The Wonderful World of SEO Metatags

Meta tags are the beginning of most SEO training, for better and worse. I contemplated on how to introduce this topic because we always hear the bad part of meta tags, namely the keywords meta tag. One of the first things dissected in any site review is the misuse of meta tags, mainly because they are at the top of every page in the header, therefore the first thing seen. But we don't want to get too negative, meta tags are some of the best tools in a search marketer's repertoire.

There are more meta tags than just description and keywords, though those two are picked on the most. I've broken down the most used (in my experience) by the good, the bad and the indifferent. You'll notice that the list gets longer as we get to the bad ones. I didn't get to cover all of the meta tags possible to add, but there is a great Meta Tag resource you should check out if you're interested in what is out there.

My main piece of advice is to stick to the core minimum, don't add meta tags you don't need as they just take up code space. The less code you have the better. Think about it like this, your page code is like a set of step by step directions to get somewhere, but for a browser. Extraneous meta tags are the annoying 200 feet line items in directions that tell you to stay on the same road you were on!

The Good Meta Tags

These are the meta tags that should be on every page, no matter what. Notice that this is a small list, these are the only two that are required, so if you can work with just these two, please do.

• Meta Content Type - This tag is necessary to declare your character set for the page and should be present on every page. Leaving this out could impact how your page renders in the browser. A few options are listed below, but your web designer should know what is best for your site.
  
  

• Meta Description - The infamous meta description tag is used for one major purpose, to describe the page to searchers as they read through SERPs. This tag does not influence ranking, but is very important regardless. It is your ad copy that will determine if the user clicks on your result. Keep it within 160 characters, and write it to get the user's attention. Sell the page, get them to click on the result. Rand wrote a great article in 2007 on meta descriptions that goes more in detail.

Edited In: I left out the title tag as it doesn't "start" with meta, but it is still technically a meta tag. You should always have a unique title tag on every page that describes the page. Check out this post for more information on title tags.

The Indifferent

Different sites will need to use these in specific circumstances, but if you can go without, please do.

• Robots - One of the largest misconceptions is that you have to have a robots meta tag. Let's make this clear: In terms of indexing and link following, if you don't specify a meta robots tag, they read that as index,follow. It is only if you want to change one of those two commands that you need to add meta robots. Therefore, if you want to noindex but follow the links on the page, you would add the following tag with only the noindex, as the follow is implied. Only change what you want different than the norm.
  
  

• Specific Bots (Googlebot) - These tags are used to give a specific bot instructions like noodp (forcing them not to use your DMOZ listing information) and noydir (same, instead the Yahoo Directory listing information). Generally the search engines are really good at this kind of thing, but if you think you need it, feel free. There have been some cases I've seen where it's necessary, but if you must consider using the overall robots tag listed above.
• Language - The only reason to use this tag is if you are moving internationally and need to declare the main language used on the page. Check out this meta languages resource for a full list of languages you can declare.
• Geo - These meta tags, last I heard, are supported by Bing, but not Google (you can target to country inside Webmaster Tools). [Updated: Matt Cutts speaks of the tag here, they don't really look at it still] There are three kinds: placename, position (latitude and longitude) and region.
  
  

• Source - The new kid on the block, this is a tag (really two tags) that Google is testing out (thanks to the tip from my coworker Justin Briggs). It's mainly for news providers so that they can help the search engines understand who the original news source is and which ones are syndicates. The news world and search world are trying so very hard to get along, glad to see this one pop up.
• Keywords - Yes, I put this on the indifferent because while no good SEO is going to recommend spending time on this tag, there is the small possibility it could help you somewhere. So please leave it out if you're building a site, but if it's automated there is no reason to take it out.
  
  
• Refresh - This is the poor man's redirect and really should not be used if at all possible. You should always use a server side 301 redirect. But I know that sometimes things need to happen now. But Google is NOT a fan.
• Site Verification - Your site is verified with Google and Bing right? Who has the verification meta tags on their homepage? These are sometimes necessary because you can't get the other forms of site verification loaded, but if at all possible try to verify another way. Google allows you to verify by DNS, external file, or by linking your Google Analytics account. Bing still only allows by XML file or meta tag, so go with the file if you can.

The Bad Meta Tags

There is nothing that will happen to your site if you use these, let me just make that clear. They are a waste of space though, even Google says so (and that was 5-6 years ago!). If you're ready and willing, it might be time for some spring cleaning of your area.

• Author/Web Author - This tag is used to name the author of the page. It's just not necessary on the page.
• Revisit After - This meta tag is a command to the robots to return to a page after a specific period of time. It's not followed by any major search engine.
• Rating - This tag is used to denote the maturity rating of content. I wrote a post about how to tag a page with adult images using a very confusing system that has since been updated (See the comments). It seems as if the best way to note bad images is to place them on a separate directory from other images on your site and alert Google.
• Expiration/Date - Expiration is used to note when the page expires, and date is the date the page was made. Are any of your pages going to expire? Just remove them if they are (but please don't, keep updating content, even contests, make it an annual contest!). And for date, make an XML sitemap and keep it up to date, that is so much more useful!
• Copyright - That Google article debates with me here, but look at the footer of your site. I would guess it says "Copyright 20xx" in some form. Why say it twice?
  
  
• Abstract - This tag is sometimes used to place an abstract of the content and used mainly by educational pursuits.
• Distribution - The distribution value is supposedly used to control who can access the document, typically set to global. It's inherent that if the page is open (not password protected like on an intranet) that it is for the world. Go with it, and leave the tag off the page.
• Generator - This is used to note what program created the page. Like author, useless.
• Cache Control - This tag is set in hopes of controlling when and how often a page is cached in the browser. It's best to do this in the HTTP Header.
• Resource Type - This is used to name the type of resource the page is, like "document." Save yourself time, as the DTD declaration does it for you.

Perfecting Keyword Targeting & On-Page Optimization

If you're in SEO, you probably hear this question a lot. Sadly, there's no cut and dry answer, but there are sets of best practices we can draw from and sharpen to help get close. In this blog post, I'm going to share our top recommendations for achieving on-page, keyword-targeting "perfection," or, at least, close to it. Some of these are backed by data points, correlation studies and extensive testing while others are simply gut-feelings based on experience. As with all things SEO, we recommend constant testing and refinement, though this knowledge can help you kick-start the process.

