August 2006
Monthly Archive
Search Marketing - SimplifiedMonthly Archive
Posted by Dave Pye on 30 Aug 2006 | Tagged as: Search Engine Optimization
The number one goal for any search engine optimization professional is to achieve high rankings for their clients. The methods optimizers employ in an attempt to achieve this success do not fall in line with a roadmap or best practice plan. SEO is full of grey areas and guesswork – however there are identified tactics that have been proven to increase the risk of a site being penalized or banned from directories. As a result, web marketing professionals must be careful when making changes to a website and the importance of perceived ethics in search engine optimization has become immense.
It can be said that SEO professionals have two clients: the website owner and the search engines. While clients have to be comfortable with changes to their site, search engines also have to be considered – is the site optimized, and are said optimization efforts in danger of compromising rankings? Each major search engine has its own set of stated guidelines that webmasters are expected to follow as a condition of its use. Client requests have to be weighed alongside these rules or ethics to avoid penalization.
SEO professional Wayne Hurlbert has outlined three popular SEO ethics classifications, often referred to as “hats.” Professionals are classified as being either a “white hat,” “black hat” or “grey hat” SEO. A “white hat” SEO professional is one who follows generally accepted optimization techniques, and avoids anything that even slightly conflicts with Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. Any method that raises ethical questions is completely avoided. A “white hat” professional is one who upholds the highest ethical standards.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is the “black hat” SEO professional, who clearly violates all guidelines, stated by any search engine, and has no regard for generally accepted optimization techniques. Some “black hat” practices include cloaking, hidden text and link farms. A “grey hat” SEO professional is one who lies somewhere in the middle of the other two. Many disagree about what exactly is constitutes ‘grey’, but the utilization of certain linking tools and content generating software suites have been mentioned.
The exact definition and boundaries of the hat classifications are up for debate, but the concept serves as a barometer for ethical SEO practices. Professionals must figure out their individual boundaries and decide for themselves which SEO practices enable them to achieve rankings while maintaining standards that are in line with their personal values. Research is essential when it comes to deciding which SEM firm to outsource to, as below-the-belt tactics can prove devastating to a site’s organic visibility.
Search Engine OptimizationPosted by Dave Pye on 10 Aug 2006 | Tagged as: Search Engine Optimization
To say that SEO has changed by leaps and bounds over the last 5 years would be the understatement… of the last 5 years. What was once a measure of a onsite meta tags and coding dilligence, has now become a larger measure of offsite influences. Algorithmic formulas have become more sophisticated as the big three (Google, Yahoo, MSN) try to differentiate themselves from one another. Objective SERP (Search Engine Ranking Page) relevance of a given keyword search will make or break a user’s confidence in a very short amount of time. If an individual has a hard time finding what they’re looking for when using Google, due to off-target or spammy results, they’ll try MSN - and so on.
Through a focused combination of attention to both your code and your surrounding landscape you can better the chances of your domain being interpreted positively by search engines and in turn reach your target market effectively.
The Pony’s 5 Golden Rules of SEO:
Search Engine Optimization has many complex facets and is always evolving. However, there are effective means in which you can improve your visibility if you pay attention and stay slightly ahead of the crowd. Remember - Anything that search engine engineers can add to an algorithim to keep SEO companies and web masters from manipulating it’s organic SERP - they eventually will. All “proven” offsite SEO methods, and many onsite (hidden text and keyword stuffing for example) will eventually be discounted and even become cause for index expulsion. Stay current, be patient and build those links!
Posted by Dave Pye on 04 Aug 2006 | Tagged as: Keyword Research
What’s a search marketing professional to do when their vertical of choice becomes completely flooded? Or, more accurately, what’s a search engine marketing professional to do - period? When the low-hanging fruit is a fond memory, it’s time to break out the 24 foot extendable ladder.
This article didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know, but it’s a good shortcut for the newbie. In a nutshell, find the more obscure phrases that people use to find what you’re selling. When it comes to PPC, locating these “sweet spots” is what SEM firms spend hours doing every day across the globe. But how many people are building pages that are focused specifically on terms like “discount blue baby bedding”? The longer the keyword phrase, the less people are likely competing to optimize for it. Learn, love and live the longtail.
Yes, we all already knew this. But when applied to page creation as opposed to PPC - it got my brain working. Stay tuned for my brand new site: www.brightredrubberpickuptruckfloormats.com. Not really.