Wednesday, August 31, 2011

wow I just discovered this old blog that I had up. I have not posted here in ages and actually only set it up to test out some auto blogging software that a slick salesman was trying to sell to me. I still do Lethbridge SEO for myself and for many friends and clients across western Canada. If you are interested in that sort of thing, be sure to get in touch with me.

This month I am working on websites for:
Calgary dentures
Lethbridge airport
Lethbridge Lawyer
Calgary Mortgage Broker

and a few others.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

New Integrated Google Local A Game Changer

New Integrated Google Local A Game ChangerSearch Engine GuideRSS FeedSearch Engine
MarketingInternet Search
EnginesSearch Engine
NewsSearch Engine Guide > Miriam Ellis > New Integrated Google Local A Game ChangerNew Integrated Google Local A Game Changer

October 28, 2010 Comments (17)

Miriam EllisMiriam Ellis

Articles

You may not be seeing it in Firefox yet, but fire up your Google Chrome browser, and you'd better be sitting down for this one because the new integrated Google Local results are dizzyingly different and ready to rock the SERPs. My Canuck friends to the North aren't seeing this yet, and the rollout isn't complete in all browsers in the USA, but the implications of this totally new layout, if set in stone, are going to effect every local business on the map.

The first hints of this major change started appearing in July of this year when a few SEOs, including Mike Blumenthal, noticed some queer testing going on, but over the past couple of days, a big wave of altered results has resulted in some 50+ emails rushing back and forth amongst my Local SEO colleagues who are feeling fairly blown away by what we are seeing.

For review, for quite some time now, if you did a search for Chinese Restaurant San Francisco you would be shown results like the following, with the map and 7 Pack at the top, Adwords to the right and organic/universal results below:

Now, perform the same search in Google Chrome and you will see something very different, with a floating map at the top of the Adwords column, a vanished 7 Pack and local data stemming from Google Places integrated right into the organic results:

Let's dissect one of these new integrated results. I hereby nominate Henry's Hunan Restaurant for fame here on Search Engine Guide. The following graphic will show you the basic elements that are making up most of the new integrated local results I am seeing, though there are some variations. What you will see here is a combination of traditional data from the business' website, such as the title and meta description tags, plus much rich data from the business' Google Place Page:

Why This Is A Big Deal For Local-Focused Businesses
I've literally had no more than about 24 hours to really sit and play with this, so my opinions are just forming, but to me, the most revolutionary aspect of this is the perks apparently being given to those businesses which have successfully combined their on-site and off-site work for a strong local and organic presence.

Why is this a big deal? Let me count the ways:

- Google Local/Places used to be open to all comers, including those without a website. You could rank in the 7 Pack and Maps with no website. While website-less companies will still be able to add and verify their Place Page listing, their chances of gaining prime rankings without a website have just become much more remote.

- Over the past couple of years, many businesses with strong websites found their organic listings pushed down by 7 Packs they may or may not have been able to break into. If organic web page rank is now being taken into account in these integrated results, the chance is there to leap back up into the running for companies with strong websites.

- This may be one of Google's most effective attempts to fight Mapspam yet. Spammers and scammers who found it easy to take shortcuts in Maps/Places, creating lots of fake listings, fake reviews and other simple data may find that their goose is about to be cooked. This laziness will not do in a new Local world that demands a high ranking website to gain top visibility. Will this lead to spammers developing high ranking local business websites? Maybe so, but for now, at least in my view, the new results are slanted toward those who have been working hard on their websites all along.

Possible Negative Effects Of Integrated Local Search
To me, the greatest negative potential of this integrated approach is its ability to put Google's bad local business data in the limelight, mixing it up with the correct data provided by business owners via their self-regulated websites. The errors, bugs and spam in Google Maps are rife and any change Google makes to promote its own data means promoting false information. Until Google's local business index is markedly cleaner, they will continue to publish bad data and the more prominence Local is given in the SERPs, the more power that bad data has to misrepresent and mislead.

Secondly, in some verticals, some businesses that formerly enjoyed two organic listings for a given search term may now be seeing only one or none, as a result of the integrated listings pushing other data down or off the front page. I say in 'some' verticals, because in looking at some of my clients' results in less competitive verticals or in more rural (less populous) areas, I am seeing results in which my clients not only have a high integrated local rank, but also have 1-2 organic results from their website appearing below this. Depending on the competitiveness of your industry in your geographic location, you may wind up with a little less visibility or truly ruling that front page.

One potential negative I'm considering but haven't had time to really research is this: I have clients who are ranking excellently in both the old 7 Pack and organic results for their main service term and the city in which they are located. Maps/Places has been built around the premise that each business is allowed to rank only for the city in which it is physically located. That's Google's take on what a local business is, but in the real world, there are countless businesses that offer go-to-client services in a wide area. For example, I have a client who is a mobile notary public. Let's say she is located in San Francisco, but she also renders services in Berkeley, Oakland and Richmond.

Historically, the way we have worked with Google's definition is to create a Google Place Page for a client like this notary in her main city - let's say that's San Francisco. Then, harnessing the power of her website, we have created strong content pages for each of the other cities in which she serves. The result of this has been excellent organic rankings for all major points in her service area, backing up her high local rank for her city of location.

But what happens now? Will the new integrated local SERPs push my client's high ranking service area web pages off page 1? This will require further investigation of the new system.

Another possible downside to this is that the integrated data does make it rather easy for your potential website traffic to go off in all different directions. Some may click on your Place Page link, others on the various user review sites being listed or elsewhere. The bottom line with SMBs tends to be that they want business and money and don't particularly care how the phone ends up ringing or how the client ends up walking through the door. So long as all of these secondary data sources (secondary to your website) lead to you, this may not be much of a problem, but your basic organic traffic could potentially drop as visitors decide to investigate you in other ways.

Finally, those businesses without websites may find themselves left out of the game. My advice to you - this is the time to invest in an excellent, professional website, rich in the content that helps your potential customers to know all about you, your locations and the benefits of doing business with you. With the new integrated results, those days of depending on the phone book (or a simple Maps listing) are really, really over.

In Conclusion
In the dawning hours of this rollout, I am seeing big ranking shuffles going on between the old SERPs and the new. Businesses that didn't rate an A-G ranking in the former 7 pack are now being brought to sudden prominence, ostensibly on the strength of their organic/local combined efforts. As a web designer, I actually like this change because it appears to be set to reward the big investment of time and money that goes into developing useful, helpful websites - as opposed to solely rewarding the 20 minutes it takes to create a Place Page.

