How is SEO being utilised in online reporting to compete with the conventional uses?

The theory of SEO has been around long enough now for even people not in the industry to have a basic grasp of how and why search engine optimisation is performed. This is probably the main reason it is being adopted in other forms of media – and not all for good.

One way in which SEO tactics are being used outside the traditional sphere is in online journalism. A real war is being waged between media outlets to drive traffic to their sites, which is why they are so widely ‘stealing’ optimising theories. Here, the journalist will deliberately use Meta tags and descriptions, alongside keyword rich text and even URLs to ensure their news stories are being read and feature prominently in the search rankings.

Journalism is one industry that has been particularly ravaged by the recession. Media sources have had to come up with new and inventive ways to generate traffic to their site, and create a new revenue stream. Advertisers will be keen to promote their goods and services on a site that occupies page one of Google after all.

While on a basic level this is similar to typical organic SEO, it could also be argued that these are underhand black hat techniques designed purely to elevate a particular website to the top of the SERPS. The use of a current headline-making event or celebrity as a tool for keyword stuffing is one way to cheat the system for instance.

How can this be a bad thing I hear you cry? Because there are increasing incidences where SEO-led news stories are in direct competition with the websites that you may be optimising. For example, one of your company’s has been found to have acted negligently which has resulted in damage to property or, even worse, serious injury.

Suddenly, you will find yourself needing to ‘smother’ this story by pushing it down the listings, to ensure that if a reader types that organisation’s name into a search engine the first thing that they see isn’t negative press. This protection of your client’s reputation could become a significant part of the industry as things progress.

While the basic tenets of SEO are the same across the board, as our previous blog post ‘Winning the SEO Battle – Let Quality Content Lead the Way’ stated, quality is still very much king, regardless of the media platform. But the adoption of optimisation strategies by alternative mediums could pose unforeseen problems to existing SEO suppliers, which require tackling head-on.

You can’t move for the hype of social media, however not all the attention is positive. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to name a few are some of the more popular Social Media sites that businesses use on a daily basis and many SEO companies are pushing social media because of the vast opportunities it can provide.

A lot of the negative press surrounding social media focuses on teens and young people getting in to situations which are less than savoury. Although it is easy for people to judge those that do get in to problems from certain ‘posts’ and ‘updates’, the danger of social media still lurks, even for businesses.

Ultimately Social Networking is just that; you’re speaking to others to gain contacts and open business opportunities. But with this in mind, people are still talking to strangers that, for many, they are never going to meet. So what makes networking safer just because you are a company?

There are various reasons as to why Social Media needs to be thought out and a strategy devised. It is more important for a business to think about its posts and updates before writing them because of the seriousness of not being aware who’s following’ you.

Many sites have come to light that highlight those people leaving a property empty and putting their home and identity at risk. One particular site is called ‘Please Rob Me’ and lists all those properties that people have been left empty and then Tweeted about. The site claims that their intention is not to have people burgled, however it does highlight the importance of only posting news that is relevant as well as sensible.

For a business, the most important thing is their identity. Social Media provides the opportunity for people to input their personal data that can then be traced if the right person knows how. The Internet has a memory like an elephant; it never forgets a thing, so as a business it’s crucial that you know what data you are inputting, where and when.

You may thinking it’s a too big a risk to move your business into social media. But with the right strategy, a little common sense and more understanding of what networking can provide, Social Media can make a huge difference to a business’s presence online.

There are those businesses that have developed their whole empire via Social Media due to their understanding about how to market themselves. As with all areas of SEO, they are only successful if strategies are implemented with the ambition and determination to get to the top.

It has been a been a well-known fact that over the last 10 years search engines have been using meta tags less and less to decide a website’s ranking. So do we still need them? Is it just wasting our time typing in all those keywords and custom descriptions for each page of your website?

It’s true that Meta tags have a lot less significance to what they did 10 years ago and by not adding them doesn’t mean your site will not be ranked. However even though the search engines do not solely rely on the Meta data to determine a ranking they do still use the Meta data to help assist in the ranking your web site. My answer is “Yes” and below are the minimum meta tags that I believe should be on every website.

Keywords

The keywords tag was designed for the web designer to choose which keywords the website would rank in. This was found unreliable due to many web designers not filling it correctly while other web designers were abusing the tag by using methods to increase their website above more relevant websites.

So should I ignore this tag altogether? Well no! even though Google has confirmed that it no longer uses the keywords tag many other search engines (including Yahoo) still use the tag to assist them in choosing keywords for your website.

There has never been an official limit on the amount of keywords you can add to the keywords attribute although most search engines recommend between 25-30 keywords.