HTML Head Tags

• Title - the most important of on-page keyword elements, the page title should preferably employ the keyword term/phrase as the first word(s). In our correlation data studies, the following graph emerged:
  
  
  Clearly, using the keyword term/phrase as the very first words in the page title has the highest correlation with high rankings, and subsequent positions correlate nearly flawlessly to lower rankings.
• Meta Description - although not used for "rankings" by any of the major engines, the meta description is an important place to use the target term/phrase due to the "bolding" that occurs in the visual snippet of the search results. Usage has also been shown to help boost click-through rate, thus increasing the traffic derived from any ranking position.
• Meta Keywords - Yahoo! is unique among the search engines in recording and utilizing the meta keyword tag for discovery, though not technically for rankings. However, with Microsoft's Bing set to take over Yahoo! Search, the last remaining reason to employ the tag is now gone. That, combined with the danger of using keywords there for competitive research means that at SEOmoz, we never recommend employing the tag.
• Meta Robots - although not necessary, this tag should be sure NOT to contain any directives that could potentially disallow access by the engines.
• Rel="Canonical" - the larger and more complex a site (and the larger/more complex the organization working on it), the more we advise employing the canonical URL tag to prevent any potential duplicates or unintentional, appended URL strings from creating a problem for the engines and splitting up potential link juice.
• Other Meta Tags - meta tags like those offered by the DCMI or FGDC seem compelling, but currently provide no benefit for SEO with the major engines and thus, add unnecessary complexity and download time.

URL

• Length - Shorter URLs appear to perform better in the search results and are more likely to be copied/pasted by other sites, shared and linked-to.
• Keyword Location - The closer the targeted keyword(s) are to the domain name, the better. Thus, site.com/keyword outperforms site.com/folder/subfolder/keyword and is the most recommended method of optimization (though this is certainly not a massive rankings benefit)
• Subdomains vs. Pages - As we've talked about previously on the blog, despite the slight URL benefit that subdomains keyword usage has over subfolders or pages, the engines' link popularity assignment algorithms tilt the balance in favor of subfolders/pages rather than subdomains.
• Word Separators - Hyphens are still the king of keyword separators in URLs, and despite promises that underscores will be given equal credit, the inconsistency with other methods make the hyphen a clear choice. NOTE: This should not apply to root domain names, where separating words with hyphens is almost never recommended (e.g. pinkgrapefruit.com is a far better choice than pink-grapefruit.com).

Body Tags

• Number of Keyword Repetitions - It's impossible to pinpoint the exact, optimal number of times to employ a keyword term/phrase on the page, but this simple rule has served us well for a long time - "2-3X on short pages, 4-6X on longer ones and never more than makes sense in the context of the copy." The added benefit of another instance of a term is so miniscule that it seems unwise to ever be aggressive with this metric.
• Keyword Density - A complete myth as an algorithmic component, keyword density nonetheless pervades even very sharp SEO minds. While it's true that more usage of a keyword term/phrase can potentially improve targeting/ranking, there's no doubt that keyword density has never been the formula by which this relevance was measured.
• Keyword Usage Variations - Long suspected to influence search engine rankings (though never studied in a depth of detail that's convincing to me), the theory that varied keyword usage throughout a page can help with content optimization and optimization nevertheless is worth a small amount of effort. We recommend employing at least one or two variations of a term and potentially splitting up keyword phrases and using them in body copy as well or instead.
• H1 Headline - The H1 tag has long been thought to have great importance in on-page optimization. Recent correlation data from our studies, however, has shown that it has a very low correlation with high rankings (close to zero, in fact). While this is compelling evidence, correlation is not causation and for semantic and SEO reasons, we still advise proper use of the H1 tag as the headline of the page and, preferrably, employment of the targeted keyword term/phrase.
• H2/H3/H4/Hx - Even lower in importance than the H1, our recommendation is to apply only if required. These tags appears to carry little to no SEO value.
• Alt Attribute - Surprisingly, the alt attribute, long thought to carry little SEO weight, was shown to have quite a robust correlation with high rankings in our studies. Thus, we strongly advise the use of a graphic image/photo/illustration on important keyword-targeted pages with the term/phrase employed in the alt attribute of the img tag.
• Image Filename - Since image traffic can be a substantive source of visits and image filenames appear to be valuable for this as well as natural web search, we suggest using the keyword term/phrase as the name of the image file employed on the page.
• Bold/Strong - Using a keyword in bold/strong appears to carry a very, very tiny amount of SEO weight, and thus it's suggested as a best practice to use the targeted term/phrase at least once in bold, though a very minor one.
• Italtic/Emphasized - Surprisingly, italic/emphasized text appears to have a similar to slightly higher correlation with high rankings than bold/strong and thus, we suggest its use on the targeted keyword term/phrase in the text.
• Internal Link Anchors - No testing has yet found that internal anchors are picked up/counted by the engines.
• HTML Comments - As above, it appears the engines ignore text in comments.

Internal Links & Location in Site Architecture

• Click-Depth - Our general recommendation is that the more competitive and challenging a keyword term/phrase is to rank for, the higher it should be in a site's internal architecture (and thus, the fewer clicks from the home page it should take to reach that URL).
• Number/Percentage of Internal Links - More linked-to pages tend to higher rankings and thus, for competitive terms, it may help to link to these pages from a greater number/percentage of pages on a site.
• Links in Content vs. Permanent Navigation - It appears that Google and the other engines are doing more to recognize location on the page as an element of link consideration. Thus, employing links to pages in the Wikipedia-style (in the body content of a piece) rather than in permanent navigation may potentially provide some benefit. Don't forget, however, that Google only counts the first link to a page that they see in the HTML
• Link Location in Sidebars & Footers - Recent patent applications, search papers and experience from inside SEOmoz and many practitioners externally suggests that Google may be strongly discounting links placed in the footer, and, to a lesser degree, in the sidebar(s) of pages. Thus, if you're employing a link in permanent navigation, it may pay to use the top navigation (above the content) for SEO purposes.