As a Local SEO, my chief feelings of concern arise from Google's historic and current failure to combat the spam and errata in their index. The most we ever hear from Google reps on this score is, "We're working on it," and that has never, nor should ever be good enough for the local business owners whose reputations and livelihoods hang in the balance.

This is a very exciting time in Local, and if you own a local business or do Local SEO for clients, head over to Chrome and start looking at your results. You're bound to see big changes.



Subscribe by RSS


Related EntriesGoogle Local Gobbles SERPsGoogle Maps Place Pages Widen Local HorizonsGoogle Local Business Listings are Being Hijacked AgainGoogle's K-Pack Rocks Local


Comments (17)

My thoughts mirror yours pretty closely. It looks to me like ranking organically in the top three is the only guarantee of hitting the first page since Google will always need a minimum of three organics to round out the SERPs to a minimum of ten (assuming that the magic number of 10 listings still applies - it seems to for now). Also a bit worried about the way the floating map obscures sponsored listings as you scroll down the page.

Posted by: Rebecca Lehmann on October 28, 2010

Miriam,

Nice post and great insights for 24hours.

Hey, we're seeing the full new local SERP listings up here in Canada now.

I just finished going through all my clients and the ones that are ranking well have had a strong authority with their Places listing & Good SEO on their websites. The ones who seem to have lost rankings where the ones that I don't manage their sites, just their places listing (go figure).

I too am trying to figure out this new algorithm for local SERP's. It looks like if your don't have optimized title tags on your website then your Merged Google Place/Organic Listing may not rank as well.

I thinking links may also play a roll, but not totally sure yet.

I guesing here a little, but it looks like the new formula will be:
strong website + good onpage local seo + links + claimed google places listing + citations + reviews + user content (aka my maps) = strong local SERP's rankings.

Nothing really new to the formula, but still keeps us on our toes.

Nothing static about internet marketing!

Love to hear what your thoughts are on what you think the major factors are to the new local algorithm..?

BTW, I've been a fan of yours for some time! :)

Posted by: Matthew Hunt on October 29, 2010

I agree with the floating map obscuring the sponsored listings. I use adwords to advertise and my listing after this was rolled out was hard to find and and layout doesn't look as clean. It also looks to reward those who might have been on page 7 with front page listing on certain keywords.

Posted by: Sharon Sedano on October 29, 2010

Greetings Rebecca & Sharon,
Taking into account your concerns about Adwords, I would recommend a perusal of Matt McGee's post about the new integrated results:

http://www.smallbusinesssem.com/5-quick-impacts-of-googles-new-local-search-results/3757/

Take a look at the prime real estate being given in the pink box to Adwords in his screenshot. Matt feels that Adwords will actually become more important than less. Something to consider.

Thanks for taking the time comment.
Miriam

Posted by: MiriamEllis on October 29, 2010

Greetings, Matthew,
Thank you for your very kind comments.

I think your equation looks pretty accurate. Basically, at this early stage in the game, the feeling I'm getting is that rankings will now depend on a combination of everything you've always known is good for traditional SEO, plus everything you know is important for local SEO. In one stroke, Google has brought the old and new together, and local businesses and their marketers must have a clear understanding of both disciplines. To my way of thinking, this has always been true, but the difference is that the results are now combined, rather than separate.

Your findings about how you carefully managed clients are ranking matches my own. Way to go!

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Miriam

Posted by: MiriamEllis on October 29, 2010

The floating map feature is annoying, but I think this change points out once again that content is still king.

Posted by: Seth on October 29, 2010

Hello, Seth,
Would you like to explain exactly why you find the floating map annoying? I've heard a few people express this, but not explain why it annoys them. Is it distracting? Something else?

Yes, the importance of content in local has just been given a boost like its 2006 all over again, but, truly, it looks to me like integration is king here. You've got to have your local and organic ducks all in a row for this one.

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Miriam

Posted by: MiriamEllis on October 29, 2010

Good stuff, thanks Miriam.

One thought, two questions.

Thought => I suspect that this isn't the end of Google revamping their local focused initiatives. I'm sure they see Yelp, Twitter and Facebook in their rear view mirror.

Question 1 => Would anyone care to comment on this new layout and algorithm is going to play in Instant?

Question 2 => In terms of Google Places, what is the standard recommendation for work from home types? Or at least those who don't have a standard single office, per se.

Posted by: Mark "Chief Alchemist" Simchock on October 31, 2010

Hi Mark,
It's early days yet to figure out how this will play out with Instant, but that's an excellent question.

On the work-from-home question, you've brought up a subject which I have been writing about/asking Google to respond to for years. At this point, Google considers local businesses to be those with a physical office. If you can't show an address, for whatever reason, they don't want you in your index right now.

A few months ago, Google did incorporate a feature into Maps called 'hide this address' which would enable a business without an address to list themselves in Maps but have their address hidden. This seemed like the solution so many business models were waiting for, but unfortunately, tests of this feature indicated that if you choose the 'hide this address' feature, you can add your business to the index, but you won't show up anywhere at all. So, it's basically useless, from what I can see.

Until Google revises their stance on what qualifies as a local business, all companies without a physical address are out of luck.

Miriam

Posted by: MiriamEllis on October 31, 2010

Thanks for the post.

I'm seeing similar results here in New Zealand - ie those with well optimised sites seem to be ranking well in Place results.

I think it means more of good practice - good content, good behaviour, good service, good links will all pay dividends.

Posted by: Andrew Haddleton on November 1, 2010

Historically, the way we have worked with Google's definition is to create a Google Place Page for a client like this notary in her main city - let's say that's San Francisco. Then, harnessing the power of her website, we have created strong content pages for each of the other cities in which she serves. The result of this has been excellent organic rankings for all major points in her service area, backing up her high local rank for her city of location.

But what happens now? Will the new integrated local SERPs push my client's high ranking service area web pages off page 1? This will require further investigation of the new system.

............

This is what is worrying me about the new layout... it used to be fairly straight forward to deal with this issue with some intelligent SEO, but not any more...

I would welcome other people's thought on this issue

Posted by: Andy Walpole on November 1, 2010

This really is a big chance. I think SEO's need to start thinking about the big picture and prepare to get into more areas such as social marketing, local listings, etc since more of these elements are being filtered into the search results.

Posted by: Gino Orlandi on November 1, 2010

Great post..
It's look like a beta release to me. Google has rolled it out for some short tailed, large volume searches.
Example searches :
'self catering cornwall' displays the Full '7 pack' local results with 4 organic listing below, a long way below the fold!!
'hotel cornwall' displays one organic followed by the full '7 pack' with 4 organic listing below.

