SEO Rants and Resources

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a set of methods aimed at improving the ranking of a website in search engine listings. The term also refers to an industry of consultants that carry out optimization projects on behalf of clients' sites.

Visitors can find sites in a variety of different ways using search engines. However, SEO is primarily concerned with improving the visibility of a site in the organic search results, which are websites that have unpaid search engine listings.

High rankings in the organic search results can provide targeted traffic for a site. Attaining this targeted traffic by different means can be expensive. Such as pay-per-click advertising or banner advertising on competitive terms. Even on moderately competitive terms the cost can range from a few cents to several tens of dollars per visitor. For site owners to optimize their sites for organic search would make a lot of sense, given what the costs can be.

Not all sites have the same goals in mind when they optimize for search engines. Some sites seek any and all traffic so they can rank highly for common search phrases. This might not be such a good marketing strategy because it can generate a large volume of low-quality inquiries that cost money to handle and result in little business. The "shotgun approach" to search optimization can possibly work well for a site that has wide interests, such as a periodical, a directory, or a site that displays advertising with a CPM revenue model.

Other sites target a specific population, with particular needs or interests. Even though they are trying to attract an explicit group, they feel the need to optimize their site with large numbers of highly specific keywords. Concentrating on desired traffic can produce more high-quality sales leads, and fewer time-wasting inquiries.

Unethical Methods for Better Website Ranking

As search engines operate in a highly automated way it is often possible for webmasters to use methods and tactics not approved by search engines to gain better ranking. These “unethical” methods often go unnoticed unless an employee from the search engine manually visits the site and notices the activity, or a change in ranking algorithm causes the site to lose the advantage they gained.

 So-called "unethical" methods may include:

§ Keyword spamming (or keyword stuffing) which involves the insertion of hidden, random text on a web page to raise the keyword density or ratio of keywords to other words on the page.

§ Spamdexing is the promotion of irrelevant, chiefly commercial, pages through abuse of the search algorithms. Now this can be controversial, because many search engine administrators consider any form of SEO used to improve a website's page rank as spamdexing.

§ Cloaking refers to any of several means to serve up a different page to the search-engine spider than will be seen by human users. It can be an attempt to mislead search engines regarding the content on a particular web site. However, cloaking can also be used to ethically increase accessibility of a site to users with disabilities, or to provide human users with content that search engines aren't able to process or parse. It is also used to deliver content based on a user's location; they Google themselves using IP delivery, which is a form of cloaking, to get results.

§ Link Spam is the placing or solicitation of links randomly on other sites, placing a desired keyword into the hyperlinked text of the inbound link.

The following techniques are also widely acknowledged as being spam, or "black hat”:

· Mirror sites

· Doorway Pages

· Link Farms

· Googleating

Some SEOs argue that the terms ethical and unethical should not be applied to the work they do. They maintain that on the principle of basic freedom everybody should be free to post whatever they choose on a site they own, as long as they stay within the law.

Free Google 411 service has huge potential to deliver new customers to local businesses

Google has announced Voice Local Search, an automated system which allows users to easily get the information they need to find local businesses for free. Getfoundlocal.com introduces a new service assisting Google in identifying local businesses to list and refer customers to.

Scottsdale, AZ April 16, 2007€” Google Labs now offers a free automated 411 service  (Google Voice Local Search) to customers. Individuals may call 1-800-GOOG-411 and specify the local business, city and state they would like to search . Callers are offered two options: to be connected directly  or receive the listing information through a text message with the name, address and telephone number of the local business.

Google also updated the way people get and receive information with Google SMS. A message can be sent from a cell phone to 466453 (Google) containing the name or category the sender would like searched along with the city and state or zip code. Google sends a text message back containing the information the customer inquired about.

Google Voice Local Search and SMS service appear to use the same local information found on Google Maps.  If a business is not listed with Google Maps they do not have a chance for their business information to be delivered to the person requesting the information via text message. Instead, the businesses competitors’ information will be given to the potential customers.

As customers use the Internet and cell phones more in their daily lives to obtain information, they use the print Yellow Pages less. Recent studies indicate 30% of every search on the Internet is local in nature, which means local consumers look for local merchants. A full 70% of U.S.households use the web to help make decisions when shopping locally for products and services.  With the marketing power of Google behind a service that is offered to the consumer for free instead of paying for 411 calls, chances are the service will catch on with the general public.

In addition to the Google Voice Local Search service, businesses must ensure they are properly included in the Google Maps data base and the local search results of all of the major search engines and online Yellow Pages.  New businesses and companies that have not purchased advertising in traditional print Yellow Page books are frequently left out of local search databases owned by Yahoo, Google, Verizon, AOL, MSN and others.  Businesses that are included often have incorrect or incomplete data listed in one or more of the local search databases.

Millions of searches are conducted daily on local search sites. Unless a business is included in the search results and provides accurate contact information there is no chance of getting found by a potential customer. Existing customers may be lured away by competitors simply because they are being found when the consumer is ready to buy. 

The problem for many locally owned businesses is they have limited resources and little time to educate themselves about on-line advertising and yellow pages.

GetFoundLocal.com has launched an inexpensive service to help businesses that are dependent on local customers get listed in the Google Maps data base and in the local business listings of Yahoo, AOL, MSN, Superpages, online Yellow Pages plus many other popular local search sites, even if they do not have a web site. It starts by completing a simple online questionnaire; products or services offered, hours of operation, payment types accepted, location, special offerings etc. All the information gathered is then used to hand submit to the major local search companies for inclusion in their local search results. In addition, GetFoundLocal.com provides the business owner with means to track the behavior of visitors to the local businesses website if they have one.

Get Found Local is a Scottsdale AZ internet marketing company assisting local businesses in reaching their local customers inexpensively, simply and effectively. For further information please visit http://www.getfoundlocal.com or call 1-866-391-0486.

 

Flash Problems in SEO - Work-Arounds

Flash content can not be easily optimized for search engines so if you rely too heavily on it you are really putting yourself and your clients at a disadvantage using it. Of course like everything else, there are work-arounds and exceptions.

 As mentioned earlier in this tread the engines can only read words.  This means that any part of the site that uses flash is of no use to you in terms of organic listings in the engines.

 Here is my 2 cents worth about the subject.

 To be optimized properly, the site should be ADAcompatible and include keywords and phrases. Basically if the blind can read it, so can the engines.

 Don’t make the entire page flash.  Use a lot of content outside of the Flash file. Use it to animate just a part of the page. Even though they will ignore the flash file they will still be able to pick up on the page “theme” – they will know what the page is about.

 If you just have to create the page in Flash us the <noembed> tag. Put the html version of what ever flash you are using on the page. This gives the engines something to read and the dinosaurs who don’t have flash installed in their browsers.

 Here is an example of a local company that uses flash. They are not maximizing what they have. The page it’s self has a Google Page Rank of 4.

 The only words that can be read on the entire page are: twistique - web development with a twist

  They have inbound links. http://tinyurl.com/255abj

 This is what a search engine3 sees when they get to the page.

http://tinyurl.com/2ygge3

 So if you search for “twistique” they have a top ranking in Google.

If you search for “web development with a twist” they have a top ranking in Google. http://tinyurl.com/yps38j

 I think you will have a very hard time finding them under any other words or phrases even though they have several sections of the site. This is a great example of a site that is very nice to look at but just does not work for a business that would need to have organic traffic.