The "Triple Crown" of SEO – Google, Yahoo & Bing

I was asked recently by a company I am doing SEO work for if it is possible to achieve Google Yahoo and Bing first page search results at the same time. my first thought was that it would be difficult to achieve such a task. The problem is, Google, Yahoo and Bing all use different search engine algorithms. Yahoo and several other providers will be incorporating Bing’s search engine technology. Although, Yahoo will still have unique characteristics built within its search algorithm.

Achieving front page search engine results for Google, Yahoo, and Bing could be considered as the Triple Crown of SEO.  Similar to the Triple Crown a thorough bred racing which consists of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness stakes, and Belmont stakes could be compared to Google, Yahoo and Bing. each search is the race in its own and is very difficult to win. A significant amount of training should go into your SEO campaign and achievable goals should be set within.

These goals can be tracked through programs such as Google’s Webmaster tools which is free and should be utilized by every webmaster. There are other paid services that exist that can be even more helpful. Google’s Webmaster tools tends to be the most popular but only provides information from a googlebot standpoint.

Each search engine will require a different criteria to achieve first page search engine results. for instance, Yahoo pays attention to keyword meta-tag descriptions whereas Google does not. The content within your webpage will become the overall factor in where your are placed within the search engine. However, title tags and descriptions play an important role. Other factors include number of links into your site, speed of site, how long your website has been owned and if you have a delicate balance between links content and optimized images.

Trouble with Keywords? | SEO Tip #68

Are you having trouble with keywords? If so it might be caused by the competition of that particular keyword. Competition varies upon different keywords. For instance, will take the print company http://www.iPrintToday.com. They sell business cards, postcards, greeting cards, brochures, flyers, and much more. The keyword business cards is searched for over 30 million times locally and approximately 45,000,000 times globally per month. That means, whomever is on the first page for that particular keyword is generating huge amounts of traffic. Business cards, besides printing is the biggest key word for the printing industry. If you were on the first page for business cards you will receive large volumes of clicks.

I print today.com has a very easy to navigate website and it is optimized for the word business cards. Although, it is very difficult for them to achieve first page rankings because they are fairly new and the competition is one of the stiffest among any industry for particular keyword. Let’s take a another keyword example. Business card printing has approximately 50,000 searches locally per month and approximately 100,000 globally per month. It is feasible to get to the top of Google from that particular keyword, because the competition isn’t as stiff as the general term business cards. The downfall to this is 150,000 searches compared to 75 million searches, as you can see there really isn’t any comparison. You must look at it like this though, if you can’t get to the top of Google for a particular keyword because of the competition then start by dominating less competitive keywords.

For most web owners, choosing less competitive keywords isn’t going to cut it. These web owners will certainly be fighting an uphill battle it will take longer time to achieve success trying to accomplish your goals this way. Again, 75 million searches compared to 150,000 searches isn’t even a comparison but, if you can’t get on the top or the 75 million then you should consider a long tail keyword and establish your website this way.
There are several keyword generation and analyzing tools that are free of charge, one of the best ones is Google’s ad words tool. This tool will show you the competition and return the search results both locally and globally per month. We suggest you utilizing this tool as it will help your keyword suggestion and generation because it will not only analyze any websites you type in but also to use synonyms for keywords.

Sitemaps and their importance

Sitemaps and their importance:

Optimizing the basic structure of your web site greatly increases the likelihood that search engines will successfully locate and index your content. Search engine ranking algorithms analyze numerous on-site factors when determining where a web site ranks for a particular search term.

Some of these factors include your web site content, your domain name, how compatible your web site is with different browsers, your web site structure, your navigational links, and your inbound links. Credibility and speed of your web site will also play a role in your final rankings.

An effectively designed sitemap increases the likelihood that your site is indexed by search engines. A well-built sitemap displays the inner framework and organization of your web site’s content to the search engines. A sitemap should reflect the entire navigational framework of your web site so that the search-engine spiders can find and index all your content.

Plan a simple design that displays every web page. Break down each page in categories which will allow people to navigate and find pages.

