Archive for April, 2008
published by Dan in SEO Strategy
Last time I mentioned how it is important to keep track of the changes in search engine algorithms.
If you are a professional SEO you would have probably noticed changes every now and then. If you’ve been in this profession for more than a year then you would have seen the significant changes such as last years devaluation of reciprocal links. If you notice some SEOs still espouse reciprocal linking as one of the important aspects of their link building strategy. Clearly these SEOs are not following the emerging trends in SEO. Although I am not saying that you should completely stay away from reciprocal links (If you want to participate in link exchange read this Link Exchange Guidelines) since even in organic link building you will be getting reciprocal links from relevant sites the devaluation of reciprocal links dictate that engaging in reciprocal link schemes (massive exchange of reciprocal links) should NOT be a cornerstone of any site’s link building efforts. Unfortunately many honest websites end up firing the services of SEO firms that do not keep themselves updated thus getting sub-optimal, if not harmful, results.
As an SEO how can you keep track of the rapid changes in the search industry? According to SEOmoz’s Randfish what you can do is to:
- Observe the websites you manage - Note that it says websites with an S. You should manage more than one site to be able to note the differences in the performance of each site and thus get enough data to deepen your knowledge about the emerging trends in search.
- Regularly read the following resources - SEO by the SEA (a favorite of mine), SEO Book (one espoused by PhoenixRealm), The Google Cache, and SEOMoz (this one’s added by me).
- Run tests - Tweak. Discover. Learn. Adjust and implement.
Popularity: 15% [?]
published by Dan in SEO | SEO Basics
If you want to be really good at SEO you should make sure that you keep track of the changes going on in the search engines’ algorithms. Why is this?
Since the algorithm is the equation(s) used by the search engines to compute a website’s rank in comparison to other websites then it is obviously important. Simply put it is the algorithm that will determine how your site fares in SERPs.
So what do you need to know about search engine algorithms?
- We do not know exactly what the equation is but if you want your website and your client’s website to do well then you have to understand the factors that impact a website’s ranking as well as the kind of impact these factors result in.
- The algorithm used by each search engine is different, however, the majority of factors they use to compute for a website’s rank is the same. However, they differ in the weight they give to each factor and their approach in solving ranking issues.
- The algorithm used by all search engines changes. This is the reason why it is very important to stay updated if you offer SEO services.
Popularity: 16% [?]
published by Dan in SEO
We all know the frustration red-tape can bring. When it comes to business though it must never get in the way of innovation. You simply have to explain to the big wigs that the hassle of going through all that red tape will be well worth the effort in the end.
Note though that red tape seems to grow the bigger a company grows, although there are exceptions of course. This is why you should be prepared to do a lot of waiting after presenting your proposal. Even with the copy writing stage you can still expect a lot of waiting time because with big companies they need to get anything they will put up on the website approved by the legal team. Of course this can take some time since it will be passed back and forth until everything is up to company standards. In short not only do you have to battle their reluctance because of all the red tape but your own impatience as well!
Popularity: 18% [?]
published by Dan in SEO
The third and fourth reason Callow stated is “languages and multiple countries” and “legal red-tape”.
For languages and multiple countries she explains that the difficulty posed by a big company with clients spanning different countries is that they need to be able to address their clients’ needs by translating the site’s content in several languages. The translation part might not be a problem but deciding whether to keep all the languages under one top level domain (TLD) or to put each one under a relevant country code top level domain (ccTLD). The part where the decision becomes tricky is that while there is a need to host different languages in their respective countries under their own ccTLD (.co.uk) is that the cost of course increases if this is done. The cost for hosting and domain registration is minimal but maintaining the CMS, optimising each site, and the other things that can be done only once if all the languages are kept under one TLD will have to be repeated. Because of this most companies are reluctant to invest in optimising their sites in terms of languages/country even if it means not appearing on the SERPs of in-country searches.
to be continued…
Popularity: 17% [?]
published by Dan in SEO
The second reason given by Callow, which is personalisation and tracking, starts where we ended in the last post. They want actual figures. They want results to be quantifiable.
The problem with this is that when explaining SEO to the big companies those without search background generally have a difficult time grasping the idea that not all of the pages in their site can do well with each and every keyword they demand you optimise the page for them. This is especially true if they are asking you to optimise broad and highly competitive terms. It is difficult to explain why you might want to focus on optimising the landing page and other major pages in order to simply point customers to the specific product pages. Because of this your job is to be able to convey the information they need in a way that can be understood. This also means showing them ways in which results can be tracked, giving an explanation on why a certain SEO strategy will result in optimal revenue, and doing all this in terms they can understand. A really tall order but doable to SEO/SEMs that have experience optimising with company sites.
to be continued…
Popularity: 17% [?]
published by Dan in SEO
If you offer SEO services and have been trying to court clients for some time now you have probably noticed that it is usually easier to convince small and medium-scale businesses to SEO their websites than it is to convince the big companies. According to Laura Callow of Search Engine Marketing Insight there are four major reasons why the attitude of big companies towards SEO is this way.
- Ease of maintenance;
- Personalisation and tracking;
- Languages and Multiple Countries; and
- Legal red tape.
