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Google Instant advantage or pain in the…?
What is Google Instant?
Google Instant is a new search enhancement that shows results as you type. We are pushing the limits of our technology and infrastructure to help you get better search results, faster. Our key technical insight was that people type slowly, but read quickly, typically taking 300 milliseconds between keystrokes, but only 30 milliseconds (a tenth of the time!) to glance at another part of the page. This means that you can scan a results page while you type.
The most obvious change is that you get to the right content much faster than before because you don’t have to finish typing your full search term, or even press “search.” Another shift is that seeing results as you type helps you formulate a better search term by providing instant feedback. You can now adapt your search on the fly until the results match exactly what you want. In time, we may wonder how search ever worked in any other way.
How has it effected SEO?
Google instant has been around for a few months now and I see that there has really been no huge impact on my clients ranking or hits to their websites, in fact I work with some small industries that it feels like it has actually improved the rankings on a couple of my clients SEO campaigns. I have adjusted of course to the change in order to keep up with the Jones’ as search engine optimizers often find themselves doing during any major change to the search engines. We adjust.
You can love it or hate it, but if you are a small local business trying to compete in a market with huge corporate giants any advantage to compete is an advantage you have to invest in. Although I have turned my instant off on my computer simply because I don’t want the constant guessing as I am searching online everyday for at least 8 hours. I can see the benefits of the novice search engine user having the instant Google work in your favor, if you can see that smaller is BIGGER. Keeping your clients sites competitive may be as simple as keeping the key phrases short and concise and leaving it up to the search engine to the work for you rather than against you.
Keep it coming Google we are always waiting for the next challenge you send our way!
[QUIZZIN 1]
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Is Google Cheating?
I have read a number of articles in the last few weeks that has led me to believe our beloved Google maybe taking advantage of their own search engine…OHHHH the horror. Well this would be the inevitable as they are constantly trying to buy up small money making companies who are listed high on their search engines or the next big groupon craze it is only natural that they would take advantage of the fact they are the biggest thing on the internet well since the internet and why not use that to their marketing advantage.
As suspected this will adversley make the big corps cry and whine when the spot they have held for the past x amount of years starts sliding down the scale to make way for the big kahuna!
Fair or not, this is happening…I pose this question;
Will we have to find the next Google before the marketing giant makes way for the big corporations and leaves the small guys left on the sidelines.
No worries we always have yahoo! and bing right?
Articles of interest:
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Adding a new post to your wordpress blog.
Learning to add a post to WordPress is as easy as opening a WORD document and making a new article, but many people find that a daunting task. To make it easier on all the newbies and novices I am putting together this simple tutorial for all of my new clients just breaking into the blogging realm and to anyone who needs a quick reference whenever they need one. Once you learn, its like riding a bike you will never forget.
ADDING A BLOG POST
When you first enter into WordPress you are immediately brought to your dashboard. You will see a number of links along the left side of the dashboard.
WordPress Dashboard
- Locate the POSTS link.
- Click on POSTS Link
- You will now be in the post section of your blog. Locate ADD NEW, it can be found in 2 different places either in the left hand navigation under the POSTS title or beside the POSTS title along the top of the dashboard.
- Click ADD NEW
- You will now be opened to a another screen. This is the posting section. There is a number of sections within this page.
- The first space you see is for your title. Make sure you make this exciting and enticing to engage your readers to continue reading your article.
- The second space you see is a bit bigger and it has a number of tools above it like you would see in your typical word document. You can add color, make sections bolder, make alignment changes, add images…etc.
- Once you are finished with your post you may want to add media. Right above your tools you will see Upload/Insert and some images. There is one for photos, media, video and audio. Remember when you are adding media to make sure your not adding something too big to slow the loading process.
- Adding Media is as easy as clicking a button. If you want to add an image from your own computer or one you found on the internet that you would think would enhance your article for your readers. Click on the image button as mentioned above and you will get a pop up menu with a number of selections. This is pretty self explanatory go through each section to get yourself familiar with the process.
- Once you have written your article and added all the media, we can now focus on some great additions with your WordPress Blog.
- Look to your right and you will see a couple of different menus. CATAGORIES & TAGS.
- I always suggest you categorize you blog to make it easier for your readers. In the category menu select the right category to fit your article. In the case of this article I will choose a new one I will create because this article does not fit any of my current ones. At the bottom of the category menu you will see + Add New Category
- Click on + Add New Category – Choose a name that would fit the article. Or if you have decide this is just a general article and you will only have one post on this specific subject always have a default category.
- Next we look at the Tags menu. These are like keywords, if you are familiar with Search Engine Optimization, this is a great place to add keywords one: to help your readers find articles with the same keywords on the search and two: to help the search engines rank your article.
- After you have completed those 2 items you are now ready to preview your work. On the top right corner of the dashboard you will see a PUBLISH Section. WordPress has a great feature which automatically saves your draft as your working but there is a button to do that periodically as well, then there is a PREVIEW button and a PUBLISH Button. **Always PREVIEW your work incase there is any alignment issues with your media or paragraphs. It also gives you a chance to see it before it goes live on the blog.