My personal opinion on these results is not positive, I don't like the display or the information
delivered and I honestly can not see Google rolling this one out in full...it's a bit like the big image backgrounds they launch for a day and then ditched because it looked awful.
It doesn't look right and they are delivering inconsistent results.

Chris Horner
SEO at TOP PAGE

Posted by: Chris Horner on November 1, 2010

Great post and great reasoning on the effects of the new look search results page - particularly the point around the effect on organic traffic and thus the fragmentation of traffic between Places page and business website. I am beginning to wonder why Google would want to drive more traffic to a Places page - could it just be because they want more businesses to claim their listings or will this eventually be monetized in some way?

Posted by: JK73 on November 2, 2010

Thanks for all the great thoughts, folks.

Andy -
So far, I am seeing a variety of results. For the most part, well-optimized city pages for clients are still managing to have a presence on page 1, sometimes in the new blended results, sometimes as a purely organic results. I have seen a few reports of pages getting downshifted, but mostly I am hearing that good past organic results are managing to hang on, for now, anyway.

JK73-
The decision to drive traffic to Place Pages should definitely be put considered a monetary one. Place Pages are monetized with AdWords and that is how Google makes a living. So, yes, definitely a financial move on their part.

Posted by: MiriamEllis on November 2, 2010

Thanks for doing the thinking and sharing it. Was wondering if this new Google display was sporadic, category oriented, or what? Your insight is appreciated.

Posted by: Kyle on November 15, 2010

I am very pleased to see the integration go through and cut down on so much of the shortcut/spamming techniques. As you pointed out, there is a lot of time and money invested in a website and it is good to see hard work rewarded in the serps.

Posted by: Guillermo Ortiz on November 15, 2010Leave a comment

Real Name: Required. We delete comments with keywords or company names.Email Address: Required but will not be published.URLSubscribe to comments?Comments (You may use HTML tags for style) Enter "123aaa" without quotes in the form below.

 


You can also subscribe without commenting by submitting your email address here:

Subscribe



Weekly Newsletter

About the Author

Miriam Ellis' company, Solas Web Design has been offering SEO-based website design, copywriting and local SEO services to small businesses since 2003. The SEOigloo Blog is her main blog, and in addition to writing at Search Engine Guide, she is a moderator at Cre8asite Forums and proud to be included on Kim Krause Berg's recommend list. Miriam divides her time between working on client projects with her husband, Liam, working on her own projects, and running around in nature with the wild birds and animals. She's into organic farming, the principles of non-violence, and taking care of the planet.



Learn About:Analytics

Blogging

Brand Building

Content and Copywriting

Conversions

Facebook

Glossary

Google AdSense

Google AdWords

Keywords

Link Building

Local Search

Mobile Marketing

Online PR

Online Reputation Management

Other

Paid Search Advertising (PPC)

Puppy Picks

Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Optimization

Search Marketing Bootcamp

Social Media

Twitter

Universal Search

Unleashed Conference

Usability

Vertical Search

Viral Marketing







Popular ArticlesTargeting Conversions and Traffic with Long Tail Writing

Why LinkedIn is One Social Network I Couldn't Work Without

The Easiest Links You'll Ever Get for Your Link Building Campaign

New SEO Practices for a Google Caffeine World

Website Sales Slow? It's Time for the Mom Test

Optimizing Your Business Listing for Local Search Supremacy

SEO 101: Everything You Need to Know About SEO

The Best Damn Web Marketing Checklist, Period!

Four (ok twelve) Reasons to Build a Social Media Strategy for 2010

How a Google Penalty Can Make Your Site Stronger

How a Little Blogging Can Make a Big Difference for the Small Business

The Super Simple Guide to Setting Up Your First Company Facebook Page Without Blowing a Gasket

Take Your SEO from Trash to Cash

61 Pre-SEO Campaign Questions You Need To Answer

Does Your Small Business Think Local?

7 Steps to Improving Conversion Rates

Should You Hire An SEO Who Cold Calls You?

Deciding What to Ignore in Internet Marketing



Search Marketing Newsletter

Read by over 18,000 small business people, our free weekly newsletter delivers a digest of articles from the top search engine marketing experts. You will learn about:

getting better Google rankingssearch engine optimizationlink popularitypay per click advertisingviral marketingincreasing trafficcontextual advertisingsearch engine submissionsbrand buildingmaking more salesand much more...Our free weekly newsletter is the perfect way to stay up to date with all of the latest trends, events and techniques in using search engines to grow your business and make more sales. Your email address will NOT be given to third parties.

FreeFind Site Search Engine - FreeFind adds a "search this site" feature to your website, making your site easier to use. FreeFind also gives you reports showing what your visitors are searching for, enabling you to improve your site. FreeFind's advanced site search engine and automatic site map technology can be added to your website for free.
(Unpaid placement - FreeFind is a Search Engine Guide partner.)

Search Engine Guide > Miriam Ellis > New Integrated Google Local A Game Changer

Miriam Ellis' company, Solas Web Design has been offering SEO-based website design, copywriting and local SEO services to small businesses since 2003. The SEOigloo Blog is her main blog, and in addition to writing at Search Engine Guide, she is a moderator at Cre8asite Forums and proud to be included on Kim Krause Berg's recommend list. Miriam divides her time between working on client projects with her husband, Liam, working on her own projects, and running around in nature with the wild birds and animals. She's into organic farming, the principles of non-violence, and taking care of the planet.





Search Engine News |Search Engine Marketing |Internet Search Engines |Newsletters |Advertise |About |Site MapSearch Engine Guide

Search marketing information for small business owners.

Small Business Brief

Fetching the best small business news.

Small Business Ideas Forum

A friendly place to share small business ideas and knowledge.

Small Business Marketing Unleashed Conference

A different kind of small business marketing conference.

Small Business Resources

The directory of the best small business sites and tools.

Small Business Answers

Home of our network.

Copyright © 1998 - 2010 K. Clough, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy


View the original article here

Are you keeping up with Google?

Are you keeping up with Google?Search Engine GuideRSS FeedSearch Engine
MarketingInternet Search
EnginesSearch Engine
NewsSearch Engine Guide > Mike Moran > Are you keeping up with Google?Are you keeping up with Google?