Page Architecture

• Keyword Location - We advise that important keywords should, preferably, be featured in the first few words (50-100, but hopefully even sooner) of a page's text content. The engines do appear to have some preference for pages that employ keywords sooner, rather than later, in the text.
• Content Structure - Some practitioners swear by the use of particular content formats (introduction, body, examples, conclusion OR the journalistic style of narrative, data, conclusion, parable) for SEO, but we haven't seen any formal data suggesting these are valuable for higher rankings and thus feel that whatever works best for the content and the visitors is likely ideal.

Why Don't We Always Obey These Rules?

That answer is relatively easy. The truth is that in the process of producing great web content, we sometimes forget, sometimes ignore and sometimes intentionally disobey the best practices laid out above. On-page optimization, while certainly important, is only one piece of a larger rankings puzzle:

(FYI - The new ranking factors survey data is set to release very, very soon)

It most certainly pays to get the on-page, keyword-targeting pieces right, but on-page SEO, in my opinion, follows the 80/20 rule very closely. If you get the top 20% of the most important pieces (titles, URLs, internal links) from the list above right, you'll get 80% (maybe more) of the value possible in the on-page equation.

Best Practices for Ranking #1

Curiously, though perhaps not entirely surprisingly to experienced SEOs, the truth is that on-page optimization doesn't necessarily rank first in the quest for top rankings. In fact, a list that walks through the process of actually getting that first position would look something more like:

1. Accessibility - content engines can't see or access cannot even be indexed; thus crawl-ability is foremost on this list.
2. Content - you need to have compelling, high quality material that not only attracts interest, but compels visitors to share the information. Virality of content is possibly the most important/valuable factor in the ranking equation because it will produce the highest link conversion rate (the ratio of those who visit to those who link after viewing).
3. Basic On-Page Elements - getting the keyword targeting right in the most important elements (titles, URLs, internal links) provides a big boost in the potential ability of a page to perform well.
4. User Experience - the usability, user interface and overall experience provided by a website strongly influences the links and citations it earns as well as the conversion rate and browse rate of the traffic that visits.
5. Marketing - I like to say that "great content is no substitute for great marketing." A terrific marketing machine or powerful campaign has the power to attract far more links than content may "deserve," and though this might seem unfair, it's a principle on which all of capitalism has functioned for the last few hundred years. Spreading the word is often just as important (or more so) than being right, being honest or being valuable (just look at the political spectrum).
6. Advanced/Thorough On-Page Optimization - applying all of the above with careful attention to detail certainly isn't useless, but it is, for better or worse, at the bottom of this list for a reason; in our experience, it doesn't add as much value as the other techniques described.

As always, I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts and experiences about the specific recommendations above and the general concept of the "perfectly" optimized page.

CRO and SEO: SEM Civil War

civil war n. A state of hostility or conflict between elements within an organization.

Alright, so search marketing isn't really an "organization" but there is a certain hostility within its ranks. It's the war of the acronyms and funding. For years there have been articles, studies, and conference panels surrounding the debate of paid search versus organic search. That rivalry is rather ancient now considering the new kids on the block: CRO, SMO, and LPO. Who will win the war? Simple. If any one side wins the war in your organization, you are the loser.

What is CRO?

Did you recognize that term? It's the newest kid on the block. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is simply focusing on the conversion as the core metric when optimizing any particular page. I personally see this as an offshoot of Landing Page Optimization (LPO) and is sometimes seen as just another way of saying LPO. Most people see LPO/CRO as just for PPC campaigns, but anyone that assumes that is missing some great information they could be using in their SEO efforts.

There is a CRO Chat once a week on Twitter, run by Ion Interactive. Ion is a tool provider and their main product, LiveBall, is a system to allow marketers within your organization to develop and test landing pages without involving IT. It is a nice system set up and Ion's team members are champions for CRO. They invited me to participate this week, and the topic was SEO and CRO.

Some of questions posed were:

• In what ways do #CRO and #SEO help and/or hurt each other?
• When #CRO and #SEO hinder each other, how do you prioritize?
• Who should drive your #CRO and #SEO strategy? One person, or multiple people working together?

Conversion Rate Optimization and SEO

My own answers seemed to center around one thing: CRO and SEO should never hurt or hinder each other.

SEOs focus is typically ranking for targeted queries in search engines. In the big battle of PPC vs SEO, remember that what is learned in PPC about what queries are most searched for and highest converting can be applied to SEO efforts. Just like PPC, the information gleaned from CRO testing should be applied to SEO optimization. This would ensure that the page the user lands on is focused on giving them the right information for conversion. Comparing these any two parts of online marketing and optimization is (forgive me) like comparing apple and oranges.

SEO is a long term, slow moving process based on rules that are constantly changing. SEO should always be a priority because it is the foundation of your website. Without an SEO optimized site, you will be constantly paying for traffic through offline marketing or paid online sources. You can't benefit from a site that no one can find!

Onsite SEO has two basic parts: code optimization, which has little to do with what the user sees, and internal structure which can only be aided by CRO. Internal structure is optimized for the search engines (SEs), but the SEs are looking for simple structure that users will respond to (read: what makes them convert). Search engines are becoming increasingly about the user experience on your site and therefore so should you.

Now, SEO (onsite and general link building) alone is not going to produce immediate results in most cases. It takes time, and much of the work in SEO is very backend code based. While a good SEO knows to balance focus on search engines and users, there are still plenty of sites out there that are missing the point that if the site isn't converting, the site/page optimization was a waste. Which led to this statement during CROchat:

Blanket statement I know, sorry. Please note that this is said for most businesses that see a conversion as a form, a sale, or a link. The conversion can be anything, as long as it's your business's goal. There are businesses in which traffic is their "conversion" because they make money off of impression based advertising (as pointed out to me by Sandra Niehaus).

I would assume then that their conversion would be time on site or bounce rate. There is always a metric to focus on when testing that can be used as the conversion. In fact, if you are using Google Analytics, there is an option to use Time on Site as a goal.

Links can even be a conversion. One topic that was discussed was Linkbait vs Conversion-bait content. If you are doing link bait, the conversion is to get a link, so these two are one and the same. A piece of link bait that drives traffic, but no links is a failed campaign. Links are an integral part of SEO, and the more organic the better. Traditional methods of linking are slowing becoming more discounted as they are exploited. This is why social media (SMO) and CRO are so important to SEO efforts. SEO can no longer stand on its own, and neither can any other part of online marketing. Everyone has to work together on a combined strategy for the best results.

