Search Engine Optimization—Keywording Your Way to More Traffic
Without SEO (Search Engine Optimization) your site is nothing but a store in the middle of the desert. You know it’s great, and anyone who happens to be in the middle of the desert also sees its great features. However, until word of mouth gets around, your site is stuck in virtual limbo.
This is the entire basis of SEO theory—that you must reach out to your audience. Sure, you could take a traditional advertising approach and post a banner ad or an offline ad but when you do so, you are losing one of the best advantages of SEO—targeted advertising.
Targeted advertising means you maximize your time and investment by only selling to customers who have already indicated a strong interest in the products you sell. Enter the search engine (Google, Yahoo and Bing), the only true way to reach targeted traffic.
You target, or qualify, your audience by the keywords you focus on. Each search engine company has a web crawler application that scours the Internet looking for fresh new content. As the search engine finds new content, it will “index” each of the pages found, saving the content in a large database.
And if the Internet truly were omnipresent it would be an awesome thing. Unfortunately for new webmasters, the Internet entity is not all knowing and does not have access to every computer in the world. No, this emphasizes the point that you must alert the search engines whenever you publish new content. We’ll talk a little more about this later. For now, just try to grasp the concept of a worldwide series of link connections, which is basically what the Internet is. When you create a link, you create a connection to another website page.
It is essential to understand that without links (yes, even linking your own pages together) no search engine can possibly find you. Therefore, effective linkbuilding and properly formatted HTML pages are just as important as the development of new content.
At this stage, your reader types in a keyword request into the search engine and based on this request (how it matches with text content within your webpage) the search engine is going to send back SERPs, or Search Engine Results Pages.
What determines which websites are ranked higher than others? This is indeed a contentious issue in the world of advertising, as most of the major search engines are intentionally vague about what factors their “algorithms” consider. Still, the overwhelming message is clear: if you want to be highly ranked (and everyone does, since most users never even click past the first two pages) you must develop high quality content. That brings us to the first point of effective SEO marketing.
The best way to be noticed by search engines and to reach your audience to is create excellent content. Now we’re not going to spend dozens of pages taking baby steps. You probably already know the difference between good content and low quality, keyword-inflated “fluff”.
Good content is:
You know good content when you read it because the language is riveting—it keeps you interested. This is the type of writing that is rewarded—and that’s regardless of how many “Panda” or “Penguin” algorithm updates are invented.
More and more, we see evidence that low quality sites, particularly content mills and some article directories (notorious for low quality “expert articles”) are being penalized by rapidly improving search engines. It’s important to remember that search engine companies are striving to invent artificial intelligence with their algorithm changes, so that robots can start picking up on poor quality writing, as well as other unethical practices.
Poor quality content is very quickly losing its value online. Customers are not finding it helpful and in turn, search engines are burying the pages (and in some cases the entire site) in SERPs.
What is poor quality content? Who is to say what is low quality content and what is “magazine” or “expert quality” writing? Poor quality writing can be identified by the following trademarks.
Here we see what is at the root of the problem: lazy writers and company heads that really don’t care enough about human traffic. They prefer to play games with “robots” (the web crawlers looking for keywords) rather than to create interesting and lively content. So ask yourself, “Is the content I am paying for or writing about truly informative? Is it written for human beings, just as a magazine or a newspaper article?”
We can safely say that if you’re planning to launch an SEO campaign built on high keyword density and “filler” articles, you are wasting big money! Your readership is demanding…don’t let them down!
Not only should you be striving for higher content but you should also be focusing on popular and niche keyword phrases. After all, regardless of what great content you come up with, if you don’t strategize with your keywords you are not going to reach that targeted audience. Targeting your traffic is key…otherwise, you might as well be buying mindless, redirect traffic. (You know the type of user that closes your window before he or she even reads the first line)
Devote some time to keyword research using a Google keyword research tool or any number of other research applications. It is best to factor in all avenues including:
Once you determine the most important keywords to your campaign, you can begin building content. It is far better to use this approach rather than prepaying for content and then trying to work in strange keyword phrases in at the last minute. Search engines place high priority on articles and features that read “naturally.”
This is an important factor to remember when planning keyword density. In the past, a high density of 5% or more was acceptable. This manipulated outdated algorithms and helped build site popularity in a short period of time. However, the newest algorithm updates penalize sites for the practice of “over-optimizing.” Besides the implication of low quality writing (or “recycled writing”), that phrase likely refers to the overuse of keywords.
