SEO Consultant » On-page Optimization

How To Get The Equivalent Of $100K in PPC Ads For Free

SEO Consultant — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:48:20 +0000

Posted by scanlin This post was originally in YouMoz , and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author’s views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of SEOmoz, Inc.

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How To Get The Equivalent Of $100K in PPC Ads For Free

21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic (Updated 2012)

SEO Consultant — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 07:48:18 +0000

Posted by randfish It's easy to build a blog, but hard to build a successful blog with significant traffic. Over the years, we've grown the Moz blog to nearly a million visits each month and helped lots of other blogs, too. I launched a personal blog late last year and was amazed to see how quickly it gained thousands of visits to each post.

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21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic (Updated 2012)

How Google+ Uses SEO to Steal Search from Facebook and Twitter

SEO Consultant — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 02:49:53 +0000

Posted by Cyrus Shepard Google's Superior SEO Strategy Notice anything odd about your Google+ profile? Does it rank incredibly well in Google’s search results for your own name

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How Google+ Uses SEO to Steal Search from Facebook and Twitter

Wake Up SEOs, the New Google is Here

SEO Consultant — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:51:14 +0000

Posted by gfiorelli1 This post was originally in YOUmoz , and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community.

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Wake Up SEOs, the New Google is Here

4 Graphics to Help Illustrate On-Page SEO

SEO Consultant — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:11:33 +0000

Posted by randfish For many SEO professionals, on-page optimization is back to basics.

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4 Graphics to Help Illustrate On-Page SEO

On-page Optimization Tips 101

SEO Consultant — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:13:13 +0000

1. Title Page Element
Your html document must have a Title Element in the head section.

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2. META Description Tag
Some search engines will index the META Description Tag found in the section of your web pages.

3. META Keywords Tag
The META Keywords Tag is where you list keywords and keyword phrases that you’ve targeted for that pecific page. There have been numerous discussions at various search engine marketing forums surrounding the use of the keywords tag and its effectiveness.

4. META Language Tag
The Language META tag declares to users the natural language of the document being indexed. Search engines which index websites based on language often read this tag to determine which language(s) is supported. This tag is particularly useful for non-english and multiple language websites.

5. META Link Relationship Tag
It is helpful for search results to reference the beginning of the collection of documents in addition to the page hit by the search. You may help search engines by using the link element with rel=”start” along with the title attribute. The META Link Relationship tag is part of the metadata that appears within the section of your web pages.

6. META Robots Tag
The Robots META Tag is meant to provide users who cannot upload or control the /robots.txt file at their websites, with a last chance to keep their content out of search engine indexes and services.

7. META Robots Tag for Googlebot
Googlebot obeys the noindex, nofollow, and noarchive META Robots Tags. If you place these tags in the head of your HTML/XHTML document, you can cause Google to not index, not follow, and/or not archive particular documents on your site.

8. META Robots Tag for MSNBot
MSNBot obeys the noindex and nofollow Robots META Tag. Placing these tags in the heading of your HTML document prevents MSNBot from indexing or following specific documents.

9. META Tags Abuse and Misuse – Metadata Structuring and Standards
This is a search engine marketing article published by our System Admin (Edward Lewis) that discusses the use of HTML Comments Tags and proprietary metadata elements.
10. META Revisit-After Tag
The revisit-after META tag is not supported by any major search engines, it never was supported and probably never will be. It was developed for, and supported by, Vancouver Webpages and their local search engine searchBC.

11. HTML Comments Tag
HTML comments are not metadata but, are typically found in the section of web pages. HTML comments can be utilized anywhere within your documents HTML structure.

There has been a myth that has perpetuated over the years where keywords and keyword phrases listed inside HTML comments tags would add a boost to the overall relevancy of the page. This is not true based on numerous tests we’ve performed during the years 2002, 2003 and 2004.
12. DC Dublin Core META Tags – DCMI Dublin Core Metadata Initiative
The Dublin Core metadata element set is a standard for cross domain information resource description.

Keyword Selection Methodology

*      Generate a list of probable core busby seo test keywords.
*      Assign an SEO Value to each of the top core busby seo test keywords.
*      Incorporate Geo-Modifiers

1. Generate a list of probable core keywords

Using online tools along with common sense, a comprehensive list of likely keywords. There are occasional surprises, but most times you will find that the keywords that get the most search volume are the ones you would expect. We are only interested in the highest volume keywords.

2. Assign an SEO Value to each of the top core keywords.

Keyword SEO value is measured by weighing relevancy, search volume and the Online Commercial Intent Index (OCI). We call the resultant value a Keyword Value Score (KVS). By combining these values to identify our keyword list we are focusing in on keywords that not only get a high degree of search traffic but gets visits from searchers who are in the buying phase of the purchasing process. I like to call these the “money keywords”.

Many local businesses optimize for core keywords but neglect to add geo-modifiers. Without geo-modifiers the website competes in a global web search when they are doing business in a limited geographic location. The core keywords alone can easily be used for advertising to a local audience using a PPC campaign that is geo-targeted. Geo-modified keywords also tend to have a high conversion rate. This makes sense since someone who is ready to purchase will specifically look for a provider near by.

Blog Optimization Is An Ongoing Process

SEO Consultant — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 15:52:17 +0000

Yesterday I posted “3 Reasons Why Blog SEO Fails” to help readers avoid the pitfalls of starting a business or corporate blog purely for SEO reasons only to end up wasting time and energy. Without proper planning, oversight and passion for the topic, blogs implemented purely for SEO objectives are doomed to fail. Additionally, social media referrals and recommendations are becoming a notable competitor to search traffic which can place SEO as a secondary promotional effort in some situations.