Applying CRO to SEO

"Great" you say, "but how do I use CRO for SEO?"

Talking about holistic marketing is one thing, performing it is another. Not every searcher is created equal and the searcher that clicks on an ad is not always in the same frame of mind as the searcher that clicks on an ad. In the same breath, I will also say that not every user is created equal in terms of demographics and internet usage. Everything we do is based on what the metrics tell us on the whole.

So I'll give you a few examples that I hope will spur ideas for your own campaigns.

Scenario 1: Day Care and Education

You are running a test of landing pages in your PPC campaign. Testing has identified that users are searching for "day care" but want to see information about "early childhood education" because they want to give their child the best education possible while they are at daycare. How do you change your day care page on the site that is ranking #1 for "day care" in your area to include information about early childhood education without hurting your ranking?

CRO Solution for SEO: First remember that there are a few key parts of a page when it comes to onsite SEO. Title tag, content, and internal links. There is also the issue of inbound link anchor text. If you users are searching for "day care" - focus your link building efforts on that term as well as the title tag. Give them what they are looking for initially.

As for internal links, test it with your paid traffic. Do visitors click on a link called "day care" more than "early childhood education." I'd guess the former, but only your visitors can tell you. I'd keep those focused on "day care" since testing showed that searchers look for day cares that are focused on early childhood education.

The main change will be to the text. Change the text to focus on early childhood education but keep the balance with "day care." Give the page a headline based on education, but the title tag and internal links should stay focused on day care.

Example SEO Elements
Slug: /day-care.php
Title: Day Care | Susan's Child Care Center
Headline: Education Centered Day Care
Starting Text: Day care should be more than just after school play time. At Susan's, we focus our time with your little one on early childhood education. While you are at work, your child will be working on a number of fun and interesting early childhood education objectives. Our trained and certified staff uses proven education curriculum targeted to your child's age group.
Internal Link Anchor: "Day Care"
External Link Anchor: "Day Care" and related

Scenario 2: Flash vs SEO

The Marketing team has done some testing on their own and has gotten approval from the executives to change the site into flash due to a higher conversion rate in paid search testing. As the company's SEO, you don't want them to ruin your work in the search engines. After doing a presentation that explains the issues with search engines and flash, and how much traffic comes in from the search engines, the VP of Marketing has tasked you with keeping your rankings and implementing the new design changes.

CRO Solution for SEO: First, breathe. Think this doesn't happen? It does all the time. This can work and make both sides happy.

Step 1: Ensure that all the pages on your site stay static. CRO may have proven that a flash splash element may convert better, but it's not a reason to have the site be one big flash file. Read more tips over at 10e20.

Step 2: Place the flash portion up top and integrate text below that. Flash can be used on a well SEO'd page, it just can't be the only element. Get a team of designers and coders together to balance the use of flash and static HTML. The users like the flash, so keep that above the fold. It can totally be the visual focus of the page.

Step 3: Utilize what you know about ranking factors to keep the page optimized. Keep the title tag the same as before, the slug should stay the same, and the text under the flash should be as good or better than it was before. Remember that some people won't be able to see flash, so the static HTML needs to be there for them.

Step 4: Keep link building as if there was no change. The addition of flash won't hurt what you've done here, and this is still the strongest component.

Step 5: Watch the load time on your page. Adding a flash element can hinder page size and load time.

Pieces of a Puzzle

Nothing in this line of work is easy. Understanding the complexities of paid search, the different platforms, and all the levers you can pull is tough, not to mention expensive if you get it wrong. SEO is tough because we are not mind readers, understanding what users and search engines want is not easy. Getting it right on one page and getting it to rank is even harder. CRO/LPO is a big guessing game with huge rewards if you have the patience and know what to test. And social? There are scores of people that still don't know what to do over there.

My point is, the next time you rant about PPC getting a bigger budget, or the SEO person changing everything around on you, take a step back. Remember that you all have a different focus. But in the end you are on the same team. Take your online marketing partner out to lunch and see what it is they can do for you with their knowledge, and what you can share with them.

32 SEO Tactics to Avoid in 2011

With all the excitement and planning that comes along with a New Year, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with newfangled ideas. You probably have a long list of SEO tactics in the pipeline for 2011. Finding the resources, whether time or money, is the real trick.

The point of this post is to minimize your to-do list by covering 32 SEO tactics that you shouldn't focus on. If any of these buggers have made it onto your 2011 task list or are still lingering in the queue from years past, go ahead and cross 'em off. They won't help you reach your goals and some of them can even hinder your progress.

If you are still looking for things to do, check out these New Years post for ideas.

• 2011 SEO and Social Media Checklist by Jennifer Horowitz on SEJ.
• 7 Predictions for SEO in 2011 by SEOmoz's own Rand Fishkin.
• 10 Google Adwords Features for 2011 by Kunle Campbell at Fuzz One.

Alrighty then, lets get on with the list of things for you to take off your list.

32 SEO Tactics to Avoid in 2011

Hiding Stuff On-Page
There are a hundred ways to hide keywords and links from your users' view and still have them reside behind the scenes on a web page for the search engines to crawl. Some of these methods are smarter than others, but the collective mind of Google's web spam team is smarter than all of them. From just plain silly to downright sneaky, numbers 1-5 in this list of SEO tactics to avoid, we cover off some of the most well known methods for hiding copy and links. At best, you could experience a small, temporary boost from some of these tactics. At worst, you'll land yourself a penalty.

Do not...
1. White text on a white background (I know what you're thinking, but black on black won't work either.)
2. Hidden text over an image
3. Hiding text with CSS
4. Linking/keywording in tiny text (font size '0' doesn't work either, smarty pants)
5. Linking from a hyphen, period, comma, or any other little character

Keyword Stuffing
There are a number of ways to overdo your keyword usage beyond the hidden methods mentioned above. Here are a few to give you an idea of the type of things to avoid.