November 10, 2010 Comments (4)

Mike MoranMike Moran

Articles

Get Seen: Google InstantImage by stevegarfield via Flickr

It was only recently that a number of critics were talking about how Google is standing still and Bing is the real innovator in the search space. I think that Google Instant has quieted those critics, at least for now. Love it or hate it, Google Instant certainly is innovative and it is not the only thing going on at the Googleplex. We previewed it a few weeks ago, but it is happening for real now: Your page design matters for your SEO. But I am not sure that's even the biggest Google change of recent vintage.

So, Google Preview will get a lot of attention, as it should. It is a big change to the way searchers interact with search result pages, that places even more emphasis on how your site is designed and how your page looks than ever before.

But it is just one of several changes that have occurred over the last few weeks at the Big G, and probably not even the most important one.

Google Instant created an intense debate when it launched, with some talking about the death of SEO. I think that the waters have calmed a bit, but there is no doubt that even simple metrics such as which search engine is getting the most searches is now harder to calculate on an level playing field, because you could argue that Google counts a search query with every letter typed into the search box.

But I am more concerned about how the change affects search marketers, and the jury is very much out. Pundits are still debating what searcher behavior changes result from Google Instant. I've read that Google Instant encourages more long tail queries. I've read that Google Instant encourages more popular queries. Maybe both are true and the middle ground keywords are getting squeezed out, but I suspect that we really don't know what searcher behavior changes are here to stay. We'll need a lot more work on this and it could be that searchers themselves are still adjusting their behaviors to Google Instant and we don't know where that will lead.

But, for all the attention that these changes have rightly received, I think the biggest change surrounds local search. It is possible that as many as one in five search queries now receives a page full of local results that have completely replaced the previous organic results with what was once called the seven-pack—those short results that were listed next to a map above the old organic results. Now, these local results are completely integrated into the page, creating a whole new set of winners and losers for perhaps 20% of all search queries.

Maybe it's just me, but can you imagine the ruckus if Google made an algorithm change that completely upended the search results for 20% of search queries? There would be demands for government investigations, a spate of articles about how Google really is evil, laments from SEOs about how their business has been cratered, but folks, this is exactly what has happened. A huge swath of search results have been completely remade, and I don't think the old ways are ever coming back.

So what's a search marketer to do? Continue to focus on what is important to searchers, whether Google rewards it at the moment or not. If you invested in good design because it was the right thing to do, Google Preview will reward you. If you focused on keyword research to make sure you know what your customers want, Google Instant might be a blip on your radar. If you optimized your Place Page months ago and focused on letting customers know where your physical locations are, then the new local search results should only help you.

This shouldn't be news. After all, if you knew that videos and blogs were good for customers, and you went ahead and did them, you were laughing all the way to the bank when Universal Search was unveiled. And if you knew that investing in a faster site was good for customers, imagine your happy face when Google began factoring speed into the algorithm. At every point, it pays to do what is right for your customers even before Google rewards it. That's a lot smarter strategy than waiting until Google changes the game and then scrambling to catch up.

To me, the best way to keep up with Google is to continually focus on what your customers need, and then let Google eventually catch up to you.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Subscribe by RSS


Related Entries"I don't have time for Facebook and Twitter"How do you give Google what it wants?Google wants you to speed up your serversHow Good B2B Marketers Cheat


Comments (4)

I would have to agree here, continue to focus on the needs of your client and gauging their strategy with that, and going forward

Posted by: Nick Stamoulis on November 10, 2010

Hey Mike,

Thanks for the post. I am very interested in the new Google Preview. Google stresses so much on original content and uniqueness for SEO purpose, but the new Google Preview is heavily based on "Design" and "Looks". It will be interesting to see how it impacts people search. Does the viewer still click on the #1 spot 75% of the time, or will this drop due to the design of the site. Maybe just by having your site in the first 10 listings as well as a good design, will increase your CTR.

In contrast, us Internet Marketers notice these things, but does the average searcher? I ask people how they like the new Google (Google Instant), and most people respond with..."I thought something seemed weird when I typed into Google the other day". Sometimes, we just have to step back and not look so close at the changes Google's currently making.

Thanks for the post

Posted by: Jared on November 10, 2010

So how can google even measure the design f a page. We know its qualitative and does anyone know of any standard they might be using?

Posted by: Audai E. Louri on November 12, 2010

Hi Audai,

I don't know that Google is measuring the design, just that any preview of the page means that your design has an impact as to whether searchers click on your page in the search results.

Posted by: Mike Moran on November 12, 2010Leave a comment

Real Name: Required. We delete comments with keywords or company names.Email Address: Required but will not be published.URLSubscribe to comments?Comments (You may use HTML tags for style) Enter "123aaa" without quotes in the form below.

 


You can also subscribe without commenting by submitting your email address here:

Subscribe



Weekly Newsletter

About the Author

Mike is an expert in search marketing, search technology, publishing, Web personalization, and Web metrics, who regularly makes speaking appearances.

Mike's previous appearances include Search Engine Strategies, AD:TECH, Consumer Reports WebWatch, OMMA East, and the Enterprise Search Summit.

Mike also writes the Biznology newsletter and blog, is the co-author of the best-selling Search Engine Marketing, Inc., and writes the search marketing column for Revenue Magazine.



Learn About:Analytics

Blogging

Brand Building

Content and Copywriting

Conversions

Facebook

Glossary

Google AdSense

Google AdWords

Keywords

Link Building

Local Search

Mobile Marketing

Online PR

Online Reputation Management

Other

Paid Search Advertising (PPC)

Puppy Picks

Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Optimization

Search Marketing Bootcamp

Social Media

Twitter

Universal Search

Unleashed Conference

Usability

Vertical Search

Viral Marketing







Popular ArticlesTargeting Conversions and Traffic with Long Tail Writing

Why LinkedIn is One Social Network I Couldn't Work Without

The Easiest Links You'll Ever Get for Your Link Building Campaign

New SEO Practices for a Google Caffeine World

Website Sales Slow? It's Time for the Mom Test

Optimizing Your Business Listing for Local Search Supremacy

SEO 101: Everything You Need to Know About SEO

The Best Damn Web Marketing Checklist, Period!

Four (ok twelve) Reasons to Build a Social Media Strategy for 2010

How a Google Penalty Can Make Your Site Stronger

How a Little Blogging Can Make a Big Difference for the Small Business

The Super Simple Guide to Setting Up Your First Company Facebook Page Without Blowing a Gasket

Take Your SEO from Trash to Cash

61 Pre-SEO Campaign Questions You Need To Answer

Does Your Small Business Think Local?

7 Steps to Improving Conversion Rates

Should You Hire An SEO Who Cold Calls You?

