Posts Tagged ‘search engine results’

Organic SEO for Small Businesses – Part V

Monday, July 27th, 2009

Abstract: A detailed look at this area of search engine optimization focussing on relevant links targeted towards small businesses, organizations and sole traders.

Intended Audience: Small Business Owners/webmasters and anyone new to the world of web design and search engine optimization (SEO) particularly those working with small businesses, organizations and sole traders.

Note: Part IV of this series of articles was published on July 22nd, 2009 and can be viewed at http://www.istech.ie/blog/?p=127

The fourth article in this series focused on trusted links and we will continue the link theme in this article and take a look at relevant links and their significance in improving your website's position on search engine results pages.

Let's take a look at the concept of a relevant link. Consider the following examples:

1. A website about motor bikes linking to a website about fishing.
2. A dental care website linking to a dental association website

Obviously example 1 is not a relevant link while example 2 is a relevant link. A search engine will attach more value to link illustrated in example 2. A large number of non-relevant links can also be detrimental to your website's rankings on search engines and should be avoided.

The golden rule of relevant links is that links are from websites with content that is relevant to the content of your website. It is preferable to have relevant backlinks from a number of different websites but if you are able to acquire a number of backlinks from a particular website then it is important to have them point to different pages on your website i.e. not all backlinks should go to your home page.

It may be possible to have an SEO company unearth a list of relevant backlinks but remember that you are the best judge of which websites are relevant to your website so it's worth doing some research to establish your own personal criteria for a relevant backlinks. Sources of relevant backlinks include:

* Your Suppliers
* Industry Specific Websites and Blogs
* Industry Specific Forums

If you do decide to outsource the placing of relevant links to an external company it is important to retain control over the link approval process i.e. approve links before they are established not after as it can often take time to remove a link especially after it's been indexed by the search engines.

Your competitors are often a good source of information about where you should look for relevant websites to get a link. You can use Yahoo Search's linkdomain function to display a list of all websites that link to a competitor website.
The next article in this series will expand on the topic of free and paid web directories, social media, local directory services etc.

Article Tags: Search Engine, Relevant Links, Relevant Link, Relevant Backlinks

About the Author

Eoin Redmond – 23rd July 2009
Istech Technology Services Ltd
Leading Website Developer and SEO Specialists
Kilkenny, Ireland.
00 353 86 154 1049
Web: Website Design Kilkenny by Istech
Blog: Istech's Website Design Blog

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SERP – More Than Just Keywords

Saturday, July 11th, 2009

Having the correct keywords in the content of your website or blog is important for top positioning on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). While using a proper set of keywords or phrases is essential for top positioning, it is not the only element for gaining high Search Engine Results Page positioning. There is another keyword related element search engines look for before reporting results to any given search term or query. This additional element is just as important as having proper keywords for boosting your page to the top of search engine placement but often overlooked when writing content for a site or Blog.

Preponderance of Relevant Content

In the court of law sometimes a single fact is not enough to convict someone of a crime. However when there is a fact and it is backed up by other bits of related evidence then a preponderance of evidence is established. When this happens the single fact becomes much more relevant and valuable for gaining a conviction. You can think of your keywords in this same fashion. That is: a single keyword or phrase is not likely to push your page to the top of the search engine rankings but when combined with related words, your keyword or phrase becomes much more powerful and has a better chance of gaining a better SERP positioning.

To explain this, you should understand that search engines use more than just the search terms when providing results for search queries. Google and other search engines have a record of words that are semantically related to search words, terms or phrases. They also have a record of the words used on your page. Search engines will first identify all pages in their database that match the search terms. They will then compare the word usage record of the keyword related pages to the semantically related words. Pages that use multiple words and synonyms related to the keyword or phrase in the content are establishing a Preponderance of Relevant Content. When all other things are equal, web pages that do this the best are placed highest in the search results. There are a few other factors but this explains how a web page with a low Page Rank can beat a web page with a higher Page Rank in the search results.

