Archive for the ‘SEO Strategies’ Category

If your site is among the many that saw a major upset in your rankings with Google’s May Day update, you are no doubt wondering “what can I do?”  While fluctuations on the leading search engine are normal, and to a certain extent par for the course, there certainly are ways of structuring your SEO (search engine optimization) strategy so that you not only survive these major algorithm changes, but thrive as your competitors slip away:

1.  Vary your approach.

Are you relying on one type of link building?  Do you focus only on a handful of the top searched keywords but neglect variations or long tail terms?  If so, you’re bound to lose ground at some point.  The websites that I’ve seen do the best through major algorithm changes have been fully optimized for many variations within a keyword theme, and have built a strong foundation of quality back links from a variety of strong, contextually-relevant sources.

2.  Be dynamic. B-E dynamic.

As an SEO company, we are constantly asked things like – can’t we just do one month?  When will we be optimized and “done”??  Why can’t we stop once we are ranked #1??

Well, if you lost some ground over the last month and haven’t touched your site in awhile, there’s your answer!  If you want search engine rankings that stick around through the search engine changes, your website needs to stay dynamic in its content, and you need to keep building, building, building that web presence. 

3.  Pay attention!

In the past several years, I’ve seen dozens of major changes to Google’s algorithm.  Some have been major, some minor.  But almost always, Google’s given some clue prior to the shift of how things will be ranked, or what elements they will be putting more emphasis on. 

About 8 months back, for example, we started to see a big shift in local optimization toward domain names that included the location – something that had always helped but now seemed to be the main deciding factor in local ranking between otherwise similarly-optimized sites.  So we tested it with some of our own sites, and even had some locally-based clients switch to localized domains.  Sure enough, a week later, the SEO world was all a buzz with the new “upset”…and our clients who’d made the switch not only survived the algorithm change, but jumped to the top for new local terms.

So pay attention!  If you see your site drop, and others replace you, try to see the trend –it might be a sign that Google is moving toward a different way of ranking.  Want an expert opinion on how your site will fare long term?  Just shoot us an email!

Search engine marketing — both pay-per-click and SEO — remains a strong source of traffic and sales for retailers. That’s according to an Internet Retailer survey conducted in April of 102 web-only retailers, chain retailers, catalogers and consumer brand manufacturers.

According to the survey, 27% of respondents say that search engine marketing is responsible for more than half of their online sales. (See chart at left.) 47% say that more than a quarter of their web sales stem from search engine marketing. That includes both PPC- and SEO-driven sales.

As far as traffic is concerned, 51.5% of respondents say that more than a quarter of their web site traffic comes from natural search; 28% say that more than a quarter comes from paid search advertising.

A whopping 89% of respondents said they get at least 50% of their search engine traffic from Google, with 19% saying Google sends more than 90% of the traffic they get. The survey doesn’t specify if that’s traffic from both paid and natural search, though.

There are some interesting numbers that relate specifically to paid search and Google vs. Bing/Yahoo.

44.6% of respondents say they increased their paid search budgets in the past year, and 49% say they plan to increase it in the year ahead. Almost half, 43.4% said they plan to shift some of their paid search advertising to Bing in the coming year. And of that 43.4%, 17.6% say they’ll be shifting money from their Google advertising budget.

The survey was shared in Internet Retailer’s latest e-mail newsletter. You can see several charts that summarize the survey results on InternetRetailer.com. Thanks to Matt McGee for the story!

Just about everyone knows something about Search Engine Optimization. Whether you’re a self-proclaimed “SEO expert” (side note: I truly believe anyone that’s really worth their weight in SEO will argue that there are no true experts in this ever evolving field - but it takes true experience to admit that), or the owner of an ecommerce site who is struggling to make the most of their marketing dollars in a plummeting economy, you’ve probably been sold on the value of top search engine rankings and have an idea or two about how to achieve them. You’ve read the SEO blogs, the newsletters…each one with a new buzz word, a new point, a new must-do. “It’s all in the title tag!” “You need more links!” “Blog, blog, blog!” With so many pieces to the SEO puzzle, it’s hard for clients and marketers alike not to fixate on one or two of those pieces. The problem is, if you spend too much time trying to place one or two pieces of a 40,000 piece puzzle, without paying attention to where, why and how they fit with the other 38,000 pieces, you’re not building the big picture.

Here are just a few examples of SEO tactics I’ve seen overused, misused…or both! We’ll call them the “shiny objects” of SEO, distracting marketers from the end goal and ultimately hindering their strategy:

Shiny Object #1: The Meta Keyword Tag

So many arguments out there…does the Meta Keyword tag help? Does it hurt? Should it be eliminated altogether? How many keywords should you have, if you have one at all? Can you have the same Meta Keywords tag on more than one page or does this mean instant SEO death in a fiery meta tag inferno???? AHHHHH!!!

Listen, I’ve struggled with these questions just like any other SEO professional. But the thing is, you have to start out by asking yourself “What is the purpose of the Meta Tag in today’s SEO world?” Answer: it should act as a summary of your page’s content. It is the first thing the search engines see and every element - from the super important Title and Description tags, to yes, even the keywords tag - need to align with the content.

Does using the keywords tag hurt? Not necessarily…as long as you don’t misuse it with the expectation that cramming it with as many keywords as possible will automatically get your site on the road to #1 rankings for all of them. It won’t. And if you bloat the tag, it’s just one more extraneous piece of back end crud for the search engine spiders to wade through on the way to your content. They don’t put value on it, so don’t let it eat up your valuable back end real estate.