Ideally, high quality writing does not require “keyword density.” Quality writing is governed by the theory of natural repetition—using recurring words and statements only for emphasis. This was a flaw of the early Internet world, which could only index webpages based on their page titles and high density of recurring keyword phrases.
The newest algorithm updates seek to correct this issue and actually penalize websites that needlessly increase keyword repetition. Your safest bet is to research your keywords carefully and aim for below 1% density—whatever the article dictates based on intelligent human reading.
So let’s say you’ve got the writing and the keyword research down pat. What comes next? Beware that improper optimization techniques are not bringing down your otherwise ready website. Let’s talk about consistency.
Free Content Management Systems
One of the most common problems of yesterday was keeping up consistency in all of your web pages. On any given page, you could find issues with broken links, improperly formatted text, badly devised HTML (which could easily block communications with search engines) and even complex issues of canonicalization (or bad domain pages). It was a headache for sure…and this type of mess drove some companies to pay thousands of dollars to a webmaster to take care of all web related issues.
Times have changed! What Windows and Mac OS did for operating systems, now CMS (Content Management Systems) are doing for building a website. WordPress, Joomla and Drupal are the top quick build sites and they go one step further than the old Front Page Express tool (or MS Word), which used WYSIWYG technology. With CMS, you don’t simply cut and paste…you standardize the entire site by way of a customizable template. You can customize, add or change with ease, and without having to individually create pages.
Besides convenience and, of course the fact that CMS is completely free, the second best reason to create a CMS generated site is because of traffic-generation features. For example, installing a WordPress site provides these advantages:
Lastly, using WordPress for creating an official website or a blog site can benefit you because of the site’s huge popularity overall, and their link popularity. Both of these factors are important in establishing high SERPs.
Using link positive associations for your site, like the top 10 in the world caliber WordPress site, can only help you, whereas staying in the virtual ghetto of a small webhosting company using only a simple WYSIWYG editor will not do you any favors.
Free content management tools will make it easy for you to create, save, edit and publish new content for sales copy (your pages) as well as for posting content.
Creating a Blog(s)
That brings us to the next question. Should you start a blog or should you be content to create multiple posts on your website? Blog posts, in general, are company sponsored articles that are often (A) conversational, (B) highly focused, and (C) of higher quality, representing the company’s expert opinion. There is no real philosophical difference between a blog or a web article (or a directory article for that matter). It’s simply that some users hold their most in-depth posts for blogs, as blogs have a certain prestige to them when it comes to search engine friendliness. (According to many in the SEO industry, blogs are actually considered a more reliable source of information than article directories, as they have more quality control)
Some websites will differentiate their blog from their website posts by either creating a subdomain within the same site, or by starting a blog at a free site like Blogger.com.
True, creating an external blog site may help you create more quality links…but creating a blog domain within your own website will help you with domain leverage, very important in matching keyword requests.
When writing a blog, and with a specific eye towards traffic building, be sure to tag your blogs, not only going after mainstream traffic but also targeted traffic—as if qualifying the readers who are going to eventually find your blog. They may stumble upon your site and then bookmark it, visiting it to see whenever you publish new content. They can even configure their computer of choice to receive automatic updates as soon as you publish new content via an RSS feed.
Of course, this is dependent on playing it smart and focusing your attention on your blog. If you blog about random things, without any sense of structure, you will never build a large audience base. By focusing your theme, and discussing one industry or one avenue of your industry (even better), you can build niche traffic and eventually start a relationship with your readers, who will soon take your blog as a legitimate source for new information.
Blog Commenting, Blog Hopping and Blog Guest Hosting
Starting a collective of “fans” is what is meant by the term blog hopping. Like any niche market, you may find that the people who do discover you will remain loyal—and perhaps even befriend one another—as bonds form easily when there is a common thread. Take full advantage of this and make every attempt to be accommodating.
We are going to consider social media marketing in the next chapter, and this is where we will really discuss being very outgoing. That said, even in the context of a blog, where your main concern is creating valuable content, do everything you can to encourage the creation of a community.