Description

The Description attribute tag unlike the keywords attribute tag is still used by all the major search engines. It is mainly used as a fall-back option for when a search engine is unable to find a suitable description elsewhere on the website. This tag is definitely a must for your website and by not adding the description tag you would be losing valuable SEO.

Again there is no official limit to the amount of characters you can use in your description tag but most search engines recommend the description tag is shorter than 200 characters.

Distribution

This distribution tag tells search engines whether your website is for global distribution (Global), local distribution (local) or internal use (IU). Even though almost all the search engines will automatically default to global if the tag is missing it is still worth putting the tag in just in case your website is indexed by a search engine that does require it.

Language & Content Language

These 2 tags essentially do the same thing. If your website is designed using any non-US English language it will tell the search engine exactly what language your website is using and will in turn help your website to get indexed properly.

Content Type

Although this tag has no direct effect on your SEO results it is still worth a mention because this tag is used to tell the search engine which character set your page is using and will stop any character errors being shown while google is crawling your site.

So there you have it. Meta tags are still used and are still are an important part of your SEO. There are many other optional meta tags available but if you do want your website at the top of Google then giving them every extra little bit of data through meta tags can only help your website ranking.

Local search has become increasingly important over the last few years to businesses that provide local services.  It’s obvious by most people that the general public searches for local businesses via the search engines and not the (YP’s) Yellow page’s book anymore.  Consulting the phone book while looking to find any sort of product or service will be an amusing fable in the not too distant future — in much the same way that we smile when somebody wants to fax us something today.

Now that search engines like Google (typically) display 7 Google Map Listings on the organic first page whenever local modifiers are used (i.e. Service + city), it’s now absolutely essential that businesses know how to best optimize their Google Map’s Listing to acquire a spot in that 7-Pack.  We are about to share with you 7 little known ways to get your business to show up in the Google Maps 7-Pack:

1. Claim Your Listing

Just claiming your listing gives your business more authority and trust over listings that are not claimed.  I still cannot believe the amount of listings that are unclaimed in Google Maps.  This also protects you from having your listing hijacked by your competitor or some spammy affiliate.   There are affiliate(s) and competitor(s) that go looking for listings that are showing up in the 7-Pack that have not yet been claimed and they claim them.  Once they have claimed your listing they changed the phone number, and change your website to theirs, so when people click your listing it goes to them or to their affiliate offer.  Many small businesses have no idea this type of thing is going on with their listing until they try to claim it.

2. Fill-out your listing 100%

Google Maps gives the opportunity to add tons of details about your business.  You can write a 200 word description, add 10 photos, add 5 videos and add extra details like associations, specialities, accepted payment cards and much more.  NOTE: When filling out your listing do not get spammy with keywords or local modifiers and be sure to read their TOS (Terms of Service) to make sure you are not breaking any of their terms. Be sure you have done some decent keyword research before you start writing your content so you can lace the appropriate keyword(s) into your local listing.

3. Make Sure your N.A.P. is Consistent

N.A.P. stands for: Name, Address and Phone Number.  This is the online finger print for local small businesses and it’s important that information stays consistent across the web. Using a company like Universal Business Listings is a great way to line-up all your information across the web quickly and correctly.

4. Citations – Kinda Like Links, But Not Quite

A citation is a mention of your business’ N.A.P. and similarly to link-building, you want your N.A.P. mentioned on as many credible domains as possible.  Now like link-building not all citations are created equal.  Getting a mention from your local commerce website and the BBB website, or even authority human-edited directories like the BOTW (Best of the Web) or Yahoo Directory probably deliver more weight.  However, even a tweet can be considered a citation as long as it contains your N.A.P. so a great strategy can be leveraging Web 2.0 content sharing sites for quick and easy citations.  Another quick tip is to try to get citations from other local directories and/or blogs – find those local online hubs!

5. Reviews – Your Customers Control Your Future

The more the better! Interesting to note that when you get 5 or more reviews on Google you typically get the extra rich snippet put besides your listing making it stand out more.  Right now Google Maps allows your customers to post reviews about your business.  They also pull review data from other authority reviews sites like Yelp, TouchLocal, InsiderPages, etc.  Try offering your customers incentives for leaving you reviews and don’t post fake reviews about your business.  Try to keep your reviews current and dripping in over time.  Asking your entire customer database to review you on one day may not be a good idea and can cause it to look unnatural or even cause Google Maps to remove your reviews. Same with reviews from one IP address can cause issues too.  Think carefully on your review strategies before implementing them.