So why use it at all? I use it as a guideline for myself in structuring a keyword focus for the page. In it I include the main keyword which is relevant to the page, and it’s very close variations (like 3-6 maybe). If a page doesn’t lend itself to a keyword focus, I don’t use it. Plain and simple. Now for goodness sake…move on!

Shiny Object #2: Font Manipulation to Emphasize Keywords

Many marketers use bolds and italics or ALL CAPS or bold and italics or BOLD AND ALL CAPS or ITALICS AND ALL CAPS or BOLD AND ITALICS AND ALL CAPS to emphasize their KEYWORDS.

Looks a little ridiculous doesn’t it? Guess what? Your user thinks so too. Guess what else? So does Google.

I can’t tell you how many clients’ sites I’ve “inherited” from other SEO companies where one keyword is bolded, one italicized, and back and forth without any rhyme, reason, or respect for the content. Can it help to use strong font or italicizing to emphasize key phrases? Yes. When you use either bold or italic. From time to time. Where it makes sense. Like there, how I used italics to emphasize parts of speech to make a point.

Rule of thumb: if you think you’re overusing it, you are. Stop it.

Shiny Object #3: Blogs

Yes, blogs are great. Yes, they are search engine friendly. Yes, they can be a great way to interact with your target audience.

Does every site need a blog? No.

This one is a big, huge, immensely distracting shiny object for many marketers. Because you know blogs are content rich, you know they get picked up quickly by the search engines. So what could be better for SEO right?? Wrong. Blogs are only as good as their content. And not every business has the means to develop the kind of content that others will feel is worth reading, commenting on, blasting out to their friends, and linking to on their own sites and blogs.

Before you insist that your client needs a blog - or start one on your own site, for that matter - ask yourself these questions:

1. Why am I writing this blog? A blog should be a means by which you interact with your online market. It should enlighten and inform. It should be a resource for your consumer that builds their confidence in your service or product. So, if you answered simply “to get search engine rankings,” put your money in a press release.

2. Do I have the time and resources to keep the blog fresh with content? This should be a pretty simple “yes” or “no.” If every minute of your day is already dedicated to maintaining a crucial aspect of your business to the point that you can’t even organize your inbox, you don’t have time to maintain a blog by yourself.

3. Would I find this blog interesting and informative even if I have no intention of buying this product or subscribing to this service? And, more importantly, am I ok with people visiting my blog that have no intention of buying from me? If the answer is no…you guessed it. Move on.

Remember, effective Search Engine Optimization is ultimately about relevancy. It’s that 40,000 piece jigsaw puzzle that works best when you lay out the edges first, and build on them, bit by bit, paying attention to how each one fits together to make that satisfying, successful, top ranking, consumer attracting picture.

When our potential clients are in competitive industries and not ranking in the top 50 to 100 for their TOP keyword before partnering up with us, a lot of SEO experts would suggest targeting the long tail keywords immediately while working on the big fish at the same time as a longer term strategy. For those of you not familiar with “long tail”, it typically refers to more specific keywords, which typically have lower search volumes. For example, the keyword “top destination weddings in the US” is considered long tail compared to the keyword “destination weddings” which is considered the big fish. The long tail keyword is much more targeted and easier to rank more quickly, but the big fish will drive more traffic when your clients rankings move inside the top 10.

Suggesting the long tail strategy to your client serves two purposes. First, it gets their eyes off the big fish so they don’t get discouraged. This helps them set more realistic short term goals. Second, it will get them ranking well for at least SOME targeted keywords that will drive some traffic and sales. This is GENRALLY a very good strategy. The reason for this post, however, is to inform you that targeting the bigger fish immediately CAN give you exponential results by getting rankings more quickly, and saving time and money for your client.

We have a client named Reel Job Fishing that is a fly fishing business in Northern Georgia. They have a fly fishing blog that was ranking ok for their blog keywords, but not getting as much traffic as they would like. Below are their previous Google rankings for three of their blog relevant keywords:

North Georgia fly fishing blog - Ranking #3

Georgia fly fishing blog – Ranking #8

Fly fishing blog - Ranking #80

Every article I have read would tell you to increase rankings through aggressive link building by starting with the easiest keyword first attempting to move it from #3 to #1. After achieving results, you would then target the 2nd keyword and move it from #8 to #1. Finally, target the big fish at #80, trying to move their ranking up as quickly as possible.

What we did as an alternative to this well known strategy is to ignore the first two, and hit the big fish first. By link building toward the top keyword, we were able to move all 3 at once in under 3 weeks. Not only did the two long tail keywords jump to #1, they ALSO got indented Google listings on both of them.  (Please see screenshot at bottom of post) At the same time, the big fish moved 55 spots in 3 weeks up to #25. We will continue to work on this ranking as well, and move it in the top 10 over the next 4 to 8 weeks.

So, how do you know WHEN to go after the big fish, and when should you target the long tail? The rule of thumb is that the keywords MUST be related, and you always must keep cost/benefit in mind. In this case, all three keywords were all related to the word “fly fishing” and the word “blog”. Naturally an increase in one will also help the others. Secondly, common sense will tell you that “North Georgia fly fishing blog” probably doesn’t get that many searches, but that “fly fishing blog” would. In order to give the client the best value, we would not recommend putting 3 to 5 hours of link building work into a keyword that won’t significantly increase their traffic. On the other hand, putting 5 to 10 hours of link building toward the big fish and getting them to rank in the top 10 makes financial sense.

Bottom line is that rather than lazily following the advice of all the SEO experts out there and targeting the long tail immediately, consider focusing more effort on your master link building strategy. Sometimes it makes sense to target the big fish immediately. The results will pay off IF your on-site SEO and aggressive link building strategies are well thought out and executed properly.