled SEO practitioner to set the stage organically and allow their SEO seeds to unfold over time vs. just focusing on landing pages and links alone.
For example, if your website architecture and link-flow are properly formatted from the onset, meaning:
- Capping links between pages (meaning minimizing excessive leaks from a high volume of navigation or contextual links) such as capping links on a page to under 50 links (for navigational links) or capping contextual links to 1 link for every 100 words of body content (i.e. 500 words 5 contextual links).
- Prevention of duplicate content from recurring elements in sidebars or templates (which neutralize relevancy on the page level and prevent a page from passing optimal ranking factor to other mission critical landing pages).
- Page specific landing pages are created in the root folder (using exact match URL’s, succinct titles, reflective H1 and H2 tags and meta data).
- An internal linking strategy (including internal link thresholds) are planned and executed (via dripping internal links in content over time).
- Then you can funnel ranking factor at leisure to dozens, hundreds or thousands of landing pages over time.
The first prerequisite for grooming a favorable search engine ranking is simple; create a page specifically that corresponds to your keyword. After the “exact match” landing page is completed, not you have a destination to provide internal link weight to those “exact match” shingles (keywords or group of words).
The more dynamic the website, the more opportunity for growth, mind you, this means leaving no page behind (through lack of internal links, and / or link flow).
I suggest you plan on getting 3-5 links min. for internal “supporting article” pages. Even though their purpose may not be to get ranked, if they are not indexed or have enough citation (on page or off page) then they are virtually useless unless cultivated.
So, if you are expecting to “just add content” without rhyme, reason or strategy and you inadvertently neglect to (a) get the supporting page sufficient link-flow (from on site or off site means), then those pages cannot pass along any on page reputation, since (b) those pages alone (without support) are not considered authoritative.
One way to accomplish this simply is through RSS syndication and promotion of deep nested URL’s from your category or supporting article pages (using RSS aggregators to ping other services that create instant backlinks).
To develop backlinks on auto pilot, you can leverage properties such as technorati, icerocket, jumptags, amplify and other RSS syndication sources provide trusted backlinks that pass the necessary validation for a search engine to assess the page as worthy.
The key to this technique is to create internal pages budding with links from outside sources, while simultaneously scaling additional content (through website silo architecture). The process works by cultivating pages that can attract their own links (2) those pages eventually gain Page Rank and/or domain trust and (3) they become pages that (a) rank and (b) can pass along vital ranking factor vs. an orphaned page (that previously, you may have inadvertently expected to create value). The stronger all your pages are, the stronger the website becomes.
The takeaway is:
1) Create stellar on page content for the long-haul (create content that can stand the test of time and eventually stem to rank for additional keywords and key phrase variations).
2) Get links to internal pages from (a) tactful internal links (b) categorical sitemaps (c) other theme relevant internal pages and (d) deep links from a variety of IP sources.
3) Never underestimate the budding of authority (pages you forget about today could be stable landing pages of tomorrow and stem into a steady baseline of improved traffic and conversions.
So, create with the long-term purpose of building an authoritative website using expert content that is both compelling, engaging and worthy of syndication and allow that syndication /citation to explode through exceeding the tipping point / thresholds for their primary “groomed” keywords.
Coupled with a firm understanding of a hierarchical structure (using themes and keyword clusters) you can scale over time (much like Wikipedia) to devour an entire semantic market, one keyword at a time.
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3 Painful Keyword Research Pitfalls to Avoid!
Posted on 19. Sep, 2011 by Jeffrey Smith in Blog, DWS, Keyword Research, SEO Tips, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing
The primary reason why people use search engines is to find answers. Therefore, your websites success depends on whether or not you fully understand the questions people are searching for (the cause behind the cause) and to which degree your landing pages answer those questions or solve their problems.
He is "NOT"searching for "exercise equipment"…
This is known as finding the pain (as the image clearly illustrates above) and serving up the perfect pain killer is a prime directive for conversion.
In fact, this feedback/cycle of problem/solution, seek and satiate the query / modality is hard-wired into the human psyche and represents the springboard for landing pages and high conversions – if the context of why they are searching is present and if those pages deliver the proper solution to the prospect at the right time in the sales cycle.
If proper timing, relevance and value converge (from users finding their solution), the end result is a predictable / natural conclusion, i.e. a sale, opt in or predictive action. This is where search engine optimization, (much like a game of chess) gets interesting. Many often make the mistake of targeting one keyword vs. targeting multiple keywords and devouring the online conversation through including tactful modifiers, synonyms or commercially laden suggestive phrases in tandem with primary keywords.
If you logically target a cluster of phrases that overlap and have continuity, the likelihood of your website or landing page appearing on multiple nodes of the search /solution phase when people are most impressionable are increased.
In other words, if you can span the gamut from the niche oriented long tail phrases, up through the category defining popular phrases and breach the primary educational queries with well positioned content, the you own the conversation for that market.
3 Painful Keyword Research Pitfalls
Rather than tell you what to do, let’s start out with a few examples of keyword research pitfalls to avoid.
- Not understanding your audience.
- Not understanding the difference between profitable/lucrative keywords and keyword “duds”.
- Failing to implement a bridge that effectively communicates value to the ideal prospect (or communicating the wrong message to the wrong audience).
Using the gentlemen in the image above, I can assure you he is not looking for “a book about back pain”, he is “looking for relief”, quickly! Trying to sell him something preventative (after the fact, is a perfect example of wrong product, wrong time, wrong prospect.
Someone who injured their back slightly and is showing minor symptoms or is considering long-term recovery options however, may benefit from an e-book or alternate method (something less urgent). So, to rule out an e-book “back pain relief” / offer is not senseless, it merely requires a different tact and appeals to a different node and demands its own place within the site architecture.