6. User Content – Work That Crowd-sourcing Magic

This is an aspect of Google Maps where people can create their own “My Maps”, where they can list their favourite places to shop, a great walking trail or their top five local Irish Pubs etc.  The more activity or mentions you have in “My Maps” the better.  Run a “My Map” Contest to get more folks mentioning your business.

7. The Tortoise and the Hare

When executing your strategies for acquiring more citations, reviews, & user content be sure to build slowly and consistently over time.  It’s most likely regular current conversations about your business in the form of citations, reviews & user content carry more weight.  Think drip, drip, drip.

At the end of the day, optimizing your Google Maps listings is not so different from regular SEO.  You have an on-page factor (claiming and filling out your listing from informed keyword research) and off-page optimization consisting of citations, reviews and user content.  If you actively pursue the above listed steps then you will most likely achieve a Google Map’s 7-Pack ranking.

Matthew Hunt runs a Local Search Marketing company called Small Business Online Coach.  If you would like to learn more on how to get your local small business better rankings within Google Maps then you may want to subscribe to his FREE Google Maps Listing Course here.

Don’t Give in To Pay Per Click SEO Temptation

Following the recent news that the economy has tiptoed its way out of the recession, many firms may be looking to adopt a Pay Per Click (PPC) strategy for their SEO campaign now that they have a few extra quid in the bank. But this represents a really short-term view – organic tactics are still fundamental to a bright future.

While last year may have been more about survival for many companies across a range of industries, it seems that 2010 will be a time to push on and repair the damage that the economic slowdown has caused. Whilst the immediate boost that a PPC strategy will create is clear for all to see – a position on page one of Google is something that we all strive for – it’s fair to say that natural SEO is essential for a longer term page one ranking, even though it may take some time to get there.

How Does PPC work?

Pay Per Click is a method of ensuring a listing on page one of Google. It takes the form of the ‘sponsored link’, typically found at the top or running down the right hand side of the search engine. It will provide that initial boost in traffic, but, as the name suggests, works on a ‘pay per click’ basis. A budget is set, with each click or search result costing a credit. Once the budget has elapsed then the listing will ‘disappear’, until a new budget is drawn-up.

It has to be said, in highly competitive industries PPC tactics are a great way of outfoxing your rivals, and securing more sales/enquiries. However, in a bizarre twist of fate, the more popular your listing, the more you are going to have to dig deep to keep funding your campaign.

So why is An Organic Strategy Often More Appropriate?

There is a whole host of literature on the Internet and in texts regarding organic optimisation, how it works and why it works. For instance, check out our previous post ‘Why Good SEO Means You’re in it For the Long Haul’. The bottom-line is that it really isn’t an exact science, with at least some of the secrets of the Google algorithm still just that – secret. But the general practises of keyword-rich anchor text and Meta data, appropriate link building and frequent updates via blogging and social media posts, amongst other things, are generally held ‘responsible’ for high rankings.

So utilise PPC for a quick shot in the arm for your SEO strategy. Just prepare to be back to square one once your clicks have been used.

How designing and writing can be tricky when inspiration seems to disappear.

When it comes to SEO, a creative flair is essential to making more of a campaign. Thinking outside the box allows you to get ahead of the competition and devise strategies that otherwise may not have been tried and tested.

But when you’ve been concentrating on a certain topic for a while, the inspiration that was bursting out at the start gradually fades, in return making a campaign stale and ultimately putting it at risk of falling down the rankings.

Design:

When initially designing a website (the most crucial part of any SEO campaign) inspiration is the back bone of creating a functional, stylish and professional website. But if you are continually trying to find ways of redesigning sites for similar industries, the juice can run out and what used to give immense satisfaction can become laborious.

If a website doesn’t look the part, but is built with SEO in mind, there is still a chance it will rank highly. But will it make a company any money? The chances are slim. With consumers obsessed with image, if an item doesn’t look as well as it performs, they won’t think twice about moving on to a site that’s more aesthetically appealing.

External Content Marketing:

Articles are one way to get backward links as well as improving the content within a website; both crucial for an SEO campaign. But content needs to be fresh and relevant and if it isn’t, who will read it?

Writing for the sake of it will never result in anything worthwhile being produced, yet it needs to be undertaken to enhance the performance of a website within the Search Engines. Lack of inspiration can not only make writers become lazy, but what is produced will not benefit a website or a consumer making content marketing a futile process

So where does inspiration come from when all sources have dried up?

Reading blogs, newspapers, and most importantly books, can suddenly spark ideas that may not have been tackled. For people that want to improve their SEO, content is the most crucial aspect and expanding this through tools such as RSS and external sites will not only improve writing ability, but increase performance of a website.