Always create posts that ask questions of the audience and encourage interaction. When someone replies to the post, make an attempt to follow up on that person’s thoughts. Always remain respectful of others, even if you plan to use controversy and disagreement to your advantage. People actually love to argue…they want to feel as if they have a voice in this public forum. They can earn publicity through your blog while also showcasing their own abilities. (The only exception…don’t be so generous with spammers. Spammers leave nonsensical comments in the hopes of establishing cheap links...they do no one any good and may actually chase away your real readers.)
Not only should you try to follow up on comments, but you should also try to reach out to the blogging community and comment on your visitors’ own blogs. If you use a system like Blogger, or even WordPress, you can easily link your site to the other bloggers’ sites, and everyone can benefit from the mutual exchange. Before you know it, friends of friends bookmark your blog (or simply click their way to it through mutual friends) and you have a big party line.
Make no mistake; this is the secret to blog traffic—not simply writing great content. Do you ever notice how all the top blogs on the Internet (that is, quality writing blogs…not celebrity blogs!) are filled with comments? They are on top because they stimulate conversation among a devoted audience.
Article directory marketing refers to the process of writing articles for top ranked directory sites. These directories don’t really have a theme…they are a virtual playground of knowledge where practically anyone can write on a topic and receive expert accreditation.
In a way, they are no different from blogs (at least when it comes to writing technique) besides the fact that they are located on a neutral site and thus cannot blatantly advertise the user’s company. (Instead, writers/site owners receive one or two links in exchange for an article) Within a matter of months, a site could create hundreds of backlinks, and thus earn the attention of Google. (Oh yes, you will get their attention… but…)
Just a few years ago, article marketing was the all the rage. Linkbuilding (which is basically the process of building links across the Internet that lead back to your site) was of vital importance, and while links do matter, recent algorithm updates have changed the way links are counted—particularly “low quality links”.
One of the easiest ways to identify low quality links, or so thought Google in May 2012, was to discriminate against the article directory website. It’s easy to see why Google made that assumption, even though it might not be entirely fair. While there are some quality features on article directory sites, many other low quality pages can pollute the site and bring the search rankings down.
Article directories claim to have an editorial process, and truth be told, you can still find some top rated SERPs from article directory pages. However, experts within SEO have noticed a trend of article directory penalization. So, the safest thing to do is to diversify your linking strategy, perhaps investing a little bit in article directory marketing, as well as blogs, guest blogs, and press releases.
Press releases are articles that are written solely for news purposes, and are intended to get attention from editors, website owners, agents, and all sorts of other news sources. Whereas writing a press release that gets picked up by a national magazine is somewhat difficult, writing a press release that passes online syndication’s standards is fairly easy.
Press releases have to be:
Press release distributors will not pick up poorly written press releases, and this is an especially rotten feeling to experience—especially if you’ve spent big money on press release distribution. (Some sources like PRWeb charge upwards $200 for each submission.) The good news is that a press release can easily make the “news” tab and receive maximum exposure in a small period of time, if it is deemed truly newsworthy.
Topics for news angles could include subjects like inventive new products, customer incentives, celebrity endorsements, big name client signings, news trends, charity partnerships, and the like. Stuff that would actually make the news and not just a conversation between search bot and WordPress!
In fact, sources like Yahoo and Google only pick up popular stories that are published and syndicated. Most of the top press release distribution sites don’t archive old press releases, and so are limited to 30 days of maximum exposure. Some press release sites do archive old stories permanently and these are usually free sites, not major publicity companies. Still, free press release submission can certainly help you build quality links, and certainly cannot hurt your standing as long as you keep the content high caliber.
Last but not least, let’s share an important lesson about linkbuilding before you start spreading links everywhere you go. It’s not the quantity of links that matter but the quality. This means not only paying close attention to the article writing itself, but also to the anchor text (as in keyword placement and not just “click here to learn more!”) and to the site you are linking to.
The search engines are looking for quality links all around so you do have to protect your reputation. Search engines can actually penalize you for hanging out with the “wrong crowd”, and that could include anything from poorly ranked article directories to spam sites or content mills, backdoor sites, plagiarists (or “scrapers”) and even web hosting companies that support such unethical sites.
So, think twice before you so generously accept a random person’s request to exchange links. Your own reputation is on the line. Sometimes a new company site can have more leverage than a site that has suffered massive search engine penalties. In the next chapter, we’re going take SEO into the new age…the age of fast, accessible and fun social networking.