1. Not Understanding Your Audience
Rather than go into a lengthy discussion on the value of context. Rest assured that while people use a vast array of keywords, their intention is the driving factor of why they are searching rather than the phrases. Just consider keywords as doors that represent the gateway to your audience in search engines.
They are either hit or miss and picking the wrong keywords or saying the wrong thing to the wrong prospect (from lack of continuity or otherwise) will not compensate for delving deeper to find the right keywords initially to build your keyword / content framework on.
Your job as a business owner, entrepreneur or webmaster is to vet and extract the most profitable phrases and weave them into your titles meta descriptions, landing pages, header tags, internal links and inbound links so that your website can appear when those searches are conducted. Yet, if you are basing your data gathering on shallow methods, inevitably, the outcome is less than desirable.
There are many ways to extract meaning from a market such as keyword research, competitor research or vertical online market analysis. However, regardless of your method, the following two rules below still apply.
2. The Difference Between Profitable Keywords and Duds
Profitable keywords are not always high traffic volume keywords. You have to understand the question behind the question and appeal to the emotion of the prospect. Value, message match and conversion are important, but if you target the wrong keywords you will never have enough traffic to measure genuine click-throughs in search engines enough to have a valid sample set in which to base present and/or future campaigns.
3. Communicating the Right Message to the Right Audience
To ensure landing pages convert, they should have a sole purpose (to rank for their primary phrase) as determined by where they fit into your industry solution. Keywords can either hit or miss their target and someone searching for something may find it using 100 different keyword variations but men the same thing). This is why you need to map out the most lucrative phrases and then weave a web of relevance through internal links and deep links from other websites.
This process is called keyword stemming (getting a keyword ranked and then using it to spawn dozens, hundreds or thousands of keywords), and by design it is one of the most effective SEO strategies ever devised.
However, to do this deliberately from the onset (like a game of chess unfolding vs. an accidental / circumstantial happenstance) is what differentiates hardcore SEO from neophyte SEO’s throwing darts against the wall with keywords in an attempt to make things stick (and then using a fragmented approach to attempt to rank them).
Organic rankings take time and the last thing you can afford is to focus on keyword duds. Every dollar, link or article you invest should have ROI as the basis. Observing the cluster of phrases and planning a point of entry and plotting your keyword roll-out / development plan is one of the most critical parts of initiating any SEO campaign.
Attention share translates into brand awareness and that brand awareness is the cornerstone to trust and engagement. But let’s get out of the theoretical zone and get down to brass tacks with some viable examples of this modality.
Understanding Informational vs. Commercial Queries
Answers that pertain to problems are opportunities in disguise. The difference between a sale and an informative query often appear quite similar, but in fact, it’s the subtle nuances that distinguish a conversion laden search from a mere query for more information.
You would be surprised how many questions you can find from skimming the analytics of an authority site or even using SEO tools like SEMRush to find out what type of long-tail and mid-tail queries your competitors are already ranking for. You can uncover lots of low hanging fruit and these keywords are “effective keywords” considering they are already responsible for driving traffic (not just grasping at straws unfounded).
Let’s use “back pain” as an example and discuss the two types of queries which one could use to create revenue. One is informational the other is commercial, we will look at both.
Semantic Keyword Cluster for Back Pain
Informational queries tend to be broad in nature. An example of a “broad search” can be represented by someone searching for information on a “herniated disc” or a “hernia” vs. someone searching for “pain relief from hernia” or “how to relieve back pain”. The operative distinction is the use of the modifier relief, relieve, treatment, etc. which represents a more urgent need for a “pain killer/solution”.
From the outside in, as a business owner, you might think your keyword is “back pain”, but there are two considerations to this quandary; (1) the root phrase is the most competitive and (2) you still need to drill deeper into the solution to find the real “pain killer” queries and triggers that will distinguish your offer / landing page from the masses.
You also need to consider that for any “competitive” keyword query, that keyword will need more supporting articles, shingles and instances within a website in order for that website to be considered a valid destination (based on the search engines stringent quality score algorithm).
This means that for one competitive keyword, you may need hundreds of supporting articles (based on the rungs in the ladder/synonyms and modifiers for the topic) to gain enough authority to rank for that competitive keyword.
While many see this as a burden, on the contrary, this is a genuine opportunity for implementing the process of progressive layering of multiple nodes of relevance through content creation by using the less competitive queries (which you can devour along the way) on your way up the food chain to the more lucrative traffic from the root phrase.
Also, keep in mind that more broad traffic (like a flashlight) is not always going to convert higher than a pin-point targeted message and value proposition with a more specific (laser-like) query. So, instead of chasing volume with keywords, chase value (by using tactics like these)…
Chasing Search Value Not Search Volume
After you map out the pain points, you can use magnetic headlines coupled with value propositions to do this such as:
- 3 Proven Tips to Alleviate Back Pain in 10 Minutes or Less.
- 5 Things to Avoid Inflaming Lower Back Pain.
- 4 Foods You Can Eat to Decrease Back Pain.
The use of tactful modifiers and compelling solution based keywords coupled with the primary phrase now provide the context to ensure that your audience is filtered out by default.
You will only attract those looking for “the right solution” which means two things (1) less tire kickers hit your page and (2) the people that do click are more apt to convert. So, instead of you having a measly 1% conversion (1 out of 100 people engaging your offer, opting in to your e-book, or buying your product) can increase to 6-10% conversion or higher (depending on factors such as (a) the graphic appeal (b) the validity of your product (c) trust signals (d) relevance and (e) timing.
The takeaway here is to be specific but look for overlapping synonyms which are all tell tale symptoms of the problem.
I would also scrub the cluster of keywords and find other lucrative missed opportunities to use for additional categories, supporting articles and solutions which need to be addressed for that audience.