Keeping  ideas fresh is crucial to any SEO campaign otherwise listings will be affected. To keep on top of your game means ideas must be reinvented, and looking out for the next best thing in the world of Search Engines.

When inspiration runs dry it’s time to take a step back. The lack of inspiration can truly affect an SEO campaign in both performance and ROI so ensure when ideas come they are taken in their stride and not run away with.

Entering a new market for any business is never easy, and starting a new SEO campaign on a brand new website is no exception.  Any good SEO campaign will be geared towards Google to ensure the site receives the best possible exposure in the search engines. However, it can be a tricky procedure, as Google (though they’ve never publicly said this, only hinted at it) has what is known as a ‘sandbox’.

The name ‘sandbox’ stems from people using juvenile SEO techniques such as buying links from link farms, creating duplicate content and other ‘childish’ black hat techniques. Basically these sites are literally ‘put back in the sandbox’ with the other children!

What do I do if I think my site has been Sandboxed?

Don’t panic! – If you think your site has been sandboxed, the natural reaction may well be to fret over it and send yourself mad with worry. This needn’t be the worst thing in the world, I always say, if you can turn adversity into fortune then you’re in for a stress free, successful life!

Sit back, and look at things objectively, there are things that can be done to help you get some business, even if it’s not going to be as effective as the possibility of catching those high value keywords you originally wanted to target.

Look at your keywords, and try and think ‘outside the box’ – see if you can find some keywords that, although are less popular, will still bring you traffic and sales. Start link building slowly for those phrases, it will, over time strengthen your campaign so isn’t a waste of time at all.

Look at the Longtail. Longtail keywords can be extremely powerful for conversion, and should be incorporated into all SEO campaigns anyway. Build up your content with relevant articles and pages written expressly for this purpose. Your site will be healthier and stronger when finally released from the sandbox, so this is most definitely the way forward.

Search out ‘authority’ links, such as DMOZ, industry standard sites, Fortune 500 sites etc. Also .gov .edu domains can provide relief from the sandbox filter as these are highly trusted sites and are usually exempt from the sandbox.

Think away from Google – often I find my sites perform extremely well on Yahoo and Bing, but start out slow in Google. Although traffic from less widely used search engines will always be much reduced than what you would expect from Google, these search engines shouldn’t ever be overlooked.

Look at generating traffic through social media marketing. Facebook and Twitter are quickly becoming more widely used, and could overtake Google in popularity. You can generate traffic and sales opportunities by using this different approach. There may even be a social media platform related to your industry.

Think about email marketing. If you have a list of existing customers, send them a newsletter telling them about your new site. Always give them the option to unsubscribe – otherwise you could run the risk of losing your existing customers, which would be entirely counterproductive.

If your site has been sandboxed, it can take up to 8 months to be released. However, if you do all the things mentioned above it should perform almost straight away when it is finally released.

You will have a lot of content published on your site targeting the longtail. These pages will still be there, working away for you as long as they remain on your site. Your time will not have been wasted! You may even find that the conversion rate from these pages is higher over time than that from the highly competitive keywords originally picked.

Utilising Press Releases As Part Of An SEO Campaign

As an SEO copywriter, one thing that I have noticed is that a lot of the techniques used as part of an online marketing campaign require copy to be non-promotional. Of course one of the residing comments that I often hear from clients is, how can this possibly benefit my company?

I often answer by explaining that the article includes a link in the main body that directs to their website, which benefits their SEO. I also let them know that whilst many article distribution sites do not allow promotional posts on their site, they often allow the company name to be added into a box below.

Still, many clients use their marketing budget to pay for their SEO and as a result, expect that they should receive promotional exposure online. One of the best ways that I think that this can be achieved is through the writing and distribution of press releases online.

Online press releases are much the same as those that are sent to print publications; they should be based upon relevant news related to a company.

The main advantage of offering press releases as part of a campaign is that they can be promotional, they can include the company name as many times as you like and as long as they are written well, PR distribution sites will almost always accept them.

However, they can be adjusted slightly so that they benefit a company’s search engine optimisation too. Just like an article they can include valuable back-links that direct to their website, this can strengthen the authority of a website for the key words that they have chosen to optimise for.

As an example, if your client is optimising for ‘Swimming Pool Covers’, links from articles, press releases and other websites will improve the chances of their website appearing one page one for this key phrase.

So what should you look for in a press release distribution site, to ensure that it offers positive results as part of the SEO campaign?