Deciding What to Ignore in Internet Marketing



Search Marketing Newsletter

Read by over 18,000 small business people, our free weekly newsletter delivers a digest of articles from the top search engine marketing experts. You will learn about:

getting better Google rankingssearch engine optimizationlink popularitypay per click advertisingviral marketingincreasing trafficcontextual advertisingsearch engine submissionsbrand buildingmaking more salesand much more...Our free weekly newsletter is the perfect way to stay up to date with all of the latest trends, events and techniques in using search engines to grow your business and make more sales. Your email address will NOT be given to third parties.

FreeFind Site Search Engine - FreeFind adds a "search this site" feature to your website, making your site easier to use. FreeFind also gives you reports showing what your visitors are searching for, enabling you to improve your site. FreeFind's advanced site search engine and automatic site map technology can be added to your website for free.
(Unpaid placement - FreeFind is a Search Engine Guide partner.)

Search Engine Guide > Mike Moran > Are you keeping up with Google?

Mike is an expert in search marketing, search technology, publishing, Web personalization, and Web metrics, who regularly makes speaking appearances.

Mike's previous appearances include Search Engine Strategies, AD:TECH, Consumer Reports WebWatch, OMMA East, and the Enterprise Search Summit.

Mike also writes the Biznology newsletter and blog, is the co-author of the best-selling Search Engine Marketing, Inc., and writes the search marketing column for Revenue Magazine.





Search Engine News |Search Engine Marketing |Internet Search Engines |Newsletters |Advertise |About |Site MapSearch Engine Guide

Search marketing information for small business owners.

Small Business Brief

Fetching the best small business news.

Small Business Ideas Forum

A friendly place to share small business ideas and knowledge.

Small Business Marketing Unleashed Conference

A different kind of small business marketing conference.

Small Business Resources

The directory of the best small business sites and tools.

Small Business Answers

Home of our network.

Copyright © 1998 - 2010 K. Clough, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy


View the original article here

Try a Little SEO Romance

Try a Little SEO RomanceSearch Engine GuideRSS FeedSearch Engine
MarketingInternet Search
EnginesSearch Engine
NewsSearch Engine Guide > Stoney deGeyter > Try a Little SEO RomanceTry a Little SEO Romance

November 12, 2010 Comments (7)

Stoney deGeyterStoney deGeyter

Articles

I was thinking the other day about how influencing search engines is like influencing people. Short of brute force and absolute control, you can't force anyone to do your bidding. With search engines, you might make a spam brute force attack, but that will be short lived. And absolute control? Well, no one has that, not even Google engineers, unless they all got together in a drunken binge and decided to reprogram the algorithm collectively.

Brute force and seeking absolute control are temporary measures at best. Eventually there will be an uprising and you'll be shock-and-awed into a big heaping pile of disaster. Not a good way to go.

And this is why SEOs can't guarantee rankings. The only way to provide any kind of ranking guarantee is to be your own little Google dictator. And, since Google has far more money, resources, and political connections... all I can say is "good luck with that!"

So where does that leave you? Well, persuading search engines is a bit like persuading people. You gotta get your "A" game and go on the charm offensive. But, no matter how good you are, at the end of the day, you have to know you can't force anyone to do what you want. But you can hope to convince them.

How good of an SEO someone is depends on how good they are at convincing the search engines to do what they (you) want. The decision is completely up the search engines. No matter what, they have final say. The trick is to get them to want to give you the outcome you want.

The romance analogy comes in handy when talking to people about search engine rankings, guarantees, and whatnot. They want the SEO to guarantee that he/she can get them rankings, but there is no such guarantee. The SEO can merely attempt to persuade. No matter how good you are, you won't convince the engines to always do what you want with every keyword.

SEO, like romance, is a process. You don't knock someone head over heals one day and they'll forever eat out of your hands, sending you little hearts or flowers. You have to put forth the effort to keep them interested.

In some cases, it takes a while. Love at first site is very rare. In many cases even "like" at first sight is rare. Build a good site, and Google gets interested. But, you'll still have a lot of romancing to do to get them to really like you. And, you have to commit to get them to love you. If you're not willing to commit to the process, then maybe you're just not worthy of Google's love.

Google isn't just any girl. She's currently the hottest girl in the room. The girl every guy is trying to court for their keywords. That means romancing her isn't going to come easy. If you're working on low competitive keywords, Google may be a cheap date. But, once there are plenty of suitors to choose from... well, a date on a fast food budget just isn't going to do. You need to show her that you're willing to spend time and money (in this case, perhaps paying someone to SEO your site properly) to prove that you're serious.

It's hard to convince Google that you're the one for her when there are dozens of others putting in far greater effort in building a good website and marketing it properly. You can't just come in off the street in your work clothes and say, "Here I am baby, let's rock this joint!"

It all comes down to persuasion. No forcing, no guarantees... just good, old-fashioned hard work to build a great site and investment in strong marketing. These things will not only get Google to take notice, but she may just consider you a bonafide suitor.



Subscribe by RSS


Related EntriesTop Rankings Guarantees Debunked (Again)Legitimate Search Engine Optimization Company or Not?The Myth of 'Guaranteed #1 Ranking' in Search Engine MarketingWhy You Should Avoid the Top 10 Guarantee in SEO

Comments (7)

I think the whole world is about sick of 90% of the SEO's out there who make life less bearable for the rest of us trying to make a living. What happened to best practice, strategy, life cycle, accountability, communication, and creative thought?

To be honest, I spent an hour today at blekko.com, created a few slash tags and did a few queries with date and topic tags and think I'm on to something here. Google beware. Got to click SEO under my competitor listings and saved myself a trip to OSE, comparison data and everything - very cool stuff.

What's yet to be determined is if technology and marketing can grow together, particularly in large organizations. If colleges and tech schools can teach SEO at an early stage, maybe these departments can play together better and improve the overall community around search marketing. Doubtful, considering some marketing people are married to full flash still and some tech guys are married to propriety CMS builds that don't accommodate SEO.

It all comes down to persuasion. You're so right, and just CTR either. Great post Stoney.

Posted by: Steve Wiideman on November 12, 2010

Great post. But there are certain things I get confused about. Like Why Google is in so much love with that ugly scraper site mahalo.com

Mahalo is a horrible date She could ever get :)

Posted by: Andy on November 14, 2010

LOL. I think we just have to assume that sometimes Google gets so wasted she doesn't realize what she's sleeping with.

Posted by: Stoney deGeyter on November 14, 2010

Google may be the hottest girl in the room, but she can still go on a few million dates a night.

