Entries Tagged 'General' ↓

Without link building you will not get to the top of the search engine rankings for a common keyword or phrase (and here we are referring to external or inbound links which are linking to your site, not the ones you use to link to external resources and sites).
This is the bottom line – no link building = no high search engine ranking.
So, the question becomes, “What kind of links and how do I get them?”
As with any great question, to get to the answer you usually need to ask a lot more questions, so flip this one around and instead of asking how you get good links, ask yourself what you need to do to make your site attractive enough for other people to want to link to you? Continue reading →

Negative ranking factors are those techniques or tactics which are utilized by a website but rather than enhancing ranking, they actually do the opposite – they result in ranking penalties. No-one would deliberately set out to achieve bad rankings for their website, but there are SEO practitioners and SEO techniques which will damage your site’s ranking and harm your online reputation.

We’re going to look at what we consider to be the top 3 negative ranking factors: Continue reading →

Depending on who you talk to, Keyword Density is either extremely important, or it has no relevance at all and is a myth which is pimped by the ignorant.
Given the importance of search engine rankings and the algorithms which determine where your site will rank for a keyword or phrase, we need to know the answer.
Continue reading →

There are numerous SEO myths out there which have been around since the dawn of html, but we have been getting more than a few question focusing around these four topic areas: personalized search, keyword density, external links and content.

Do these issues affect search engine rankings?

The answers may not be what you expect. Continue reading →

We posted back in September on how to choose great keywords, but because this is such an important issue, it’s well worth revisiting again. This time we are going to be focusing on the Long Tail Keywords, and why they are so important to your website success. Continue reading →

Some marketers claim there is certain traffic segment that cannot be converted; sometimes this is borne from basic maths looking at the conversion ratios, because it stands to reason you won’t sell to every single visitor. Where this claim breaks down is when marketers advise there are certain segments that will not convert, or worse still, that conversion rates for any segment are not within your own control.
First of all – there is no such word as “cannot” – you either will or will not convert traffic!
You are the one in control of conversion rates, and how you make offers to visitors directly impacts them, so let’s take a look at a typical set of models for making offers to your visitors.
Continue reading →

Google launched Caffeine in August 2009 to test the water, but by now, it has gone live worldwide. While many people see the name and think of coffee, there is a great deal of confusion over exactly what the fuss with Caffeine is all about.

Let’s be clear about Caffeine: it does not affect rankings, it does not improve your web speed, and it does nothing that you as a website owner will be affected by. Continue reading →

Google, and search engines generally, are constantly tweaking and altering the complex, mathematical formulas that determine where your website will appear in the search results. Of course, the formulas used are a closely guarded secret; however, there is enough information available for experienced SEO professionals to understand what aspects of a website need attention when looking to gain higher search rankings. As a general policy, Google in particular minimizes publicity of algorithm changes, not least because it is something of a “trade secret”. Continue reading →

Local search is where small and medium-sized companies can really outdo the major competition in terms of search engine rankings. We’ve covered local search before and why this represents a fantastic opportunity for web businesses to dominate in the rankings within their geographic territory. What we didn’t cover was how you can achieve this in practical terms, so here we outline the main content factors for you to include with your website to enhance your ranking in local search results.

Contact Information & Locations Pages

Local search uses the terms included in your website, so when you are based in Poughkeepsie, NY it makes a lot of sense to ensure that piece of information is apparent on the site itself. Make sure your physical mailing address is included, and if you operate from differing branch locations, make sure you have their physical and postal addresses listed as well to reinforce the geographical area where you operate. Continue reading →

Organic search is the use of search engines to promote your website; it is known as “organic” because you rely on building a relevant website which “naturally” ranks highly in the rankings instead of being paid for advertising, such as Pay-Per-Click (PPC).

To be effective, search acquisition requires optimization of your website for both users and search engines and there are four major areas to consider: Continue reading →