There are automated site-map generators that can build html and xml sitemaps which are compatible with Google, Yahoo, and Bing sitemap submission guidelines.

How can Google webmaster tools answer your SEO questions?

If you own a web site and have used Google webmaster tools in the past you know how invaluable it can be. Achieving a successful ranking in Google by analyzing and diagnosing problems go hand in hand. Many questions new web owners have are answered directly in webmaster tools.

New web owners that both use and don’t use webmaster tools often asking repetitive and redundant questions in forums. Secondly, a webmaster or owner can waste valuable time when the answers which are catered directly to that particular website are within webmaster tools.

We’ll cover the different tools and try to answer FAQs regarding them. Google adds different elements at any moment and should be taken advantage of. This will be part 1 of a 4 part series.

When you install the tracking code either by meta tag or upload a file via ftp to your hosted web site you’ll be able to verify your web site. We’ll get past that because there are tons of articles especially from Google that pertain to how to install that code. Who’s better than Google themselves in explaining that.

When you login to your “Dashboard” you’ll be taken to window that looks similar to this. Depending on if your site has been indexed by Google or not will determine what status you’ll see. You may see…

Googlebot has successfully accessed your home page.

Pages from your site are included in Google’s index.

This is good news because Google has done exactly what it states above and you should be able to see yourself in Google search results. Sometimes when your site is young, you will not see any results. Don’t worry, soon enough you will, but if you want to receive more information check out this SEO page on how to do so.

Below the “Dashboard” you will see “Top Search Queries”. This will show you what search queries and position you are on in Google’s search engine results. There is a date that is below that notifies you when was the last time it was updated. There is also a button that says more>> which will lead you to more results.

Below the “Tops Search Queries” is “Links to your site”. If you have any links it will show you where the links are coming from if you click on the number to the right. More times than none you will see links from directories, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Typically the more the better. There are good reasons that webmaster tools has these on the interface.

On the upper right part of the Dashboard, the is “Crawl Errors”. There is good, but technical information that needs to be addressed. For instance webmaster will let you know if there are errors in your HTTP, Sitemap, No Followed, Not Found, Restricted by robots.txt, Timed out, and Unreachable. Again, there is a plethora of already well written content that will explain how to fix your particular problems.

Under “Crawl Errors” there is “Keywords”. This category will show the keywords and a significance meter in relevance to your site. You should see keywords that are the same as your description, title, website, and content. The more information that is similar and relevant to your subject, the better off your site will be.

Below the “Keywords” is “Sitemap”.  If you haven’t submitted a sitemap to Google or other providers than you should. This will let Google, Yahoo, Bing, and other providers that there is new content. You will not need to “Submit your site” and waste your time. If you are indexed it will tell you the file name of the sitemap, the status, which hopefully has a green check mark and how many pages are indexed. That number means that Google has found and indexed that many pages.

3 easy ways to promote your blog or web site

It might look as a daunting task when you first start a blog. How do you promote it? Creating it, then writing, then you have to promote it. Well, most people aren’t thinking about promoting and in fact if you have well written content it will promote itself. The title being the most important along with keywords relevant to what you are writing about.

There are in fact ways to help bypass the waiting period for a newer blog to get indexed. Here are five ways to get your blog to top of Google, Yahoo and Bing search engines.

1. Yahoo, Bing, & Google Webmaster Tools – If you have a WordPress or Blogger blog or some other type you can generate a sitemap and submit that through Google Webmaster Tools. Yahoo site authenticator and Bing Tools all do the same thing. They allow you to submit your sitemap which tells these search engines that certain pages exist. It is in fact the quickest way to get indexed and the proper way.

2.  Social networking – This is actually a lot of work, but can pay off. If you like to talk and write, then this is definitely for you. You need to make accounts with Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, Digg, Delicious, Squidoo, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Each one of these carries a large network of users similar to you. Each has a niche that you need to be aware of and try to work within the confines of that. 
3. Forums & Message Boards – Signing up for message boards are extremely important. They are usually live and need content and answers. If you provide answers and your profile is filled out, chances are people will view your profile and go to your blog or site more times than none. The more helpful and the more you participate, the more traffic you’ll get. Another benefit is if you can pick up a name similar to your website which should be similar to your main product or topic and that can promote you tremendously.

   http://www.supersearchoptimization.com

How can I increase my web site traffic?