If you can't get a date to the opera, why not try for a few dates to McDonalds. ;)

Posted by: Sam on November 14, 2010

Warning - About to take analogy too far

Maybe Google should come out with it's own "sexual offender list" or Dateline NBC can start producing "To Catch a Spammer"

Chris Hansen - What are you doing here?
Spammer - I swear I just came to talk to Google.
Chris Hansen - Why do you have paid links and comment generators in your pocket? Not to mention your anchor text distribution looks really suspicious.
Spammer - I swear, I just wanted to talk.
Chris Hansen - You do realize Google is only 12 years old?

Posted by: Jonathan Beaton on November 15, 2010

I agree with your post. Google is the most difficult search engine to please. Most of my clients want to rank in it. The problem is, Google is really strict when it comes to SEO. Oh well, at least get my website listed is I think enough. Right now, I am optimizing branded scrubs like dickies scrubs and cherokee scrubs. It's really difficult to find sites related to these topics that have good ranks and are do follow.

Posted by: Sarah Kerr on November 16, 2010

I totally subscribe to this concept - and Steve's earlier comments. To many SEOs who are spammers really promising top of google ranking when this is only acheivable so quickly with black hat techniques or playing the volume game. Much better to woo google properly!

M

Posted by: Matthew Simmons on November 16, 2010Leave a comment

Real Name: Required. We delete comments with keywords or company names.Email Address: Required but will not be published.URLSubscribe to comments?Comments (You may use HTML tags for style) Enter "123aaa" without quotes in the form below.

 


You can also subscribe without commenting by submitting your email address here:

Subscribe



Weekly Newsletter

About the Author

Stoney deGeyter is the President of Pole Position Marketing, a leading search engine optimization and marketing firm helping businesses grow since 1998. Stoney is a frequent speaker at website marketing conferences and has published hundreds of helpful SEO, SEM and small business articles.

If you'd like Stoney deGeyter to speak at your conference, seminar, workshop or provide in-house training to your team, contact him via his site or by phone at 866-685-3374.

Stoney pioneered the concept of Destination Search Engine Marketing which is the driving philosophy of how Pole Position Marketing helps clients expand their online presence and grow their businesses. Stoney is Associate Editor at Search Engine Guide and has written several SEO and SEM e-books including E-Marketing Performance; The Best Damn Web Marketing Checklist, Period!; Keyword Research and Selection, Destination Search Engine Marketing, and more.

Stoney has five wonderful children and spends his free time reviewing restaurants and other things to do in Canton, Ohio.



Learn About:Analytics

Blogging

Brand Building

Content and Copywriting

Conversions

Facebook

Glossary

Google AdSense

Google AdWords

Keywords

Link Building

Local Search

Mobile Marketing

Online PR

Online Reputation Management

Other

Paid Search Advertising (PPC)

Puppy Picks

Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Optimization

Search Marketing Bootcamp

Social Media

Twitter

Universal Search

Unleashed Conference

Usability

Vertical Search

Viral Marketing







Popular ArticlesTargeting Conversions and Traffic with Long Tail Writing

Why LinkedIn is One Social Network I Couldn't Work Without

The Easiest Links You'll Ever Get for Your Link Building Campaign

New SEO Practices for a Google Caffeine World

Website Sales Slow? It's Time for the Mom Test

Optimizing Your Business Listing for Local Search Supremacy

SEO 101: Everything You Need to Know About SEO

The Best Damn Web Marketing Checklist, Period!

Four (ok twelve) Reasons to Build a Social Media Strategy for 2010

How a Google Penalty Can Make Your Site Stronger

How a Little Blogging Can Make a Big Difference for the Small Business

The Super Simple Guide to Setting Up Your First Company Facebook Page Without Blowing a Gasket

Take Your SEO from Trash to Cash

61 Pre-SEO Campaign Questions You Need To Answer

Does Your Small Business Think Local?

7 Steps to Improving Conversion Rates

Should You Hire An SEO Who Cold Calls You?

Deciding What to Ignore in Internet Marketing



Search Marketing Newsletter

Read by over 18,000 small business people, our free weekly newsletter delivers a digest of articles from the top search engine marketing experts. You will learn about:

getting better Google rankingssearch engine optimizationlink popularitypay per click advertisingviral marketingincreasing trafficcontextual advertisingsearch engine submissionsbrand buildingmaking more salesand much more...Our free weekly newsletter is the perfect way to stay up to date with all of the latest trends, events and techniques in using search engines to grow your business and make more sales. Your email address will NOT be given to third parties.

FreeFind Site Search Engine - FreeFind adds a "search this site" feature to your website, making your site easier to use. FreeFind also gives you reports showing what your visitors are searching for, enabling you to improve your site. FreeFind's advanced site search engine and automatic site map technology can be added to your website for free.
(Unpaid placement - FreeFind is a Search Engine Guide partner.)

Search Engine Guide > Stoney deGeyter > Try a Little SEO Romance

Stoney deGeyter is the President of Pole Position Marketing, a leading search engine optimization and marketing firm helping businesses grow since 1998. Stoney is a frequent speaker at website marketing conferences and has published hundreds of helpful SEO, SEM and small business articles.

If you'd like Stoney deGeyter to speak at your conference, seminar, workshop or provide in-house training to your team, contact him via his site or by phone at 866-685-3374.

Stoney pioneered the concept of Destination Search Engine Marketing which is the driving philosophy of how Pole Position Marketing helps clients expand their online presence and grow their businesses. Stoney is Associate Editor at Search Engine Guide and has written several SEO and SEM e-books including E-Marketing Performance; The Best Damn Web Marketing Checklist, Period!; Keyword Research and Selection, Destination Search Engine Marketing, and more.

Stoney has five wonderful children and spends his free time reviewing restaurants and other things to do in Canton, Ohio.





Search Engine News |Search Engine Marketing |Internet Search Engines |Newsletters |Advertise |About |Site MapSearch Engine Guide

Search marketing information for small business owners.

Small Business Brief

Fetching the best small business news.

Small Business Ideas Forum

A friendly place to share small business ideas and knowledge.

Small Business Marketing Unleashed Conference

A different kind of small business marketing conference.

Small Business Resources

The directory of the best small business sites and tools.

Small Business Answers

Home of our network.

