Category: Google

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The New Face of SEO Has Three Sides

If you have a website, are a webmaster, or are simply tired of paying per click and want to improve your organic search placement, you’ve got a very hard job ahead of you now that Google has shifted its racking and stacking algorithm that determines who is in what position.

SEO as we’ve known it before is dying. Although for now, there are some strategies that still seem to work, Google is effectively and actively targeting them one by one with filters in their index. This is very bad news for sites that have leaned heavily in code optimization and keyword density for organic placement, but good news for those that have built authority content-rich websites.

I feel that the new face of SEO has a three pronged focus: content, social media, and blogging.

Content

There is a new focus on having quality unique content on your website. Content that is more than a brochure about your services; rather content that explains the why and importance in the broader scheme of what you do. Content you create should be natural and readable. Mention the phrase you want to place for two times on the page and then use synonyms in a natural way. This means that pages should be smaller and really no more than 350 to 400 words long.

Social Media

There is no faster way to build links, share information, and build a community than to participate in social media. Specifically I mean Twitter. It is very important to understand that although there has been a huge push to move businesses into Facebook, Google does not index Facebook updates, but it does index Twitter updates. If you have to choose a place to invest your time and money right now, choose Twitter.

Blogging

Blogging is an easy way to not only build fresh content for your website, improve stickiness, but to build inbound links to your website and on-domain blog in a slow natural way – a way that Google likes. It is not unusual for a website to have several thousand inbound links to blog content after blogging just a year or so.

There are several very important things to remember when you are setting up a blog. Make sure your blog is installed on the same server and using the same domain name as your website. Be consistent in writing to build content and make sure your content is on topic and unique.

If you are interested in having help with any of these needs that reflect the new face of SEO, I invite you to visit our company website to find out more about Twitter, blogging, and website content.

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Configuring URL Parameters in the Google Webmaster Tools Control Panel

In this fairly long video a Google Engineer talks about how to set up and configure URL parameters in the Google Webmaster Tools control panel. Although this video is not for every website, owners of websites that pull data from a database and have an e-commerce website will definitely want to watch this important video. It talks about how to filter out pages dynamically generated by your application that may create duplicate pages that Google may spider which may not be a good thing.

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How to Know Which Search Terms Are Driving Your Website Traffic

Watch Alexi Douvas from Google explain how to know which search terms are driving traffic to your website in this video.

The first step is to make sure your website is verified in the Google Webmaster Tools control panel. Google gives some easy to follow instructions there, but you will need access to your source code and/or access via FTP to your server.

Once verified in the query section, you can actually see and sort data that shows how many times your website was shown for specific search queries, how many times readers clicked into your website and where on Google.com your site appears in the search rankings.

A high click through rate but low number of impressions is not a good thing. You’ll want to review your meta titles and content to try to boost exposure. By reviewing your search query list you can also evaluate how well your website is doing in regards to reaching a broad base of potential prospects. If all you see if your name or phrases that really don’t match your service offerings, now’s the time to carefully review your content’s focus.

What Google shows in the query list is based on historical data. If you see keywords that have a gambling or adult content focus and your site does not provide or sell these services, your website has most likely been hacked and needs a very careful review.

 

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Matt Cutts of Google Talks About Content and Keyword Density

I found an article recently that included an interview with Matt Cutts on the changes that Google wants to see in website content. The article is excellent reading but the author plugs his approach a wee bit heavy handed. The full article can be read here and it is worth reading, but the key points are detailed for you below along with my comments.

  1. Heavy keyword density on a page may actually now be considered spammy by Google. Google is now looking for natural looking and natural reading content. Cater to the reader not Google.
  2. Google does not need the phrase you would like to place on in the same order over and over on a page. Use the phrase you like once or twice and then you can mix up the way the words show in the phrase.
  3. Google can now identify synonyms and the meaning of your content with its technology. It does not need for you to control content in an unnatural way to place on certain phrases.
  4. If you overuse keywords phrases in a page, Google may consider your page spammy and not reward organic placement.

Matt Cutts of Google says “Never sacrifice the quality of your copy for the sake of the search engines. It’s just not necessary. The next time you write a new page of copy, test this approach to writing for the engines and see if you get as good (or better) results than before. I’m betting you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”