Tip
Google provides a free tool at http://labs.google.com/sets. This tool will generate a set of words semantically related to your keywords or phrases. To generate a list of semantically related words simply type in your keyword and 1 or 2 additional words that relate to that keyword. The set of words in the generated list can be used in your content to provide a Preponderance of Relevant Content for your site or blog.

When creating content for your blog or website use synonyms and semantically related words to boost the power of your keywords or phrases. Over a period of time, Google will learn that your content just doesn't contain exact keywords but also is an authority site providing quality, relevant information to your visitors. This after all is what search engines want to do and it may be the advantage you need to overtake your competitors in the SERP wars.

This article provided by Woody Longacre. We invite you to visit the Web Hosting Goods Store for Internet web design, Web Hosting, and Internet Website Marketing Services.

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Keywords for Better Search Engine Results

Saturday, May 23rd, 2009

Keep the search engines happy!
Website traffic received from people finding you in search engine and directory listings is a beautiful thing. Not only is it cheaper than advertising, you automatically have motivated prospects, assuming the search term
they entered is the main topic of the page on your site that they land on. It's many times more difficult to rank on the first three pages of results than it was just a couple years ago, due to the exponential growth of
the web. Use every tool at your disposal to shoot for the top!

Generate a list of keywords
Keywords and keyword phrases are the “search terms” entered into Yahoo or Google or any other listing of sites. If your site is built to satisfy human visitors, you're off to a good start with the search engines as well, but
a little tweaking can squeeze out a lot more visitors. Any word or phrase that someone may use to refer to a subject should be considered as part of the text in the page(s) discussing it. When keywords are part of your
text, you have a chance of appearing in search engine results for those keywords. When you don't specifically include them in your text, you'll be out in the cold.

If there are lots of possibilities, the most popular and targeted words or expressions should be incorporated to increase your odds for the most traffic possible. For example, a website for “used cars” should consider
various synonyms such as “autos”, “automobiles”, “sedans”, “pre-owned cars”, and particular makes and models. Any one page could use several terms interchangeably or distinct pages could be created for each term.
Your home page can contain more general terms and supporting pages will target more specifics.

Analysis of “key phrases” is a critical step for both SEO and SEM (Search Engine Marketing = Pay Per Click marketing) so it is doubly important. Both entail determining what potential customers type when looking for information and using those exact words and phrases to increase visibility in the search results for the most relevant terms for your business. Yes, web surfers help you write your text!

Generate a list of your keywords, considering technical terms, common usage, and even slang terms and phrases since different people will search for your product in different ways. Prior to finalizing your text, research,
brainstorm, visit other websites, check a thesaurus for synonyms, ask your friends and definitely use tools such as the Google Keyword Tool. For many sites, your state or city or town can be an important keyword, since surfers
may type in a search for “buy cars in Boston”.

The Google Keyword Tool is the top device for helping you climb the charts, and is free! Enter what you feel is a generic phrase into the Keyword Variations Tab and your results are the most important terms (when ranked by 'search volume') for that topic which searchers use to describe it. For pay per click advertising, it even shows the terms where there is the greatest and least competition.

Google Traffic Estimator is also free and uses historical results to predict traffic for selected phrases. WordTracker is another popular tool for determining keywords. Abakus Topword Key Phrase Density checker can
also assist with creation of “Title” and “META tags”. These are important coded instructions that appear in the invisible, or HEAD section of a web page and are used by Search Engines to help “index” the page in appropriate
SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages). Finally, SEObook website provides a search volume comparison tool.

Search term comparison is a great way to compare popularity of terms and company names, so you can concentrate on including the terms most likely to be searched for. Use the free tool: Google Trends.
Choose your favorite tools and go ahead and ask your customers what they search for!

Webmaster Ray is a website designer and internet marketer. For many more tips on generating website traffic and more sales, see his eBook, Boost Your Website's Profitability: 200 proven, low-cost techniques you can use NOW to increase traffic and make more sales. Or visit Attraction web design

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