Copyright © 1998 - 2010 K. Clough, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy


View the original article here

Double Down on Your Strengths

Double Down on Your StrengthsSearch Engine GuideRSS FeedSearch Engine
MarketingInternet Search
EnginesSearch Engine
NewsSearch Engine Guide > Eric Brown > Double Down on Your StrengthsDouble Down on Your Strengths

October 24, 2010 Comments (1)

Eric BrownEric Brown

Articles

Have you ever wondered why some ideas manifest and move toaction and some fizzle, either yours or someone else's. Or, how about theperson who is always yapping about the next idea, yet never really followsthrough, and yet again there are those who execute one solid idea afteranother. 

 What Separates Them?

I had the opportunity to speak at a Jeff Pulver #140Conf Detroit last week, and mytopic was Focus On What You Have. It is a completelydifferent mindset and way of approaching projects with a dramatically differentresult.

 Everything Starts with an Idea

Everything we do starts with an idea, and ideas come ina moments time. Great game changing ideas can come in the shower, while drivingor any other time we allow ourselves to relax enough and let ideas flow. We getexcited about them, particularly when no one is looking, or we think no one islooking. But as soon as we think someone is looking, something starts to shift,and we begin to think about what may be missing. What may be missing becomes thedeath of great ideas.

There is Never Anything Missing in Your Mind 

When you visualize an idea in your mind, there is neveranything missing from the picture is there. You can shape that picture howeveryou like, there is no committee needed for approval. It is just an idea, andthere is little to no risk in an idea, particularly if we have yet to share theidea with anyone.

 For me, as I would drive about town and see a coolbuilding my mind would drift to a place of what the property may look like once we developed it. I would start to get excited about it. But throughout thewhole idea process never once does what I didn't have enter the equation, thatwould be silly, it is my idea, I can create and shape whatever I want. 

Ideas Start to Materialize

 At some point, what we think about starts to present opportunity, and the rubber meets the road. Opportunities can be a scary, it is much safer to think and rethink "What Might Be Missing" While this is not to suggest that one should not think through a solid plan or to act irresponsible, but when we start to focus on what might be missing, that is exactly what we find. 

Double Down on Your Strengths

As things such as the economy start to tighten up, or we look around at the competition, we start to think about what, or how we can improve. Not that that is a bad thing, but we tend to bench ourselves against our competitors. The problem with that thinking is this, It Is a Race to Commodity Sameness. Think about Starbucks having breakfast sandwiches and McDonalds have gourmet coffee.

Another approach is to Double Down on what you have, Your Strengths, and put as much distance between you and them as you can muster. Focus on your strengths, and what you have and you will create your own market, absent competition and the ability to write the rules.  

Richard Branson started Virgin Airlines with a single plane and making people laugh. Doubling down on his strengths seems to have worked. 

When we started Virgin Atlantic in 1984, we had somegreat people and lots of good ideas about how to do things differently . Sadly,we did not have a lot of money to take it to the streets. Compared to the giantestablishment players of the time -- TWA, Pan-Am and British Airways -- we hada tiny fleet, if one plane qualifies as a fleet, and a miniscule advertisingbudget.

About Eric Brown

Eric Brown

Eric Brown's background is rooted in the rental and real estate industries. He founded metro Detroit's Urbane Apartments in 2003, after serving as senior vice president for a major Midwest apartment developer. He established a proven track record of effectively repositioning existing rental properties in a way that added value for investors while enhancing the resident experience. He also established The Urbane Way, a social media marketing and PR laboratory, where innovative marketing ideas are tested.



Subscribe by RSS


Related EntriesGooge Up, Yahoo and MSN Down in OctoberGoogle Places Now Allows Custom Links to be Displayed in ProfilesFacebook and Twitter Increase in Total Minutes on SiteOn-Page SEO WorkShop - SBM Unleashed


Comments (1)

Thanks for the post. Sounds like what I learned in school. The simplest idea that gets completed is always better then the most beautiful idea sitting in someone's head.

Posted by: Paul on October 25, 2010Leave a comment

Real Name: Required. We delete comments with keywords or company names.Email Address: Required but will not be published.URLSubscribe to comments?Comments (You may use HTML tags for style) Enter "123aaa" without quotes in the form below.

 


You can also subscribe without commenting by submitting your email address here:

Subscribe



Weekly Newsletter

About the Author

Eric Brown has (30) years in the Multi-Family Apartment Business having built and developed over 17,000 apartment units, both market rate, luxury and tax credit apartments. Having started Urbane Apartments in 2003 after leaving a lengthy stint as a Senior Vice President at Village Green Companies, a national apartment developer, Eric decided he wanted to create wealth, and set out from Corporate America on his own and created Urbane Apartments in Royal Oak, MI.



Learn About:Analytics

Blogging

Brand Building

Content and Copywriting

Conversions

Facebook

Glossary

Google AdSense

Google AdWords

Keywords

Link Building

Local Search

Mobile Marketing

Online PR

Online Reputation Management

Other

Paid Search Advertising (PPC)

Puppy Picks

Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Optimization

Search Marketing Bootcamp

Social Media

Twitter

Universal Search

Unleashed Conference

Usability

Vertical Search

Viral Marketing







Popular ArticlesTargeting Conversions and Traffic with Long Tail Writing

Why LinkedIn is One Social Network I Couldn't Work Without

The Easiest Links You'll Ever Get for Your Link Building Campaign

New SEO Practices for a Google Caffeine World

Website Sales Slow? It's Time for the Mom Test

Optimizing Your Business Listing for Local Search Supremacy

SEO 101: Everything You Need to Know About SEO

The Best Damn Web Marketing Checklist, Period!

Four (ok twelve) Reasons to Build a Social Media Strategy for 2010

How a Google Penalty Can Make Your Site Stronger

How a Little Blogging Can Make a Big Difference for the Small Business

The Super Simple Guide to Setting Up Your First Company Facebook Page Without Blowing a Gasket

Take Your SEO from Trash to Cash

61 Pre-SEO Campaign Questions You Need To Answer

Does Your Small Business Think Local?

7 Steps to Improving Conversion Rates

Should You Hire An SEO Who Cold Calls You?

Deciding What to Ignore in Internet Marketing



Search Marketing Newsletter

Read by over 18,000 small business people, our free weekly newsletter delivers a digest of articles from the top search engine marketing experts. You will learn about:

getting better Google rankingssearch engine optimizationlink popularitypay per click advertisingviral marketingincreasing trafficcontextual advertisingsearch engine submissionsbrand buildingmaking more salesand much more...Our free weekly newsletter is the perfect way to stay up to date with all of the latest trends, events and techniques in using search engines to grow your business and make more sales. Your email address will NOT be given to third parties.