Other Theme Relevant Keywords from Back Pain Cluster
Once I found the DNA braid of phrases, I would then logically plot out the stages for market domination using tools like those offered in the Network Empire and provided by tools like the Krakken (not for flimsy SEO’s) these are professional grade tools for those who are serious about taking over markets.
10 Keyword Research Tips
You will need to know:
1) Who your audience is?
2) What they need?
3) How they find what they need (how they search)… and once you unearth that -
4) How to build your industry solution
5) Which keywords are critical or supportive
6) Where they fit into your website’s hierarchy and what emphasis they garner (internal links and / or link building).
7) What type of conversion the objective is (informational) such as an e-book or link to a paid e-book/affiliate offer, physical products (either sold on site or linked from your site to others affiliate offers), CPA or CPL (cost per acquisition or cost per lead) if there are national businesses that will pay for leads or local businesses who can benefit directly from that traffic (with your site as a portal).
8) How long it will take for you to build enough content, internal links, deep links from other sites, traffic and see ROI.
9) A method to map out each keyword, site architecture, internal links, link building and syndication strategy.
10) A process to manage it.
All of those things can be found at www.networkempire.com and you would be wise to join and either be a fly on the wall or start using the tools there to uncover and conquer organic online markets.
I hope you found this post useful and as always, thanks for reading the SEO Design Solutions Blog. Stay tuned for the WP Ultimate theme launch shortly. We have been quiet for over a month now as we prepare our new WordPress theme / framework. It’s nearly ready, so bear with us as we stress test the application prior to the initial launch.
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SEO Training & Learning Resources
Posted on 25. Aug, 2011 by Lee Odden in Blog, SEO Tips, SEO Training, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing
To learn the art and science of SEO (search engine optimization) it is my belief that the best source is your own efforts at hypothesis, experimentation and refinement.
If you’re starting from scratch and really have no idea what SEO is, then certainly one of the popular SEO books would be a appropriate as well as attending an industry conference like SES, SMX, Pubcon or a regional event.
Both Google and Bing have made great efforts at providing webmasters with resources that are worth checking out as well. Online SEO training like that offered by Market Motive (affiliate link) can help those without the time to attend “real world” events.
For brand marketers, I’d suggest checking out the ad:tech New York Marketing Masters SEM Track in November that I’ve been putting together with case studies and best practices SEO and Integrated PPC insights from VW, REI, Salesforce and several others. (shameless plug)
Every other SEO resource has pretty much been covered in posts like this elsewhere on the web but when sourcing any kind of recommended list (including this one) care should be taken as to motive and real-world validity of the advice and information provided. There are plenty of smart pontificators that have taken “make shit up” to an art form, blending reasonable advice with pure theory and packaging it as SEO gospel. In fact, that same dose of healthy skepticism could be applied to anything you find and read on the web.
Literally everything you’d ever want to know about becoming a successful SEO is online, you just have to sort through what’s theory, rant and outdated information. That’s why, if you create a strong base of knowledge through your own testing and direct observation, you’ll be in a better position to filter quality signal from the noise.
Not to overwhelm, but here’s a list of over 100 SEM information sources and another list of over 400 SEM & Online Marketing Blogs that you may find useful in your journey to learn more about SEO.
We just added a review of the 2012 MarketingSherpa SEO Benchmark Report – a great source of data driven insights about SEO. Very useful as a SEO learning tool. A similar resource that we’ve reviewed: Econsultancy SEO Best Practices Guide is also a great aid in learning SEO.
Whether you’ve been in the search engine optimization game for 1 or 10 years, what have you found to be the best sources of information to learn, maintain and advance your SEO knowledge? What would you recommend to a SEO newbie? Or to an in-house interactive marketer with SEO responsibilities but limited time to test and learn on their own?
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SEO Training & Learning Resources | http://www.toprankblog.com
Lose the SEO Lingo and Optimize for Customers
Posted on 22. Aug, 2011 by Lee Odden in Blog, SEO Tips, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing
No doubt, you’ve searched Google or Bing and found web pages that were clearly “optimized” in the name of SEO. That kind of copy might help a page appear higher in search results (less so with Panda) but doesn’t do much for readers once they click through.
When I see those pages, it reminds me of the increasing importance of optimizing for customers and user experience vs. the common overemphasis on search engines. Keep in mind, technical SEO and how bots interact with servers and web pages is timeless, but writing web copy that’s more useful and a better reflection of what customers are looking for, (vs. chasing the most popular keywords alone) just makes sense.
Along those lines I recall reading a SEO blog a long time ago that advised creating websites, copy and links as if search engines didn’t exist. By itself, that seems a bit naive – especially if you’re in a competitive category. Creating, optimizing and promoting content based on customer interests that leads them to a purchase makes the most out of both useful content and SEO best practices. Great SEO copywriting doesn’t read as a list of keywords, but instead balances keyword usage with creative writing that appeals to the reader; educating, influencing and inspiring action.
Consider the difference between these general SEO copywriting recommendations:
Use the most popular keywords at the beginning of title tags, in on-page titles, body copy, anchor text and image alt text in combination with attracting relevant keyword links from other websites so the pages rank high on Google. Higher ranking web pages can result in more visitors and sales.
In comparison, try this advice absent any explicit SEO lingo:
Use the words that matter most to your customers in titles, links and body copy to inform and inspire them to take action. Text used in titles should make it easy for readers to understand the topic of the page quickly, in the first few words. Text used to link from one page to another should give the reader an idea of what they’ll find on the destination page. A consistent approach to titling, labeling and copy in web page text, image annotations, video descriptions and links will create confidence for the reader in the subject matter and inspire sales.
Both recommendations should result in more focused and relevant content for search engines. But the focus on #1 is only on keywords and search engines. The advice in #2 is less SEO specific, but emphasizes relevance from the customer point of view and at the same time, is search engine friendly. Maybe more copywriters would take SEO advice if it didn’t use so much SEO lingo.