Here are five tips for successful business blog optimization benefits in the long run:

1. Find a practical purpose for starting a blog. There are many reasons why companies would benefit from starting and publishing a blog. Some might use blog software as a content management system for an online newsroom or to archive newsletters to the web.

Other blog applications include: aggregating industry news, publishing ongoing product development information, improving customer relations, building thought leadership or improving onlne marketing and sales. Identifying a specific business goal that can be facilitated by the creation, publishing and promotion of blog content should be the first step.

Whether the goal is to better connect with existing customers and reduce support costs or to attract more media coverage to improve indusry reputation, there should be a specific business goal for the blog. SEO can be used to further that objective through improved search visibility.

Busby SEO Test 2. Optimize templates initially and content on an ongoing basis. As dynamically generated web sites, blogs take information stored to a database and push that information through templates which generate the web pages or blog posts we read in a web browser.

Optimization of a blog at the template level will pass on benefits to all pages of the blog. For example, the use of blog post titles in the URLs rather than an id number. Or posting distinct title tags separate from the on page titles.

Blog content optimization means leveraging a keyword glossary to allow company bloggers to make informed choices about what phrases to use in titles, categories, body copy, anchor text links, tags, image alt text and others. This is an activity that often gets diluted if there isn’t a quality assurance effort, oversight editorially or persistent attention to SEO.

3. Plan editorial and source content. Unlike traditional publications, blogs do not typically have editorial calendars but why not? Use categories as an indication for the topics the blog should be posting about. Category keywords should support the business goals defined in the blog’s objectives.

Here are some simple steps for managing blog content, long term: Create a keyword glossary, much like you would for a website SEO project. Identify an editorial guide as well as post types and key topics. Assign a blog champion, someone that “owns” the success/failure of the blog. The blog champion will provide content and editorial oversight as well as recruit other contributors.

The blog champion performs another important function, feedback to the contributors. This goes beyond a simple “thank you” but may also include reporting on the number of comments on posts contributed, inbound links, increases in RSS subscribers and mentions of the blog post on other blogs. Providing individual as well as overall feedback to contributors helps them see what impact their efforts are making.

4. Socialize.

Blogs are a big part of what makes up social media, so it’s important that bloggers are social for a successful blogging effort. A few of the ways blogs can be social include:

Comments – be sure to respond to commments on your blog quickly
Links out to other blogs – Blog software like WordPress will notify the blog owner when others link in. Besides providing readers a link to a useful resource, getting the attention of a prominent and/or influential blogger by linking to them can result in being mentioned in a post with a link back.
Trackbacks are the mutual link exchange that can happen when one blog links to another.
Widgets and polls/surveys can be effective social tools for a blog, because they allow interaction and direct feedback.
Reading and commenting on other blogs is very important for the success of a blog to connect with other influential information sources on your topic. Bloggers are also more keen to network with each other than they are with non-bloggers.
Social networking tools like Facebook and communication tools like Twitter can be effectively used to socialize a blog by crowdsourcing the network for content as well as a channel for promoting new content. Recognizing contributors and aggregating resources is a win for everyone.

5. Measure and promote blog success – In order for a blogging effort of any kind to be successful, there needs to be an objective. Ideally an objective that helps reach a particular business goal. Once that goal for the blog is indentified, it’s important to take a benchmark measurement to understand where you are starting from.

Monitoring mentions of the blog in real time with basic tools like Google Alerts and TweetBeep can be effective discovery tools in finding fans of your blog. Trackur is a low cost social media monitoring tool that can be quite helpful. More robust monitoring tools such as BuzzLogic, Techrigy or Radian6 can be helpful for monitoring multiple social media channels.

Discovering trending of keywords within blogs or services like Twitter can present opportunistic content marketing situations. If a term is observed as becoming increasingly popular, the blog conducting the monitoring can choose to create more content and engage in link building to encourage high ranking for those terms.

Besides monitoring, it’s important measure the specific goals set out for the blog using web analytics.

As the data and success metrics are collected, be sure to package the information for reporting upstream in the organization. ROI on social media marketing efforts, including blogging, can be challenging. However, if the blog is attracting any kind of popular keyword phrase traffic from organic search, it can be compared to the costs to achieve those same positions and visitors with pay per click. The resulting comparison should offer an estimated a dollar value of organic search traffic.

Another valuation method for blogs is when the blog facilitates media coverage, including other blogs. If a company hires a public relations firm to conduct blogger and media relations, it costs money and that investment can be boiled down to a value per pickup. If publishing content on the blog results in being cited, linked or mentioned by a popular blog or publication, it should be tracked and a dollar value assigned. Such ROI associations from blogging can vary depending on the purpose of the blog ranging from lowering customer service costs to saving recruiter fees for attracting new employees.

The other type of reporting that is important for the longevity of a blog and the ongoing optimization effort is feedback to those that make it happen. A blog SEO effort cannot be successful if there is no one to write posts. Therefore, it’s important to keep contributors motivated by keeping them informed on the progress of the blog in reaching overall goals as well as the effect ofo their individual contributions.

Wrap up:

For a successful business blogging effort that leverages search engine optimization, it’s important that the blog serves a functional purpose intented to help the business reach a particular goal. SEO is involved in order to extend the reach and “discoverability” of the blog.

Blog optimization is both a one time event with the templates but is also an ongoing process involving keyword glossaries that help determine post level keyword usage, internal anchor text and off site anchor text. Running out of ideas and people to contribute to the blog can mean certain death, so be creative with content sourcing and formats. Listen to what blog readers respond to and give feedback on to guide editorial.

Blog software offers many social features. Use them! Grow a network that leverages the blog as resource and as a way to recognize contributors. Monitor real time content opportunities as well as blog analytics so you can offer the kind of feedback that motivates continued contributions both from the C-Suite in the form of funding and from the B-Suite in the form of content and comments.