SEO/SEM Training
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Friday, March 7th, 2008This in the conclusion to the “Keyword Importance” series.
The first of the series: Keyword Importance
The second of series: Homepage Disasters
In the previous posts about keyword importance we noted the neglect of 3 major corporations in using SEO strategy:
In the commentary of the last post “Homepage Disasters“, Jansie asked what the ‘keyword density‘ should be for each of these sites.
In brief, I’ll state that keyword density doesn’t stand as tall as it once had with the search engines. They’ve moved on to bigger and better things.
Density is the number of times that a keyword is used on a page compared to all the rest of the words on a page.
Using the word “diapers” in our example, the density would be how many times this word is used on a page compared to all the other words on that same page.
But frequency of keywords is what we are most concerned with.
Keyword frequency is similar to density in comparison. Your keyword frequency on a page is compared to other documents on the web, not just your own page content.
Let’s take a look at the frequency of the word “diapers” in the following comparisons:
The #1 position in the SERPs is held by Diapers.com.
Diapers.com lists the word diapers in it’s homepage in excess of 9 times. Pampers uses it 1 time. Huggies uses it 2 times but it is written in javascript which is likely not even being seen by the search engines.
Learning SEO: Homepage Disasters
Sunday, March 2nd, 2008Homepage Disasters is a “Learning SEO: Keyword Importance” follow up.
In the previous “Keyword Importance” post we discovered that the search query for “diapers” showed the Big Dogs of Diaperville are not doing so well.
- Pampers
- Huggies
- Luvs
I learned since then that their home pages are complete SEO disasters as well.
Oh sorry, wrong disaster
I meant to use this one
Oops, no that one has the right keyword.
Let’s try this again (diaper disasters)
From your “edit” tab in your toolbar, there’s an option that says “find in this page“.
I used this option to analyze the keyword disasters in each.
None of the 3 diaper Dali Lamas realizes keyword importance.
Pampers.com uses the word “diapers” 1 lonely time. The other 2 would rank better for “edible underwear” as they don’t even use the word once. (uh er I’m joking about the edible underwear thing of course)
I was talking with Bill Slawski this morning about the ridiculousness behind their oversights. He was quick to observe the fact that corporations have been known to spend $1,000,000 or more for a 60 second commercial during the Superbowl. Yet they neglect the simplest and cheapest traffic driver at their disposal. SEO. By implementing SEO, which acknowledges keyword importance, they would rank better in the SERPs ultimately driving more traffic and securing more conversions.
Learn SEO: Using Outdated HTML
Saturday, March 1st, 2008
If you are using an outdated HTML format, you may be losing the attention of the spiders and in return attention in the SERPs because it can be poorly affecting the indexing of your pages.
If you think this topic applies to you or if you simply want to empower yourself with more knowledge, Jeffrey Smith of SEO Design Solutions breaks it down in a simplified manner. As usual, he writes in a way that’s easily grasped. A true friend to the newbie.
Visit him now to find out more..
“SEO Web Design - Design with Form, Function and Appeal“
Learning SEO: Keyword Importance
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008Kalena Jordan of Search Engine College (my tutor) had once written, “If you’re not dreaming of keywords at night, you’re not optimizing enough.” I think she also had read it somewhere.
Your keywords will be the epitome of your SEO campaigns success or loss of ground. Of course, I’m not referring to your other endeavors such as Social Media campaigns etc.
Keywords establish the foreground of your campaign. They begin as a quest for branding, targeting a specific audience/market, as maneuvers through rivers of competitors campaigns, and likely lead the way to paid campaigns.. and of course they are the beloved Ranking “Makers” or “Breakers“.
If you think keywords aren’t important then try being found in the search engines without them.
I thought I’d do a little Google search and it took all of 60 seconds and 3 queries to locate a good keyword example that huge corporations haven’t utilized properly in their campaigns. Of course, this has left a door wide open for people like you and I.
My search query was with the word “diapers“.
Now, left to assumption we would have to believe that “Huggies“, “Pampers“, and “Luvs” would be the reigning Rankers correct? The Gods of Diaperville in the front page of the SERPs?
Wrong.
Huggies is the only one that was on the first page of the SERPs, although it was at #5 beneath miscellaneous no-namers!
Page 2 ahh..finally Pampers enters the scene exactly 7 pages beneath more no-namers. (#17 in case you’re counting)
Competitive Research
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008Annie (SEO Smarty) wrote a great post last week in reference to making the most out of evaluating competition.
This week Annie has provided a follow-up entitled “Selecting Your SEO Competition : Thinking Young”
Although this one doesn’t hold the depth that her previous post held, her suggestions are still useful. She covers how to determine who to compete with. (No..not your ex boyfriend. Darnnit, I wish she had tips for that too!)
She also suggests the use of a nifty little tool that I also keep on hand, SEOQuake. Find out why she uses it and get the scoop on competitive thinking here.
Learn SEO: Competitor Analysis
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008Sometimes, (if not most or all of the time) the keyword/keyword phrases that you are targeting in your campaign will be up against raging competition. Your competitors are those trying to target the same keywords/phrases in their campaigns.