Does that seem a like a reasonable difference in approach or more a matter of semantics? Do you think more content producers would implement SEO practices if advice was more customer-centric? Better implementation of SEO best practices by creatively talented and customer focused content producers seems like a win, all around.
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Lose the SEO Lingo and Optimize for Customers | http://www.toprankblog.com
How to Double Up on Traffic and Conversions
Posted on 25. Jul, 2011 by Jeffrey Smith in Blog, SEO Tips, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing
Where you rank matters! And whether or not your listing is above the fold in natural search results or on page two or beyond impacts the click through rate. The only thing better than one result in the top 10 in Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines is two search results in the top 10.
How to Double Traffic and Conversions
This post from the past, amply dubbed >>> SEO Tips to Double Rankings, Traffic and Conversion <<< is one method you can implement to replace competitors with a double listing (on the same page) from your website. Proper SEO is about developing enough critical mass and authority (to occupy more than one result), but at least after reading the post, you will have a better idea on how to implement it in future use to generate more click-throughs and conversion.
As stated above, this is merely one tool in the SEO toolbox, but a good tip to get in front of more prospects search for solutions to their dilemma. Stay tuned for more posts from the past from the SEO Design Solutions Blog.
As always, comments are open and welcomed. Here is the link to the original post SEO Tips to Double Rankings, Traffic and Conversion, pass it on if you like it.
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Quick Guide to Smartphone & Mobile SEO
Posted on 30. Jun, 2011 by Lee Odden in Blog, mobile, mobile seo, SEO Tips, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, smartphone seo
Need to learn more about smartphone and mobile SEO best practices? Let’s start with a few statistics:
According to an infographic from Microsoft Tag, 51% of smartphone users are more likely to buy from a retailer with a mobile specific web site, however: only 4.8% of retailers have a mobile web site.
A recent study by Google, “The Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Users” reports 77% of smartphone users visit search engine websites followed by social networks. And nine out of ten smartphone searches results in an action (purchasing, visiting a business, etc.). Mobile use is growing faster than all of Google’s internal predictions, with YouTube seeing 200 million mobile playbacks a day, according to Eric Schmidt.
To capture the market, marketers and advertisers are increasingly allocating budget to mobile. In fact, eMarketer estimates total mobile advertising spending in the US will reach $1.1 billion this year, which is up 48% over 2010. Mobile search is forecasted to account for up to 10 percent of search budgets with Google capturing 97% of that market.
How can marketers take advantage of the opportunity with mobile search & optimization?
Of course there’s paid search advertising on mobile as there is on the web, but our focus here is on content, social and organic search, so the following tips will emphasize what you can do without advertising.
Fundamental SEO Best Practices – Effective site optimization applies for mobile sites as they would for desktop websites. Search engine accessibility, keywords, content and links all matter with mobile. Keep in mind screen real estate is smaller for keyword use in titles and descriptions. As a primer, check out this post from the Google Webmaster Central Blog, Making Websites More Mobile Friendly.
Mobile Friendly Website – First, decide if you need a dedicated mobile site or if you will present mobile users with a mobile friendly version of your existing site. If you happen to know that a significant number of your customers use traditional mobile phones, then a dedicated mobile site may be warranted. See the “Mobile Filters in Google Analytics” tip below for info on determining your website’s mobile activity.
A custom CSS file can usually accomplish a mobile friendly site for traditional, internet enabled mobile phones or it may be necessary to develop mobile specific pages.
Smartphones can view most websites as a desktop browser would, only smaller and may not need such customization. Another consideration is that some features, such as Flash content, will not display on an iPhone. Hopefully HTML5 adoption will address that. While smartphone use is rapidly rising, there are still a very large number of traditional mobile phones in use. A “mobile friendly” site isn’t exactly a SEO tactic, but if people can’t view your site, there’ not much use in it attracting search traffic.
Mobile URLs & Content - Because of advice given by search engines, many Webmasters have their mobile sites detect user agent access via a mobile device and serve up a mobile friendly site using a different URL such as
- m.mywebsite.com
- www.mywebsite.com/mobile/
That is no longer necessary and website owners can present the appropriate content using the same URL. rel=canonical can be used for desktop content. In all instances, the same content must be served to Googlebot and Googlebot-Mobile as what a user would see. Advantages to a single URL include a single destination for link building and also to facilitate social sharing of pages via mobile phones meant for desktop consumption.
Mobile Keywords – When researching keywords, it’s worth considering that mobile search query strings, on average, are 25 percent shorter than desktop searches. As for mobile keyword research tools, Google’s keyword tool provides a mobile filtering option and the stats you see for Competition, Global and Local Monthly Searches, and Local Search Trends are all specific to the device filter you pick.
Mobile Formatting and Layout - There are many resources for mobile website development. If you want to test how your mobile friendly website will appear, then Mobile Moxie offers an array of handy tools for testing websites on mobile devices. Tools include: Keyword Research, Mobile HTML Code Grader, Mobile Search Engine Indexing & mSEO, Mobile Website Emulator and Phone Comparison, Mobile Search Engine Simulation and Results Comparison.
Mobile Content – In addition to testing the mobile user experience, it’s also important to test the effectiveness of your mobile content. Delivering mobile search traffic to pages is just the beginning with effective mobile marketing. Make sure the content users are interacting with resonates and inspires desired outcomes. Achieving mobile content effectiveness draws on content marketing best practices by knowing customers, their pain points and interests, keywords and social topics. Then apply that insight to your mobile content strategy. There are numerous mobile marketing case studies to draw ideas from to see what’s worked.
Mobile Site Map – Websites that serve only mobile content can provide Google with an XML sitemap. Non mobile URLs should not be included, but URLs that return both mobile and non-mobile content can be included.