According to Callow big companies need a website that is easy to maintain making them go with different kinds of content management solutions. The problem with these is that they usually aren’t SEO-friendly. That being said it is clear to me that it is not SEO they do not want but the hassle and cost of having to migrate to a new/different CMS that will allow SEO to be done. Thus to overcome this reluctance what an SEO should do is to be able to show that the cost it will entail to migrate to a new system and to redevelop their site and do SEO is well worth it in (monetary) returns. When convincing the big wigs it is important that you be able to show actual figures. Show how SEO will benefit their revenue in the long run and how developing a new site and adopting a new CMS will not necessarily disrupt their operations too much. Of course, you can only do this if you can deliver the results and you have experience with not just SEO but the whole web development packages.
to be continued…
Popularity: 17% [?]
published by Dan in SEO | SEO Strategy
I believe this two things to be discussed today should have actually been the one I discussed in the very first place, but since they really are crucial in managing an effective PPC campaign I will still mention them. Better late than never right?
- Compare the advantages and disadvantages compared to other marketing methods - It is very important that you understand the advantages and disadvantages of a PPC campaign versus not only a traditional SEO campaign but other online marketing campaigns as well. In fact if you are also consider other marketing methods aside from those online you should also compare and contrast them to PPC campaigns. This way you will be able to make the most out of all the marketing methods you will be using since you can choose the ones that will complement each other to achieve the results you want.
- Know PPC’s limitations - I guess this should crop up before comparing the pros and cons in comparison to other marketing methods since you have to know the limitations if you want to be able to do a thorough comparison. Note that the major limitations of PPC campaigns are due to steep competition. The competition makes everything so volatile so that although PPC campaigns do not require someone to be an expert to handle the campaign it does require that someone to be dedicated enough to spend plenty of time monitoring the campaign.
Popularity: 20% [?]
published by Dan in SEO | SEO Strategy
- Targeted descriptions - When writing your ad copy for a PPC campaign make sure that it is written to appeal to a very specific set of people - your target customers. You can do this by outlining the exact description of the products and services offered. Do not use broad terms because this will lead to more clicks that won’t necessarily translate to sales thus increasing the amount you’ll be spending for your PPC campaign without substantially increasing the revenue. For PPC campaigns it is important that you get the attention of poeple that are really likely to buy or subscribe to your product/service. If you wish to target a broader audience you can do this via other forms of marketing campaigns such as in your organic SEO results.
- Constant monitoring of the campaign - Make sure that someone is in charge of monitoring the PPC campaign every single day. This is very important because sudden changes may affect the feasibility of bidding to appear for a specific position (top 3?) for a certain keyword. For example if the competition gets too heated, driving the price up, you would want to stop bidding for the position immediately or end up paying too much.
- Periodic analysis - A periodic analysis of the state of the PPC campaign is necessary to keep track of the performance of each keyword. By analysing the performance of each keyword you can adjust your campaign to do better for those with flagging results and completely eliminate non-performing ones. In short you can make timely adjustments to ensure that your PPC campaign always gives you optimal results.
Popularity: 19% [?]
published by Dan in SEO | SEO Strategy
How useful and effective are pay per click campaigns? The answer, like anything in SEO, depends on how well managed your campaign is. Pay per click campaigns can be very effective increasing both the inquiries and the conversions of your website, however, if mismanaged you won’t be see much (positive) results.
There are several key things you should know to be able to manage a good pay per click campaign including:
- Keyword selection - The keywords you select is critical for the success of your PPC campaign. Selecting keywords that do not perform well is not that big a problem although it will not maximise your profits for you but forgetting or excluding keywords that would have performed really well can mean a big loss in potential profit. This is why you should carefully do keyword research.
- Pricing - Make sure you do not overbid on keywords. Even if a keyword performs really well and it would make sense to bid a little bit higher for that keyword compared to non-performing keywords make sure you do not bid to high as to sabotage your profits. The first thing to remember is that you shouldn’t be paying more for the clicks than the amount you’ll be getting for sales or subscriptions. Breaking even is also not good at all since you need to make a profit!
to be continued…
Popularity: 21% [?]
published by Dan in SEO
Some people fall for the notion that once they have submitted their URL via paid inclusion to Yahoo they’re set for life. This is can not be farther from the truth for a couple of reasons.
- MSN search and Google does not offer paid inclusion - This means that you can only submit to Yahoo leaving you with no other options (if you opt not to go for either pay per click nor organic SEO) for the two other major search engines. This is silly considering the fact that Google is THE search engines.
- It does not ensure top ranking - Paid inclusion means exactly that, paying to be included in organic search results listings. Being indexed and crawled regularly does not automatically mean that you will do better than other websites in Yahoo’s result pages, whether they pay for inclusion or not. Remember you will still be ranked based on popularity, credibility/authority, and relevance. If you wish to be on the top of the page you’d be better off paying to be in sponsored listings.
So does this mean that paid inclusion offers no real value as part of your SEM strategy anymore? The answer is no. Paid inclusion can still help your SEO efforts especially if your website is really new. Instead of having to wait to be indexed (and you still have to wait even though it doesn’t take as long as it used to if you just submit your URL for free) then you should think of using paid inclusion. This means that at least for Yahoo you can be sure that within days you will already be in the listings. Furthermore, you can also be sure that your site will be crawled weekly, which is especially important if you have regular updates.
Popularity: 21% [?]
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