Do not...
6. Use the Meta Keywords tag. This is a giant waste of time.
7. Use your Title Tag as a place to list keywords.
8. Fill up your Meta Description with keywords, forgetting about click-thru rates
9. Name your images with the character limit in keywords
10. List every city and zip code within a 10 hour drive
11. Put 2000 words of keyword rich content below the footer
12. Keep track of your keyword density (Thankfully, I've heard a lot less from eager website owners on this topic in 2010 than I did in 2009.)

Link Network Schemes
If your link building plans involve any of the following, you need to do a little more research on link building. :)

Do not sign up for...
13. Link Schemes
14. Reciprocal Linking
15. Link Farms
16. Link Wheel
17. Link Exchange (unless it is a real and substantial business partnership or relationship)
18. Three Way Linking (or Two-way, Four-way or any other way)

Other Link Types to Avoid
Ah links. It isn't just the networks that are a waste of time. Here are some other link acquisition tactics to avoid.

Do not...
19. Forum/comment spam (thanks Rob)

20. Submit to thousands of directories for $12.42.
21. Segment your content and launch sub-domains so you can link to yourself

Publish/Index as Many Pages as Possible
Just because you have 4 million pages doesn't mean they should all be indexed. Just because you have come up with a list of 800,000 keywords and misspellings to describe pepper mills, doesn't mean your e-commerce site should have a web page to represent each. Quantity is not quality. More pages in the index does not mean more traffic. Here are a few SEO tactics to remove from your to-do list.

Do not...
22. Try to get the search engines to index all of the search result pages on your site.
23. Publish a new page for every single keyword target.

Google Local Tricks
Google Local is still fighting spam that works, which I won't be covering here. Lets not perpetuate the issue, right? Here are a few things that they've figured out and should be avoided altogether.

Do not...
24. Place location keywords in your places page categories.
25. Create a bunch of Google Places pages that all list the same physical address.
26. Torment your customers so you'll get plenty of (negative) reviews. (this one got a lot of attention late last year)
27. Provide different keyword rich business names to local sites.

Random Uselessness
Take these ideas straight to the curb. No recycling please.

Do not...
28. Measure your website's strength or success with PageRank.
29. Find out which pages are ranking well and never touch them again.
30. Blindly target keywords just because your competitors are.
31. Submit to hundreds of search engines automatically for $9.99.
32. Use robots.txt to control robot access (I've harped on this before)

If anything here is on your 2011 SEO tactic list, go ahead and cross 'em off. See how I'm helping you out?! No doubt I've missed a bunch of old-school spam. For example, I'm certain I haven't covered every type of link scheme that has ever existed. Let us know what I've missed in the comments below.

I'm a tweeting machine as I put together blog posts. Thumbs up to the tweeps who helped me out with ideas on this post - TomSchmitz, gfiorelli1, pizzaseo, hyderali_, leadingdir, AlanBleiweiss, randfish, clairecarlile, JSBANZ, Joe_query, RobOusbey, bryantdunivan, and lyena.

Happy To-Do List Trimming!

I'm Ranking, So Where's My Traffic?!

It's an old story – Boy meets Girl, Girl promises top rankings, rankings finally arrive, and Boy suddenly realizes he has no traffic. Wait, that's not quite it. Replace "Girl" with "SEO company" and "Boy" with "client" - yeah, there we go. In SEO, nothing is quite as frustrating as pouring time and money into your chosen keyword and finally breaking into the Top 10, only to find that you still have no visitors.

There are a number of possible causes for ranking without traffic - I'm going to divide them up into 3 groups:

1. You're Not Really Ranking
2. Your Keywords Don't Deliver
3. Your Results Don't Get Clicked

Isolating the problem is the best first step toward a solution and to making sure that your SEO efforts haven't been wasted.

(1) You're Not Really Ranking

Now that search results are increasingly being personalized, localized, saturated with ads, and otherwise moving away from the idea of one SERP for everyone, the most common issue with rankings not delivering is that everyone else isn't seeing what you're seeing. It's great for the ego to see yourself in the #1 spot, but it's not good for much more than ego if that ranking is an illusion. Here are a few reasons your ranking may not be what you think it is:

Your Rankings Are Personalized

Although personalization still only impacts a small amount of search results, it's always smart to do a sanity check. Unfortunately, shutting off personalization isn't as easy or reliable as it used to be, but there are a few steps you can take:

• Log out of your Google account
• Use the "&pws=0" parameter to shut off (some) personalization
• Use a different browser (that you don't normally use)
• Use a 3rd-party rank-tracker, like our own Web App or Rank Tracker

Your Rankings Are Localized

Technically, you could call this a form of personalization, but the local SEO portion of the algorithm is definitely a unique beast. If you have any business that's locally operated or where the search query has a local flavor, make sure to check that you're ranking outside of your region.

There are a couple of ways to sanity-check your local results. One is to tell Google you're somewhere else, using the "Change Location" feature on the left of search results:

Another option is on the analytics side. If your search traffic isn't up to your expectations, try segmenting it by country or city (as appropriate) to see what's really going on. For example, in Google Analytics, once you've selected your desired search traffic data, click on the second dimension pulldown (it should say "None"), select "Geographic", and you'll get a full list of options, including City:

It's an old story – Boy meets Girl, Girl promises top rankings, rankings finally arrive, and Boy suddenly realizes he has no traffic. Wait, that's not quite it. Replace "Girl" with "SEO company" and "Boy" with "client" - yeah, there we go. In SEO, nothing is quite as frustrating as pouring time and money into your chosen keyword and finally breaking into the Top 10, only to find that you still have no visitors.

There are a number of possible causes for ranking without traffic - I'm going to divide them up into 3 groups:

1. You're Not Really Ranking
2. Your Keywords Don't Deliver
3. Your Results Don't Get Clicked

Isolating the problem is the best first step toward a solution and to making sure that your SEO efforts haven't been wasted.

(1) You're Not Really Ranking

Now that search results are increasingly being personalized, localized, saturated with ads, and otherwise moving away from the idea of one SERP for everyone, the most common issue with rankings not delivering is that everyone else isn't seeing what you're seeing. It's great for the ego to see yourself in the #1 spot, but it's not good for much more than ego if that ranking is an illusion. Here are a few reasons your ranking may not be what you think it is:

Your Rankings Are Personalized

Although personalization still only impacts a small amount of search results, it's always smart to do a sanity check. Unfortunately, shutting off personalization isn't as easy or reliable as it used to be, but there are a few steps you can take:

• Log out of your Google account
• Use the "&pws=0" parameter to shut off (some) personalization
• Use a different browser (that you don't normally use)
• Use a 3rd-party rank-tracker, like our own Web App or Rank Tracker

Your Rankings Are Localized

Technically, you could call this a form of personalization, but the local SEO portion of the algorithm is definitely a unique beast. If you have any business that's locally operated or where the search query has a local flavor, make sure to check that you're ranking outside of your region.