Mobile Filters in Google Analytics - On mobile analytics, Lori Ulloa says, “You can use Google Analytics to track your mobile visitors without creating a separate, filtered profile. You can get info such as those coming from mobile operating systems, mobile devices and even mobile carriers. If you do decide that an app is the right way to go, the Google Analytics for Mobile Apps SDKs make it easy for you to implement Google Analytics in your mobile apps.”
However, if you do want to use filters to extract mobile data (arguably to see if you have a mobile audience in the first place) then Google Analytics offers options in both standard and beta. Filters will inform you how much of your organic traffic is coming from mobile, how they interact with your content and if they’re converting.
By 2012 mobile searches will account for 25% of global searches (Google Smartphone User Study). Consumer use of smart phones and tablets has skyrocketed and in keeping with best practices for changing customer information discovery, consumption and sharing needs, mobile marketing warrants serious consideration by companies of all sizes, industries and locations.
You’ve read my take on determining where to allocate search marketing resources before: If it can be searched, it can be optimized. That certainly means mobile search as much as it does search on the web. The question is, how and when your business will approach mobile marketing and more specifically, mobile SEO?
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8 Social SEO Questions Public Relations Pros Need the Answers To
Posted on 23. Jun, 2011 by Lee Odden in Blog, Online PR, public relations, seo for pr, SEO Tips, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, social SEO
In the course of providing expertise and advice, I’ve really come to believe that it’s more important now than ever for Public Relations professionals to accelerate their knowledge of SEO and Social Media. The storytelling business is a competitive one and great messaging isn’t realized until it connects with influencers and those in a position to propagate it. Both SEO and Social Media facilitate discovery of news and information, so PR pros can boost reach and impact by becoming Social SEO savvy.
Thanks to an invite from Justin Goldsborough and Heather Whaling, I participated in a #pr20chat chat this week to talk mostly about SEO and PR with a hint of social media. For Twitter chats, I prepare by getting the questions to be asked in advance and then I answer them in a “tweet ready” format so I can be as useful as possible during the chat itself. That prep makes for a good blog post too 
What are some simple, basic principles of SEO that PR ppl need to understand/implement?
- I’d like to start with: Social is hot, but Google handles 10 billion+ queries /mo, so SEO is far from “dead”
- For a good foundation, check out these 10 SEO tips for PR Pros
- SEO Basics: Search results vary for users based on location, logged in, history – ranking is an iffy metric
- SEO Basics: Research keywords & focus optimization efforts: 1-2 topics per page
- SEO Basics: Use keywords & variants in titles, headings, body copy & links to the page
- SEO Basics: Create, optimize, socialize & promote for links. Track web analytics, social monitoring
- Also, check out this SEO Guide for PR (pdf)
When it comes to PR & SEO, what do PR people do wrong? Tips for improvement?
- #fail: Focusing solely on press releases for SEO. If it’s searchable, it can be SEO’d
- #fail: Only writing press releases AP style. Also try an article format & send via @PRWeb (client)
- #fail: Overuse keywords, ignore link building, discount impact of social on SEO
- Tips: Create keyword glossary & train writers on basic SEO copywriting & linking
- Tips: Include web pages, releases, images, video, PDFs, MS Word Docs
- Tips: ID a destination page as a topic target & build content, links around it
What are some tips & tools to help PR people discover the best/most relevant keywords?
- Keywords should empathize with the intended audience: journos, bloggers, consumers
- Think about keywords for search and social topics for conversations. Sometimes they’re the same
- Keyword Tools: Google Keyword Tool (includes mobile)
- Keyword Tools: wordtracker.com wordstream.com keyworddiscovery.com & semrush.com (for competitors)
- Keyword Tools: Übersuggest (via SEJ) leverages Google Suggest
- Once you have keywords, you’ll need: Keyword Glossary & Editorial Plan
What are some SEO best practices to ensure the *right* people (not just more ppl) find your site/content? (via @kaczynski)
- Attract the “right” people via search to PR content through relevant keyword selection & optimization
- Knowing your target audience means knowing their keywords. Optimize for the “pull”
- Understand what keywords & topics reflect your target audience interest & focus on that
Google recently intro’d Google Instant Pages. What does this mean for SEO? PR?
- Google Instant Pages only speeds display of SERPs you click. Very little impact on today’s SEO
How should PR pros balance social media vs SEO? Should one “lead” and the other support/follow?
- Optimize & Socialize based on customer centric search keywords & social topics. It’s yin/yang
- Social Media & SEO work together, but the lead tactic depends on intended outcomes
- Both SEO & Social affect info discovery. Social media facilitates engagement & influences SEO
- Marketing often owns SEO, PR owns Social. Cross-training is essential
Explain the process you follow to create & promote content marketing initiatives. How does SEO fit into that?
- Content Marketing starts with my magic 8-ball. I just do what it tells me
- Oh wait, here you go: 10 Steps to Better Content Marketing & SEO
- Content plans are aided by keywords & social topics so creators can be inspired
Fill in the blank: _____ is the #1 thing all PR ppl need to start doing to improve SEO
- That kind of question is trouble. There’s no #1 thing anymore. But then again …
- If you focus on just one thing, you’ll get burned when that one thing changes
- It comes down to relevance and network. The right keyword & content mix + social network for sharing = the WIN
We have some of the smartest marketers and public relations pros on the web reading this blog. What Tweets would you post in response to these questions? What questions along the lines of PR and SEO would you like answered?
Thanks to @prtini for her roundup of the chat, which you can find here: “14 PR & SEO Tweetable Tips“.
Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.
© Online Marketing Blog, 2011. |
8 Social SEO Questions Public Relations Pros Need the Answers To | http://www.toprankblog.com
Effective Use of Keywords in Content Marketing
Posted on 21. Jun, 2011 by Lee Odden in Blog, content marketing, Keywords, SEO Tips, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Social Media
Wordle Cloud Using the Text of This Article
I recently had an interesting discussion with Ron Jones who is writing a book specifically on using keywords for online marketing called “Keyword Intelligence“. He was researching for the content marketing portion of the book and we talked about where keywords fit. These kinds of discussions are great for blog posts so here are a few ideas for you on keywords, SEO, Social Media and content.