FreeFind Site Search Engine - FreeFind adds a "search this site" feature to your website, making your site easier to use. FreeFind also gives you reports showing what your visitors are searching for, enabling you to improve your site. FreeFind's advanced site search engine and automatic site map technology can be added to your website for free.
(Unpaid placement - FreeFind is a Search Engine Guide partner.)

Search Engine Guide > Eric Brown > Double Down on Your Strengths

Eric Brown has (30) years in the Multi-Family Apartment Business having built and developed over 17,000 apartment units, both market rate, luxury and tax credit apartments. Having started Urbane Apartments in 2003 after leaving a lengthy stint as a Senior Vice President at Village Green Companies, a national apartment developer, Eric decided he wanted to create wealth, and set out from Corporate America on his own and created Urbane Apartments in Royal Oak, MI.





Search Engine News |Search Engine Marketing |Internet Search Engines |Newsletters |Advertise |About |Site MapSearch Engine Guide

Search marketing information for small business owners.

Small Business Brief

Fetching the best small business news.

Small Business Ideas Forum

A friendly place to share small business ideas and knowledge.

Small Business Marketing Unleashed Conference

A different kind of small business marketing conference.

Small Business Resources

The directory of the best small business sites and tools.

Small Business Answers

Home of our network.

Copyright © 1998 - 2010 K. Clough, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy


View the original article here

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

What to Expect From an SEO


(Page 1 of 2 )

You're planning to hire an SEO, but you've heard that it's easy to get burned. What should you expect from a reputable SEO? Or perhaps you're thinking about starting your own SEO business, and you want to make sure you do well by your clients. What should you be doing? Keep reading.

As you might expect, this topic comes up from time to time on our SEO Chat forums. The most recent time it came up, less than two weeks ago, a number of our members who do SEO professionally weighed in on what they do for their clients. While certain practices in general turned out to be very common, clearly no one took a ?cookie cutter? approach to SEO.

Ideally, the exchange between client and SEO is mutually educational, as the client learns at least some of what is involved to make their website do what they want, and the SEO learns something about the client's business. Both parties need to be able to respect and understand each other for this relationship to work.

With any luck, this should be evident at the first meeting. If you're a client, expect the SEO to ask lots of questions. If you're the SEO, though you'll be spending time asking questions and taking notes, be prepared to spend some time educating the client in what you do. When a client understands what you're doing and why, they'll probably cooperate more. That's pretty important if, for example, content is a concern for the site (as it often is).

After the first meeting (if not before), the SEO will have analyzed the client's website, and created the first report. What is in that report? Well, before you can move forward, you need to know where you've been, so it will probably start, as one of our members notes, with a benchmark rank report that shows positions of all keywords on multiple major search engines, and current traffic. If you don't have some kind of analytics already set up on your site, that will be recommended (and the SEO will need access to it). But that's just the beginning.

An SEO will need to look at the on-page and off-page optimization of your site. So he or she will look at what is already there and make recommendations for individual pages concerning title tags, content, links, keywords, etc. As the client, you might get a few unexpected recommendations.

For example, as the SEO gets a better handle on your niche, he or she will probably get a better idea of what keywords you might be able to rank for. They'll often recommend trying for a larger list of keywords than you might have initially intended. Such a list can help attract long tail traffic, which converts better.

For example, say you're a dentist and have been trying to rank for the word ?dentist? plus your location. You may be missing out on a lot of visitors that are ready to pay for your services. Have you tried to rank for, say, ?dental implants,? if you perform that service? Or ?root canals?? Or a long list of other dental procedures? Anyone doing a search on those specific terms knows exactly what they need, so you can show them the advantages of getting that service from you (and not one of your competitors). 

Speaking of competitors, as the client it helps if you know who your competitors are, so your SEO can examine their websites and get a feel for what you'll need to do to beat them. The SEO will also use this information to help him or her determine what keywords you'll be able to rank for, and that will attract reasonable traffic.

Next: Monthly Reports and More >> More Search Optimization Articles
More By Terri Wells



View the original article here

Website Content Planning Techniques for Search Engine Optimization


(Page 1 of 2 )

This is a tutorial on website content planning techniques that will have a positive effect in search engine optimization. The objective is to gradually increase visitors coming from search engines over a period of time while the content is continually added to your website.

Bear in mind that this technique works best for authoritative and trusted websites. Simple tests to see if your website is ready include the following:

Step 1. Select any post in your website or blog which you are sure is already indexed by Google. For
example: http://www.seochat.com/c/a/Google-Optimization-Help/Geo-Targeting-Techniques-in-Google-for-SEO/

Step 2. Get the title tag of that post or content. The title element is in the section and enclosed by .

The title in the example above is "Geo Targeting Techniques in Google for SEO."

Step 3. Paste the title tag in Google's search engine search box, and then press "Search."

Step 4. If you can find your post on the first page of results (not necessarily in the first position), then your website can benefit from the content planning technique discussed in this tutorial.

Here is a screen shot that illustrates this point:

The screen shot shows that the post title ranks in the first position on the first page. So www.seochat.com is ready to implement this technique.

If you are not convinced yet, you can try other posts to see if their titles rank well in Google. If your site posts are still not ranking, you can still follow the tips discussed in this tutorial while you do a lot of work to get related quality links to your website.

Researching high demand topics

Of course, since your posts are fairly ranking well in Google, the first thing you need to do is research high demand topics for which  you can write content. These are basically content ideas that will help your content planning. Below are the tips where you can find high demand topics:

1. Frequently asked questions by your readers in post comments. Take a look at the user comments on your blog or website. What are their common questions? You can extract the topics of the questions, put them in an Excel spreadsheet and then label them "High demand topics." Example: "How do you get organic links pointing to your website?" The topic that you can list is "Getting organic links to a website."

2. Commonly asked question in the email from your readers. Sometimes users do not write comments on the site; they just send you an email.

3. Related forums. Try visiting the most popular forum in your niche; you can find a lot of high demand topics listed in the threads. Add them to your list of "High demand topics."

4. Related blogs. Sometimes you can visit other, related authoritative blogs, and you can get a lot of topic ideas.

5. Yahoo Answers. Go to this URL: http://answers.yahoo.com/ and then type in a broad keyword under "What are you looking for?"

For example, if I am doing research for SEO-related topics, I type SEO in the box, and a lot of related questions will pop up. You can then write topics related to these common questions.

6. Brainstorming. You can find out yourself which are high demand topics for your niche. To do this, simply think and jot down as many ideas that you can remember based on your experience, and add them to your list of "High demand topics."

Next: Finding high opportunity key phrases to target from content topics >> More Search Optimization Articles
More By Codex-M



View the original article here