Archive for the ‘SEO Strategy’ Category
published by Dan in SEO | SEO Strategy
5. Take advantage of trusted sites
There’s no doubt about it the fastest way to get traffic is not via organic SEO. However, while waiting to become achieve domain authority what you can do is to take advantage of the sites that have already achieved this. To do this the solution is still to somehow get linked to by a trusted site.
Spammers take advantage of sites with authoritative domains by inserting hidden links on the site. What you can do without resorting to spam tactics is to:
- advertise on the site;
- rent a page on the site (some sites allow this);
- get yourself on the site’s blogroll/listings;
- contribute content to the site and link to your site as resource site; and
- use other white hat link building tactics you know.
Note that by getting links from trusted sites will benefit you more than one way. The link will add to your site’s authority (not applicable for ad links that since the nofollow attribute is used in such cases), you’ll get more visibility for your site, and you’ll get traffic referred by the site.
Popularity: 84% [?]
published by Dan in SEO | SEO Strategy
3. Be age concious
This tip is fairly old since we all know that domain age is a factor search engines consider when ranking webpages. If you plan on buying an old domain make sure that it is AT LEAST 5 YEARS OLD. According to randfish the top 100 domains for any type of domain ending (.com, .biz, .net, .info, etc) are mostly older than five years.
4. Get links from .EDU pages
If you look at Google’s SERPs you will find that not all .EDU pages rank well, however, even then .EDU pages (even those that don’t rank that well) are still considered to authority/trusted sites. Because of this you would do well to get links from these pages. Of course links from .GOV are great too but it is harder to get links from government sites so you might as well focus on getting a link or two from a .EDU page. Again this doesn’t guarantee automatic authority for your page but it will still help boost your site’s authority.
Popularity: 84% [?]
published by Dan in SEO | SEO Strategy
2. When to Court Trusted Domains for Links
The answer to the question on when you should court trusted/authoritative domains for links is simple…You should court them if your domain is not yet a trusted domain.
The value of an inbound link increases if the linking site is consider by Google (and other search engines) to be authoritative, which is why most of us need it in order to increase our own domain autority. However, if your domain is already a trusted domain you shouldn’t have to bother trying to get links from other trusted domains. Of course getting links from them is still a good thing but since you are already a trusted site Google will still view your contents as relevant and will thus give you a good rank. Instead of spending your time optimising your site through link building you should instead focus your attention on other issues such as conversion rates and brand/reputation management. This doesn’t mean that you should completely forget search engine optimisation. You should always be aware of your standing with search engines and manage your site to keep it optimised and in good standing, in terms of search rankings, but since you’ve already achieved the goal of many sites, which is to rank well in SERPs, then you should be taking the next step.
Popularity: 84% [?]
published by Dan in SEO | SEO Strategy
Google clearly relies on domain authority when ranking websites, which is why SEOs work on building up a domain’s authority. However, many owners of smaller sites percieve authority building as an impossible task and so concentrate on other means to get the traffic they want and need.
In randfish’s post on “Google Spam Illuminates the Algo’s Reliance on Domain Authority” he outlines some things that can help you enhance your domain’s authority. Note that you should do your usual link building strategies and simply use the additional knowledge to get the results you want a bit faster.
Tips on achieving domain authority:
1. Use a single domain
Instead of using multiple domains for different content it is better to put them all under one domain. The reason for this is that with the more domains you have the more links you’ll need to build each one up. On the other hand, using just one domain will mean that all the links you gather for each content/topic will add to the overall number of links for that domain…and we know that the number of links is what really counts.
In my opinion though even if using a single domain is, as randfish put it, “universally wise” it is still better to use a different domain if your content are of very different topics. Remember search engines also favour themed sites since it helps them determine relevancy. Aside from that the relevance of the links you gather also counts.
The time to put all your content under one domain is when the content are related to each other. For example, put your SEO and SEM content under one domain but use a different domain for your fashion content!
Popularity: 84% [?]
published by Dan in Keyword Research | SEO Strategy
- discount computers - Just like for the search term “refurbished computers” you should optimise a special landing page that highlights the list of computers that are currently on sale. Note that you should not only optimise the page for the keyword so as to get traffic but that you should optimise the entire landing page to increase conversion rates. One way to do this for discount pages is to showcase the amount slashed off from the original price so as to make it more appealing.
- computer promos - Again the search term should be placed in the promo page and the page optimised accordingly. Note that discount computers and refurbished computers can be considered as falling under this category so provide a section and link to the two pages. Other other promos including freebies will be in the page. Make sure that if you plan on optimising this page for the search term in order to drive lots of traffic to it you always have at least one current promo customers can avail of. The reason for this is that while SEO will get you traffic an empty promo page will turn these very same people off. Even if its just a free mouse pad or a nice canvass tote for computer peripherals you should always have something there to entice the traffic you get from your SEO efforts.