Content marketing is customer centric and therefore often focused not only on creating information to educate prospects and customers about product/service features and benefits, but also about topics of interest relevant to the situations that cause people to need or want those products and services.
Effective content marketing informs prospective buyers of what they need to know in order to help them arrive at a logical conclusion to buy and recommend. Relevant and engaging content facilitates that outcome.
“Great content isn’t great until it’s discovered and shared.”
Understanding the information needs of the customers you’re trying to reach is the first step in creating a great editorial plan. The role of keywords in a content marketing program come into play as a manifestation of knowing what customers are interested in and what their pain points are. What are they searching for? What are they talking about on the social web?
Great content is best optimized, so to speak, for the intended reader first and foremost. At the same time, that content is thoughtful about keywords that can attract new readers through search and social recommendations. Great content is amazing. Great content that is findable and shareable is even better.
Here’s an Example Scenario: Company 1 2 3 wants to focus on “Round Widgets”
- Target Customers Care About Round Widgets That Cost Less and are Environmentally Safe
- Target Customers Search for “round widgets”, “low cost widgets”, “green widgets”, “environmentally safe widgets”
- Target Customers Socially Discuss “save money on widgets”, “widget impact on the environment”
- The Content Plan Outlines An Array of Content Objects Supporting Search Keywords & Social Topics
- Content Plan Tactical Execution: Blog Hub, Video Tips, Shared Customer Widget Photos, Facebook Page for Widget Environmental Tips, Email Tips & Issues Newsletter, Widget Deals Twitter Account, Guest Blog Posts Using Target Keywords on Widget Blogs, Contributed Articles to Consumer & Environmental Publications on Widget Cost Saving Tips and Being “Green”
By coordinating customer needs with content creation, optimization and social publishing, there’s a much greater and more relevant reach for the investment.
Keywords guide content optimization for findability through search engines as well as a focus on topics that customers care about and are discussing on the social web. Keywords are also useful guides for the blogger and publication outreach.
Keywords drive the “optimize and socialize” efforts of content marketers to share, promote and increase the reach of information that is relevant for customers who may buy or refer brand products and services.
The mistake online marketers often make is to solely lead with keywords (vs. customer needs) thinking that optimizing for the most popular phrases are all that is needed to maximize customer reach. High ranking content that doesn’t resonate with readers to share or with customers to buy and refer isn’t an effective approach. Also, customer information needs will vary according to where they are in the research and buying process.
Keywords and topics change over time so even after a customer is acquired, it’s important to monitor, measure and refine as needed.
My question for you: Are your content marketing and optimization efforts focused solely on high popularity count keywords? Are you digging into both search keywords and social topics as you formulate your content marketing strategy?
Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.
© Online Marketing Blog, 2011. |
Effective Use of Keywords in Content Marketing | http://www.toprankblog.com
10 SEO Tips to Shorten the Time to Rank!
Posted on 27. May, 2011 by Jeffrey Smith in Blog, Organic SEO Tips, SEO and ROI, SEO Tips, Shorten Time to Rank, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Template Optimization
It’s understandable why many feel the same way as the woman in the picture about organic SEO. You’ll need patience to see results and cultivating enough patience to reserve judgement is a true test of character; especially when money is on the line and your internal mental dialogue is more like a child on a long trip with the incessant mantra echoing – are we there yet?
Are We On The First Page Yet?
In many ways, SEO is like planting seeds in a garden and waiting for the seeds to blossom into vibrant, self-sustaining plants (ROI generating keywords). There is a light at the end of the tunnel however, and today’s post discusses the relationship of time, rankings and return on investment.
The longer it takes to get ranked in search engines means the longer you are “out of pocket” on your SEO investment waiting for ROI to “put money back in the bank” to fuel another more lucrative or profitable keyword conquest. Affiliates know this more than anybody and business owners engaging an SEO campaign also need to be aware of this cycle.
To visualize this dilemma as a formula, it would look something like:
Money Invested/Time to Rank * Conversion Rate and Profit = ROI and budget to Reinvest in SEO.
While there are numerous considerations (such as keyword selection, competition and the current state of your website), the time to rank is impacted by competition and conversion, meaning, how many conversions were driven as a result of SEO and how long will it take to develop enough authority to crush your competition?
Aside from conversion, the time it takes to “get ranked” for keywords depends on numerous factors.
Considerations such as:
- Are you starting with a new domain?
- Is there existing/legacy content you can leverage for internal links?
- Do you have a friendly content management system or pliable coding platform that allows you to customize titles, url slugs, H1 tags, sidebar navigation, masthead and footers (on a page by page basis)?
- Are you implementing your website architecture properly to secure more competitive keywords?
- Are you deep linking to categories or specific landing pages or is your homepage eclipsing other pages and hording rankings?
- Do you have a content development plan to create supporting content and drip that content over time to (a) encourage increase search engine spider activity and (b) layered internal links?
- Are you limiting link loss on sidebars, using faceted navigation or server side includes to only pull relevant data into relevant categories?
- Are your templates optimal with the ability to personalize them based on if a page is a primary landing page, category page, product page, etc. instead of using the same old template with a one-size-fits-all content management or publishing platform that is not “SEO Friendly”.
- Are your pages providing the proper anchor text to other pages to create multiple strong pages in a website to make each category “self-sufficient” enough to pull its own weight in search engines?
- Are you scaling your website (with fresh content) or depending on leveraging existing pages?
Allow me to elaborate below…
Every of the metrics above help determine (a) how well you rank (b) how long it takes and (c) is your website strong enough to contend and defeat other competitors who have (1) achieved domain authority before you or (2) are already ranking in the top 3 for the keywords you want.
