Entries Tagged 'SEO' ↓

SEO techniques are broadly divided into on-site and off-site categories: off-site SEO deals with the techniques and strategies used away from your site, such as building links from other websites to yours. On-site SEO covers anything which has to do with optimizing your website itself to promote the site in search engines, and as such, it is firmly within your control.  After all, you own the site and have full access and discretion over what is on the site and how the back-end is set up. Continue reading →

Your keyword research will have uncovered a number of keywords and key phrases, which you will be interested in targeting to optimize traffic generation from search engines.  The difficult questions are whether you should be targeting multiple keywords on one page (typically the home page), or whether you should be diluting the same keyword across multiple pages of the site.  In addition, should you be aiming for similar keywords and phrases within the same page or should you be splitting them up as well?
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Great keywords and phrases are crucial for a successful SEO program because they are the terms which search engine users input when they are looking for information on the internet.  If a search engine ranks you high in those rankings, your site will almost always enjoy more traffic from those searches.  The crucial question is just what are all those millions of users (and potential customers) using as the keywords and key phrases?

Let’s start with three different types of keywords before we move on to how to identify those you need:

• Targeted Keywords – simply getting high rank for any search term or phrase will not do; your targeted keywords are those which are aligned most closely with your web presence and ensure someone searching on that word will find your site very relevant to their search.  Targeted keywords generate much higher conversions of visitors to sales and allow you to focus your budget on gaining rankings for those specific terms;

• Generic Keywords – these are general search terms, for instance, a topic e.g. health, lifestyle, fashion, politics; by themselves they attract huge amounts of search activity but they are the least productive search terms to target as well as being hugely competitive and costly to gain high ranking; and

• Competitive Keywords – you’re not alone in thinking that gaining high search rankings for a targeted keyword will reap more customers and sales – your competitors are doing the same thing too!  Some keywords and phrases are highly sought after or have been dominated by websites for so long that challenging their grip on the ranking will be prohibitive.

Ideally, you are looking for targeted keywords and phrases which are not being targeted by other businesses and will produce high conversion rates. This translates to low costs, high sales and an overall higher Return On Investment (ROI).

The Importance of Keyword Research

Keyword research provides the ability to identify search terms which are most relevant, i.e. targeted; and meet your budget expectations, i.e. are not going to cost you more to gain a high ranking than it is worth in sales and profits.  Many consider research to be a minor issue; however, for SEO purposes it is absolutely crucial and managing this process will significantly enhance the results of any SEO campaign.

By identifying which terms internet users are using to find websites which are similar to yours, you can then optimize your campaign to tap into that traffic.  Equally important, your research may uncover the longer phrases, so called “long-tail” search terms, which are very specific and highly targeted and lead to extremely high conversion rates for little cost.

Your keyword research will also help you identify “niche keywords”.  Niche keywords are very highly targeted and usually have few competitors.  Though niche keywords do not generate huge volumes of traffic, but visitors to your site searching on these terms represent very active prospects with high conversion potential.

The Holy SEO Grail: the Ultimate Purpose behind Keyword Research

The Holy Grail of SEO is to find those search terms which will allow every aspect of your website to be optimized in depth.  By in depth, we mean that the constituent pages of your site will provide appeal and attraction to a variety of visitors who are at different stages of the purchasing process.  By creating general pages, such as informative or educational pages, perhaps product category and description information – you will then attract a larger variety of search terms.  For those who are further along the buying path, more targeted search terms can be used to take advantage of the most profitable visitors to your site, i.e. those who are ready to buy.

Lately we’ve noticed that clients have been targeting keywords that are too broad and or generalized and we’d like discuss the idea behind the long tail keyword. Long tail keywords are those that use 3 and 4 word phrases that are specific to products or services that you are selling. Whenever a customer uses a highly specific search phrase they tend to be looking for exactly what they are going to buy. In just about every case, specific searches are far more likely to convert to sales than generic searches customers tend to do prior to making a buying decision.

Let’s take a look at a specific example. Let’s say that your website is for your limo service which is based out of Los Angeles. At first you think that targeting the keyword ‘limo service’ is the best approach. After all by targeting the keyword with the larger search volume it should result in more traffic and conversions right? Wrong. When people search for limo services they typically attach the area in which they need the service, for example ‘limo service los angeles’. Therefore targeting keywords which are too short or broad can actually have a negative effect on your websites rankings and conversions. Not only will it take a much longer to rank for those keywords but it will also bring a lot of non-targeted customers.

Some webmasters tend to focus on the number of visitors headed to a website rather than analyzing the quality and conversions of those visits. Every website has some type of ultimate conversion goal, whether it is purchasing an item or signing up for a newsletter. Targeting a long tailed keyword will not only improve your opportunity to rank well but will also help with conversions. It’s best to think of it this way; would you rather have a keyword which sent you 1000 visitors and no conversions, or a keyword that sent you 100 visitors of which 15 converted.

Now that you understand the idea behind a long tail keyword here are some ways to choose great keywords. If your business services only a particular area, then it is best to add that area to your keyword i.e. limo service vs. Los Angeles limo service. If you have a product for sale on your website than it is best to add action words to your keyword, for example instead of using the keyword ‘blue widgets’ use keywords like ‘buy blue widgets’ or ‘purchase blue widgets’. Adding these action keywords allows for you to capture the customer at the decision making stage of their online shopping experience. This will help the conversion rate of your website and allow for maximum earning potential.