There are a couple of ways to sanity-check your local results. One is to tell Google you're somewhere else, using the "Change Location" feature on the left of search results:

Another option is on the analytics side. If your search traffic isn't up to your expectations, try segmenting it by country or city (as appropriate) to see what's really going on. For example, in Google Analytics, once you've selected your desired search traffic data, click on the second dimension pulldown (it should say "None"), select "Geographic", and you'll get a full list of options, including City:

The purple line represents the "fold" on my 1280x1024 screen setting. Notice where the top 3 organic results are? If you're not ranking locally on this SERP, you've got nothing.

(2) Your Keywords Don't Deliver

The next most likely culprit is that you just didn't do your keyword research very well, or those numbers turned out not to be very reliable. There are a couple of variations of this problem:

Your Keyword Volume Is Low

Assuming you did your homework, the unfortunate truth is that most keyword research tools rely on Google's numbers, and Google's numbers aren't always accurate, especially as you dive into the long tail. Even worse, the numbers can say different things depending on how you slice and dice them.

For example, I have a site that ranks pretty well for "website checklist". If I looked at Google's numbers, I'd see 8,100 total monthly searches (global). Most of this is broad-match, though – looking at exact-match cuts that to less than 10% of the traffic:

So, if I had expected ranking on this exact phrase to be a traffic boon, I might've been disappointed. Many more people are searching for variants or longer-tail phrases that contain those keywords.

Your Keyword Doesn't Match Intent

This issue cuts a bit into section (3) below, but I consider it first and foremost a keyword-research problem. Let's say that, by some miracle, you manage to rank in the Top 3 for "apple" and that you're an online store that sells bulk fruit. While some people who query "apple" may be looking to buy apples, most of them are looking for Apple the company, Apple products, Apple Vacations, etc. If that ranking "victory" had cost you thousands (or millions) of dollars, you wouldn't feel so victorious when no one searching that phrase actually wanted to buy apples. You could've done a lot more for less with some action-oriented 2-word and 3-word phrases (like "buy apples online").

(3) Your Results Don't Get Clicked

Finally, it's important to remember that ranking is just the first part of getting search traffic. People have to actually click on your search listing. It's traditionally tough to get click-through data on organic SERPs, other than relying on gross stats on CTR by ranking. Fortunately, Google Webmaster Tools is starting to provide more of that data (under "Your site on the web" > "Search queries"):

So, what could make an otherwise perfectly good search result unclickable? There are a couple of major culprits (in addition to the searcher intent issue mentioned earlier):

Your Listing Just Looks Spammy

You've tried so hard to rank, that you forgot about the human element, and you ended up with a search results that looks something like this (generated with the Snippet Optimization Tool):

Would you click on that? Ranking is only half the battle.

Your Competitors Are Winning

This is a topic that gets discussed much more on the PPC side, but sometimes you're just getting outclassed. Maybe you're ranking, but the rest of the Top 10 is being dominated by big brands, great copywriting, great offers, etc. Make sure to know what you're up against.

Similarly, be aware of any ORM issues. For example, let's say you rank #1 for your chosen keyword, but the #2 spot is "Your Brand Scam" or something to that effect. Even if that listing is below you, it's going to make people think twice about your company and your link. Search rankings aren't isolated and people make decisions based on cues from the rest of the SERP.

So, Now What Do You Do?

While it's good to be aware of these issues, ranking without getting the traffic you expected isn't usually a lost cause. It's time to regroup, dig deep, and really find out why the numbers don't match up. You may learn a lesson in where your real audience is and what they're searching for, and you can use that to improve your overall SEO strategy. In many cases, ranking for one term is going to boost your chances to rank for related terms (you've still got good content and links), so you may just need a slight shift in strategy. Figure out exactly what went wrong, and take it as a learning experience.

Strategies to get You to the Top of Google in 2011

You may think that once you’ve got your SEO strategy in place you can sit back and rise to the top of Google. Not so fast, warns Ali Husayni, CEO of the SEO service company Master Google. One of the challenging things about SEO is that search engines are always changing, therefore strategies to affect search engine rankings must constantly evolve. Here are some of the changes in SEO that experts foresee in 2011.

Unique Content: Although links and page rank are still important factors, Google’s search algorithms increasingly emphasize the performance of a website. They are looking for fresh content that engages readers and encourages feedback. Spend more time thinking about your target audience and what kind of content they need.

Interaction: Google looks for sites that get users to interact. “If you want to be on the 1st page of Google make an effort to create content that will get the users involved in a conversation,” says Husayni. Respond to every comment you get on your website. Be nice and offer guidance. When other users see how responsive you are, they will visit your website more frequently as well.

User Behavior: If your site is getting good reviews from users, it will improve your Google ranking. If it’s getting bad reviews, the reverse. Know what your users want and give it to them.

Social Media: Google has confirmed that social media is one of the factors influencing natural search rankings. They are increasingly evaluating what users click on and where they “hang out.” So, you must consider social media as part of your SEO promotion strategy. Try to get inbound links from bloggers. If you release a new product, you want to have someone influential twitter about it. Be sure you have a Facebook presence.

Targeted Websites: Be aware of how your target audience does research and try to entice viewers like more traditional marketing strategies. SEO companies like Master Google note that Google is looking for those sites that are valuable to users. You also need to find the online communities that your target consumer frequents. This will let you reach viewers as a group rather than individually.

SEO-Led Marketing Campaigns: Increasingly all marketing will be driven by SEO. Radio, TV, and print advertising will all be part of SEO campaigns to educate the users about products and services. Increasingly SEO ranking is at the heart of the campaign rather than being an afterthought.

Geography Will Be More Important: Google map results are increasingly part of its search engine results. Google is also working on ways to incorporate the user’s location into results. As more and more people use GPS-enabled phones for searches, geographical considerations will play a bigger role.