- If you are happy with your work, click the PUBLISH button.
Click On POSTS Link
That’s IT! Your done, congratulations you have now published your first post!!
HAPPY BLOGGING!
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Google ditches Windows on security concerns
Google is phasing out the internal use of Microsoft’s ubiquitous Windows operating system because of security concerns, according to several Google employees.The directive to move to other operating systems began in earnest in January, after Google’s Chinese operations were hacked, and could effectively end the use of Windows at Google, which employs more than 10,000 workers internationally.
“We’re not doing any more Windows. It is a security effort,” said one Google employee.
“Many people have been moved away from [Windows] PCs, mostly towards Mac OS, following the China hacking attacks,” said another.
New hires are now given the option of using Apple’s Mac computers or PCs running the Linux operating system. “Linux is open source and we feel good about it,” said one employee. “Microsoft we don’t feel so good about.”
I found this article and it makes me think, could be finally phasing out IE? hahahaha, one can only dream!
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Search Engine Strategies Toronto Conference & Expo
Dates: June 9-11 2010
http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/toronto/
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The SEO Basics (Part 2) – Competition Analysis
Now you have your keywords selected, time to find out what your competition is doing for each of your keywords, also you want to analyze the first page of Google for all of your keywords. I usually start by opening up a spreadsheet program. Now you will be doing this for your individual site, whereas I find myself often doing this a few times a week for potential clients so I have a template already worked out to make my job easier and it keeps all the information neat and tidy in one place so I can always come back and refer to it throughout the clients campaign. Most of the keyword analysis of your keywords would take place during the selection process which we went through in The SEO Basics (Part 1) – Keyword Selection.
As far as the search volume and advertisers competition we have already figured that out, but I also like to look at the first page of Google for the number of competing websites and the range of page ranks that are currently on the first page.
How does this help? Well, when you are looking at your best keywords you want to find out the amount of work needed to get the best possible results. Looking at the example above it shows me the number of websites competing for the same keywords as I am, I generally take that number find out about 20% of the actual sites are pining for the keyword, the rest simply have something to do with the keyword that was being search for by the surfer.
The example above shows the keyword “carribean vacations” and the total number of sites. So in my estimate you would be competing with approximately 1.7 million sites (which actually sounds about right). Travel related keywords with such general terms will have a high number of competing sites, everybody wants to be the next expedia or travelocity, but I digress.
This is a highly competitive keyword but not an impossible feat as you are constantly seeing new websites appearing on the first page of Google. Knowing this information now you will know it will take some great work in order to see the first page results we are looking for.
Next I look at the actual websites, this will be analyzing my competition. We want to look at a few things when you are looking at your competition:
1. Page Rank
2. Back links
3. Content Density
4. Page TitlesPage Rank
Google describes PageRank:
PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important”.
Essentially Page Rank is a number between 1 – 10 that Google represents for each website. Why I look at this is a matter of what my competition is ranking on the first page so I know what I will need to accomplish in my link development campaign to achieve the highest rank for my clients.
Back Links
Google obviously only shows the most relevant back links for each site, you will never get an accurate number of links that your competition has coming into their site unless you think outside of the box. I have two that I use when researching backlinks for my competition. One is simply using Yahoo!. Yahoo! actually shows an accurate number of back links to your competition site as well as yours, this will be useful to see where your backlinks are coming from as well. Another program I use is one that I purchased. This allows me to keep a closer eye on all the competition on more of a frequent basis.
Content Density
For this I simply Google the keyword that I am researching for my competition and then go to their site and load it. Once it is loaded I simply use the highlight tool that Google has on their toolbar and I look at each page that I see that particular keyword shows up. This is not an exact science of course, but you want to use a general thumb of somewhere between 2 and 5 percent of the content contains your keywords.
Page Titles
Last but certainly not least, I look at my competitions titles on Google. I want to see the formula that they are using to create their titles. Generally when I am perusing the first page of Google I will see the keyword in all of the first page websites. Title tags are of the upmost of importance when it comes to Google and any search engine for that matter. Some will lead with the keyword, some will lead with their Name and some just stuff the title with a number of keywords. Again, the science is not there, but I can generally tell which have been there for a number of years and have a solid SEO campaign that they have been working on, and others who have not got the key to the titles and are new.
In conclusion, you must know where and what your competition is doing in order to move forward with your campaign. If you have an SEO expert helping you or you are tackling this on your own, the more you know, the better off you will be!
I hope this information helps you!
Our Next Installment: Optimizing your Website
Till then!
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TweetUp has SEO potential??
Just read an article regarding TweetUp. Im going to some research this evening and find out more about how this can actually help my clients and my readers in the SEO potential keep tuned….
The Article:
TweetUp Inc. has introduced TweetUp—a new search platform that will offer marketers another venue to use search engine optimization (SEO).