Are You Starting with a New Domain?
It is possible to get ranked quickly with a new domain; it just depends on the keywords you are targeting. There is a reason why you should target keywords within your reach so you can (a) target keywords with high demand, low competing pages and (b) you gain traction and trust to percolate your domain into a powerhouse if you cultivate it properly.It takes time to gain more authority, but as your pages get stronger, your domain gets stronger, and so the scope and species of keywords that your website can conquer also scales commensurately over time.
Is There Legacy Content to Leverage for Internal Links?
The fastest way to get ranked to get a link from a page that is already in the top 10 (for the keyword you seek, or a similar one). This tactics becomes incredibly viable when you realize that a link from within your own website is just as powerful as a link from another website (in fact even more important) if you have cultivated PageRank or ranking power to the page.
Do you Have a Pliable Content Management System?
Sometimes it’s better to start over from scratch if you have a lackluster content management system. This way you can collectively create the appropriate infrastructure, particularly if you are bound by variables that you cannot control.
Customizing your website templates, content and links is a holistic process that has its own ecosystem.
When the majority of the most critical ranking factors are aligned, you can skip what would have taken months (and in some instances) years to accomplish as a result of that convergence. While there are multiple systems to select from WordPress is easy to use, very effective and pliable, as well as Magento for ecommerce (which is packed with SEO features).
Are You Using Website Architecture to Support More Keywords?:
If you are not, it’s not too late to create tiered layers within a website and create content silos (nested layers of supporting articles) to push those tiers (landing pages) higher and higher till they reach the top 3 results.
Are you Deep Linking to Category Pages?
Are you deep linking to provide multiple pages that can rank or just using your homepage to consolidate rankings? You need links to internal pages (with anchor text that supports their primary 3 keywords) if you ever want to increase conversion and rank specific pages for specific keywords. Deep links implies linking to any other page other than the homepage of the site.If you implement facets of #4 and build the site based on a premise of tiers, any keyword is attainable with the proper amount of content, site architecture and links. You just need to know what the thresholds are for the keywords on the existing horizon.
Do You Have a Content Development Plan?
Websites do not just magically rank themselves; they need content and lots of it over time (to be competitive). While you may not need to scale to the level of Wikipedia, you still need to create authority for the topics your website is based on (if you ever wish to reach the top 5 results).This means you will need to create semantic nodes of relevance that overlap enough for search engines and humans to assess, interpret and create citation of the said content.
If you appeal to humans, they will link to you and / or visit your website (which creates authority) if you provide authoritative content, search engines with will score your pages and provide higher rankings. You cannot undermine quality, so if you haven’t already, get a content development strategy in place right now.
Are you Limiting Link-Loss on Sidebars?
Use faceted navigation or server side includes to pull theme relevant data into relevant categories. Template optimization is a critical step in advanced SEO. To simplify, creating pages with purpose and ensuring that they either reinforce the page they link to or the page itself creates buoyancy and rankings. For more on this topic, read this series on how to optimize templates for SEO.
Are your Templates Optimal?
Optimal meaning, do you have the ability to personalize each page (primary landing page, category page, product page) etc., without having to implement custom coding?
Your existing platform will determine your ability to craft new pages, modify older pages and whether or not the existing site segments will be a beacon or recede into the background as new proxy’s (new content management systems) or web platforms are utilized to migrate or create a hybrid between the legacy content and the new evolution/version of the new synthesized content.
Are You Providing the Proper Anchor Text Variation to Critical Pages?
If not, you are not creating multiple strong pages in your website. Managing link flow is important, you need to support pages with internal links based on the competitiveness of the keyword and the barrier to entry.
For important pages, you should have a minimum of 5 internal or inbound links to provide enough citation for that page to take on the attributes of what it was designated to rank for. For more about this tactic, read our post SEO rankings and how to create them.
Are you scaling your website with enough fresh content
Like anything the lasts, your website must grow and evolve. Keep this in mind when determining your content development strategy. Add fresh relevant content regularly and over time, your website will rank without links but from its own ability to have the web cater to it (as an authority) rather than having to chase keywords to get ranked.
Related Posts
- SEO Tips to Shorten Time to The Top 10
- Can You Rank in Minutes vs. Months?
- Phrase Rank, Trust Rank and Linking Outside the Box
- SEO Tips to Maximize Your SEO Campaign
- 20 SEO Tips for 2010
10 SEO Tips to Shorten the Time to Rank!
Posted on 27. May, 2011 by Jeffrey Smith in Blog, Organic SEO Tips, SEO and ROI, SEO Tips, Shorten Time to Rank, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Template Optimization
It’s understandable why many feel the same way as the woman in the picture about organic SEO. You’ll need patience to see results and cultivating enough patience to reserve judgement is a true test of character; especially when money is on the line and your internal mental dialogue is more like a child on a long trip with the incessant mantra echoing – are we there yet?
Are We On The First Page Yet?
In many ways, SEO is like planting seeds in a garden and waiting for the seeds to blossom into vibrant, self-sustaining plants (ROI generating keywords). There is a light at the end of the tunnel however, and today’s post discusses the relationship of time, rankings and return on investment.
The longer it takes to get ranked in search engines means the longer you are “out of pocket” on your SEO investment waiting for ROI to “put money back in the bank” to fuel another more lucrative or profitable keyword conquest. Affiliates know this more than anybody and business owners engaging an SEO campaign also need to be aware of this cycle.
To visualize this dilemma as a formula, it would look something like:
Money Invested/Time to Rank * Conversion Rate and Profit = ROI and budget to Reinvest in SEO.
While there are numerous considerations (such as keyword selection, competition and the current state of your website), the time to rank is impacted by competition and conversion, meaning, how many conversions were driven as a result of SEO and how long will it take to develop enough authority to crush your competition?