- computer technologies - Even a website that sells computers and computer parts can benefit from traffic brought by people simply researching for more information about computer technologies. However, you shouldn’t opt to send people looking for information to a sales page but can bring them to a special pages that has computer articles or to a special page that provides useful links. The benefit of this is that even though these people do not plan on buying anything now by getting them to come to your website you will be able to develop brand recognition increasing the chances of them coming back to your site when they do need to buy a computer in the future.
Popularity: 100% [?]
published by Dan in SEO Strategy
2. Get more than one ad type on a single page.
You should aim to appear on the same website and even better on the same page in that site. Having two types of ads appearing on the same page can lead to better results due to the fact that different ad types appeal to different people. Because of this someone might overlook a sponsored search ad but still end up a customer because of the banner ad and vice versa.
3. Consider ad placement
In instances wherein you are able to pull off the above advice you should always remember to consider ad placement. We all know that the area of the page where the ad will appear is vey important but since you generally have no control over the placement of another website’s ads what you can do is at least make sure that you buy a good slot for your banner ad. Of course this is only applicable if the website offers different placement options (right sidebar, top of page, etc.).
4. Run tests again and again.
Run tests on everything from the most effective ad copy to the most effective combination of sponsored and banner ads. Run tests on which websites give you good referrals because these are the ones you would want to have more than two ad types on. If a website doesn’t give that good a traffic you might be satisfied in simply appearing on the sponsored search results and forget the banner ads on that site. Constantly tweak minute things on your ad campaign because you never really know whether some seemingly trivial detail could lead to big returns or not.
Popularity: 40% [?]
published by Dan in SEO Strategy
Now that you know the two main factors to consider when integrating your display and sponsored search ads let me give some tips on the actual integration of the two types of ads.
1. Start with the search ads
Since the sponsored search ads is the primary ad then you should start with it first. It also makes sense in that it is usually easier to write the ad copy for the search ads since you need only focus on the words and can put aside the imagery issue that needs to be resolved when developing the banner ad. When writing ad copy for search ads always keep in mind that you have a very limited amount of space so you need to be really concise yet find the wording that will appeal most to your target audience. And since we’re always SEO conscious make sure you also get to insert some of the keywords if you want to get better results.
After finalising the ad copy for the search ads you can then expand this ad copy for your banner ad. You can also stick to the same wording and proceed to the graphic design phase of developing your banner ad. Note that the good thing about having the ad copy finalised is that the graphics designer will have a more definite as well as clearer picture of the direction to take in designing the accompanying images. If you start out with the banner ad chances are you’ll irritate your graphics designer by having to make him go back to the drawing board when you realise that the existing banner ad design is not too consistent with the newly churned out search ad copy.
Popularity: 40% [?]
published by Dan in SEO Strategy
The Goal of the Ad - While the main purpose of any kind of ad is promote your website/product/service if you think about it each type of ad actually has a different “sub-goal” since a different approach is used to be able to successfully promote whatever it is you are promoting. To make it a bit clearer let me state the goal of sponsored search ads and display ads.
- Display ads - Display ads (banner ads) are usually used to promote branding since it is in banner ads that you can display your company logo, catch phrase, etc. Since the advent of targeted ads in search display ads role has shifted from once being the primary form of online advertising to a mere supporting role. That doesn’t mean that it does not produce excellent results but only that most online advertisers prefer (and with good reason) using sponsored ads as the primary way of promoting things.
- Sponsored search ads - Since sponsored search ads can more easily reach a wider yet still targeted audience it is mostly used to generate leads and sales.
The importance of being able to differentiate the “sub-goal” of each ad is for you to be able to develop/write each ad to suit their roles better. Since you know that display ads are great for branding then you focus on that when writing the ad and since you know that sponsored search ads is used for lead generation then ads should be phrased accordingly.
Popularity: 40% [?]
published by Dan in SEO Strategy
When it comes to online advertising most websites opt to use a variety of methods in order to promote themselves. Two of the most common advertising method used online today are sponsored search ads and the more traditional banner ads.
To be able to make the most of these different types of advertisements one should always look at the online marketing campaign as a whole and focus on integration of different approaches used. While display ads and sponsored search ads will both yield results even without really finding putting a lot of effort in making sure that they play off each other well what you want is to maximise the results you can get and, as already mentioned, you can only do this if you integrate these two methods.
When integrating various ad approaches the first things you should always consider include your target audience and the goal of each kind of ad.
- Your target audience - Even if you only use one marketing technique knowing your target audience is still the very foundation of a successful venture. This comes in useful not just in your SEM campaign but in your over all approach to your website’s SEO and whole website design. When it comes to ads though what you specifically want to know are their needs and the words/images that will appeal to them so that they will end up clicking on your ads.
to be continued…
Popularity: 25% [?]
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: 36% [?]
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