TweetUp will allow marketers to bid for keywords. The search results will be based on algorithm, relevancy, and time. Between results there will also be paid advertisements based on the searched keyword.
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Google Services for Websites Goes to Plesk Panel
Google has announced that it’s expanded its Services for Websites program in which hosting companies integrate Google services into their platforms, to include Parallels, a provider of control panel software for hosting companies. Parallels will integrate Google Services for Websites into the new version of its Plesk Panel, a platform Google says millions of site-owners use to manage their sites. Read More…
I use GoDaddy, so Im going find out what kind of funness this actually means for the average web site owner, (ok so I am not your average website owner) but fun all the same!
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The SEO Basics (Part 1) – Keyword Selection
One of the most valuable parts of any search engine optimization is choosing the actual keywords that will make your campaign the most successful. In this tutorial I will be using a travel site as my reference. I will give several different examples of how to choose the right keywords with the best results.
Example One:
http://www.travelsite.com
Travel firm that specializes in vacation packages in the Caribbean.
1. Go to any of your reliable keyword selector programs. There are two that we use:
- Word Tracker ( for this I will use the free version)
- Google Ad words Selector
2. Pick a general keyword in order to find your niche keyword, I chose “caribbean vacations” for this example.
and
3. Next, they will both pull up a list of keywords related to the general keyword I just put in to the database.
In Wordtracker they will only give you the keyword results for 100 related keywords in the free service and they will also tell you the number of times that the keyword is searched for on a daily basis.
In Google Adwords Selector they give you a bit more information they give you the the current month’s average search volume, much more then 100 keyword results. When I’m looking at this I pay attention to one specific area and that is the advertiser competition, the reason being, the more advertiser’s are spending the higher the search volume.
4. The next step is I take the top 5 keywords with the highest search volume & most searched in word tracker, most times they will be many more than 5 relevant keywords but I will concentrate on the best keywords in the beginning stages of SEO and gradually over time incorporate more and more keywords in order to saturate the search engines.
In my mock up example I will choose:
- caribbean vacations
- cheap caribbean vacations
- all inclusive caribbean vacations
- caribbean vacation
- caribbean vacation packages
5. There you have it, the best keyword selection. I picked these 5 keywords because they have:
a. The highest search volume
b. The highest advertiser competitionWhen you are choosing your keywords there are a number of variables that you have to think about when you are looking for your top searched results. The example above was an easy selection of keywords but it is an easy market for travel. If you are offering a new type of service or something that no one has ever seen before you have to think outside the box and try to figure out the best direction to get get your traffic through your keyword selection. I always advise clients who have this issue to take it to the streets, ask your friends, family, neighbor what search term they would type in if they are looking for your product and start from there!
Much luck in your keyword selection, come back soon for our next installment of SEO Basics where we explore Keyword Analysis & Competition Analysis.
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Blogging: A Not So New Asset to SEO
When you think of how blogging started so many moons ago, it was used as an online diary or more commonly a travel log. This would keep track of where you have been, what you saw and where you were going. You could easily keep your family and friends updated on your latest excursion in a new place. The blogging world exploded and more often you were seeing political blogs, photography blogs and now corporate blogs? Did you hear me right? Yes.
Corporate blogs are the (not so) new seo tool that are vastly becoming popular on a number of sites showing up on and around the web. How do blogs help your SEO campaign? Well there are a number of factors that blogs can help you with in terms of SEO.
First of all, they are adding content. What is content? Content is king. When you decide to add a blog to any site you must first of all commit to actually adding content, at the very least on a weekly basis. The best content of course is original articles written by you or someone within your company. If you are not as scholarly as you would like and find it difficult to write articles on your desired subject, you can find yourself a content writer, there are many available for just this purpose, and you can verbalize what you would like to be told in an article and have them then put that verbage into an article, and voila! This can of course become very costly.
Another great way to add content, is to read articles written by other authors and comment on them. Find articles that you agree or disagree with and add your own ideas to that article (Alway’s remember to cite those authors). Finally the true tested method is keep up to date with the latest news in your field and keep your readers and customers up-to-date on the developments. Anyway you decide to keep your blog updated, just be sure you do just that. Blogging is a dedication and you will gain the benefits in your SEO efforts.
Secondly, a blog can be independently marketed within your SEO campaign. There are a number of blog directories that you can add your blog to, as well there are a number of blog traffic sites which can gain your blog a number of loyal readers. If you make your blog a useful resource and gain some subscribers to your blog you will create a buzz. What happens next? Natural linking. The ultimate in link development, link bait. Blogs are some of the best link bait there can be in the seo world. Make your blog as creative, fun and informative for your readers.
In summary, SEO consists of two major components. Content development and link development, both of which can be achieved with the assistance of a blog. The initial stages of any new search engine optimization campaign can be difficult, but if you commit and stick to the power of blogging, you can create a community within your field and be a huge success in your SEO efforts.
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