Aside from conversion, the time it takes to “get ranked” for keywords depends on numerous factors.
Considerations such as:
- Are you starting with a new domain?
- Is there existing/legacy content you can leverage for internal links?
- Do you have a friendly content management system or pliable coding platform that allows you to customize titles, url slugs, H1 tags, sidebar navigation, masthead and footers (on a page by page basis)?
- Are you implementing your website architecture properly to secure more competitive keywords?
- Are you deep linking to categories or specific landing pages or is your homepage eclipsing other pages and hording rankings?
- Do you have a content development plan to create supporting content and drip that content over time to (a) encourage increase search engine spider activity and (b) layered internal links?
- Are you limiting link loss on sidebars, using faceted navigation or server side includes to only pull relevant data into relevant categories?
- Are your templates optimal with the ability to personalize them based on if a page is a primary landing page, category page, product page, etc. instead of using the same old template with a one-size-fits-all content management or publishing platform that is not “SEO Friendly”.
- Are your pages providing the proper anchor text to other pages to create multiple strong pages in a website to make each category “self-sufficient” enough to pull its own weight in search engines?
- Are you scaling your website (with fresh content) or depending on leveraging existing pages?
Allow me to elaborate below…
Every of the metrics above help determine (a) how well you rank (b) how long it takes and (c) is your website strong enough to contend and defeat other competitors who have (1) achieved domain authority before you or (2) are already ranking in the top 3 for the keywords you want.
Are You Starting with a New Domain?
It is possible to get ranked quickly with a new domain; it just depends on the keywords you are targeting. There is a reason why you should target keywords within your reach so you can (a) target keywords with high demand, low competing pages and (b) you gain traction and trust to percolate your domain into a powerhouse if you cultivate it properly.It takes time to gain more authority, but as your pages get stronger, your domain gets stronger, and so the scope and species of keywords that your website can conquer also scales commensurately over time.
Is There Legacy Content to Leverage for Internal Links?
The fastest way to get ranked to get a link from a page that is already in the top 10 (for the keyword you seek, or a similar one). This tactics becomes incredibly viable when you realize that a link from within your own website is just as powerful as a link from another website (in fact even more important) if you have cultivated PageRank or ranking power to the page.
Do you Have a Pliable Content Management System?
Sometimes it’s better to start over from scratch if you have a lackluster content management system. This way you can collectively create the appropriate infrastructure, particularly if you are bound by variables that you cannot control.
Customizing your website templates, content and links is a holistic process that has its own ecosystem.
When the majority of the most critical ranking factors are aligned, you can skip what would have taken months (and in some instances) years to accomplish as a result of that convergence. While there are multiple systems to select from WordPress is easy to use, very effective and pliable, as well as Magento for ecommerce (which is packed with SEO features).
Are You Using Website Architecture to Support More Keywords?:
If you are not, it’s not too late to create tiered layers within a website and create content silos (nested layers of supporting articles) to push those tiers (landing pages) higher and higher till they reach the top 3 results.
Are you Deep Linking to Category Pages?
Are you deep linking to provide multiple pages that can rank or just using your homepage to consolidate rankings? You need links to internal pages (with anchor text that supports their primary 3 keywords) if you ever want to increase conversion and rank specific pages for specific keywords. Deep links implies linking to any other page other than the homepage of the site.If you implement facets of #4 and build the site based on a premise of tiers, any keyword is attainable with the proper amount of content, site architecture and links. You just need to know what the thresholds are for the keywords on the existing horizon.
Do You Have a Content Development Plan?
Websites do not just magically rank themselves; they need content and lots of it over time (to be competitive). While you may not need to scale to the level of Wikipedia, you still need to create authority for the topics your website is based on (if you ever wish to reach the top 5 results).This means you will need to create semantic nodes of relevance that overlap enough for search engines and humans to assess, interpret and create citation of the said content.
If you appeal to humans, they will link to you and / or visit your website (which creates authority) if you provide authoritative content, search engines with will score your pages and provide higher rankings. You cannot undermine quality, so if you haven’t already, get a content development strategy in place right now.
Are you Limiting Link-Loss on Sidebars?
Use faceted navigation or server side includes to pull theme relevant data into relevant categories. Template optimization is a critical step in advanced SEO. To simplify, creating pages with purpose and ensuring that they either reinforce the page they link to or the page itself creates buoyancy and rankings. For more on this topic, read this series on how to optimize templates for SEO.
Are your Templates Optimal?
Optimal meaning, do you have the ability to personalize each page (primary landing page, category page, product page) etc., without having to implement custom coding?
Your existing platform will determine your ability to craft new pages, modify older pages and whether or not the existing site segments will be a beacon or recede into the background as new proxy’s (new content management systems) or web platforms are utilized to migrate or create a hybrid between the legacy content and the new evolution/version of the new synthesized content.
Are You Providing the Proper Anchor Text Variation to Critical Pages?
If not, you are not creating multiple strong pages in your website. Managing link flow is important, you need to support pages with internal links based on the competitiveness of the keyword and the barrier to entry.
For important pages, you should have a minimum of 5 internal or inbound links to provide enough citation for that page to take on the attributes of what it was designated to rank for. For more about this tactic, read our post SEO rankings and how to create them.
Are you scaling your website with enough fresh content
Like anything the lasts, your website must grow and evolve. Keep this in mind when determining your content development strategy. Add fresh relevant content regularly and over time, your website will rank without links but from its own ability to have the web cater to it (as an authority) rather than having to chase keywords to get ranked.
Related Posts
- SEO Tips to Shorten Time to The Top 10
- Can You Rank in Minutes vs. Months?
- Phrase Rank, Trust Rank and Linking Outside the Box
- SEO Tips to Maximize Your SEO Campaign
- 20 SEO Tips for 2010
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