Tag: Web Visibility

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Where Will SEO Be Going in 2013?

Talk to any SEO expert and you’ll get many different answers in regards to what they think will be important for search engine strategies for 2013, but there are a few things that everyone seems to agree on; the world of search engine optimization has changed.

As for me, I am watching and moving into several things in a very strategic way for key clients and my own business this year.

Here are a few things that I like and that others are talking about:

1. Mobile Search
My Google AdWords company rep. tells me that Google expects mobile search to eclipse regular search this year. If you have not already moved into to the mobile space with a mobile version website you should soon. If you aren’t testing AdWords advertising for mobile I would recommend considering doing so fairly quickly before your competition moves in.

2. Google+ Communities
I think this will be a new landscape with serious SEO benefits for those who strategically move into moderated communities. I am actively working towards this goal for my own business and several key clients.

3. Additional Emphasis on Personalized Search Results
We are already seeing this happen right in front of our eyes. If you are not on Google+ building your circles you are missing one of the biggest opportunities to be an advocate for your own business and to skew other’s search results to show what you like. Activity on Twitter, maybe Facebook for Bing but probably not Google, and social media interaction and sharing will impact the search results of others in your networks.

4. Excpect Organic Click Through Rates to Impact Search
I fully expect Google to start using organic search click through rates to impact the search engine results in the near future. If you’ve followed Google’s patent disclosures over the years this was in one over three years ago as was AuthorRank. We are just now seeing the some of these technology improvements impact search results this year. I expect to see more emphasis on these two areas AuthorRank and Click Through this next year.

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Why Is My New Website Not Appearing on Google?

You’ve launched your new website and are waiting for the phone to ring with new customers wanting to place orders for your products and services, but nothing is happening. Then you go and do a number of searches on Google to see where your website is placed and your site simply does not appear, not even for searches on your own business name or for you domain name! What’s going on! How can you sell if no one can find you!

For newly launched websites, this is a huge issue; you are in essence invisible on the web until someone else links to your website. In fact, you may not even appear in Google’s search index until you have a few other websites linking to you.

Here’s what a newly launched website should do to counteract these problems:

  1. Although an XML site map is not crucial for your inclusion in Google’s search index, it certainly does not hurt to register one on new launch with Google and Bing. Just to make sure they know you are new and what your page URLs are.
  2. Make sure your web designer has linked to your website both in their blog and on their website to aid in getting search engines to know your new website exists. Spiders will follow links from your designer’s website to discover yours.
  3. Consider creating a Blogspot.com blog with a few blog posts talking about your new website and pointing to the home page as well as several inside pages. You don’t need to keep this off site blog updated, but are using it initially to just make sure you have some links from outside sources pointing to your new website.
  4. Make sure to set up accounts at Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Make sure to list your new website URL. Again you don’t have to keep these sites updated for more than several weeks if you don’t have the time, money, or desire, but they will be very important initially to search engine discovery right after you launch your website.
  5. Do a press release and send it out using PRWeb.com. I feel that this is one of the most important steps, although I have listed it last. By doing a press release to announce the launch of your new website, not only are you telling the world, but you are creating hundreds of links that all point to your brand new website.

Want to know more about how to promote your new website to get web visibility fast? Visit us at www.mccordweb.com to find out how we can help you.

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SEO is Out – Web Visibility is In

SEO as we have known it over the past ten years is dead. What has taken its place is Web Visibility.

No longer can a website focus on keyword density and keyword stuffing to get organic search placement using traditional SEO tactics; instead the approach to garner placement is about web visibility.

What exactly do I mean by web visibility?

The new approach for organic placement is multi-pronged. Now, what’s important and garners improved organic placement and protects your site from serious placement fluctuations in the SERPs is much more than code tweaking. Here’s what I think is important for websites interested in moving up in search placement and real world experience.

  1. Have great unique content on your website.
  2. Have a targeted home page that is more than pictures, but not all text.
  3. Cater to your audience based on trends you see in questions, sales, and buyer activity.
  4. Make sure you are using your meta title and meta description tag properly on each page.
  5. Make sure you are blogging on-domain not off-domain.
  6. Do a press release and send it out via PR Web every quarter.
  7. Get going on Twitter and make sure you have great content.
  8. If Facebook makes sense for your business get going and work to interact.
  9. Consider writing articles for Google Knoll and several other high profile content sites linking back to your website.
  10. Develop a content building program for your website based on traffic and bounce statistics.

The key is to not be static. Watch your website statistics, pay someone to analyze them if you don’t know how on a monthly or quarterly basis. Know what is happening on your website in regards to what readers are reading and where your sales are coming from. From what you find out take action to improve and build your online presence in a smart way.

Garnering organic placement is much more than keyword density it is about what you are doing as a strategy in many areas across the Web. That’s web visibility!

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Dare You Throw Stones at Neighbor?

Just recently one of our clients was interviewed by a high profile online magazine. Their quote was good in the piece but another person in their industry spewed out “wrong” information, according to my client. The client wanted us to write an article pointing fingers at the offending competitor to put him in his place, so to speak.

I always caution clients about speaking poorly online of competitors and for that matter naming names as there is absolutely nothing good that can come from the exchange. In fact, doing so may actually be harmful to you or set you up to become a target yourself.

It is not unthinkable that an angry competitor that you have targeted, will work to smear your reputation online with dirty tactics to get back at you. Re-mediating issues such as this are nearly impossible and can end up being damaging to your own online reputation.

My advice is vent and rant to your friends, but keep rants and finger pointing off line. Don’t give a competitor a reason to make you a personal target.

Most legitimate businesses would simply not escalate finger pointing into a vendetta, but there are some unbalanced people out their who happen to own businesses who may take very personal offense at comments directed at them or their behavior and work specifically to damage your online reputation in retribution. So, be careful when it comes to pointing out something that a competitor does that you consider “wrong”. You don’t want to become a target!