We’re all splurging on a smack down to hit the front page of the SERP’s (search engine results pages).
Once you’ve located your competitors, you may find there are far more than just a few. There could literally be thousands of competitors trying to rank against you in a race that may bring even fewer than 100 search queries per day.
Huge odds my friend.
Example: (for stihs and giggles only)
Phrase:
Blueberry Bunny Boogaloo
Search queries:
100
Competitors:
1,000
Spots on first SERP’s
10
*lil ol you*
What is the value of the phrase you wish to target?
Know when to hold em‘..
Know when to fold em’..
Identify whether or not the keywords/phrases are too competitive or if there’s ample reason to believe they hold opportunity if they are implemented in your campaign.
How powerful have your competitors become in their strategies, other than simple choice of keywords/phrases?
How well are THEY optimized?
Consider these while pondering that question:
On-Page Factors
- Are your competitors sites search engine compatible? (read more of SE compatibility here)
- Do they use”Black Hat” techniques? - white-on-white text, etc (on-page/off-page-examples here)
Off-Page Factors
Learn SEO: Training Options
Thursday, February 7th, 2008
Learning SEO and SEM - Where to Start?
I fell across this today. As a newbie to SEO/M, what’s the most strategic approach to catching the tiger by the tail?
Jill addresses what you should consider when you decide to learn SEO.
Should they learn to do it themselves?
Should they attend a large conference?
Buy some SEO books?
Sign up for an online course or in-person training class?
Or should they simply bite the bullet and hire an agency to do it for them?
Learn SEO: Architecture of Your Site - Role of Elements Part 2
Monday, December 24th, 2007
In the previous post we discussed 3 more elements that affect your site’s search engine compatibility. Those were page file extensions, robots META tag, and frames.
This post we’ll discuss the final 3 elements of the 11 that were addressed in the beginning of this series. These are: Dynamic content – query strings, graphic navigation menus, and flash. If you have not read the previous posts, taking time to do so will benefit your quest to gain visibility with the search engines so your site has the greatest opportunity to be indexed and therefore viewed by the masses.
Dynamic Content
The Search Engine Glossary’s definition of dynamic content:
“Information on web pages that changes or is changed automatically, e.g. based on database content or user information. Sometimes it’s possible to spot that this technique is being used, e.g. if the URL ends with .asp, .cfm, .cgi or .shtml. It is possible to serve dynamic content using standard (normally static) .htm or .html type pages, though. Search engines will currently index dynamic content in a similar fashion to static content, although they will not usually index URLs which contain the ? character.”
The problem with dynamic content doesn’t necessarily lie in the content itself, but in the URL. Due to the fact that the URL contains query strings such as ?, &, %, +, =, $, etc., the search engines skip past it, without indexing. (In the original post to this series we learned that the search engines place a lot of indexing weight on the URL and Title tags of your site) If you have dynamic URL’s do not fear! They can be rewritten so as to appeal to the search engines for indexing your pages. But, that is not something that I will address here.
Learn SEO: Architecture of Your Site - Role of Elements
Friday, December 21st, 2007We’ve discussed the first 6 elements that affect your search engine compatibility. If you are new to this site and have not had the opportunity to view these submissions yet, you can find them here or in the homepage side bar under “Start” the page name is “What Is Affecting Your Search Engine Compatibility?”
By now you know the necessity of these 6 simple elements in aiding the search engines in listing your pages as the most relevant to search queries made by your target market (intended audience).
There are other elements besides these which is best being described as being part of your site’s architecture. I will make mention of 3 more and provide definitions as well:
Page file extensions
The file extensions of web pages that indicate the type of technology used to build a web page. HTML based pages are the most search engine friendly. Whereas, certain CMS( Content Management System) pages are not as search engine friendly. You want to be sure you use what is going to provide the greatest chance of getting indexed by the search engines for exposure.
Ex: pagename.html
Robots META Tag
This tag is important because it instructs the search engine robots on what pages you want indexed and which ones you want to avoid being indexed. (order forms, guest books, duplicates, etc)
Ex: <meta name=”robots” content=”index, follow”>, or <meta name=”robots” content=”noindex, nofollow”> and more
Learn SEO: Body Text - Keyword Rich
Tuesday, December 18th, 2007
Body text. Making it keyword rich
There are many well written pages on the web. Some with truly captivating text. You know the kind. It’s the ones that have you screaming, “Beat me, whip me, take away my charge cards!” even if you know they are probably offering crap. Your body text should be able to make a priest take a survey asking “Are you a Satan Worshiper? Take this survey to find out now!” or make a perfectly straight man want to invest in “Gay and loving it” magazine.
Hopefully, straight men aren’t out there querying the search engines for gay magazines, but if they are, you should write keyword rich body text so the search engines know that your site is most relevant to their query.
Basic SEO of writing body text
Your keywords and keyword phrases need to be relevant to your target market’s search engine query. Once you’ve researched your target market and have a better understanding of the words they are using in their queries, your body text is the playground where these words are implemented. These words will have to persuade your target market as well as the search engines to believe your site is the most relevant to the query. (Do not forget…Search engines place weight on the keywords used in your Title and META Tags. I have already written lessons on this here)
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