Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Big Changes Coming to Google for SEO

So, there are plenty of changes coming to the search engine optimization world, Google will be releasing an update to Penguin. This one is called *drum roll* Penguin 2.0! Shocker. BUT, it is important for you to know what this means so your site does not get hit, or if you're an SEO consulting company, then your clients' sites. Google promises that this update will be a real trouble-maker.

A big deal with this change is the update's ability to shake down all the SEO on the internet and crack down on any spammy and poor quality links. What this means is that you will have to check your site's links by performing an audit. Even if you think your links are good, do not assume, do an audit on your site's backlinks and links. Avoid links that are attached to SEO inspired sites, like backlink farm sites, and things of the like. Also try to avoid links with contrived anchor text, or anchor text that has been beaten to death.

What you will want to do is to build a list of all the backlinks you have for your site on the internet, you can do this by using SEO SpyGlass. Next, look to see what links you have that are still active and what links you have that are dead, remove the dead ones. Third, look for any questionable links that are tied to your site, ditch them ASAP; check for the domain IP, domain age, Google page rank, Alexa rank, and external links. Fourth, look for links with suspicious anchor text because this kind of goes along with the notion of questionable backlinks and using overly optimized keywords/anchor text. Fifth, look for any poor backlinks to your site with your own eye, maybe the SpyGlass missed something. And lastly, Talk to webmasters about removing the bad links.

This blog will hopefully help you avoid poor rankings due to poor back links but there is more you can do, for a complete run down, do a Google search of the new update and see for yourself. We will make it through this update!

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Don't Rush to Change Keywords

If you do search engine optimization, you know about keywords. Keywords are your backbone for search engine optimization. They are what get you noticed by the world on the internet. Keywords are the things that people type into the search engines and why your material on the internet and your website become relevant to the people using those keywords. The only problem is that many people are eager to change the keywords and try to be innovative.

The thing about keywords is that they have to establish themselves in reference to your website. So, for example, you use "Dentist in Chicagoland" as a keyword for your dentist office, this keyword has to become associated with your website, according to the search engines. If you change your keywords too often, then the search engines don't like it and your rankings will suffer.

Keywords can stick around for a few months or even longer so you don't really have to worry about them having a short expiration date, they aren't like milk. Think of them more like juice.

If you do not know how to choose a keyword, well there is a science to that. Keywords are often 2-3 words long. one word phrases are called short-tail keywords and they make up less than 30% of searches on the web. Phrases longer than 3 words are called long-tail keywords and make up gets fewer uses with each additional word. The longer and more precise the keywords are, the sooner you will get increased traffic. It is easier to optimize a site and rank for a unique phrase with little competition. The longer and more precise your keyword is, the fewer visitors you will get, but the more targeted your traffic is. The narrower the search term you target, the greater part of visitors convert to actual customers.

When choosing keywords, you want to make a list of keywords to choose from. They must pertain to what you offer or sell. To help you, you can use the Google Keyword Planner tool. You can use more general keywords or more specific like "Chicago Instrument Shop". What makes it more specific is the addition of "Chicago".

How do you pick the best keywords? Good question. You will need to calculate the Keyword Efficiency Index, or KEI. This index show you how good a keyword is for bringing traffic to your site. You will want keywords with high KEI. There are three components to KEI and they are: relevance ( how closely your keyword is related to what you offer to your customers. You can rank the relevance in terms of excellent, good, or poor). Another component of KEI is the search volume (this is how many queries are made for a keyword per month). The third component is competition (how many websites try to rank for this keyword- generally, all sites that have the same keyword as you are your online competition. The fewer websites that are optimized for the same keyword, the better KEI).

As a Chicago marketing company, we do all sorts of internet marketing, search engine optimization, social media marketing, blogs, web design, and more. We know all about keywords and how they work and how to use them to someone's advantage.