High Page Rank – Sites with high page ranks are often regarded more highly in the eyes of search engines such as, Google, Yahoo and Bing. Consequently, the content on the website is considered to be more authoritative, improving the authority of the links to the website and in turn boosting the company’s rankings.

Link Building – As mentioned earlier, in order for a press release to be of any worth for the online marketing campaign, the distribution site should allow the release to include links. Many sites will detail whether this is allowed in the submission guidelines. If you are not able to add links, there is little point in distributing for SEO purposes.

Relevant Categories – As well as the backwards links, the primary benefit of a press release for the client is the added exposure that it receives. In order for relevant audiences to read the release and discover the client’s company, it must be placed on a site with relevant categories. In some cases, it may be possible to place a PR on an industry specific site, which would be extremely advantageous as long as it adheres to the previous two points.

So, next time your client asks why the copy that you are writing for their SEO campaign doesn’t include their company name, suggest writing a newsworthy press release that could get their company exposure and benefit their campaign.

By Harnessing the Power of Mobile Internet in your Strategies

Around three-quarters of the world’s population owns a mobile phone. Nothing startling in that statistic you might think, until you consider the ramifications of this to the SEO industry. A whole new market sector has been slowly developing before our very eyes – one that needs to be addressed by optimisers.

New mobile phone technologies, such as the widespread growth of high-tech models such as the iPhone, have continued to facilitate the growth and importance of making the most of mobile internet in an optimisation campaign.

How Do I Incorporate Key Words?

It is important to note that mobile Google searches are likely to be different to their ‘computer’ counterparts. They require faster, more instantaneous and direct results. Many searches are more task and location-orientated, which means that keyword-rich content is still the order of the day, but in a more compact and concise manner.

The need for geographical key phrasing is also clear. Imagine if you were in a city that you were not familiar with, and wanted some food. Rather than randomly walking around hoping to find somewhere, searching ‘Chinese restaurant in Leicester’ within your phone would be more appropriate. An understanding of this, and the most appropriate keywords searched for, is essential to mobile SEO.

Google have found in research that the average search on their mobile internet search engine is 15 characters long. This may even incorporate ‘text speak’ and abbreviations as befitting of the mobile generation. Perhaps as a result of this, predictive search results have been developed, in-line with the predictive text function of the phone. For instance, the phrase ‘search engine optimisation’ will yield results for the word ‘search’, by attempting to fill in your request with a few automatic selections. Identifying these predictive phrases is essential for SEO providers in placing well in search engines.

How Do I Optimise For Mobiles Then?

As pointed out in one of our previous blogs ‘Website Design For Mobile Devices’, designing takes on a whole new dimension for WAP. This is also the case for SEO. Mobile search engines still recognise optimisation techniques as we know them. Traditional tools still need to be utilised for an effective campaign, such as submitting a mobile sitemap to the search engines, ensuring key content is well placed near the top of web pages and appropriate and mutually beneficial outbound linking.

Submission of domain names to directories and business listings and important SEO concerns such as URLs, page titles and metadata will also still need to be keyword rich to encourage effective indexing and crawling.

A key component of SEO has always been to write for your audience. Be optimisation-friendly, but tailor content and web pages to the requirements of the user. This has never been more true than with mobile search engine optimisation – a rapidly developing industry that is set to grow and grow through 2010 and beyond.

Networking can lead to more content for better SEO

Firstly, I’d like to thank all those Twitter followers that have got back to us about contributing to their blog. We know it is difficult wading through emails, and for those that have taken the time to respond, it’s appreciated.

Right, so what is all this guest blogging about, and how can it help SEO? Many people find it hard enough to contribute to their own blog every day that the mere thought of writing for someone else fills them with dread.

Of course, there are many benefits for writing for other people, not only for networking purposes but to enhance your Search Engine Optimisation. With different communication outlets now available, it is easier than ever to approach people within the same industry to discuss ways to exchange content or links.

Many people still refer to content as ‘king’ and what better way to enhance your SEO than offering your expertise to other people. Many businesses will have a blog or news feed where you can offer your writing services for a guest blog and there are even those that will return the favour.

Guest blogging is a two way street. There are those businesses that are more than willing to expose your content and provide a link within the post. This strengthens your key phrases as well as exposing your business to others that may require your services.

With this in mind, it’s vital that you target those that would be interested in what you have to say. Guest Blogs are only successful, as with any content, if they are relevant, so research the company and take a look at what they may be interested in before you contact them.

So, if you currently are looking for others ways to improve your SEO, get writing. There are so many opportunities to be had from simply putting fingers to keys, so even if your struggle with your own blog, writing for others could open up a whole range of opportunities.