© 2011 Master Google. Authorization to post is granted, with the stipulation that Master Google are credited as sole source. Linking to other sites from this document is strictly prohibited, with the exception of herein imbedded links.

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Linking Google Analytics to Webmaster Tools

If you use Google Analytics to track site data, you can now link your Webmaster Tools verified site to an Analytics profile when they use the same Google Account.

Not only will your Analytics profiles be accessible within Webmaster Tools, but you'll also be able to more easily access a few Google Analytics features:

• View your Google Analytics Referring Pages report directly from the Links to your site page in Webmaster Tools. This report helps you understand the overall trends in traffic volume from referrals, as well as the sites driving those trends.


• Access the Google Analytics Dashboard directly from the Analytics link in the top left bar when you’re on a site-related page.

To link a verified site in Webmaster Tools to a Google Analytics profile:

1. On the Webmaster Tools home page, click Manage next to the site you want, then click Google Analytics profile.



2. Select the profile you want to associate with the site, then click Save.

Note: If your site has multiple owners, each owner will need to link their own account to a Google Analytics profile.

Google launches two-factor authentication

Google just launched two-factor authentication, and I believe everyone with a Google account should enable it.

Two-factor authentication (also known as 2-step verification) relies on something you know (like a password) and something you have (like a cell phone). Crackers have a harder time getting into your account, because even if they figure out your password, they still only have half of what they need. I wrote about two-factor authentication when Google rolled it out for Google Apps users back in September, and I’m a huge fan.

Account hijacking is no joke. Remember the Gawker password incident? If you used the same password on Gawker properties and Gmail, two-factor authentication would provide you with more protection. I’ve also had two relatives get their Gmail account hijacked when someone guessed their password. I’ve also seen plenty of incidents like this where two-factor authentication would have kept hackers out. If someone hacked your Gmail account, think of all the other passwords they could get access to, including your domain name or webhost accounts.

Is it a little bit of extra work? Yes. But two-step verification instantly provides you with a much higher level of protection. I use it on my personal Gmail account, and you should too. Please, protect yourself now and enable two-factor authentication.

How to Monetize Your Web Content

Perhaps one of the most frequently asked questions for webmasters has to be: How do I monetize my web pages? How do I earn revenue from my online content?

As a full time online marketer and webmaster, this is a question I have considered many times and found my own answers through many years of trial and error. Of course, I have taken the passive route in my quest for that online income. This means instead of producing my own products, I market and promote affiliate goods and services. I do no direct selling on any of my websites. I collect no money and I don't even have a payment program or system in place.

All my income and commissions come from referring traffic or clients to the affiliate companies which I promote. Totally passive.

Get Top 10 Ranking on Google!

These companies do all the selling, delivery of products, customer support, everything... I just get a small percentage for having referred that customer or client. This passive method has worked extremely well for me but keep in mind, selling your products and services will be much more lucrative since you will receive the majority of the income instead of just a small commission or referral fee.

However, if you're like me and want a more "hands-off," passive income from your web content, here are some of the things I have learned over the years. You might find some of these tips helpful in your monetization. I have placed these tips in the form of a "q and a" format...

1. Should I use Google Adsense?

While placing Google Adsense ads on your site or blog is very easy, the rates are extremely low. You can make 10 to 100 times more by using affiliate links instead of these ads. For example, for one Adsense clíck you could get anywhere from a few cents to several dollars, whereas with an affiliate program you can get from $10 to $100+ for a click which turns into a sale. However, Google is one of the most respected and reliable companies on the web. They pay on time and should not be ignored. I have used Adsense for years mainly because you can't always find affiliate programs for some content and besides, you can place both affiliate links and Google Adsense on your pages.

2. Should I use Amazon?

Another very simple way to monetize your content is to place Amazon products and referral links on your pages. Amazon's referral rates are slightly better than Google Adsense especially if you have high volume sales, but they are still lower in general. However, I have found users tend to really trust Amazon and purchase from them more frequently and more often so conversion rates are much higher than any other affiliate program I have used. For this reason alone, Amazon should be on your list if you want to earn money from the web. I have been using them for years and find building your links is really easy. So too is building whole "A Stores" on a particular topic or line of products.

3. What is ClickBank and Should I use It?

ClickBank is one of the biggest affiliate networks for downloadable products such as ebooks and software. They pay some of the largest commissions. 40% to 50% or more is very common. Very reliable. I have been using them for years and you should include some ClickBank products on your pages. Please note that ClickBank does deduct a small percentage of your commissions to cover any returns, but it also means you don't have any dropped commissions - once you make a sale, you will get paíd for it.

4. What are Affiliate Networks?

Affiliate networks, like Commission Junction and LinkShare, are major players in the online affiliate world. These affiliate networks represent thousands of companies which provide products and services that webmasters can promote. They handle all sales transactions and send out your commission checks each month. Most of my affiliate programs are through these affiliate networks with CJ being the top one mainly because they have excellent feedback and tracking.

5. How do I Find a Profitable Affiliate Product or Service?

Regardless of what you're promoting, you must be very careful to pick quality products that are closely related to your content. These two factors will mainly determine your conversion rates, although product ads and display images do play a small part. If you use a network like Commission Junction, they will indicate which company is making the most sales and will also tell you which ads are getting the highest return with the actual dollar amount (EPC earnings per 100 clicks). I always use this data when picking which companies and products I promote on my sites.

6. Why do I Need to Create Different Income Streams?

The real beauty of running an online business is that you can have many different income sources which pay you each month. You should plan on having at least 10 to 20 income streams. If one should dry up, you will have the others to depend upon. Once you have quality traffic coming to your website, it is just a matter of placing different affiliate links on your pages. I like including at least three or four different companies on a page, this way you can easily create different income streams for the same page. Don't just rely on one company or product. Have many different affiliate links and companies throughout your site.

7. What Should be Your Main Strategic Objective?

Don't make this mistake - instead of making one sale and getting paid for it once, pick products and services which give you a recurring or residual income. You do the same promotion and work but get revenue for years to come. I am still earning income on sales I made five years ago. This will significantly improve your bottom line or your return on investment. Products and services which have a monthly billing element are good candidates for residual income... such as web hosting, autoresponder services, telecommunications and so on. Don't rule out forming partnerships with businesses in the same niche as your website. You might be surprised at the response you get.