As web site owners, the question that may come up the most is how can I increase my web site traffic? This is an important question simply because we aren’t artists who create web sites to get our emotions out on a canvas. Instead, we need traffic typically to generate revenue. Whether it be a blog with Google AdSense or an eCommerce web site, the most crucial factor is to have customers.

There are several factors when designing a web site to optimize it for search engines. Search engines break down your web site by looking at different key factors. For instance Yahoo does tend to look at title, keywords, content and links into your web site. Where as Google pays more attention to title, meta description, quality links into that page and the first paragraph in with that particular keyword.

Optimizing your web site isn’t easy considering there are four major players when it comes to search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, & Ask.com). Different search engine results exist at the same time for the same keywords and web sites. You may rank well for this particular keyword on Google, but not on Yahoo. The choice is yours when it come to making a decision on what search engine to optimize for over another.

There are web masters, designers, and owners who are looking for “the next SEO loop-hole”. Why? Instead why not work with the search engines. If they want relevant, honest, yet informative content, then it should be done that way. Black hat SEO isn’t worth it, you put almost as much time as White Hat SEO, the results are there quicker, but when you get caught your done for good. Spend the time creating unique content and it will pay off.

A great way to increase web traffic is by creating a blog. Allow comments, but moderate them since there are spammers who try to manipulate search engines with shady tactics instead of having something relevant to say. Taking advantage of a free blogging service like WordPress or Blogger is a great way to get started. You should get it hosted to have complete control including advertising, content, and placement.

Once you have set up your blog, start writing good content, the more the better. Once you have written about 25 blogs you’ll start to receive traffic. You’ll be amazed on how many people are interested in your topic. It takes approximately 1 to 2 weeks before Google will crawl your site, but if you are savvy and know webmaster tools, you can submit your sitemap and feeds and it will let Google know you exist. This is the appropriate way to let them know instead of submitting your sites URL.

http://www.supersearchoptimization.com

Definition: SEO | Search Engine Optimization

SEO is an acronym for “search engine optimization” or “search engine optimizer.” Hiring a SEO company or individual can be a huge decision that can improve your site and save time, but potentially can also risk damage to your site and reputation. It is imperative to research the potential advantages as well as the damage that an irresponsible SEO can do to your site. Many SEOs, agencies and consultants provide useful services for website owners, including:

• Analyze the content of your web site.
• Expertise in specific markets and geographies.
• Provide technical advice on website development: for example, hosting, redirects, error pages, use of JavaScript.
• Content development and management.
• Management of online business development campaigns (email, banners, affiliate programs, links)
•  Keyword research.
• SEO training

Search Engine Optimization, or as it is commonly referred to as SEO, has become one of the most important marketing strategies for eCommerce and advertising. SEO uses an “organic” style to promote a web site. Keywords or phrases are placed in this meta tag’s content attribute. You should specify the most popular search terms you believe someone would use to reach your web site. A few years back, you could spam this meta tag with any and every keyword possible to gain ranking on search engines. Repeated words, or words that do not pertain to the content of the site will not benefit you or those using a search engine.

Well written and relavent text is a catalyst to high page rank as major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN modify their search algorithms to adjust to sneaky web promoting tatics.

As the world wide web grew, millions of searches were skewed as a result of “keyword spamming” throughout a web site. Search-engine algoritms now detect this and punish web sites that try to take advantage this way. There are a ton of other no-no’s as well, we will get into those. There is a fine line between a consumer friendly web site and a “search-engine” friendly web site. Search-bots that crawl web sites and return results to their destination will read titles, text, meta tags, alt tags, verification keys, keywords and web site content. Currently Adobe Flash® is not supported through search engines. There is word that technology is being developed or has been that can access the Flash® technology since it is a growing web platform.