Benefits of Long Tail Keywords:

• Higher Conversions
• Better Ranking Results
• Higher Monetization Potential

How to Choose Longtail Keywords

• Add Geotargeted Keywords (Cities, States, Countries)
  • Ex. Los Angeles Limo Service
  • Ex. San Francisco Italian Restaurant
• Add Action Keywords (buy, purchase, reviews)
  • Ex. Buy Blue Widgets
  • Ex. Purchase Blue Widgets
  • Ex. Blue Widgets Reviews
• Target Specific Products
  • Find items which are your top selling items and target those pages/keywords with the term purchase or buy.

Back in the good ol’ days the Keyword meta tag used to be pretty important. You could stuff the tag with all your keywords and have a real impact on how your pages ranked in the search engines. Unfortunately, today you’ll find that getting to the top of the search engines isn’t that easy . . .

First off, let’s go over what “meta tags” are in the first place.

Meta tags are found in the “head” area of your web pages (near the top of the page’s HTML). Other than a web page’s “Title Tag”, the information in the head area of your web pages is not seen by those viewing your pages. Instead, meta information in this area is used to communicate information to search engine spiders and browsers.

The meta keywords tag allows you to provide additional text for search engines to index. The keyword tag is sometimes useful as a way to help your Web page rank for synonyms, misspellings, or unusual words that don’t appear on the Web page itself.

SO, when it comes to the keyword tag, here’s what we recommend…

First off, make sure you do have the tag on each and every page in your Website. Next, be sure to include keywords related to the central theme of your page. Separate each keyword phrase by a comma and be sure not to include more than ten phrases. Many people believe that you can stuff the keywords tag with as many keywords as you like, but our testing and results don’t agree. Too much of ANY optimization factor is generally is not a good thing.

Here’s an example of properly structured Meta Keyword tag:

<META name=”keywords” content=”furniture, tropical furniture, bamboo furniture”>

So be sure that all of your pages have the tag properly place, it doesn’t take long. If you have any questions about the Keyword Meta Tag, feel free to contact our Support Team within your RankPay account.

One of the most important factors in the amount of time and effort it takes to getting one of your Web pages to rank in the search engines is the current level of existing credibility the page has in the eyes of the search engines.

Credibility is often measured in how long a particular search engine has known about the page. Of course, the amount and quality of content on the page also matters. So do other factors, like how many other Websites link to your Web page.

The primary way to evaluate the overall credibility of your pages is by viewing it’s Google “PageRank”. The scale runs from 0-10 with ten being the best possible score. PageRank (aka “PR”) is one of the methods Google uses to determine the relevance or importance of a Web page.

Google explains PageRank this way:

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“PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important.”

Important, high-quality sites receive a higher PageRank, which Google remembers each time it conducts a search. Of course, important pages mean nothing to you if they don’t match your query. So, Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines all aspects of the page’s content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it’s a good match for your query. ”
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It’s important to note that PageRank is not the only determining factor in where your page will be ranked or what the future SEO future holds for you and your Website. There are plenty of examples in which low PR pages rank high in the search engines (usually for keywords that aren’t very competitive). PageRank is just general barometer . . .

How do I view the PageRank of my pages?

You can accomplish this one of three ways:

• Login to your RankPay account and view the PR of the pages you have already assigned to keywords. Do this by clicking on the Active Keywords or Pending Keywords tabs.
• Download and install the Google Toolbar which has a Google PageRank “meter” on it. You can download the GToolbar here: http://toolbar.google.com
• You can also use a Website that has a PageRank tool like PageRank.net.

You can learn more about Google’s PageRank system by visiting the Google site at:

http://www.google.com/technology/

After you choose a new keyword at RankPay, the next step is to assign the keyword to a  Web page that you want to rank in the search engines.    After you identify which page you want optimized, you or your webmaster will need to do a couple of quick tasks to get your Web page ready for our service:

1. Optimize Your Title Tag - Make sure the exact keyword is in the title tag. The title should consist of this keyword and 1-3 additional words. It’s also best to place the keyword farther to the left. If you are using the same webpage for multiple keywords make sure each keyword is the title and use a | or comma
2. Keyword at Top & Bottom of Page - Make sure the keyword is in the first sentence towards the top of your page. Then place the keyword in text somewhere near the bottom of your page.
   

When you’re done, log back into your RankPay account and click the “Pending Keywords” tab. Enter the URL of the page you optimized for each pending keyword and click the button to verify your onpage optimization.

If we get your site a Top 3 ranking in a specific search engine for 3 consecutive months, you will automatically qualify for “ranking maintenance” pricing. This is only half the price of the original amount you were initially quoted for the keyword.

This insures that you will not be charged full pricing indefinitely but you’ll still receive SEO services to help “maintain” the top ranking for your Website.

Just recently it became possible for different people to receive different results for the same keyword search. For some users, Google and Yahoo are now displaying “personalized” search results. This means that if you are logged into a Google or Yahoo service (like Yahoo! Mail, My Yahoo, Gmail, Google Maps, etc.), they may provide you different results based upon your previous search habits.

The rankings we use to establish pricing are based upon the more common generic results that are not personalized.

RankPay uses a combination of methods to achieve rankings. These may include link building, blog posts, article marketing, social marketing, directory submissions, community bookmarking and more. There are also two proprietary things that we do that can drastically help with rankings that we don’t reveal . . .