Effectively monetizing your web content will largely determine if you succeed or not, so try some of the tips above. Of course, there are many other ways to monetize your traffic such as selling direct ads and links on your pages. The list above is not my full list but does include some of my top-performing programs and should also work for you and your web content.

Essential Off-Page Factors

we are going to be focusing on important ways to move your website from page 30 to page 1. However we’ll be concentrating on all the elements that don’t have anything to do with your site. Conversely, the focus will be on everyone else’s webpage’s and how to utilise other sites to catapult your site to the top of the search engines.

So how does this work?

Here’s how Google looks at it: if your site is a very popular one and many people are linking to it, then chances are your site will have a high Google PageRank (PR). The PageRank system grades anywhere from 0 to 10. 0 being the lowest and 10 being the highest, sites like YouTube for example, have a PageRank of 9, Facebook gets 10 out of 10 and Twitter has a PageRank of 9.

A good way to look at the internet is to picture it as a giant spider web. If you’re just starting out, your site is probably spinning the initial inner threads but it’s not connecting with threads from other sites. As you build up links to your website from other sites, those inner threads begin to fan out. But the question to ask here is: what is the best strategy for linking to increase the power of your website, and size and strength of your ‘spider web.’

Here are a few important elements to know:

1. Inbound linking helps the most:

Inbound linking is when other sites link to your site, but your site is not linked to theirs. Every time another website links to your site, your ‘spider web’ strengthens and grows. However, an important point to note is that sites linking to your site with a higher page rank build your ‘spider web’ more effectively than those that have a lower page rank. A general rule is that all inbound links are looked favourably upon by the search engines, but not all links carry the same weight that will affect your site’s rankings.

For example, if another website links to your site and has a PageRank of 2 and your PageRank is 5, it will positively affect your site and help grow your ‘spider web.’ However, if the inbound link was coming from a site with a PageRank of 7, the positive effect on your site would be greater.

The other point to mention here is that PR isn’t everything. Relevancy of the inbound links you are receiving is important as well. If the links are coming from websites with similar content this will positively affect your rankings.

Search engines also like to see inbound links coming from:

Educational sites (.edu’s)

Government sites (.gov’s)

Authority sites

Traditional media sites

Sites close to your geographical location

Associations

General Rule: try to commission inbound links that are relevant to your content and from sites that have a higher PR than you if possible. Quality, not quantity is the name of the game.

2. Include your keyword in the anchor text of any inbound link:

Including keywords in the anchor text of an inbound link is desirable; we can’t stress enough how important it is to do this. This tells the search engines that the link is relevant to the page it is linking to. This strategy combined with correctly optimizing the on-page factors of your webpage’s will help incredibly to boost the power of you website as well as start moving it up the search engine ranks.

3. Reciprocal linking doesn’t really help:

Trading links with other sites isn’t going to help your site in the eyes of the search engines. It won’t hurt your site, but it’s not really going to help. The only scenario where it might provide a small boost is if your site exchanges links with highly relevant sites (very similar to your content).

4. The number of pages on your site:

Another factor that affects the ‘power’ of your website is tied directly to the number of pages on your site. The more pages on your site, the larger your spider web is, the more the search engines will look favourably upon it.

Now that you have an understanding of how inbound linking works, you’re probably wondering "how do I get inbound links to my website?"

There are many strategies to do this and today we will cover the ones you absolutely need to know, but before we jump in we highly recommend using a software called SEO Elite to make executing all the processes involved with on and off page factors much, much easier. Click the link below to find out more:

SEO Elite

Essential Strategies:

1. Directory submissions:

This may not be the most ‘flashy’ method to implement, but it is a fantastic way to develop inbound links from sites that have a much higher PR. This method is time consuming, but well worth it, and if done well your site can gain over 100 inbound links from high PR sites which is priceless. A few of the top directories include DMOZ and Yahoo! Directory (not to be confused with the search engine, as they are not the same entity).

2. Approaching sites that are linking to your competitors:

Another way to increase your inbound links is to simply do a Google search for the top keyword(s) that you would like to rank for. Then, take note of the top 10 search results that are returned. At this point, it is very useful to have SEO Elite to analyze the exact links that are linking to your competitors. This software will also provide extremely useful info such as the keyword densities of your competitor’s pages, and the exact anchor text used.

After you have identified the backlinks of your competition, you can approach these sites to enquire about linking to your site. The best way to do this is to give something of value in exchange for a link.

3. Writing and submitting articles:

This method requires a bit of investment in terms time and energy. However it can pay off big time as there are outstanding sites like Ezinearticles.com and Articledashboard.com that have a high PageRank and will give your site high quality backlinks when you post articles. Don’t forget to work your keyword(s) into the anchor text of the links.

4. Press releases:

If you have a bit more of a budget you can carefully tailor press releases to include the right keywords and links to blast out to the media. The general rule here is the more you pay usually the better the distribution. Which begs the question:

Should you do press releases through traditional media channels as opposed to only online sources?

The answer to this again depends on your budget. If your PR is picked up by traditional media in a large spotlight, this can be of great value to your business. However, the cost may be higher to do this and there is a chance that your press release will not be picked up. Again it reverts back to how much you are willing to spend.

5. Attracting links by being the authority:

Maybe the most indirect, but the most powerful way in the long term to generate high quality inbound links is to have amazing content and be the authority site in your industry group. This obviously takes the most time and investment, but if executed properly your site will attract high quality inbound links simply because the content is of the upmost quality. Sometimes this is referred to as ‘link baiting.’

6. Blogs and Social Media:

Another way to get high value backlinks is from blogging. You can include links in your messages that you post on other blogs. However, some blogs do attach no follow tags to links left in posts. The best way to utilise blogging is by developing your own blog and creating high quality content so other sites link to yours.

In terms of social media, a lot of SM sites place no follow tags on your links just as in blogs, but search engines do like to see social media activity. High social media activity makes you more of an authority figure in your particular niche.

Ok, that sums up the essential off-page factors segment. Of course we could go on and on about linking for days, but this will give you the basic framework necessary to get started.